As a child, I loved deliciously spooky Halloween and the end of the deadly summer heat. As an adult, I came to prefer Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday of skulls and death which is one of the most life-affirming holidays that I know of. Day of the Dead celebrates the wild abundance of life, and our dead friends return in our memories to enjoy it with us.
I always enjoy decorating my house for the season, but this year it has a special poignance: we have bought a new house with more land for my gardening and this will be our last autumn on the 1/8 acre homestead. So no winter garden this year, and I’ve let a lot of things go to seed so that I have enough seed for my new garden-to-be. My various fermentation projects are being shut down, with enough starters saved so that the new house will be enlivened with the same cultures that fed us here. My lovely dwarf fruit trees will have to be left behind, but I look forward to starting over with more room, and I have another few weeks to enjoy the old garden and write about the vegetables that have done best and provided the most return for my very limited space.
So, over the winter my posts will concentrate on food made from our farmers’ markets, which now run all winter, and new sourdough and fermentation projects as I get them going. In the meantime, I’m filled with gratitude for everything that this little city lot has grown for us, and I’m more convinced than ever that connection with any piece of ground no matter how small is good for body and spirit.  

So get some decorative vegetables and grinning skeletons, remember your biological and spiritual ancestors, and celebrate the beauty of the season. It’s nearly Day of the Dead, so live and love deeply.

Flatbreads are a handy kitchen trick to have up your sleeve for times when you don’t want to bother with raised breads or they won’t suit the meal you have in mind. Since they don’t need to rise, they are not gluten-dependent and make a great vehicle for a variety of whole grains.
The Ethiopian flatbread called injera is made from a fermented batter that give it a frothy texture and a charming lightly sour flavor. Traditionally it’s made from the tiny grain called Teff. Of course it’s good with Ethiopian food, but I love it with many Indian dals as well as with salads and grilled meats. It serves as your table utensil; pieces are torn off and used to scoop up whatever you’re eating it with.
In this country most recipes are bastardized versions that don’t involve any fermenting. Some add vinegar to get the soured flavor. But why not just do it right? I keep a sourdough culture around and find plenty of uses for it, and it makes injera as well as it makes standard breads. You can always capture your own starter, but I like the South African starter from sourdough fanatic Ed Wood, at Sourdo.com. It does a great job of souring and leavening whole grain flours. You can use commercial yeast instead but the flavor won’t be as good. Every homestead, urban or otherwise, needs a good sourdough starter around, so consider starting one now, but if you don’t want to bother, I include directions for commercial yeast. In my next few posts I’ll include some recipes that are good to eat with your injera.
Click here for the recipe

Raw batter still shows

Ready to flip

Make the batter at least twelve hours before you want to use it, to allow it to ferment. After twelve hours at room temp, you can either use it immediately or put it in the refrigerator for up to two days.

In a bowl holding at least two quarts, put one cup of white flour and one cup of teff flour. When you have some practice at making them you can use all teff flour, but try this formula first. I often find teff flour at La Montanita Co-op. If you can’t find it, use a cup of whole wheat flour, or one of the other suggestions below. Add one cup of water and a teaspoon of salt, start to stir, and add more water as needed to achieve a loose batter the consistency of thin pancake batter. The total amount of water will vary depending on the grains used, but make sure you make it thin enough, because a thick batter will never make a good injera. Add two tablespoons of very active sourdough starter OR 1/2 teaspoon of commercial yeast plus a scant teaspoon of sugar or agave nectar.( The sugar is not needed if you use the sourdough starter because a good starter contains lactobacilli which “digest” a little of the grain into simple sugars that the yeasts can use.)Cover tightly and let it sit at room temp overnight or for at least 12 hours. At the end of that time it should look frothy and have a clean sour smell. If you used commercial yeast the sour smell won’t be there but otherwise it will be the same. A little water may rise to the surface, which is fine. If you aren’t ready to cook it, just put it in the refrigerator until you’re ready. This bread needs to be eaten shortly after it’s made.

