In honor of the Muppets’ 40th anniversary and in an attempt to flush a nasty head cold out of the house, a simple Portuguese lemon-mint soup made it on the menu. Let’s hear it for November minted mint.
Lemon-Mint Chicken Soup (very slightly adapted from David Leite’s The New Portuguese Table)
Serves 6-8
8 cups homemade chicken stock
1 1/2 lb bone-in chicken breasts, legs, or thighs, skin and fat removed
1/2 lemon
2/3 c. orzo
small rind of Parmesan cheese (optional, adds depth to stock)
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small dice
2 small turnips, peeled and cut into small dice (optional, they sounded tasty)
3 tbs fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper
25 fresh mint leaves, stacked, rolled up lengthwise, and sliced razor-thin
1) Bring the stock to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and add the chicken and Parmesan rind. Gently simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let sit until the chicken is cooled through, 15-20 minutes.
2) Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool. Remove 1 strip of lemon zest and add it to the pot with the orzo. Grate the rest of the zest and set aside. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat and cook, covered, until the orzo is tender, about 10 minutes.
3) Meanwhile, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
4) When the orzo is cooked, remove the zest and rind, add the shredded chicken and the vegetables to the pot and simmer for several minutes to warm. Turn off the heat, pour in the lemon juice, and stir. Season with salt and pepper.
5) Ladle the soup into bowls, scatter with the mint and reserved grated zest, and serve immediately, before the lemon loses its zing.
Categories: Container Gardening · Dinner's On
Tagged: chicken soup recipe, growing herbs in containers, mint
Yup, long time no write. It took a while for the kale and second batch of chard to reach critical mass (the month of cold, February-like rain that consumed Philly’s October didn’t help) but the fall planting is finally paying off.
Last night, a nice cheesy baked polenta featuring POD kale, chard, and radishes hit the table. Just what the doctor ordered.
Categories: Container Gardening · Dinner's On
Tagged: radishes, Swiss Chard, Fall container gardening, kale, baked polenta
Exactly five weeks ago these radishes...
...looked like this.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: radishes, growing radishes, Fall container gardening
Brussels Sprouting
The Brussels sprout experiment continues. These guys are exactly two months old and appear to be thriving. Whether or not they’ll get around to producing, only time will tell.
Generally Zone 7 gardeners plant sprouts in March for an August harvest, but the flavor benefits from cooler temps and honestly, during the summer months, container space is just too precious to hand over to a single 3-4″ stalk of sprouting heads.
The seedlings exposed to the most unobstructed sun (like this one here) are certainly doing the best. The seedling tucked among the flourishing parsnips is about half this guy’s size.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: brussels sprouts, Fall container gardening, gardening tips, growing brussels sprouts from seed, growing vegetables in containers, Philadelphia, zone 7 container gardening
October Progress
Check out the full progress report here.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: Container Gardening, Fall container gardening
Okay, so, POD was recently inspired by a Graceful Gardens-designed kitchen garden. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s already October; but this fledgling garden was stuffed with beautiful herbs and greens — making me realize that those empty five-gallon buckets, sitting all forlorn-looking at the corner of the deck, were really such a waste.
So, off to the South Philly Lowes POD goes. I know, shame on me.
Two kale sets have now joined the thriving chard, parsnips, lettuce and the trooper poblano.
Of course, six, count ‘em six, little squishy worms had to be picked off the undersides of the holey, half-devoured leaves before they could be popped into the waiting buckets.
Serves me right. Be forewarned.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: Container Gardening, gardening tips, growing vegetables in containers, Philadelphia, Fall container gardening, kale
Philly’s extended forecast predicts some chilly nights, with temperatures dipping into the 40s. So, like the geese who use the tennis courts at FDR for target practice as they move south, it’s time for POD’s herbs to migrate as well.
The husband’s May dreams of herbes de Provence never blossomed (stupid lavender) but the thyme and tarragon are far too valuable (after all, roast chicken season is looming) to leave to the elements.
How to bring it on home:
- Transplant before temperatures become too cold — certainly before the first frost
- Move your plants from the sun to the shade for a few days prior to the trek indoors
- Don’t be afraid to be a little brutal. Using a very dull ex-fillet knife, simply slice the herbs into a manageable size. Keep as much of the plant’s root system intact as you can. In this case, all of the tarragon made the cut while only about a third of the thyme did. The rest remains in its pot on deck and will be left to fend for itself throughout the winter.
- Look at the plants very closely for bugs and other nasties. You certainly don’t want to bring outdoor pests indoors to infest your delicate houseplants.
- Snip off a decent amount of the transplanted herby goodness, so your plant’s energy is devoted to surviving the transplanting trauma, rather than sustaining existing greenery.
- Ideally, once you’ve repotted them in fresh nutritious soil, you’ll be able to isolate the plants for a couple of days in an unheated room, with the windows open and the door closed. This will minimize the shocking impact of the outdoor-to-indoor temperature change. If you can’t do this (which is this lazy gardener’s version of reverse hardening), bring them inside for a few increasing hours each day and then return them to their outdoor environment. After a week or two, they’ll be house-trained.
- Give your transplanted herbs a good watering and place them in a sunny window. They probably won’t produce as vigorously indoors in the winter as they do outdoors in the summer, but you’ll have enough for your roasted chickens and won’t have to buy new plants in the spring.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: Container Gardening, growing herbs, growing herbs in containers, tarragon, thyme, transplanting herbs indoors
What a gorgeous thing: a bright bowl full of poblanos. One little container produced about 15 teeny poblanos — so far. If the weather cooperates, a few more might make their way into the kitchen.
Categories: Container Gardening
Tagged: Container Gardening, poblano chili
Search terms people use to find plantsondeck is a source of endless amusement. My new favorite?
“3 guys and a midget” — Betcha’ they weren’t looking for information about urban gardening.
Categories: Container Gardening
