A Year in Eating. Almost.

Let's start with August 2014, the month I began ignoring my poor wee blog.

'Top of the Hill' eggplant layered with rounds of fresh 'Wolf Meadow Farm' mozzarella and simple homemade marinara sauce made from super ripe heirloom tomatoes from 'From My Head TomaTOES Farm'; grated scamorza cheese from 'Wolf Meadow Farm' laced their tops. Adapted from bon appetit. Their tip: slice your eggplant in half lengthwise, all the way through the intact stem for an appealing, rustic presentation.  Prebake before layering.  Drizzle with olive oil before baking.  Sprigs of garden marjoram or oregano laid across the top before baking perfume the kitchen wonderfully. 

Can't have August pictures without tomatoes, basil and fresh mozz in the mix (lol, I know, it's supposed to be about the tomatoes).  Who here eats half the mozz before serving?  There is simply no point in ever attempting this supreme combination at any other time of year than deep summer.  Don't even consider it.

September 2014

Pick-your-own blueberries from an Epping farm made for a good attempt at hiding all of my frosting flaws! I believe this was a blueberry-flavored cream cheese-frosted yellow cake.  For no one's birthday.  :)

'Top of the Hill' flank steak all ready for fajitas. Remember to slice thinly on an angle, across the muscle fibers, for ultimate tenderness.  Sprinkle with a bit of Morton salt...then frig the fajitas. ;-p

Solstice Pizza Party

Foodscription...it cures boredom! So does playing with your food...which, btw, almost always results in some fabulous concoction worth writing about. These are the concoctions I served up for a small party Saturday night (sadly, we gorged before snapping pictures of a few of them). Thank god for leftovers. Yep.

when leftovers look this good, you know it was a great party!  leftovers, dontcha know, are windows of opportunity, 'specially the WTFJTII kind. 

Farmers’ Market Griller w/ Garlic Scape Ricotta* (above and below)

Garlic scape pesto folded with lemon zested same-day ricotta, topped with grilled pencil-thin asparagus, saltwort and zucchini, drizzled with buttery extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with Hawaiian black sea salt.

• Local: Barker’s Farm; Brookford Farm; New Hampshire Mushroom Co.; Wake Robin Farm; Wolf Meadow Farm
• Regional: Oyster Creek Mushroom Co.
• Long Distance: Chilean olive oil; lemon; Hawaiian sea salt

*not quite the original product; we made a couple changes before reheating: first we added leftover roasted oyster mushrooms from the 'Potato Leek & Mushroom' pie below. then we added a bit of the raw milk cheddar intended for the 'Apple & Caramelized Onion' pie, and then what the heck, why not add summa them maple-glazed apple slices, and then well we might as well keep on goin' and add summa that Candy Cap mushroom oil.  Super winner.  Where's there a pizza contest when I need one!!

An Oldie But Goodie: spinach & ricotta stuffed chicken breasts w/ chestnut mushroom marsala

My mother lives in Tamworth, NH and sources her butchered chicken from a farmer there. She inevitably buys too many; guess who's on the receiving end!

This 6+lb bird was heading for the oven as a roaster but a last minute decision to utilize some robust chestnut mushrooms that we picked up at a recent farmers' market led to it being broken down for its breast meat, to be stuffed with deliciousness and eaten rollatini style and bathed in a luxurious Marsala sauce.

My most local farmers' market (a mere mile up the road) provides great access to fresh mushrooms--both cultivated and wild. Chestnut mushrooms, which take 85 days to fruit compared to others that take only 17-19 days, are not only abundant from our source, but a beautiful deep chestnut brown in color, tasty, and super easy to turn into an extravaganza.

With a pound of them from Tuesday's market, it didn't take much convincing, then, to turn to a favorite in this household: stuffed chicken breasts with a silky mushroom Marsala sauce. It was a bonus that I had a brand new bottle of Marsala, and a double bonus that I happened to pick up a container of fresh ricotta from the market!  Might as well go for the hat trick here: I also had spinach from Thursday's market and bacon in the freezer from our recent meat CSA pick-up.  It's great when the stars align, isn't it?

