Chilled Potato Onion Soup with Herbs

The Calm One and I eat a lot of soups because they are inexpensive, tasty, and nutritious. Instead of eliminating such deliciousness from our summer menu, I puree them and add cream/crème fraîche/yogurt, a zap of zing such as sherry vinegar/fresh fruit juice, and alluring garnishes. They are then served refreshingly cold.

Topped with dill, Parmesan shavings, and tomato yogurt

Follow my recipe for Potato/Onion Soup with Herbs, Crème Fraîche, & Saucisses de Strasbourg but leave out the saucisses.

Dill, parsley, and chives, fresh from our potager

Scissors with multiple blades do a neat job processing a large quantity of herbs.

Completely puree the soup until it is exceedingly smooth and then chill well in the fridge. Add enough yogurt to get the consistency desired. Stir in some sherry vinegar and salt to taste because a cold soup needs to be well-seasoned for its flavour to stand up. For the garnish, blend a bit of tomato paste into additional yogurt until a lovely shade of pink, shave off some Parmesan from its wedge using a potato peeler, and select some nice dill sprigs.

Bring the Parmesan shavings to room temperature before garnishing, it really makes a difference!

The tomato in the yogurt goes well with potatoes since they both are in the same biological family which is a guiding principle Deborah Madison outlines so well in Vegetable Literacy; additionally the pleasing pink colour highlights the cool, light-green of the soup.

So pretty in a summery way!

In the potager, the first cropping of raspberries continue.

This is the only summer in all of the five we have lived here that I have managed to grow head lettuce to the point of it developing a head or as the French say laitue pommée. The secret? Protecting the lettuce from the sun by growing successive rows under some old, white cotton-sheeting stretched over metal supports!

I am so proud of this gorgeous head lettuce!

In the flower garden, the hydrangea is showing off its magenta blooms.

The more acidic the soil is, the bluer the blossoms: ours is slightly acidic

The abelia is doings its important job of attracting bees.

À la prochaine!

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Braised Lettuce, Garlic & Capers in Olive Oil

Berry Good!

Our raspberry bushes, if pruned properly, bear two crops, one in June on wood from the previous season and another in late summer on new growth.

Crumbling whole-grain cereal biscuits into a bowl, sloshing cold milk over them, and tossing in garden-fresh berries is a wonderful way to start the day.

Our twenty-two tomato plants are flourishing because of abundant rainfall alternating with glorious sunshine.

Shasta daisies are lending their friendly cheer to the front garden.

Daylilies usually take several years to develop into nice productive clumps, but when they do, they put on a remarkable show.

The  asparagus bed now has reached the height of eight feet!

The female plants carry seeds which will eventually turn red

Dirac the Young Cat loves hiding in the asparagus bed but today he came out for a little while and posed for photos on a nearby path.

À la prochaine!

Braised Lettuce, Garlic & Capers in Olive Oil

Though crisp and succulent lettuce can be quite a treat, preparing it isn't. Buying packaged lettuce is one solution, but not an option for those who grow their own. Washing the lettuce isn't too much a pain, but swaddling the whole lot in a dishcloth and putting that in a plastic bag which then goes in the fridge for least an hour is more annoying then it isn't. So how to take advantage of all that water clinging to the lettuce? And still coat it in oil? Braise away, baby!

I love how the white ribs turn translucent

Stack the washed leaves, roll them into a huge cigar, and slice it. Heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, toss in some minced garlic, chopped marjoram, and capers. Gently saute for a minute. Stir the lettuce into the skillet until it is mostly wilted. Cover and simmer over low heat for about eight to ten minutes. When mixed into grains like cous cous for example or pasta, topped with freshly grated Parmesan, and seasoned to taste, it is a delice making me very pleased that our lettuce is doing so well in the potager...

...and that I remembered to sow successive rows a couple of weeks apart.

Old cotton sheeting to provide shade will go back on the metal supports

Staggered sowing hopefully will provide some lettuce to go with the tomatoes when they ripen...

Joie de la table, an early-season variety and one of our twenty-two tomato plants

...and when the cucumbers do too!

Their immature skin is a bit prickly but does smooth out eventually

The annual herbs are thriving. Pinching off several inches of top growth during harvesting keeps them nice and bushy. 

Basil, marjoram, parsley, chives, and dill

Marjoram is a lovely substitute for oregano as it has a milder taste, with a hint of mint.

In the flower garden, perennial snapdragons with their soft yellow are providing a perfect colour complement for the lavender.

Fragrant pinks are spicing up the air with their perfume reminiscent of cloves.

After spending the entire night out on the town, Dirac the Young Cat is taking it easy.

À la prochaine!

Iceland Happy Marriage Cake

What has a crumbly, buttery, cinnamon-oat crust filled with juicy tart rhubarb and sticky-sweet strawberry jam enlivened with lemon zest? The cake that apparently keeps an Icelandic marriage happy of course!