When you’re ready to cook, heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat until it’s well heated. Have a little vegetable oil handy. I like a light olive oil, but I can’t pretend that it’s authentic.Put about two teaspoons of oil into the skillet, swirl it around, and pour in a quarter cup of batter. Quickly tilt the pan around in circles to make a large round cake, or spread the batter carefully with a spatula to make a large circle. Bubbles will form on the upper surface; these will then pop and become little holes. The picture on the left above shows the cooking process: there are some holes, some bubbles, and some areas of raw-looking batter. The raw areas will all soon form holes and darken. When no raw batter is visible on the top, it’s time to turn the bread. The picture at right above shows an injera ready to turn. Working carefully because the bread is very fragile, and using a large spatula, turn the bread and cook the other side. When cooked, move to a warmed plate, pour in a little more oil, and make the next injera. Stack them up on the plate and take to the table while still hot.

       The technique is a lot like making crepes: it takes a little practice, and the first one never comes out well. By the time you’ve made two or three, you’ll be an expert. The most usual beginner’s problem is making the batter too thick, so that the injera are too doughy in the middle. When in doubt, add a little more water to the batter and try again. You can easily double the amouont of batter to feed more people, or use half of it for each of two meals.

When you’ve learned the technique you can use all whole grain flours. I don’t use all teff flour because I find the flavor a little too “grassy”, but I like a cup of teff flour and a cup of whole wheat flour. I’ve also used chickpea flour and cornmeal to substitute for up to half a cup of the flours. My favorite flour mixture, and the one shown in the pictures, is 1 cup of teff flour, half a cup of white flour, and half a cup of toasted chia seeds, ground to flour in the blender. See my previous blog post on fruit crumbles for directions on toasting chia seeds. Click here to navigate to that post. After the batter sits for the needed twelve hours, you may find that you need to thin it a little more if you use chia seeds. I don’t recommend using them untoasted or adding them whole for this recipe; if you try it, you’ll find out why I don’t recommend it.
There is a theory that phytates contained in whole grains can interfere with the absorption of minerals, especially zinc. Soaking whole grains for twelve hours or fermenting them breaks down the phytates. I haven’t read enough studies to vouch for this, but I find fermented breads delicious, and if they have dietary advantages that’s just a bonus.

This fizzy, festive fuschia drink gets its color and flavor from a really local fruit, the tuna, or prickly pear fruit. Here in New Mexico you probably have some in your yard, and if you don’t, a neighbor probably does.

The basic directions are the same as for plain tepache. Pick, beg, or borrow eight tunas the size of an egg or bigger. Handle them with respect, because the wicked little prickles will make you itch and burn for days if you let them at your skin. Handle them with gloves. If you already know how to peel them with pliers or have someone to show you how, then peel them. Otherwise, throw them in the blender whole and crush to a puree, adding a little water if you have to in order to get the blender going. Pour the puree into a strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Now, twist the cheesecloth closed and press it with a spatula or wooden spoon to release the juice. Don’t omit the cheesecloth, since the strainer alone won’t get the prickles out, and don’t squeeze the cheesecloth with your hands. You should end up with 1.5 to 2 cups of prickly pear juice. Now make tepache according to the directions I gave earlier in the summer (click here to get the directions) but add the prickly pear juice to the fermenting jar with the other ingredients. The other quantities stay the same, including the pineapple rind, which provides the wild yeasts that do the fermenting. Ferment according to the directions. The flavor of the tunas is accentuated by the fermenting process and will be dominant in the finished drink. Pour and toast the exhilarating autumn weather.

According to an article from Texas A&M, the antioxidants quercetin and kaempherol were found in prickly pear fruit, as well as other antioxidants. The link is below if you want to read more.  Personally, I think the important thing about antioxidants is to get a lot of different ones, not by taking pills but by eating more fruits and vegetables (or, in this case, drinking them.)

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6R-4BG8TR7-3&_user=6865397&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1027331814&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=6865397&md5=67b4ea1bcff5a8121ec6c61beea769b7.

