Seasonal Eating

Cranberry Pecan No-Knead Bread

2011-05-23T13:06:00.005-05:00

Made a little a bread this week. This formula is easy. There is a bit of unattended time, but if you have a Dutch oven, you can make better bread than many of your local bakeries (unless of course you live in one of a handful of places where extraordinary bread is the norm). If you'd like the recipe, leave a comment!

First Pickup of the 2011 Seton Harvest season!

2011-05-17T21:21:00.004-05:00

We are looking forward to another great year at Seton Harvest. The farm received its 3rd annual Certified Naturally Grown (CNG) certification, and the Cherry Eggers pullets should provide our first eggs in mid July.

If you are in or visiting the Evansville area in June, join us for the Seton Harvest Garden Party. The event is June 4th and will directly support the farm's food shares for the poor. For more information, call Amber Schiff at (812) 963-7693 to reserve a seat!

Madeleine's Restaurant Opening for Lunch Tomorrow

2011-02-09T21:06:00.012-06:00

With Madeleine's Restaurant starting a new lunch service tomorrow, I thought it might be a good time to resuscitate this blog. We stopped in today for a preview, and if you've eaten dinner there, you may be surprised by what we found.
There will be soups, salads, vegetarian options, and sandwiches in the near future, but right now they are concentrating on what Chef Tim Mills calls "Meat and Three." This is essentially Southern comfort food, expertly prepared and with an occasional twist. Meat options include:

Kobe Beef Meatloaf
Southern Fried Buttermilk Chicken Fillets
Crab and Shell Pasta Au Gratin
Tandoori rubbed Roast Pork Loin
Braised Beef Short Ribs
Shrimp and Cheese Grits

You then choose 3 of the following:

Red Beans and Rice
Macaroni and Cheese
Corn Pudding
Loaded Baked Potato Mash
Baked BBQ Brown Sugar Beans
Old South Turnip Greens

Impressions

For a preview, everything was well-prepared and delicious. Even though our server was new, she was very attentive and helpful. The Tandoori rubbed pork loin was spectacular, with subtle Indian flavors contrasting the richness of the meat. The turnip greens were spicy and redolent of ham, and the baked beans were a perfect mix of sweetness, vinegar, and smoke. Best of all, $12 seemed a fair price for a full plate of made-from-scratch comfort food, and something I hope to enjoy again soon.

Crumb Cake Muffins

2010-02-18T08:53:00.002-06:00

Here's a recipe for crumb cake muffins for my friend Adrienne (and of course, for my loyal blog readers as well).

Makes 12 muffins. Published January 1, 2008. From Cook's Illustrated.

Don't be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough muffin. If you can't find buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain, low-fat yogurt. When topping the muffins, take care to not push the crumbs into the batter. Cooled leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Ingredients

Crumb Topping
1/3	cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3	cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4	teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8	teaspoon table salt
8	tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4	cups cake flour (7 ounces)
Muffins
1 1/4	cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2	cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4	teaspoon baking soda
1/4	teaspoon table salt
6	tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1	large egg
1	large egg yolk
1	teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3	cup buttermilk
	Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions

FOR THE TOPPING: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.
FOR THE MUFFINS: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2 cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.
Using 1/4-cup measure or ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among muffin cups; using small rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer. Following photos below, break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces and spread in even layer over batter (about 1/4 cup of crumbs per muffin), beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack at least 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.

Reheating Thanksgiving Turkey

2009-11-29T18:54:00.005-06:00

Still have some turkey left from Thanksgiving? How do you reheat it without turning cold, dry meat into hot, dry and tough meat? Gently steam the turkey over a pan of simmering water, checking it every few minutes. You don't need a rolling boil since it is already cooked; just a simmer will do. If you happen to have a steamer basket, this is a great application for it. If not, use a colander or strainer over a saucepan. Either way, your leftover turkey sandwiches will be a hit!

Challah for World Communion Sunday

2009-10-03T16:51:00.003-05:00

Here are a couple of overgrown challah loaves with Holland whole blue poppy seeds, just out of the oven, for World Communion Sunday. They are 2-1/2 lbs each. If you would like the recipe, leave me a comment or drop me an email.

Seasonal Vegetables at Oakley's Bistro

2009-09-18T10:21:00.009-05:00

For any of you who think of vegetarian eating as lots of beans and brown rice, I submit the meal I had last night at Oakley's Bistro pictured at right. The four items on the plate, starting in the top left corner and proceeding clockwise, are:

Mushroom ravioli with a wonton wrapper
Vegetable Lasagna
Parmesan Pudding
Cabbage roll with couscous and pine nuts

Above the plate to the right are some wonderful creamed spinach and leeks in a little cast iron pot. If you find yourself in Indianapolis, I would highly recommend Oakley's Bistro for a creative and frequently changing menu.

Cabbage rolls

2009-07-15T19:51:00.016-05:00

[Francie made these delicious cabbage rolls last night. Her notes and recipe follow.]

Inspired by our first experience of cabbage rolls by Ukrainian friend Mariyah. Although I understand Ukrainians regularly make vegetarian cabbage rolls and meat versions only for festive occasions, we were started on the more indulgent versions & so make the "feast" version!

