Fresh fig salad

We are in France for the month and I am away from my garden. At the market in Paris I love to get fruits and vegetables of all kinds. This week they already had some fresh figs and I couldn't resist to get some. 

In Philadelphia we have figs a lot later in the season. Our neighbor had a huge fig tree, it died in the winter because of the cold. Last summer was the first time the tree produced fruits in large quantity a few branches were over our chicken coop and our neighbor let us have some. They were delicious. 

I love to eat them fresh so here is a salad recipe that you will love.

You need :

-Fresh figs

-Arugula 

-Fresh mozzarella ( di bufala if you can find it! )

Slice the figs and the mozzarella and prepare your plate with a bedding of arugula.

Prepare a simple dressing olive oil and salt.  ( you could also prepare a dressing more elaborated with honey and balsamic vinegar but for today I wanted it simple )

Serve.

Enjoy !

thinning out & a salad

am i the only one who hates thinning out seedlings? all i can think is that these little babies that i'm trimming could have the potential to grow into full sized plants, producing delicious veggies or beautiful flowers or herbs. (i actually found myself so incapable of thinning my tomatoes that i ended up transplanting them all into their own little pots and i'm now saddled with about 100 tomato seedlings! i have some very lucky friends and neighbors...)

last night i found myself desperately needing to thin out my radishes and arugula if i wanted any of them to grow to their full potential. so thin i did. but those little greens that i pulled out were not destined for the compost. instead, they headed straight for the salad bowl for a light dinner. if i were feeling fancy, i'd call it a microgreen salad.

toss some mini arugula and radish greens (or whatever you have, baby chard or kale would be delicious too) with sunflower seeds, some chopped gouda (chevre would have been delicious, but this was all i had on hand) and a little balsamic vinaigrette. some of the radish seedlings had begun to produce tiny fruits, so i washed those off and sprinkled them on top. delicious.

no seedling left behind!

garden pesto

every year, i like to try my hand at growing a few new plants.  this year, one of those was arugula.  i planted these arugula seeds practically as soon as the snow melted outside, which here in minneapolis was not until the third week in april.  we've been getting so much lettuce so far this year (including some that has volunteered for the second year in a row, after i let it go to seed in 2009!) that i practically forgot to pick the arugula for salads.  as some of it was starting to bolt, and as i was starting to think about planting the rest of my beans in their place, i knew i needed a recipe that would use up my modest arugula crop.  pesto it was!  this arugula pesto was delicious and simple to whip up after a long day at work.  i based the recipe on my standard basil pesto recipe (which is vegan), with a few adjustments. i hope you enjoy it!

and next up...garlic scape pesto!

spring arugula pesto

ingredients:
2 cups (packed) fresh arugula leaves
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
fresh ground pepper to taste

heat a small skillet over medium heat and toast the walnuts, stirring occasionally to make sure they don't burn.  this should take about 10 minutes, or until they begin to smell fragrant (alternatively, this can be done in the oven if you already have it turned on-for about 10-15 minutes).  put the arugula, garlic, and walnuts in a blender or food processor and blend until finely chopped.  while the blender/food processor is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.  add the salt and ground pepper to taste.  this recipe made about 7 ounces of pesto, or approximately enough for 2 pounds of pasta. 

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i'll admit i've been terrible at keeping up with my garden journal, but here are a few notes from the past week or two:
::lots of strawberries and lettuce are ready to be picked, and a few peas are ripe too!
::the peacevine and sungold tomato plants each have a few small green tomatoes, and most of the others are beginning to flower
::garlic scapes are appearing, must remember to pick them soon.
::i pulled out all the arugula, and radishes (only got a handful) and need to plant the rest of my beans there.
::harvested a few green onions for black sesame otsu, so delicious.
::the lavender is beginning to flower. my absolute favorite.