Garden Dinners

Lately our dinners have been relying heavily on the garden. Last night we had Swiss-Chard Zucchini Soup which used onions, chard, zucchini, potatoes, and cilantro from the garden. We base it on this recipe, but use the chard in place of spinach, add lemon thyme from the herb garden, add crushed red pepper and serve it with cheddar cheese. Above is the harvest that went into the soup, with some of the potatoes you'll see below. The tomatoes made it into another meal.
Tonight we enjoyed Oven Potatoes on the Grill. We love potatoes with our burgers, but I didn't want to heat up the kitchen with a hot oven. So instead, I used up the small potatoes, or cut others into chunks.I used our first All-Blue potatoes, with the last of our Irish Cobblers. I tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme before skewering them. It made skewering a little slippery but it made the coverage of the oil more even. Here they are going on the grill.
We cooked them on the grill over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally. They were nice and brown on the outside and tender all the way through when finished. They were delicious. Looking back to find the link for the recipe I make in the oven I realized we could have put beet sections on here too and those would have been good also. Next time!


We also had Romano beans stewed with cherry tomatoes, onions and basil. I sauteed the onion and a bit of garlic in a pan, added quartered tomatoes, and the beans, half the basil and just a bit of water. Covered, they simmered for 5 to 10 minutes until they were tender. I added a half teaspoon of sugar to cut the acidity and topped with more fresh basil.
We're looking forward to even more garden dinners.

Sour Cherries

Our sour cherry tree only has a handful of small berries on it, but I went to a local orchard last week and picked 12 pounds of sour cherries. They said it wasn't a good year for sour cherries. Some trees had only a few, but I did find two that were loaded and easy picking.

With all the cherries, I made 1 cherry pie, 8 jelly jars of cherry-marmalade, and 3 quarts of cherries in light syrup.
The Cherry Marmalade recipe comes from the Ball Canning book, but I modified it for sour cherries. Here it is boiling away.
Cherry Marmalade
1 medium orange (including peel),seeded and finely chopped
1 quart pitted sour cherries
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Cover chopped orange with water in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes until soft. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and cook about 35 minutes until it reaches the jelling point. Remove cinnamon stick. Pour into hot jars, leave 1/4 inch head space and process for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath. Makes about 4 half pints.

Goose Egg Quiche

I mentioned that last week the seller of our new home came over to divide some perennials for their new home and give me a tour the plants in the perennial garden. She brought along a goose egg as a gift. We were surprised by how large it was and decided it would be best used in a special quiche. We pricked the shell to blow the egg out so that we can save it.

We enjoy quiche for dinner a couple of times a month in a variety of forms. One of our favorites is a chard-apple quiche, but with time we've learned to improvise good combinations.

We had asparagus on hand and when I shopped at the local Coop Saturday morning they had ramps (also known as wild leeks) which are a real Spring treat. I've been on the look out for ramps because I wanted to plant some to naturalize on our property. So put six in the ground in the shade of some trees and the rest we used for our special quiche.

Goose Egg Quiche

Make one bottom pie crust and pre-bake for 14 minutes at 400 degrees.

Mix together in a bowl:
1 goose egg & 1 chicken egg ( or 3 chicken eggs), beaten
3/4 cup milk
3/4 grated cheddar cheese
pinch of thyme

Wash and trim the roots off 6-10 ramps. Dice the bulb end of the ramps and then separately roughly chop the greens. Discard the ends of 8-12 asparagus. Cut the stalks into one inch pieces, leaving a three to four inch piece with the tip.

Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Add the bulb end of the ramps and saute for a few minutes. Add the greens and asparagus and saute until greens wilt and asparagus is tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Place sauteed vegetables in pre-baked pie crust, reserving the asparagus tips. Sprinkle with one tablespoon flour. Pour egg and cheese mixture over the vegetables and gently stir to coat. Arrange the asparagus tips on top and sprinkle with paprika. Bake for 35-40 minutes in 350 degree oven until quiche is set in the middle and nicely browned. Serve warm.

