Getting Creative with Pesto

Not a summer goes by without this cook making some form of pesto. It's so easy to get creative with pesto, and unless you go insane and add too much of something like, say, jalapeno, you really can't go wrong. It's easy to make, too; and, being so damn tasty for spiffing up a simple weeknight pasta, potato, or pizza dish, it's a trifecta condiment/sauce/paste to have handy. Aaaand, little 4oz mason jars filled with this deliciousness make for much-welcomed gifts for friends!

There are many options for greens that deviate from the classic Genovese basil used in pesto, and some can be used on their own or in a mix: arugula (adds a peppery note), cilantro, garlic scapes (whoo!), mezuna (adds a less peppery note than arugula), or radish greens (whoa, spicy!). Spinach is one of my favorite bases, and it's featured in the recipe below. Of course, there are also all the different flavor profiles of basil itself! Lemony...or cinnamon-spicy...or just super-basily.

Freezing Corn for winter, and Good Tips for while you're at it!

This whole process took no more than a couple of hours, and was a perfect task to take care of with the cooler weather we've been experiencing.  For only two dozen ears of corn you'll end up with more than 6lbs of plump kernels in your freezer, making for super delicious summer-fresh chowder, or perhaps a scrumptious shepherd's pie, this winter.  That alone, I think, is worth two hours.

TIP: First, start with impeccably fresh corn--which you'll only find at farmers' markets or a well established farmstand.  Be wary of those roadside set-ups where corn is sold out of boxes from the back of a truck.  They're not always what they claim to be, with goods bought from out-of-state distributors and sold as "local" produce.

Barker's Farm corn.  So sweet and tender!

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.

King Oyster Mushrooms, Scallopini Style

This is a very--and by very, I mean your 10-yr old could make it--easy recipe.  You will die and go to mushroom heaven after you try King Oysters this way.  Forget the steak, these babies are killer good.

A recipe card made for our local farmers' market:

I added just a light swirl of extra virgin olive oil on the finished product...more for photo aesthetics than anything else.  You should also know that we ate half of them before adding pesto.  Yes, they were that good.  Super-good, and we're never going back to store-bought portobellas.

Grilled Saltwort, Asparagus and Fiddlehead Pizza

Sauteed fiddleheads, grilled asparagus and grilled saltwort, with a little spinach-basil pesto.  Spring has sprung!

Salt what?

Saltwort!  It's a coastal plains/saltmarsh-loving plant (so, tolerant of salty soils and climes) known for its versatility in the kitchen (raw, grilled, sauteed, steamed...), as well as its medicinal benefit as a mineral-rich diuretic.

Wiggin Farm is selling this delicious plant (likely the komarovii species...now known, thanks to fellow blogger 'Diary of a Tomato', as the soda species from the genus Salsola, family amaranthaceae); remember King Phillip Came Over Fearing Green Snakes?).

We tried it raw--yummy, crunchy, watery like a succulent--and grilled this first go-round.  Grilling it is fun and exciting, particularly if you're a fire bug.  I'm a fire bug.

Lather up the stems in olive oil.  I drizzled the oil over a plate of the saltwort and asparagus stems, then used the stems of the wort to pick up the last bit of oil--paintbrush style--before laying them down on the grill.  Flames will shoot out and spark up, so just be careful.  You can even use these as natural basting brushes for oiling up the grill plate before grilling!

A couple flips and maybe 2-1/2 to 3 minutes later and off they came (asparagus, too).  Scissors made quick work of removing the root end, with nary a leaf left behind.

Fiddleheads were sauteeing in the meantime, just in olive oil, fresh garlic, finished with lemon zest.  All three veg were arranged on the dough that got its headstart and finish on the grill. Grated gruyere and scamorza played along in their magnificant glue role, and a little spinach-basil pesto made for the final curtain.  Er, topping.

