Dana’s Big Gardening Adventure: salad bowl

I may not be enjoying the 100% success I envisioned when I started planning my garden but I have been able to make a few salads from my crops. While my cucumbers are nowhere near ready to harvest, I have red oak leaf lettuce, leaf lettuce and mizuna that are ready to toss with dressing. And, I’ve found a few long, skinny radishes, too.

Even if you haven’t planted anything yet yourself, you can still plant lettuce and radishes and be certain of a crop. Feeling tempted? I hope so. Here are some tips for growing your own lettuce, radish and cucumber plants.

Lettuce:
• Choose a location that gets lots of morning and mid day sun but that is fairly open so that it doesn’t become too hot; heat can lead to wilting and to the development of strong, bitter tastes.
• Spacing in the garden depends on the size of plant you want to harvest. Fully developed heads of romaine or leaf lettuce require 12 inch (30-cm) spacing. Baby lettuces (harvested at about 3 1/2 inches [9-cm]) need only about 2 inches (5 cm) between plants and rows can be about 7-inches (17.5 cm) apart.
• When harvesting, cut leaves level with the crown of the plant – about 2 inches (5 cm) from the soil - so that the roots remain in tact and more greens can grow.
• Plant two crops of lettuce a couple of weeks apart so that you will have a rotation of greens mature enough to harvest.
• Spacing and thinning are important steps to prevent the plants from competing for sunlight, nutrients and water. Keeping up with these tasks limits fungal disease, too. When thinning, choose weaker (i.e. smaller) sprouts that are 3 inches (7.5 cm) out of the ground. Wash the thinned leaves and use as sprouts in sandwiches.

Cucumbers:
• These vines grow rapidly and require substantial space. Vertical training methods and new dwarf varieties now allow cucumbers to be grown even in small garden plots.
• Cucumbers are usually started by planting seeds directly in the garden after the danger of frost has passed and the soil is warm enough for seeds to germinate.
• Plant seeds 1 to 3 cm deep; thin the seedlings to one plant every 12 inches (30 cm) in the row.
• Misshapen cucumbers may result from poor pollination or low fertility so remove them from the vine.

Radishes:
• Since most types of radishes grow very quickly, you can have a nice crop of radishes even if you start late. Choose varieties labeled “early variety,” which mature within three to four weeks for the speediest results.
• Although most people only use the red bulbs for salads, don’t forget that radish leaves are delicious raw, too.
• Plant a row of early radishes and a row of mid-season radishes so that you can harvest all summer long.
• Be sure to water radishes well and consistently, as thirst slows growth and produces hot, woody radishes.
• Leaving radishes in the ground too long will develop an unwelcome toughness, so check the crop every two or three days.

Got a hankering for a salad after reading this post? Don’t forget my salad dressing posts published earlier this summer.

• 5 tips for making salad dressings and marinades lighter

• Invite cross dressers into your kitchen

Poached salmon reconsidered

Chilled, moist salmon served with a salad – preferably dressed in genuine salad cream - makes a very delicious entrée on a hot day. Somehow a poached piece of this coral coloured fish is also rather more posh than grilled salmon. Why is that? I have no idea but for whatever reason, serving poached fish demands real napkins while grilled can be served quite acceptably with a paper version.

I thought I had been poaching salmon for years but, as I think about it, I realize I have, in fact, been coddling salmon. While poaching requires gently cooking a food in liquid at just below the boiling point, coddling is even more gentle.

When coddling, the cooking liquid is brought to a simmer and then the food is added. Immediately the pan is covered and the heat is turned off. The fish cooks in the liquid very gently. It’s the exact same method that I use to hard cook eggs in their shells. The results are wonderful so why not give it a try yourself this week?

Dana’s Coddled Salmon Tips

1. Bring the cooking liquid (court bouillon, fish stock or even clam juice will do) to a boil.
2. Add the fish and return to a gentle boil.
3. Remove pan from heat.
4. Cover tightly.
5. Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish is cooked to desired doneness.
6. Remove fish immediately if serving fish hot.
7. If serving fish cold, place pan in an ice bath to cool quickly. Refrigerate.
8. Remove fish from cooled juices only when ready to serve.