Raspberry Muffins with Goat Cheese Filling

Inspired by this recipe from Eating Well which I read the night before, and raspberries in the freezer, I came up with a new recipe this past Saturday morning. These are best right out of the oven, but we have found you can make the cheese warm again by microwaving them in a paper towel for 1 minute.

Raspberry Muffins with Goat Cheese Filling
Ingredients
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (or cream cheese)
2 tbps honey
1 tbs orange zest
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries.

Dry ingredients
2 cups flour (can be 1 cup white whole wheat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 tsp orange zest

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 12 muffin tin.
Mix together the filling ingredients in a small bowl (goat cheese, honey, orange zest, 1/4 tsp vanilla). Set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredient in a smaller bowl. Add the wet to the dry, stirring to just combine. Fold in the raspberries.

Spoon half the batter evenly into the 12 muffin tins. Add 1tsp of the goat cheese mixture to each muffin. Cover with the remaining batter, so that the goat cheese does not show. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown on top. Let cool 5 minutes in the muffin tin before tuning out on a rack to cool.

Quince & Apple Canning

I've been a bit behind on reporting on activities here on the blog. At the end of last month we harvested quince from the bush and made quince jelly. Someone commented elsewhere asking how big the bush it. I would say it's about 5 feet in diameter. There is a picture of the whole bush at the end of this post from last year.

We picked 8 lbs of quince on the 21st and made it into juice in two ways. For every 3 1/2 lbs we added 7 cups of water. We had to fill two large stock pots with the quartered fruits and water. One pot full was strained through jelly bags overnight in the traditional way, yielding 8 cups.We put the other batch through the food mill to remove the seeds and skins but preserve more of the pulp. We got 9 cups from this batch.

For every cup of juice, we added one cup of sugar and then cooked each batch for about an hour with 2-4 tbsp of lemon juice added. The strained juice batch yielded 9 half-pint jars.
The milled juice yielded 10 half pint jars. Both batches had a little more left on the side which we put in the fridge for a taste test. The milled jelly is not quite as refined of a flavor as the strained juice. As far as color goes, it is similar but is not quite as clear, and has a hint more of orange. It has been so rainy lately we haven't gotten a good side-by-side of the two jars. Below is a jar of the strained jelly that wouldn't fit in the canner so went straight to the fridge.
We're very pleased with how much quince jelly we made this year since we thought it was the best we made last year, but had to use and share it sparingly. This year there is plenty to go around.

Our other canning endeavor was apple-quince butter. We went apple picking the last weekend in September and had a coupon for some money off a half-bushel of pick your own. So we picked a half-bushel. We were careful to first pick two varieties of cooking apples and then two varieties of eating apples so we would be able to separate them when we got home. My husband wanted to make apple butter, and we decided to throw some quinces in too.
We used 2 lbs 10 oz of quince and 3 lbs of apples (a mix of Cortland & Mac). We quartered them and added 7 cups water. We brought it to a boil and cooked until soft. Then we put the pulp through a food mill. Here's my husband using it.
We decided to cook it in the crock pot. We had 14 cups of pulp and added 4 cups of white sugar and 1 1/2 cusp of brown sugar. We started it on high with the lid ajar for a few hours and then turned it on low when we went to bed. The next morning it still needed more time so we left it on while we went to church. We forgot and came back later in the afternoon to it being done, but some of it starting to crisp around the edges of the crock pot. It had reduced by half and darkened significantly in color. We processed it in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes and yielded 8 half-pint jars. I still need to photograph it to show how dark it got.

Pasta with Kale & Sausage Sauce

We'd been in a rut with kale for a while and had gotten tired of eating it with lentils so it had been a month since we picked any. The plants have filled out and we realized we needed to eat some but in a different way. Here's what we came up with.

