August 17, 2010 by Debra.

It’s mid-August and, though the days are getting shorter, they’re no less busy with preserving and canning moving into full swing. After last year’s scarcity of tomatoes, we are taking full advantage of their abundant availability to restock our pantry. Once the jars have been set aside to cool, we like to end the day with something simple for supper — pasta with a pesto made from an extra pint of cherry tomatoes, blended in with some fragrant garden basil and a handful of toasted almonds. This pesto may be frozen for later use but enjoy it now for the bright, clean flavor of summer tomatoes at their ripest.

Fresh Tomato Pesto

3/4 to 1 pound (about 2 1/2 cups) cherry or other ripe tomatoes

12 large basil leaves

1 large garlic clove, crushed and peeled

1/3 cup whole almonds, lightly toasted

1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 extra virgin cup olive oil

1 pound spaghetti

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Rinse cherry tomatoes and pat dry. Rinse basil leaves and pat dry.

2. Using a blender or food processor, add tomatoes, basil, garlic clove, almonds, chili flakes and salt. Blend for a minute or more, until finely pureed. Scrape down bowl and blend again if any large bits remain.

3. With machine running, pour in olive oil in a steady stream, emulsifying puree into a thick pesto. Taste and adjust seasonings. If using within a couple of hours, leave pesto at room temperature. Otherwise, pesto can be refrigerated 2 to 3 days; let it return to room temperature before cooking the pasta.

4. Place pesto in serving bowl. Cook pasta in salted, boiling water until al dente or just done. Drain pasta and add to serving bowl containing pesto. Toss quickly to coat pasta with tomato pesto. Add grated parmesan and toss again. Serve immediately while still warm.

Notes: Adapted from ”Lidia’s Italy” by Lidia Bastianich. This dish originates from Southwest Sicily, where it is known as Pesto Trapanese. For those interested in further exploring other pestos collected from Southern Italy, see the “Mini-Cookbook of Pesto Recipes“.

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July 19, 2010 by Debra.

It’s easy to overlook summer squash and zucchini — they’re abundant, inexpensive, and easy to find this time of the year. They become more special, however, if you only eat them when fresh and in season, and I look forward to their arrival in both our garden and the summer farmers’ markets. We’ve already had them grilled with a minty charmoula sauce, stuffed with savory lamb, and shredded into a duck egg frittata with lots of dill. With the temperatures climbing and the first of our own zephyrs freshly picked, this simple to assemble salad shows off their nutty crunchiness, is easy on the cook, and keeps the heat out of the kitchen. It’s easy to adapt the recipe to what you have on hand or find at that day’s farmers’ market.

Summer Squash & Tomato Salad

6 small summer squash or zucchini, thinly sliced

2 large or 4 small tomatoes, coarsely chopped or cut into wedges

1 shallot or green onion, thinly sliced

red wine vinegar

olive or other salad oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh herbs (basil, mint, summer savory, dill, and/or chives), chopped or shredded

1. Combine sliced summer squash with diced tomatoes. Season with red wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Tomatoes will release their juices to form part of the dressing.

2. Salad may be served immediately or chilled for several hours. Toss with chopped or shredded herbs right before serving. Serves 4 as side dish.

Serves 4 as side dish. Paired with some simply prepared local whitefish, a squeeze of lemon, and a green salad alongside, made for a light mid-summer supper.

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July 7, 2010 by Debra.

The full array of summer’s bounty — corn, tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, potatoes and beans, to name just a few — is now arriving at Seacoast farmers’ markets. Rachel Forrest, the food editor and columnist for Seacoast Media Group, recently toured the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market with some local chefs as they planned their weekly Market Menu around what they found there:

A few Saturdays ago I went to the Portsmouth farmers market as I usually do, but this time I decided to tag along with the chefs and owner of Pesce Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar — Chefs James Walter and Gillian Roun with owner Cliffe Arrand.

Of course many of our local chefs come to the market to buy fresh produce and meat (not chicken or raw milk because the city bans it. Harrumph), and many of our local chefs use those fresh ingredients in their dishes during the weekend and often throughout the week. At Pesce, each Monday they have a Roman Market Meal where every dish — including an antipasti and insalata bar and a choice of one of three pastas — uses what they found on Saturday.

In general, you can predict what you’ll find at the market based on what is coming up out of the ground. Strawberries were still there and tomatoes from greenhouses are coming in as well. “But first,” says Cliffe, “We have coffee.”

Peas are in.

“Hopefully we’ll do things we didn’t do last week,” say James. “We’ll walk around and get everything then write a list of what we have, have some lunch and write a menu.”

Each week the Market Menu offers an array of dishes to start and guests can choose from the antipasti and insalata bar, going up as many times as they like, followed by a choice of one of three pasta dishes. This week, they pick up 2½ pounds of peas and spy the fava beans over at Touching Earth Farm, knowing that they’ll still be there when they’re done. Not many people know what to do with a fava bean but on Monday, they’ll wind up in a pasta dish, tossed with corkscrewed strozzapretti pasta with some of the four pounds of arugula they pick up, pureed into a tangy pesto with garlic scapes. Sauteed beet greens are tossed in as well.

