Rolled tomato soufflé, stuffed with weeds

Occasionally I crave tomatoes. And if it is an April craving I have to sit on my hands and wait for the moment to pass. Because it is months till July, when the first field-ripened fruit arrive at local markets. After my home-grown tomato epiphanies dating back to an all-day sun rooftop farm in Cobble Hill (and also to Friend Frank's Fort Tilden community garden), I can easily resist the bright red hard things from Canada, sold day in, day out, in supermarkets and local deli's.

But it's a long, long wait.

That is why canned tomatoes were invented. And those are what we eat in the months from November through June. I used Muir Glen's organic tomatoes for the rolled up soufflé (like a jelly roll, but not like a jelly, roll, either) above that I took on the forage walk I led in Prospect Park yesterday.

Inside it was a pesto of cooked garlic mustard (above), pecans, garlic and parmesan. It was on the moist side, because I had made it the evening before. But the Frenchman, who wolfed the three slices that were his share, got quite excited about it. So I will make it again.

I feel guilty making the same snacks for my walks, because many of the walkers have been on two, three or more of my walks, so I am expanding the forage-snack repertoire. The Snack has to transport well - oblong and loaf shapes are good. Round is not. Small things that can go into containers are also good. Everything is layered in my backpack, and nothing may be squashed. Especially not a rolled up soufflé.

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Urban foraging

When you forage in Chinatown:

Giant bamboo shoots ($3.39/lb), baby bananas and quails eggs  - New York Supermarket, 75 East Broadway, under the Manhattan Bridge.

Pork buns, $1/bun - Mei Li Wah Bakery, 64 Bayard Street.

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Before, and after

Central Park Forage Walk

North Woods, Central Park
23 April 2016
1pm - 3pm
$35

Late April is one of the most beautiful times of the year in New York's most famous park.

The northern wooded and wild part of Central Park park is home to invasive and native plants, many of which are edible.

We'll spot the destructive but delectable Japanese knotweed, an edible invader that has begun to make a shy appearance at farmers markets. But I have yet to see fat bundles of the juiciest, fattest, earliest shoots on sale in April. That will change.

In this very mixed up spring we will also encounter spring greens like dandelions, garlic mustard, dead nettle, and perhaps even early pokeweed and greenbriar, as well as indigenous plants such as spicebush and sumac, and a traditional Japanese mountain vegetable (hint, above).

Come along to learn to identify the edible and woodland plants that surround us, as well as the ethics of what to gather, what not, and why.

This walk is a ramble with gentle hills and dales, and a final steep climb to our picnic.

We meet at 12.55pm  at 110th Street and Lenox Avenue, the SW corner under the gingko tree.

Bradford pears, so sue me

Perhaps I have grown more tolerant (cue explosive laughter from people who know me intimately).

The pears used to irritate me, too.

I hopped right onto the informed bandwagon of anti-pearism.

Bradford pears, callery pears - Pyrus calleryana - are an approved New York street tree. You can request one for your block. But they have weak crotches. That still makes me smile. Their limbs split. They drop onto cars and are ripped off by buses. Not good in high winds. Like the ones we had on Sunday. In fact when I heard the wind I thought I'd better post my pear pictures fast, before they are downed.

And people say they smell like fish. That is where I draw the line. They do not smell like fish.

These pears, above and below,  are all in our immediate hood. I have known them for over a decade. And now I like them (again). Let's not plant more.  But let's not despise what is not despicable.

In these days of Syria and Paris and Pakistan and Ankara and Belgium and Zuma and Trump and melting everything - railing against a non-native pear tree seems a privilege.

Sure. We could plant native trees in their stead. We could also be living in shacks made out of cardboard. I know. Not  a very intelligent argument. But it's all I've got. It's exhausting seeing every side of a thing. I'll be better tomorrow.

I took these photos over the last four days.

There. I have run out words three photos from the end. Now what?

Walk home along Court Street, I guess.

Happy to know where I am going to sleep tonight.

Under a shower of impossible petals.

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Grow Journey seeds are up first!

If spring is a race in the vegetable garden then Grow Journey's Spinach 'Verdil' is the winner, here at Chez Mosquito in Brooklyn. I'm pretty sure the germination rate is about 100%.

I would not have planted spinach this year, because I had back luck with it some years ago on our Cobble Hill rooftop, probably because the plastic troughs were in full sun (and I mean all-day full, sunrise to sunset) and got too hot; plastic makes for poor insulation, and spinach loves cool soil and air. But the welcome surprise element in every Seeds of the Month envelope that arrives in the mail is that some selections nudge me, as I have written before, out of my comfort zone.

Today I started to thin the seedlings, which is a bit heartbreaking: you live! you die! But I washed the rejects all off and ate them. I signed into my Grow Journey account to jog my memory about the 'Verdil' cultivar - one of the valuable features of membership is that your whole seed history is saved - if you forget something or need to learn more about seed you received months before, it is all there for you. 

And what I was looking for was this: "‘Verdil’ was bred by Kultursaat, a German non-profit that uses biodynamic growing techniques. Medium to large arrow-shaped semi-savoy leaves (“semi-savoy” means the leaves have a more upright growth habit to prevent mud splashes and grit, “savoy” types hug the ground more closely to make them more winter hardy)." 

Since grit (rather than absorption) is the real issue in my leaded garden, this is a good thing. Cleaning upright-growing leaves will be so much easier.

Beets! I consider myself too impatient for many root crops, especially where space is at a premium. BUT. I have been doing a lot of reading and writing recently about morogo (the South African edible weed stew), and beet leaves are mentioned often, as a substitute for - ironically - the edible 'weeds' that are also known as morogo. I am hungry for this delicious bowlful. And when I make borscht, I always include the leaves and stems of the beetroot because they are very succulent and have a wonderful flavour. I don't know why they are not sold more often as leafy greens. So the beets in my March envelope were planted this week:'Early Wonder Tall Top.'

Rewind to early February, when I had itchy gardening fingers and could not plant anything outdoors. I sowed my December package of 'Golden Frills' mustard along with some leftover brassicas from last year in a sunny windowsill tray, and ate them a couple of weeks later. This small forest satisfied my garden longings, which are at their worst in late winter, when we all start warm-weather seeds like tomatoes indoors, way earlier than we should.

Peppery. home-grown organic microgreens, cheese, home made sourdough. Very simple, and very good.

Grow Journey offers a free 30-day trial for all US states. You'll also have site-access to read and learn about garden bed preparation techniques for March, including advice about no-till methods, and what mulches and cover crops really mean.)

Garden on!

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Painted weeds

This large first-and-last-edition book arrived in a padded envelope the other day. 

My friend Don had mentioned it: Weeds of Crops and Gardens in Southern Africa, published in 1985. I remember 1985. My braces were off, my contacts were in, and I had my first modeling contract.

I bought it with a click of a mouse. You know me. I like weeds. And I love this book. The illustrations are beautiful - the artist is Barbara Jeppe. I'd love to own some of her prints. I wonder where her originals live? If they live.

Each entry tells you what the weed is, what pestilential effects it has, and how to kill it.

And, occasionally, which bits of it are edible.

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