Dulce de leche: a secret no longer

Dulce de leche is a wonderful, milk-based Latin caramel sauce. In case you haven’t been to a restaurant, read a magazine or grocery shopped recently so that you could notice yourself, it’s one this summer’s newest mainstream flavour trends.

While just a few years ago dulce de leche was the sweet, rich secret known only by hardcore food lovers and the Latin community, today it’s widely available to consumers. Heck, even Smuckers has a dulce de leche topping now.

About 5 years ago though, it was impossible to buy dulce de leche in Toronto so I learned to make my own. I was surprised to find out that it’s made by slowly cooking sweetened condensed milk until it is caramelized. It seemed like there should be more to it. This sauce was gourmet; it was special. Could it really be made by cooking a can of goo until it turned brown?

Turns out the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Although most people do make dulce de leche using sweetened condensed milk, you can start with whole milk and a whole lotta sugar but in the latter case you need to simmer it gently for many, many hours.

While I used a double boiler to make my dulce de leche, I’ve since seen methods for using the oven and a pressure cooker. (I’ve seen a few recipes that use these methods on closed cans of sweetened condensed milk; however, the manufacturers and other smart people strongly advise against this idea.)

I’ve summarized each method for you below and hope that if you’ve tried more than one of these techniques that you’ll tell us which one you preferred and why.

• Double Boiler Method: Fill the bottom of a double boiler or a saucepan with a couple of inches of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Scrape sweetened condensed milk from can into the top of the double boiler or a metal bowl. Place over the simmering water. Cook, stirring often, for 50 to 60 minutes or until sweetened condensed milk is caramel coloured. Cool completely before covering tightly and refrigerating.

• Oven Method: Remove labels and lids from cans of sweetened condensed milk. Cover each can tightly with foil. Place cans in a deep roasting pan. Pour in enough boiling water to cover the bottom 5/6 of the cans. Cover with lid for roaster and transfer to an oven preheated to 425 °F (220° C). Bake for two hours, adding more water to the roaster occasionally. Cool completely before transferring the caramel to a container with a tightly fitting lid. Refrigerate.

• Pressure Cooker Method: Proceed as directed in the oven method but place cans into a pressure cooker instead of a roaster. Add water as directed above and cover with the pressure cooker lid, securing closed according to manufacturer’s instructions. Bring to a boil over high heat. When pan begins hissing, depress pressure valve and lower heat to medium-low. Simmer for 30 minutes.

An open letter to the Slim Cleanse Company

Dear Slim Cleanse Company:

Allow me to congratulate you on your wonderful marketing campaign. Although I can’t speak for every woman my age, I can tell you that it effectively tapped into my insecure (and likely unrealistic) wish to totally rawk a bathing suit when I hit the pool this summer.

Your packaging claim that in just seven days this simple yet effective regime can gently purge my body of the unwanted toxins that cause midriff bloating is most seductive.

While I’ve only been using your product for two days, I must tell you that I think your copywriter may misunderstand the word ‘gentle.’ Unless, of course, by gentle s/he means that users of this product should like spending time in the bathroom and be able to bring their laptops into the bathroom if they want to get any work done.

Although I do so want to help you to achieve corporate success, I am sorry to advise you that I will be unable to complete your slim cleanse regime. I just don’t have the time or the toilet tissue budget to continue at this time and I’ll never get to the pool if I fall much further behind in my work.

Best of luck with your business.

~Dana McCauley

Caramel corn - at last

A few weeks ago when I was tagged by Julie (of Dinner with Julie) to play the blog quiz game, I mentioned in my answers that I love home made caramel corn. A few people asked me to post the recipe but I just haven’t had a chance to pull an electronic copy out of the archive. Until now, that is!

My friend Laura first shared a version of this recipe with me when we were roommates in university. I’ve since changed it slightly but it’s essentially the same yummy snack she and I made then.

1 bag microwave popping corn or 8 cups (2L) popped corn kernels
1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter
1/4 cup (50 mL) corn syrup
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda

Place popped popcorn in a large roasting pan; reserve.
Combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook for 2 minutes without stirring.
Remove pan from heat and quickly whisk in baking soda. Drizzle over popcorn mixture and stir to coat evenly.
Place in 300ºF (150ºC) oven for 15 minutes; stir well and return to oven for 5 minutes. Stir again and cool in pan for 5 minutes. Makes about 8 cups.