chipotle fish tacos with sweet fire salsa

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon The Culinary Herb Farm Chipotle mix
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup(s) beer
• 8 ounces Cod fillet, cut crosswise into 1-inch wide strips
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 4 corn tortillas, warmed
• 4 tablespoons Tommy V Sweet Fire Salsa

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Combine flour, Chipotle mix, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in beer to create a batter.

Coat cod pieces in the batter. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Letting excess batter drip back into the bowl, add the fish to the pan; cook until crispy and golden, 2 to 4 minutes per side. Serve the fish with tortillas and salsa.

Rustic Italian Pasta Salad

1 box of cooked rotini pasta

1 green pepper diced

2 cucumbers peeled and diced

4 tomatoes diced

1 package of The Culinary Herb Farm Rustic Italian Mix

1 1/2 cups of olive oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon parmesan cheese

2 cloves of garlic diced

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, and rinse with cold water until completely cool.

In large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and toss well. Serve chilled or at room temperature. salt and pepper to taste

Organic Farming

One hornworm will eat through a whole tomato plant in 3 days. and we cant pick all of these suckers off our plants. but there is a way to let nature help us out.

Meet the Braconidae, a wasp family that is a friend to the home gardener and commercial producer alike. these little jewels are a significant biological control against thousands of other insect species.The female wasp uses her ovipositor to lay eggs just under the skin of an unlucky hornworm. As the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the hornworm’s viscera–literally eating a hornworm alive. Larvae chew their way out through the host’s skin when they mature.

Once outside, the future wasps pupate, spinning tiny oval cocoons that look like insect eggs along the external back and sides of the worm. These fellows–and ladies–are not just innocently hitching a ride. When the adult wasps emerge from the cocoons, the already weakened hornworm will soon die, thus preventing any further defoliation on tomato plants.

So, if you see a bright green hornworm carrying what looks like a clutch of white-colored insect eggs on its back, leave it there! The hornworm is not only feeding its own destruction, it is also carrying potential destroyers of hornworm brothers, sisters and descendants. That means we get those wonderful, luscious tomatoes right off the vine, the braconids get a meal and a future, and the hornworms get…GONE!

Galbi Mandu(Korean Dumpling) with ginger cream and pickled radish

Large Cayenne peppers before they turn red

They can get to be a foot long!

cherry tomatoes are getting ripe

Ceylon tomatoes, this is as big as they get!

Building a tomato trellis out of bamboo

I have Bamboo towering next to my barn. I always keep it around to make trellises, stakes, and fencing. Its cheap , sturdy, and simple. I cut down and trim 11ft stalks, and cut them to any size I need. here I used a cheap Sisal Natural Twine from home Depot, its rough so no slipping, plus it can handle the outside weather. As the tomatoes grow I will keep adding levels of bamboo. The tomatoes I have growing this year are Ceylon, Money Maker, Black Oxheart, Emerald Evergreen, Brandywine,and Golden Jubilee.

Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe

• 3 medium, firm green tomatoes
• Salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp The culinary Herb Farm Cajun seasoning
• 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup peanut oil or other vegetable oil

METHOD

1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt. Meanwhile, place in separate shallow bowls: the flour and Cajun seasoning (if using), buttermilk and egg, and bread crumbs and cornmeal.

2 Heat the peanut oil in a skillet on medium heat. Beat the egg and the buttermilk together. Dip tomato slices in the flour-seasoning mix, then buttermilk-egg mixture, then the cornmeal-bread crumb mix. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown. Set the cooked tomatoes on paper towels to drain. excellent with cajun remoulade sauce(recipe follows).

Cajun Remoulade Sauce:

1 tsp of The culinary Herb Farm Cajun Mix

2 Tbsp of mayonnaise

combine ingredients and serve with fried green tomatoes

Green Zebra Tomatoes

Green Zebra have a wonderful tart and sweet taste. Pick a week early to make fried green tomatoes!

Drying Herbs

Bunch drying is an easy way to dry long-stemmed herbs, such as marjoram, sage, savory, mint, parsley, basil, dill, and rosemary. Harvest your herbs at the peak of flavor. Before the plant starts to flower.On days that hit 100 degrees, its perfect for a quick dry .A fan helps with humidity.Here I have thai basil and sweet basil

Growing Pumpkin seeds using egg shells

An easy way to grow seeds is to use empty egg shells instead of pots. by the time the plant is big enough, its ready to go into the ground. just crack the shell and plant it in the soil. the egg will be great fertilizer for the growing young plant.

Loads of strawberries! this as at the Fairfax farmers market on Tuesdays. fresh strawberries with aged Balsamic vinegar is the way to go.

At the Restons farmers market. Im selling infused Rosemary and Garlic, Gourmet Italian, and Roasted Purple Garlic olive oils

Making Hot and Spicy infused olive oils. These are what the bottles will look like. Inside are dried cayenne peppers. I will also be using Chili Piquin peppers, they are 140,000 heat units.

Chives are in full bloom

My chives are in full bloom. I love making baked potatoes and drizzling on some Roasted Purple Garlic Olive oil,then sprinkling on fresh chopped chives. oh so yummy!

Thyme

It made it through the winter! Thyme will grow more than triple its size each year. right now I have Lemon , French, and English thyme.