Dried basil should be illegal. It has no flavor. It has no texture. And it is a very sad substitute for fresh basil, which is so tasty and easy to grow! A single basil plant can yield 12 or more cups of leaves in a single season. So what’s the secret to getting the most out of your basil? Eat a lot of it! The more your harvest the more your plants will produce!

Pinch Right Above the Little Leaves

When harvesting basil, it’s best to pinch off a piece of the stem rather than just snipping off a leaf or two. Before you make your pinch, take a close look at your basil plant. Basil leaves grow in sets of two and the leaves are positioned exactly opposite from each other on the stem. If you examine the point where the leaves meet the stem, you should see two sets of tiny leaves growing out of the junction. When you’re harvesting, it’s important to make your pinch directly above a set of leaves. Why? By taking off the lead stem, you send a signal to the tiny leaves that it is time for them to grow into branches.

Keep Fresh Basil in Water

After you’ve harvested your basil, don’t stick in the fridge. The leaves quickly turn black and slimy when refrigerated and lose their signature spicy sweet flavor. To keep my basil fresh, I put it into a short, stout vase of water and keep it out of direct sunlight. The basil tends to droop at first, but after about 12 hours it perks right up. I change the water every other day and use the leaves as I need them. I like to keep the vase on my desk, because it makes my whole office smell like basil!

The basil will stay fresh in the jar for a week or more. In fact, if you leave the stems in water they will eventually root and you can replant them in a pot or out in the garden!

I have a little proposal. I think we should all take a cue from the English and start calling arugula rocket. I know this sounds a little fancy, but don’t you think that rocket is a way better name for a plant that has a bit of a fiery burn and grows really fast? I certainly do.

I’ve been considering switching my arugula terminology ever since my vacation to England in January. But last night I decided once and for all to make the change, because my arugula had literally rocketed toward the sky—sending up a stalk of flower buds and leaving a bunch of big, spicy, mature leaves below.

Rocket Blossoms

Usually, I like to harvest rocket when its serrated leaves are about 3 inches long for salads, but the mature leaves have their merits, too. They’re a bit rough and tough for eating raw, but when cooked down, they have a full, nutty flavor that compliments pasta, whole grains, and polenta perfectly.

So, instead of sending my mature rocket to the compost pile, I harvested a gigantic bowl of leaves. I chose to make a pasta dish, using the Spinach Fettuccine with Arugula and Tomatoes recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone as my inspiration. It couldn’t have been a faster, more delicious way to use up a heaping mound of greens.

Fettuccine with Rocket and Tomatoes
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
Serves 2

This recipe takes about 20 minutes from start to finish and is perfectly suited for a weeknight meal on the fly. I happened to have a bunch of freshly harvested shallots sitting on my counter, so I threw some into the mix. Rather than use Roma tomatoes, I chopped up a pretty and very flavorful mix of lime green ‘Green Zebra’ and red and orange streaked ‘Tigerella’ tomatoes. I also cut the amount of pasta called for in half because I prefer a high sauce to pasta ratio. The rocket tomato concoction in this recipe is a perfect mix-in for pasta, but it would also make an excellent side dish on its own.

What you’ll need:
8 oz fettuccine
Salt
4 tablespoons of olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
3 big pinches of red pepper flakes
8 cups of mature rocket (arugula) leaves, large stems removed and leaves chopped into ½ inch wide by 2 inch long ribbons
6 small tomatoes (I used 3 ‘Green Zebra’ and 3 ‘Tigerella’), seeded and diced
¼ cup Italian parsley, chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan

Instructions:
1. Bring a stockpot of salted water to a boil. Add in the fettuccine and cook until al dente.

2. In the meantime, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add in the shallots, garlic, and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic and shallots soften and begin to turn a pale golden color, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the rocket, and using tongs, toss it with the shallot mixture until it just wilts. Remove the pan from the heat, season with salt and gently stir in the tomatoes and parsley.

