I rolled out of bed this morning, threw on some old clothes and headed outside. It was drizzling, but I couldn’t wait any more; the garden needed some serious weeding, made more serious by two Sundays in a row of commitments when it wasn’t raining, and rain when there weren’t commitments. The crabgrass was my primary focus today. I saw some dandelions, which I’ll leave for next week, when I’m looking forward to making another one of those amazing dandelion salads I wrote about a few weeks ago. I saw, for the first time, a little bit of purslane, too, which I left to spread and grow. Purslane, which is pleasantly crunchy and extraordinarily high in omega-3 fatty acids, was actually cultivated in gardens once upon a time, though most people consider it a weed these days. It’s everywhere; if you Google its image, you’ll probably recognize it. I saw a large patch of it growing near my office last Friday. Let it be known that I’m planning on reviving purslane-on-purpose.
In my garden, I sprinkled lots of lettuce seed about a month ago, so today I got to pick a huge bowl’s worth of mixed miniature lettuce leaves. Then I picked a round purple and white striped eggplant, 2 long dark purple eggplants, a long thin red hot pepper, one tomato, a large bunch of basil, and a couple of bunches each of flat and curly parsley. I carried everything into the kitchen and tossed the lettuce into a bowl of water to get it rinsing right away. I cut up the eggplants and tomato.
Back outside, I grabbed the wheelbarrow. The chicken coop was due for a change of straw today. I filled the wheelbarrow with the old straw, and took it to the garden, where I spread the straw over the areas where the crabgrass had been thicker. We’ll see whether that works.
In the kitchen, meanwhile, the eggplants, tomato, and hot pepper, along with 3 cloves of garlic, an onion, olive oil, and a couple of zucchini, turned into a lovely ratatouille. When it was done I sprinkled the top with the fresh parsley and left it to cool to room temperature.
A small head of broccoli from last week’s CSA was cut into florets, steamed until bright green, and then sprinkled with French Thyme. I cut the woody part of the stems from five gorgeous artichokes, and then steamed them, too, along with two cut up limes, until the leaves separated easily. I baked a few potatoes. The lettuce went through a great many water changes until it looked quite clean and all the specks of dirt had been rinsed away.
In the afternoon, my husband left for the supermarket to pick up a few pieces of tilapia.
I stripped the basil leaves (approx 30) from the stalks, and mixed them with olive oil (approx 1/2 c.) and salt (approx 1/2 t.) in a 2-cup pitcher. Then I blended the mix with an immersion blender until it was smooth and bright green. This should be amazingly good(!!) anywhere you decide to put it: on the salad, baked potatoes, broccoli, or fish. Or all of them, as I plan to do. Maybe the ratatouille, too. I’ll bet the artichoke leaves will taste delicious dipped in basil-olive oil.
Dinner should be ready soon and, given the number of dishes we prepared, there should be plenty of leftovers. I am looking forward to eating them for lunch this week. I am also looking forward to a new batch of vegetables from our CSA on Tuesday.
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