We had two large cabbage heads from Seton Harvest, so we made tons! They can be frozen before baking (just after assembling), but we cooked all of ours up & are looking forward to sharing them with a couple of other households! The size varied, as the cabbage leaves vary in size, but we made over 7 dozen rolls!

Hubbards' Cabbage Rolls

1 lb uncooked brown basmati rice
1 Tbsp. butter (optional)
2-1/2 cups water + 5 qts. water
4 lb ground meat (lean beef or combination of ground chuck, pork & veal)
salt & pepper
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 small onions, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp+ dried oregano
2 heads cabbage, cores removed
4 eggs, beaten
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes (no salt added)
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
2 cups light sour cream
cayenne pepper to taste

1. Bring 2-1/2 cups of water to boil. Cook rice (with butter if you choose) in the water for 35 min. Then let rice cool.
2. Brown mixture of meat in a large pan over med. heat. (If you make this quantity of meat, you may want to brown it in two batches, so as to not overcook some of the meat.) Strain meat for grease, put in a large bowl & season with salt & pepper & set aside. *I will use more salt & pepper next time.
3. Bring 5 qts. of water to boil in a stock pot. Add 2 Tbsp. salt and both heads of cabbage. Boil cabbage for at least 6 min. Pull cabbage heads out with strainer or "spider" carefully so as to not pour boiling water on oneself. Set aside on plates to cool. Keep water warm.
4. Wipe pan dry & saute onions over med. heat in olive oil until they are soft, about 4 min. Reduce heat to med. low and then add the garlic to pan & cook addl 2 min. Crush dried oregano into the pan & heat for an addl min. Stir the contents of pan into the beef. Add cooled brown rice & eggs. Stir until well combined.
5. Begin to pull translucent & pliable leaves off of the cabbages once they're cool enough to touch. (I used kitchen shears to cut the thick stems at center of leaves off entirely with a v-shaped cut. Saved stems -- thicker pieces of cabbage -- to put in next batch of soup!) Leaves are less cooked as you go deeper into cabbage head. Once getting down to leaves which are not soft enough to roll, put the cabbage heads back into hot water & resume cooking for 5 min.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. While cabbages are heating more, begin rolling with soft leaves already cooled. Put a single leaf on a plate. Place spoonfuls of the meat mixture into center of leaf -- my largest leaf took 5 heaping Tbsp and smallest cabbage leaf took 2 Tbsp. Fold ends of cabbage leaves in and roll sides up. Place seam-side of roll down in casserole dish and proceed to fill dish with rows of rolls.
7. Spoon crushed tomatoes over rows of completed cabbage rolls. Sprinkle with fresh dill.
If there are addl cabbage leaves left or torn pieces, place between tomato topping and foil. (Aluminum foil will break down if touching the tomatoes!)
8. Bake each pan of cabbage rolls for 35 min.
9. Serve with cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper and sour cream at the plate!
10. To store leftovers in fridge, put layer of waxed paper between rolls & aluminum foil.

Roasted Fennel and Red Onions

2009-07-09T20:09:00.006-05:00

This picture of Oliver holding our freshly unearthed fennel bulb sparked enough comments on Facebook that it seemed a fennel primer was in order.
As wild and unruly as this plant looks, there are really only three parts to deal with: fronds, stems and bulb. The feathery fronds can be cut from the stems and used like other herbs. Trim the stems to look like celery, and use them the same way (chopped in soup, for example).
Cut the stems from the bulb, and then cut off the root end. With the root end on the cutting board, make crosswise vertical slices, removing and discarding the hard core in the center. For this recipe, I make the slices about 1/2" thick. Give these slices a good rinse, as fennel, like leeks, can hold a lot of dirt.
What you do from here depends on how you feel about the licorice-like flavor of fennel. If you eat the slices raw in a crudité, you will get the full, assertive flavor. Roasted, in the recipe below, the flavor mellows, and melds with the sweetness of the onions.

Roasted Fennel and Red Onions

1 (or 2) fennel bulbs, sliced as described above
2 large red onions, peeled of all papery layers and cut into 3/4" wedges
2 T olive oil
Salt
1 T balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425˚. Toss fennel and onions with the olive oil in a roasting pan and season with salt. Roast for 35 minutes, stirring after 25 minutes. Drizzle with the balsamic, toss again and roast for an additional 5 minutes, until caramelized and tender. Taste for seasoning and serve hot or warm.

(Adapted from Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every Day)

Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash & Greens over Bow-tie Pasta

2009-07-01T10:48:00.004-05:00

This time of year the greens are piling up from Seton Harvest, so it is always nice to find a new way to use them. The recipe below is popular with all three of our kids, so you should be able to get some greens into your kid's diet, if that is part of your plan.

Admittedly, butternut squash is not exactly in season, but you won't mind once you taste this recipe from Lynn Rosetto Kasper and Sally Swift's winning little book, How to Eat Supper. [Much thanks to Francie on this one, who both cooked the dish and typed the recipe in!]

Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash & Greens over Bow-tie Pasta

(10 min prep time; 35 min oven time)

5 qts salted Water in a 6-qt pot

3 – 3 ½ lb Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded & cut into bite-sized chunks*

1 med to large Onion, cut into 1-in chunks

2 big handfuls Escarole (or Curly Endive, Beet greens, Yukina savoy – what we were using from the farm -- or even Spring Mix greens) washed, dried & torn into small pieces

1/3 tight-packed cup fresh Basil leaves, torn

16 fresh Sage leaves, torn

5 large Garlic cloves, coarse chopped

1/3 cup good-tasting Extra-virgin Olive Oil

¼ tsp Red Pepper flakes

1 tight-packed tbsp Brown sugar (light or dark)

Salt & fresh-ground Black Pepper

1 lb Bow-tie Pasta

½ cup Half-and-half

1 to 1 ½ cups (about 6 oz) shredded Asiago cheese

Slip one large or two smaller shallow sheet pans into the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Bring the salted water to a boil.
In a big bowl, toss together all the ingredients for the roasted vegetables (2^nd grouping of ingredients) for the roasted veggies. Be generous with salt & pepper.
Pull out the oven rack holding the sheet pan. Taking care not to burn yourself, turn the squash blend onto the hot sheet pan & spread it out. Bake for 25 min or until the squash is tender, turning the veggies two or three times during roasting.
As the squash becomes tender, drop the pasta into the boiling water & cook it until tender, but with some firmness to the bite. Drain in a colander.
Once the squash is tender, turn on the broiler to caramelize it. Watch the veggies closely, turning the pieces often. Anticipate about 5 min under the broiler. You want crusty brown edges on the squash & wilted, almost crisp greens.
Scrape everything into a serving bowl. Add the half-and-half, hot pasta & 1 cup of the cheese. Toss to blend, tasting for salt & pepper. Add more cheese if deserved. Serve hot.

*Addl tip for peeling winter squash from Kasper & co-author Sally Swift: Tough skin & hard flesh make winter squash annoying to peel, but there is a relatively easy way to sidestep most of the work & the dangerous knife slips. With a chef’s knife, halve the squash lengthwise. Flip it cut side down and cut it crosswise into 1-inch thick slices. Now it’s easy to trim away the peel & seeds from each slice. Cut the crescents of squash into 1-inch chunks, and you are done.

Seasonal Ingredient Map

2009-04-01T12:36:00.003-06:00

I just stumbled upon a cool new tool to help you find seasonal ingredients, wherever you are. Epicurious.com has a new seasonal ingredient map that gives you a sense of what's in season now, as well as handy links to their kitchen dictionary and recipes for each item. In April, for example, the site lists asparagus and spinach as in season in Indiana. If you are in California, you can expect to see artichokes, asparagus, beets, cherries, Kohlrabi, lettuce, mushrooms, spinach, strawberries, and tangerines. I'm not sure when tangerines are in season in Indiana, but I'll keep you posted!

Great Lattes, and a Free Espresso Machine

2009-03-23T07:32:00.004-06:00

Are you the sort of coffee drinker that gets panicky or depressed when Starbucks announces the closing of 600 stores across the country? Do you drink a Grande Caffé Latte four, five, or more times a week? Would you like a free espresso machine? Then read on.

A Grande Hazelnut Caffé Latte at our local Starbucks is $3.94. For that seemingly miniscule amount of money, you get 2 shots of espresso, 12 or 13 oz of steamed milk, and about 1oz of hazelnut syrup. And with espresso machine / grinder combinations costing $1000 or more, why would you even bother?

The answer is twofold. First, you can make the best espresso drinks you are likely to taste anywhere, right in your own home. Second, as you will see below, if your household drinks 2 a day, five times a week, you pay for that fancy machine in the first year.

What makes a great espresso? High quality Arabica beans, lightly roasted the same day the coffee ships. An exceptional example is Daterra Farm coffee, a single-origin coffee from the Cerrado region of Brazil, processed and roasted by the appropriately-named Terroir Coffee. Like a wine from a Premier Cru Bordeaux vineyard, single-origin coffees reflect the soil and character of their particular region. Cerrado produces a delicious coffee with the least acidity, an ideal trait for espresso coffee.

The darkest Daterra Farm roast (which is really a medium roast) is called Calabria, and it is a fine choice for large milk drinks like caffe lattes. Kenneth Davids, editor of CoffeeReview.com, says it "dominates milk with a smoky heaviness that resolves quickly into a milk-sweetened version of…dark chocolate." When this coffee is roasted only days before grinding, and ground seconds before brewing, the resulting espresso shot can be a life-changing experience.

Of course, to transform those roasted beans into that beautiful shot, you will need some equipment. The coffee brewed for this article came from a Rocky burr grinder and a Silvia espresso machine, both made by Rancilio. To make that sixteen-ounce hazelnut caffé latte at home, you would need the following:

2 oz Dattera Farm Calabria Style Espresso	$1.12
12-13 oz Horizon Organic Milk	$0.75
1 oz Torani Hazelnut Syrup	$0.16
Total	$2.03

At that price, if your household drinks two per day, five times per week, your yearly savings would be $991.73. The first year you can pay for Rocky to grind your beans and Silvia to brew your espresso; what you do with the money in subsequent years is up to you.

