From Sunday to Sunday, last week to this, we’ve gone from 80 degrees and tank tops to killing frost and finding out the heater in the car doesn’t work. Such is New England weather at its most unpredictable. The leaves are shedding fast, and while it has not been the most brilliant colors this year because of the drought, the air is crisp and fresh and the smells of autumn are everywhere. My time of year, even though the daylight is disappearing. How about you?
Garden stalwarts
Hardy greens are often one of the few things left in our gardens after the frost, mine are still thriving, and they will stick around at our farm stands and winter CSAs off and on through the cold weather. It’s sad when that weekly shopping and social ritual of the farmers market comes to an end for season, but the farmers right now are most likely ready to pause and take a breath. They’ve earned the rest, told me so.
We all need a rest
As much as I love my garden, may I confess that I’m always eager for the frost, to put the garden to bed for the year and not have to think about watering and weeding and harvesting. Now’s the time to stop trying to figure out what to do with all those cherry tomatoes or zucchini. We’ve earned the rest too. This year, one of my tasks is moving my almost hardy fig tree (small bush) from the porch to the garage. I bought it last year and it yielded only three or four figs last season. This year, I was delighted to get several dozen, and even now with no leaves left on the plant, it is still trying to ripen a few last fruits! They were really delicious, but it is time for the winter rest for Mrs. Philo (we live viewing distance from Mount Philo).
Loyal greens
Kale and Swiss chard are two of my garden staples. Often the first crop we northerners plant out in the early spring, they continue to supply us with greens from spring through frost and often beyond. The more you pick, the more you get, and the only time I’ve been without chard was the year the deer broke through the fence one night and chewed the whole row down. Even then, it grew back quickly. If you don’t have a garden, tuck some in a large pot, or in a flower bed; it’s not picky, and will treat you kindly in return.
Popeye ate his spinach, and we had to, too!
My mother was a great proponent of these vegetables in our garden and on the dinner table. Her favorites were the chard and spinach, which she often cooked to death by today’s standards, mushy little mounds on the plate, even when made from fresh. We had to eat our greens, just like Popeye! And his were always from the can which was where ours came from in the winter, even more mushy.
A lot of flavor
While not the most appetizing way to eat it, chard is a green that you can cook for a long time and it will retain a lot of flavor, intensifying the broth of any soup or stew. However, the longer you cook it, the more it loses color, and vitamins, which is why I like to cook it as quickly as possible, and I still use my mother’s trick of a squeeze of lemon juice or drizzle of vinegar to brighten it up at the end.
This remains my routine when serving them straight up, steamed, never boiled, to preserve the nutrients. No matter the green or cooking method, they are soft and a bit soggy after cooking, so some croutons, dried bread crumbs, or crunchy finely minced nuts or seeds add some interest, especially if you’ve served them many days in one week to keep up with the harvest. A sprinkle of Parmesan is also delicious, or crispy shallots, just to keep things interesting.
Toss them in other dishes
Add these greens to many soups and stews, and I always include them in my big batch of beans just to add a bit more nutrition, flavor, and color as well. They just seem to round things out and turn a bowl of beans into a meal. Cut up the leaves raw in salads, and even toss some in your smoothie or pesto, I won’t tell.
Meaty mushrooms
For this soup, I used Blue House mushrooms grown right in neighboring Ferrisburgh. It was a lovely variety of oyster, shiitake, and king mushrooms, but you can substitute any favorite mushroom here, even the humble white button if that’s all you can find. I love their flavor and texture, and no matter the mushroom, they will all work here.
Separate the stems from the leaves
These sturdy greens often have tough stems and ribs that cook at different lengths of time from the leaves. Routinely, it’s best to strip the ribs from the leaves and cut off the stems, then chop them all up for the recipe or save for stock or another use. The leaves will cook quickly by themselves. Let them wilt to where you want them.
Lots of choices
If you don’t have Swiss chard, simply swap out spinach, kale, beet, or another sturdy green. How about collards? We think of them as southern foods, but we routinely find them at our northern farm stands these days.
If you do not have leeks, use a large sweet onion, it will be just as tasty. Use any potato you like. Here I used a mix of odds and ends I had in the larder. No fennel? Substitute celery.
