In Praise of Farm to Table Cooking

My boyfriend, Alex, is a nurseryman-gardener extraordinaire.  With all this acreage, and our shared love of food, he decided to start a large, eco-friendly vegetable garden.  His veggies are amazing!  The beets have been my favorite - roasted or pickled, you can't lose.  He pickled them with a recipe from super-chef, Marcus Samuelson's cookbook, Aquavit.  Linky:  http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-1-2-3-vinegar-122894  Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I'm not a fan of pickles;  to put it mildly!  But this pickling liquid is simple and fabulous, and elevates your veggies to superstars.

The leeks and eggplant have been the most bountiful.  Leeks have been easy to incorporate into an existing recipe; simply replacing onion with them at a   1 : 1.25  ratio since they are milder in flavor.  There's nothing scientific about those numbers, it's just what tastes right to my palette.  The eggplant has been a little more of a challenge for me; not because it's not versatile (it soooo is), but because I'd simply overlooked it for years.  Now ratatouille is one of our family favorites; as a side dish or added to omelettes or gratins.  And sliced, baked eggplant makes an awesome replacement for the sausage in a lasagna.  We still have dozens on the vines, so your recipe suggestions would be very welcome!

The leafy herbs, arugula and basil have served our kitchen well, as have the multitudes of tomatoes and peppers.  The season's about over for the former though, so we recently harvested most of the basil for pesto.  More on that later.  I love being able to go into the backyard to gather our salad greens or vegetable side dish.  I know exactly how it was planted and nursed along, it's the freshest produce I can possibly get, and no fossil fuels were used to obtain it, which is a big deal when the nearest grocery is 20-25 minutes away.  This bowl is destined for a ratatouille gratin.  Mangia!

Happy Home - Happy Life!
Lisa