Farm Lunch: Tacos with Andrea's tortillas, sauteed bell pepper, onions & tiny long beans, Wateroak Chevre; Salad is grated Romanesco zucchini, lemon basil, Lemon Boy & Fabulosa tomatoes, and Pure Luck bleu cheese. Baby arugula completes the lunch!
Lunch in June: shredded squash/cucumber/purslane salad, sauteed potatoes,
heirloom tomatoes, bison & Romano beans, and baby arugula....
An August farmhouse salad of Baby Arugula, Pure Luck Feta Cheese, Thinly sliced Red Marconi Sweet Peppers, Cucumbers, and shavings of Texas Crisp Pears. The pears had fallen from the trees, yet looked perfect. Just not very ripe yet....pears should be ready at the end of August.
After a July Saturday's farm stand, the Doctor Wyche tomatoes that weren't perfect enough for the tables were perfect enough for our lunch! Paired with fire-roasted Giant Marconi Italian Sweet Peppers,
they were the great additions to our tomato sandwiches!
Above, a yummy July salad: Arugula with Figs, and Pure Luck's "June's Joy" Chevre,
sprinkled with Olive Oil & White Wine Vinegar. (No salt.) Figs are in season June-July!
June Tomato Sandwiches coming up! Oaxacan Jewel Heirloom Tomatoes with Basil, Arugula,
Sand Creek Farm Monterey Jack Cheese, and toasted Sweetish Hill Bread.
toasted Walnuts, Salt.
Salad of shredded Tasty Jade Cucumber,
Cherry Tomatoes, and Wateroak Dairy's Feta Cheese. Dressing: Olive oil, White Wine Vinegar, Salt.
HOT-season Recipes from The Farm (May-November Produce)
No, not everyone loves okra, but even the okra-shy person may tolerate it fried. Who doesn't like fried? It's the recognized national culinary method isn't it? Larrry and his dad Hilton are true okra lovers. They don't care even if it's boiled to sliminess. Some folks are like that.
When Hilton makes these fritters, everyone loves it. Not a smear of slime anywhere!
6 T Cornmeal
2T Flour
Salt/Pepper to taste
1 Egg (beaten)
1/2 cup to 1 cup Milk or Buttermilk (enough to make a loose mixture when the dries are combined with the wets)
2T Olive Oil (plus more for frying)
1 small Onion (chopped fine. 1/4" dice)
2 cloves Garlic (chopped very fine or mashed)
1 cup Okra (chopped in 1/4" thick pieces)
Combine the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix the Egg, Milk and Olive OIl together in a medium to large bowl. Add the Onion, Garlic, and Okra. Stir to coat the veggies.
Add the dries to the wets. Combine to make a loose "pancake batter," adding more milk if needed. Heat additional Olive Oil in a big skillet over medium heat. Drop batter by spoonfuls to make 4" sized circles, like pancakes. Brown the fritters on the bottom, then flip over to brown the top.
Serves? Depends on if they are okra lovers or fried lovers or both. Not enough.
Dry Okra Recipe
Okra, left whole, with cap on (Choose small to medium-small pods; they are the most tender; no "horns" please!)
Olive Oil or Butter
Sea Salt/Pepper to taste
Place a skillet large enough to hold the desired quantity of Okra side by side without touching each other. Glaze the skillet with either Olive Oil or Butter and season it with Salt/Pepper. Turn heat to very low. Add the whole Okra pods, arranging them evenly across the skillet.
Cook gently, turning the Okra every five minutes or so to achieve a "tan" over their entire surfaces. When sufficiently tanned (30 minutes or so), serve them immediately. Best eaten with fingers. Can be dipped into a sauce if you really, really don't like Okra, but these are really, really good as is....
Stuffed, Roasted Peppers
(Poblanos, Bells, Anaheim, "Hatch")
1 Pepper(Poblano) per serving
Filling: 2-3 T (or all that will fit into the Pepper): Anything already cooked (mashed potatoes, rice, veggies,� meat, onions), or raw items (avocado, corn kernels, cheese, tomatoes, etc.)
Flour with Salt for dusting the stuffed Peppers
Coconut Oil/Olive Oil for "frying" the stuffed Peppers
Process:
Wash Peppers and place whole (with stems attached) on top of gas burner, grill or under broiler. Over high heat, roast Peppers until skin is black, turning over and over to get it complete black. Do not over burn to ashes! Watch them!!! (And check your smoke alarm as it may go off!)
Let Peppers cool. With a spoon or knife, scrape off most of the charred skin (Some bits should remain for extra flavor.)
Slit the Pepper open on one side.No need to remove the seeds; you can just eat around them. Fill the Pepper with the stuffing ingredients. Close it up as best you can so that the stuffing doesn't ooze out.