Pre-harvest Chestnut mushrooms, as seen when growing under the watchful eyes at New Hampshire Mushroom Co.

Before starting on the chicken, get the first stage of the mushrooms going (recipe below).

The breasts from this corker of a chicken were quite large, so I cut them in half to create thick cutlets, then butterflied those pieces. With smaller chickens you might not want to push it.  Season both sides with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, clean up your hands, and then move on to the filling.

Spread 2 heaping Tbsp of ricotta evenly over the four splayed pieces to just within a 1/2" of the edges. A handful of torn spinach leaves was piled on top of each ricotta-smeared breast, followed by sprinkles of crispy bacon bits (cooked while I worked on breaking down the chicken).  A hint of nutmeg and a touch of salt completed the filling. When you're ready to roll, have your lengths of butcher string ready. Four 2'-long pieces for these "rollatini" will do it.  There are great sources online for watching the technique of rolling stuffed breasts.  Don't worry about perfect execution.  You should know, too, that fresh ricotta won't ooze out.  This particular filling is a very tidy filling--good for beginners.

Using the same pan that I cooked the bacon in (and the same, minimal fat created), only a touch of cooking oil was needed.  Once at temp, the rolled up chicken breasts were eased gently into place and cooked, rotated to evenly cook all sides, for about 12-15 minutes.  Thickness of butterflied poultry matters.

While the rollatinis are cooking, finish your mushroom sauce (recipe at bottom).

To serve, remove the twine and cut into 3/4" slices on the bias.  Spoon an ample amount of the mushrooms and Marsala sauce all over the top.  We added a homemade pilaf and some braised asparagus spears to our plates.

Release the hounds!

Mushroom Marsala Recipe:

1 pound Chestnut mushrooms, stems pulled apart (thick cluster ends removed)
4 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil (or local sunflower oil, which is nuttier in flavor)
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 c Marsala wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp fresh herbs, such as thyme or savory, chopped

1. Heat half of the butter and the Tbsp of oil in a large saute over medium-high heat. Chestnuts are super easy to work with.  Just pull the stems apart, perhaps split the largest ones in half, and saute the whole load, stirring occasionally, over med heat for 7 or 8 minutes until they're softened and darkened.  Season with salt & pepper, then set aside to cool a bit.

2. Turn the cooked mushrooms out into a bowl.  Heat the remaining butter in the same pan until almost frothy. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until a paste forms. Deglaze the pan with the Marsala, whisking the paste into a smooth consistency as you stir.  Whisk in the stock and bring to a low boil. Once thickened, add the mushrooms.  Add in chopped fresh herbs if you desire, or let it be.  Check for seasoning.

Grilled Lamb Kofta Kebabs with Pistachios and Asian Greens Wrap

Riverslea Farm lamb, kofta style, nestled in a bed of Herb Farmacy's microgreens (dressed in extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice) with pickled red onion, on homemade flour tortilla.  A drizzle of sheep's milk yogurt and extra virgin olive oil, and a few grains of Herb Farmacy's 'garlic sea salt' made for finishing touches. 

'Kofta' is a middle eastern term for, typically, "ground meat cooked on a skewer."  Lamb and mutton are the more common meats used, but some cultures also use beef or chicken.  With the quality of meats available locally to our NH Seacoast, any of the above could be used confidently, but being spring (so they say), lamb was in order.

So here's what the plan was for an equinox party for 25 friends (which ended up being a party of 11 adults and 6 children):

'New Hampshire' Fried Chicken Dinner

My mother procures 6 or 7 chickens every year from her local farmer in Tamworth, one of which found its way to my freezer recently.  Upon thawing, I promptly broke it down into pieces, oven-fried 'em, and served 'em up with all the rest of the usual KY-style suspects (what can I say, I'm a child of the 70's), the difference being my sides came from within 3-25 miles!

