Lately I am having a heck of a time keeping up with the tremendous output of cucumbers in the garden.  Somehow, despite the onslaught of squash bugs and cucumber beetles that have been plaguing us for weeks, the cukes have done pretty well.  Only now are they starting to show signs of the bacterial wilt transmitted by those pests, which all of my other squash plants have fallen prey to.

Growing an organic garden is a challenge. Even in a good year, when pests aren’t that awful, it is a chore.  Every evening you’ll find me out among the squash, smashing squash bug eggs and their adult counterparts in an effort to pare down the population.  Japanese beetles get collected in a mason jar every night, shaken well (to stun them so they don’t fly away) and fed to the chickens.

But this year.  This year has been something else.  I knew it would be bad; the warm winter we had meant that bugs would be numerous.  Even so, I was unprepared for the epidemic that we’ve suffered.

Basically, I’ve given up on the squash.  If I had known just how bad it was going to be I’d have invested in some Neem oil,
but I’ve had such success in past years by simply picking off eggs and bugs that I hadn’t bothered.  They are just so incredibly out of control, and it has been in the 100’s here for a few weeks so I was unable to spend as much time as I’d like to keeping them in check.

The good news is we’ve gotten quite a substantial crop of cucumbers despite the bugs.  We’ve also had a bumper crop of surprising little things called “Mexican Sour Gherkins”.  These are tiny sour – tasting cucumbers that look like mini watermelons.

They are terrific for snacking and for salads.  I may even pickle them, which is what I have been doing in mass batches with the bigger cukes.

My favorite pickles are refrigerator pickles, and my favorite recipe for them is adapted from Jam it, Pickle it, Cure it by Karen Solomon.

I slice up my cukes however I want them (I like to do some jars bread and butter style, some spears, some halves).  I stuff each jar with cukes, a spoonful of minced or crushed garlic, a dash of ground cinnamon (the recipe calls for one cinnamon stick per pint jar) , a teaspoon each of yellow mustard seeds and brown mustard seeds, a tablespoon or better of dill, a teaspoon or better of red pepper flakes (more if you like heat), a couple grinds of black pepper, and a few teaspoons of kosher salt.  Exact science, right?  You’ll get to know how to adjust these for taste after your first jar or two. Since you’re not canning it the recipe doesn’t have to be perfect.  It is more important that you end up with the taste you want.

Then I fill up half the jar with vinegar (generally you use white vinegar, but I’ve used apple cider vinegar to great success.  I imagine champagne vinegar works nicely as well) and the rest with water.  Then seal and let it sit in the fridge for 48 hours before eating.

They are supposed to last in the fridge for about a month – but let me tell you, we generally eat them all before that.  I’ve had a couple of stray jars hidden in the back of the fridge that go unnoticed for around three months and were still just fine.

Happy Father’s Day!  We’re spending our holiday weekend buried under squash.

The garden has gone fairly berserk with zucchini and yellow squash.  Every year I overgrow them and every spring I always forget and do it again.  This year I am making a note in the farm journal to plant LESS summer squash and more potatoes and peppers instead!

So squash.  We had several days of rain last week and I didn’t venture out to the garden at all.  Once the clouds parted and I could get back out there I discovered some monster zucchini growing under the jungle – like leaves.  I don’t like them getting too big – they’re not as flavorful; but they are funny.  Here’s one next to a normal – sized zucchini:

The same day I harvested the squash I also pulled some carrots and peas.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to grow carrots!  They are far more “carrotty” than any store bought variety.

But while the carrots and peas have been coming in at a slower pace the squash has been taking over everything.  I’ve been sneaking it into people’s cars when they are foolhardy enough to stop by.  I’ve grated some of the zucchini and frozen it in ziplocs for baking later.  I have blanched and frozen slices of squash for use in soups later.  And I am still overloaded.  Fortunately we love squash on the grill, and I also have a smashing recipe for zucchini that even the pickiest ones around here love.  It’s adapted very slightly from Cooking Light.

First you roughly chop up about 8 cups of zucchini (I slice it, then quarter the slices).  Along with it, chop up half a medium sized yellow onion, and toss them in a stock pot with about half a cup of vegetable broth.  You can also use chicken stock, but I have a vegetarian in the house, and it doesn’t make much of a difference in the final dish.

You’ll want to boil it, covered, on medium heat until the squash softens up.  Then remove it from heat and mash it slightly.  Drain any excess liquid.

