farm dinner

The potatoes, straight from the garden

We started to harvest the potatoes today. This has to be one of my favorite things to do in the garden. It is like a treasure hunt -- you feel around down into the soil, and suddenly you find lots of potatoes in all sizes from fists to fingers and marbles. This year, we planted only French fingerlings -- they are very beautiful, with a core of pink flesh. We also harvested the first ripe cherry tomatoes, some gorgeous Greyzini Zucchini (which ripen faster than traditional zucchinis), round cucumbers, and yellow onions. We just ate the last blueberries from our bush, and four peaches are ripening on the tree we planted last year. For dinner tonight, we're planning a meal made solely from foods we've raised ourselves, a first this season, because of the rainy weather.

The menu:

Steamed fingerling potatoes with olive oil, rosemary and Maine sea salt

Zucchini and onion tart in a hazelnut-thyme crust, made with our own eggs and fresh-cut bacon, adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini

Canned spiced rhubarb (I put up more than 20 jars) with Walpole Creamery ginger ice cream

Steamed Fingerling Potatoes

Birthday Lunch

Last Tuesday my mother-in-law turned 97, and in honor of her birthday, I cooked a special lunch for the whole family. It was a scorcher of a day, so I made an assortment of Moroccan mezes, along with my favorite flourless chocolate cake, and a pasta salad from my upcoming book. The salad has been one of my favorite summer meals for a very long time. Oh hot days, I serve it as a main course or a side dish at room temperature but I find it's good in winter, too, especially alongside roasted lamb.

Three or four years ago, after my youngest daughter spent time in Morocco and introduced us all to fresh mint tea, we started a mint patch in our garden. The trick to this salad is to add the fresh mint at the very last minute, after the dish has cooled to serving temperature.

Orzo Salad with Currants and Mint
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup slivered almonds
6 quarts boiling water
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 pound orzo (also called riso)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Zante currants
4-5 sprigs fresh mint (about ten leaves, or 1/8 - 1/4 cup when chopped fine)
Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Using a small cast iron frying pan, melt the butter until it is fragrant and beginning to color and add the almonds. Cook, stirring, until the nuts brown lightly. Set aside.

Boil the orzo in the salted boiling water until al dente. Drain and put in a serving platter, and toss with the olive oil.

Put the currents in the platter along with the browned almonds. Toss well and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Taste for salt and pepper. When ready to serve, add the chopped mint and toss again.

Here it is, just before I added the mint and stirred it all together. I like to put the almonds on top of the orzo and let it sit like that as it cools -- it helps the oil to drip down and prevent the orzo from sticking.