Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad . . . → Read More: Father’s Day Breakfast Idea: How to Make Homemade Pop Tarts]]>

Dad! Don’t read this post until Sunday!

My dad has many amazing qualities. He can make a game out of anything – including rolled up socks, the packing material from our new blinds, and a big bucket leftover from some construction project. Incidentally, bucket rides also illuminated one of my mom’s best qualities – trusting that her husband wouldn’t put her kids in the hospital and letting us have some crazy fun.

Dad will also support me no matter what – even if it’s listening to me hyperventalate on the phone because I spotted a mouse in my first solo apartment or eating a weird vegetarian meal I cook for him. Oh sure, he’ll eat kale for breakfast to make me feel good, but what does he really want? PopTarts and Diet Pepsi. If you were ever in his car before he retired, you know what I mean. Crumbs and cans galore! Might not be Wheaties, but it’s certainly the breakfast of one of my biggest champions.

So for Fathers’ Day 2012, I give you bacon and jam toaster tarts. Make them for the dad in your life or for yourself, just cuz it’s Sunday and breakfast should be fun sometimes. I froze these and then sent them overnight. Just take one out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster, Dad. Love you!!

Some quick notes on the recipe…First, the dough is almost exactly the same as my standard pie crust with extra salt and sugar for flavor. I also added a splash of vinegar to the water on the advice of my friend Mike, who says it will lend extra flakiness. Second, this is a great way to use up some of last year’s lingering jams. Nothing on the larder shelves caught my fancy, so I made a quick strawberry rhubarb jam from what I had around. Store-bought jam is just fine, too.

Fathers’ Day Toaster Tarts

Makes 10 tarts

Directions

1. Follow these directions to make dough for a double crust pie, adding the vinegar to the ice water and the sugar and salt to the dry ingredients. After you’ve put the dough in the refrigerator, come back to this recipe.
2. While the dough is chilling, make the icing by combining the confectioners’ sugar with 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk until smooth.
3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. To roll the dough, you need a decent amount of space. We’re aiming for a rectangle that’s 15 inches on one side and 8 inches on the other, so you’ll need to roll your dough a little bit larger to account for uneven edges. Find your counter, clean it, and lightly flour it. Keep some flour on hand for the rolling process.
5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
6. Take one of the dough halves out of the refrigerator. Prepare your filling, so that it’s ready to do when the dough is. Beat the egg and have a pastry brush nearby. If you don’t have a pastry brush, you can use your fingers, but it’s slower.
7. Now, roll out the dough carefully. This is one of those situations when it really helps to be a bit nuts about neatness. Do your best to keep it in a rectangle twice as long on one side as the other. I use a bench scraper to push the ragged edges flat and to help me flip the dough around every few rolls, so that it doesn’t stick to the counter. Use that flour when you need it.
8. Once your dough is large enough, use a ruler and a thin knife to measure and cut a 15-inch by 8-inch rectangle. Don’t worry about moving it yet.
9. Along each of the 15-inch sides, make a little mark with the knife every three inches. Use the ruler and the knife to connect the marks, so that you now have five long rectangles (8 inches by 3 inches). Again, don’t move anything.



10. Using the pastry brush, paint all the edges with egg wash.



11. Place about a teaspoon of filling on one the end of a rectangle. Fold the dough in half to cover the filling and transfer the tart to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining four tarts.



12. Seal the edges of each tart with your fingers, then use the tines of a fork to crimp them. Poke a few holes in the top of each tart with the fork.



13. Brush or drizzle some icing over each tart. Don’t worry about being too neat. You won’t notice once they’re baked.



14. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Just like the real thing, you will finish these in the toaster. If you want to eat them immediately, bake them for about 10 minutes longer.



15. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Here’s one more root vegetable recipe before we switch over to asparagus and salad greens. I clipped this out of a New York Magazine while we still lived in NYC, because we occasionally shopped at Windfall Farms. I also don’t really have any good rutabaga recipes, other than our standard roast-everything-in-a-pan method. “Hold on there, Lindsay”, you might say, “The title of this post says ‘turnip’ not ‘rutabaga’.” Yes, observant reader, it is actually . . . → Read More: Gilfeather Turnip Casserole]]>

Here’s one more root vegetable recipe before we switch over to asparagus and salad greens. I clipped this out of a New York Magazine while we still lived in NYC, because we occasionally shopped at Windfall Farms. I also don’t really have any good rutabaga recipes, other than our standard roast-everything-in-a-pan method. “Hold on there, Lindsay”, you might say, “The title of this post says ‘turnip’ not ‘rutabaga’.” Yes, observant reader, it is actually a rutabaga, but Mr. John Gilfeather thought it was a turnip. Also, Jerusalem artichokes are neither Israeli nor artichokes. What can I say? Vegetable identity crisis.

