wannaGROW: Chive Blossoms (and Butter and Vinegar)

I just had a good laugh... at myself. wannaGROW isn't as much about what I can grow as it is about what I can't kill. Rhubarb and chives. What a good starting point!

So, at a certain point, likely around mid-June here, your chives will begin to flower. Those pretty little chive blossoms, with their delicate purple petals, are as edible as the plants that spawned them. 

CHIVES TIPS

I've learned that you should harvest the chives by cutting them about two inches above the soil, using scissors, to encourage regrowth. So, unlike the rhubarb where you should absolutely NOT cut, here it is okay to cut. Harvest from the outside edges to the inside. No additional care is required to get from plant to blossoms... it's just part of the life cycle each year.

Now, you can sprinkle the chive blossoms into salads, use them as a beautiful edible garnish, or... you could try something different. Maybe mix some beautiful chive blossoms into creamy white chevre for unique addition to your cheese plate. Or... you could make chive blossom compound butter or a chive blossom infused vinegar!

CHIVE BLOSSOM BUTTER
If you're feeling ambitious, you could make a batch of fresh butter for this little culinary escapade.

Let butter soften and come to room temperature. Add the petals of the chive blossoms to the butter and combine.

CHIVE BLOSSOM VINEGAR
Ingredients:
2 cups chive blossoms
~4 cups white vinegar (you can always sub in other vinegars here... maybe a champagne vinegar?)

Give your chive blossoms a quick rinse to get rid of any debris or bugs. Put your blossoms in your glass jar, then top with vinegar. Let marinate and infuse for two weeks in a cool, dark place.

Strain vinegar through a fine mesh sieve to remove the blossoms, then decant into a jar or bottle. Now dress your homegrown greens with a beautiful olive oil and your homemade chive blossom vinegar!

wannaGROW: Rhubarb (and Honeyed Cardamom Rhubarb Compote)

Life with a monster garden means a monster amount of work. It means loads of weeding, digging, pruning, planting, composting, and so on. In the past three years, we've brought our yard from an overgrown disaster to a more intentionally overgrown disaster. hah! We've pulled out some things, figured out what needs to stay, read books, and learned from Mom. We're trying to turn our not-completely-black thumbs into green ones. It's a work in progress. But that seems to be the underlying lesson that I hear from most gardeners... you learn by doing.

So, we're doing and we're doing our best.

One thing that seems to require very little effort in our garden is this lovely little patch of rhubarb in the back corner. The first year, we didn't even know it was there. The second year, we discovered it and that was about it. This third year, we managed to get there early, weed around it (courtesy of Des's elbow grease and contributions) and found ourselves harvesting a great amount of rhubarb!

RHUBARB TIPS

There are amazing tips on working with rhubarb on Canadian Gardening's site. What I did learn about harvesting was that you DO NOT cut the stalks to harvest them. Rather, you should grasp the stalk at the base, pull gently, and twist. Apparently this will encourage the root to continue to produce, as opposed to cutting which discourages it altogether. I think that little leafy bit (hidden by the big stalk that you just removed) is the whole reason for the harvesting technique. That little leaf will become a big rhubarb leaf and stalk soon enough!

Also, remove the flower stalks as they appear. If you leave these, the plant will put its energy into developing the flowers and become dormant for the season, as opposed to continuing to produce edible stalks for you. Oh, and a BIG no to eating the leaves. This is not the time to add variety to your garden salad. The leaves are toxic but they can be composted safely or turned into a helpful pesticide for your flowers like the one here. Just don't spray it on anything that you'll eat later. The leaves remain toxic even in this form.

I remember rhubarb in many forms when I was a kid. We grew up eating rhubarb fresh from the ground... a stalk rinsed under the garden hose with a tiny container of sugar. I remember my Dad making stewed rhubarb and eating it on anything... ice cream, toast, or just a straight bowlful of it. He loved it. Here's an idea for something slightly different for your rhubarb harvest...

Chocolate Espresso Banana Bread

I've been spending a LOT of time lately revisiting my eating and cooking habits. I don't like "light" or "diet" or "non-fat." (Though I do like 1% milk for my cereal.) For me, I think having a small pat of butter is more important than having a mass of a fat-free version. But somewhere along the way, I think I lost sight of portion sizes or maybe it was just a combination of factors. Regardless of the progression, I didn't like that a few favourite pieces of clothing were a bit too snug...

Time to revisit.

So, I've been trying to choose more vegetables than starches... opting for greek yogurts versus mayonnaises... and trying to get a bit more creative. I still enjoy the french fries and gravy every so often but it just can't be every day.

Time to be (a wee bit) healthier. These mini muffins are a great step in that direction... Wheat bran and flax kick up the fibre and omegas, bananas are full of potassium, greek yogurt is a great source of calcium and protein, agave is much sweeter than sugar so I could use less to achieve a similar level of sweetness as using brown sugar. And let's not forget my favourite sweetie-treatie justification... dark chocolate is a source of happy healthful antioxidants. So, I'm feeling pretty good about my little creation here. haha.