The trio also tries to buy from as many farmers and suppliers as possible. “The market meal is about supporting local farms and getting the town behind it and not really about the money part of it,” says Cliffe. They get squash from Wake Robin Farm, which becomes a mix of roasted summer squash and zucchini tossed with fresh market dill. Duck eggs from Yellow House farm go into another pasta dish, Spaghetti Carbonara made with bacon from New Roots Farm and their acorn fed pigs, those peas from Meadows Mirth Farm and just a touch of cream and black pepper.

To find out what else was on the deliciously inspiring menu, the full article is available online >

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June 29, 2010 by Debra.

In addition to strawberries and cherries, the blueberries and raspberries have arrived! We’ve received updates on berry picking conditions from Blueberry Bay Farm in Stratham:

Greetings from Blueberry Bay Farm!

 

The warm spring weather has accelerated our berry crop ripening!  So due to the abundance of blueberries and raspberries ripe now, we have decided to open weekdays for picking beginning TOMORROW, Tuesday June 29 (through Friday July 2), from 9AM to 4PM, so that the birds, etc. don’t reduce the crop available to you. On Saturday, July 3 we will, as planned, begin our summer hours: 8AM to 6PM, except Wednesdays & Fridays, to 5PM.   We look forward to seeing you all soon. This should be a great year!!

 

*And remember this important hint: For especially red raspberries and later for black raspberries and blackberries, come early in the morning for best picking, as we usually pick out early.

And from Warren Farm in Barrington:

Pick Your Own Raspberry Season Has Begun

 

Raspberries are early this year and ready for picking now.   The early varieties have a very good berry set and they are ripening up quickly. The picking is good to very good in our early varieties and improving every day. We are in for some great weather this week and if we get an unusually large crowd we may have to close the beds for ripening. Both beds are ready now with three varieties at this point. Our hours are 7am -6pm Monday thru Thursday and 7am – 4pm Friday thru Sunday. Raspberries are $3 per pint. We also have very good picking on sugar snap peas and snow peas.

If you’re looking for a new way to feature fresh-picked berries, I highly recommend “Warm Cornmeal Shortcake with Farm Stand Berries” via Local Harvest. No need for tinkering, it came out deliciously perfect on the first try. Those ends of the cake they instruct you to slice off before serving? A cook’s treat while the cake is still warm from the oven and no one’s looking.

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June 29, 2010 by Debra.

Stout Oak Farm reports that they’ll be harvesting Forellenschuss or Speckled Lettuce this week, one of the eleven vegetables selected for this year’s RAFT Heirloom Vegetable Grow-out:

Forellenschuss or Speckled lettuce

 

Forellenschuss means “speckled like a trout” in German, which describes this tasty butterhead lettuce aptly. The thick, light green leaves have maroon speckles. Traceable to 1660 in Holland, this lettuce traveled through Germany until in 1790 it was first brought to Ontario, Canada, and then on to the US.

 

Forellenschuss has juicy, thick leaves and has been said to taste similar to watercress. It is mild-flavored, and has a loose-leaf romaine-type head.

In addition to Stout Oak Farm, many Seacoast farmers and chefs are taking part in this year’s RAFT Grow-out. A full list of locations and participants can be found through Chefs Collaborative, the program’s host — be on the look-out for Speckled lettuce as well as other heirloom vegetables appearing at our local farmers’ markets and restaurants in coming months. Stop by Stout Oak Farm on Thursday at the Exeter Farmers’ Market, and bring home a little bit of salad history!

[Photo: Chefs Collaborative/RAFT Grow-out]

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June 28, 2010 by Debra.

Growing up we had a board game where the moving pieces were little wooden cherries. Shiny and colored the perfect shade of cherry red, they were irresistible and it never failed that one of us new to the game would try to eat them. We happened to arrive at Butternut Farm on the first day the cherry orchard was opened to picking — just as irresistible.

Do call ahead for information about the day’s picking, conditions change often: (603) 335-4705.

Listings for other farms offering cherries can also be found through Seacoast Harvest, newly updated for 2010.

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June 14, 2010 by Debra.

For Audrey at Pickpocket Farm, who probably thought I was crazy for ordering 10 not-so-small heads of bok choy, and let me have them anyway. And for those CSA members who might have bok choy piling up in their fridge—you know who you are—here’s what I did with them:

Heads 1–2: Cut up and braised with white wine, along with cod from Eastman’s CSF.

Heads 3–4: Dehydrated, one head cut up, the other left whole leaf. A way of preserving for wintery soups. See photos above, with notes following.

Heads 5–6: Cut up, blanched and frozen. Also soups or stews, goes well with chicken and rice added to the pot.

Head 7: Shredded and made into bok choy and radish cole slaw.

Head 8: Split, brushed with oil and grilled.

Heads 9–10: Preserved as spicy bok choy kimchee.

Which leaves plenty of bok choy bottoms leftover to do this with.

There, that wasn’t so hard now was it?

