Good Eats Newsletter - May 12, 2010
This Week's Vegetable Share Contains:
1 lb Mixed Colorful Carrots; 2.5 lbs Mixed Potatoes; 2 lbs Yellow Storage Onions, 1 Bunch Scallions; 1 Bunch of Mustard Greens; 1 Bunch of Radishes; 1 Head of Napa Cabbage; plus.....
Localvore Offerings Include:
Dreuxmanna Spelt Berry Crackers
Vermont Butter and Cheese Co Bijou
Quebec Organic Mixed Cracker Grains
The lack of salad greens in this week's share is due to some golf ball sized hail we had at the end of last week. Fear not, the greens will return to your bags very soon.
Pete's Musings
Great trip to DC last week with Andrew Meyer (Vermont Soy), Mateo and Angie Kehler (Jasper Hill), Tim Fishburne and buddy Jennifer from Pete's Greens, and Tom Stearns (High Mowing Seeds). Tom did a thorough job of getting us meetings with key folks and we had excellent meetings with Kathleen Merrigan (Deputy Secretary of Ag), Peter Welch, Bernie's people, Leahy, and a tour of the White House garden.
Many of us are on an advisory board for the new Vermont Food Venture Center which will begin construction in Hardwick this month. One purpose of our trip was to seek additional funding for the Center for hiring an executive director and to fund programming for several years. Another purpose of our trip was to present to the politicians our idea for radically revamping the Hardwick area school lunch program. We're seeking funds for a 3-5 year project to take the schools in Hardwick and the surrounding towns from serving about 5% local food to 50% or more. This is a big project involving remodeling school kitchens, training school chefs, working with existing and new farms to grow the food, developing processing systems so that the schools have access to minimally processed produce. We were very well received and it was an exciting trip.
On the local food and sustainable ag front things are changing fast in DC. We toured the People's Garden at the USDA building. It is just a small vegetable garden that doesn't look like much. But they are also growing cover crops lining both sides of the entrance to the building, expanding edible landscaping, and they just got the go ahead from Secretary Vilsack to plant more vegetable gardens in other parts of the lawn. It is merely symbolic, but the symbolism is powerful.
The White House garden is also small. We toured with White House chef Sam Kass, a guy who is best described with the word smooth. Smooth bald head, smooth speaker, smooth in the halls of power. He is very down to earth and gave us a great tour. He cooks dinner for the Obamas five nights a week (using food from the garden every night) - the rest of his time is spent working on policy issues.
We also attended the Taste of Vermont in the Senate office building. This party sponsored by Pat Leahy is great fun every year. Great Vermont food and great Vermont folks. ~Pete
Left Photo - Tim, Pete, Senator Leahy and wife Marcelle
Right photo - Andrew, Tom, Mateo, Pete in front of the White House
Summer Share begins in just 5 weeks!
Please send in your sign up soon to ensure weekly deliveries of veggies and or localvore products through the summer. This is the most diverse period of the year and the shares will be beautiful and plentiful. Veggie only share is just $28/week. The locavore share is $44/week.
Summer Vegetable and Localvore Share Sign Up
Summer Meat Share Sign Up
New Good Eats Sites
We have a couple new pick up site locations for Summer. If you have already signed up for your Summer share and one of these sites makes more sense for you, let me know and I can switch you.
Williston/Blair Park - DEW Construction is located at 277 Blair Park Road, Suite 130. The pick up will be located at the back entrance of this building and pick up hours will be 2 to 5:00pm. It is a short window, but we hope that the site offers convenience for some of you.
Burlington/Flynn Ave - Select Design at 208 Flynn Ave (off Pine St) will also be hosting beginning at the start of the summer share. Pick up hours for Select Design will be noon to 5 pm.
Good Eats is Looking for a new Montpelier Home
We are on the hunt again for a new pick up site in Montpelier. Our new site could be a home or office but must:
*be centrally located in Montpelier
*have good access for our 26 foot delivery truck and good parking for members
*not have stairs
*have a good amount of space for set up (Min. space is probably 8x10 feet.)
*have fairly long pick up hours to accommodate folks who need to pick up before or after work (8 am to 6:30 pm or later ideal).