Red and green cabbage-carrot slaw, thank you Heron Pond; corn, blanched and frozen from last summer's awesome harvest, thank you Barker's; mashed potatoes, thank you Riverside Farm; gravy, with homemade chicken stock, thank you Brookford Farm for the awesome flour; and, herbed cream cheese biscuits, thank you Gagne Foods, Bath, ME. 

Chicken Pot Pie - Valentine's Dinner Ideas

What better way to weatha a massive stawm (24"??) than over a bowl of homemade chicken pot pie?!  New Roots bird, Meadow's Mirth carrots, Brookford's whole wheat flour (crust), and Wild Miller's spuds...the only way to fly, er, eat, er love the one you're with!

Easter eggs!

Yellow House Farm eggs Part I...

Yellow House Farm Part II!

Happy Easter!

Sunnyfield's Irish scones

Need I say more?

And, yes, I have Irish music playing.  Frieze Britches / Donnybrook Fair by William Coulter (Crooked Road album), for those of you who like details.

Happy smilin' Irish eyes to you!

Local Bratwurst with Braised Red Cabbage and German Potato Salad

Being of German, Scottish and Norwegian descent, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I discovered bratwurst...Bruce and Mary Jones's 'Patridge Farm' heritage-breed pork beer bratwurst, no less. Say that five times fast. 

I must say, I pulled tonight's dinner out of my...magic hat.  Give a hand to my amazing assistant: The New York Times Cookbook.  I had every darn ingredient on hand.  Yes, I feel very proud.  Very, very proud.

Ale-braised Bratwurst

• 1 lb beer bratwurst (Patridge farm makes theirs with beer; they participate in the winter FM in Rollinsford)
• 1-2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 bottle of ale (I used Smutty's Old Brown Dog)

Braised Red Cabbage with Bacon, Apple and Chestnut

• 3-4 oz. bacon, sliced/diced (I happened to have some of Patridge's jowl bacon in my freezer, but any ol' bacon'll do)
• lg head of red cabbage, quartered, core removed, wedges sliced into shreds
• small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 lg tart apple, peeled, quartered, sliced thin (I used NH Cider Works/Carter Hill Orchard's mutsu variety. Pretty much a perfect apple.)
• 1 cup good quality white wine (a dry Riesling is the only way to go)
• roasted, vacuum-packed chestnuts, 12-14 whole pieces (optional, for sure)
• healthy pinch of brown sugar
• knob unsalted butter
• splash good quality red wine vinegar
• good salt & freshly ground pepper

Light German Potato Salad

• 3-4 oz. bacon, same as above
• 1-2 Tbsp garlic oil (smash a clove with a knife, add it to a couple Tbsp evoo, bring to a simmer, then shut off the heat and let sit until ready to use) 
• 2lbs new potatoes, scrubbed, boiled or nuked whole until just tender
• 4-5 scallions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp yellow or brown mustard seeds
• 1 Tbsp good quality white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• salt & pepper

We're going to start with the very opposite of this line up.  First, have a beer and some nuts.  You know it.

POTATOES:  Do these first.  They're easy.  I used my 'potato' option on the microwave.  Fool proof.

When the spudskies are done, quarter/halve them while hot, then toss into a bowl with the chopped scallions.

Use a Dutch oven for everything but the brats.  One pot tonight.  Gotta love it.  Well, almost one pot.

First cook the bacon for the potatoes.  Heat the pot over low heat and add the garlic oil.  Add the bacon chunks and let them be for a few minutes.  Stir every once in a while.  Now wait for it... wait for it... ahh, there it is, that wonderful bacon aroma wafting up into your olfactory senses.  Make sure the bacon goes from this...

to...

...this!  Crispy bits o' love!  Poor little pig.  I love pigs.

Set your bacon aside on paper toweling, then strain off all but a couple tablespoons of fat.  Keep your heat on...medium is good...then add the mustard seeds.  They'll start to pop very soon after adding them.  As soon as they do, kill the heat and add the white wine vinegar.  This will deglaze your pot very nicely.  Use a spatula to scrape every last drip--listen to your mother--of this concoction all over your potatoes.  Season with a pinch of salt & pepper...

