Arugula and Baby Romaine

I love this time of year when I'm able to wander out to my garden and pick stuff for dinner!  Tonight it was baby romaine and arugula.  This brand of baby romaine is called Little Gem and it is beautiful!  Take a look.

I've waited to thin the heads until they are big enough so I can use the thinnings in a salad rather than having to discard them like it do the beets (which I hate doing).  And it has worked great.  I get to eat it rather than compost it and that's always better :)

Tonight's salad was another creation of What do I have?  

 Here is what I had:

A beautiful bunch of baby romaine

Another bunch of arugula

It's not baby arugula anymore which means it's real peppery and spicy, which I like :)  The bugs are kind of getting to it because I don't spray it with anything.  I just pick the little critters off as I see them and wash the arugula real well.  Never had a problem with a bug in my salad :)

A couple of baby beets that I roasted last week. 

These were left over from the Farmer's Market bounty my husband and I brought home a week or so ago.

A tart green apple

A wedge of delicious, locally made blue cheese 

 

Blue cheese is one of those foods you either love it or you hate it.  My husband and I love it!  We bought this cheese at the Pearl Farmer's Market about 10 days ago and it is delicious.  It's made by Humble House, a local company that makes fabulous cheeses and different types of spreads. 

And some fresh chives from my herb garden

And my favorite extra virgin olive oil

 All these fresh ingredients came together beautifully. 

I thinly sliced the apples and fanned them out on a serving plate.

Next I arranged the washed baby romaine and arugula.  The greens were topped with a crumbling of blue cheese, the diced roasted beets, some snipped chives and I finished it with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and freshly grated black pepper.

I can't tell you how good this salad was!  Yes, there are a lot of strong flavors here but they work very well together:  the tangy blue cheese, the tart apple, the spicy arugula, the earthy beet, all brought together with the slightly peppery and tasty olive oil.  My wonderful hubby loved it too :)  Needless to say, this salad may become a summer staple at our house.

Buon Appetito!

Tomatoes Are In the Ground

Yay!  I finally planted these babies and I must say, they are beautiful!  Each plant stands at least a foot tall, some of them are even taller.  And they are so healthy.  These are the first tomatoes I've ever planted in my garden that I grew from seed.  Well, how about that! :)

Yes, you could say, I'm a little proud of that fact.  Don't mean to be cocky or anything, but I nurtured and babied these plants.  I'm so happy and thankful to have gotten them to this point.  And after I planted these seedlings last night, it R.A.I.N.E.D!!  You have no idea how wonderful the sound of that rain was overnight.  It's been months, yes, months, since we have any rainfall.  And it was so very welcome here in the hills of South Texas. 

Anyway, I planted nine plants.  And yes, I probably overplanted for that bed, but I'll make it work:)  I'll just have a lot of tomatoes to cook with, give away, make sauces, maybe can some, etc.  I planted three Martian Giants, three Peron Sprayless,two Chadwick Cherries and one Genovese.  Here is a link to a prior post on my blog, describing these tomatoes.

So we'll see how these tomato plants fare through this coming summer.  And you can bet, I'll keep you posted!

Garden Seedlings

My little seedlings are looking *so*good!  The weather has been very cooperative this spring.  It was sunny (bordering on hot!) right after I planted and they seemed to love the warm sunshine.  It has since cooled off somewhat (thank God!) and has been overcast and cool the past couple of days and they seem to like that too.  Anyway, whatever it is/was, my seedlings are doing well and that makes me very happy!
  

Baby Arugula

 Basil seedlings.  I always plant *a lot* of basil!

 Italian White Eggplant

 Little Gem Romaine

Lola Rossa Red Leaf Lettuce

 

Beautiful Tomatoes.  I've had to move the grow lamp higher three times already!  I don't like to brag, but my little tomato seedlings look *so* much better than those at the big box stores or even the nurseries.  I couldn't be happier with these babies.  These are by far the prettiest tomatoes I've ever grown from seed.  We'll just have to see how they do once I put them in the ground!

 

 Gold and Red Beets

 Little Gem Romaine and Golden Chard

Tiny carrots...red and orange!  Can't wait for these.

So...there you have it...the first seedlings of my spring garden!  I'm very happy so far...but we still have the hot summer to get through so I'm cautiously optimistic.  Wait till we begin the battle with the bugs!  But I'll worry about that if and when it happens.  Right?  Enjoy the moment because that's really all we've got :)

First Arugula!

I love this pungent leafy green!  It's peppery and crunchy and adds a wonderful element of flavor to most anything...salads, pasta dishes, soups.  Another reason I love it is because it's ready to pick about three weeks after sowing!  This green does best in cooler weather.  It's not suited to our hot Texas summers; but it does great in the spring and fall. 

 

So I'm thinking, what do I want to do with this first bunch?  Since having my vegetable garden, my method of deciding what to cook goes like this:  It's not what do I want, it's what do I have?  Using that mantra in deciding what to do with the arugula, I looked in my pantry, refrigerator and freezer and this is what I had:

A beautiful bunch of freshly picked arugula 

A pound of peeled, deveined shrimp

1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes

1/2 box of penne pasta

2 lemons from my tree which I zested and juiced

A couple of spring green onions from my garden...yay!

And basic pantry staples...fresh parsley, half and half, garlic and good extra virgin olive oil.

This is what I did with these simple ingredients:

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and reserve a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.  Toss the pasta with a little extra virgin olive oil and set aside.

Marinate the shrimp in a little extra virgin olive oil (about 1/4 cup), the lemon zest and juice, two cloves of minced garlic, a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper for no longer than 30 minutes.

Saute the green onion in a little extra virgin olive oil until soft, a couple of minutes.

Add the shrimp and saute just until pink, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the tomatoes and saute a couple of minutes.

Add about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, a little half and half (about 1/4 cup), and simmer for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. 

 Add the shrimp and parsley and stir to combine. 

 

Add the cleaned, stemmed arugula and simmer until arugula is soft and shrimp has finished cooking, about 3-5 minutes...not very long.

Taste for seasoning, plate and serve!  This whole dish came together (excluding marinating time) in less than 30 minutes and I have to tell you...It.Was.Delicious! 

I simply love cooking this way...not what do I want, but what do I have...out of my little Texas garden!

Buon Appetito :)