Hosting the share requires some commitment from our site hosts but mostly just on the day of delivery. We do offer compensation for hosting, in the form of a free share (or cash payment), depending on the number of shares signed up at the site. If you have suggestions regarding a new site, please email me, I'd love to hear from you.
Burlington Bicycle Delivery by One Revolution
Have you ever wished your share would just show up at your home or office? If you live in Burlington, this summer your wish might be granted. Starting in June, One Revolution will begin a bicycle delivery service in Burlington. For just $5/week ($90 over the course of the 18 week share) One Revolution can pick up your share at one of our pick up sites and deliver it to your door.
Shares will be fully protected from the elements and will arrive fresh at your doorstep. You can expect your share delivered 0n Wednesdays between 3:30 PM and 6:00 PM.
For more information about this service, please contact Mark or Sam Bromley at One Revolution, Vermont Bikes at Work 1-877-4BIKEVT (424-5388) or Onerevolutionvt@gmail.com.
Pete's Pastured Chicken
Our meat order is over for now, but you can still order chicken! If you order 5 or more whole birds, they are only $3.50/lb. This is a great price for these birds which were raised on our pastures in just about the best conditions possible. Their meat is far healthier having assimilated the nutrients of all the forage they consumed.
All free range is not created equal. Many farms that offer "free range" chicken raise their birds just to free range standards which require the birds have access to an outside area. Often times this means that the birds live loose in large barns with a couple openings to small dirt lots outside. This is an improvement over the standard meat bird production, but does not compare to keeping birds outside on pasture and greens throughout their lives.
For more info about our chickens, please visit the chicken page.
Storage and Use Tips
Bagged Coleslaw Mix - Bill chopped cabbage, carrots and daikon yesterday to provide you with a ready to dress coleslaw. We thought you all might enjoy the simplicity. Just choose your favorite slaw dressing or choose from the three Bill has provided below, and in a few minutes you'll have slaw ready to serve.
Localvore Lore
The organic mixed cracked grains in the share today hail from Compton, Quebec from Michel Gaudreau's Golden Crops. They are a blend of wheat, barley, rye, oat and flax. The grains make a delicious breakfast cereal cooked as you would rolled oats for oatmeal. Use a 2-to-1 ratio of liquid to grains, perhaps even a bit more liquid (all water is fine, and a half and half mix of water and milk is tasty and rich). If you like your cereal softer still, soak the grains overnight before cooking them in the morning. You can also use these grains as you would cracked wheat (bulgar) in dishes like tabbouli (recipe below). Or cook the grains as you would arborio rice or for pilaf with a broth for a dinner meal. You can also use the grains mixed with oats for granola, or soaked or cooked to soften and then added to a bread recipe. Store as you would rice, oats or barley.
We have a cracker and cheese combo for you this week. From Dreuxmanna we have Spelt Berry crackers, made by Dreux and El Anya Nightingale in Barre. These are great, hearty crackers made with spelt flour & whole spelt berries from Meunerie Milanaise in QC. If you love these crackers and need more, you can find them at City Market in Burlington and at LACE in Barre.
To go along with the tasty crackers, we have delightful little goat cheese rounds from Vt Butter & Cheese Co. The Bijou is an aged goat cheese, made in the tradition of French crottins. When these cheeses are wrapped in their own micro-caves, the cheese is still fresh with a delicate rind. As the cheese ages the interior becomes soft and the flavor more robust. Allow to reach room temp for best flavor. A classic use of this cheese would be a chevre chaud, or hot goat cheese dish. To make your own, cut Bijou in half and place rind side up on a baguette. Toast under the broiler for five minutes and serve with a salad. For a more elaborate and even tastier prep, see the recipe for Baked Goat Cheese below.
Recipes
Coleslaw
This week, Bill hand chopped cabbage and mixed with some carrot and daikon to create ready to go coleslaw mix. He also wrote up three different coleslaw recipes to choose from. Any one of these recipes can be tripled and saved for future use. Best to store the remainder in a Ziploc container or ball jar.
Asian Coleslaw Dressing
1 bag Pete’s slaw mix
½ head Napa cabbage, sliced thinly
1 onion or 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
¼ cup tamari
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp. white vinegar
2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. sesame seeds, optional
Place all ingredients in large bowl and whisk until well incorporated. Add slaw mix, onion and Napa cabbage and toss until well coated. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. This slaw is best served within 15 minutes of making.