The Gilfeather turnip is a Slow Food Ark of Taste product, which makes it worth seeking out. The Ark of Taste program finds and protects endangered flavors – those beloved by old-timers, but threatened by industrial agriculture. Just for fun, here are some other Ark of Taste products from the Northeast.

• Bay scallops
• Boiled cider (used as a sweetener)
• “Old-Type” Rhode Island Red chicken
• Shrub (okay, not technically a Northeast thing, but a new favorite of mine)
• True Red Cranberry bean

Kind of makes me want to make an Ark of Taste bingo game…

Back the to rutabaga! It looks like a big white turnip, but is a little milder with less of a bite. Originating in southern Vermont, it’s even more local to us now that we’ve moved to Boston, so I was delighted to find one in one of our last CSA pick-ups.

This would make a great light lunch, but we cooked up some sausages to make a more substantial meal. It was nice and fluffy, like mashed potatoes, but with a more complex flavor – just enough peppery-ness.

Gilfeather Turnip Casserole

Serves 4 as a side or 2 as an entrée

Directions

1. Peel the rutabagas and chop them into cubes. Try to make the chunks close in size, so that they all cook in the same amount of time.
2. In a medium pot, add the rutabagas, a pinch of salt, and enough water to cover. Boil until the rutabagas are soft, about 30 minutes.
3. Once the rutabagas are soft, drain them and allow them to cool for a few minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Put the rutabagas, eggs, milk, salt, spices, and flour into a food processor and process until smooth. If you don’t have a food processor, you can mash everything by hand, but I’d recommend mashing the rutabagas until they’re smooth first, then the eggs (one at a time), then the rest. This will help you get all the chunks out.
6. Rub just a little of the butter on the bottom and sides of a 1-quart soufflé dish. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish.
7. Use a fork to mash the remaining butter into the bread crumbs and sprinkle it over the top of the rutabaga mash.
8. Bake for an hour or until the buttery crumbs are nicely browned.

Looking at that photo, I think that it would be a really pretty side for dinner guests if it were baked in individual ramekins. It’s not terribly attractive sunk down in that big soufflé dish (we don’t have a 1-quart one, so I used what we had).

Many of our friends have had babies in the last couple of years. We’re really lucky to have this amazing group of kids to play with and moms and dads to admire. They’ve given me quite a bit of food-related knowledge. For example, if it falls on the floor, it is either totally contaminated (first kid) or fine after you shake off the dog hair (second kid).

I’ve also learned that one of . . . → Read More: Why Buy? DIY! How to Make “Hot Pockets”]]>

Many of our friends have had babies in the last couple of years. We’re really lucky to have this amazing group of kids to play with and moms and dads to admire. They’ve given me quite a bit of food-related knowledge. For example, if it falls on the floor, it is either totally contaminated (first kid) or fine after you shake off the dog hair (second kid).

I’ve also learned that one of the best things you can give parents of a newborn is food that can be eaten with one hand. Since we really like these “haute” pockets (shmancy, huh?), we figured they’d be an awesome food gift for our friends who just had their second daughter…especially since their first child is only a year old. Heroes!!

This recipe does take a little bit of time, but it makes six good-sized pockets, enough for almost a week of lunches. They’re sturdy enough to toss in your purse (maybe wrapped in one of these cute food cozies) and taste just as good at room temperature as they do warm. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure you could freeze and reheat them like the real thing (2 minutes in the microwave or 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven).

In my quest to convert you to the DIY version, I tried to look up comparable nutrition information. I gave up. They’re all so meaty and cheesy that it’s not a fair contest. You could fill this dough with whatever you want, though, so if you have a favorite flavor, give it a try!