While the squash is cooking make 2 cups of rice.  Combine the cooked squash and rice in a large bowl and add a cup of sour cream, about a cup and a half of shredded cheddar (we like cheese around here!), a quarter cup of grated parmesan cheese, a quarter cup of breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, salt & pepper.  Mix it all up and spread it into an oiled or sprayed casserole dish.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350.  You can also broil it at the end to get the top nice and crisp.

Super easy, super yummy, and it uses up a good amount of zucchini.  And if you don’t have any, come over and get some!

Right now the garden is bursting with all manner of leafy greens.  Lettuces, kale, spinach.  Even the beet greens are beginning to cry for picking.  SO many greens, so little time!

This week we are still enjoying an overabundance of kale but also we are able to mix things up with the spinach that is beginning to take over.  I am rather fond of spinach myself: for all my talk of loving growing and picking kale, I think I may actually prefer the spinach!  There’s an unending variety of things you can do with spinach: soups, dips, Spanakopita!  I like to use fresh spinach in place of shredded lettuce in my tacos.  It does well in a regular ol’ salad, and even better in one with strawberries!

This week I made my go -to dish for any vegetable for which I have too much: risotto.   I am a sucker for risottos of all kinds, but my favorite is just a simple white wine and parmesan, plain – as – they- come risotto with some chopped up and sauteed veg thrown in.

To start I gathered a large bunch of spinach from the garden – around the same size as those bundles you see in the produce section of the supermarket.  They weigh probably around a pound. It looks like too much, but it cooks down and reduces A LOT.

I like to thoroughly wash my greens, and not because they are dirty.  In fact, I am completely sure the greens from my garden are far cleaner than those that have been picked in some other state, loaded onto a truck, driven for miles and miles, loaded onto display and handled by various shoppers.

I clean each leaf because of this:

I don’t want to eat bug litter.  You know, if a few little bugs escape my notice and get cooked up, so be it.  But wads of webbing? No thank you.  A hidden chrysalis?  Even worse.  But worst of all, this bit of webbing could (and did) conceal this:

Yeah, you’d notice that big guy in your finished meal.

(The risotto I make is pretty common, and a good, detailed recipe can be found HERE.)

So – I thoroughly wash my spinach, and then chop it up with half a yellow onion.

I saute the onion and some garlic in a bit of olive oil until the onion starts to become translucent, and then I add the spinach.

I don’t want to cook the spinach too long – just long enough to wilt it a bit and reduce it somewhat – then I remove it from the heat and transfer the onions and spinach to a warm plate.  You don’t want to leave the vegetables in for the entire cooking time or they will overcook and lose a lot of their texture and character. We’ll throw them back in at the end.

Meanwhile, I have a pan of vegetable or chicken stock simmering on the stove on low heat, waiting for its turn to be added to the pot. You want it to be hot when it is added to the rice or it will slow down your cooking time dramatically.

You can use either kind of stock for this recipe – I prefer the richness of the chicken stock, but since my oldest is a vegetarian I tend to use vegetable stock whenever I can.

Next I add a touch more olive oil to the pan that the spinach has just vacated and I add the dry, uncooked rice.  The idea is to get it coated in oil and saute it for about 3 or 4 minutes – until it starts to become translucent-ish.  Then I give it a good splash of white wine.  I tend to be generous here.

Here’s the thing about wine in cooking: I don’t use “cooking wine”.  I use straight up, run of the mill, whatever’s on sale wine.  I cook with wine fairly frequently so I always keep a couple of bottles of cheap whites and reds around.  You don’t have to be as picky with it as you would if you were going to drink it (although sometimes even that super cheap stuff can be very drinkable!).

Once the wine has mostly been absorbed into the rice you can start adding a bit of the simmering broth, a little at a time, waiting for it to be almost all absorbed before adding more.

It should take around a half an hour to use up all of your stock and for the rice to become soft.  It will start to look almost creamy, and then you know you are ready to finish it up.

At this point you’ll throw your spinach and onions back in along with some parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Honestly, I tend to add extra parmesan and leave out the salt.  If you wanted to you could throw in some steamed and chopped asparagus at this point as well.  Artichokes also make a nice addition.  Okay,  I am making myself very very hungry right now.

Once everything is mixed in and heated through you are ready to serve.

A nice and simple risotto like this can make a fine meal all on its own.  Or you can add a fried egg with a runny yolk right on top and make it extra special!