Pasta with Kale & Sausage Sauce

Ingredients:
3 Spicy Italian sausages, removed from casing and crumbled
5 oz kale, washed and torn from stems
2 cups red tomato sauce (We use 5 Minute tomato sauce)
1 clove garlic, minced
pasta

Directions:
Set a pot of water to boil large enough to cook your pasta. In a skillet, brown the crumbled sausages. When the water boils, place the kale in the pot and blanch for a few minutes. Remove the kale from the pot using a slotted spoon, reserving the water in the pot. Return the water to a boil and cook the pasta. While the pasta cooks, chop the kale. When the sausage is cooked, add the minced garlic and saute one minute. Add the two cups of red sauce and the chopped kale. Heat over medium heat until the sauce is warmed. Drain the pasta and serve the sauce over the pasta with Parmesan cheese.

Currants and Raspberries

After making one jar of currant jelly on Tuesday I decided I wanted to make more. So we returned to Cherry Hill Farm and picked seven and a half pounds of currants last Thursday. Currants are fairly easy to pick. You just lift up the branch, and strands of currants hand down. You lift the whole strand off the branch.
I used the recipe from Joy of Cooking's: All About Canning. Basically you wash the currants, but don't have to remove them from the stem. You put them in a pan stems and all, crush some of them to release the juice, and bring to them to a boil. Then simmer the currants for about 10 minutes until all the berries have burst. Strain the juice through a jelly bag. For every cup of juice, add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil in a large pan and cook until the jelling point. Pack into jars that have been sterilized in boiling water for 10 minutes. Then process the jelly for 5 minutes. My yield was (7) 1/2 pint jars of jelly.
The owner also gave us some of these champagne currants. I cooked them separately and then mixed in some of the red currant juice so that I had enough to make one 1/4 pint jar of jelly. We'll have to wait and see if it tastes any different, but it is a lighter color.While we were at Cherry Hill Farm we couldn't resist picking some raspberries as well. We picked about two quarts.
Matt had made a great apple tart before from Joy of Baking.com. So I headed there and found a Raspberry Cream Cheese Tart Recipe. We added in a few currants too, and it looks like they burst in the cream cheese during the cooking. It's a very good tart and we're still enjoying it for breakfasts.

Carrot Harvest

Yesterday I harvested my square of Chantenay Red Core Carrots. I planted these on 4/11 and they sprouted on 4/25. The seed packet says they should be ready in 65-70 days but my time from planting to harvest was 97 days. I imagine that is due to the rainy and cloudy weather we've had this summer. There were 4 or 5 large ones, the rest were medium and some were still small. I think I probably didn't thin them enough. After trimming the tops, the total weight was 14 and 3/4 ounces. I'm happy with the harvest. We ate the baby sized ones on a salad for lunch. For dinner, I quartered the larger carrots and braised them with 1/2 cup of broth, 1 tbsp of butter and a dash of salt. I cooked them in a covered pan for about 15 minutes, and then uncovered to let some of the liquid evaporate. I tossed in some fresh thyme. They were very tasty.

Pea Dumplings/ Ravioli

Last winter we made sweet potato dumplings which were very good. This spring I saw a few recipes around for pea ravioli and so we've improvised two recipes based on others in the past month.

The first time we made them in ravioli shape, using egg roll wrappers.
To my best recollection, the filling was about two cups frozen peas, lightly cooked and drained, then pureed with 1 chopped shallot. Then we stirred in about 1/2 cup of fresh soft cheese.

We put four small spoonfuls onto one egg roll wrapper. Then we brushed it with egg wash and put another wrapper on top.
After smoothing the places where the dough met, we cut them into four ravioli.
We boiled them until they were done and then tossed them into a pan with melted butter to crisp up a bit. We found that the size was a bit large and made it difficult to handle. We served them with a drizzle of fresh yogurt. For our second version this weekend, we had some ramps from the farmers market to experiment with. We decided to make a ramp and pea filling for the wrappers, but this time fold them like dumplings and pan fry them. We sauteed the ramps in bacon fat. Then we made a puree in the food processor with about 1 1/2 cups of peas, the zest of one lemon, salt, & pepper. We stirred in about 4 oz of goat cheese. This time we cut each egg roll wrapper into fourths. We put a spoonful of filling on and folded it into a triangle.
We found that this shape is more manageable, especially for pan frying. We fried them in olive oil and dipped them in yogurt. They were very good. In both cases, there were extras which we froze on a cookie sheet and then later put into a freezer bag. So we'll be enjoying these again soon.

