It’s now September 13 and we’ve had no feedback from the 
September Window article entitled “Whoever Heard of a Garden Cookbook?” Hmmm. You were so taken by the deathless prose, you are in shock? Bad year for a garden? You eat all your meals out?
This situation is serious. Let’s make time to create at St. James’ garden guide and cookbook with St. James’ history, personal stories surrounding your gardening and cooking adventures, and photos about all that. Here is another example of a story related to gardening and cooking. Of course it is fictional, made up for your enjoyment, and to get you to write your own story about your garden, your own cooking.
I’m cheap. Let’s establish that right now. I say that because I’m always buying the cheapest meat cut I can – and usually regretting it when the meat is tough, lacks flavor, and is often overcooked. In my feeble mind I decided that a good marinade might help me overcome my cheap-ness. Like many other guys I started looking on the Web for a marinade recipe. Mostly I discovered that there are as many marinade recipes as there are grains of sand on Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Be focused, I thought. Start with beef. Other meats or poultry or fish can come later. Also I’m not scientific. If it works for me, it’ll work for you – my new motto. After scouring marinade recipes till my eyes crossed I settled on a couple of basics – red wine and garlic. Banging up the beef with a tenderizing mallet was probably a good idea. A lot of recipes called for herbs (that’s Herbs for the English speakers out there) so I tried various combinations and quantities, mostly dried because that’s what I found in the cupboard. One recipe called for fresh rosemary, no ifs ands or buts. My neighbor had a rosemary plant, a big one, so I was sure she would never miss a branch or two. I threw the crushed rosemary in the marinade along with the other ingredients. Twenty-four hours later I removed the beef (not telling how cheap the meat was, but it was just a cut above hamburger) and barbequed it. Melt in my mouth it did. Herbs for ever! Now I grow ‘em and use ‘em every chance I get. I still buy cheap beef. Marinade recipe suggestions below – experiment and make your own – and DON’T forget the herbs! p.s. I bought an instant meat thermometer and I use it when I can to great taste. Overcooked meat tastes-less (than it should) in my opinion.
OK, there is the example. Look through you life experience, pull out a story from your creative background. What, no garden, not even pot with herbs? How about your visits to a farmers’ market? What about your cooking mistakes? Now that BBQ season is nearly over (except for the barbequed turkey), look back over your successes over a hot fire – let’s hear about them. Need help putting you story/recipe down on paper? Just ask for assistance. For more references about this book business see September’s Window.
Submit, if you please, your gardening and cooking stories and recipes to Jim or me. If you don’t like to do this on-line, write it up and hand it to one of us.
~ Bruce Roberts. Jim Cunningham is my co-conspiritor.