Three clumps of Shagbark spinach on their last legs met up with a big ol' clump of basil, several final cloves of winter garlic, toasted pine nuts, olive oil and salt for this ridiculously simple but ridiculously tasty pesto.  Nope, no cheese.

A good drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground pepper was all it took for this 30-minute meal to go down in less time.

So much for relishing the deliciousness that this spring meal had to offer....

Green food!  It's what's for dinner!

Apple Gremolata

For a nice refreshing change from jus or gravy on your next wine braised bone-in chuck, or other slow-cooked and savory protein, try apple gremolata.  Gremolata is just a name for a condiment typically made with minced parsley, lemon zest and minced or pressed garlic. Herbs can vary, and sometimes even anchovies are added.  Olive oil is not usually in the mix.

Apples are still plenty available at the farmers' markets in this area; Braeburns from NH Cider Works/Carter Hill Farm are a good tart option (although not as tart as their Crispins, which look like Granny Smiths).

Inspired by a fellow blogger who recently decided to dig out her covered beds in search of remaining root veg and leeks, I wondered if my parsley bunches had any stems left, flattened beneath all the snow.  They did, although not much.  And, granted, they were soft and wilted, but that made 'em all the more suitable to accompanying a couple of apples, peeled, cored and diced, with a bit of lemon zest, a healthy glug of olive oil, and coarse pepper and sea salt.  

I went with this for prosciutto-wrapped turkey burgers the other night, studded with sundried tomatoes, and a side of creamy sweet potatoes that we picked up from Riverside Farm and slow-roasted for about an hour at 350.  I added a hint of bourbon to the bowl in which they were mashed  A little chard sauteed in olive oil and garlic finished the plate.  Next time, I'll leave the sundried tomatoes out.  Or red-wine braised beef it will be.

Radish, Carrot and Apple Salad ...in a bite

You're looking at a slice of watermelon radish (Heron Pond Farm) topped with herbed fromage frais (Brookford farm), carrot ribbons (HPF), diced apple (Cider Works), slivers of red onion (Meadow's Mirth), and sprigs of baby greens (HPF), garnished with chopped hickory-smoked almonds and a very light touch of cracked peppercorn.  I finished the whole bite with a drizzle of honey-dijon vinaigrette.

These make for very user-friendly appetizers, as the radish slice folds nicely when picked up.  Not only are they easy to eat, they're easy to make.  They're also naturally gluten-free, loaded with local goodness, low in calories, crunchy, creamy, tangy and tasty!  And, well, quite easy to look at, I'd say.  Sring IS in the air.   :).

Either a mandoline or a sharp knife will make easy work of thin slices....

Grilled Grass-fed Bone-in Rib Eye, Roasted Fingerlings with Garlic, Greens with Roasted Golden Beets and Fromage Frais

The "before's"...

Riverside Farm's 'Golden Beets' ... Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with sea salt & cracked pepper, wrap in foil and bake for an hour at 400...

Heron Pond Farm fingerlings and Maine Herb Farm garlic ... Cast iron is my choice: dress in olive oil, s&p and fresh berbs and roast right alongside the beets (these were hefty fingerlings; smaller ones would need 35-40 min)

New Roots Farm's grass-fed bone-in rib eyes ... while the beets and potatoes are roasting, rub these with oil and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper and set aside to warm to room temp before grilling for ~7 or 8 minutes each side (these were thick cut steaks) for medium rare.  Be sure to let them rest to reabsorb their juices.

A glimpse of the very last bag of greens from Heron Pond on Saturday.  I'm already in withdrawal....

The "after's"...

Coconut Cupcakes...Those Non-local Ingredients...

There are just some things in life that we cannot go without.  These vegan coconut cupcakes, for example, adapted from a 'Chef Chloe's' recipe, which have virtually no ingredient that comes from local sources (apple cider vinegar, that's it), are just too scrumptious and fun not to make.  And, chocolate, don't get me going....