For you sticklers who point out that electricity, water, and maintenance are not figured in the calculations, please note that neither is the fuel savings of driving to the coffee shop, and then being "upsold" a pastry. If you are one of those disciplined souls for whom coffee is more communal experience than nagging addiction, forget the above and head to a great local coffee house like Penny Lane. Your time and money will be much better spent.

Maui restaurant delivers all that memory promised

2009-03-19T20:44:00.004-06:00

My plane landed in Maui just after noon, and on arriving at my hotel I immediately made my dinner reservation. Yes, I would be eating at 11:30 p.m. Evansville time, and yes, it was about a 45 minute drive each way on twisting roads cut through lava rock, but I had to go back.

I had last eaten at Lahaina Grill eight years ago, and the black and white-tiled dining room, pressed tin ceiling, bold florals painted by Maui artist Jan Kasprzycki, and the whole dining experience itself had been calling me back ever since.

I was seated promptly, and received celebrity-worthy service from Lisa (although so did, I suspect, her other tables). Jurg Munch, the gracious and casually elegant Chef / Owner, strolled through the dining room visiting most tables, including mine.

The tasting menu, which offers smaller portions of several appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts, allowed me to taste a wide swath of the menu. Although the cuisine might best be described as New American, touches of Hawaii abound. The bufala tomato salad localizes an Italian favorite of tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, balsamic vinaigrette, and truffle oil by using tomatoes from Hana, and the strikingly beautiful black Kilauea sea salt from the neighboring island of Molokai. Corn, spinach, and asparagus come from Upcountry farms in the town of Kula. The Caesar salad was beautifully composed of a small wedge of baby romaine lettuce, garlic-anchovy dressing, shaved Parmesan, and draped with a glistening anchovy (one of the best I have ever eaten).

I expect spectacular seafood from a restaurant surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, and the entrees did not disappoint. First I sampled the sautéed mahi-mahi with Kula spinach, herb infused mashed potatoes, Gorgonzola, pancetta and Chardonnay beurre blanc. If you tend to shy away from fish because you prefer a “meatier” entrée, the Maui onion and sesame seed crusted seared ahi with vanilla bean Jasmine rice and apple cider-soy butter vinaigrette will convince you that seafood can be as savory and flavorful as a steak.

Such savoriness was a theme throughout the menu, and evidenced the chef’s understanding of umami. Umami is that meaty, savory flavor, sometimes called the fifth taste, which comes from the glutamates in foods like tomatoes, cured meats, Parmigiano- Reggiano, anchovies, mushrooms, and seaweed, where it was first discovered. Unlike sweet or sour flavors that can often take a lead role in a dish, umami undergirds and intensifies all the flavors. If you have ever had trouble replicating your favorite Chinese dish at home, part of the problem may have been the umami flavoring (most likely MSG) the restaurant uses.

Desserts continued the Hawaiian theme. The “road to Hana” dessert is made from layers of Hawaiian vintage chocolate cake, chocolate sour cream mousse and macadamia nut caramel. It is a named for the 68 mile coastal road that takes 3 hours to traverse because of its some 600 odd curves, and is every bit as thrilling. The sunken chocolate cake is nicely paired with a homemade ice cream spiked with Kona coffee. But my favorite dessert was the simplest: a triple berry pie sprinkled with local raw brown sugar, which added a caramel note and a pleasant crunch to each bite.

I went back to Lahaina Grill four days later with 10 friends to confirm my impressions, and even the less adventurous eaters seemed to savor every bite.

In sum, Lahaina Grill was everything I remembered it to be. If you visit Maui, it deserves to be among your top choices. I just hope it doesn’t take me eight years to get back again.

TRIPLE BERRY PIE

One Pie, Serves 10

Ingredients (crust):
12 oz. All-Purpose Flour
1 pinch Salt
3 oz. Unsalted Butter
3 oz. All-Purpose Shortening
¼ cup Sour Cream
½ cup Ice Water
1 Raw Egg, scrambled
3 packets Sugar in the Raw

Crust Method:
- Gently rub flour with salt, butter and shortening together.
- Add sour cream and ice water, gently knead until all ingredients are folded into the dough without over mixing.
- Place in a bowl, cover dough with a moist towel or plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Ingredients (filling):
12 oz. Blueberries
12 oz. Raspberries
1 cup Granulated Sugar
¼ cup Granulated Tapioca
¼ cup Crème de Cassis liquor

Filling Method:
- Mix all ingredients together. Line a 9", pie pan, sprayed with vegetable pan coating spray, with approximately ½ of the prepared dough, rolled out to approximately 1/8" thick, add berry mixture, cover with remaining dough. Cut a ¾" hole into the middle to allow steam from berry mixture to escape whilst baking. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with raw brown sugar.
- Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit with a fan on for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake until berry mixture starts bubbling, approximately 40 minutes.
- Cool and store in refrigerator until served. Garnish with vanilla flavored whipped cream, fresh seasonal berries, raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream if desired.

Note: In case you were counting, the Chef considers the crème de cassis to be the third “berry” in this recipe.