Popeye and Mamma were right
Not only tasty, this is a feel-good soup that warms and nourishes. Hardy greens are a powerhouse of nutrition. They add a variety of vitamins and minerals, high in iron, potassium, calcium, and vitamins A, C, and K, as well as protein, phytonutrients, and fiber. Filled with cancer-preventing compounds, these greens also support weight loss, diabetes prevention, heart health, and help regulate blood pressure. All with few calories and virtually no fat.
Mom was right, eat those remarkable greens!
Autumn Mushroom and Swiss Chard Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 large leek, diced
- 1 small bulb fennel, diced
- Chopped up stems from a bunch of Swiss chard
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp. ground fennel seeds
- 8 oz. (230 g.) mixed mushrooms, rough chop
- One pound of potatoes (450 g.), cut bite-sized
- 6 cups (1 ½ liters) vegetable stock or water
Heat a soup pot over medium high. Add a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sauté the leek, fennel, and chard stems until soft. Add the garlic and fennel seeds, let these get acquainted for a couple of minutes, then toss in the mushroom and potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and add the stock or water.
Let this simmer until the potatoes are tender, then add the leaves from the chard and let cook just until they are wilted but still have some body. Taste for seasoning, and serve up.
You can garnish with a soft-boiled egg for a bit more protein if you like, or toss on some garlic croutons.
Yellow-Eyed Beans with Swiss Chard
A variation on the recipe above. Proceed as above, then simply add a couple of cups of cooked yellow-eyed beans when you add the chard leaves. This is a most hearty dish, delicious served up with biscuits.
Yellow-eyed beans are a New England staple and can be found in most grocery stores or co-ops. They will store for months as dried beans, but cook quickly in a pressure cooker, or slower stovetop.
Make a big pot and use them in multiple recipes through the week, or freeze the excess. Cooking beans from dried taste much better than canned and are way cheaper in the long run.
Mom always cooked her beans in her trusty pressure cooker. I use my instant pot which is much easier to control, or the boil and simmer method below.
For the instant pot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil on sauté and add one large yellow onion, minced and two cloves of garlic, finely minced.
Once the vegetables are soft, add one pound of yellow-eyed beans, 1 ½ quarts water, and 1 ½ tsp. salt
Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes and let naturally release. If you don’t have a pressure cooker:
First, soak your beans overnight in salted water if you are cooking them stovetop. If you don’t use salt, your beans will be bland. Conventional wisdom used to say not to add salt until the end or it will toughen the beans, but this has been pretty much debunked.
I’m afraid the beans that ended up tough were probably very old and would have been tough salt or no salt. To correct this, simply add a quarter teaspoon of baking soda to the cooking water.
In the morning, drain the beans and add them to a large pot where you have sautéed the onion and garlic. Add the water and salt, bring to a boil, cover, and cook until the beans are tender. This will take around 1 ½ to 2 hours depending on the age of the beans.
Don’t know what to do with all that kale? Roast in the oven at 350 degrees F. (180 C) for about 15 minutes, spritzed with a bit of oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper and whatever other seasoning you like. How about Chinese five spice? Even the kale haters will like snacking on these.
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Only one more farmers market left for the season, Time to stock up.
And for next year:
We grow pole beans for our library’s seed savers program. In the spring, we can pick up a variety of heirloom seeds to plant and enjoy in the garden, and bring back some of the seeds to share next year. This year, I planted scarlet runner, rattlesnake, and true cranberry beans. They all did great in the heat of summer, and survived the drought.
Soups are one of my favorite things to make when the weather turns chilly. Everything goes, too! A snap to make, homemade soups taste 100 times better than anything you can buy.
They sure do! Warming, and comforting, especially if you can enjoy by a fire.
She sure was, Dorothy! Thank you for the lovely dishes.
Joanna
Thanks for stopping by Joanna! I’m sure you appreciate the veggies!
Everything sounds mouthwatering!
Thank you! There’s always plenty to go around.
As you put your garden to bed for the season, you must be thrilled at the successful season of fresh vegetables that you enjoyed, and, of course, that you tempted us with delicious recipes!
Thank you Mary! It’s always a delight to share these treasures with you all!
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” – Ovid
Beautiful! Time to rest!
Love this! Fall and winter cooking are the best!
They sure are! So nice to enjoy the warmth of the kitchen and the yummy meals that come from it!
It’s always nice to put the garden to bed while mentally planning for when ‘after Winter has passed’.
Here, the weather has stayed a bit cold for planting but in a heartbeat it is suddenly warmer and now we are in a frenzy trying to get everything planted. Now, the garden looks fabulous and mouthwatering for the crops to come.