4. Reserve about ¼ cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta when it is ready, and then add it directly to the pan of rocket along with a tablespoon or two of the pasta water (just enough to help the rocket mix in). Toss well. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with finely grated Parmesan. Serve in warmed bowls.

My garden is chock full of really cute things to eat right now. Tiny cherry tomatoes, two-inch long zucchini, velvety new green beans. But last night I decided to award the prize for most adorable plant to my chamomile.

It wasn’t really a fair contest. It’s hard for the vegetables to compete with pint sized daisies that smell like freshly cut hay and green apples. Their cute quotient is just too high.

I spent over an hour snip, snip, snipping the tiny blossoms off the plant, but now I have no idea what I’m going to make with my first ever chamomile harvest.

Tea is an obvious choice, but I already have a bag of chamomile tea in the cupboard. So I’m thinking about trying to infuse the flavor of the blossoms into a simple syrup or maybe even making a lemon chamomile ice cream.

Stay tuned! I’ll let you know what I come up with (and if it tastes good!).

p.s. If you have any other recipe ideas for chamomile, I’m all ears.

I feel bad for radishes. They are always the last thing to go on the veggie tray. And most people only plant them in early spring when they are desperate for something (anything!) to grow. But I’ve always liked radishes, and when I harvested this technicolor bunch of them the other day, I decided that it was time to try and convince more people to grow and eat radishes.

1. First of all, look at these babies. They are gorgeous—so pretty my mom demanded we take a photo before we ate them.

2. Radishes are fast. They pop their little heads out of the ground just a few days after sowing and are ready to eat in under a month. Plus, you can grow them from early spring through fall, and they do great in containers.

3. Taste the leaves! Yes, you can eat the leaves (their Velcro-like texture disappears when you cook them). Just steam the leaves, dress them up with a bit of melted butter and lemon zest, and you’ve got yourself a fast and healthy side dish.

4. Eat radish pods! Let a few radish plants go to seed so you can try eating their pods (harvest them when they’re a couple inches long and before the seeds begin to fill out the pod). The pods have a little zip of heat and big flavor. They taste delicious stir fried with garlic, chopped chervil ,and chives. If you like them, you can even grow ‘Rat Tail’ a variety that was bred just for the pods.

5. The roots are good, too. I like them sliced paper thin and layered on a piece of crunchy bread spread with salty butter.

6. Homegrown tastes best. Like everything, radishes have the best flavor fresh from the garden. The key to growing succulent, tender, mild flavored roots is always, and I mean always, keeping their soil evenly moist. Let the soil dry out, and you’ll get stunted, pithy, hot roots. Prevent slug damage by gently hilling soil around the roots’ shoulders when they push out of the ground, and be sure to thin the plants to 1 inch apart when they have two sets of leaves, otherwise you’ll get crowded, malformed roots. After thinning, pop the mini radishes into salads and throw the little tops into soup.

An edible bouquet

I really like the variety ‘Easter Egg II’ from Territorial Seed. You get white, dark red, purple and pink radishes all in one package…a combo that is hard to resist (even if you think you don’t like radishes).

I’m a little bit of a jam fanatic. My favorite way to eat jam is with a spoon right out of the jar, but it’s pretty easy to convince me to try jam on a crusty baguette with butter, or stirred into yogurt, or spread on saltine crackers (It’s good, I promise!).

My top priority for the summer is to learn how to can, because I want to make jam with the blackberries that ramble along my south fence. In the name of research, I’ve been investigating small batch, artisan jams, and my favorite discovery is Lemon Bird Handmade Jams.

Strawberry Jam with Black Pepper and a Hint of Mint

Lemon Bird’s owner, Amy Deaver, has been making jam for friends and family for years, but she stumbled into the jam business when a her husband’s colleague gave them 100 pounds of peaches that needed to be put up. One thing led to another and Amy began selling jam to a few shops in Southern California and online at Etsy, where I found her.