Apple Coleslaw
1 bag Pete’s slaw Mix
2 apples, small dice
2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. mustard seed (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Whisk dressing ingredients together in a large bowl. Add apples and slaw mix and toss.
New York Style Creamy Dressing
¼ cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)
3 tbsp. dry mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste
In a large bowl, whisk ingredients together. Add slaw mix and toss well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Baked Goat Cheese
From David Lebowitz website...This isn't a strict recipe, but a technique. I use sourdough (levain) bread crumbs made from stale bread but you can certainly use what's available where you are, as long as they're from a sturdy loaf. If you buy breadcrumbs that are already toasted, simply mix them with the seasoning ingredients and skip the toasting in the oven.
Leftover breadcrumbs can be stored in the freezer, or strewn over whole-wheat pasta tossed with greens cooked with garlic and red chile flakes.
Cut your goat cheese into disks about 3/4-inch (2cm) thick. Marinate the disks in olive oil, which can be done up to two days in advance. If done in advance, I like to add some herbs, such as fresh rosemary and thyme, as well as some black pepper, and let them rest in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 375F (180C).
Mix together fresh bread crumbs (for four servings, about 1/2 cup, 60g) with a generous pinch of sea salt, and just enough olive oil to moisten the crumbs, about 1 to 2 teaspoons.
Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and cook the crumbs until golden brown and crispy, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring a few times during baking. Once toasted, let cool and mix in 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon chopped parsley.
Brush the goat cheese rounds with olive oil. (Unless they've been marinated. In which case, pluck them from the oil and let the excess drip off briefly.) Dredge the goat cheese in the toasted breadcrumb mixture until they're completely coated and bake on a cookie sheet or in a gratin dish, either non-stick or lightly-greased, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until warmed through and soft when you press gently in the center.
Remove from oven and use a spatula to lift the goat cheese rounds from the pan.
Serve with a green salad, and thin slices of toasted levain (sourdough) bread, a favorite crisp bread, or crackers. This also makes a great appetizer.
Mixed Grains Pilaf
This one from the archives was supplied to us by Good Eats members a while back. You can cook the mixed cracked grains as you would rice or barley (as done here) for some very interesting and healthy dishes. This one would be great with some chopped mustard greens and scallions baked in, with rounds of the Baked Goat Cheese on the side.
1 1/2 cups cracked mixed grains
3 1/4 cups chicken stock
8 TB (1 stick) butter or half butter & Olive or other oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
5-6 oz. sliced mushrooms
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 (1 ¼ hour in oven, ¼ hour prep)
Saute grains in 4 TB butter, using a heavy frying pan on medium low, until golden (about 5 mins.) Meanwhile chop onions. Pour grain into covered casserole, such as corning glassware. Sautee chopped onions in 2 TB butter on low heat until soft, about 5 mins. Meanwhile slice mushrooms. Pour onion into casserole. Sautee sliced mushrooms in remaining oil on low heat until water evaporates, adding salt & pepper to taste, about 5 mins. Add to casserole. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock warmed in microwave 2 mins. or in saucepan to casserole. Cover and bake 30 mins.
Add another 1 1/2 cups chicken stock warmed in microwave 2 mins. or in saucepan to casserole. Cover and bake 30 mins. Add the remaining 1/4 cup warmed stock and bake the last 15 minutes covered. Stir well and serve
Tabouli Salad
3.5 cups salted water
2 cup cracked grains
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups finely diced tomatoes
½ cup thinly sliced scallions
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint leaves
Salt & pepper, to taste
Bring water to water to boil. Cover and simmer until tender, about 35 minutes, and then drain any remaining water. In the meantime, mix all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add grains and season with salt and pepper.
Cracked Grain Coffee Cake
1 cup butter
3 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cracked grains
1.5 tsp.baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1.5 cups buttermilk
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well a bundt cake pan, set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir together flour, cracked grains, baking powder and baking soda. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture. Blend well.
In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.
With a large spoon, place half of the batter evenly into your prepared pan and sprinkle with filling. Top with remaining batter.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or just until cake begins to pull from pan sides. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
1 lb Mixed Colorful Carrots; 2.5 lbs Mixed Potatoes; 2 lbs Yellow Storage Onions, 1 Bunch Scallions; 1 Bunch of Mustard Greens; 1 Bunch of Radishes; 1 Head of Napa Cabbage; plus.....
