What a difference a week can make. We had a visit from Steve’s daughter Catherine and her boyfriend Homer over the 4th of July holiday. When they arrived, June 26, I scrounged to make a meal. It was fabulous, farmer’s market pork chops and from the garden roasted beets with feta and a side dish of sautéed beet greens and radishes. But we all agreed that their final meal on July 5 was by far the best of the visit.
In fact, it was a whole day of delicious meals. For brunch I made an omelette (farm eggs, but not from my chickens yet). It had garlic scapes, spring onion, asparagus, a little baby kale, rosemary, thyme, and local goat cheese. For our English muffins/bagels, there was strawberry jam made last week.
That afternoon I went out to the garden and came back with a big pile of varied veggies. That could only mean one thing: Stir fry!!
I had the first baby zucchini, the last of the asparagus, one plant’s worth of green beans, snow peas, garlic scapes, onion, radishes, carrots, beet greens, Genovese basil and Thai basil. There was even a handful of broccoli side shoots. I eyed the napa cabbage growing in the flower garden, too, but in the end I forgot about it. The beet greens were delicious, and the napa gets another week to form a bigger head.
Every vegetable in the stir fry came from the garden. Not even supplemental garlic, as the scapes have proven to be quite strong this year. That always makes me feel great.
I have a new Weber grill with the BBQ package, a skillet that sits down in the grill. I tried stir frying in that but of course, like all stir fries, I had too many vegetables. Still, the skillet really did a good job with the chicken, carrots, radishes and onions. I moved inside with the chopped vegetables, poured the chicken mixture in, and then added the greens for one minute and the basils right at the very end.
My stir fry marinade, which I then pour into the stir fry, is simple: equal parts rice wine and soy sauce, grated ginger and grated garlic, hoisin sauce and a little sugar. I marinate the chicken or beef for 20 minutes — 1 hour. I finish the dish with a squeeze of fish sauce. I serve with additional soy sauce at the table.
Here’s a view of the cabbages in the flower bed, a nice companion to the runner beans and the hydrangea!
The runner beans are sharing space with the most beautiful flower in the garden, the clematis, which has formed a gorgeous bridge between two trellises just above the cabbage!