Who doesn’t love ‘fresh from the garden’?! 😂
Mary :))
Oh, such a miraculous time of year!
Soup is one of the best things about winter! Both of these dishes look wonderful; I just need some bread now.
Coming right up!
I can only dream!
I enjoy soups of any kind. I would enjoy your Autumn Soup. I too enjoy the rest. The gardening is done until next spring. Enjoy your rest as well.
🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁
Yes, time for a snooze!
Greens are a good thing. I’m with you as to being okay with putting the garden to bed. I got to the point I was feeding the chickens. 🙂 I like working in the cooler temps, but I would prefer not to deal with darkness so early. Oh well, can’t have it all. Happy fall to my friend to the west. 🙂
This is the time that you can almost see the difference in the light from day to day!
Growing up our fall and winter vgreens were collard, mustard, and turnip greens
All hearty and hardy! So tasty and nutritious too!
Down under we are just at the beginning of planting, improving soil and looking forward to crops other than beetroot, spinach and kale – they continue, though, to offer their bounty! Lettuce, arugula and tomatoes are going in plus whatever else we can manage. Isn’t the garden such a joy. I’m definitely in the spring vibe! Love veggies… Always a delight to read your suggestions, Dorothy. Even better on the plate…
Thank you my dear friend! Spring is that wonderful time of nothing but possibilities! No weeds yet, no bugs, only dreams!
Everything looks delish and evergreen!
It’s that wonderful time of transit! Thank you for stopping by!
Also writing from Down Under even our early morning temperatures are well over the 10C mark and soups made may be of the ‘cold’ variety 🙂 ! But love your recipes as always and file them carefully! Your farmer’s market photo looks delightful but do enjoy your ‘time off’ 🙂 !
Even better today, Eha, we have some rain!
What a beautiful and nutritious soup, so perfect for this time of year!
Jenna
Thank you Jenna! You can also add other veggies that you find along the way!
Great soup! I love greens!
So good, and so good for you!
My mother cooked greens the way yours did, thus promoting in me an aversion to stand-alone cooked greens. But greens in soup? Bring ’em on! Somehow I don’t mind them that way. Your soup looks so good. Will be making a variation soon. Thanks for sharing!
No hard frost here, yet. And, I, too, enjoy the break from gardening that winter gives us.
Cool spring temps, near drought conditions & deer contributed to a poor harvest. And yet there was some chard & beet leaves. I enjoy greens of all sorts, done or raw. A favorite way to use up the beet greens is to make lazy beet leaf holupchi for the freezer. I use that expression – put the garden to bed, as well as the yard. There are just a few perennials to cut down & then, let it snow. And there was a sifting of snow yesterday.
I love a mushroom soup!
I’m with you Marilyn!
Such beautiful fresh figs!
Thanks for lovely memories of fall in New England. It is so magnificent.
Greens are indeed so good for us. All your suggestions looks so tasty and fresh. It’s time to get the soup pot read! 🙂
Thanks Ronit ! It is a special time of year for sure! Soup, fireplaces. Who could ask for anything more?
Every gardener needs a well deserved break at the end of the season. I know your freezer must be packed and ready for some more deliciousness to come. We eat a lot of soups and one of our favorite ones is made with beans and escarole. I know I would enjoy yours.
I love escarole in a soup, such an underused green!
The photo of Brussels sprouts reminded me that I haven’t seen any yet at the farmers market. I suppose that it’s still too early. Hopefully, I’ll find some later this fall.
I found some nice fat ones at the farmers market this week. Mine are a little behind; I think I didn’t keep enough water on them during the drought.
This is such a healthy, colorful dish, Dorothy. Mama was right, for sure.
About so many things!
Brilliant Dorothy… and all wonderful vegetables that we eat all year around but particularly in stews and soups at this time of year… another delicious recipe…♥
Thanks Sally! I know how much you appreciative super nutritious veggies!
My mother was also a big one for greens. We’d eat them with vinegar. I’ve saved your soup recipe with the beans to try.
Always that vinegar or lemon juice before serving! I hope you enjoy the beans as much as we do!
I’m sure I will!
Do you can your soup for winter? I love how colorful and delicious your soup looks Dorothy!
What I do is make a big batch of soup and freeze the extra in canning jars for other meals. Always a good plan!