Greens-Stuffed Haute Pockets

Serves 6

Directions

1. To make the dough, add the yeast to 1/2 cup of room temperature water. This will dissolve the yeast so that it’s ready to work.
2. Whisk together the flour, 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and sugar. This is sort of a lazy girl’s version of sifting.
3. Whisk together one egg and the olive oil. Add this and the dissolved yeast to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy (i.e. dry) dough.
4. Dust a clean counter with flour and dump out the dough. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes until becomes nice and smooth. It shouldn’t be sticky, so knead in a little more flour if it is.
5. Pour a drop of olive oil into a clean bowl. Form the dough into a ball, put it in the bowl, and roll it around in the oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for an hour or until it has approximately doubled.
6. While the dough is rising, get a big pot of water boiling. While it’s heating up, prepare your greens by removing the stems/ribs.
7. Once the water is boiling, blanch the greens. To do this, add a couple of big handfuls of greens to the water and cook for 3 minutes (only 1 minute for spinach). Don’t crowd the pot too much. While the greens are cooking, fill a big bowl with ice water. Once the time is up, shock the greens (stop them from cooking) by transferring them from the pot to the ice water. Use tongs or a spider to let most of the hot water drain off first. Once the greens are cool, drain them well.
8. Once all the greens are blanched, shocked, and drained, squeeze the pile with your hands to remove most of the water. Then, roll up the greens to a dishtowel that you don’t really care about and wring out some more water. Avoid white towels, because they’ll turn green. The idea is to get rid of as much water as you can so that the pockets aren’t soggy.
9. After you’ve squeezed and squeezed, you’ll have a loaf of compacted greens. Chop this up into about 1/2 to 1 inch pieces. Set aside until the dough has risen.
10. Once the dough has risen, put the ball on a lightly floured counter and cut it into six equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball and let them rest on the counter for 15 minutes. This will relax the dough so that it doesn’t spring back when you roll it out.
11. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
12. While the dough is resting, beat the second egg and add almost all of it to the greens. Save about 2 tablespoons. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper to the greens and mix well. I like to use a fork, because it helps to break up the clumpy greens. Plus, I just used it to beat the egg, so it’s already dirty.



13. After 15 minutes, roll one of the dough balls into a circle approximately 7 inches across (that’s about the size of my hand). If you keep your counter floured and rotate the dough after each roll, you’ll keep it from sticking and get a better circle.
14. Lightly pack the greens mixture into a 1/2-cup measuring cup and turn them out onto the bottom half of your dough circle. You might need to use a slightly larger or smaller cup, depending on the volume of your greens. Using the reserved egg mixture, brush a little onto the bottom edge of the circle. You could use your finger if you don’t have a brush. Stretch the top of the circle over the greens to meet the bottom edge. Fold and crimp the edges together. The egg will help glue the pocket shut.
15. Transfer the pocket to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or lightly dusted with cornmeal and repeat with the other five dough balls. Three pockets will fit on each sheet pan. Brush the pockets with the remaining egg for a nice, shiny finish.
16. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through for even browning.

In honor of International Waffle Day (March 25th), Lindsay and I made waffles for breakfast this past weekend (we’ll be out of town on the 25th). It was difficult to choose which recipe to make. I am a bit of a waffle enthusiast, and have made excellent yeast waffles, half whole-wheat waffles, hazelnut waffles, bacon brown sugar, and Liege waffles. That’s before even talking about the toppings. In the end, based on what we . . . → Read More: How to Make Local Oat Waffles]]>

In honor of International Waffle Day (March 25th), Lindsay and I made waffles for breakfast this past weekend (we’ll be out of town on the 25th). It was difficult to choose which recipe to make. I am a bit of a waffle enthusiast, and have made excellent yeast waffles, half whole-wheat waffles, hazelnut waffles, bacon brown sugar, and Liege waffles. That’s before even talking about the toppings. In the end, based on what we had on-hand and the fact that it was the most “local” recipe for posting, we decided to make oat waffles.

Local Oat Waffles

Makes 5-6 waffles

Directions

1. As Alton Brown always reminds us, in baking, it’s always preferable to measure your major dry ingredients (i.e., the flour) by weight. Variations in humidity and grind density can throw you off if you measure by volume (e.g., cups), and having too much or too little flour can have a big impact. Waffles are baked, so the raw oats and the flour listed above are by ounces by weight.

   

2. Place a saute pan over medium heat. Once it’s nice and hot hot, add the raw oats and toast them for about 5 minutes (until you can smell them getting toasty). Give them a second to cool off, and then grind them in a food processor. Pulse until you get more or less to the consistency of coarse flour.

