Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Cooking from the Garden
Now that the garden is starting to produce some produce, I'm going to try to post a few things on my poor neglected food blog.
Last weekend I harvested the first chile peppers. I was hoping for more heat from the Chile Grandes and the Aci Sivris. I'm counting on the Serranos for salsa and Indian food, but they're just starting to form fruit. If they're not hot, I'll be very disappointed.
Labels: chiles, potager, vegetables
18 Comments:
Isn't it great fun to use products from your own garden? I love the prepare meals with all my home grown organic veggies, herbs and fruits. We're happily munching away at Bliss!
I used to love to grow my own specialty peppers for salsa, too...so much more variety of flavor that way! Hope yours get going soon!
What a joy to harvest some produce and use it in your cooking. I have been using my Thai "red demons" almost every time I cook-including in many recipes that don't call for hot pepper LOL. But were I come from a bit of hot pepper is required in almost any savory dish, as essential as onions and garlic.
We planted some very hot varieties of peppers but were disappointed with the heat in all of them. The best were the little Thai devils and the tiny Tepin bird peppers. The cayenne, serranos, jalapenos, aji, tabascos were all disappointing. I wonder if we don't have a hot enough sun here in NJ?
Yolanda Elizabet: I'm soooooo happy to have a vegetable garden again. I haven't had enough sun for one for many years, but now, in the country, I have all the sun I could wish for.
Lisa: I like variety! Probably too much - things get a bit jumbled - but I keep trying new things.
Nicole: The Thai "red demons", are those the tiny ones? I don't know why I didn't plant any of those. I think I was fixated on Serranos when I was reading seed catalogs.
Ki: I don't know what it is about hot peppers. Some people say they need to be drought-stressed to develop heat, but I've read somewhere that's not true. The Hispanic guy who sells me chiles at the Herndon farmer's market says if they're picked too soon they won't be hot. His chiles are always good, so I figure he knows what he's talking about. I'll let you know how the Serranos turn out, but I'm going to leave them a while before I pick any.
Oh, and I also have a decorative pepper - Bellingrath Gardens Purple - that produces fruit something like the little Thai peppers, except purple/black in color. I got a late start with those - I hope they produce something before frost. I'm pretty sure those will be hot, because they were last year even in less than ideal conditions.
I bought the red demons from Renee's garden. The packet also came with a milder orange fogo. They are hybrids but I still saved the seeds-will be fun to see what I get. From my experience, hot peppers do indeed get hotter when the temperature is higher-I even noticed the difference in these peppers from my first harvests in March to now. Before I could use a whole pepper in a dish, but since June I've had to reduce that to half.
And yes, unripe hot peppers are much milder than ripened. Some of the Asian peppers have a completely different taste ( and used in different dishes) in ripe and unripened states.
You never know about peppers - we had all that rain and not so much sun and the new Mariachi Peppers, labeled 'mildly hot', went all capsaicin on us.
Happy Belated birthday, Entangled - saw your comment at Colleen's.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Nicole: Hot peppers in March? I want to move to the Caribbean! My hot peppers in March come from my freezer. I'll put the Red Demons on my list for next year.
Annie: Thank you! I feel about 110 years old hanging out with all these youngsters ;
Happy Belated Birthday! I saw your comment on Colleen's post so hopped over to wish you a great year. :)
Now you have me wishing I had planted more hot peppers. Do you blanch yours before you freeze them, or do you have another method that you are willing to share? You seem serious about your hot peppers, so I figured you would know all of the tricks!
Peppers in March, LOL, chili pepper "trees" are perennial here, my mother's lasted for years. I only have to replant because of my work travel schedule-sometimes when I am away for a few weeks my husband doesn't water enough or the plant succumbs to whiteflies-which he doesn't even notice!
I think you'll like that combo from Renee's seeds, I really like cooking with them, and I have grown chilies from seeds I toted from Thailand.
Blackswamp Girl: Thanks!
I just spread out the peppers in a single layer in a baking pan and put the pan in the freezer. When the peppers are frozen solid, I put them in a plastic bag. That way, it's easy to just take out one or two when needed. No blanching. The hardest part is finding a flat space in the freezer to set the baking pan on. :-)
Nicole: Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that peppers are perennial in warm climates. I'm curious how tall they get. Here most of them seem to top out at about 2 feet. Unless they get eaten by some critter. Last evening, I discovered all the leaves missing from one plant. But the fruit is still there. :-)
I would say 3-4 feet is average for a hot pepper plant.Note people here would mostly say "go pick some peppers from the TREE", rather than plant. A hot pepper plant is something you would have in the Caribbean similar to how you would keep a thyme or rosemary plant to snip when needed-you just run out to pick some pepppers when you are cooking.
Whenever we are cooking (just about everything-casseroles,lasagna, pasta sauces,) we saute some minced hot pepper along with the onions/garlic. We also use it to season fish/meat.
Even more ubiquitous than hot peppers here are seasoning peppers-considered as essential as onions an garlic to good cooking. You can see my seasoning peppers here
http://caribbeangarden.blogspot.com/2007/02/peck-of-peppers.html
It truncated:
http://caribbeangarden.blogspot.com/2007/02/
peck-of-peppers.html
Nicole: I'm really intrigued by the seasoning peppers. They're not hot at all? I don't know much about the cooking of the Caribbean. I imagine it must vary greatly from island to island.
No, the seasoning peppers don't have any heat, but lots of flavor. My favorite varieties are called aji dulce ( from Puerto Rico)and Trinidad seasoning ( from, surprise, Trinidad!) If you want fresh seeds next year remind me then and I'll mail them.
Well, there are many common dishes to the islands-like rice and peas and callaloo. But the place for the gourmand is Trinidad, as its multicultural, with a huge multicultural and creole cuisine.
Here's one food blog.
http://www.trinigourmet.com
Nicole: I can see that I need to educate myself about Trinidad and its cooking. We like multicultural! There's a curry & roti place in DC, but we've not been there. Something else to put on the list of things to do. Anyhow, thanks for the offer of pepper seeds - I will probably be asking you for them next year. And thanks for the link to the TriniGourmet blog - I'm going to be spending some time reading there.
I went with friends in Washington to Ginger Cove/Ginger Reef, 822 E Street NW, Washington, DC, 202-248-6007, 202-248-7733 and they quite enjoyed.
I have not been to Caribbean Palace, but it sounds authentic. From a write up in WP: “As we drift further from summer warmth, the allure of tropical island flavors is nearly impossible to resist. Such a pull leads to a Takoma Park strip mall, where Caribbean Palace has offered a taste of the West Indies for 15 years. With no seats in this frill-free takeout spot, hungry patrons form long lines for the restaurant's home-style dishes. Owner and Trinidad native Jeff Balgobin opened Caribbean Palace after working at an American burger restaurant, whose food he didn't know much about. The menu is mostly dedicated to giant roti. Portions are massive, but that just means more food to enjoy later.”
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/7/101082/Takoma-Park/Takoma-Park/Caribbean-Palace.html
Nicole: Thanks for those recommendations - we'll check 'em out!
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