Marrow vegetable

This post came about in two ways. The first, was when my local farmer Joey Barnes form Barnes Produce at the Nashville Farmers Market brought me this gigantic zucchini looking vegetable. The only reason he brought it to the restaurant is because he had never seen anything like it and wanted to see what we could do with it. Neither of us knew what it was exactly (besides a zucchini on some NFL style vitamins) but he had been told that people cut out the seeds and stuff it with meat and then roast it. I of course thanked him for the unusual and told him that I would update him on what we did with it and how it tasted. Well it happened that we needed a large amount of roasted squash and zucchini for a party menu and thus it ended up in a nice medium dice roasted with bacon fat, shallots, thyme, and mint. Overall it tasted lovely but I was disappointed at the fait that it had met.

The second point comes with the annual review of the canning recipes and the desire to start making pickles, jams, and other various projects to put the summers bounty away for future use. My wife Kelly had been reading a canning book that sparked my interest. While looking through the index of the book, which I often start with, I noticed a recipe that I could not believe was possible. It was a canning recipe for “Pickled Marrow and Onions”. How could this be? You mean to tell me that you can pickle and can beef marrow with onions? That has to be delicious, or disgusting, depending on who you ask. Well the answer quickly came when I turned to the appropriate page. The recipe called for vegetable marrow, which I of course not only did not expect but was disappointed to see. I then realized that I had never heard of “vegetable marrow”.

Research on the web led me to discover that vegetable marrow, also known as a marrow vegetable, was a zucchini type vegetable. Originally cultivated in England, these vegetables can grow to be the size and weight of a large pumpkin. They are also notorious for having a bland flavor and are traditionally stuffed with meat of some sort and roasted whole. Then it dawned on me that I had not only seen this vegetable but had just recently turned it into a mere fast saute. What a shame. The next one I get will not experience such a meager fate I promise. The picture here includes a common power socket in an attempt to show the actual size of the marrow vegetable.

–matt bolus

First Eggplant of The Season

First Eggplant

My first eggplant is now growing strong, with many more blooms on the plants. 

Future Eggplant

The rain we have had lately seems to have sent the plants into overdrive.  What is in store for these beautiful purple vegetables?  Well first is going to have to a the freshest eggplant Parmesan one has ever dreamed of.  Second will be the brilliant vegetable tort that Kelly does so well.  And finally, the rest will be roasted and canned in preparation for baba ganoush, the ever so delightful Middle Eastern dish that calls for roasted peppers (also from the garden) and great olive oil.

— matt bolus

Banana Pepper Canning Recipe

I have had several people now ask for the exact recipe for the brine I used to can the banana peppers. So, of course I have to oblige. I never want to become one of those chefs who find their recipes to be so sacred they can not share them. Below is the recipe and the method of canning I used. To save time I will mention that I boiled the jars, lids, and lid rings for 15 minutes prior to using.

Brine:

1 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar

1 Cup Sugar, white granulated

1/2 Cup Salt

3 Cups Water

2 Bay Leaves, dried

1/4 Cup Yellow Mustard Seed

I brought all of this to a boil, ensuring all of the salt and sugar dissolved. Removed the bay leaves and then ladled the solution into the jars. You do need to tap the jars lightly to make sure there are no air pockets. In the jars I had already packed the peppers along with 1 clove of garlic and 15 mixed peppercorns. I sealed the jars with the sterelized lids and rings and boiled them for 10 minutes. I found that any longer starts to produce very mushy peppers. Once I removed the jars from the boiling water I set them on a towel on the counter top and waited for the seal to pop. Then I store them in the cabinet for use. Any jars that did not take I put in the fridge for immediate use.

— matt bolus

Canning the Banana Peppers

Going out of town this weekend lead me to have to decide what to do with all of the beautiful banana peppers that I have picked (I picked roughly 14 more since I last wrote about them). So I settled with canning them. This is not to say that canning is a bad thing, canning is wonderful and addictive. Once you start canning things from your garden you will not stop. You start to look for things to can. I know this from experience. I was triming my grape plants last year and did not want to throw away all of the leaves on the branches I was cutting off. A lover of stuffed grape leaves I decided to brine them and can them for future use. Brilliant idea, as now I have enough grape leaves to last me for at least 12 maybe 15 years of grape leaf enjoyment. That is not going to stop me however from doing the same thing this year.

So back to the banana peppers. I am used to banana peppers coming in jars and cut into rings. This is a great thing for sandwiches, and for those of you who don’t know I am a huge fan of sandwiches. But what if you want it for a salad, or single element on a dish? The rings just don’t have the same appeal then. I had enough peppers for three jars and decided to do two of them in the traditional ring manner (though I did not go as frilly as the store bought ones with the ruffled edges, I simply sliced mine), and one jar of whole peppers with the tops removed. I canned them in a simple solution of salt, water, yellow mustard seed, and vinegar. To each jar I added a clove of garlic and 15 mixed peppercorns.

All finished now. All the tops sunk in, indicating the seal took. For now I will have to let them rest and let the flavors get to know each other, at least for the weekend.

I will have plenty more in the next few weeks to play with and this batch will have to go to the sandwiches.

–matt bolus