What I've been up to...

Harvest Corn Chowder

Sorry I can't remember what was in this, but man it was good!!! I had a day of harvesting in the garden and came inside to cook something tasty. I just added a bunch of random things into the chowder like tomatoes, zucchini squash (from my Boss's garden), carrots, croutons left over from a dinner at the farm, cheddar cheese, onions, and other things.

Hand-made Pumpkin Ricotta Ravioli with browned butter sage sauce and Gorman Farm Bacon

Notice our new table that my new husband just made us and the chairs we just got as wedding gifts?  They were made by Les's cousin out of coffee burlap sacs.

I'm teaching a cooking class this month. So right now I'm perfecting the recipe. I'll get back to you on what goes inside of it.

Spaghetti Squash Stuffed with Everything Good

I've never had good luck with growing squash, but this year the spaghetti squash has grown like gang busters! I've been trying a whole bunch of new things with them. This was pretty tasty and it was all ingredients just from my back yard or already in my fridge.

Half the Spaghetti Squash, scoop out the seeds, and place cut side down in a pan with 1/2 in of water.  Bake the squash at 350˚. Take a fork and scoop out the flesh leaving 1/4 in around the outside.  Mix the squash with whatever you have in the fridge. For this recipe I had leftover couscous (made with home-made chicken broth), ham from the wedding, shredded carrots, onions, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and chives on top.

Cereal Crusted - Stuffed French Toast with Blueberries

Filling:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and more for cooking the french toast
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 Tablespoons apricot preserves
1 cup diced blueberries
4 thick slices whole wheat bread
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Egg Batter:
6 extra-large eggs
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Breading:
1 1/2 cups of a mixture of crushed Cheerios, granola, flaked coconut (My suggestion don't use Cheerios. They just don't work well)

In a medium bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons of butter and the cream cheese until combined. Add the apricot preserves and mix until incorporated. Fold in the blueberries into the cream cheese mixture.

Cut bread into thick slices. Make an incision on the crust side of the 4 pieces of bread about 3/4 of the way through. You're creating a pocket to stuff the cream cheese mixture into. Gently spoon 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture into each of the 4 slices of bread and gently close the pocket. Refrigerate the stuffed slices while you prepare the batter and breading.

For the egg batter, add the eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, vanilla, and milk to a medium shallow bowl and mix well. Set aside.

Prepare the breading by adding the crushed cereal mixture to a sheet pan. Dip the bread slices in the egg batter making sure to let each side soak for about 20 seconds. Next, dip them into the cereal mixture.

Put a large skillet on medium-high heat and add a couple of tablespoons of butter. When the butter has melted add the stuffed bread slices and brown on each side for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from skillet and serve immediately. Top with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, fresh blueberries, and syrup if desired.

adapted from: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/04/strawberry-stuffed-french-toast.html

Dinner Parties

I haven't been able to write in my blog in a really long time so I'm doing two today. Here are just a few pictures of the great things that my friends and I have made at different dinner parties we have had.

The first one we had delicious beer bread, wilted salad, upside-down mushroom tartlettes, and stuffed acorn squash. YUM!!!

The third picture is of a dinner we had where my friends and I made farinata, dolmas, fried squash blossoms filled with garlic scape pesto and goat cheese, kale tahini salad, and tzatziki sauce... We also had goat knuckles, deer burgers, chicken, beef and a bunch of other meat. Oh man I love these dinners and the creativity!! Thanks guys for such great food.


If I have time I'd like to give you the recipes for all of the things I made. Hopefully I'll have time!

PEACH SEASON!!!

This weekend one of my co-workers got a ton of peaches from a side stand, and was incredibly nice to share them with me. They were starting to get a little overly ripe so I went to it making some delicious peachy-ness!

I made a peach, gruyere, and caramelized onion quesadilla AND a peach, blueberry galete. Yum yum!!!

Tortilla Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- enough water to make it pliable and tacky but not sticky

Quesadilla Ingredients:
- gruyere
- onions (fajita-style slices)
- chopped chives
- 1/2 in. slice peaches
- olive oil
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
- pinch sugar

Tortilla Recipe:
1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. Add water until it forms a ball.
3. Knead for about 8 minutes
4. Separate into balls.
5. Let rest
6. Roll balls out flat
7. Heat frying pan on medium heat, add a little butter and fry on both sides.