Yogurt Chive Cheese

I read this article on the NY Times about making your own yogurt last week. I'd read about it in the past on other blogs (The Frugal Girl has a more detailed set of directions) and decided that this week's break was a good time to give it a try.

I used one quart of milk and heated it over medium heat until it reached 180-190 *F.
Then I put the pan in the sink with cold water and stirred until the temperature lowered to 120 -115* F. I stirred in two tbsp of store-bought yogurt with live cultures.
I wrapped the quart jar in kitchen towels and placed it in the oven for 5 hours. The yogurt was still thin, but tasted like mild yogurt. After refrigerating it thickened up some. It is still on the thin side compare to store bought products. Since I had yogurt, we decided to make some recipes that used it. We already had planned to use some of it for Chicken Tikka Masala later this week. I had some over granola for breakfast. The NY Times linked to a topic list where you could browse recipes with yogurt and I came across a few for yogurt cheese.

I started with just 2 cups of yogurt because I was just experimenting with the yogurt cheese for the first time and I didn't want to use all of my newly made yogurt. Next time I'll use 4 cups because the cheese disappeared fast.

I lined a strainer with about 8 layers of cheese cloth and put the strainer over a bowl. I poured in the two cups of yogurt. I put it all in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, the solids remained in the cheese cloth and the whey was in the bowl. (This photo is the morning after. When I first put the yogurt in, it almost filled the strainer).
I turned the cheese out into a small bowl.
I added chives, salt, and black pepper. After mixing, I spread out a sheet of plastic wrap. I ground pepper on to a central area and then piled the cheese mix on top.
Then it was rolled up into a log shape.
We ate it on stone wheat crackers and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't wait until we have other fresh herbs growing in the garden so we can experiment with other variations. Now that we made cheese with the yogurt, I decided to go ahead and make another batch of yogurt to have on hand.

Meat Smoker Link

Way back in November, I mentioned that my husband had built a home-made smoker which was used the previous year for our Thanksgiving turkey. Some people commented they would like to know how he made it. This weekend he finished some upgrades and wrote about it on his blog.

Special Chocolate Bars

I heard about making your own chocolate bars with special toppings back in December on the Splendid Table. However, there wasn't time to experiment in the mist of the Christmas travel season. Recently I saw a picture of some chocolate topped with pumpkin seeds (pepitas), and it brought the idea back to mind. While shopping at the Coop, I found Belgian Dark Chocolate in the bulk baking section. I made an impulse purchase of about half a pound. I came home to find the general directions on the Splendid Table website. Here's what part of the block looked like when I started. Before you begin, line a baking sheet with wax paper. Then prepare your toppings. I toasted almonds and pepitas separately.

Roughly chop all the chocolate. I tried to chop it in the food processor, but all it did was spin around and start to melt. I found the cutting board and my serrated Cutco knife worked best for roughly chopping the chocolate. Put half of the chocolate into a heavy-bottomed pan.Melt the chocolate over very low heat. Once it is melted, stir in the other half of the chocolate. Stir together until is is all melted. Pour chocolate on to a sheet of wax paper in a baking tray. Spread to 1/8 inch thickness with a spatula. Let sit for 3 minutes.

Sprinkle on your toppings and some coarse sea salt.
Let the chocolate cool for an hour or two until set. Then break or cut the chocolate into pieces and store in a tin for up to two weeks. Three different sections were topped with pepitas, almonds, and almonds and lavender. The hardest part of this recipe is not eating it all at once.