1 Bunch Sweet Basil
1 Bag of Coleslaw Mix
1 Bag of Coleslaw Mix
Localvore Offerings Include:
Dreuxmanna Spelt Berry Crackers
Vermont Butter and Cheese Co Bijou
Quebec Organic Mixed Cracker Grains
The lack of salad greens in this week's share is due to some golf ball sized hail we had at the end of last week. Fear not, the greens will return to your bags very soon.
Pete's Musings
Great trip to DC last week with Andrew Meyer (Vermont Soy), Mateo and Angie Kehler (Jasper Hill), Tim Fishburne and buddy Jennifer from Pete's Greens, and Tom Stearns (High Mowing Seeds). Tom did a thorough job of getting us meetings with key folks and we had excellent meetings with Kathleen Merrigan (Deputy Secretary of Ag), Peter Welch, Bernie's people, Leahy, and a tour of the White House garden.
Many of us are on an advisory board for the new Vermont Food Venture Center which will begin construction in Hardwick this month. One purpose of our trip was to seek additional funding for the Center for hiring an executive director and to fund programming for several years. Another purpose of our trip was to present to the politicians our idea for radically revamping the Hardwick area school lunch program. We're seeking funds for a 3-5 year project to take the schools in Hardwick and the surrounding towns from serving about 5% local food to 50% or more. This is a big project involving remodeling school kitchens, training school chefs, working with existing and new farms to grow the food, developing processing systems so that the schools have access to minimally processed produce. We were very well received and it was an exciting trip.
On the local food and sustainable ag front things are changing fast in DC. We toured the People's Garden at the USDA building. It is just a small vegetable garden that doesn't look like much. But they are also growing cover crops lining both sides of the entrance to the building, expanding edible landscaping, and they just got the go ahead from Secretary Vilsack to plant more vegetable gardens in other parts of the lawn. It is merely symbolic, but the symbolism is powerful.
The White House garden is also small. We toured with White House chef Sam Kass, a guy who is best described with the word smooth. Smooth bald head, smooth speaker, smooth in the halls of power. He is very down to earth and gave us a great tour. He cooks dinner for the Obamas five nights a week (using food from the garden every night) - the rest of his time is spent working on policy issues.
We also attended the Taste of Vermont in the Senate office building. This party sponsored by Pat Leahy is great fun every year. Great Vermont food and great Vermont folks. ~Pete
Left Photo - Tim, Pete, Senator Leahy and wife Marcelle
Right photo - Andrew, Tom, Mateo, Pete in front of the White House
Summer Share begins in just 5 weeks!
Please send in your sign up soon to ensure weekly deliveries of veggies and or localvore products through the summer. This is the most diverse period of the year and the shares will be beautiful and plentiful. Veggie only share is just $28/week. The locavore share is $44/week.
Summer Vegetable and Localvore Share Sign Up
Summer Meat Share Sign Up
New Good Eats Sites
We have a couple new pick up site locations for Summer. If you have already signed up for your Summer share and one of these sites makes more sense for you, let me know and I can switch you.
Williston/Blair Park - DEW Construction is located at 277 Blair Park Road, Suite 130. The pick up will be located at the back entrance of this building and pick up hours will be 2 to 5:00pm. It is a short window, but we hope that the site offers convenience for some of you.
Burlington/Flynn Ave - Select Design at 208 Flynn Ave (off Pine St) will also be hosting beginning at the start of the summer share. Pick up hours for Select Design will be noon to 5 pm.
Good Eats is Looking for a new Montpelier Home
We are on the hunt again for a new pick up site in Montpelier. Our new site could be a home or office but must:
*be centrally located in Montpelier
*have good access for our 26 foot delivery truck and good parking for members
*not have stairs
*have a good amount of space for set up (Min. space is probably 8x10 feet.)
*have fairly long pick up hours to accommodate folks who need to pick up before or after work (8 am to 6:30 pm or later ideal).
Hosting the share requires some commitment from our site hosts but mostly just on the day of delivery. We do offer compensation for hosting, in the form of a free share (or cash payment), depending on the number of shares signed up at the site. If you have suggestions regarding a new site, please email me, I'd love to hear from you.