(Recipe from www.lahainagrill.com)

Rutabagas for Thanksgiving (and the Morning After)

2008-11-25T15:54:00.012-06:00

If you have never eaten a rutabaga, or worse, had a bad experience with one, this column is for you. There is an easy way to add rutabagas to your Thanksgiving feast, but first, a bit about this under-appreciated vegetable.
Rutabagas, also known as yellow turnips or swedes, look almost exactly like a turnip, but are in fact a different species of plant. They are a member of the Brassica genus, which makes them related to mustard greens and cabbages, as well as broccoli and Brussels Sprouts. Being a member of this unpopular family may be the reason they don't make it to many American tables.
The result of a cross between a cabbage and a turnip centuries ago, rutabagas have an earthier, sweeter flavor than turnips. When boiled, both turnips and rutabagas can turn bitter to the point of being inedible. The trick, it seems, is to add a potato to the water and the bitterness disappears. The next logical step was to make a mash of potatoes and rutabagas. It turns out that the ratio isn't important; you can just add a rutabaga or two to your standard mashed potato recipe this Thanksgiving, or use half potatoes and half rutabagas. Just be sure to make a lot, because you will want leftovers to make the recipe below for Friday's breakfast.

Rutabaga and Potato Pancakes

For every 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes, add:
1 egg
1 teaspoon of chives, minced
A few tablespoons of flour (if necessary, to help the mixture hold together)

You can form the mixture into small patties, and refrigerate for an hour if you have time. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil over medium-high heat in a skillet. Add patties or put about 1/2 cup of the mixture per pancake into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the bottom side is golden brown. Flip the pancakes, and cook a few minutes more until brown. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and serve immediately, or keep warm in a low oven. You can make this recipe both fancy and French by dredging the patties in bread crumbs before frying, and then calling them croquettes.

Levantine Aubergine

2008-09-23T14:45:00.007-05:00

Don't let my fancy, rhyming description in the title fool you. Baba Ghanoush is quick, easy to prepare, and a great way to stem the burgeoning tide of eggplants this time of year. But back to the title of this post. Levantine is the fancy way of saying there are versions of this dish in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, northwest Iraq (the province of Mosul), and southern Turkey near Adana, Gaziantep, and Mardin. (Thanks Wikipedia!) Aubergine, what the rest of the English- speaking world calls eggplant, well, that's the rhyme.
Let's dive right in to Baba Ghanoush. The steps are simple; heat your egglplants over high heat to soften and break down the walls. Use an open flame like a gas burner or a grill if you want it to have a smoky flavor. Then, scrape out the flesh, add a little tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper, whiz in the food processor or mash together, and you're done. Below is the recipe I use; if you want more of certain flavor or less, adjust accordingly. If you have a big enough food processor (14 cup or so) or bowl, this recipe doubles easily.

Baba Ghanoush

2 lbs eggplant (this is about 2 large globe eggplants or 5 medium Italian ones)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 T lemon juice
2 T tahini
2 T extra-virgin olive oil (this the place for the best oil you have!)
Salt and Pepper

Heat burners on your gas grill to high until hot (or build a hot fire on your charcoal grill). Puncture the eggplants all over with a fork so they don't explode. Grill them over the hot fire, turning about every 5 minutes or so until the walls break down (around 20 minutes for a medium globe eggplant). Remove them to a tray and slice them in half lengthwise, and allow them to cool for 5 minutes or so. Scrape out the pulp and allow to drain in a colander for 3 or 4 minutes to remove the excess water. Transfer the pulp to a food processor and add garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and oil, pulsing about 8 or 10 times. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Chill for 30-45 minutes, covering with plastic wrap touching the surface (as you would for guacamole). Serve with any or all of the following: tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, and pita wedges. Drizzle (or drench) with olive oil.

A few additions (add these to taste) to get you started:

onions
smoked paprika
cumin
mint
cilantro
parsley

Italian (or French or Catalan) Style Swiss Chard

2008-07-14T08:42:00.005-05:00

A fellow shareholder at Seton Harvest mentioned to us that she would like a recipe for Swiss chard. Since we haven't talked specifically about chard here at Seasonal Eating, it seems now is the time.
If you are growing it in your own garden, you can harvest it much sooner than we do at Seton Harvest and add the tender, young leaves to a salad. When it gets mature, however, I much prefer it cooked with a variety of flavors to mitigate its slight bitterness.
First, though, a note on preparation. I like to hold chard by the stem, leaves down, and slice down along each side of the stem with a large knife, letting the leaves drop into a sink of water for rinsing. Alternatively, if the chard is wilted, it might be easier to perform this with the chard flat on a cutting board. You can save the stems for another recipe.
After the leaves are rinsed, you can use the chard in any recipe that calls for cooked spinach. It will not cook down nearly as much as spinach, and is much sturdier and able to endure longer cooking. The blanching in this recipe is a good start for any recipe you finish in the skillet. When in doubt about what to do with chard, put on a pot of salted boiling water, and chop and rinse the chard while you wait. Oh, and the long title of this post? These ingredients are more regional than national, and so you can find them in many cuisines. Pick whichever name goes better with your dinner.

2 bunches Swiss chard, leaves separated from the stems
2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/3 C pine nuts
1/3 C golden raisins
Salt and pepper to taste

Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot with 2 teaspoons of salt. Blanching time will vary with the age of the chard; mine took about 4-5 minutes. Drain into a colander and set aside. Heat the olive oil over medium heat, and add garlic slices and cook until golden. [The idea is to flavor the oil, and so you can take these out and discard them. I think the crisp, golden garlic is delicious, and so I leave it in.] Add the raisins and pine nuts, cooking until the raisins are plump and the pine nuts are light golden brown. Add the chard and cook until combined and heated through. Finish with plenty of salt and pepper, as these will further offset the bitterness.

