Recently in garden Category

Hello everyone!  Just a simple post today with some items from our New Jersey garden:

(photo: basil)

Like many prized goods in the food world, the best ingredients are often found in the wild and prepared without much manipulation.  Calabria is famous for wild mushrooms (click here to read my guide on finding wild mushrooms), chestnuts, asparagus, roasted wild boar, etc. and it's part of what makes the southern most province in Italy (along with Sicily) such a special region.  Hence my simple mantra: wild food is great food (let the French have their fancy manipulated fair).  

You can of course find wild dandelion in most suburban lawns here in the US, but the flavor component is not the same (trust me, I've sampled the fare both as a kid and an adult!).  I have, however, found some good "wild" dandelion greens at a local market during the Spring season.  You can sauté dandelions, but I like them in a simple salad with a good red wine vinegar/extra virgin olive oil dressing and thinly sliced red onion. You can also try a vinaigrette dressing (here's my recipe).   

My kidney bean salad is comprised of 1 inch diced green beans, corn, red onion, parsley, carrot, kidney beans, extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper, and kosher salt.

Pesto Tuna Salad is simply comprised of homemade pesto sauce and good quality Italian tuna packed in olive oil (the best is imported from Italy and canned in Sicily).  Here's my pesto recipe.  

The above meal goes well with a rustic homemade wine.  

 

(Photo: Sauvignon Blanc from Chile <great bargain versus Australia>) 

As I've suggested in a recent post, I'm a dyed in the wool country man, but I live a few minutes outside of the largest city in the US!  You must be thinking: how paradoxical that this guy loves nature yet lives so close to a major urban area?  Well the truth of the matter is I value the rural life in small doses at this stage of my life (given the associations I make with urban/suburban living: family, friends, work, activities, food, etc.).  I am convinced, however, that at some point in my life I'd like to make a go at living the rural life.  Sure, my thoughts of life in the country are more romantic than pragmatic, but there are certain country activities that I sometimes crave like raising animals, tending a large scale garden, building a barn, listening to silence, feeling isolated, walking in the woods, etc.  

(Photo: mushroom prep: first cutting into larger chunks)

The walking in the woods part got me thinking about an activity that I watched my grandfathers and father (along with his friends) take part in each and every Fall; that is, foraging for wild mushrooms.  My grandfather foraged in the forests of Calabria, while my father and his buddies strolled through the Palisades in northern New Jersey to find edible mushrooms for pickling and frying (the preferred methods of consumption amongst the people of Pellegrina).

Foraging for wild mushrooms can be a dangerous proposition and, like learning a trade, it takes years to get it right and the help of an experienced technician is mandatory.  You can find wild mushrooms in large cities next to shade trees, suburban lawns, and the remote woods.  The best season to look for wild mushrooms is in the Fall and preferably a day or two after a large rainfall.  Identifying edible wild mushrooms can be tricky and that's why you should forage only with an experienced picker (they don't have to have Mediterranean blood, however!).

Many non poisonous mushroom varieties are easy to identify, such as Morel, Chanterelle, Oyster, Puffballs, and Coral Fungus (click here for some pics). You should assume that other varieties are poisonous as your safest bet is to stick with the type you've confirmed are edible and look for new types only with an expert.  My father, for example, is an expert only in the wild mushrooms that he's consumed and identified here in the US and in Italy (that is to say, he sticks to looking for 2-3 basic varieties of wild mushrooms).  

Picking mushrooms is fairly easy, but you'll want to bring along a good quality knife to remove and clean the 'shrooms.  You'll also want to bring along a few plastic bags to store the items along with a backpack if you're taking a day hike.  

(Photo: mushroom prep: cutting into finer pieces)

Cleaning wild mushrooms is straightforward but you'll want to keep the following tips in mind:

1. Use a clean rag or small brush to remove all the dirt.

2. Look for bugs and other creatures before bringing any mushrooms into your home.

3. Mushrooms can spoil quickly so after cleaning the items store them in your refrigerator until you're ready to prepare your newfound delicacies.  

Cooking your mushrooms is where the fun begins!  Like any store bought mushroom, wild mushrooms can be prepared in many different ways, including fried, baked, boiled/pickled, in pasta and risotto, etc.  Personally, I'm a sucker for pan fried mushrooms with lots of garlic and parsley.  My mother pickles a few different varieties of wild mushrooms (especially the varieties that contain lots of water).  If the family happens to find wild porcini they are excellent with penne and a quick pan tomato sauce. 

My advice on how to start finding wild mushrooms: ask around and see if you have any old world Europeans living in your neighborhood, my hunch is that they have a secret mushroom foraging fetish.  So, be nice to your German or Italian neighbor (maybe buy him a bottle of wine) and he'll take you mushroom picking in the Fall (I swear you'll be hooked!). 

Here are some other excellent resources:

North American Mycological Association 
NJ North American Mycological Association 

We've had a cold and wet summer in the Northeast this year, so I'm not sure what the Fall and Winter seasons will bring us in terms of temperature, snow, wind, and rain.  However, I do know that a good looking garden (including grass, shrubs, and flowers) starts as soon as everything begins to die or go dormant.  Here are some basic Fall gardening tips that will make your green space look great come the first couple of warm days in the Spring:

1. If your garden includes a lawn then the early Fall time period is the best time to re-seed, fertilize, and add lime.  I tend to fertilize in the early Fall and early Spring time periods and I usually use my soil sample numbers to guide the type of fertilizer I buy.  A soil sample analysis will tell you how to amend your lawn's soil and whether it needs more or less potassium, nitrogen, etc. I like to test my soil every 5-8 years.  It's important that you follow the instruction on your spreader when adding fertilizer and lime and amend your soil according to whatever nutrients you need to put back into the ground.  Re-seeding your lawn with new grass seed is fairly simple and can be done by hand if your lawn is not too large.  I re-seed any bare spots in my lawn every October.  

2. Don't forget that your plants, shrubs, and bushes can also benefit from an application of fertilizer.  Use a slow release fertilizer and apply the correct amount according to the bag instruction.  Over fertilizing can be an issue for any plant, so it's always best to under fertilize if you're unsure.  

3. October is a good time to prune shrubs and bushes and ensure that the plants will come back healthier and fuller in the Spring.  Every bush or shrub has a slightly different pruning method so it's best to do a little research on how much material to cut off and where in the branch formation you should cut.  October is also the best time to plant new shrubs and bushes.  Visit the GardenWeb forums for specific advice on trees, shrubs, and just about any plant.

4. If you have any hardscapes in your garden such as pavers, natural stone, etc. the Fall is a good time to apply a sealer to help protect your surfaces.   For example, I seal my concrete paver walkway every other year so that the pavers do not shift or come loose.  I also add new play sand in between the pavers to keep water from reaching underneath the walkway (you'll want to add your sand first, with a large broom, and thereafter add your sealer to bind the sand).  While not necessarily tied to your garden, resealing your asphalt driveway is also a good idea if the current surface is cracked, crumbling, or is in general disrepair.  I'll be applying a blacktop sealer for the first time this Fall and I'll let you know how involved the process after the project is complete.

5. I happen to live in a town with an active Shade Tree Commission and a recognized Tree City USA program - this means our community takes maintaining and planting new trees pretty seriously.  The commission prunes street trees, plants new trees in the Fall, and removes any dead or almost dead trees.  The Fall is a great time to plant a new street tree!  Planting a tree near your home increases property value, shades your home during the summer months, and just makes for a better quality of life.  Most plant centers have crews available to plant street trees, but you can plant your own tree with a little bit muscle and a few friends on a crisp Fall weekend.