Cooking with Jardin Crop on New Counters

Three and a half months since the beginning of the transition of somerville kitchen (see March 15 entry), the new counters are in. Given they are Arctic Mint Corian counters (see small box in top right hand corner), initiating them with mint was in order.

Down the stairs to the freezer to find out what meat I have to go with mint. Lamb shanks of course. I rubbed the lamb shanks with olive oil, salt, pepper and a mixture of crushed mint and rosemary. Browned in olive oil for five minutes and in a 425 stove they went to roast for 45 minutes.

Now what to serve with those? Back to the jardin to see what is ready to harvest. More mint, parsley, chives, chard and baby beats - all looked beautiful against the new counters.

The chives, chard, parsley, and mint were chopped up and fried in olive oil until wilted. They were sprinkled with fresh jardin lemon grind and cashew nuts (just because they were handy). The taste of cooked mint was a pleasant surprise and added a sweetness to the chard that no other herb would have accomplished. 

Yesterday, talking about childhood memories, I learned about this recipe - just saute baby beats as a whole, with stems and leaves, in butter. It worked well. The beats were not as sweet as I would have liked them, but the stems and leaves cooked very nicely and tasted heavenly.

And all was enjoyed on the picnic table in le jardin on the sixth day of summer.

 

Thank you Jardin for your bountiful crops.