Seasonal Reading: The Omnivore's Dilemma

2008-07-03T10:00:00.001-05:00

What should we have for dinner? This question is at the center of Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma, and his discussion of it lead directly to our involvement with Seton Harvest and this blog. Simply put, this book may change your life. Or at least I hope it does. I have been planning to write about this book for a year, but needed an upcoming book discussion to get it done. [For readers in the Evansville area, you can join this discussion on Monday July 14, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Click the link or contact me for more information.] The book is divided into three sections: Industrial, Pastoral, and Personal. Each section, which follows a different food chain from nature to table, is outlined below.

INDUSTRIAL CORN

This section unfolds with the history of corn, tracing it from wild grass to the genetically-engineered commodity #2 field corn. Pollan follows the corn from the field to the feedlot, which "processes" this corn into beef, and to the wet mills, that fractionate corn into everything from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to xantham gum. He also explains in detail how national farm policy, shaped by huge agribusinesses, ensured increased production of and steadily decreasing prices for commodity corn. One of Pollan's strengths is putting all this reporting into context, which he often does with breaktaking clarity. While you may have a sense of how these corn products like HFCS contribute to the national epidemic of obesity, you may not know that 200 years ago, for similar reasons, an excess of corn was at the root of rampant alcoholism in our fledgling nation in the form of corn whiskey. This section concludes with a McDonald's meal that Pollan and his family eat in their car. Using what he has learned about corn and the feedlot, as well as McDonald's nutrition information and a mass spectrometer (!), Pollan examines just how much corn (and petroleum) is consumed in this drive-thru meal.

PASTORAL GRASS

The traditional way of feeding cattle, the way they have to evolved to eat, is to graze on pasture grass. Pollan spends a week at Polyface farm with Joel Salatin, toting bales of hay and slaughtering chickens. ; Although Salatin raises cows, chickens, pigs, and a number of crops, he sees himself primarily as a "grass farmer." As he describes how the organic movement has slowly adopted all of the distribution and processing methods of traditional agribusiness, Pollan makes a convincing case for the kind for farming that happens at Polyface farm. So much so, that we begin to see just what a feat it is to continually raise a monoculture (e.g., growing only commodity corn) in soil that is increasingly devoid of nutrients. This section concludes with "two very different organic meals: one whose ingredients came from my local Whole Foods supermarket (gathered there from as far away as Argentina), and the other tracing its origins to a single polyculture of grasses growing at Polyface Farm in Swope,Virginia."

PERSONAL THE FOREST

Pollan dives into the middle of his narrative in this section. Determined to eat a meal from entirely foraged, gathered, or hunted ingredients, he seeks out morels and hunts wild boar. This brings the idea of the omnivore's dilemma into sharp focus. "When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the potential foods on offer are liable to sicken or kill you." This section ends with a chapter called "The Perfect Meal," so called "not because it turned out so well (though in my humble opinion it did), but because this labor- and thought-intensive dinner, enjoyed in the company of fellow foragers, gave me the opportunity, so rare in modern life, to eat in full consciousness of everything involved in feeding myself: For once, I was able to pay the full karmic price of a meal."

Pureéd Pea Soup for Dessert

2008-06-17T08:36:00.010-05:00

So last night we were finishing up dinner around 8:00 p .m. when I remembered we had fresh peas from Seton Harvest. Like fresh corn, they begin to lose their sweetness almost immediately after being picked, and this may explain why I insisted to the kids that we were having peas for "dessert." And dessert, it turns out, is an appropriate course for this soup. The sweetness of these peas is breathtaking, and the combination of making a pea "stock" and then puréeing the peas means you don't need cream or anything else to dress this soup up. If peas for dessert seem irrational to you, whip up this puréed pea soup tonight; it only takes about 30 minutes, including the croutons. Our kids devoured every bite and asked for more.
If you don't have access to a CSA, skip the grocery and go directly to your local farmer's market. This is the one time a year that shelling peas are in season, so get them while you can. The trick of make a stock with the pods comes from Jack Bishop, the author of Vegetables Every Day.

Note: If you don't have enough peas to make this full recipe, then scale everything down (I made a half recipe last night). The exception is the first step; you will still need enough water to cover the pods. After straining, just use as much stock as the recipe calls for.

Puréed Pea Soup

2 pounds fresh shelling peas (2 1/4 C shelled), pods reserved
4 1/2 C water
Fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, minced
1 small carrot, minced
1/2 medium celery stalk, minced
salt & pepper to taste
1 T snipped fresh chives
Croutons (get these in the oven while the stock is simmering)

Shell peas and set aside. Bring empty pea pods, water, thyme, and bay leaves to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Strain through a colander or strainer, reserving the stock (you should have about 3 cups).
In the now-empty saucepan, add oil and sauté the onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the stock, bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the peas, cooking until just tender, about 3 or 4 minutes. Purée the soup in a blender in batches until smooth (or better yet, use a hand blender if you have one). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with the chives and croutons, and serve immediately. (If the souped has cooled too much in your blender, you can reheat briefly before serving.