      Turmeric and its constituent components the curcuminoids, a complex of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, are getting attention and medical research dollars these days. But this blog is not about disease treatment or medical research, it’s about healthy and delicious food, and turmeric is here for its culinary qualities.  Both the roots and the leaves are a common seasoning in many parts of southeast Asia, and the leaves are impossible to buy in this area, which led to my experiments in growing them. It’s a tropical and needs to be brought indoors when the nights start to cool off, and during the summer it needs light shade and plenty of moisture. Initially I bought plants from an herb supplier, but since then have done better with plants I started at home.

       You need some roots from the store to get started. Put them on top of a pot of good organic potting soil and press them into the soil. Put in a warm place (a seed-starting warming mat will really speed things up,) keep moist, and within a month you’ll see small buds growing off the roots. In another month or so, you’ll have turmeric leaves to use.  It will prosper in a sunny window over the winter, but does best if it can go outdoors in the summer. Remember, part shade is important.

     To begin with the root, it can be grown in a pot but you are unlikely to get enough to use it freely. I don’t recommend the dried powder for most applications; to my palate if lacks the fresh vibrancy of the fresh root. I advise buying organic root, and you can often find it among the other fresh vegetables at La Montanita Co-op. Ask the produce manager if you don’t see it. It’s used in a lot of the seasoning pastes that I make for my southeast Asian cooking, so you’ll notice it in several of the recipes on this blog (use the search function to find them). But one of my favorite ways to use it is as a brilliant yellow-orange “juice” concentrate which I keep in a corked bottle in the refrigerator and add to water to make “sun juice.” The color alone is irresistible and cheers me up just to look at it.

     The leaves are large, glossy and handsome, and look attractive when the pot is brought indoors for the winter, but remember that any plant you’re always snipping at for kitchen use won’t look great for long. When cut they smell very like a fresh, sweet carrot, and I love to season carrots with them. Clich the link below the picture for recipes.

Click here for recipes!

Sun Juice

8 oz organic turmeric root
2 ox organic ginger root
1/3 cup light agave nectar (dark nectar will spoil the color)
juice of half a lemon

Scrub the turmeric and ginger roots and put them in the blender with a pint of water. Blend until thoroughly amalgamated. Strain the blended mixture into a bowl through cheesecloth, making sure to squeeze the cheesecloth until the pulp is pretty dry. Set the pulp aside for composting, and to the strained juice add the agave nectar and lemon juice. Stir well, pour into a clear bottle and cork tightly. Store refrigerated. To make the drink, pour a quarter cup of the concentrate into a glass, add a cup of water, stir, adjust the amount of concentrate to your taste, and drink. The concentrate will last at least a week in the refrigerator, but since it’s raw I wouldn’t keep it much longer than that. However, it’s popular around our house and I haven’t been faced with the problem of excess storage time.

Grilled carrots with turmeric leaves

Purple carrots are prettiest here, with their dark rims and glowing orange centers. My carrots were overrun with feral poppies this year (I adore poppies and can never stand to weed them out) so I got purple carrots from Chispas Farm at the Downtown grower’s market.

I bunch purple carrots, tops off, trimmed, and scrubbed well.
1″ cube ginger, peeled and finely chopped
a section of turmeric root about 1/2″ thick and 1″ long, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon Thai sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil (Yes, I know it’s not authentic, but it’s healthy and works fine here)
salt to taste
1 large turmeric leaf, about 4″X6″, or 2 smaller leaves, washed and midrib removed, cut in fine slivers and then crosswise into tiny squares

Cut the carrots crosswise into thin “coins.” Combine all other ingredients except the turmeric leaves, and combine them with the carrot coins, using clean hands to make sure that the carrots are coated fairly evenly. Heat the griddle of your grill or a large heavy skillet, and when hot put in the carrots. Stir enough to prevent burning and cook until done. Add a few drops of water here and there to help make steam and cook them evenly, but don’t add any toward the end of the cooking time, because you want a little gold (not burned black) crust to form on some pieces. Taste for doneness; the carrot coins should have lost their crunch but should not be withered. Turn into a serving bowl, toss the turmeric leaves over the top, and serve with nearly any Southeast Asian dish.