The rhubarb came from our potager

A light dusting of icing sugar is the final touch, reminiscent of the freshest snow, the soft, fluffy kind I imagine falls in Iceland. Not that I would know from personal experience, but perhaps, one day The Calm One and I will venture forth in that northerly direction.

Rhubarb does well in cold climates and is a beloved ingredient in Scandinavian cuisine. Happily, we have a long enough cold spell, about six weeks, making it possible to grow some chez nous. However, it does need to be watered profusely during the long, hot months in order to stay in good shape.

Ingredients
makes a 23 cm/9 inch tart
adapted from The Sugar Hit!

For the Filling

• Rhubarb, washed, chopped, 400 grams/16 fluid oz
• Strawberry jam, 118 ml/4 fluid oz
• Lemon zest, 1 tsp
• Sugar to taste (depending how sweet your jam is)
• Water, 2-3 T

For the Crust

• Rolled oats, 95 grams/8 fluid oz
• Flour, white, plain, 150 grams/10 fluid oz
• Sugar, white, granulated, 110 grams/4 fluid oz
• Butter, sweet, 225 grams/2 sticks (American)
• Cinnamon, ground, 1/2 tsp
• Egg, 1
• Icing/confectioner's/powdered sugar for dusting

The filling can be made ahead of time and be frozen. If extra is made, it can be used in Rhubarb Fool or mixed with yogurt and granola or served with vanilla ice cream or...you get the idea! Put the rhubarb and water in a pot and simmer for a few minutes or until soft, add the jam, lemon zest, and additional sugar if desired. Simmer for a few minutes and reserve.

Preheat oven to 177 degrees C/350 degrees F. Whirl the oats in a processor for a minute or so until they resemble breadcrumbs.

Mix with a wooden spoon the flour, oats, sugar, and cinnamon.

Using your fingertips work the butter into the mixture for a few minutes until the dough is comprised of mostly tiny lumps. Beat in the egg for about minute or until you get a more-or-less smooth texture.

In a well-buttered tart pan/pie plate/layer cake pan, spread two-thirds of the dough to the edges, making a lip which will hold in the filling. Spoon in the puree.

Cover the top of the tart with the rest of the dough formed into small patties.

Bake for around thirty minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.

The dough dollops are essentially cookies

I love this cake! And it loves me too as it implored that I take another piece which I did of course as such a plaintive plea could not be ignored. Though it can be served warm or cold, when at room temperature, the nutty oats, luscious butter, and zingy filling are at their best.

À la prochaine!

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Shuffling into Summer...

My sabots are shuffling, down the garden path, to the compost piles, around the hose and watering cans, by the grass strimmer, towards Dirac the Young Cat, and anywhere that is within the environs of our potager. A row of lettuce sheltered from the sun under some old sheeting is getting close to harvesting. Homegrown lettuce is fantastic, though somewhat challenging to grow in hot climates.

Downright perky, I say! (that's garlic in the foreground)

Onions probably have another six weeks till harvest. How will I know exactly when? Their toppling over at a point just above the soil is the indicator for pulling those delicious bulbs from the ground.

This season I grew the annual herbs in nice roomy pots instead of in the ground. Keeping them on an elevated surface, like the sous sol's window sills or a table, makes their care much easier.

Marjoram, chives, dill, basil, and flat-leaf parsley

Last season the blueberries which are grown in a large container so they can get the acidic soil they require were really tiny. This time, as the bush was flowering, I fertilised it. Happy to say, the berries are pleasingly plump.

When the going gets tough and I never want to see a garden spade ever again, my nose comes to the rescue, sniffing the heady fragrance wafting from the honeysuckle...

I let it ramble over hedges and piles of twigs/branches

...or from the cottage pinks...

.
...or from the lavender until I feel invigorated enough to pick up that dastardly spade yet once again.

Those are peonies in the background

Most of the roses are finished their first flush of blooming, but there are still some knockouts.

A deep coral beauty

Dirac the Young Cat after being introduced to the garden last week is learning the ways of the great outdoors: jumping the fence between chez nous and our neighbour's property, sniffing out other cats before they find him, marking out safety spots if they do find him first, easing himself into any hole I may be digging, and finding shady places.

À la prochaine!

Dirac the Young Cat's First Garden Outing!

Today is the day that Dirac the Young Cat got to know the garden. He was cautious and excited at the same time.

He greeted the weigela

He sniffed the lavender

He sought shade under the peonies

He chomped on plants (see the little snail on the blade of grass in front of his right ear?)

He spied an insect buzzing around the sage

Being with him was a nice break from my frantic sowing and transplanting veggies into their beds.  There's about a week left for all that needs to be in the ground to get into the ground. Gazing at flowers also soothes me. Floribunda roses, that is, roses which grow in clusters, are flourishing.

Blue hardy geraniums are just beginning to bloom.

À la prochaine!