Gently stir this all together and then cover with that piece of plastic wrap that you have sitting around somewhere.  See?  Done.  Told ya, easy peasy.  (The bacon bits will be added when you serve.)


CABBAGE:  This dish isn't hard, either.  And, it's quite lovely.  I love the word lovely.  Say it with me: lov-uh-lee.  Lovely.

First, turn your oven on to 425.

To begin, wipe the pot clean using that nicely greased paper towel that your 1st batch of bacon is sitting on.  :~)  Over very low heat, add the 2nd batch of chopped bacon.  No garlic oil, no butter, just bacon.  Cook until the bacon starts to brown, 7-8 minutes.  Add the onion and turn up the heat to med-high.  Cook until onion softens.

Once the onion has softened, add the cup of white wine, then the apples and brown sugar.  Stir to combine all those luscious (oooooh, you know I love that word) flavors together...

Speaking of wine...

This dry Riesling, purchased at Ceres St. Wines, was modestly priced (~$25), and soooo worth it.  It complemented dinner with a capital 'C'.  Pale yellow in color, with bright aromas of kiwi and bacon.  I mean, lemon zest.  One might say it has a "supple" texture on the palate, with a bit of sweet apple for fruit.  Yes, I like that word, too.  Supple.  Very much.  This is a nicely balanced wine, and its dry, spicy finish was perfect with all the buttery, bacony, bratwursty flavors.

Next, add all that gorgeous cabbage...

Just stir it all in...

Add in the chestnuts, too.  I left mine whole, but chopped works.

Cover your pot and place in the oven.  Cook for 20-25 minutes, then lower heat to 350 and cook for another 35-40 minutes.  Check occasionally, stirring to prevent sticking.  When done, you'll add that little knob of butter and splash of red wine vinegar.  But before you worry about butter and vinegar, let's tackle the bratwurst, shall we?


BRATWURST:  This part is so simple it's ridiculous!  Pluck your 'wurst links from their packaging and add to a heated pan in which you've brought 1 Tbsp of butter to foam.  Have that bottle of beer opened and handy...

Fresh pork bratwurst from Patridge Farm.  Their version is made with ale and mild spices (sausage recipes include liquid, from cream to wine).  Bratwurst recipes abound, indicative of the many regions in Germany from whence they originated, and there are just about as many cooking methods, from frying to simmering in liquid to grilling.  Some sources suggest pricking the casing before cooking to avoid splitting, while others state pricking is the best way to dry out your sausage.  I chose not to poke holes in mine.  I'm a non-pokey kinda gal when it comes to sausage.  Russets in the oven, on the other hand....

Once they're browned, add in a cup of ale/beer/lager/whathaveyou.  The beer will foam up quite spectacularly, but no worries, it won't boil over.  It's only a cup's worth after all.

  
Bring the beer and brats to a boil, then lower heat to simmer.  Cover, let cook for 12-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, let's get back to that cabbage dish.  If it's finished cooking in the oven, add the butter and red wine vinegar, stir well, and leave covered until you're ready to plate...

Bring on the plates and forks, and don't forget the mooseturd!

Yum!  Yumyumyumnomnom....  The sweet and tangy braised cabbage was splendiferous with the mild, smooth, buttery sausage. All was very tender, very tasty.  The potato salad, hiding there in the background with its crunchy bacon bit topping and all those tiny pops of flavor provided by the mustard seeds, was killer.  How could it not be when garlicky bacon fat was drizzled all over young potatoes and scallions?


Dessert anyone?

What?

Sweet Potato Bread Pudding



Riverside Farm sweet potatoes made this bread pudding velvety and luscious!

Break out the bourbon -- this is breakfast food for champions!