        You can use the leaves in other ways too. I like a very finely slivered handful added to Asian salads, whether or not they include  meat. The carroty vegetable flavor goes will with nearly any salad material. Just don’t use too much. A large leaf is plenty for salad for two. It’s worth learning the trick of slivering leaves almost hair-thin, because if you don’t chiffonade it thinly enough the texture can seem tough.

 Happy eating! Below, you see the carrots in process on the grill, with red onions in the grill-wok alongside.

Part of the joy of seasonal living is the lavish abundance of late summer. Tomatoes and eggplants are sunkissed and beautiful, a wide variety of fruit is available, and meals seem to plan themselves. But even if you aren’t a cook-it-at-home sort of person, this is the time to fill your house with flowers. Local flowers are beautiful, and they don’t cause ground to be poisoned, workers to be exposed  to toxins, and refrigerated trucks to be filled with petroleum to haul them around. They are a pure and good thing, and in a few more weeks we’ll have the first frosts and they won’t be here any more, so run to your nearest farmer’s market and indulge. I buy flowers at the downtown market at Central and Eighth and at the Corrales market. I’m sure that other markets have similar offerings. If you go to the Downtown market, see Chispas Farms for zinnias and Majestic Farms for sunflowers. Get there early, because the flowers sell out fast.

   A writer whom I admire once described buying flowers at a French market, then carrying them while meeting friends for lunch at a cafe’. The waitress fussed about the “mess” and pointed out that artificial  flowers would last much longer, to which a gentleman at the table replied “But, madame,  you too will wither and grow old, and you too must be appreciated and loved while you are in bloom.” Exactly.

The stands at the farmers’ markets are full of fruit right now, and after you’ve eaten all that you can eat raw, it’s fun to make a special dessert here and there. This one is delicious, healthy as desserts go, and nearly as easy as eating the fruit raw.
Currently I’m experimenting with chia seeds in cooking and have found that, unlike many whole grains, they can actually taste good in desserts. I use them lightly toasted, and they add a pleasant nutty flavor as well as an extra nutritional punch to many dishes. Please see the end of this post for directions on toasting them.
This crumble is good with nearly any fruit. Apples, berries of all kinds, plums (especially the dry-fleshed prune plums that are showing up in the farmers’ markets right now)and figs are all successful. Click the link below the next photo to get the recipe. This photo shows a hot serving hidden under organic vanilla ice cream. After all, summer doesn’t last forever.

Clich here for the recipe
To fill an 8-inch square pan, you will need:
3 cups fresh fruit, prepared for cooking. For berries, just rinse them. Apples need to be peeled and cored, figs just cut in half, peaches seeded and slivered, plums halved and seeded, etc.
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup toasted chia seeds (see below)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw or light brown sugar. 1/2 cup plus one tablespoon unbleached flour. 1/2 cup butter, preferably pastured (Organic Valley now produces this and it’s available at La Montanita Co-op and other local stores.)
1/2 teaspoon salt if the butter is unsalted (but salted butter works fine here)
a good grating of fresh nutmeg, 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon depending on taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Use a little of the butter to butter an 8 inch square cake pan. Put the prepared fruit in the pan and sprinkle with one tablespoon of flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and a pinch of salt. Toss lightly with the fruit but don’t worry about mixing it in thoroughly. In a bowl, combine the rolled oats, chia seeds, salt, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the grated nutmeg, and 1/2 cup of flour. Add the butter cut into pats, and rub it in with your fingers until well distributed. Put the crumble mixture on top of the fruit, set the pan in the oven, and bake at 375 degrees until the top is brown and crusty, about 35 minutes. Eat with or without ice cream.

