PSA: All Greeks stay home every Tuesday the 13th

Tuesday the 13th is the same as Friday the 13th for Greeks. This is not just triskaidekaphobia, it stems from the fall of Constantinople (Constantinople is now known as Istanbul) in 1453. 

Turks invaded Constantinople on May 29, 1453, which was a Tuesday and if you add up 1+4+5+3 you get 13. Kind of strange to come up with Tuesday the 13, but I am just the messenger,

Here is a side note about Greek language. First the history. Constantinople was protected by a wall that surrounded the city, however there was a tiny portal called Kerkoporta that was left open and a few Turkish soldiers came in from there and the rest is history. So, you can call an entryway "Kerkoporta" you want to convey a message of "weak defence" or simply a "difficult entry way" or a "tiny door". Only a Greek who attended Greek schools will know this trivial fact, but you know me and it's just the same. 

Stay home today!

Look ma, my asparagus is growing!

Three years ago I purchased Mary Washington asparagus seeds, a variety that is hardy enough for zone 6a, from Rare Seeds. I followed their instructions and all seeds sprouted! I dedicated a whole bed for it, but I didn't plant all 25 because there was no room for them. I planted 12 of them and I gave the rest to a friend. 

The first two seasons I did not the harvest any asparagus spears because you want to develop a strong root system. The first year I saw the ferns grow to be about four feet tall and the asparagus spears grew to about two feet tall. The spears were too thin, though. The first fall, in preparation for the New York winter, I mulched the bed heavily with straw and hay after the fers had died back and I cut them to the ground. The second summer the spears looked much stronger and got really tall. There were spears that were as tall as I am, 5' 10", however that's not a reliable measure because I've been shrinking stradily, but I digress. 

That following late fall/early winter again I mulched the bead heavily after the ferns had died back. During both winters we got a considerable amount of snow, but the plants survived and proved that this variety is indeed very hardy. 

During both summers the ferns got to be so tall that I had to devise a method to hold the ferns upright and not falling on the ground and possibly breaking. I wanted the asparagus to benefit from the sun's energy. Here are a few YouTube videos that I created for my asparagus:

1. Supporting the ferns.
   
   
2. Winterizing the bed.
   
   
3. Early spring bed maintenance.

This morning, after almost 24 hours of steady, slow, rain I went outside and walked around the garden and I saw several spears that had sprouted! The spears are nice and thick and I'm already planning the first dish where asparagus is the star of the show. 

Please note that I prescribe to the Ruth Stout philosophy where you mulch your garden heavily with straw or leaves or hay. If you are not familiar with this gardening methodology please go to your local library and check out this author's books.

Happy gardening!

Recipe for Greco-Roman Chicken Scaloppini

For dinner tonight I made my "world famous" Greco-Roman Chicken Scaloppini. 

Ingredients

Three medium skinless, boneless chicken breasts sliced not too thin, pounded thinly and dipped lightly in all-purse flour. 

Three cups of sliced baby Bella mushrooms. 

Four medium shallots diced. 

Three tablespoons of my own sun dried cherry tomatoes with some of their oil. 

Two cups of sweet peas. 

Four cloves of garlic. I used my own that I grew last year. It’s a popular variety called Music and it’s just delicious. 

3/4 cup vegetable stock, chicken stock will be even better. 

1/2 wine. I use Riesling made locally at the Brotherhood Winery.  

Olive oil

Butter

Salt and pepper 

About 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour  

Eventually I made pasta and topped it with the chicken Scaloppini  

Directions

Remove any excess fat from the chicken breasts, slice them, pound them thin and dip them in the flour. Please remember that we’re not making Kentucky Fried Chicken here, take it easy with the flour. 

I sliced the mushrooms, onions, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and parsley. Slice the garlic a bit wide not too thin. 

I used a non-stick pan and added about 1/4 cup of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter. Once the oil and butter were nice and hot I added the chicken. Once the edges of the chicken changed color I turned them over and cooked for one more minute. I set the chicken aside, covered. 