I was immediately smitten with Lemon Bird’s cute labels and inspired combinations (apricot with honey and pistachio, anyone?). But when I called up Amy and found out that she has a firm belief in homegrown, handmade foods and that she’s planted her own organic orchard, it was love.

Jam Made with Fruit from Amy’s Neighbor’s Tree!

Amy was a ton of fun to talk to and she kindly offered up some simple jam making tips for me (and you, too!):

“Jam is a little bit of science and art, so experiment away!”

“Make jam with fruit that is perfectly ripe, and use homegrown or locally grown fruits - nothing can beat it.  Organic spices are also so wonderful!”

Try Rose Jelly Over Soft Cheese

To find out more about Amy’s handmade, gourmet jams, you can visit her website www.lemonbirddesigns.com or you can go to her Esty shop www.lemonbird.etsy.com.

She also has a jam of the month club, which I think is a perfect gift for people who don’t need more things in their life, but love to eat! Members of this delicious club get 10 jars of jam total, with a jar arriving in their mailbox every 8 to 10 weeks.

(All the photos in this post are by Nicole Norstrud of www.norstrudphotography.com)

Today’s garden sneak peek comes courtesy of writer and garden designer Maria Finn of Prospect & Refuge, who created this unique edible garden for a couple in New York City. Finn’s clients asked her to transform their boring, walled cement courtyard into a vegetable garden. There was just one problem: the garden needed to share space with the clients’ lovable Labrador, Mookie, whose nickname is “The Destroyer”.

Finn’s solution? A lofted vegetable garden! This garden makes ingenious use of the courtyard’s plentiful vertical space, keeps the edibles safely out of Mookie’s reach, and leaves space for him, and his owners, to romp.

Finn custom built an arbor topped with five planting boxes and filled them with vegetables and herbs, including salad greens, heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, and jalapeno peppers. Baskets of strawberries and chocolate mint hang from the sides, which have built-in ladders that make harvesting and watering a breeze. The whole structure was painted eggplant to help protect it from the elements and to add color to the bland courtyard.

On either side of the arbor, deep planter boxes painted in bright, contrasting colors hold a fig tree and vines, and lattice fencing protects the plants from the dog. I think this concept would translate perfectly to roof gardens and the loft might even make an interesting entrance to an in-ground veggie garden!

Finn created an audio slideshow about this project on her blog City Dirt, which always has really great, insightful thoughts about urban gardening (I love her recent post about garden tips from the Surfrider Foundation!). You can also check out more of her work, including some really cool terrace gardens, at the Prospect & Refuge site.

I was almost 25 years old the first time I tried a fresh fig. It was one of those seminal eating experiences that I’ll never forget. The fig was cut in half, smeared with goat cheese, and drizzled with honey. It was an incredible food moment, but I was momentarily saddened when I realized how many figs I could have eaten if only I’d known about them sooner!

I’ve been making up for lost time by eating fig gelato, figs wrapped in bacon, figs in oatmeal, and fig jam with Manchego cheese. So when I saw the first fresh figs of the season at the store, it was physically impossible to resist buying them.

I wanted to make something cheesy and savory, but without bacon so Jon (who is a vegetarian) could share. I settled on making up a big batch of caramelized onions, cooked long and slow, until they were deep brown, soft and sweet. Then I stirred in chopped up figs and cooked them until they began to melt into the onions.  Our house smelled so good, I would have tried to eat the air if the pan of figs and onions hadn’t been right in front of me.

I decided that this fig jam (or is it a confit?) would be the perfect filling for a gooey grilled cheese sandwich.  So, I spread some sourdough bread with a mix of shredded fontina and Gouda, loaded the sandwich up with the confit, sprinkled on a big pinch of finely grated Parmesan for good measure, and griddled them until they were golden brown and oozing cheese.

They were so, so good. I’d eat them 7 nights a week if they were just a teensy bit healthier!

Grilled Cheese for Grownups
This recipe makes extra confit. We gobbled up the remainder by spreading it on crackers with cheese and eating it straight out of the leftover container.