Quesadilla:
1. stir-fry onions with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and sugar until start to get wilted and golden.
2. Place tortilla in frying pan and cover with cheese, chopped chives, peaches, and caramelized onions.
3. Put other tortilla on top and fry until cheese is melted.

Peach and Blueberry Galette
( I got this recipe and slightly adapted it from http://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2011/07/sunday-dinner_17.html)

serves 6-8

For the Pastry Dough

1 1/2 cups unbleached-all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

10 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3-6 Tablespoons cold water

For the Fruit Filling

1 pound (about 2 large) ripe and juicy peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges

1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 half freshly squeezed lime juice

pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of kosher salt

1 Tablespoon milk

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar for sprinkling

Mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar until combined. Scatter the butter pieces on top of the flour mixture and use a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse bread crumbs and the butter is the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over the mixture and mix; repeat with the remaining water until the dough begins to form small curds and holds together when pinched with fingers. (Depending on the humidity in the air you may not need all 6 tablespoons of water- I only used 4 1/2 tablespoons today). Empty the dough onto a work surface. Using a bench scraper, form the dough into a rough mound about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide perpendicular to the edge of the counter. Starting at the farthest end, use the heel of your hand to smear about one-sixth of the dough against the work away from you. Repeat until all the dough has been worked. (This technique is called frisage - I just learned how to do this) Gather the dough into another mound and repeat frisage technique. Form the dough into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cold and firm but malleable, about 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 400º F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If the dough has been chilling for longer than an hour, let is rest at room temperature for 15 minutes to become malleable). Separate into two balls. Lightly dust a large sheet of parchment paper with flour. Roll dough into a round circle about 1/4-inch thick, dusting with flour as needed. Transfer parchment and dough onto a baking sheet and refrigerate until cool and slightly firm.


Meanwhile, gently toss together the peaches, berries, and lime juice in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt over the fruit and gently toss to combine. Remove the dough on the baking sheet from the refrigerator. Sprinkle top with sugar. Carefully place peaches in a spiral and place blueberries on top in the center of the dough, leaving a 2 1/2-inch border around the edge. Carefully fold one edge of dough over 2-inches of fruit, leaving a 1/2-inch area of dough between fruit edge and inside edge of galette. Repeat folding around the tart, overlapping dough every 2 to 3 inches while gently pinching dough at the pleat, but without pressing dough into the fruit. Using a pastry brush, brush the dough with the milk and sprinkle with the tablespoon of sugar. Do the same with the second one. Bake for 30-40 minutes, the fruit juices should be bubbling and the crust golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool for 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!


Source: Adapted from Joy of Cooking, 1997 and America's Test Kitchen

Crepes filled with spinach and fondue-style spinach artichoke Dip

So this is how Les and I eat breakfast everyday. We break out the big wine glasses and garnish our breakfasts. Ha! Just kidding, but today I did get inspired. On Friday I had a cooking class at the farm and the talented Laura Robinson was our guest chef. She taught about cooking with ratios and how if you use simple ratios you can achieve different types of food. One of the items on the menu was a simple crepe, and we had so much crepe batter left over that I was able to bring it home and experiment with the fillings myself.

This recipe reminds me of the crepes I had when I lived in France, and also the crepes I made when I managed the Speckled Bird.

Recipe for the Crepe:

The Ratio: 1 part liquid: 1 part egg: 1/2 part flour

We had one girl in the class who was lactose intolerant so we used water for our liquid. Laura made a great handout for the class which some of the info is below.

Ingredients:

• 8oz Water (Liquid)
• 8 oz Egg (1 large egg is 2oz)
• 4 oz Flour
• pinch of Salt
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla (the vanilla extract we use was homemade by putting about 3 vanilla bean pods that you cut lengthwise into vodka and let stand in a mason jar for at least 3 months.)