Breakfast fit for a farmers' market queen

I don't know that I need to say more.  Okay, I will.  'Many Raisin' toast from Sunnyfield Ovens that we picked up yesterday at the market, slathered with Brookford Farm brie (also purchased yesterday) and my buddy Marie's homemade jellies (left: orange-mint; right: red pepper-raspberry; not shown: quince-vanilla).  All her jellies are made with her own garden's produce and herbs!

Wait till I unwrap the blue from Brookford's.

Okay, nevermind, I shouldn't make you wait.  I'm very likely going to add it to a mesclun greens & apple salad with lots of spiced nuts (buddy Marie is a keeper!)  It's so creamy, though, that I might very well have to slightly melt it over grilled beach Pea ciabatta, with crushed spiced nuts and drizzled with Victory Bees honey.  Haha, I'll try to remember pictures.

'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!

Perfect salmon salad sandwich

1. Wild, sustainably harvested salmon (love Henry & Lisa's...) mixed with all kinds of complementary condiments: capers, Flo's pepper relish, touch of whole grain mustard and mayo (eggless Vegenaise, actually)

2. Use good quality bread (here, sourdough from When Pig's Fly), the top slice less toasted than the bottom

3. Let no one tell you that you it's taboo to combine fish with cheese (slightly melted muenster, no less)

4. LOTS of delicious greens (here, gorgeous microgreens from Herb Farmacy, so fresh when purchased at the farmers' market that they're still vibrant and crisp nearly two weeks later!)

5.  A cold beer might've been pretty darn tasty with this, but alas, I had to refrain

Almost Spring Chicken Dinner

Smokey Maple Brine: 3/4c kosher salt, 1/2c sugar, 1/2c maple syrup, a bunch of dashes of good quality liquid smoke.  Dissolve all in 4 cups hot water.  Add 4 cups cold water and a couple trays of ice.  Brine for at least 4 hrs, up to 6.

Inspired entirely of the need to free up freezer space over the next 6 months in order to accomodate this upcoming growing season's stash, I pulled out our last General Butler's chicken and a container of stuffing left over from last Thanksgiving.  The stuffing was not your ordinary bread stuffing.  No-no.  It was a vegetable tempeh stuffing, made with all kinds of little goodies that I'll get into later, including tempeh that, too, was a freezer cull in and of its own right.  Being of frugal Yank stock, I seldom throw anything away.  Truly, it has to look like we'd get poisoned for me to throw food away.  Okay, I jest.  A little.

At the farmers' market this past Saturday, I scored several bags of greens from Meadow's Mirth.  This spinach is worth pushing people out of the way for: sweet, buttery, tender-tender-tender (there was no way I was using heat against it for this dinner).  Now listen, be nice to your fellow shoppers. In-line patience starts with you.  Not me, you.

     
The allure of spinach photography.

So, no heat.  Instead, I tossed it in a very mild champagne vinaigrette, and topped it with the tempeh stuffing. A meal in itself.

That's the last of our butternut squash, too.  I picked up a large, long and slender (don't you even go there) squash from Brookford Farm back in early February at the Exeter market.  Used a third in a risotto concoction one night, and another third, roasted in cubes, for a steak dinner.  Not bad, three dinners from one squash.  But now it's gone...waah.

Okay, so that tempeh stuffing:

Last night I could detect currants, chestnuts and bits of mushrooms.  I had used a mirepoix base (onion, carrot, celery).  I remember the reason for this tempeh stuffing, which means I know I initially used olive oil and vegetable to stock to make it.  Last night I completely fattened it up and drizzled a copious amount of melted butter all over it, and added a layer of toasted pine nuts to its middle ("pine nut surprise stuffing!").  Several splashes of Bragg's liquid aminos (an alternative to soy sauce) also perked it back up.  It was sublime over the spinach, and what I'll be having for lunch today.  'Course, with this time change, it'll feel like breakfast.

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?