What you’ll need:
2 large sweet yellow onions, sliced
Kosher or sea salt
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 ½ cups of figs, diced
½ to 1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary, finely minced
1/3 cup grated Gouda cheese
1/3 cup grated Fontina cheese
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
4 slices sourdough bread
2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

Instructions:
1. Heat the oil over medium high until it shimmers. Add the sliced onions, toss to coat them with oil, and sprinkle a big pinch of salt over them. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook the onions slowly until they soften and turn an even, deep brown (about 30 minutes).

2. In the meantime, mix together the grated Gouda and Fontina cheeses in a small bowl. Wash the figs, slice off their stem ends, and cut them into ¼ inch pieces (see the top photo). When the onions are completely caramelized, turn the heat back up to medium and stir in the figs and the rosemary (to taste). When the figs just begin to break apart, after about 2 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and scrape the mixture into a bowl.

3. To make the sandwiches, divide the Gouda and Fontina cheese mixture between two slices of the bread, spreading evenly. Then, spread a quarter cup of the onion fig confit onto each of the remaining slices of bread and top them off with a tablespoon of Parmesan each. Create the sandwiches by topping each cheesy slices of bread with a fig onion confit slice.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a skillet. When the foam subsides, place the sandwiches, cheese side down, into the skillet. Press the sandwiches into the pan with the back of a spatula and cook, without flipping over, until the bread is evenly browned (about 3 minutes). Place the sandwiches onto a plate.

5. Melt more butter in the pan (about ½ tablespoon). When the foam subsides, place the sandwiches back in the pan, browned side up, and cook about 3 more minutes, or until the bread is evenly browned and the cheese is completely melted.

6. Remove the sandwiches from the pan, slice them in half, and serve immediately.

Seattle Tilth is hosting a self-guided chicken coop tour this Saturday and as part of their marketing efforts they asked me and our hens, Inky, Clyde, Bumble, and Boo Boo to appear on a local TV segment. The camera crew and producer dropped by our backyard barnyard yesterday afternoon and filmed the girls running around doing their chicken thing and asked me a few questions.

The girls are total prima donnas and were very excited about their big TV debut, so I thought I would share the a link to the clip, plus some glamour shots of the girls. Enjoy!

Clyde is an Araucana and she lays blue eggs!

Inky is my favorite chicken!

Isn’t she cute?

I think that the absolute best way to become a better gardener—and get great gardening ideas—is to talk to other gardeners and to take a peek at their gardens. So this week, I’m kicking off a series of sneak peeks into exceptional kitchen gardens. I thought it would be fun to start with a look at the exquisite bamboo trellises the writer Jack Staub creates in his kitchen gardens at Hortulus Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Jack creates his artful trellises, arbors, and tuteurs by lashing bamboo poles and curved stakes together with plastic zip ties rather than twine, which tends to sag and loosen. Jack’s structures combine form and function by creating fantastic architectural interest and increasing garden real estate by raising plants up off the ground. These sturdy, practical works of art can last up to five years, and Jack says the secret to their longevity is pretty simple: zip ties and plenty of cross bracing. I don’t know about you, but I’m inspired to create a series of tuteurs for my peas, beans, and cucumbers next summer…

To see more photos of Jack’s garden, check out his monthly blog, the Hortulus Farm Diary and the Hortulus Farm website (where you can also book tours of the gardens).

p.s. I discovered Jack’s gem of a book 75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden (Gibbs Smith, 2005) at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show. I think it deserves a place on every vegetable lover’s bookshelf, because it profiles 75 exceptional vegetable varieties (including my all-time, very favorite lettuce ‘Forellenschluss’). Each profile is accompanied by a beautiful illustration of the variety and interesting historical facts and other tidbits. Jack is also the author of 75 Remarkable Fruits for Your Garden (Gibbs Smith 2008), and his third book 75 Exceptional Herbs for Your Garden (Gibbs Smith) comes out this August. I can’t wait! 

