This day dawned chilly. It was a day for gloves and hat and even a down jacket! It warmed to the promised high 60's or maybe 70 in the sun. Beautiful. Melancholy threatens to overtake me as I rush to get the last few nectarines and tomatoes into my freezer. I'm roasting tomatoes tonight at home.
I harvested some grapes from my parents' grape arbor near Detroit. It had some green, unripened and non-sprayed grapes that the birds were probably waiting on...I nabbed them to make verjuice--the Greeks and other Mediterranean-Eastern Mediterranean cultures juiced unripened grapes and used the sour juice in place of vinegar or lemon. Boil the juice with a little salt, and can or freeze it.
Here are photos of the crew peeling garlic, a never-ending job that leaves slivers under your fingernails like the old Chinese torture we used to imagine as kids. EEK. One photo is of Eli and Jon, his dad, two of the Meadowlarks, filling our boxes. Another is of the artichokes Jenny and Jon grow and added to our boxes today. Amazing, right? Makes me feel better about leaving California.
Dick Flowers brought over goat milk and cheese, which they sell through goat shares. Everyone who tries Mary Buschell's (Dick's wife) goat cheese raves.
Lunch today was Turkish pink lentil soup with mint and bulgar (we've had this before) and lots of onion and garlic.
Maureen roasted some of Meadowlark's beautiful potatoes with thyme and rosemary plus olive oil and salt.
I brought cracked wheat and made a bulgar wheat pilaf with roasted walnuts and parsley. See recipe below.
Maureen and I cleaned, chopped and cooked a bunch of collards and kale. We heated lots of olive oil and minced shallots until the shallots (drowning in oil) began to brown. I tossed in lots of snipped chives, salt and red wine vinegar then tossed it with the greens. I could not stop eating the greens!
Maureen sliced some tomatoes and Eli picked basil for them. Salt and a little olive oil and that was salad.
Jenny donated some feta and everyone ate it on bread or sprinkled it on their tomatoes.
We all agreed that this was a starch happy day. I was so exhausted today--and so hungry--everyone seemed to crave the starch--Robert says that we eat more when tired. That's so for me. Plus the corner seasons and changing weather just seem to catch you off guard...this one has me in its clutches and won't let go...
Greek Bulgar Pilaf with Walnuts
If you avoid wheat, substitute quinoa and simmer it 10 to 15 minutes.
4 to 6 servings
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
8 to 10 ounces onion, 2 cups finely diced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup coarse-ground bulgar
1 bay leaf
5 to 6 ounces walnuts, 1 cup toasted and finely chopped
2 ounces Italian parsley, about 1 cup chopped
Heat a medium saucepan over medium and add oil and butter. When butter melts, add onion and salt and cook until soft, 7 minutes. Heat a kettle with water.
Add bulgar to onions and stir and cook 1 minute. Pour in 1-1/2 cups boiling water, bay leaf and salt. Bring pilaf to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat and rest pilaf 10 minutes.
Fold in walnuts and all but 1 tablespoon parsley with fork; fluff bulgar—don’t stir. Taste bulgar and season with freshly ground pepper and more salt as necessary. Pile pilaf into serving bowl and garnish with reserved parsley.
Improvise!
Sauté other vegetables with the onions like chopped chard, minced carrots or finely diced tomatoes, or toss in cooked chickpeas with the bulgar.
