I planted some Arugula and Siamese Dragon (mixed Asian greens) under a cold frame back in February. To fill you in, I have a 5 by 20 foot garden bed at Bell Community Garden. A cold frame is essentially a mini greenhouse that has a transparent top. Mine is made with a wood frame and an old window from Schlafly Bottleworks. These are used to extend the growing season and even grow some things all the way through the winter.
Anyway, I grew a patch of greens and about a week ago they started to succumb to some sort of pest that was eating very small holes in the leaves. It looked like some little squirrel came through with a mini shotgun and had a blast. After some close observation and Google searches I determined that the culprit was the ever so tiny Flea Beetle. These are little beetles of various colors that jump like fleas and eat tiny holes in a number of plants. Allegedly there has to be a pretty serious infestation to kill the plant but I decided to go ahead and harvest some of the greens and eat them before the the little buggers got too much of them. I also wanted to start clearing this area so I could plant tomatoes in it, of which I planted three varieties so far. I've learned while gardening that in order to not have pesticide laden greens you must be okay with eating blemished food. From about a two square foot patch of greens I obtained about enough for four salads. We had to clean the greens of the dirt and remove some roots that made their way into the bag. Harvesting things close to the ground is bound to add some soil to your take. A salad spinner came in handy here and sparked discussion of how the big growers clean their truckloads of lettuce for the supermarket. Maybe a giant salad spinner? Or, perhaps just submersion in large pools of water with included time for sediment to sink?
We simply tossed the greens with strawberries, Gorgonzola cheese and a Blackcurrant vinaigrette.
I recently discovered Vom Fass, a little store on Manchester that sells oils, vinegars, liqueurs (including Absinthe) and scotch out of casks. You simply buy a bottle from them and pay per 100ml. They also let you take samples to your hearts desire. They have vinegar made from all sorts of things: mango, honey, quince, pear and the list goes on. Then you'll find a handful of olive oils (I almost typed EVOO, but I hate when Rachel Ray says that), nut oils, and infused oils. It's an awesome little place and it's only a few doors away from Penzey's spices which sells about any spice you can dream of. Justin doubted, "I bet they don't have what I'm looking for." Sumac? Of course they do.
Normally, arugula has a very peppery flavor, which it did on the back end, but I thought this salad tasted very earthy and nutty. I felt like there was some roasted peanut in there somewhere and this made the Gorgonzola a great addition. This was definitely the most flavorful salad I've ever had that can be attributed to the actual salad greens. I'm now a believer in the sentiment that food loses flavor (and nutrition) the longer it sits and waits to be eaten. These greens tasted like they came from the earth and I'm looking forward to more of that.
*Note: You can spot some of the holes in the picture. The ones you can see are actually some of the larger ones. Most of them look like tack holes.
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