Dust the Peppers with flour. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place the Peppers in the heated oil and let them brown on one side, then flip them carefully to brown all sides.
Serve warm.
Right: A salad of Escarole and Radicchio, with Wateroak Feta Cheese, Piche Olive Oil (http://www.thepichetable.com/)....
(Note: Larry's plate is on the right. 'Nuff said.)
Right: their interiors revealed on a salad of their own greens with Wateroak feta cheese,
and olive oil/balsamic vinegar.....
This soup is worthy of your getting out the blender.
1 large Cauliflower (chopped in small bits to cook fast)
1 bunch Leeks (chopped finely; if using baby leeks, chop the greens too)
1 cup to 1 pint Broth (veggie or meat)
1 cup to 1 pint Yogurt (or Milk or Cream)
Sprinkles of freshly grated Nutmeg and Cinnamon
Sea Salt to taste
Serves 2-3
A Bed of Greens
The Leaves:
Baby leaves of various greens
(broccoli raab, mizuna, arugula, turnip, kale, chard, spinach,
lettuce, radicchio, endive, escarole, etc.)
Or...
1 big bunch of greens, or a head of lettuce, chopped into bite-sized pieces
The Saute:
2 T Olive Oil
2 Onions
2 Bell Peppers
1 cup button Mushrooms
4 stalks of Lemon Grass (optional)
1 cup Liquid (Water, Broth, or Beer)
Salt/Pepper to taste
Several sprigs of Lemon Thyme
Wash and spin-dry the Greens. Arrange them generously on plates. Set aside while you prepare the saute.
Chop the Onions, Peppers, and Mushrooms and saute them in an iron skillet coated with the Olive Oil, until the Onions and Peppers are soft.
Cut the Lemon Grass stalks (if you are using them) into 2" lengths, removing any loose outer layers. Score one side of each stalk, but don't cut all the way through. Slip the stalks in with the sauteing vegetables.
Pour in the Liquid. Stir. Lower the heat to simmer, cover the pan, and simmer approximately 15 minutes. (Make sure the Lemon Grass stalks are in the liquid.)
Sprinkle on the leaves of the Lemon Thyme. Stir them lightly into the saute. Season with Salt/Pepper. Place generous helpings on top of the Bed of Greens, but allow the leaves to show around the edges.
Serve with a rustic bread. Umm, this is really fine stuff!
Serves 2 farmers, or more folks if they work in cubicles!
1 lb Tender Broccoli buds and stalks
1 T Olive Oil
2 T Toasted Sesame Seeds
1/4 cup Tahini
(a sesame paste, available in bulk section of Natural Food Stores)
1 T Tamari Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Liquid (Water, Broth, or Beer)
Chop the Broccoli "flower" buds into bite-sized pieces. If the stalks are fresh, there is no need to peel off the nutritious skin. Just slice them thinly. Put a tad of Olive Oil in the skillet and over very low heat, toast the Sesame Seeds. Watch them very carefully. Once toasted, remove the Seeds and place in a small bowl.
In the same skillet, over very low heat, saut� the sliced stalks of the Broccoli, until they are tender, but still very green. Add the buds, stirring for a few seconds, and then turn the heat off and remove the skillet from the burner.
Serves 2
Butternut Squash Soup with Smoke-dried Tomatoes
1 medium (2 lbs) Butternut Squash
Water
1-2 T Smoke-dried Tomato OIL
2-3 cloves chopped Garlic
1-2 Smoke-dried Tomatoes, slivered
1/4 tsp each: Cumin, Rosemary, Nutmeg, Cinnamon
Salt to taste
Garnish: crumbles of Feta or shavings of Parmesan Cheese
Options:
Add chopped Pear, Apple or Carrot to the Squash; 1/4 cup Cream or Milk to the blended Squash. Chopped Greens or Arugula can be added to the soup before serving
Wash exterior of Butternut Squash. Chop the Squash into 1/2� cubes, skin included, after extracting the seeds. Put Squash in a medium soup pot. Add Water to cover by about one inch. Add the Smoke-dried Tomato Oil and chopped Garlic. Simmer over medium heat until Squash is soft (30 min.).
Add Smoke-dried Tomato slivers, Herbs, and Salt. Blend soup using an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a regular blender. (Highly recommend the immersion blender/not expensive) At this time, if you desire to add dairy, do so.
Simmer soup about 15 minutes more to blend herbal/smoky flavors.
Serve topped with crumbles of Feta or Ricotta Cheese, additional slivers of Smoke-dried Tomatoes, and chopped Greens if desired.
Serves 2
(& walnuts,rice,gouda cheese,tortilla)
A fun way to prepare parsnips: Using a simple vegetable peeler, peel thin strips from the root.
Saute in olive oil and sea salt until crispy, but not burnt. Delicious!