What's a Garlic Scape?

2008-05-31T16:07:00.009-05:00

This week at Seton Harvest we got a handful of garlic scapes in our basket. If you have never grown garlic or leeks, you may not have seen these. This leafless, flowering stem (like a tulip) is removed from hardneck garlic, saving nutrient resources for the bulb. They are easily recognizable in your farmer's market or CSA basket, because they form a coil that looks like a green bangle. But instead of throwing them on the compost (or using them as jewelry, like my kids) many farmers markets and CSA farms are saving them to eat.
Scapes can be chopped and sautéed in a little butter or oil, stir-fried with other vegetables, or used almost any other way you might use green onions. The most popular way to use them, though, is to make a pesto. If you search the internet you find as many variations of this as you will web pages describing it. My version is based on what I had on hand. For the pine nuts, you could substitute walnuts, pecans, or whatever you have. If you like, you could add flat leaf parsley or a little basil. The procedure is this: whiz the green stuff, nuts, cheese, and lemon juice first. Then drizzle in the oil and salt to taste. A word about the lemon juice; although it isn't traditional in pesto, it cuts the astringency of the scapes and brightens the overall flavor. If it tastes too strongly of garlic for you, add more cheese, nuts or oil (remember though this a condiment, and it is supposed to be strongly flavored). You can spread it on toast or a sandwich, or toss it with hot pasta.

Scape Pesto

6 garlic scapes, roughly chopped (about 3 oz)
1/2 C pine nuts (I toast them for a few minutes in a dry skillet over medium heat)
1/2 C parmesan or asiago cheese
Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 T)
1/2 C olive oil
Salt to taste

Process the scapes, pinenuts, cheese, and lemon juice in a food processor, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the processor running, drizzle the olive oil in a slow stream. Taste for seasoning and add salt and/or more cheese, nuts, oil, etc. to your taste.

Foglie d' Ulivo con Pesto

2008-02-24T20:34:00.007-06:00

A seasonal eating blog is great until everything goes out of season. So from now until Seton Harvest begins providing us with its bounty again in May, I will check in with various "unseasonal" thoughts and dishes to tide us over.
This is Oliver. He is holding a gift of pasta from my folks called Foglie d' Ulivo, or Olive Leaf pasta (or Oliver Leaf Pasta, as my son insists). You could get it here, and probably lots of other places online. As you can see from the picture above, half of the "leaves" are green from the addition of spinach. They take a bit longer than other kinds of pasta to cook (about 15 minutes), but they have so much surface area that almost any kind of sauce or salad will succeed. If you substitute in your favorite pasta salad, the dressing will be evenly distributed, and the spinach adds a bit of mild flavor versus plain pasta. Although cream sauces and vegetables in olive oil come immediately to mind, tossing it hot with some pesto is a quick and easy way to dinner.
The recipe couldn't be simpler: Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water for 15 minutes (or until al dente), toss with whatever kind of pesto you have, add plenty of pepper and a bit more salt, and you're done!
I am making a mental note to make lots of pesto in July when the basil is growing like weeds, and then putting some in the freezer for this time next year.

Spaghetti Squash with Browned Butter, Sage, and Parmesan

2007-09-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

If you haven't ever cooked spaghetti squash, it can be a revelation. Cooked and cut in half, it looks like many other squash. But remove the seeds and run a fork through it, and you have long, spaghetti-like strands that can be dressed like pasta. Jack Bishop's recipe below does this nicely, with ingredients that highlight the nutty flavor of the squash.

1 medium spaghetti squash (about 3 pounds)
3 T butter
1 T minced fresh sage leaves
1/2 C grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make several slits in the squash with a paring knife to allow steam to escape while cooking (a squash bomb would be fun to watch, until you had to clean the oven). Bake on a baking sheet until a knife slides in easily about75 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat.* When the butter stops foaming, add the sage and cook for about 1 minute, until butter is golden brown. Remove from heat.
Slice squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Drag a fork through the flesh to remove it strands. Toss the strands in a bowl with the cheese and sage butter. Add plenty of salt and pepper and serve immediately.

* When browning butter, the milk solids in the butter will sometimes turn black, not affecting the taste so much as the appearance of the dish. If this bothers you, brown the butter over medium heat as instructed, pour through a fine mesh strainer into a measuring cup, and then add the sage to the hot butter.

Chilled Spiced Yellow-Squash Soup

2007-09-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

Still have some summer squash? Try this easy squash soup from the "The Way We Eat" column in the New York Times Magazine. It puts the flavor of the squash front and center, even amid the spices and lime. Since you are straining it at the end, you don't even need to bother peeling the squash!

Chilled Spiced Yellow-Squash Soup

2 pounds yellow crookneck squash, trimmed and roughly chopped

1/2 cup olive oil, plus more to garnish

1/8 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground

1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground

1/8, teaspoon ground turmeric

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lime juice

Chopped mint, to garnish.

1. Combine the squash, olive oil, red pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric and 1 1/2 cups water in a pot with a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until the squash is very tender.