   

3. In a large bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients (AP flour, oat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda). Whisk until everything is combined evenly.
4. Melt the butter in the microwave. Time will vary depending on the microwave, but start with increments of 15-20 seconds. You want it melted but not dried out. Let the butter cool for a minute and beat the eggs in a medium bowl (it will need to be able to contain the buttermilk), then beat in the butter. Whisk in the buttermilk last. We did not have any buttermilk, local or otherwise, so we used 1 cups of our homemade yogurt mixed with 1 cups of low-fat milk (all from milk from Shaw Farm). It worked as a substitution, but wasn’t perfect, so get buttermilk if you can.
5. The skill in making waffles is in combing the two bowls that you now have: dry ingredients and wet ingredients. The key is to fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a rubber spatule. DO NOT WHISK OR ZEALOUSLY STIR. Pour the wet ingredients onto the top of the dry ingredients.

   Then, in one fluid motion, use the spatula to cut a line down the middle of the bowl and turn your wrist to bring the bottom contents of one-half of the bowl to the top. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and do it again. Repeat until most of the pockets of dry flour are gone.

   Don’t overdo it,though. You do not want a perfectly consistent mixture. There will still be a few pockets of dry ingredients as well as lumps in the batter. That’s fine. The risk here is over-mixing, so err on the side of lumpy (see below). Turn on your waffle iron and let the batter rest in the bowl for 5 minutes. Also take you maple syrup out of the fridge so that it can get a little warmed up.

   

6. Make your waffles according to your waffle iron’s instructions. Measuring the amount of batter for each waffle is the hard part, and each waffle iron is different, so I can’t help you. I have a large ladle that I know more or less matches the batter volume of one waffle, so that’s a big help.



]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2012/03/19/how-to-make-local-oat-waffles/feed/ 0 http://eatlocal365.com/2012/01/17/somervilles-own-taza-chocolate/ http://eatlocal365.com/2012/01/17/somervilles-own-taza-chocolate/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:31:37 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=4886 My parents came to visit in December and it was so so cold. My plans of wandering around the city were squashed. We didn’t even want to walk to the nearest bus stop. But d’y'know what’s nearer than the nearest bus stop? A CHOCOLATE FACTORY! For serious. Where’s the closest place to get a snack? A CHOCOLATE FACTORY! Yeah, that’s how we roll.

Taza Chocolate makes really SOLE-ful chocolate, if you’ll allow me that somewhat . . . → Read More: Somerville’s Own Taza Chocolate]]> My parents came to visit in December and it was so so cold. My plans of wandering around the city were squashed. We didn’t even want to walk to the nearest bus stop. But d’y'know what’s nearer than the nearest bus stop? A CHOCOLATE FACTORY! For serious. Where’s the closest place to get a snack? A CHOCOLATE FACTORY! Yeah, that’s how we roll.

Taza Chocolate makes really SOLE-ful chocolate, if you’ll allow me that somewhat over-used acronym. Beyond Fair Trade, Taza Chocolate is “Direct Trade” certified, which adheres to the following principles:

1. We work exclusively with certified organic cacao farms that practice sustainable agricultural methods.
2. We pay a premium of at least 500 US dollars per metric ton above the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) price on the date of invoice to the producers of our cacao beans for high quality cacao with 95 percent fermentation rates or more and dried to 7 percent moisture or less.
3. We physically visit each cacao producer or producer group at least once a year to build long-term, sustainable relationships.
4. We only buy cacao from producers using fair and humane work practices.
5. We never purchase cacao from producers engaging in child or slave labor.

Source: Taza Chocolate website

Their chocolate is Mexican-style, which has a nice gritty quality and really fruity flavor. “Gritty” might not be something you think you want in chocolate, but it’s pretty tasty. The straight-up chocolate is great, but my favorite part of Taza is all the crazy stuff, like salt and pepper hot chocolate discs. Or chocolate-covered ginger. Mmmmm….

They also make roasted cacao nibs, which are a great nut substitute. They definitely have a chocolate flavor, but it’s much subtler than chocolate chips. We remade these cranberry muffins substituting 3/4 cup of nibs for the carrots. Wicked! (I’m really becoming a Bay Stater, now, huh?)

