Fennel Pie

Last night I had planned on making a Caprese pasta with fresh tomatoes from our garden. But since we’ haven’t had too much sun this week, I didn’t have enough ripe tomatoes to harvest. So I rooted around the fridge to figure out what else I could make. I had fennel, kale, zucchini, feta cheese, fresh mozzarella and a little bit of onion. I realized I could make the Moosewood New Classics Fennel Quiche with some sautéed kale on the side. Perfect.

This meal was a little more work than I felt like doing, but it wasn’t too arduous. The most time-consuming part was making a piecrust. But I used a trick I’d just seen on the cooking show Ciao Italia. Grate frozen butter on a regular cheese grater and then mix it into your flour. Since keeping the dough cold is the key to flakey crust, this struck me as an excellent idea. Also, I buy butter in bulk and always store it in the freezer. And it worked out perfectly. The dough felt cold to the touch as I rolled it out on a piece of parchment paper.

The Moosewood recipe called for sautéing the fennel, onion, tomato and zucchini before putting it on the piecrust. And you make rich custard from feta cheese, tomato juice and eggs in a blender. Then you top the veggies with cheese, pour over the custard and bake. It smells heavenly while cooking. And makes a tasty lunch, or even breakfast, the next day. Plus it was a great use of Persephone Farm fennel, eggs, onion, zucchini and kale.

Links:

http://www.ciaoitalia.com/

Slow-simmered pork

When the weather starts getting cooler, I happily get reacquainted with my old friend the slow cooker. And after Trevor brought home a couple of pounds of tomatillos, cilantro and several onions after working at the Persephone Farm stand at the PSU Farmers’ Market, I couldn’t wait to make chile verde.

Chile verde is home-style Mexican cooking at its best. It’s versatile — eat it as a stew, wrap it up in a flour tortilla, or make enchiladas with the leftovers. It’s filling and comforting — the pork falls apart when touched with a fork. And it’s healthy — a serving is a moderate amount of lean pork swimming in a sea of vegetables. Serve it with corn or flour tortillas, homemade gorditas or even with some Spanish fried rice.

Slow Cooker Chile Verde
Serves 6 to 8
I adapted this recipe from a Cooking Light recipe. I like to use a mix of Anaheim and poblano chiles. Sometimes the chiles are hotter than other times, but this dish isn’t supposed to very spicy. You can also make this on the stovetop, so I included a link to the original version below.

2 tablespoon canola oil
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins or pork sirloin roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup water
4 cups onion, chopped
2 pounds small tomatillos, husks and stems removed and quartered
1 pound fresh Anaheim or poblano chiles (about 4 medium), cut into 1-inch pieces
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons flour
¼ cup water

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the pork evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork to bag; seal. Shake to coat. Add pork to pan, and sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. This may need to be done in batches. Add more oil if necessary. Remove pork from the pan and place in a slow cooker. Add ¼ cup water to the hot skillet to deglaze it. Use a wooden spoon to loosen all the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Add water and browned bits to slow cooker.

Add onions, tomatillos, chiles, garlic, chicken stock, cilantro, cumin and oregano to the slow cooker. Stir to combine ingredients. Cover and cook for desired amount of time. (I usually cook on the high setting for 4 to 5 hours, but you can use the low setting and cook for 8 to 10 hours.) 1 hour before chile is finished cooking, use a fork to mix together 2 tablespoons flour and ¼ cup water. Mix until there are not any lumps. Add mixture to slow cooker and stir. Cover and let cook for remaining hour. Taste chile verde and add salt and ground black pepper as needed. Enjoy!

Links:
Chile Verde
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1054864

Dancing Ravioli

Several years ago when I was living in California, I was at a party in which one of the hosts started making fried ravioli late into the night. He was dancing around while breading up the ravioli and deep-frying them. He wasn’t someone who had the reputation of being a “ladies man”, but nevertheless he soon had a crowd of hungry girls dancing around the kitchen with him — and eating the crispy ravioli as soon as they were cool enough to handle.

I think that was the last time I’d indulged in deep-fried ravioli goodness. So when I saw a recipe in Cooking Light magazine for Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce, I wondered if this version could match my memory of the decidedly "unlight" version.

And I have to say, the light version met that same incredible combination of crunchy breading and oozing, melted-cheese filling I remembered. For the sauce we used two pints of super sweet Sungold tomatoes straight from our garden and Persephone Farm garlic. We added fresh basil to the sauce as well since it’s just going crazy in our garden right now. And the combo of fresh tomatoes and fresh basil is hard to beat.

The recipe called for refrigerated ravioli, but I had some frozen ravioli that I used instead. We just cooked them in boiling water before draining them and breading them. They worked out just fine.

This meal was cheap, fast and utterly delicious. Definitely a reason to dance around the kitchen.

Links:

Quick Crisp Ravioli with Roasted Tomato Sauce 

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2011033

Ravioli

For the Love of Old Bay

If you are from Maryland, as Trevor is, it is a requirement that you love Old Bay. This salty, spicy seasoning is most recognizably paired with crab, but it can add some kick to other dishes, too.

