Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Dwarf kale and other impressionable young things


I sowed some of my leafy seeds this September on the fly, as it were - dashing up to the roof after my day's writing and grocery shopping and dashing down again to cook dinner and take pictures of...dinner.

While up there I hauled out dead tomatoes and chopped up branches and packed bags full of refuse and cultivated the soil and tossed in the kale and favas and peas in the falling dark. Which means that I don't have nice, neat pictures of when everything was sown, for reference.  I know that the kale had germinated by the 15th. Perhaps a couple of days earlier, then.

This is a stunning little vegetable. I thought so last year, too, which is why I ordered more seed from Botanical Interests. Comes up fast, and then keeps going. If you order some now, you still have plenty of time to plant it, in this hood.


I think this will be a good October for salads. The favas (fave, suppose) are growing very fast and the rainbow chard is lush. A slew of trout lettuce is coming up from seeds shed in summer from bolted plants and I am thinning my oak leaf lettuce daily (far left). The young dwarf kale are tender and delicious. In fact I have to be careful not to overwhelm all these young leaves with vinaigrette.

This is a good case for very exceptional olive oil. My bottle is about dry.

Anyone have a favourite?

7 comments:

  1. I really like the lemon infused olive oil from St. Helena's olive oil Co in Napa (http://www.sholiveoil.com/store/). I still order a bottle occasionally after trying it while on vacation.

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  2. Check out http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/

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  3. I heard via chairsandbuildings that this, coincidentally sold from my home town at Zingerman's, is a great olive oil. (but is seasonal.)
    Tiburtini Olio Novello
    now I am even more inspired to try it, since I've considered it again.

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  4. DaVero ranch in Healdsburg, CA grows olives from a tree they brght in from Tuscany, and make several different types of olive oils:
    https://www.davero.com/order.php

    they are amazing!

    I was wondering: how do you make your berry syrup and cordials for cocktails?

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  5. Call me a culinary philistine, but I use De Cecco XV (the one that says 100% italian olives in green bottle). It's above most in quality at that price point.

    Meanwhile, Frank, at Caputos, has lectured me on quality and one day soon I may take him up on it.

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  6. Any good bottle of oil that I have collected from Mallorca personally :)

    ReplyDelete

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