jessicapecota.com

With running my own business, getting ready for this baby, and life-in-general, we hadn’t made it over to check on our plot in the community garden in a few days.

And when we arrived - much to our surprise - we found we had two zucchini ready. Two HUGE zucchini ready. Um, over-ready, actually.

Since over-ready zucchini isn’t best suited for grilling or sautéing, we’re making Zucchini-Basil Soup for dinner tonight. How exciting to again be making meals with ingredients we’ve grown!

After two years of trying, we decided that our yard is just not right for a summer garden.
There’s not enough sun, space or good soil.

Luckily, this year a community garden opened up in the little park just around the corner. After some time on the wait list, we received our plot. And it’s just right.

We’ve planted eight varieties of heirloom tomatoes, purple bush beans, padron, anaheim and ancho peppers as well as zucchini.

A wonderful added bonus is that we’ve gotten to meet several townspeople we hadn’t had the opportunity to meet before.

All the gardeners are getting together tomorrow evening for a summer solstice celebration. If it’s not too hot for this 8.5+ month pregnant lady to attend, I’ll post photos of the garden party later on this week.

The excitement in our home this evening is the harvest of our first big heirloom tomato.

With it, we’re making my favorite salad–Caprese Salad.
I’ll tell you all about how we do caprese tomorrow.

Share

You might know that we’ve been experimenting with margaritas.
Well, we’ve grown a little tired of them.

And as we have an abundance of mint in the garden, we’ve moved on to mojitos.
Plus, they’re about as perfect as a summertime cocktail can be.

(Did you know mint is very easy to grow? See hints below.)

Here’s how to make the best mojito, makes one cocktail:

Ingredients
1/2 oz simple syrup (see simple syrup directions below)
1 1/2 oz unflavored white rum
Juice of 1 lime
Soda water or 7Up*
A handful of fresh mint

Rinse the mint, and gently crush (saving one sprig for garnish)
Put the mint in a tall, clear, plain glass
Add the simple syrup, rum, and lime
Muddle
Fill glass with ice
Fill glass with soda water or 7Up
Garnish with the mint sprig

We recommend using a straw so you don’t get all that mint in your mouth.
Cheers!

Simple Syrup Directions:
Take equal parts sugar and water
Gently boil for 5 minutes
Let cool
Store in the fridge, up to 4 weeks

*Tom likes to use soda water. I prefer my cocktail a bit sweeter so I use diet 7Up.

Hints on Mint:

• Plant only in a container. If you plant it in your garden, it will take over the entire yard. And you will never be able to eradicate it.
• Try several different varieties. We like the standard spearmint & peppermint, but also pineapple mint and chocolate mint.
• The more you cut mint, the more it will grow. If the plant is getting leggy, trim it back. It will become more bushy (= produce more).
• If you’re not going to use the fresh mint you trimmed, you can freeze it. Just chop it, put a bit into each cube of an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze. Once frozen, dislodge from the tray and store in a zippy in the freezer. The cubes are a great addition to your iced tea.

Share

We saw this windchime over at Tudal Winery (a family-friendly winery by the way).

It really struck me with its simplistic beauty, and thrifty means of repurposing materials.

And with all the empty bottles we have around, it’s easily created.

Plus, it’s a great way to showcase that special bottle and delight in the memories of the time you enjoyed it.

You can do one for your home too.

• Collect 16 bottles, ideally in different colors
• Soak the bottles in water until the labels are soft enough to scrape off (or not, if you want to leave them on)
• Remove the capsules (or not, if you want to leave them on)
• Put the corks back into the bottles (or not, but the clear bottles look particularly interesting with corks)
• Using a long piece of hefty twine, tie a loop around the neck of each bottle
• Hang in spot where you’ll get a nice breeze (but not too windy)
• Relax and enjoy the soft sounds of your windchime

Share

Finally! We harvested our first tomato:

Share

Though it is just now starting to get too hot in the Napa Valley for peas to grow, we harvested our first crop only yesterday.

Tom added them to his Wild Mushroom Pappardelle (recipe below).

Wild Mushroom Pappardelle with Garden Peas

Ingredients

Fresh pappardelle
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 medium shallot, diced
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 cup peas
2 tablespoons butter
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Some fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cut mushrooms into 1″-2″ pieces.  We like Shiitake, Oyster and Chanterelles.

Start a large pot of salted water to boil. Heat a large sauté pan on medium.

Once sauté pan is warm, add olive oil and let it get hot.
Add shallot to pan and sauté for about 2 minutes–until you can smell the shallot.

Add the mushrooms to pan and stir gently.
Cook mushrooms for about 10 minutes stirring regularly–until they start to caramelize.

Add chicken stock, white wine, thyme, and peas.

Cook for about 10 more minutes.

While mushroom sauce is cooking, add pappardelle to the rapidly boiling water.

Boil the pasta for ONLY 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Add butter to mushroom sauce and stir gently until butter is melted.
Season with salt & pepper.
Add the pasta to the pan and gently fold it in to the sauce.

Serve sprinkled with the parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy with a nice glass of Pinot Noir. We especially like those from Robert Sinskey Vineyards and Ken Brown.

Share