If you want more info and live in the area, you should definitely check out their factory tour. Gena at Choosing Raw just wrote a post on them, too, so check out her site for another take on the greatness of Taza. If only they were still open, so that I could swing by for a snack…



]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2012/01/17/somervilles-own-taza-chocolate/feed/ 10 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/18/dark-days-challenge-week-3-cranberry-carrot-muffins/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/18/dark-days-challenge-week-3-cranberry-carrot-muffins/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:09:00 +0000 Lindsay http://eatlocal365.com/?p=4754 Happy Sunday to you all! My parents are visiting for the weekend, so we had a lazy morning. After a huge feast last night of braised chicken and parsnips, a riff on this macaroni and cheese, and a kale salad with toasted almonds and dried cherries, we only needed a nibble for breakfast. Muffins!

About two weeks ago, we ordered a five-pound box of fresh cranberries from Cape Cod Select. Take a look at that . . . → Read More: Dark Days Challenge Week 3: Cranberry-Carrot Muffins]]> Happy Sunday to you all! My parents are visiting for the weekend, so we had a lazy morning. After a huge feast last night of braised chicken and parsnips, a riff on this macaroni and cheese, and a kale salad with toasted almonds and dried cherries, we only needed a nibble for breakfast. Muffins!

About two weeks ago, we ordered a five-pound box of fresh cranberries from Cape Cod Select. Take a look at that great box!



We used most of them for canning – whole berry sauce, relish with oranges and walnuts (no mint), and pickled cranberries…



… but had about 2 cups sitting in the refrigerator. We also had a TON of carrots. Why? I don’t know. I probably planned to use them in some grand scheme, so bought some at the farmers’ market, and then got some more from the CSA, and it just got out of control.

For a random muffin based loosely on a Mark Bittman recipe, these turned out really really well. Just sweet enough, but with a tart bite every now and then. The texture is great, too. I don’t usually like coffee shop muffins, because they’re too dense, but these are moist without being heavy. If I do say so myself…



Cranberry-Carrot Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it
2 cups	All-purpose flour		Cayuga Pure Organics
1 1/2 tsp	Baking powder
1/2 tsp	Baking soda
1 tsp	Salt
1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
4 TBsp	Butter	Cut into 1/2-inch cubes or smaller	Kate’s Homemade
1 cup	Maple syrup		Cooks Farm and Bakery
1	Egg		Red Fire Farm
1 cup	Fresh cranberries		Cape Cod Select
1 cup	Carrot	Grated and lightly packed	Red Fire Farm

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add the butter pieces to the dry ingredients and use your fingers to rub the butter through the flour mixture. Keep smooshing until the butter is pretty evenly dispersed and all the chunks are pea-sized or smaller.
4. Whisk together the maple syrup and egg.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the flour/butter mixture and whisk until just barely combined.
6. Gently fold in the cranberries and grated carrot. You’ll probably have to switch from the whisk to a spoon or spatula, but use as few strokes as possible to avoid developing gluten, the protein that makes bread nice and chewy, but muffins tough.
7. Fill each muffin cup with a scant (i.e. not quite full) 1/4 cup of batter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a thin knife or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/18/dark-days-challenge-week-3-cranberry-carrot-muffins/feed/ 2 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/06/dark-days-challenge-week-1-how-to-make-potato-gnocchi/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/06/dark-days-challenge-week-1-how-to-make-potato-gnocchi/#comments Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:25:06 +0000 Erik http://eatlocal365.com/?p=4660

To motivate ourselves through the winter, we have joined the Dark Days Challenge, which asks that we cook one meal a week focused on SOLE ingredients (sustainable, organic, local, and ethical). Right up our alley! Each blogger gets to set their own parameters within these guidelines. We’ll be sticking to the following rules for our Dark Days recipes:

Our primary sources for ingredients will be our CSA through Red Fire Farm, the Somerville Winter . . . → Read More: Dark Days Challenge Week 1: How to Make Potato Gnocchi]]>

To motivate ourselves through the winter, we have joined the Dark Days Challenge, which asks that we cook one meal a week focused on SOLE ingredients (sustainable, organic, local, and ethical). Right up our alley! Each blogger gets to set their own parameters within these guidelines. We’ll be sticking to the following rules for our Dark Days recipes:

• Our primary sources for ingredients will be our CSA through Red Fire Farm, the Somerville Winter Farmers Market, and our canned/dried/frozen stores from the summer.
• If we need to supplement, we’ll use ingredients from within 150 miles of home or those that we get from the NYC Greenmarket system while visiting friends and family there.
• Salt, dried herbs and spices, baking soda/powder, and vinegar are fair game, but we’ll try to find local sources.

I sort of feel like relying on the Greenmarket is cheating, but we’re still figuring things out here and will be spending a time in NYC for holidays, so I’m giving us a pass. On to the recipe!