Chia seeds: For more on chia seeds and why I’m enthusuastic about them, see my previous post. I find them most useful in baking when toasted, which keeps them from producing the slippery coating they will otherwise make as soon as moisture hits them. To toast them, put a frying pan over medium heat and heat it. Put in 1-2 cups of chia seeds and toast, stirring continually and shaking the pan to make sure that none burn, until they develop a toasted flavor. They don’t change color much, and the most reliable guide is to take out a pinch, cool it a few seconds on a saucer, and taste. If they taste toasty, nutty, and good, stop there. Be careful not to burn them. Pour into a cool bowl to cool off, so they don’t overheat in the pan, and when cool store in an airtight jar.

This time of year, vegetables are abundant and make up the bulk of our diet. Recently I wanted to put together a meal cooked on the grill using only vegetables that can easily be found at the farmers’ market. The kitchen stays cool, and people who don’t have a garden aren’t left out. If you need to accomodate vegetarians and vegans at your table, this meal can have everyone at your table happily eating the same thing, with no need for special plates.

The only remotely exotic seasonings that you’ll need are Spanish smoked paprika, readily available as Pimenton de Vera at The Spanish Table and other specialty grocers, and some capers, preferably the kind preserved in salt.
Click here for the recipe

Four four moderate or two to three big eaters, you will need:

4 ears corn, cleaned and desilked
2-3 small to medium Italian eggplants (ie not the very thin Asian eggplants, but more pear-shaped ones)
3 cups good cherry tomatoes (Sungolds are my favorites)
1 good baguette or 4 thick slices good bread
1/4 cup capers, soaked if salted, rinsed if pickled
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small bunch organic parsley, washed
3/4 cup good olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons Pimenton, Spanish smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste

To make the green sauce:
Pull all the leaves off the parsley and put them in the food processor with the capers, two teaspoons of the chopped garlic, 1/2 cup of the olive oil, and lemon juice. process to a coarse sauce (don’t let it turn to a homogenous mush) and taste for seasoning. Don’t salt without tasting, since the capers tend to be salty. Set aside until needed.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and set aside.

Make a paste of the pimenton, 1/4 cup olive oil, and the rest of the chopped garlic. Season heavily with salt and pepper; I like about a teaspoon of salt, since this is the seasoning for the corn and eggplant. Cut the washed eggplant in horizontal disks about 1/3 inch in diameter, Rub the corn and the eggplant slices with the seasoning paste. Set the egplant aside on a plate, and wrap the corn ears individually in aluminum foil.

Heat the grill, and put the corn on first. Turn the ears regularly. they will take about 20-25 minutes to cook. Ten minutes before they are done, put the eggplant on and grill for 5 minutes on each side, a few minutes longer if needed. Put the baguette sections, halved lengthwise, on to toast for the last 5 minutes.

While the cooking proceeds, pour about a third of the green sauce over the halved cherry tomatoes. When the bread is toasted, brush each piece with a little green sauce, and heap the tomatoes on top. Arrange the other vegetables on the plates, serve the remaining green sauce separately in case it’s wanted on the eggplant, and dinner is served. Remove the foil from the corn before serving so that it can be properly admired, and don’t forget to wash and recycle the foil later.

Kitchen experimentation is a lot of fun, but early in the morning on a busy workday I don’t feel very experimental. I want something comfortable and familiar, quick to prepare, healthy, and tasty. Oh yes, and I also want it to keep me feeling good all morning, not just give me a sugar rush to get me out the door.

       My homemade granola fits the bill perfectly. It offers whole grains, fruit, nuts, lots of fiber and antioxidants, and good flavor. If you eat it with yogurt, as I do, you get a good dose of healthy bacteria too. One easy kitchen job every 3-4 weeks keeps two people supplied with good breakfasts, plus an occasional handful out of the jar as a snack.

     I use agave nectar as the sweetener due to its low glycemic index and good flavor. I used to use vegetable oil but now use a light-flavored olive oil. This is a great vehicle for chia seeds, too. If you’ve read Christopher McDougle’s interesting new book Born to Run, you know about how the Tarahumara tribe uses chia seeds as an energy source. Personally, I won’t eat anything just because it’s good for me; it also has to taste good. In this recipe, chia seeds taste good.