In the same pan I added the onions, cooked them for two minutes and then added the garlic and cooked for another minute. 

Then, I added the sliced mushrooms and cooked them for about five minutes. Added a little pepper, to taste. 

I added the sun dried tomatoes along with their oil. When I dried them last year I added a nice sprinkle of salt, so don’t over salt your food when using sun dried tomatoes.

I mixed everything nicely and then added the Riesling wine followed by the vegetable stock and the sweet peas. Brought everything to a nice boil and added the chicken. I added about two tablespoons of butter and mixed everything nicely  

Ahead of time I added the stock in a pot and kept it warm there. You don’t want to add stock while cooking straight from the refrigerator. The same with the sweet peas that were frozen. I took them out of the freezer before I started and by the time I needed them they were at room temperature. 

I cooked it for another 10 minutes allowing some of the liquid to evaporate and the sauce to thicken up. Don’t forget that the chicken has a nice coating of flour that will help thickening the sauce  

The day before I made two traditional loaves of Greek flat bread called Lagána, Λαγάνα. I sliced thinly three pieces off the bread and toasted them lightly.

The pasta was perfectly cooked, the chicken was ready, the Lagána slices were ready and Alexa was playing Dr. Zhivago.

Dinner was fit for a king.

Yum!

Happy cooking!

Preparing my Honeoye strawberry bed after the winter

Two years ago I purchased 25 Honeoye (pronounced like "honey-oy) strawberry plants because they are cold hardy for NY and they are good producers of fruit. The first summer, after the planting, I just trimmed the flowers and the runners RELIGIOUSLY and for that reason we did not enjoy any strawberries. That was done so the plants would create strong root system. Last year, though, we collected at least 14 quarts of strawberries. I covered them with chicken wire and protected them from the squirrels and birds. 

Last November I weeded the bed and covered them with 10" of straw. The stayed there, covered in snow all winter. Now though, that there is no chance of snow the time has come for me to clean up the bed.

First, let me say that most materials I used to create the beds were either free or purchased form Restore in Newburgh.

The following picture shows the bed after I removed the thick layer of straw. After removing the straw I placed it temporarily close to this bed because I would need it to add it to the strawberry bed.

Here I am removing any dead strawberry branches and weeds. I try not to disturb the light coating of straw that exists between the strawberries. Last year I noticed that all of my weeds grew right next to the edge of the bed and there was very little straw there covering the dirt. Live and learn.

Here I am adding straw back to the bed. You can see on the left side of the screen the pile of straw that I removed from the strawberry bed. I used most of that to add it back between the plants and the edges of the bed. It's not hard work, but it helps if you have something to kneel on, like my yoga mat.

Here I'm adding more straw around and on top of the plants. The layer that I've added on top is loose and the plants will grow nicely. 

The whole process took less than 45 minutes. There were quite a few dead branches that I've removed and quite a few weeds. Also I pulled about six or seven plants that I already gave my good neighbors. They have been very generous with contributing many buckets a leaves for my beds. Good stuff. 

Happy gardening! 

Got me some goodwood chips for my compost

Today I was driving down the street and saw Logan working in a neighbor’s yard chipping small logs. Drove quickly back home, got four five-gallon buckets and went back to see Logan.

The wood chips will aerate the compost and will speed up the decomposition process. A compost needs three things: organic matter, moisture, and air. If you remove one of the three elements, the decomposition process comes to a halt, worms don’t stay and it will take a couple of years for it to decompose.

These are 'the boys". I would have packed them better, but I didn't want to appear to be a wood chip hog. 

    

I took one bucked at a time and slowly incorporated it into the compost. 

Folks, believe you me, it's not easy turning the compost, but you gotta do it. The chunks of wood and the turning of the compost will aerate it. This process is called aerobic composting and it's well worth it.

Twenty minutes later I was done. The compost heap was fuller, I was happier and the buckets were empty. 

Happy composting and keep your worms happy!