This is actually two recipes, one for the gnocchi and another for the sauce. Both are variations on recipes from Lidia’s Family Table, which is a phenomenal resource.


Potato Gnocchi

Makes 4 servings

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it
1.5 lbs	Potatoes		Red Fire Farm CSA
1	Egg	Beaten	Red Fire Farm CSA
2 cups	All purpose flour		Cayuga Pure Organics (NYC Greenmarket)
0.75 TBsp	Salt

Directions

1. Clean the whole potatoes and place them in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the potatoes plus a little headroom. Place on high heat, cover, and allow to boil for about 45 minutes, or until they are tender when poked with a fork but not yet falling apart. Drain the potatoes and let them cool enough to handle.
2. Rice the potatoes. This can be done either by peeling them and using a potato ricer, or by using a food mill (which will automatically remove and separate the skins). We used the attachment to our Kitchenaid stand mixer, which is actually two attachments, both the food mill attachmentand parts from the meat grinder attachment. It’s kind of complicated to put together, but it’s a real labor and time-saver. I wish we had taken pictures of the milling process (and construction), but we had just gotten back from Thanksgiving and were cooking for company coming over, so we were in a bit of a time pinch. Next time!
3. Rice / mill the potatoes on a sheet pan. Using a rubber spatula, mush and spread them out over the pan. Sprinkle the salt over the layer of potato. Let it cool and dry for lat least 20 minutes (up to however long you feel like it!).
4. Pour the beaten egg over the potato and then layer on the flour. [At this point in our timeline I finished the unpacking and cleaning up and made it to the kitchen to help, with the camera!] Start with about 1 cup of flour.

   

5. Using the rubber spatula, fold the bottom layer of the potato over the top around the edges. Repeat (gently) a few times until it begins to resemble a loose dough. Gradually add more flour until you have a kneadable dough. If you don’t add enough flough, the gnocchi will fall apart when cooked…but they’ll still be tasty!

   

6. Using your hands, finish the kneading process by making the dough slightly more consistent. Sprinkle on more flour if necessary and knead it in. It should feel more like a dough than mashed potatoes. Shape it into a ball and cut it into quarters.

   

7. Clean and lightly flour a work surface. (Up until now you could do it all on the sheet pan.) Roll out each quarter of the dough in an 18 inch rope. Cut each rope in half to make them easier to work with.

   

8. Cut each portion into pieces between 2/3 of an inch to 1 inch. Have a floury sheet pan nearby to start collecting the shaped gnocchi.

   

9. To give the gnocchi its classic shape, hold a fork so that the tines are facing downwards and push each piece onto the fork near where the tines join. The tines will make an impression on the one side and your finger will create a slight indentation on the other side. Then, roll the gnocchi off the end of the fork to make it more cylindrical and to create the tine impressions all around. Rumor is that eventually you can do this in one motion. I’m not there yet.

   

10. Once all of the gnocchi are shaped and on the sheet pan, toss lightly in the flour to avoid sticking and cover them with a towel. They should be boiled immediately at this point or frozen. They don’t sit around well in this form. Bring a large pot of water to boil (get this started in advance if you remember).
11. Using a kitchen skimmer / spider or slotted spoon, drop 5 or 6 gnocchi in the boiling water at a time. This is important because the water needs to be at the boiling temperature to form the “skin” that will hold the gnocchi together. The more gnocchi pieces are added to the water at one time, the more the temperature will drop and the longer it will take to recover. Limiting the number of pieces is annoying but in the end it will be easier and you will get better results.
12. Leave each batch in the water for 2 – 3 minutes, until they plump up a bit a float to the surface. Fish them out with your skimmer, but be gentle with them! Cooking for too long will lead to mush, so don’t be afraid to pull them out a few at a time as they float.



Simple Tomato Sauce

Makes a lot

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it
2 quarts	San Marzano / plum tomatoes	Previously canned (2 quart jars)	Cherry Lane Farms
1	Large onion	Diced (about 1.5 – 2 cups)	Red Fire Farm CSA
1	Medium celeriac	Diced (about 1.5 – 2 cups)	Enterprise Farm (Somerville Winter Farmers Market)
3 TBsp	Olive oil
2 cups	Water
2	Dried bay leaves
1	Dried chile	Crumbled (substitute 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes)	Northshire Farm chiles dried last summer
1 tsp	Kosher salt

Directions

1. Place the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium-high heat. Once it’s heated, add the diced onion and celeriac (or you can substitute carrot, celery, etc.). Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 mintes. You want them to soften but not brown. [Note: we made this sauce using our own canned tomotoes. You can use store-bought canned San Marzanos, if you must.]