Burlington Bicycle Delivery by One Revolution
Have you ever wished your share would just show up at your home or office? If you live in Burlington, this summer your wish might be granted. Starting in June, One Revolution will begin a bicycle delivery service in Burlington. For just $5/week ($90 over the course of the 18 week share) One Revolution can pick up your share at one of our pick up sites and deliver it to your door.Shares will be fully protected from the elements and will arrive fresh at your doorstep. You can expect your share delivered 0n Wednesdays between 3:30 PM and 6:00 PM.
For more information about this service, please contact Mark or Sam Bromley at One Revolution, Vermont Bikes at Work 1-877-4BIKEVT (424-5388) or Onerevolutionvt@gmail.com.
Pete's Pastured Chicken
Our meat order is over for now, but you can still order chicken! If you order 5 or more whole birds, they are only $3.50/lb. This is a great price for these birds which were raised on our pastures in just about the best conditions possible. Their meat is far healthier having assimilated the nutrients of all the forage they consumed.
All free range is not created equal. Many farms that offer "free range" chicken raise their birds just to free range standards which require the birds have access to an outside area. Often times this means that the birds live loose in large barns with a couple openings to small dirt lots outside. This is an improvement over the standard meat bird production, but does not compare to keeping birds outside on pasture and greens throughout their lives.
For more info about our chickens, please visit the chicken page.
Storage and Use Tips
Bagged Coleslaw Mix - Bill chopped cabbage, carrots and daikon yesterday to provide you with a ready to dress coleslaw. We thought you all might enjoy the simplicity. Just choose your favorite slaw dressing or choose from the three Bill has provided below, and in a few minutes you'll have slaw ready to serve.
Localvore Lore
The organic mixed cracked grains in the share today hail from Compton, Quebec from Michel Gaudreau's Golden Crops. They are a blend of wheat, barley, rye, oat and flax. The grains make a delicious breakfast cereal cooked as you would rolled oats for oatmeal. Use a 2-to-1 ratio of liquid to grains, perhaps even a bit more liquid (all water is fine, and a half and half mix of water and milk is tasty and rich). If you like your cereal softer still, soak the grains overnight before cooking them in the morning. You can also use these grains as you would cracked wheat (bulgar) in dishes like tabbouli (recipe below). Or cook the grains as you would arborio rice or for pilaf with a broth for a dinner meal. You can also use the grains mixed with oats for granola, or soaked or cooked to soften and then added to a bread recipe. Store as you would rice, oats or barley.
We have a cracker and cheese combo for you this week. From Dreuxmanna we have Spelt Berry crackers, made by Dreux and El Anya Nightingale in Barre. These are great, hearty crackers made with spelt flour & whole spelt berries from Meunerie Milanaise in QC. If you love these crackers and need more, you can find them at City Market in Burlington and at LACE in Barre.
To go along with the tasty crackers, we have delightful little goat cheese rounds from Vt Butter & Cheese Co. The Bijou is an aged goat cheese, made in the tradition of French crottins. When these cheeses are wrapped in their own micro-caves, the cheese is still fresh with a delicate rind. As the cheese ages the interior becomes soft and the flavor more robust. Allow to reach room temp for best flavor. A classic use of this cheese would be a chevre chaud, or hot goat cheese dish. To make your own, cut Bijou in half and place rind side up on a baguette. Toast under the broiler for five minutes and serve with a salad. For a more elaborate and even tastier prep, see the recipe for Baked Goat Cheese below.
Recipes
Coleslaw
This week, Bill hand chopped cabbage and mixed with some carrot and daikon to create ready to go coleslaw mix. He also wrote up three different coleslaw recipes to choose from. Any one of these recipes can be tripled and saved for future use. Best to store the remainder in a Ziploc container or ball jar.
Asian Coleslaw Dressing
1 bag Pete’s slaw mix
½ head Napa cabbage, sliced thinly
1 onion or 2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
¼ cup tamari
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
3 tbsp. white vinegar
2 tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 tsp. sesame oil
3 tbsp. sesame seeds, optional
Place all ingredients in large bowl and whisk until well incorporated. Add slaw mix, onion and Napa cabbage and toss until well coated. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. This slaw is best served within 15 minutes of making.