Click here for the recipe!

Ultra-healthy Granola
I recommend using all organic ingredients

6 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 cup raw sunflower kernels
1 cup raw Brazil nuts, sliced thin or chopped
1/4 cup mesquite flour (optional but I recommend it)
1/2 cup light-flavored olive oil
2 cups dark agave nectar
1 teaspoon salt
2 whole nutmegs, freshly grated
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract (optional but good)
8 oz dried wild blueberries, preferably the kind with no sugar added

Combine the oats, bran, chia seeds, nuts, sunflower kernels, and mesquite flour in a large bowl with plenty of room for tossing. In a separate container mix the agave nectar, olive oil, salt, grated nutmeg, and vanilla. Set the blueberries aside for the time being. Pour the liquids over the oat mixture and mix in well with your hands until thoroughly combined.
Heat the oven to 250 degrees, nonconvection. The long-slow cooking at low temperature is key; this allows it to toast with very little attention from you, so the project works well on a day when you have other things to do at home and don’t want to hover in the kitchen. Spread the granola out fairly evenly on a large tray, put it in the oven, and don’t worry about it for an hour. After an hour, turn it with a spatula and leave it for another hour. Now start watching the cloor. It will be soft while still hot, so don’t try to judge doneness by the texture. When it has turned a couple of shades darker and golder, usually about 2 1/2 hours for me, put some out on a saucer to cool thoroughly. If it crisps up, it’s done. Remove from the oven, mix in the blueberries, and let it cool completely uncovered (to avoid any steam buildup which would ruin the texture) before storing in jars or tightly sealed plastic bags.

This is an adaptable recipe as long as you maintain the basic proportions and cooking method. Don’t have chia seeds? Add some flaxseed meal instead. Like walnuts better than Brazil nuts? Use them. Use raisinhs instead of dried blueberries if you like. Don’t add the dried fruit until it’s removed from the oven, since they can develop a “cooked” taste that I don’t find pleasant.

More on chia seeds: they are known to contain both soluble and insoluble fiber, phytosterols, protein, and antioxidants including quercetin and kaempherol. There are no thorough nutritional analyses of them that I can find, and they are certainly not the wonder-weight-loss tool that some are suggesting that they are. They’re just a good healthy whole food that deserves a place in our diet. No need for any exaggerated claims.

More on mesquite flour and agave nectar: these ingredients, besides tasting good, contribute to a low glycemic index. Agave nectar, unlike other sweeteners, has a glycemic index around 31, and mesquite flour has a demonstrated ability to help sugars enter the bloodstream more slowly. Diabetes is nothing to take lightly, though, and if you have it, I urge you to use your own blood sugar record and your health care providers’ input to determine a healthy diet.

Some of the most delightful herbs used in Southeast Asia have a strong, clean citrus scent. Here we’ll consider lemongrass and lemon basil, along with a Western taste-alike, lemon verbena.  My love affair with the piquant and flavorful food of Southeast Asia continues, and I’m putting more and more thought into which herbs and roots to buy and which to grow. There’s an excellent reason to grow rather than buy: these herbs are almost never available organically grown. My experiments are aimed at seeing which ones I can grow in useful quantities without a greenhouse or other specialized setting.

They are very delicious with fish and seafood. For the Lemon Shrimp above, go to the very end of the post, after the growing info.
For more about growing and using the lemony herbs, click here.

General notes on Southeast Asian herbs: many if not most of these plants are used to growing among other plants in a humid hazy climate, and don’t do well sitting by themselves in our hot desert sun. I grow them in a cluster under the east side of a ramada, so they get full sun in the morning, partial shade from noon to about 2, and full shade after that. They’re grouped closely together and watered daily. If you want them to be organic, remember to use organic potting soil. You can spot rau ram, wild betel leaf, and turmeric leaf in the picture; I’ll be discussing them in future posts. Some of these plants are very ornamental, but none of them will look like much if you’re always pulling bits off them for cooking, so resign yourself to the fact that they are for eating, not for looks.