   

2. Add the tomatoes, salt, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes. Swish the water around the tomato jar or can to get out the last bits and dump it into the pot. Turn up the heat, cover, and bring the sauce to a boil. Check on it and stir frequently.
3. Once it boils, turn the heat down to medium / medium-high to maintain a bubbling simmer. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. At this point you can continue simmering and cooking down for as long as you like, up to an hour. When the sauce is as thick as you want, remove the bay leaves, blend with a hand mixer to your desired consistency, and add salt to taste

We served our gnocchi and sauce with another round of our arugula, beet, and peach salad. We quenched our thirst with some delicious cider from Eve’s Cidery and capped it off with little parfaits of home-canned cherries in wine and whipped cream. Yum! Nothing better than an impromptu Sunday dinner with good friends.





]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/12/06/dark-days-challenge-week-1-how-to-make-potato-gnocchi/feed/ 5 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/04/16/how-to-make-apple-clafouti-lazy-apple-pie/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/04/16/how-to-make-apple-clafouti-lazy-apple-pie/#comments Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:42:20 +0000 Erik http://eatlocal365.com/?p=3227

Clafouti is a fancy word. Technically it’s only supposed to be used to to refer to deserts made with cherries, otherwise the dish is called a flaugnarde (which is even worse). I call it lazy-man’s apple pie. What it actually reminds me of the most is Dutch pannekoeken or “Dutch pancakes”.

Lindsay is still out of town for work, and I overbought on apples, which started to get a bit old and sad. I . . . → Read More: How to Make Apple Clafouti (Lazy Apple Pie)]]>

Clafouti is a fancy word. Technically it’s only supposed to be used to to refer to deserts made with cherries, otherwise the dish is called a flaugnarde (which is even worse). I call it lazy-man’s apple pie. What it actually reminds me of the most is Dutch pannekoeken or “Dutch pancakes”.

Lindsay is still out of town for work, and I overbought on apples, which started to get a bit old and sad. I was also jonesing for something sweet. I turned up Martha Rose Shulman’s NYTimes “Recipes for Health” column with the basic recipe.

Apple Clafouti
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

Amount	Ingredient	Preparation	Where we bought it (* Union Sq. Greenmarket)
4	Apples (larger is good)	Peeled, cores removed, cut into 1/16ths	Breezy Hill Orchard *
1 TBsp	Lemon juice	Fresh or bottled
1-2 TBsp	Unsalted butter	Use 1 if you want it a little healthier, you will also need a little extra for greasing the pan	Ronnybrook Farm Dairy *
2 TBsp	Brown sugar (light brown preferred)	Again, you could use less, but I wouldn’t
1/2 tsp	Cinnamon
3	Eggs	Whisked	Northshire Farms *
1/2 tsp	Vanilla extract	Use pure extract, or 1/2 of a fresh vanilla bean!
1/3 cup	Sugar
2/3 cup	All-purpose flour	Sifted	Cayuga Pure Organics *
1/2 cup	Plain yogurt		Homemade with milk from Milk Thistle Dairy Farm *
3/4 cup	Lowfat or skim milk		Milk Thistle Dairy Farm *
Pinch	Kosher salt	Or table salt

 

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. I find it easier to measure out all of the other ingredients first and then to deal with the apples and then the eggs, but it requires a lot of little measuring dishes. If you want to, you can measure out everything as needed, but who needs to stress? Just make sure your dishwasher is empty!.

   

3. Peel the apples. Cut them into quarters, and cut the core out of each quarter with a knife. I used an apple corer in these pictures and I probably wouldn’t bother with it next time. We just got it, though, so I wanted to try it out. Cut each of the quarters into quarters. Put them into a large bowl and toss immediately with the lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown.

   

4. Melt the 1-2 TBsp of butter (your decision) in skillet over medium-high heat. I used a stainless steel skillet; if you use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet it will probably cook faster and require the lesser amount of butter. Just make sure it is well cleaned so that no undesirable flavors (like garlic) get introduced.
5. Add the apples and stir them for 4-6 minutes, until they begin to soften and appear translucent. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix it in thoroughly. Cook, continuing to stir frequently, for another 6-8 minutes. When the apples are slightly browned and caramelized, they are done.