A sure sign that summer has arrived in Seattle is the appearance of cherry stands on the side of the road. These stands are nothing fancy, usually just a bored looking teenager with a box of cash and a pickup truck full of cherries. The cherries come from Wenatchee, a little town just over the Cascade Mountains that is surrounded by miles and miles of orchards.

I have a major addiction to Rainier cherries, and let me tell you, it’s expensive to get my yearly fix. Rainiers cost upwards of six dollars a pound, and I usually only treat myself to a bag (or three) each season. But this year I got lucky. Our neighbor dropped by and gave us a huge bag of Rainier cherries his mom picked over in Wenatchee. It must weigh six pounds. I nearly fainted when he handed it over.

I’ve been stuffing my face with Rainiers for the past two days, but one girl can only eat so many cherries, so I decided to dip a bunch of them in chocolate and take them to a 4^th of July party. Chocolate covered cherries are a treat any time, but chocolate covered Rainiers are completely decadent and, I think, an absolutely perfect way to celebrate summer.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Be sure to use a dark, semi-sweet chocolate in this recipe.  Milk chocolate overwhelms the cherry flavor (and dark chocolate looks prettier). If the melted chocolate starts to harden up before you’re done dipping, pop it into the microwave for a few seconds and then give it a good stir. The cherries are fantastic all by themselves, but for a special treat, serve them with chilled Prosecco.

What you’ll need:

8 ounces of semi-sweet dark chocolate

½ pound of fresh, sweet cherries

Instructions:

1. Wash and thoroughly dry the cherries. Line a plate that will fit into your refrigerator with parchment or wax paper.

2. Fill the bottom of a double boiler with two inches of water. Bring the water to a boil. In the meantime, break the chocolate into small chunks and place it into the double boiler’s top pan. Place the top pan over the water when it reaches a rolling boil.

3. Whisk the chocolate constantly until it is completely melted and smooth. Then, remove the double boiler from the heat and scrape the chocolate into a small bowl.*

4. Grab each cherry by its stem and dip it into the chocolate. Swirl the cherry in a clockwise motion, coating the bottom ¾ of the fruit. Place the cherry on the parchment paper covered plate. Repeat with the remaining cherries. Then, stick the plate into the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens. If you’re not eating them right away, put the cherries in a covered container and keep them in the refrigerator for a few days.

* If you don’t have a double boiler, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave. Just place the chocolate pieces into a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 to 60 seconds on medium power (it might take more time depending on your microwave). Stop and whisk the chocolate every 15 seconds until it is completely melted.

I started gardening in my new P-Patch plot last autumn. When we got the plot, huge sunflower skeletons stood sentinel over it and weeds, squash, and greens grew in a tangled jungle on the ground. We pulled up everything and started with a clean slate…or so I thought. This spring and summer a number of volunteer vegetables have popped up all over the plot. I’ve discovered frilly heads of leaf lettuce among the fava beans, pink and white chard intertwined with my peas, plus romaine and oak leaf lettuces, lots of lemon balm, nasturtiums, and sunflowers.

These plants were an unexpected, but delightful, surprise. And they have convinced me that it’s best to not have too tidy of a garden! 

If you like the idea of veggies and herbs that plant themselves, try letting chard, lettuces, arugula, mustard greens, chives, cilantro, Italian parsley, and dill go to flower and self sow. I can’t predict where these plants will end up in your garden, but I can guarantee that they’ll find their way to your plate next summer! 

Surprise Arugula Seedlings

Gorgeous, Lime Green Volunteer Lettuce

Lemon Balm Is Pretty, but a Bit Weedy

Chard Sets Tons of Seed In Its 2nd Season

p.s. Letting vegetables and herbs flower has some fringe benefits. Herb blossoms attract tons of pollinators and look awesome in bouquets (just be sure to leave some flowers in the garden or you won’t get any volunteers). And arugula flowers make a great salad garnish. They look delicate, but pack a spicy punch!