Eats & Smiles: Reflections on 2012

It's interesting how quickly things can change in one's world. Times like these seem to leave you less energy or inspiration for other things... like cooking.

It's been a whirlwind.

My December was filled many casual drinks with old friends and a few with some new ones. I managed to have some quality time with friendly and family faces. My world became bigger and smaller in the span of thirty days. The two biggest bits of news... We got engaged! In a completely amusing moment of shock and surprise, I found myself saying "of course" to a pledge of becoming a Mrs. Then, our world became a little bit smaller as our New Year's Day found us in the emergency vet and saying goodbye to our dearest and first furbaby, Wally.

Ironically, I had started the month of December with writing a love letter to the Edmonton Humane Society, thanking them for bringing both Wally and Jack into our lives. It was published this last week...

Tears of joy.

And tears of sorrow.

So, yes, it's been a whirlwind. To put it mildly.

In a wannafoodie world, I definitely chipped away at some of my foodie goals for 2012, which included:

- Mastering the creme brulee

- Making bread and -shocking- making cheese

- More brunch with friends

- Curing and preserving

- More Mexican

- More Soul

- More ice cream

- French cooking

- Infusing

- Donuts

Well, I definitely made some fantastic attempts in some areas and didn't chip away at others. I made a few creme brulees and pot de cremes... some turned out more like runny custard toppings or chocolate fondues. They were all still tasty!

I made many many loaves of sourdough bread and other sweet breads a la Peter Reinhardt. My momma launched her bread company and proved that she is truly a bread master. The "bread touch" is in my genes... somewhere! I'll tap into that even more and figure out if I can master these doughs.

It's so funny to read about making cheesemaking a goal for 2012! When I wrote that, I had absolutely zero idea that Valerie, Ian, Addie, and Deb would be launching Cheesepalooza that August. By August, I had made a few fresh cheeses but the challenge gave me such a framework of both learning but also of support that made this 2012 challenge much more attainable than it may have been on my own.

There were many more brunches with friends but also dinners with friends, drinks with friends, camping with friends, and so on. Food is so much better when you get to enjoy it with others. We even challenged ourselves and made a multi-course meal for New Year's Eve, where we made the meal together, then sat and enjoyed the meal together, complete with some pretty decadent wine pairings for each course. It was infinitely more comfortable, casual, and celebratory than being in a restaurant... having to dress up, pay through the nose, worry about finishing up by a certain time, and -the worst- figuring out how to get home on that very busy evening!

There was no curing, as I had no idea how all-consuming my cheese challenge would become, but there was more preserving this year. We have come to completely hoard our stash of preserves, carefully selecting jars for consumption, and enjoying the fruits of our labours and the bests of the season previous.

There was a bit more Mexican (and an amusing attempt at a campside mole) but no more attempts at Soul. Still some work to do in this area.

There were a few more ice creams and sorbets. I was particularly pleased with a pumpkin pie-chevre faux ice cream. It was little more than pumpkin puree with homemade chevre, pumpkin spiced syrup, and a bit of gelatin (after finding inspiration from my Momofuku cookbook in the use of gelatin).

I succeeded in adding more French cookery to my repertoire! I made dulce de leche filled puffs in Argentina of all places for Brunch with Friends 3... a little Europe meets South America. I read French Kids Eat Everything, which pushed me to think about my own eating habits both in terms of the what but also the when and how. It reminded me that it never hurts to add a bit more ceremony to your daily meals. I took a French Country cooking class, which was fantastic! Then we remade that menu with our own inspiration for a family dinner. I read Julia Child's and Laura Calder's cookbooks... reminding myself to cook ingredients simply and preserve their integrity through elevation and simple sophistication.

I didn't manage to attack any infusions but sure did enjoy some mixology attempts... I now know that my perfect negroni substitutes cinzano for the red vermouth. I will also substitute aperol for campari, if I am feeling like toning down the delightful bitterness.

Oh donuts... donuts... I sure managed to eat them but did not manage to make any. I sure need to get on that bandwagon.

So, all in all, it looks as though I managed to chip away at some of my foodie goals better than others but am so happy with my progress. I definitely feel as though I have a broader repertoire than when I started. I'll continue to work towards achieving more of these goals.

And eating a lot more salads... I do have a wedding coming up now.

wannafoodie in Metro Edmonton!

I'm thrilled to be included, alongside the esteemed and amazing Kitchen Magpie Karlynn and Phil the Baconhound, in a 12 Days of Christmas feature in Metro Edmonton. The 4th day of Christmas featured favourite holiday recipes from the three of us as well as many other local Edmontonians. 

Check out the full article and recipes here!

You can also find the full, step-by-step version of the Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cookies here. These are fussy babies since homemade marshmallows do not withstand heat in the same way that store-bought marshmallows do... so you have to chill chill chill your dough (and even your assembled cookies), cook these at a low temperature, and I highly recommend a test cookie to make sure that your oven isn't too hot! (Or... maybe give these a shot with store-bought marshmallows with a slight drop of peppermint extract on it.)

Thanks again to Metro Edmonton and Heather for including me in this Christmas countdown! And to all of you for reading!

*smiles*