Lemongrass is ubiquitous throughout Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Vietnamese cuisines.  It’s the tall grassy plant toward the right in the photo above. In hot weather, lemongrass that you buy at the store will root in a glass of water, often within a week. I bought some for culinary purposes, kept it in a jar of water on the counter, and when I was ready to use the stalks, I would cut off the rooted stumps and stick them in a pot. This is a good way to have your cake and eat it too. If the weather is good and hot and they’r protected from full sun, green shoots will spring out of the stump within another week or two. Above you can see two pots of lemongrass, one about three months old and one a month old (the red pot in front.) I estimate that it might take 6-9 months to reach best eating size. I’m starting a pot every month so that, with a little luck, I’ll be able to generate a steady supply.

Lemon basil isn’t shown in the picture. It’s very easy to grow and seeds itself around like a weed. I’ve found it so useful that I’ll try keeping mine indoors this winter instead of letting it die down and reseed. Buy a packet of seed, plant it, and water. It’s really that simple.

I’ve always grown lemon verbena, shown below, in quantity for the pleasure of crushing a leaf and inhaling the clean and potent scent, but I never found a culinary use for it until I recently learned that the estimable Herbfarm chef, Jerry Traunfeld, uses it as an easily grown substitute for lemongrass. I find that this substitution only works really well in situations where the lemongrass is added toward the end of cooking or before quick cooking. I don’t think it works well in slow-cooked curries and lons. However, in dishes where its use is appropriate, the lemon verbena adds a fascinating rich hint of vanilla to the sharp lemon flavor. It’s very tasty indeed in the recipe below. Just put a lemon verbena plant in a pot and stand back. You can get it at several local nurseries and by mail from any herb supplier. Be sure to cut off the flower stems as they appear. It winters over in warmer areas of zone 7, so I’ll leave one plant outside in a sheltered spot and see how it does.

Lemon Shrimp: This has a delicate flavor that respects the freshness of very good shrimp.
1 pound shrimp See the Seafood Watch page for environmentally better choices, and keep all shrimp an occasional treat, not a staple.) Use a size between 20 and 30 per pound, not larger.
1 stalk lemongrass
1″X2″ chunk of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1/2″ X 1″ chunk of fresh turmeric, peeled and finely chopped.
2 thin (1/8 inch) slices galangal, peeled and finely chopped (optional)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons Viet or Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar or light brown sugar
about a cup of tender young green beans, cut in 1″ lengths (optional)
Leaves of 2 large or three medium stalks of lemon verbena, stacked up and slivered crosswise finely.

Peel the shrimp. Cut off the bottom stump (about 2″) of the lemongrass, cut off the top about 1/3 of the way doen, peel the outer leaves off the remaining stalk, and sliver very finely crosswise, then chop well on a cutting board. Combine the chopped garlic, ginger, galangal if using, and turmeric with the lemongrass and pound in a mortart and pestle until finely ground. Add the fish sauce and sugar and pound until amalgamated. Rub into the shrimp and put it in the refrigerator for half and hour, or up to two hours. Have the beans ready if using.
When ready to cook, heat a skillet or the griddle of your grill quite hot. Put the beans in, stir them around for about two minutes, then add the seasoned shrimp. Try not to fiddle with them; leave them sitting in contact with the hot metal for a minute or two on each side, then test for doneness. If not ready, turn again and keep cooking, but check frequently for doneness. The second they are done, toss on the slivered lemon verbena, toss the shrimp mixture around briefly for less than a minute, then serve. Jasmine rice is a good accompaniment, and if you have the vigor to make Nam Prik Pao from David Thompson’s addictive book Thai Food, add a little on the side. A little sriricha or sweet Thai chile sauce on the side may appeal to chile-lovers. Roasted corn is a good vegetable accompaniment: rub shucked and cleaned ears of corn with a mixture of canola oil, salt, ground chile, and a little palm sugar, wrap in foil, and roast on the grill, turning regularly. A hoppy beer is a good accompaniment.

