Recipes
If this week's share does not kick off soup season I do not know what will. We have all the basic ingredients here to cook literally hundreds of soup recipes weather a broth soup with minced garlic, chopped parsnip, carrot, celery, potato and even winter squash or blend all together into a a creamy squash soup with your favorite seasonings (I suggest curry for this!). Basically add broth and you are off to a great start. Get creative and see what you come up with!
Honey-Ginger Carrot and Parsnip Salad Topping This is a great way to sweeten up a cold season green salad when seasonal salad favorites are not around. The idea is to roast the vegetables in a lemon-honey vinaigrette and serve on top of a green salad with sunflower shoots and whatever else comes to mind.
2 c carrots, diced small 2 c parsnips, diced small 1/4 c ginger, grated 3/4 c olive oil 1/8 c red wine vinegar 1/8 c lemon juice tsp lemon zest (if you have) pinch of dill 1/4 c honey, soft extra honey to drizzle
In a bowl combine carrots, parsnips, ginger and lemon zest. In a small sauce pan, warm on low heat: oil, vinegar, lemon juice, dill and honey and combine well. Pour half of dressing onto chopped vegetables and mix well. Use a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper lay vegetables out evenly. Drizzle with honey and bake in the oven at 375F for 20-30 minutes until they are soft and begin browning. Remove from parchment paper right away and cool. Top green salad with veggie mix and use remaining dressing.
Scandinavian Flower Eggs with Sweet-Tart Mustard Dill Sauce ~ Adapted from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper Wedges of hard-cooked egg tucked into chopped salad greens mimic tightly clustered chrysanthemum petals make a great presentation. What no one knows until they dig into the salad is that hidden under the greens are slices of potato. Slathering the platter first with mayo ensures that the salad is flavored from bottom up as well as top down. Given some hard-cooked eggs and boiled potatoes, you can make this fancy looking dish in a few minutes. Zigzag the mustard over the sauce over the eggs, and you are done. The potatoes and eggs could be cooked a day ahead and refrigerated. The sauce holds 3 days in the refrigerator.
Dill Mustard Sauce (Makes 1 cup) 1 small garlic clove, minced 3 Tbs onion, minced 1/2 c white or cider vinegar 2 Tbs sugar, honey or maple (to taste) 3 Tbs salad oil Generous ½ c coarse-grain dark mustard 1/3-½ c dill (fresh or dried) Salt and pepper
Salad 2 generous Tbs mayonnaise 1 head lettuce, stacked and sliced into thin strips 8 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut into 4 wedges each
In a 6-quart pot, simmer the whole potatoes covered in water, 15 minutes, or until potatoes offer a little resistance when pierced with a knife. Drain and rinse them with cold water to cool. Peel and slice them about 1/4" thick. While the potatoes are cooking, make the sauce. In a medium bowl, blend together the garlic, onion, and vinegar. Let them stand 10 minutes to mellow. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of sugar, the oil, mustard, and 1/3 cup of the dill with salt and pepper to taste. Taste for sweet-sour balance, adding sugar or vinegar as needed. Add more dill if you like.
On a large platter, spread the mayonnaise in a 9- or 10-inch circle. Top with the potatoes, overlapping the slices. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, then pile the lettuce on the potatoes. Top with the egg wedges, tucking them into a tight sunburst pattern (like flower petals). Season them with salt and pepper. Before serving, zig zag streaks of the dill mustard sauce over the eggs and greens. Scatter the chopped dill and sweet onions over the eggs, and serve with additional sauce at the table.
Tip for Farm Fresh Hard Boiled Eggs - Have you noticed that when you hard boil farm eggs the shell is almost impossible to remove from the white. Simply add a tablespoon vinegar to water 2 minutes before you remove from heat. This will enable you to peel very easily.
Braised Winter Vegetables ~ Adapted from Vegetable Love cookbook Simple, excellent and addictive, these veggies practically melt on the inside. This recipe will work for potatoes, carrots, parsnip, squash, pumpkin, turnip and rutabaga. Add more stock per volume of vegetables as needed.
carrots, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces parsnip, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces potatoes, cubed into 1" pieces (peeling is optional) 2 Tbs butter, melted 1/2 c stock (veggie or chicken) salt and pepper
Place oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 500F. Toss the diced veggies with butter in a 12x10" roasting pan. Spread out in a single layer. Roast the veggies for 30 minutes, stirring midway through cooking until lightly browned. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F. Pour the stock into the roasting pan. Cover tightly with foil or lid. Bake for 15 minutes. The liquid will be mostly absorbed by the veggies. Season with salt and pepper.
Savvy Cornbread It is well known that a savvy cook will have their "best" cornbread recipe they adorn chili, baked beans, soups, bbq and more with. Whether it is sweet, spicy, soft, crumbly makes no difference it is a signature of personal style. While I do not claim to have the best recipe; I will empower you to create your best cornbread recipe by giving you a basic list of instructions that can be modified to your specifications, as well as some fun suggestions!
Some ideas of things you can do to personalize your cornbread...
- Southern style cornbread typically has more corn meal in it than flour, sometimes it even omits wheat flour all together. Feel free to go southern or try the opposite by making a quick bread with only 20% of the grain being corn.
- Substitute other fats for cooking oil such as butter, lard or bacon drippings.
