Urban Stoop Gardening

Who says you need a yard to have a garden? Urban living may not be all that conducive to the traditional concept of "gardening," but with a little creativity, we found container gardening to be fulfilling not only to us, but also to our neighbors walking past our stoop.

Back in May we bought two storage footlockers and planted gladiola bulbs in one and shooting star bulbs in the other. The shooting stars never really came to fruition but the glads shot up out of the moisture control soil like rockets and have bloomed for the last three months. They have been so successful we recently staked the plants with bamboo to maintain their height. We added some snapdragons, a few annuals, a henna plant, blue daze, and Mexican heather to the mix in addition to the aloe plant we transplanted from my to-be-father-in-law's monster aloe plant in his southern California backyard. The strangest part? All plants have remained untouched, unharmed, and unlittered in, except that recently we noticed that someone stole the terra cotta planter with the aloe in it, which to be honest, was alive, but hasn't looked so great in it's new northeastern home.

Moral of the story: regardless of how dead or how great your container garden looks, go with plastic planters which are ultimately better for the plants and drainage, but also aren't as likely to be stolen.

More on our vegetable, herb, and fruit garden on the roof next time.

Sauteed Chicken, Pears. & Rainbow Chard in a Balsamic Lime Vinaigrette

This was definitely one of those recipes that start out well-planned but due to ingredients being not in the best condition, immediately turns experimental. Initially, we had planned a simple grilled chicken salad over rainbow chard, fresh strawberries and ricotta drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. However, half the strawberries were bad (hence the great sale price) and the ricotta was not worth testing as we had been having some fridge issues.

We grilled the chicken in some balsamic and then added chopped rainbow chard, sauteing until tender. We cut up some pears, adding these with the juice from two fresh limes, and added a dash of rock salt and fresh ground pepper. We were pleasantly surprised by the dish, which took all of about twenty minutes start to finish. The chard's slightly bitter taste was complemented by the sweetness of the pear and the tangy balsamic and the lime really melded the two.

Pony Rides...on Filbert Street

I may or may not have mentioned that I volunteer bimonthly for the Fair Food Farm Stand in the Reading Terminal Market, which is a project of the White Dog Cafe Foundation. Fair Food is "dedicated to bringing locally grown food into the Philadelphia marketplace and promoting a humane, sustainable agriculture for the Greater Philadelphia region." I work the 3-6pm shift and totally forgot about the Pennsylvania Dutch Festival, which was in full swing with donut making demonstrations, homemade ice cream, chicken pot pies, Amish buggy rides around the terminal, live bands singing and performing bluegrass, pony rides, and a petting zoo. I almost ran in the opposite direction, but I mustered what strands of crowd courage I could and pushed on (actually pushed) toward the stand to sling locally farmed (within 150 miles) fruits, veggies, eggs, meats, and cheeses. It wasn't nearly as painful as it looked it might be, and I left with a dozen homemade PA Dutch donuts.

Baked Salmon in a Lemon-Garlic-White Wine Butter Reduction, with Sauteed Spinach & Goat Cheese

The best thing about this recipe is that it looks, smells, and tastes so impressive but doesn't take much effort. Whenever I have company I wish to impress, or cook for a co-worker who is kind enough to let us cut out half of her wild rosemary tree from her garden (more on that later), this comes out of my shirt-sleeves.

You have two options for choosing your cuts of salmon, which will depend on your preference. One is to try to select a thin cut of fish, which may be difficult OR you can request that the fish be butterfly cut, which will make stuffing it with the ingredients easy.

Take your salmon filets and rest them in a cooking pan, preheating your oven to about 350 degrees. In a large saute pan, drizzle some fresh baby spinach with olive oil, 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic, and a dash of rock salt. With an eye on the spinach, in a small saute pan, add the juice of two-three lemons, 1/4 cup of white wine, 1/4 cup of butter, and crushed fresh garlic (I generally add about three-four cloves). Stirring occasionally until the butter is melted, cover and reduce heat.

When the spinach is done, layer this on top of the salmon filets, adding a layer of fresh goat cheese on top. Sprinkle with fresh chopped thyme, chervil, basil, parsley, and tarragon.

At this point, if you chose the thinly sliced salmon, take your salmon-spinach-goat cheese and roll them up, sticking through with toothpicks to hold. Depending on the thickness of the cut, you may need only two per roll, or you may need upwards of 5. If you chose the non-rolled and/or butterfly cut fish, you can just disregard the previous step.

However you chose to prep your fish, the next step is to slowly pour your sauce over the fish.

Put the pan in the oven and cook for about 30-45 minutes. I like my fish to get a little crisp so I leave it in just a few minutes longer before serving it with the remaining spinach over brown rice.

Lemon Herbed Cornish Hens, Roasted Potatoes, & Balsamic Carrots

The one ingredient that really made this dish pop was the lemon. I cut up a few potatoes, mixing with some pearl onions for taste, and layered the bottom of a 9x14 glass pan. After melting down a 1/2 stick of butter, I tossed the potatoes and onions with the butter, seasoned salt, ground pepper, and lemon juice and then placed the two cornish hens on top.

I stuffed two birdss with three pearl onions and a few wedges of lemon after squeezing the juice over the top of the birds, along with some olive oil. I sprinkled the birds with rock salt, ground pepper, rosemary, thyme, and some chicken seasoning that I got from The Spice Corner in the Italian Market.

While the hens roasted at approximately 350 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour, I began on the Balsamic Carrots. I chose to peel the carrots before sauteing them in some melted butter (1/4 stick). Once they were tender I added some sugar (2 tablespoons) and the balsamic vinegar (1/4 cup). The carrots only took about 20 minutes and once it was all done it was mouthwatering.

The Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Baking Adventure

I truly believe that the word "Banana" should have at least one more "n," but that's neither here nor there.

What is extraordinarily pleasing is that I assisted in baking a tasty sweet bread, which I am told is technically a quick bread. I will admit that I was wary when informed to add 1/4 tablespoon of vinegar to a 1/2 cup of milk to act a substitute for buttermilk, but I quickly got over my initial reservations once it came out of the oven, carrying with it a mouth-watering aroma. As an added treat to the standard, we mixed in half a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips which oozed chocolaty deliciousness as they cooked.

The best part? Squishing the bananas.

A Philadelphia Foodie [An Introduction]

The pure alchemy of cooking has always been something that I lose myself in. There's something extremely suspenseful, exciting yet soothing, and experimental in the creation of a dish. It's only been recently that I've toyed with the notion of sharing my dishes with the world at large, more so as I trade recipes and methods with friends and coworkers. Over the last two years I've become extremely interested in and supportive of the locavore movement.

We're a household that is environmentally conscious of our impact on our geographic locale and supportive of local farmers as often as possible. Sometimes though, the occasional out of season craving and the supermarket sales on chicken and beef can get the best of us. While my hand at baking has been so-so, I'm learning from the delicious concoctions that come out of the oven every now and then by a certain librarian who is as patient as she is brilliant with a brick of baking chocolate. These adventures, along with our burgeoning urban container garden endeavors, will be documented here.