2. Once the squash has cooled, purée it in a blender on high for 30 seconds. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve. When completely cool, season to taste with the lime juice, salt and pepper. If you have time, chill for an hour or two. Ladle into bowls, and garnish with mint and a few drops of olive oil. Serves 6.

Mozzarella in 30 minutes

2007-08-27T10:50:00.001-05:00

We decided to make a more authentic version of our Insalata Caprese with our last few tomatoes (The heatwave here is in the process of ending our season early). After reading Barbara Kingsolver's great new memoir Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I was determined to make some mozzarella at home. It is shockingly simple to make. To make it foolproof, I ordered a kit from the "Cheese Queen" Ricki Carroll at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. It contains enough rennet, citric acid, and salt to make 30 lbs of cheese!
The most difficult part is finding good milk. All the big organic brands we have available locally are ultra-pasteurized. This is good for shelf life, but not so good for flavor and the kiss of death when making cheese (the rennet will not work, and you will end up with ricotta). Try your local organic foods store or a local or regional milk producer; it is worth the trouble.
If you eat mozzarella from the store or even at a fancy restaurant and wonder why anyone would bother making such a bland cheese at home, this cheese will amaze you. Tasting the still-warm mozzarella when it is just finished cooking is a unique taste experience, and one you are not likely to forget.

You can find Ricki's recipe for 30 minute mozzarella here.

Creole Deep-Fried Okra

2007-08-20T16:20:00.001-05:00

Photo: Marios Tziortzis
Do you have a cache of okra piling up from your Seton Harvest pickups? Or worse, are you throwing all your okra in the trade bin? This calls for drastic measures. I know fried food is inherently evil, but you and I both know we are going to eat it at least occasionally, so why not make it at home where it can be healthier? You don't need any fancy frying gadgets. We use a dutch oven on the stovetop. If you don't fry often and want additional deep-frying tips, check here.

Creole Deep-Fried Okra

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup hot sauce
2 eggs
a lb or two of okra pods, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
Salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
Vegetable oil, for frying

Combine buttermilk, hot sauce, and eggs in a large bowl. Add the okra and soak for 30 minutes or more. [My friend who owns the Firefly restaurant swears that longer is even better.] In a pie plate, combine flour, cornmeal, and 2 T of creole seasoning, like this one. Heat a couple of inches of vegetable oil in a dutch oven or large pot, to about 365 degrees. Working in batches, dredge the okra in the flour/cornmeal mixture and then carefully place in the oil for 2 or 3 minutes, until golden brown. Remove to drain on paper towels, and immediately season with salt and more seasoning if desired.

"Pop" Corn Chowder

2007-08-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

Although our corn from Seton Harvest is just starting to come in this week, we had a sneak preview last week. My brother's in-laws have a huge garden (and by huge, I mean big enough that Ralph cultivates it with a tractor!) and for years have fed family and friends, with plenty left over for Linda to can for the winter months. Just like my brother's kids, my kids call Ralph "Pop," and immediately called the soup made with his corn "Pop" Corn Chowder.
I like to make a recipe my own whenever possible, but this one is so good I am giving it to you verbatim. Just make sure you visit the good folks at Cooks Illustrated, the source for this and other recipes here at Seasonal Eating. A few notes: as the recipe title indicates, this is Fresh Corn Chowder, so don't bother if you don't have fresh corn. Also, it doesn't freeze well and is best eaten immediately, so just make as much as you are going to eat. This is a fair amount of work, so make it on the weekend or get some help.

Fresh Corn Chowder

Be sure to use salt pork, not fatback, for the chowder. Streaks of lean meat distinguish salt pork from fatback; fatback is pure fat. We prefer Spanish onions for their sweet, mild flavor, but all-purpose yellow onions will work fine too.

10 ears corn (medium), husks and silks removed
3 ounces salt pork , trimmed of rind and cut into two 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 large onion , preferably Spanish, chopped fine
2 medium cloves garlic , minced (about 2 teaspoons)
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 medium red potatoes (about 12 ounces), scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
Ground black pepper

See Illustrations Below: Milking the Corn

1. Stand corn on end. Using chef's knife, cut kernels from 4 ears corn (you should have about 3 cups); transfer to medium bowl and set aside. Following illustrations below, grate kernels from remaining 6 ears on large holes of box grater, then firmly scrape any pulp remaining on cobs with back of knife (you should have 2 generous cups kernels and pulp). Transfer to separate bowl and set aside.
2. Sauté salt pork in Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, turning with tongs and pressing down on pieces to render fat, until cubes are crisp and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low, stir in butter and onions, cover pot, and cook until softened, about 12 minutes. Remove salt pork and reserve. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add stock. Add potatoes, bay leaf, thyme, milk, grated corn and pulp, and reserved salt pork; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Add reserved corn kernels and heavy cream and return to simmer; simmer until corn kernels are tender yet still slightly crunchy, about 5 minutes longer. Discard bay leaf and salt pork. Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Francie's Variation: If you want to make this soup your entire meal, you can add some shredded chicken when you add the corn kernels at the end. A rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is a quick solution (about 1/3 of the meat on the bird was plenty for us).

STEP BY STEP: Milking the Corn




1. Start by grating the corn ears on a box grater. 2. Finish by scraping any remaining kernels off the cob with the back of a knife.