URBAN GARDENS - sprouts & growth spurts

With time on our side (and the magic of editing) the urban gardens have flourished. It's brilliant to see the broccoli florets forming and the vibrant colors of the swiss chard. My favorite by far are the zucchini blossoms. I'm still amazed this is all happening right next door. If you could see the size of these cabbages in person...they're as big (and bald) as my head!

These photos document the days counted from the first round of photos. When we first posted Urban Gardens the photos from Chris's garden had been taken in late March which was about 3 weeks after planting. So basically we're looking at 9 weeks in the soil. Can you believe what a little over 2 months will get you? Last time the missus picked her first carrot. It was my turn this time and what a beauty it was! To see this in action be sure to check out my latest webisode on YouTube.

Looking forward to seeing more growth spurts along the way to my kitchen.

Our neighbour Erica has been an avid gardener for longer than I've been around here. She's grown everything from artichokes to corn to tomatoes and so on. But this time something clicked and I found myself wandering over there to take a gander at what she was up to. It was brilliant. She had lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, mint, oregano, carrots...the whole 9 yards. It reminded me of growing up in Ireland, where growing your own veg was the norm. You didn't need a hugh selection maybe some carrots, potatoes and onions. Enough to make soup or an Irish stew.

This got the juices flowing to start blogging on Urban Gardens. Myself and herself try to eat local as much as possible so this idea is right up our alley. And even more surprising, it has spread like wildfire throughout our neighborhood. Erica kindly lent a portion of her garden to our other neighbours Chris and Jen, who have planted even more veg like eggplant, leeks, arugula, beets, pole beans and zucchini. Herself the elf decided to jump on the bandwagon and starting small, she planted some herbs such as cilantro, thyme, oregano and basil. On the other side of us Cristina and Dave are trying their hands at heirloom tomatoes so by summer we should be in good shape to salad party!

The best part about this though is that we're a beach neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. For those of you at home still shivering, tough! It's great to see the community bonding together over home-grown organic food. I've decided to keep track of the growth spurts in both gardens in hopes of inspiring some of you out there to try your own Urban Garden. I'm going to pass on all the info I get from these two and any of you out there who want to pass on any insights, don't be afraid! Let your inner jolly green giant pop out.

It feels great to be surrounded by these organic veggies (cabbages and all) and my fellow beach foodies.

Check out the video!

January's Cheap 'n' Cheerful

January's best known for a couple of reasons. Lots of new gym memberships, in most of which the people only last a few weeks so good news if you own the gym, and the other is people wanting to eat better and probably a little cheaper after the holidays.

We all over-indulged a bit over the past month or so with food and spending so I decided to dedicate January as the Cheap and Cheerful month for cooking, and by cheap I don't mean bland. I'll show you easy, delicious, rather inexpensive and always healthy recipes all month long. I cooked this one when I was back in Ireland for my sister's family. We were all sick of eating the leftover Christmas food and needed something clean and simple so this seemed to fit the bill.

STEAMED HALIBUT W/ WHITE WINE & PEPPERS
4 servings

4 x 4oz wild Pacific halibut (any firm white fish such as Pacific cod or black sea bass will do)
1 x red pepper - thinly sliced
1 x yellow pepper - thinly sliced
1 x green pepper - thinly sliced
1 cup oyster mushrooms (button, brown, or whatever you like) - quartered
2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 bunch asparagus (not Britney) spears (12 spears approx) - halved
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 tbsp. oregano - chopped
1 x lemon - zested
1 tbsp. olive oil
S&P

This is an all in one dish so is perfect if you have some friends coming over.
Pre-heat oven 400 degrees.
Saute the peppers with the garlic for 5 mins. on medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook for another 2 mins. Season w/ S&P. Add white wine and oregano, reduce for 2 mins. on high heat. While this is going on, prepare the fish. You have two options here. I decided to sear the halibut on med. high heat in a saute pan with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil to give them a nice golden color. Sear for about 2-3 mins. on both sides, though you don't have to. If you prefer the nice white color of the fish or don't have time, simply season with S&P and set aside until needed. Next get a sheet pan and some aluminum foil. Tear off enough foil that measures twice the length of your sheet pan. With the foil on your pan place your cooked pepper mixture in center of pan. Spread the broccoli florets and asparagus around and place seared or raw fish on top. Sprinkle lemon zest over everything.
Fold the extra foil over the fish and gently seal the sides together. You want to make sure all the juices and steam stay inside. Cook for 10 - 12 mins. in pre-heated oven. You'll know the fish is done by touching it--it should be firm. Also, if it's flaky and white all the way through, you're golden. (See above photo for example)

To serve: I made some wasabi mashed potatoes which worked brilliantly, if I do say so myself!

Spuds and lots of them!

Surprise, surprise an Irish guy talking about potatoes. Who'd have thought?
I was at the Santa Monica Farmers market yesterday and met a friend of mine, Denis who works for Weiser Farms. They produce some great sustainable root vegetables, potatoes, carrots, onions.
They have about 10 different varieties all of which have distinct qualities. If you're looking for a mashing potato for instance, the German Butterball is the best along with the French fingerling. A lot of the fingerling varieties are great for roasting as you can roast them whole and they look and taste great. The fingerling potatoes are generally more expensive though, as they have to be hand picked. Check out the Purple Peruvian fingerling and the All Blue for something a little different. Although not related they're similar in color and texture and look great. Sometimes when I do buffets I roast a few different varieties of fingerlings which look brilliant together. I like to keep it simple, especially with great ingredients, just olive oil, S&P and garlic and they're delicious.
The great thing about going to these farmers markets is that the vendors love to talk about their products and it's a great place to learn and see new varieties.
At least we don't have to worry about parking!