Fresh-picked and fragrant!
Well, not strawberries and basil together, though that would be interesting.
Despite our continuing drought, July brought just enough rain to perk up my kitchen garden. I’ve been harvesting heirloom tomatoes by the basket, and I’ve got several pounds of golden and ruby beets I’ll pull and roast this weekend; the chard, cabbage and cucumbers will need picking soon.
What has my attention right now though is my strawberry patch. My plants, a mix of ever-bearing varieties including Fort Laramie, bear fruit all summer. But they’re most productive in June and from mid-August until the first frost in September.
I don’t have a big patch, but it’s enough that I harvest a cup or so of sweet, juicy, intensely flavored berries every couple of days. Sometimes I eat them as I pick, or give them away, but often I save them until I have enough to make Richard’s favorite strawberry jam, a simple recipe involving very little sugar, and simmering the fruit mix to make a thick, ruby-colored and intensely flavorful jam.
The fruit/sugar/brandy mix when it has simmered and thickened to the consistency of jam.
Simple Strawberry Jam
4 cups ripe, organic strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
4 T fruit brandy or port
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Wash and hull the strawberries, cutting out any soft parts. Chop coarsely (the smaller the pieces, the more spreadable the jam). Put the strawberries, sugar, and 3 T of the brandy or juice into a two-quart or larger microwaveable dish with a lid. Cook on high power for five minutes or long enough to bring it to a boil. Then take the lid off and simmer until it is reduced to a cup and a half of thick, chunky jam. (I use half-power on my microwave for about 45 minutes. Check periodically to make sure it’s not boiling over or burning. ) Scoop the jam into clean half-pint canning jars. Don’t fill the jars up to the brim–leave space for the jam to expand a bit as it freezes. Screw lid on tightly, label, and freeze. (The jam will also keep for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.)
Summer sweetness, preserved for winter
This jam smells heavenly as it cooks, so it may be hard to not eat it as soon as it cools, but the flavor only improves with time, so don’t eat it all!
Then there’s my basil, inter-planted between the heritage tomato plants for shade from the high-altitude sun, and producing like crazy right now. (Thanks to Renee’s Garden for the pesto basil seeds.) When I have too much basil (or any other green herb), it’s time to make pesto.
So I got out my food-processor, and began snipping basil leaves into my four-cup glass measuring cup.
Here’s my basic pesto recipe, which works with a whole variety of herbs, including basil, French tarragon, cilantro, arugula (a green which I cut 50/50 with spinach for a spicy pesto), and chervil to name a few:
Basil leaves fresh from the garden, snipped from the stems
Basic pesto
3-6 cloves garlic, depending on how much you like
1/2 cup hard, aged cheese, cubed (such as Parmesan, Asiago, Manchego)
1/2 cup toasted nuts (pine nuts are traditional, but I also use pecans, walnuts and almonds)
4 cups of herb leaves and flowers if tender (or greens like arugula)
1 cup olive oil
Drop the garlic cloves into a food processor while it is running to mince the garlic. Turn off the machine, add cheese cubes and nuts, and process until the texture of very coarse corn meal. Add herb leaves and pulse until minced. Turn on machine and pour in olive oil in a thin stream until mixture is coarsely pureed and liquidy. Spoon into jars and freeze, or eat some immediately on bread or warm pasta. (Makes 2-1/2 cups)
Basil pesto, ready for the freezer
For this basil pesto, I used toasted pecans because I had organic ones, and asiago cheese for its nutty flavor. It’s delicious as a sandwich spread, as well as mixed with vegetables, rice, or pasta.
This winter, I’ll pull jars of strawberry jam and basil pesto out of the freezer and feast on the flavors and colors–and the memories of my summer garden. Yum!
Your recipes sound fantastic, Susan. I do remember you posting these about a year ago but I didn’t copy them and was hoping you would post again. YAY! You did!. This time I will actually be able to use them right here with local fruit and my own basil.
That’s excellent, Lindy. I’m glad my timing was good and you’ll be able to use them with your own basil and local strawberries. Enjoy!
These recipes look and sound delicious! I shop organic but not always easy to find what you want when you want it. Once settled in our soon to be home (almost moving day) I’ll think about the future of my garden! All good thoughts in my busy days/weeks ahead.
Robin, I hope your move goes well and that it’s not too disorienting to get ready for your residency so soon after moving. The good news from here is that July’s heat has mellowed out (you can check Salida’s weather here: http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Salida&state=CO&site=PUB&textField1=38.5327&textField2=-106&e=0) and we’ve gotten some rain, so it won’t look quite so much as if we’re drying up and blowing away! As for finding the organic foodstuffs you want when you want them, we’ve gotten used to being able to buy whatever we want year-round that we’ve forgotten that food has a season, and it’s best when it’s fresh and local…. That’s one reason I garden, to remember the joy of strawberries in summer, ripe tomatoes warm from the sun, and basil that isn’t weeks old after being shipped halfway across the hemisphere.
Thanks for your encouragement. I know, it’s a lot for me right now with a move and interior work we will do ourselves beginning next week. Yikes! Yesterday I went back to my beloved islands, content to carry all those sensations with me so I can smile when the going gets tough. Hope to post some pics of my time via blog site then less time internet until we’re done with initial house stuff and moved in. I really am excited about everything–it will all work out. Colorado will be a great art life experience. Happy to hear the temps are better in Salida now. Next year I’ll be a happy gardener too.
Robin, Doing the interior work yourselves will be stressful, but the lovely thing about it is that then you get it done your way and you have the pride of accomplishment. Not to mention saving money, nothing to sneeze at. I’ll look forward to seeing pics of the house when you get them, and to your residency and your artistic journey. Blessings.
Yum!
Just harvested basil and made pesto myself today! I only wish I had enough strawberries to make jam. Ah, maybe next year if I beat the squirrels to it!
Susan G-T, I hope your pesto turned out to be delicious. I love it just spread on bread instead of mayo or mustard for sandwiches. Yum! As for strawberry jam, you can always make it out of farmer’s market strawberries next year if the squirrels get your garden strawberries. It’s best with your own of course, but needs must….
I’ve always had my PB&Js with grape jelly. I’m pondering the possibility of using strawberry, instead. As for pesto, it indeed might be “interesting” coupled with strawberries, but I bet it’d be so, just that once. :~)
What is the reason, or is there one, why some foodstuffs taste better when the ingredients are allowed to commingle (like pesto, strawberry jam, soups and stews, and such) whereas others taste best right away (cafe con leche, lasagna, most pastries and cookies, and PB&Js)?
Eduardo, I think you might enjoy branching out as it were with your PB&J’s especially if you can find some really good strawberry jam. I wasn’t thinking of pesto with strawberries with I commented about basil and strawberries (I don’t think garlic and strawberries would be a good combo!) but I was thinking of strawberry jam with a trace of basil, maybe cinnamon basil, to give it some zing.
I think whether flavors need time to mingle and mellow or are best straight up depends on how strong and/or complex they are. BTW, I would vote for lasagna tasting even better the day after….