We continue to harvest food from our New England garden even though we have just celebrated the beginning of a new year. The temperatures are above freezing so it’s a good time to see what can be harvested and consumed.We still have a few greens from the other day left over so I decide to pull some Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris) for a quiche. Lifting the plastic on the far left side of the cold frame, I see a quintet of chard plants hydrated and looking healthy. I cut a dozen of the largest stalks leaving the smaller ones to hopefully pull in the months to come.I bring in this leafy green to separate the leaves from the stalk, which will go into the quiche.
The greens I save to sauté with onions (allium) and tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) for another meal. Removing one leaf, a tiny green spider scampers away now aware that it is no longer outside in the shade of the chard. It will likely take up residence in one of the many nooks of our kitchen.After I wash the cut up stalks, Juana adds them to a mixture of peas (Pisum sativum), onions, salt, pepper, nutmeg, heavy cream, eggs and gruyere cheese. She places them into a French crust (1 cup flower, 1 stick butter, 1 egg) that I have made and she rolls out. Now into the oven.An hour later we have a wonderful dinner from the garden that cannot be beat. Bon-appetit!
