Tea from your garden!

The New York Times had a great article on Making Tea From Plants Grown in the Backyard.

If you start thinking ahead now to the colder winter months, you can lay in a stock of dried material and have your tea bags all ready to go for the first cold of the season . . .

Sally mentions that IMBY has these ingredients in the yard, look for them the next time you are picking up your share! She thinks they'd all work as well as drying and grinding cayenne pepper. Adding our locally grown honey makes it especially potent as an herbal fortifying, healing, enhancing drink.

basil (Genovese & Lemon)
burdock (weed)
calendula
chamomile
cilantro
dandelion (weed)
dill
echinacea
garlic
lemon thyme
lovage
plantain (weed)
rosemary
savory
sage
tarragon
thyme
verbena
and more!

Grilled Salmon Sandwiches

We had these delicious grilled salmon sandwiches at a party last summer, and we've made them twice so far this season!

We love this recipe because the salmon cooks easily on the grill and you can throw on other veggies at the same time. The sauce is amazing and it's a great way to use all the herbs that Sally and IMBY provide throughout the summer.

We highly recommend using basil leaves as the garnish.

Grilled Salmon Sandwiches
Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Ingredients

2 pounds fresh salmon fillets
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

For the sauce:

1 cup good mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon white wine vinegar
12 fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped scallions, (white and green parts)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoons capers, drained

To assemble:
6 fresh white or brioche rolls (4-inch round) [we use potato rolls, or thin bread]
1/4 pound mesclun mix or *fresh basil leaves*

Directions

For the salmon, heat coals in an outdoor grill and brush the top of the grill with oil. Rub the outside of the salmon with olive oil, salt, and pepper, to taste. Grill for 5 minutes on each side, or until the salmon is almost cooked through. Remove to a plate and allow it to rest for 15 minutes.

For the sauce, place the mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, basil, dill, scallions, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until combined. Add the capers and pulse 2 or 3 times.

To assemble the sandwiches, slice the rolls in 1/2 crosswise. Spread a tablespoon of sauce on each cut side. On the bottom 1/2, place some mesclun salad and then a piece of salmon. Place the top of the roll on the salmon and serve immediately.

Time to get out those Irish recipes

From Sally:

Time to get out those Irish recipes.

Blarney Boil comes to my mind = cabbage, potatoes, onions boiled up (add some sage, garlic, savory), then roll them around in a large frying pan with some savory (a wonderful herb - I've just started using it and love it!) and some butter - or bacon fat - or safflower oil. Add sea salt and pepper to taste, throw in a cup or so of chapped parsley, put on a dish, and surenbegorra yu'v go'a meal. The richer Irish will add a ration of corned beef.

Another good one which we had just an hour ago is similar. I love the little potatoes and thank you to all of you who left them for us!! I boil them till tender along with the beets. Everything turns pink. I cut the beets in half and in quarters and rounded off the edges. Then I melted some butter and added some olive oil in a large frying pan. I cut the onions in quarters and cut the last of the scapes (throwing out the hard-to-cut ends and cutting the rest into about 2" sections.) I put these in the butter&oil mix (I may have added a chopped up garlic) for about a minute then I threw in the potatoes and beets, rolled everything around a bit (3 min?) and turned the heat to low. I'd cleaned and chopped the beet greens; I'd boiled some water.

While the potatoes and beets were being rolled around, the greens were boiling. I drained them and added them to the potatoes & beets. Remembering that the Irish use a lot of parsley, I ran out to the herbs and pulled off a large handful which I cleaned, chopped and threw in also. I added sea salt and ground pepper. The colors are BEAUTIFUL all reds, pinks, greens and they taste delicious. We had that with a salad made from the Oak Leaf Lettuce and lots of other things like feta, endive, olives, capers, etc. Yummie Yummie. I hope you're enjoying the "fruits" of our labors as much as we are.

NOTE: Due to the soggy ground, we've been harvesting root veggies earlier than would be called for - otherwise they splits or rot. This means you are getting smaller sized produce, but usually it's quite a bit sweeter. Also for the onions YOU MUST REFRIGERATE as they have not been sun-cured (which makes the outside layers brown & crinkley). Again, they are harvested early & they are wonderfully sweet. Did you know Egyptians used to eat onions the way we eat apples - as a snack, raw and whole?

Greens, Reds & Pasta Recipe

Today’s Recipe

BRING A LARGE POT OF WATER TO BOIL

Wash and chop:

Head of endive

Today’s share of Swiss chard

Today’s share of garlic scapes or garlic chives, chives, onion tops or the like

(any other green you care to throw in; i.e. beet tops)

1 to 2 cups of fresh parsley

8 to 10 leaves of fresh basil

¼ to ½ cup fresh oregano (Italian & Greek mixed)

CHOP:

2 to 3 heads garlic

Endive, Swiss chard, other greens, with Tbs (sea) salt; drain set aside

BOIL TO DESIRED TEXTURE in above water:

Whole wheat penne pasta

BRAISE (while the pasta is cooking) in large pan:

1 to 2 Tbs. safflower oil with chopped garlic + chives, onion tops etc. = ½ min.

ADD: in this order

Drained greens – until completely wilted

Add 1 top 2 Tbs olive oil and as needed

Herbs

3 whole fresh chopped tomatoes (I added cherry tomatoes I’d frozen from last year)

Finally, when it’s done = pasta (+ more olive oil if needed)

SERVE:

Main dish = As is, with Romano or Parmesan cheese (optional)

Accompaniment with chicken, fish, red meat, tofu