Okay, maybe it's not breakfast food for all champions, but consider it tried and true for the two occupants in this house who needed sustenance before heading out to watch a grandson's early hockey game (husband) and plant an entire braid of Wild Miller's garlic (moi).  Hot out of the oven (albeit briefly cooled) and drizzled with a pecan praline sauce (enter bourbon), the custard for this tasty pudding was light and creamy.  Be sure to pick up some sweet potatoes at the next winter farmers' market, and if you're in or around Kittery, stop by Beach Pea Bakery and grab a French baguette!

Pumpkin Stew

Digging into this stew is fun and tasty.  The cooked, sweet pumpkin flesh easily pulls away with each spoonful of goodness, and provides lots of nutrients, flavor and rich, comfort-food texture.  The crunchy, seasoned pumpkin seeds make for a wonderful contrast, but might be too much of a chew for some once they soften in the stew and thus lose their crunch. 

October--the perfect time to pick up a couple o' pie pumpkins from your local farmstand to make stew with!  To make the dish pictured, choose a couple of small-ish pie pumpkins.  Create lids, leaving stems intact.  Scoop out all the seeds and set aside in a bowl of fresh water.

Rub pumpkins with olive oil, put tops back on, taking care to line up ribs for best fit.  Set aside while making the filling.

For the filling, use whatever moves you.  I went for a gumbo-style stew without the shellfish.  I even had gumbo filé on hand, a fine powdery seasoning made from dried Sassafras tree leaves (one of my favorite trees here in the northeast!) used for thickening stew, as well as, creole seasoning from a batch of homemade spice rubs (it's easy to make your own blends of seasonings; see my recipe below).  Leftover roasted potatoes were way too tempting to leave out, so they were also added.  For this carni version, I used bone-in chicken thighs and local andouille sausage from Brookford Farm.  Great stuff, but this could e-a-s-i-l-y be made for vegans and vegetarians by simply omitting the meat and beefing up (sorry, pun intended) with all kinds of root veggies.

What makes a true gumbo authentic is the chocolate-colored roux.  The French typically use a very light roux for thickening soups and stews.  For this roux, though, the same ingredients are cooked for a much longer period of time.  One might think they were about to burn their roux!  Have no fear, it makes for a killer stew!

Heirloom tomato sauce with lemon and cinnamon basil

This was definitely one of the best tomato sauces ever tasted in this house.  Ripe, Great White heirloom fruits made for a superb, low-acid, creamy sauce. There are a number of heirloom "white" tomatoes; 'Great White' is the best according to employee-owned 'Johnny Selected Seeds' out of Winslow, ME.  The fruit is meaty with few seeds, which makes for easy saucing.  Don't be fooled by its mild flavor when eating raw; cooked, these babies turn out one heck of a sauce.

For this recipe, we used ~4 lbs of tomatoes.  'Great White' is prolific; we got lots from our two plants!

Begin with 3-5 lbs of your favorite tomato...

Delicious Lamb Shish Kebabs with Tzatziki

I marinated Riverslea Farm lamb kebabs in grated ginger, minced garlic, freshly ground cumin seed, turmeric and coriander, olive oil and lemon juice.  Grilled these 1-1/2" chunks for no more than 8 minutes (rotated halfway through), and served over orzo pilaf with a side of delicious tzatziki.  Wedges of red onion, chunks of farm fresh tomato, and cremini mushrooms accompanied the lamb.  Recipe for tzatziki follows:

Perfect, Simple Rack of Lamb

Riverslea Farm lamb - a must try!

Grilled rack of lamb: incredibly tender and juicy, perfect for creating a rich crust, and it takes no time to french the rack (aka, trim and expose the bones, which your butcher can always do) and cook.   Pick some of your favorite herbs, then finely chop and add some olive oil, and you've got a delicious paste to flavor your rack with.  Serve alongside your favorite summer veggies and celebrate good, slow, local cooking!  Or a special someone's birthday.  :)

Total prep time: ~20min for frenching rack; plus ~30min for prepping coals
Total cooking time, depending on size of rack: ~20min
Resting time: 8-10 minutes

Most racks easily serve 4.