Trevor recently found a recipe for Tilghman Island Stew in our Moosewood New Classics cookbook and decided we needed to make it. Tilghman Island is in the Chesapeake Bay. And not surprisingly, the recipe called for 2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning.

And also not surprisingly, this veggie-packed stew was delicious. It called for eight different vegetables. We used Persephone Farm zucchini, kale and green beans. It’s one of those meals that makes you feel good after eating it.

We rounded out the stew with homemade cornbread. I’ve used the Albers recipe from the side of the box for as long as I can remember. And it’s always good. I’ve tried other recipes with diced peppers or fresh corn, but I think this recipe stands out in its simplicity. All you need with it is a pat of butter.

We loved this Chesapeake Bay-inspired meal. It’s one we will be making again soon while the zucchini and green beans are still in season. And it goes to show you can take the boy out of Maryland, but you’ll never take away his love for Old Bay.

P.S. Thanks to my mom for the beautiful quilted table runner she made for us that's in the first photo.

Links:

Old Bay Seasoning

http://www.oldbay.com/

Albers Cornbread recipe

http://www.alberscorn.com/recipes/cornmeal/AlbersCornBread.aspx

Vegan, really?

OK, I love to eat meat. While I’ve flirted with the idea of vegetarianism, I’ve never been able to go fully meat free. Mainly, because I love cheeseburgers. But since reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, I have cut the amount of meat I consume and make the effort to buy grass-fed beef or free-range chicken whenever possible.  (And by the way, homemade burgers made with grass-fed beef and a pinch of chopped sage are really, really good.)

Trevor recently read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Pollan, and made horrified gasps and exclamations as he was flipping the pages. And now he’s really determined to know exactly how the meat that makes it to his plate is being raised.

So to fit the more expensive (and humanely raised) meat into our budget, we eat less of it and more meals that are meat-free.  And now that Persephone Farm has more produce at the Saturday PSU Farmers’ Market, and Trevor is working the stand again, we’ve got a lot of ingredients to make fabulous vegetarian meals.

Last night we tried a new recipe from Cooking Light magazine’s July 2010 issue: Chickpea Bajane. We used Persephone garlic and spinach, and thyme from our own garden. Trevor insisted he didn’t really like quinoa, a slightly nutty grain, but once we started eating this meal, he decided he like this quinoa. The recipe is time-consuming, but not too hard. And it was so tasty it was hard to believe it was vegetarian, let alone vegan.

Links:

Chickpea Bajane 

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dynaction=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1995734

Napkin by Rustbelt Fiberwerks   http://www.etsy.com/shop/rustbeltfiberwerks

Why I Love Trevor: Reason #62

He makes cherry pie. Do I need to elaborate? I guess I should say it is the best cherry pie in the world. The Hood River cherries were in full force at the Farmers’ Market last weekend, so Trevor bought enough for a pie.

The cherries were a glorious claret color. Their juice was so dark that after helping pit them, my nails were stained for a few days.

Trevor followed the Joy of Cooking for the filling and crust. But we made a slight swap in the filling. He used amaretto instead of almond extract and added a few squeezes of lemon since our cherries were sweet, not tart. When it comes to crust Trevor does not skimp on the fat and the result is worth it. The crust almost falls apart before you can get a bite into your mouth.

My parents were visiting Portland, so they were lucky enough to get some of Trevor’s pie. And they raved about the pie as much as I did. They still talk about a Concord grape pie he made several years ago. I have a feeling they’ll be talking about this cherry pie for years to come, too.

One a side note: I’ll be posting more about Persephone Farm produce in the coming weeks. Because of the heavy May and June rains, the crops couldn’t get planted at the usual time. That means not as much produce as normal for this time of year. But Trevor will be back at the stand in a few weeks and I’ll have more to write about. And, of course, eat.

Who's Crabby?

Dinner doesn’t get much simpler than homemade crab dip, sliced baguette and a lightly dressed green salad. That’s what Trevor and I had over the weekend. But if the crab is from Linda Brand Crab sold at the PSU Farmers’ Market and there’s a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, it’s a pretty remarkable dinner.

I didn’t think I liked crab until I tasted this dip. It’s our variation of Trevor’s mom’s recipe. If you want to make this dip truly decadent, use Jacobs Creamery cream cheese instead of the foil-wrapped block you’d find at the grocery store. The photo above shows a small serving of dip. And it’s in no way representative of the amount I actually ate! Try it and you’ll understand why.

Crab Dip

Serve with sliced baguette or crackers.

8 ounces cream cheese

a few dashes of Tabasco sauce

dash of Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 tablespoon diced shallot

½ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon flour

12 ounces crab meat

Slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325˚ F. Spray a glass pie plate or 8-inch square casserole dish with cooking spray.

Mix first seven ingredients together (cream cheese through flour). Gently fold the crab into the cream cheese mixture. Spread mixture into prepared pie plate. (It will only be 1 to 2 inches deep.) Sprinkle with almonds. Bake for 30 minutes.

Links:

Linda Brand Crab

http://marketnavigators.com/

Jacobs Creamery

http://jacobscreamery.com/find-us.html