STEPS
Weigh flour and add to blender along with other ingredients
Blend for 7-9 seconds, or until just combined
Let batter rest in fridge for an hour to ensure tender crepes
Heat 6-7” skillet over medium heat and grease slightly with butter
Add 1/8 cup of batter to pan, tilting to evenly coat the bottom
Let set untouched for about a minute, flip and cook 30 seconds longer

NOTES
1 egg = 2 ounces
1 fluid cup = 8 ounces
Refrigerate cooked, cooled crepes for a week or freeze for a month
If I didn't use the leftover crepe batter I wouldn't have included the sugar or vanilla in the crepe batter since it was a savory crepe

VARIATIONS
Use different liquid base – soy/almond/coconut milk, water, stock, juice
Add a couple of tablespoons of finely chopped herbs
Add ground spices (cayenne, cinnamon, etc)

WHAT TO DO WITH CREPES
Fill with leftovers
Layer with filling and slice like a cake
Use as a base in muffin tins and fill with custard
Use with any number of sweet applications
o Lemon curd
o Jam
o Sauteed apples
o Nutella

For our filling we used something totally different. for my next class on Friday "Cooking with Wine," I'm making a spinach artichoke dip. I was experimenting with it yesterday and had left overs. So I thought yum. Lets add the artichoke dip into the crepes with some of our left over fresh spinach. Yum.

Spinach Artichoke Filling (Fondue-Style)
For this recipe, we used homemade mayo (recipe below), but you can use store-bought mayo just as easily.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 8 1/2 oz. can artichoke hearts
• 1 cup home-made mayonnaise (see next recipe)
• 1/2 cup Meier’s White Table Wine (it's a local winery in Cincinnati)
• 1 cup grated gruyere cheese
• 1 cup fresh finely chopped spinach
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1 medium boule of bread (I made some homemade bread using the ratio of 5 parts flour: 3 parts water (plus salt and yeast). I also doctored it up with olive oil, subbed some local buckwheat and rye for standard bread flour.)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Drain artichokes and chop finely. Mix gruyere cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and oregano in a bowl. Set aside.
Gradually add wine to mayonnaise, blending well.
Fold Parmesan cheese mixture, spinach, and artichokes into the wine mayonnaise.
Place in an ungreased 1 quart baking dish and bake, uncovered for 25-30 minutes until hot and
bubbly.
Cut top of boule like a pumpkin. Leaving 1 1/2 inch thick crust, pull out the soft sourdough from the center of the boule, and pour mixture into bowl that is left.
Serve immediately with bread from the inside of the boule, crackers, or vegetables.

Home-made Mayonnaise

The Ratio: 20 parts oil: 1 part liquid (plus yolk)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 egg*
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or any kind of acid; lemon, wine, lime, etc. - I used this because it's from a local farm in Indiana.)
• 1 tsp water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup light olive oil (can use any kind of oil; canola, vegetable, sunflower, etc.)
• 1 tbsp whey (optional) **

Makes 1 cup
In the bowl of a food processor or bowl, combine egg yolk, vinegar, water, and salt. Whisk until ingredients are combined.
Continuing to blend, stream olive oil drop by drop until it starts to look creamy. It is important that the oil is added very slowly. Once emulsion starts to happen add the oil in a very small
continuous stream.
Once 1/2 cup of oil has been added, oil may be added at a slightly increased speed. Keep
whisking until all oil is added and the mayonnaise sticks to the whisk. Store mayonnaise in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Mayonnaise will thicken more during the chilling process.

NOTES
** Lacto-Fermented Option - After making basic mayonnaise, stir in whey. Store in an airtight
container for 7 hours at room temperature before transferring to refrigeration. Fermentation will extend the mayonnaise shelf life from several days to a month or more. (I haven't tried this yet, but I want to. I'll have to make some farmer cheese to get the whey. That's for another day)
* You can also use just the yolk, if you do this, freeze your egg white until you can use it like in a meringue. I found using the egg white makes the mayo a lighter color and it seemed more creamy to me.

Because of the gruyere cheese and wine the artichoke dip has a rich winy fondue-taste. I got the ratios from the book Ratios by Micheal Ruhlman. Thanks Brian for getting this book for me! It's great and I highly recommend getting it if you like to cook/bake!