The Good Table At Home: Preparing Garden Beds for Fall & Shakshuka With Poached Eggs
by Bonnie Hariton
From The Garden
After the smoke-filled and excessively hot days of August through mid-October, we are ready for cooler days and brisk nights. We are ready for real rain, not the dry lightening kind, just the dripping wet kind. And, with no threat of frost anytime soon, we are ready for a fall planting in the garden beds. Here in Pinole, California, we are harvesting the last of our tomatoes by making batches of shakshuka. The beans, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and zucchinis have run their course, along with the dahlias. Now it is time to prepare some of those same raised beds to grow a mild-weather, second crop.
We consider sunlight and soil when deciding what to plant and where to plant. But when to plant is also important. A farmer in El Sobrante gave me a copy of her invaluable Planting Guide. It lists about fifty plants and has a column for each month of the year. November is a good time to plant onion sets, garlic cloves, and seeds of arugula, fenugreek, broccoli, fava beans, lettuce, parsley, spinach, and winter wheat! From these, we chose what we’d like to eat, what we’ve had success with in the past, and what we’ll try just for fun.
We grow edibles in half-wine barrels and in raised beds. Dan constructed our raised beds of redwood and they are 8 feet or 10 feet long by 4 feet wide by 12 inches deep. All of these have ½ inch hardware cloth metal mesh stapled to the bottom to deter gophers. We set aside three beds for perennials: asparagus, artichokes, and strawberries. With other beds, we practice a mini-version of crop rotation, simplified as “root, fruit, green, bean.” So where we planted root vegetables such as carrots, kohlrabi, and beets in the spring, now we’ll leave in the re- emerging Japanese eggplant (fruit) and plant seeds of lettuce, parsley, and spinach (green).
Here are twelve steps to preparing the bed from one season to the next.
Remove spent leaves above ground but leave the roots to decay on their own, unless they are very large.
Remove support structures such as cucumber or tomato trellises.
Loosen the soil not by turning it over, but by putting in a pitchfork and rocking it back and forth a bit.
Since the soil level in the bed has probably gone down a few inches, add one or two cubic feet of high-quality, locally sourced soil to the bed.
Add a generous portion of earthworm castings or use your own home-made compost, or a combination.
Add a light layer of coconut coir on top, which retains moisture and helps seeds to sprout.
Water the bed well.
Plant your seeds! Follow package or online directions on spacing for a row or for a square foot. Plant your seedlings! When I plant seedlings, I’ll add sprinkle of mycorrhiza,
which helps roots to grow.Cover the entire bed with something to keep out birds and cats. Bird mesh does a good job. Dan puts 4’ tall rebar posts, topped with tennis balls (for safety), into the ground at each corner of the bed. He ties string near the top from post to post, and we drape the mesh over. That way seedlings are protected until they are stronger. Be careful not to leave any gaps!
Keep the seeds moist by watering every day until they germinate, usually 10 to 14 days.
When the seedlings start to crowd each other, thin them by snipping off weaker seedlings at the soil level. This can be hard - just do it! The plants you have left will have more room to grow.
Visit your garden daily.
A newly prepared bed is a beautiful sight. A bed with sprouts emerging is a wondrous sight. A bed with fruits and vegetables forming is a marvelous sight. A bed overflowing with bounty so that you have plenty for yourselves and plenty to give away is a blessed sight! So go forth and plant.
If life these days is overwhelming, start small. Start with cat grass! Fill a 6 inch diameter pot with soil, sow some cat grass seeds, place indoors or outdoors in the sun, and sprinkle with water daily. In a few short days, this tiny garden will bring you - and your cats - joy. And pray for rain: the nice, wet kind.
In the Kitchen
Shakshuka with Poached Eggs
I have adapted this recipe, given to me by my friend and neighbor Deirdre Davis, chef extraordinaire, who runs Pinoli Farmhouse Kitchen. She adapted it from an Ottolenghi recipe in his book, Jerusalem (2012). Ottolenghi says that shakshuka is a popular breakfast or lunch fare in Israel. Served with some good crusty bread, it makes a delicious and hardy meal. I can vouch for that!
INGREDIENTS (for 6 servings)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon harissa or gochujang (spicy chili pepper paste)
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds, toasted and ground
3-4 cloves garlic, about 1 tablespoon, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 medium white onion, in ¼ inch slices
2 large red bell peppers, in ¼ inch by 2 inch slices
5 cups heirloom tomatoes, chopped
6 whole eggs
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
several fresh basil leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
Toast the cumin and coriander seeds together in a small, heavy, dry frying pan (without oil) over medium heat until they darken slightly, about 1 minute. Grind with a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.
Chop the garlic. Chop the red peppers and the onion. Chop the tomatoes.
Heat the olive oil. Add the harissa or gochujang and stir. Add the spices and garlic andcook until just fragrant.
Follow with the tomato paste and the salt. Cook for a few more minutes.
Add the onions and bell peppers. Stir and cook over medium heat for about 6-8 minutes till softened.
Add the tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for another 10 minutes until the sauce thickens to your liking. Some people like the sauce thicker, others like it more soupy. Taste for seasoning.
Make 6 little dips in the sauce. Gently break an egg into each dip.
Simmer gently for 8-10 minutes, covered, until the whites are just set and the yolks are as runny or as firm as you prefer.
To serve, put some of the sauce and an egg into a bowl. Sprinkle with feta cheese and a few fresh basil leaves.