Gardening, Cooking, and Eating

The hippies that lived in this place before me dug several gardens out of parts of the front and back yards. I discovered that, near the back door, they planted arugula. I mowed the stuff three or four times before I realized what it was, then I realized that it came back even stronger after the mowings. So I harvest arugula a couple of days before I mow. This particular garden plot was reseeded with grass so I have to pick out grass stems and other bits when I wash it but it's worth it. Two nights ago I had salmon-from-a-bag (like canned tuna in texture and cheaper than salmon steaks) on a plate-sized bed of arugula dressed with homemade vinaigrette made from organic basil (more on this below), olive oil, apple cider vinegar, a couple of spoons of sugar (I know, some people think that sugar ruins a dressing; I think it adds a pleasing texture), and a generous grinding of black pepper. Yum!

I heard some botanist yammering on the radio about how certain plants release more phytotoxins when they are disturbed (i.e., bitten by an animal or, say, mowed). These phytotoxins can make the plant bitter and dissuade the animal from coming back again, but the chemicals are in fact what we like about bitter greens such as arugula. Simply by chance, I have been conducting my own experiment by regularly mowing the arugula plants.

During my exploration of the yard, I have also discovered a good crop of lemon balm. I think I'll try my hand at lemon balm pesto.

I discovered that we share the yard with three garter snakes, one large one, at least 24 inches long and about as big around as a large carrot, and two smaller ones about half its size. They look exactly like the snake in this link with a large yellow stripe down their backs. I've found at least two of their hidey holes. Unfortunately, Mimi found these dens as well and I've had some problems keeping her away from them. The big snake in particular is most interesting as two times now I've found it lounging on top of the newly revitalized compost pile. I've had to nudge it away so I can dump my bucket of tea bags and cilantro stems. I think it is hunting worms and possibly centipedes or roaches in the compost. The pile is very fluffy after I turned it and it is quite easy for the snake to get in and out of it. Garter snakes eat slugs so I'm being very careful when I mow. I want the snakes to continue to think my backyard is a great place to be.

OSU is a fairly typical ag or land-grant school in that there is a strong emphasis on sciences of growing food, whether in the ground or on the hoof. The university is located in the middle of Corvallis but is surrounded on the west by vast acreages of crop and pasture land. I bike through the university farmland every day. Bees and butterflies, mown hay grass, alpacas--lots of stimulating sights, sounds, and smells.

The crop science students maintain gardens and greenhouses and sell the produce in a building on campus. I ride past that building every day too. And on Friday, I had to stop when I saw the sign said "basil" and "beets". I bought two bunches of organic basil for $1 each and a bunch of organic beets for $2.

Beets. I've never been a big fan of beets. But really, I've never been a fan of the musky red cubes that come out of cans that most Americans think of when they consider beets. They are often served cold in a "salad". I'd rather eat snot.

I saw the sign and thought, now here's a chance to do something interesting with beets.

I hauled my prizes home and immediately went to the BBC food website, my current online source for interesting recipes. I've mentioned before that I am attracted to Nigel Slater's recipes and he came through once again. I found this recipe for lamb, bulgar, and beet patties with yogurt-mint cucumber dressing. I didn't have any lamb, and haven't seen any ground lamb in the store (it would probably be hideously expensive here) but I did have some ground pork. Lamb, pork--both are rich in fat and in my mind effectively the same when making this sort of dish.

The patties were absolutely delicious but the prep time listed in the recipe--less than 30 minutes--was terribly unrealistic. It took me an hour to prep everything and perhaps another 45 minutes total for the cooking (plus the hour the patties sat in the fridge and the half-hour to prepare the yogurt dressing). And I think that I am pretty darned efficient in the kitchen!

The magenta-colored patties would make a decent party dish as I ended up with around 30 of them. Plenty of leftovers for me. The sugar in the beets carmelized during the frying and baking, helping to stick them together. And two heaping tablespoons of dill? I was suspicious as this seemed a lot but it had to stand up to some other strong flavors. And that musky beet odor/taste was nowhere in evidence.