Notes on dehydrating: Steam blanching (1 to 2 minutes) worked well for a head of whole leaves but the cut-up ones blanched unevenly. Alternatively, blanch in boiling water. Chill the blanched leaves in cold water to stop cooking and set color. Drain and pat dry. Spread leaves out on drying racks or pan. I used an electric dehydrator set at 120° to 125°F for 10 to 14 hours, until the stalks were brittle. Be forewarned and use the dehydrator in a well-ventilated area, the bok choy may be pungent in a spinachy cabbagey sort of way while drying. Surprisingly, the leaves remained green when completely dried (see photo bottom right).

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June 11, 2010 by Debra.

CSA/CSF shares are starting to arrive, garlic scapes are appearing at the farmers’ markets, and along with them questions about what to do with new and unfamiliar ingredients. As a starting point, it’s always worth asking the producer themselves what they like to do a particular fruit, vegetable, meat or fish. Many of them also offer online collections of recipes, often gathered from their own customers or CSAs/CSFs. This collective bank of knowledge serves as a great resource when cooking seasonally, and gathered here are just a few of the ones by local producers:

• Eastman’s Fish: Recipes recommended by customers and CSF members for a variety of locally-caught fish.

• Farmer Dave’s: Recipes from their CSA and staff, plus a colorful produce guide of identifying photos.

• Field to Fork Farm: A recipe for pork shoulder that promises to make you weak in the knees, accompanied by a short list of recommended cookbooks.

• Heron Pond Farm:  Recipes from family and friends, including those from their wedding pasta bar!

• Meadow’s Mirth Farm:  Recipes featuring Jean’s Beans along with those for summer & winter squash.

• New Roots Farm:  Cooking tips for pasture-raised meats, including their own heritage pork.

• Sugarmomma’s Maple Farm:  Recipes for maple syrup-based treats.

• Willow Pond Community Farm:  Recipes gathered by their CSA, including many for garlic scapes (in photo).

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May 14, 2010 by Debra.

When cooking seasonally from local ingredients, one sometimes finds oneself with odd amounts of ingredients on hand. Our asparagus patch is producing slowly — what to do with only 3 stalks? Learning to make pizza at home is one of the ways to use what’s available. The asparagus combined with garlic scape pesto from the freezer, a leftover batch of homemade mozzarella, and a sprinkling of chopped green onions from the garden made for a delightful spring-time treat.

For pizza dough, I’m partial to Sam Sifton’s recipe from the New York Times. It helps to have some experience working with a very wet or “slack” dough. However, once you’re familiar with how this recipe works, it’s surprisingly quick and easy. Most importantly, it can be made ahead of time and stores well in the refrigerator for use later in the week.

Pizza Dough

1½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1½ cups unbleached bread flour, plus more for dusting

¾ teaspoon active dry yeast

2¼ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt

1½ cups cool water

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. The morning or ideally the day before cooking, prepare the dough. Using a hand whisk, combine the flours, yeast and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the water and olive oil until a rough dough forms. Set the bowl on the mixer and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and beat for 4 to 6 minutes, until it becomes a wet and vaguely menacing mass. (If it forms into a ball, lower the mixer speed to medium-high. If not, stop the mixer to scrape down the sides once.)

2. Scrape and pour the dough onto a heavily floured work surface. Keeping your fingers, the countertop and the dough well floured, fold one dough end over the other so that half the floured underside covers the rest of the dough. Let rest for 10 minutes. [The dough gains structure once it is out of the bowl and is being handled during steps 2 and 3.]

3. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Place each ball on a well-oiled plate, generously dust with flour and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it is at least doubled in size, about 3 hours.

4. Punch the dough balls down, shape into rounds and place each in a quart-size freezer bag. Refrigerate dough between 1 and 24 hours [or up to a week]. Makes 2 balls.

Notes: I sometimes substitute up to ½ cup of whole-wheat pastry flour for all-purpose flour. If I’m making the dough ahead of time, I store the dough undivided in a covered container, directly in the fridge (before letting it rise at end of step 3). The dough will keep up to a week in the fridge. I then take it out, divide and form into balls, and let it rise for 3 hours before using it. The pizza is baked on a pizza stone in an oven set at 550° or at its highest temperature. Further instruction, more pizza recipes and a how-to video may be found online.

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April 30, 2010 by Debra.

Our rhubarb is in its third year and, barely into the season, it’s making up for lost time by coming on fast and furious. With the return of the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market this weekend, I expect rhubarb will be one of its welcome features. Thanks to Cowgirl Goods for the tip and, without further ado, we offer you:

Roasted Rhubarb

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Thickly slice 2 pounds of rhubarb and put it into a deep oven-proof pot.

3. Mix in 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup red or white wine.

4. Split open 1 vanilla bean and add it to the rhubarb.

5. Roast the rhubarb (uncovered) until very tender, about 30 minutes.

— Serve hot or cold. Makes 2 to 3 cups.

Note: Adapted from Canal House Cooking, Vol. 3. They recommend spooning it over thick yogurt, ice cream, pound cake, or on its own. I’m off to test milks for cheesemaking with fellow Cheese Chick, Lenore, and imagine it’ll also make a fine accompaniment to a nice scoop of fresh, homemade ricotta.

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