Planting Schedule for Austin, Texas

JANUARY – Asparagus, onions, turnips, collards, radishes

FEBRUARY – Thyme, oregano, parsley, rosemary, winter and summer savory, garden sage, chives

MARCH – Potatoes, asparagus crowns, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustard and collard greens, carrots, radishes, Swiss chard, lettuce, first half of month. Second half, plant tomatoes, peppers, snap beans, lima beans, corn, cantaloupe, cucumbers, eggplant, squash

APRIL – Lettuce, radishes, carrots, beans, black-eyed peas, okra, squash, cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelon, corn, eggplant

MAY – Sweet and hot peppers, green beans, okra, eggplant, black-eyed peas, basil

JUNE – Water often!

JULY – From seed, snap and lima beans, sweet corn, Swiss chard, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, black eyed peas, okra, cantaloupe, pumpkin, watermelon, tomato and pepper transplants

AUGUST – From seed, sweet corn, okra, snap beans, cream peas, black eyed peas. During second half of month, plant broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts

SEPTEMBER – Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage

OCTOBER – Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts from transplants. Collards, spinach, carrots, radishes, lettuce, mustard greens, beets, Swiss chard, turnips. Garlic and onions, rosemary, oregano, parsley, cilantro, sage, thyme, chives

NOVEMBER – Onions, scallions, garlic, strawberries

DECEMBER – Strawberries. Start a compost pile from raked leaves!


- from Austin Urban Gardens

Blackeyed Peas for New Year's Eve

It's 1:44am on New Year's day and I am currently following this recipe from the Statesman Food section. I'm using the ham bone from the very nice, juicy ham my dear old mother brought over from Shreveport for Christmas. Right after my folks left on the 26th, I stuck the old ham bone in the freezer with blackeyed peas for New Year's Day in mind. It was a very good idea.

All evening, as the peas have been simmering, Michele's been laying on the couch, watching a Golden Girls marathon on the Lifetime channel, and periodically declaring, "darn, that smells good, shug!"

So here's the recipe I'm following from Wednesday's paper: Black-eyed peas, the New Year's Day food of choice for many Texans, star in this stew from Cissi's Wine Bar executive chef Deegan McClung.

Black-eyed Peas Stew

2 smoked ham hocks
1 qt. chicken stock
1 diced yellow onion
3 diced stalks celery
1 peeled, diced carrot
2 sliced garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 lb. fresh black-eyed peas
4 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Roast ham hocks at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until their color darkens to a deep reddish brown. Preheat the chicken stock.

Saute all vegetables in the fat that renders from the hocks. Just before they are soft, add the cayenne pepper and saute until fragrant.

Stir in the black-eyed peas until they are covered in pork fat and they have warmed through, then add chicken stock, herbs and ham hocks. Season with salt and black pepper.

Bring up to light simmer and cook until the peas are tender. Let the peas sit overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, bring the peas back up to a simmer and remove the ham hocks. Pick all the meat from the ham hocks, then put the meat back in with the peas.

Remove from heat. Taste to check the seasoning, adjust seasoning and serve.

Tastes great with a warm baguette or on top of puff pastry.

— Deegan McClung, executive chef, Cissi's Wine Bar

Shrimp Salad

I've been doing a better job lately of just making up something to eat based on whatever's in the fridge and freezer.

A month or so ago, I took this picture of a shrimp salad I threw together one afternoon. We had a bag of raw shrimp from HEB in the freezer - I had been using small amounts of the shrimp at a time for sushi rolls. We used a simple spicy shrimp boil to cook the shrimp in. After you cook the shrimp, you need to take the whole pot off the stove and just let the shrimp sit a while in that same water you cooked it in to suck up all the spicy shrimp boil goodness. A very important step if you don't want bland flavorless shrimp sitting on top of your salad. Gotta have some heat, as far as we're concerned.

Just the day before, Michele had picked up some fresh salad greens and a red bell pepper from the Austin Farmer's Market at the Triangle. Well, by gawd, we were off to the races.

I then pulled out a leftover onion and a tomato from the crisper in the fridge, and diced those suckers up.

Before laying the shrimp on top, we tossed the salad in a simple italian dressing that Michele had mixed herself from one of those packets you buy at the store.

This was a reeeeeeal good lunch.

Leslie Boyd's Paella

A few nights ago, we had the best paella we've ever eaten in our lives...again. It had been several months since Leslie & Michael Boyd invited us over to sample this old family recipe, and we were extremely lucky enough to be invited over to eat it all over again. Leslie says she'll be e-mailing me the recipe....can't wait to share it here.

And now, here's the next weekend news anchor team:

This handsome couple? It's Alexa McCauley & Pablo Boyd, who got along famously as the adults shoveled Leslie's magical paella into their mouths.

