Accidental Gourds and Other Garden Happenings

I apologize for the hiatus. I got busy at work. Our fridge was broken, too -- technically it still is, though it'll stay cold for a few more days until the defroster (which is burned out) ices over again and seizes everything up. The part is on order.

But Lawson fixed the oven, so things are looking up.

While Lawson and I have been working too much and eating takeout food, his small fall garden has been taking off, what with heavy rains and benign neglect. The cabbages and collards should be ready for eating soon.

And look: we think this is a gourd.

It's definitely a cucurbit of some sort. When it first came up we thought it was a rogue late-season cucumber, because of the leaves and the vine growth pattern. Then it flowered, and the flowers looked exactly like zucchini blossoms, all trumpety and orange.

But then we started looking more closely at the vegetables below the flowers, and they have this beautiful duotone thing going. A weird squash hybrid? But Lawson remembered that I bought some ornamental gourds last year from a roadside stand in North Carolina, and that when fall was over I composted them. I spread some of that compost around this year's fall garden...and hey presto, a gourd plant. I hope it lasts through the upcoming freeze.

Indian Fish Curry with Tamarind and Cucumbers

I couldn't get a pretty picture of this dish, so here instead is a cucumber plant from Lawson's 2006 garden. No good pictures from 2007 -- it was a bad garden year for the ol' cucurbits.

This curry was a wonderful surprise. I'd bought a fresh coconut on sale at the grocery store the week before, and we needed to use it quickly. I'd also bought some flounder, plus the usual assortment of buy-first-figure-meals-out-later vegetables. So Lawson found this recipe for which we happened to have all the ingredients, plus a few more. It's from Jennifer Brennan's One Dish Meals of Asia, which is one of Lawson's cookbooks I've never really looked at.

It's easier than many other curries because you can use the food processor. And it's refreshing -- not so aggressively rich and creamy as a green curry made with coconut milk.

First, mix together and set aside:
- 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrate or 2 tablespoons wet tamarind (the recipe says you can use 1 tablespoon molasses and 1/2 cup lemon juice if you have no tamarind)
- 1 1/2 cups hot water

Run through the food processor to make a paste:
- 1 onion
- 4 or fewer small fresh hot green chiles, seeds and ribs removed
- 1/2 cup fresh coconut, broken or cut into chunks, or 1/3 dried unsweetened shredded coconut moistened with some water
- 1 small bunch cilantro
- a 1" chunk of ginger

Heat in a wok or big saucepan over medium-high heat:
- 4 tablespoons peanut oil

When just smoking, add and fry until they pop open:
- 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds

Add and cook:
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced

Then add the curry paste and a bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium and stir-fry for 3 minutes.

Add and blend:
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of firm white fish, cut into 2" strips (the flounder broke down quite a bit, which was fine, but cod or something would stay together better)
- the tamarind water
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cucumber, peeled and cut into 1" chunks

Bring to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until fish and cucumber are just cooked. Serve over rice.

Fattoush

These are Lawson's cucumber plants from last year. So far this year they're only eight inches high.

Yesterday I made some fattoush for the going-away party of one of my friends at work. This is adapted from a Claudia Roden recipe:

Salt and drain in a colander over the sink for half an hour or so:
- 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped (I like 3/4" cubes)

Combine in a large bowl:
- whole wheat pita bread (or whatever other flatbread is around), very well toasted and snapped into roughly 1" shards.
- juice of 1 or 2 lemons
- 1/8 cup olive oil, or much more

Add:
- a few cups of fresh tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 red onion or mild onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- handful fresh mint, chopped
- handful parsley, chopped

Mix in cucumbers. Add salt to taste. Someone should probably experiment with letting the flavors blend for several hours and then adding some separately dressed bread...as it is, there's a tension between wanting the bread to be fresh and wanting the whole thing to sit and mellow for a while, especially because of the onion.

I also sent this to a stranger today as part of a recipe exchange. Since it was already typed up, I figured I should put it up here. Oh, I love summer food.