Apple Coleslaw
1 bag Pete’s slaw Mix
2 apples, small dice
2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup cider vinegar
2 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. mustard seed (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
Whisk dressing ingredients together in a large bowl. Add apples and slaw mix and toss.
New York Style Creamy Dressing
¼ cup mayonnaise
3 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)
3 tbsp. dry mustard
Salt and pepper, to taste
In a large bowl, whisk ingredients together. Add slaw mix and toss well. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
Baked Goat Cheese
From David Lebowitz website...This isn't a strict recipe, but a technique. I use sourdough (levain) bread crumbs made from stale bread but you can certainly use what's available where you are, as long as they're from a sturdy loaf. If you buy breadcrumbs that are already toasted, simply mix them with the seasoning ingredients and skip the toasting in the oven.
Leftover breadcrumbs can be stored in the freezer, or strewn over whole-wheat pasta tossed with greens cooked with garlic and red chile flakes.
Cut your goat cheese into disks about 3/4-inch (2cm) thick. Marinate the disks in olive oil, which can be done up to two days in advance. If done in advance, I like to add some herbs, such as fresh rosemary and thyme, as well as some black pepper, and let them rest in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 375F (180C).
Mix together fresh bread crumbs (for four servings, about 1/2 cup, 60g) with a generous pinch of sea salt, and just enough olive oil to moisten the crumbs, about 1 to 2 teaspoons.
Spread the crumbs on a baking sheet and cook the crumbs until golden brown and crispy, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring a few times during baking. Once toasted, let cool and mix in 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon chopped parsley.
Brush the goat cheese rounds with olive oil. (Unless they've been marinated. In which case, pluck them from the oil and let the excess drip off briefly.) Dredge the goat cheese in the toasted breadcrumb mixture until they're completely coated and bake on a cookie sheet or in a gratin dish, either non-stick or lightly-greased, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until warmed through and soft when you press gently in the center.
Remove from oven and use a spatula to lift the goat cheese rounds from the pan.
Serve with a green salad, and thin slices of toasted levain (sourdough) bread, a favorite crisp bread, or crackers. This also makes a great appetizer.
Mixed Grains Pilaf
This one from the archives was supplied to us by Good Eats members a while back. You can cook the mixed cracked grains as you would rice or barley (as done here) for some very interesting and healthy dishes. This one would be great with some chopped mustard greens and scallions baked in, with rounds of the Baked Goat Cheese on the side.
1 1/2 cups cracked mixed grains
3 1/4 cups chicken stock
8 TB (1 stick) butter or half butter & Olive or other oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
5-6 oz. sliced mushrooms
Salt & Pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 (1 ¼ hour in oven, ¼ hour prep)
Saute grains in 4 TB butter, using a heavy frying pan on medium low, until golden (about 5 mins.) Meanwhile chop onions. Pour grain into covered casserole, such as corning glassware. Sautee chopped onions in 2 TB butter on low heat until soft, about 5 mins. Meanwhile slice mushrooms. Pour onion into casserole. Sautee sliced mushrooms in remaining oil on low heat until water evaporates, adding salt & pepper to taste, about 5 mins. Add to casserole. Add 1 1/2 cups chicken stock warmed in microwave 2 mins. or in saucepan to casserole. Cover and bake 30 mins.
Add another 1 1/2 cups chicken stock warmed in microwave 2 mins. or in saucepan to casserole. Cover and bake 30 mins. Add the remaining 1/4 cup warmed stock and bake the last 15 minutes covered. Stir well and serve
Tabouli Salad
3.5 cups salted water
2 cup cracked grains
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups finely diced tomatoes
½ cup thinly sliced scallions
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint leaves
Salt & pepper, to taste
Bring water to water to boil. Cover and simmer until tender, about 35 minutes, and then drain any remaining water. In the meantime, mix all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add grains and season with salt and pepper.
Cracked Grain Coffee Cake
1 cup butter
3 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cracked grains
1.5 tsp.baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1.5 cups buttermilk
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well a bundt cake pan, set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Stir together flour, cracked grains, baking powder and baking soda. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk to butter mixture. Blend well.
In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon.
With a large spoon, place half of the batter evenly into your prepared pan and sprinkle with filling. Top with remaining batter.
Bake for approximately 1 hour or just until cake begins to pull from pan sides. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate.
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