The Closet Gardener: The Basics Pt. 1
Last summer I got a bit of a gardening bug. I bought a bunch of locally grown plants and was really successful in growing a variety of herbs to use in my cooking. I had a series of boxes sitting in my three West x Northwest-facing window sills. It was great having basil, oregano and thyme for my tomato sauces and lots of mint for my smoothies and mixed drinks. Then came autumn....
I live in a north facing apartment and as the days got shorter, my windows got less and less light. All of my plants slowly died. The only one that survived was a jasmine plant I got from my mom and even though it made it to see another summer, it's probably the saddest specimen living.
By February, every trip to the grocery store found me slightly disgruntled at the prospect of paying 3 or 4 bucks for an 8 oz. package of weak-looking "fresh" herbs. It was about that time that I started researching indoor gardening. The only real resources that I could find were weed-growing websites. I wasn't looking to grow pot, but I took the basic premise and went with it. I had some mishaps along the way, but the end product has been a bountiful and low-cost closet garden to supplement my cooking and eating needs. It is a fun hobby and a good way to eat well/live cheap as a struggling artist.
In a series of posts, I'm going to document some basic approaches to closet gardening which I've developed to help you make your own low-light, limited-space garden.
Giant in the Kitchen: Cool Summer Sangria
I forgot to mention the sangria! We made some awesome sangria to go with the sushi…because Spain is kind of close to Japan, right?
Sangria is a great way to have a classy summer drink when you have no money. You can make it as extravagant as you like, but basic sangria is just cheap wine, and some citrus fruit. The wine can be cheap because the fruit flavors overpower any subtleties in the wine. I used a bottle of cheap shiraz that I got off of a clearance shelf at Target. (I’m talking 3$ here)
Here is a simple sangria recipe:
Wash two oranges and a lemon. Cut into bite size pieces and place all of the lemon and 2/3rds of the orange into a large pitcher. Press the pitchered fruit with a wooden spoon to release some of the juices. Pour in a single 750 ml bottle of wine and stir together. Put this concoction in the fridge for a couple of hours, garnish with the remaining orange slices and you have basic sangria. I like to mix in about 6 ounces of frozen limeade concentrate. This makes it a bit sweeter and really gives it a punch of citrus.
Try some of these variations:
- Mix in a cup of dark rum with the wine.
- Make it a fizzy drink by filling a glass 1/3 with seltzer and 2/3 sangria.
- Use a white wine and substitute peaches, apples and grapes for the citrus fruits. Sprigs of crushed mint can be delicious here as well.
- Withhold the limeade concentrate and use a cup of simple syrup instead. For simple syrup, mix 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Let cool before mixing into the sangria.
- Grate 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger into the sangria.
- Use a cup of orange or apple juice as a sweetener.
Giant in the Kitchen: Sushi
Arianna's friend Kajsa is in town visiting this weekend. We had a sushi night last night which turned out to be kind of awesome. I doubt that someone from Japan would recognize it as sushi, but we all dug it. We used brown rice and whatever else was lying around in the fridge. This included speck (kind of a smoked prosciutto, I guess...it was cheaper than real prosciutto) and salami which, while decidedly un-Japanese, was pretty tasty. We also used smoked salmon, avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese in varying combinations. I never do raw fish, not because I don't like it, but simply because I don't think that I can afford fish that is good enough to eat raw. Imitation crab meat is always a good alternative.
For me, sushi is a great hangout-let's-make-dinner-as-a-group sort of deal. It gets everyone involved and you end up knowing the people you're with a little better - and everyone likes knowing people! I figured out how to do sushi from my pal Tory a few years ago, so this is basically her approach.
Here are the basics:
Use short grained brown rice, it tastes good and brown is better for you. Make sure it is short grained or else it won't get sticky. You need ½ a cup of rice and 1 cup of water per person. Put it all in a sauce pan, cover, and bring to a boil. When it begins boiling, reduce to a simmer and leave it to do it's thing for about 50 minutes. You'll know it is done when it is no longer soupy and is somewhat sticky. At this point remove the cover and let it rest and cool off for at least 10 minutes. While it is cooling mix together about half a cup of white wine vinegar and a few tablespoons of sugar (this is what we did for three people, adjust to your numbers). These proportions are really up to you, if you want it a bit sweeter add more sugar, if it is too sweet, you know, cut back on the sugar. Remember, this is completely Americanized, so make it your own. Mix the vinegar mixture into the cooling rice.
While the rice is cooking, give everyone a knife and a board and get your fillings sliced into thin strips. You can really use whatever you want in whatever combination you like. Just try to go for texture variety - something crunchy with something soft.
To make the sushi rolls, take a sheet of nori (you can get this at the grocery store in the foreign foods section - it's probably next to the Mexican salsas and below the soy sauce) and lay it, smooth side down, on a sushi roller or a large piece of plastic wrap. Cover the nori with a thin layer of rice, leaving about an inch clear on the top and bottom of the square. You want to be able to see the nori through the rice so get it spread really thin with the back of a spoon. Pick your fillings and line them up on the rice near the bottom strip of unriced nori. Wet the clear strips of nori with a bit of water, and roll the bottom up to the top using the roller or plastic wrap. You want a tight roll so take your time and use the roller to really tuck it in. This isn't the easiest thing in the world to do and it takes a bit of practice to get it right, but keep at it
I tend to accidentally overstuff the first roll and it always ends up looking like an ugly burrito. We ended up with about 6 or 7 rolls and most of them looked even and normal. Once you've used up your ingredients, slice the rolls with a sharp, wet knife. Rewet the knife often to help it cut through the dry nori. Try to cut the slices about 3/4ths of an inch thick. If you get to the end of a roll and the last piece is a bit thicker, don't try and halve it. You'll just end up with two rounds of goop.
When you've sliced the rolls, break out the wasabi and soy sauce. You've made sushi!