- Any number of things may be added for flavor such as minced chili, jalapeno, pimento or roasted red peppers, whole corn kernels, bacon bits, blueberries, cranberries or whatever else sounds appetizing.
- Add more sugar to make excellent cornbread breakfast muffins mixed with your favorite fruit.
- Substitute white sugar with maple syrup or honey.
- Substitute sweet potato or squash puree for the dairy to flavor it up and keep it moist.
1 c corn meal 1 c all-purpose flour 1/4 c sugar 1 Tbs baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 c yogurt, milk or buttermilk 1/3 vegetable oil 1 egg
Preheat the oven to 400. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another. Combine the two and mix until just blended. Pour into greased pan. Use and 8 x 8 pan if you like it fairly (2 to 3 inches) thick or 13 x 9 pan if you like it thin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove and serve while still warm.
Sausage and Vegetable Chicken Stuffing Many people think that stuffing has to be made with bread crumbs, but I say it is not so. Your bird can be stuffed with almost anything that will be complimented by its juices. Here is a good example of what you could use in your share this week to stuff your bird with.
1 tsp cooking oil 1 link Applecheek Garlic and Parmesan sausage, chopped into smaller pieces 1/2 c onions, chopped 1/2 c carrots, chopped 1/2 c parsnips, chopped 1/2 c apples, cored and chopped 1/4 c celery, chopped 3 Tbs garlic 1 c chard, chopped stems and all
In a large skillet or pot add oil, onion and sausage, cook on medium heat. When onions become soft and sausage begins to cook add carrots, parsnips, apple, celery and garlic, cook for 2 minutes together then add chard till wilted. Remove from heat and cool. Stuff this into your bird and you will have an incredibly flavorful side to your chicken dinner or save for a quick chicken soup for you left overs.
Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine with Parsnips and Carrots This is a great winter recipe that uses the fat and bone to flavor the dish resulting in tender ribs with a rich sauce and vegetables. Cook with a side of greens and pour yourself a glass of the remaining wine. Marinate the ribs the night before with the wine (or vinegar), some minced onion, garlic, carrot, thyme and a bay leaf over night for exceptionally tender and flavorful ribs. Before cooking remove from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Strain veggies from marinade and use marinade juice as indicated below.
2-3 lbs Short Ribs, trim off extra fat if desired 1 Tbs butter 1 Tbs cooking oil 1 large yellow onion 1 celery stalk, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped 2 medium parsnips, peeled and sliced diagonally same as carrots 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally same as parsnips 1/4 c unbleached flour 2 c chicken broth, veggie broth or water 1 c full bodied red wine marinade juices or 1/4 c balsamic vinegar 1 8oz can diced tomatoes 2 Tbs tomato paste 3/4 Tbs rosemary (fresh if you got it) 1/2 Tbs thyme (fresh if you got it) 1 lg bay leaf salt and pepper
This is easiest cooked in a cast iron pan you can finish off in the oven, but if you do not have one just use a good quality frying pan and finish on stove top. Melt butter in pan over high heat, sear fat side down of short ribs till fat begins to melt leaving drippings in the pan, about 3-4 minutes, then turn and sear bone side for 2 minutes. Remove ribs from pan and set aside. Add cooking oil and onions to pan and cook until onions begin to caramelize and turn brown, reduce heat to medium-low and add celery, garlic, parsnips and carrots to pan and simmer for 3-4 minutes covering vegetable surfaces with the juices in pan. Slowly add flour until all veggies are drenched and simmer on low heat until flour begins to stick to pan.
If using a cast iron pan preheat oven to 375F, otherwise we will finish on the stove top by simmering. Once everything has a good drench add stock, wine and bay leaf and simmer on medium-high heat until broth thickens. Next add diced tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs and mix together. Add ribs back to pan, covering them with the sauce. Either put pan in oven with lid on (if cast iron, use tin foil if you do not have a lid) and cook for an hour 15 minutes or simmer covered on the stove top for one hour or longer, until meat is easily pulled from bone.
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Carnival Acorn Winter Squash - There are not too many squashes quite as festive as Carnival winter squash with its unique coloring and splotches, it holds a designer's seal of approval in the world of winter squash. Carnival is an acorn squash similar to Sugar Dumpling (which you had the first week of the share). Carnival has a wonderful nutty flavor and fine eating quality and is not as sweet as Sugar Dumpling. Like all winter squash and pumpkins store in cool, dry place. Best temperature is 55F.
Parsnips - Contrary to appearances, parsnips are not pale versions of carrots. In fact, they have a nutty-sweet taste and a tender-hearty texture that is entirely distinct. For centuries, parsnips were a more common staple than the potato—and deservedly so. Satisfying, versatile, and highly nutritious, these delicious roots make a terrific base to any meal. Young parsnips don’t need to be peeled. Simply scrub them under running water with a vegetable brush. Peel larger parsnips, and cut out the core if it seems woody. However you slice or chop parsnips, be sure to make all the pieces relatively the same size, ensuring an evenly cooked dish. Refrigerate unwashed parsnips in a loosely wrapped or perforated plastic bag for up to two weeks.
and McIntosh that have been long grown in the Northeast. The shiny red Empire apple has a sweet-tart taste that is ideal for fresh eating and salads but also great for sauce, baking, pies and freezing. 
month's Short Ribs from 
The Garlic and Parmesan Sausage this week comes from
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