This dish, save for the olive oil and seasonings, was made from foods grown/produced within 15 miles of our home: Riverslea Farm lamb; Applecrest Farm green beans; Meadow's Mirth new baby potatoes; McKenzie's Farm cherry tomatoes (40 miles from home, but still a NH farm...); New Roots Farm garlic; and, rosemary, thyme and mint from our garden. 

 A hardwood-charcoal grill was used for this recipe, but a gas grill would work just as well as long as you're able to create a cool area from a hot area.  Follow these tips for ensuring a pleasingly successful rack of lamb:

Fiddleheads!

We love fiddleheads. Crunchy, earthy, buttery...a cross between asparagus and artichoke in flavor, they are perfect for jazzing up an easy weeknight meal. Add further decadence by sauteeing them in browned butter and ribbons of prosciutto!

Earth Day Local Food Celebration...Grecian Style!



Parsley, thyme sprigs, peppercorn, bay leaf, a few cloves and a garlic clove or two nicely round out almost any stock. This lamb stock became the base for one of the bechamel sauces (I made 3 versions of moussaka for this occasion, detailed a little more in a caption below).

Paella Again!

Fresh, local lobster warmed in saffron butter, center; Maine shrimpies, PEI mussels and MA littlenecks intertwined with roasted red bell pepper strips, and served over pea-dotted paella with local sausage and chicken!

Special friends from Colorado visited a couple of nights ago. After having taken part in a paella party last weekend--which was lots of fun--such delicious food and a great bonfire--I just had to make paella in a nod!

THE paella party to beat any perigee moon!

Friends and party extraordinaires, Alix and Colin, pulled off a fab Vernal Equinox paella party on the night of the perigee full moon.  Great friends, red wine galore, bonfire in the back...It left all of us with visions of paella dancing in our heads for sure!

Home-cured Corned Beef - Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Click on the picture for better resolution.  Irish soda bread from Me & Ollies is delicious: lots of savory, sweet and salty flavors, especially of caraway, raisin and baking soda.  Curing method adapted from America's test Kitchen cooks.

Grassfed flat-cut brisket cured for 6 days in the fridge.  First, poked a couple dozen skewer holes in each side.  Next, rubbed in kosher salt, cracked black pepper, paprika, pinches of allspice and thyme, and crushed bay.  Weighted it down and turned it over every day.  Thoroughly rinsed before cooking.

Braised in water with fresh bay leaves, mustard seed and peppercorn for ~3-1/2 hours.  Added carrots, whole baby potatoes, parsnips, cubed turnip and red cabbage--all from local farmers!--during the last 45 minutes (cabbage added during last 15 minutes).

Was super fork tender, moist and meaty, with hints of the bay and mustard poking through.  Not too salty--just succulent the way corned beef should be!  Yum!

Did you know?  Corned beef got its name from the Old English who used the term 'corn' when they referred to large, coarse grains.  The large granular salts used for curing meat thus resulted in "corned beef."

A Perfectly Local Valentine Dinner for Two!

All thanks to the diversity of foods at the recent Winter farmers' Market in Exeter this weekend!




Riverside Farm greens dressed in honey cider vinaigrette made with local cider vinegar, sunflower oil, honey, mustard (Reye's from Eastpoint, ME) and herbs from Herb Farmacy.  Apples from Hackleboro Orchards, cheese from Sandwich Creamery.

 

Valicenti Organics farro pasta tossed in their own red gravy, served with Me & Ollie's parisian baguette doctored up with fresh local butter and garlic.



Flourless chocolate torte made with fair trade/organic Green & Black's 72% cacao chocolate, minimal sugar (only 3 Tbsp in the entire recipe!), local eggs and butter, topped with honey sweetened, freshly whipped Brookford Farm cream and decorated with spots of raspberry glaze (from leftover homemade jam) and decorating candies.  Served with Sweet Baby Vineyard raspberry wine....

Ingredients in any of the above that were not selected from local sources:

Salad:
pistachios
sugar
cayenne pepper

Garlic Bread:
flour and yeast in bread
parsley

Torte:
chocolate
vanilla extract
decorating candies

Everything else entirely local!!