UPDATE 3/21/08:

Hey y'all! I am sorry it has taken me so long to get this recipe to you. We loved the recipe blog. So now, you must add my recipe! And the picture of Alexa and Pablo is simply priceless!!! Thank you so much for coming over...we must eat together again very soon! Happy Easter! Love, Leslie

Paella a la Chilena (or Chilean Paella)

Recipe from Leslie “la Chilena” Boyd (based on my Chilean grandfather Emilio's family recipe). You can substitute scallops for shrimp, and use pork fillets for the sausage, if you like. Play around with it to suit your taste! You know it is done when all the mussels have opened, and there should a nice crispy layer of saffron-infused rice along the bottom of the pan. Feeds up to 10 people….Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 20-25 mussel shells (about 1 ¼ lbs.), thoroughly rinsed & cleaned
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8-10 chicken legs
• 1 lb. Beef sausage, cut into 1-inch thick slices
• 2 onions (large, chunky pieces)
• 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 cups white rice (Arborio is preferred)
• 3 cups hot chicken broth
• 1 phial saffron filaments (4-6 threads), infused into the hot chicken broth
• 1 ½ -2 green or red bell peppers (large, chunky pieces)
• 2-3 cups large mushrooms, halved
• 1 ½ -2 lbs. shrimp, shelledSalt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 325°F

Rinse and clean mussel shells thoroughly; refrigerate until ready to use later.

In a frypan, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil.

Fry chicken legs until golden brown, and sausage slices; reserve.

Heat remaining oil.

Sautee onion and bell pepper in hot oil for 5 minutes.

Add garlic and rice; make sure rice is well coated with oil.

Pour in chicken broth with infused saffron.

Transfer into a large oven-proof dish.

Add mushrooms, reserved chicken legs, and sausage.

Bake in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes.

Mix in shrimp and reserved mussels.Bake for 15-20 minutes more. Make sure all mussels have opened. Discard any unopened mussels after cooking.

Linda Mullen's EZ Classic Lasagna

Back when Michele and I worked at KVUE-TV, a co-worker of ours shared this fantastic and incredibly easy recipe for a quite tasty lasagna. It's one of our favorite and most-used recipes.

Ingredients

16 oz cottage cheese (small curd)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 eggs
2 (26-oz) jars pasta sauce (your favorite)
1 (1 lb) package lasagna noodles
4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
Italian seasonsing (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.)
Optional - 1 lb. sausage or gournd beef, cooked and drained

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Combine cottage cheese, parmesan, eggs and seasoning (add salt and pepper to taste). On bottom of a 13x9x2 greased baking dish, spread 1 cup of the sauce. Top with a layer of uncooked noodles, then cottage cheese mixture, meat and finally mozzarella. Add more sauce - spread it out and repeat layers as many times as you have "stuff" left. End with a layer of mozzarella. Cover with foil. Bake 1 hour or until bubbly (I like it when the cheese browns a little, as in the picture above). Let stand covered 15 minutes before serving.

Number of servings: Linda says "8 big" but Michele and I beg to differ. (Burrrrp.)

La Madeleine's Tomato-Basil Soup

• 4 cups fresh tomatoes , cored, peeled, and chopped (8-10) or canned whole tomatoes, crushed
• 4 cups tomato juice (or part vegetable or part chicken stock)
• 12-14 basil leaves , washed fresh
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 lb sweet unsalted butter
• salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• lemon juice (optional)

Combine tomatoes, juice/and or stock in saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes.

Puree, along with the basil leaves, in small batches, in blender, food processor (or better yet, one of those handy hand-held food blenders, right in the cooking pan). Return to saucepan and add cream and butter, while stirring, over low heat. Garnish with basil leaves and serve with your favorite bread.

Croissant Bread Pudding

I got this recipe from Barefoot Contessa on the Food channel. It's Ike's favorite, so we cook it just about every Christmas. This is a very easy desert to make.

• 3 extra-large whole eggs
• 8 extra-large egg yolks
• 5 cups half-and-half
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 6 croissants, preferably stale, sliced horizontally
• 1 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla.

Set the custard mixture aside. Slice the croissants in half horizontally. In a 10 by 15 by 2 1/2-inch oval baking dish, distribute the bottoms of the sliced croissants, then add the raisins, then the tops of the croissants (brown side up), being sure the raisins are between the layers of croissants or they will burn while baking. Pour the custard over the croissants and allow to soak for 10 minutes, pressing down gently.

Place the pan in a larger one filled with 1-inch of hot water. Cover the larger pan with aluminum foil, tenting the foil so it doesn't touch the pudding. Cut a few holes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 40 to 45 more minutes or until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.