About this time of year, we have some days when it’s too hot to plan dinner. All afternoon we’re listless and have no appetite, then the sun goes down, the air cools off, and we’re hungry. Nothing was planned ahead, but we still want a delicious and healthy meal. Pizza on the grill is custom-made for those times.

Made with beautiful ripe tomatoes and basil from the garden, this is a celebration of summer. This version is vegetarian.

Click here for the recipe!

The necessary equipment is a good grill and a pizza stone. My husband the grill-wallah likes to use the cover from an old roaster, as shown above, to contain the heat and neatly cook the top. The following recipe is written with the assumption that two hungry people are working to pull this together. I’ll call them person A and person B.
1. Person A heats the grill with the pizza stone on it and the cover closed. Our grill gets very hot, so we used medium heat. Know your grill and adjust accordingly.
2. Person A goes out to buy ready-to-use raw pizza dough. Ours came from Il Vecino and was quite good. Get enough for one large pizza; this will make three small pizzas. Avoid pre-made pizza crusts. Person A then picks up a pound of fresh mozzarella. A stop for wine or beer may also be part of this errand.
3. Meanwhile, Person B slices two beautiful big ripe tomatoes, of two different colors if possible, into thin slices and salts the slices lightly. They are then laid out on clean kitchen towels to release their juices. B then pits and tears up a dozen oil-cured olives and harvests 10 small or 6-7 large sprigs of basil and three sprigs of thyme or (preferably) lemon thyme from the herb garden. Then the herbs are washed and the leaves pulled off the stem. Keep the basil and thyme separate. B then puts a quarter cup of good olive oil in a small bowl, and chops a clove of garlic or crushes 2 cloves of garlic confit.
4. About this time, Person A returns with the pizza dough, mozzarella, and drinks. If A is lucky, B has laid out the big dough-rolling cutting board and generously dusted it with fine cornmeal. A then begins to form the dough into three small pizzas, which can be very irregular and lopsided without harming the taste in the slightest. Meanwhile B is pressing the tomatoes with another clean towel on top to get out as much moisture as possible without harming the appearance or texture of the slices.
5. A brushes two of the pizzas with olive oil and sprinkles on some freshly ground pepper and a little coarse sea salt, while B tears the mozzarella into small chunks or slices it, according to temperment. A then mixes the garlic or garlic confit into the last third of the oil and brushes it on the third pizza and sprinkles that one with salt and pepper.
6. A distributes the mozzarella chunks across the three pizzas fairly evenly, while B lays the tomato slices on as artistically as possible. B may combine the tomato colors or keep them separate. It’s her decision. B then divides the olive pieces between two of the pizzas, and sprinkles the thyme leaves on one of those two. B then tears, not cuts, the basil leaves into medium-size pieces and sets them aside. They don’t go on until the pizza is done.
7. A takes over at the grill. The stone should be hot enough to make a drop of water disappear instantly with an evil hiss. The first pizza is slid onto the stone. This will only be possible if cornmeal was used generously in step 4. Keep the cover closed and/or the roasting-pan lid over the pizza to cook the top. When A decides that the first pizza is nearly done, he slides it off the stone onto the grill to give some artistic grill marks to the underside, and B stands ready to sprinkle on a generous handful of torn basil leaves as it comes off the grill, not before. If the basil is thrown on while the pizza is still cooking, it will darken and lose its beauty and flavor.
8. Set the first pizza on a warmed tray and repeat for the two remaining pizzas. There are now three complete pizzas, similar in their delicious freshness but subtly different in flavor, from the bright fresh simplicity of the pizza margarita with tomatoes, cheese, and basil only to the surprisingly meaty-tasting third pizza with garlic, olives, and thyme added to the other toppings. If all goes well, A and B will then sit down at the table and eat in harmony and affection, united in the glow of a job well done. A few helpful criticisms for next time are permitted, but keep them to a minimum.