When Side Dishes Become the Star!
Chef cooking tips, Gardening, healthy cooking
From Seed to Table
Growing your own garden vegetables from seeds is a great hobby and when done correctly and with care can yield healthful and extremely tasty dishes. Here are some tips to help you on your journey of gardening and home cooking.
It is extremely gratifying to grow your own vegetables from seeds and after caring and nurturing them, to yield a bountiful harvest. Once picked, bringing the vegetables into your kitchen to prepare great meals at home will surely delight your family and friends. Furthermore its fresher, healthier and cheaper than eating out!
This year we planted almost everything from seeds that we started in our small green house and then transplanted into our garden beds when the time was right. In this post I will share some tips and trials for doing so as well as how to cook some delicious dishes with fresh garden produce. Without further ado let’s begin.
February 25 was the launch of our early spring planting in our green house with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, parsley, and Swiss chard. In 20/20 hindsight this was actually a little too early for Zone 6.5 that we live in and the fact that we have no heat in our green house. We tried to use candles under clay pots to keep the temperature from freezing and sometime also brought the young seedlings into our sunroom during some cold nights. This worked somewhat, however some of the seedlings didn’t make it. Here are some tips and ways that we used that we found successful.
- Started many of seeds in a seed starting mix in seedling planter with 52 cells and a plastic top – worked great!
- Up-potted the seedlings to small re-cycled plastic pots once they grew their true leaves (the second set of leaves that come off the seedlings)
- We also used some recycled yogurt containers, drilling some holes in the bottom
- Used the technique of up-watering by filling plastic trays with water and setting in the seedlings- don’t let the pots sit in the water longer than 4 to 6 hours. This helps prevent fog gnats from growing. However, we still got some.
- Transplanted out into the garden when the last frost dates were behind us- we used a guide from Bakers Seed Company with a slide pullout that helped us to determine the correct time.
- When transplanting from indoors to the garden make sure to harden off the plants in stages by bringing them out for a few hours a day for 4 to 5 days before planting in the ground.
- We also utilize two compost tumblers to make our own compost. We supplement this with some store-bought compost as well.
- When making garden soil (which can be expensive) make a mix of 1/3rd 1/3rd 1/3rd garden bed soil, peat hummus and compost to save money on container or raised be soils.
Two more tips- we use rainwater as much as possible which we collect in two rain barrels and water with re-cycled milk jugs. Transporting them in a cart which saves us time and trips to the garden.
Now onwards to the kitchen! As a chef this is my expertise whereas gardening is one skill that I am still learning through trial and error. Here are three ways that I cooked with our vegetables and herbs.
Amish Paste tomatoes are great for making sauces because they do not contain to many seeds.
Tomatoes and cucumber relish with basil and olive oil that I served over lamb slider burgers on croustades with TOMA Point Reyes California cheese in the first image of the post. On the side I made roasted garlic and chive aioli. I like to peel the cucumbers then cut them long ways into quarters and then cut out the seeds prior to dicing them. In full disclosure I received the TOMA cheese and other samples from the California Milk Board so I could try them out prior to a chef event that I was contracted for in San Antonio. I was delighted by the variety and the flavors of the cheese. They also sponsor a nation wide Pizza competition, for more about them go to –https://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/
When garden tomatoes are at their peak, I also like to make a Smoked Tomato Relish that goes great with grilled meats. For my recipe go to this past article in Missouri Life Magazine- https://missourilife.com/smoked-tomatoes-are-soooo-good/
Sauteed fingerling potatoes in olive oil, bacon fat and fresh snipped rosemary with sea salt and cracked black pepper. These potatoes were grown from seed potatoes in grow bags which worked very well. If you have never had fingerlings, they are a waxy variety of which there are many variations. Simply delicious. Along with them I sauteed some young carrots, baby yellow squash with English peas and fresh basil chiffonade. Makes a great side for roasted chicken.
Lastly is one way to make Swiss chard. Chard like kale is easy to grow, however many people dislike the bitter taste of these highly nutritious brassicas. I made a gratin dish of thinly cut chard leaves with the ribs removed, with bacon, garlic, caramelized onions, heavy cream and cheese (I used the TOMA cheese which is much like a Fontina). I then put the creamed chard into a gratin dish topped with Japanese breadcrumbs and browned under the broiler. My wife Brigitte who is not a fan of greens loved it.
In closing, growing your own produce and then cooking it in your kitchen is both a wonderful hobby and will save you money if done wisely. To repeat my opening comment by doing this your food will be much tastier, cheaper and healthier too! Bon Appetit.