   

6. While the apples are cooking, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. Add the sugar and salt and stir thoroughly. Add the flour, about 1/3 of it at a time, and mix it in well. At this point it will appear like a paste. Add the yogurt and milk and stir until everything is thoroughly combined. Make sure you start with a large enough bowl. I had to go up one size before I added the liquids.

   

7. Use some additional butter to grease the sides of a glass baking dish, and when the apples are done, spread them evenly in the dish. Pur the egg mixture over the top. Let it sink into all of the nooks and crannies. If necessary, level out the apple slices so that all are submerged.

   

8. Bake in the oven for 35 – 45 minutes, until the top is nicely browned by not burned. I would set a timer for 35 minutes and then 2-4 minute intervals after than just to be on the safe side. When it is done, but the pan on a wire cooling rack. This desert is great warm, lukewarm, or cold, no matter how you want to do it!

   

]]> http://eatlocal365.com/2011/04/16/how-to-make-apple-clafouti-lazy-apple-pie/feed/ 0 http://eatlocal365.com/2011/04/02/support-cayuga-pure-organics/ http://eatlocal365.com/2011/04/02/support-cayuga-pure-organics/#comments Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:22:07 +0000 Erik http://eatlocal365.com/?p=3129 [UPDATE] We received a response from the GrowNYC; Cayuga stays!

Hello Erik.

Thank you for your email. I am happy to inform you that Cayuga Pure Organic will remain at Union Square on Saturday. This Saturday, look for them in the same location as last Saturday. You will be able to find them on the northeast side of Union Square Park beginning Saturday, April 16th. They will also be at Union Square on Wednesday and . . . → Read More: Support Cayuga Pure Organics!]]> [UPDATE] We received a response from the GrowNYC; Cayuga stays!

Hello Erik.

Thank you for your email. I am happy to inform you that Cayuga Pure
Organic will remain at Union Square on Saturday.
This Saturday, look for them in the same location as last Saturday. You
will be able to find them on the northeast side of Union Square Park
beginning Saturday, April 16th.
They will also be at Union Square on Wednesday and Friday year round.

Thank you for shopping at Greenmarket.

Hooray!

——————————————————————–

The NYC Greenmarket (a program of GrowNYC) is taking away Cayuga Pure Organics’ spot at the Saturday Union Square market!

The Union Square Greenmarket has begun to expand again over the past two weeks after its winter hibernation, and the stated rationale is that they need to make room for sellers of fresh produce now that the weather is warming up. Cayuga will be welcomed back in the fall as the market shrinks again.

While we appreciate the fact that space is limited, and that sometimes tough decisions need to be made, we could NOT DISAGREE MORE with this decision. While we support their desire to offer as much fresh produce as possible, Cayuga is a truly unique vendor at the Greenmarket. They are one of only two vendors that sell locally grown and milled flour (of all types). They are the ONLY vendor that sells local beans and grains (again, a huge variety), as well as local oil that can be swapped in for olive oil, in the form of local sunflower oil. These local products can and should be made available year-round.

If you read EatLocal365 on a regular basis, you know that we frequently use products from Cayuga Pure Organics. In fact, if you search our site for “Cayuga”, two-thirds of our recipes show up in the results!

When they are available, we should all eat more leafy greens, fresh tomatoes, and all of the other great things that will be coming into season soon. However, that doesn’t mean that we won’t ever want to bake bread with local ingredients or sauté those leafy greens using local oil. If GrowNYC needs to find space for the summer months, there are better choices than sidelining the sole vendor of these types of products. Worst of all, Cayuga has one of the smallest footprints at the entire market, with a tiny stand and a small truck. GrowNYC could work with some of the larger vendors to carve out a small spot for them.

As of now, Cayuga will still be at the Union Square market on Wednesdays and Fridays, so they won’t be completely gone from the neighborhood. However, many people cannot make it to the market on weekdays, and for that reason Saturday is the most lucrative market day for vendors. Cayuga will no doubt take a hit in their business. For a business that is pretty much single-handedly trying to bring back local flour, grains, and beans to the NY area, that would be a shame. They need our support!

Call to Action:

Please send GrowNYC a message through their contact page (or call!). Feel free to use this text if you like:

Please reconsider the decision to take away Cayuga Pure Organic’s spot at the Saturday Union Square Greenmarket. As the only purveyors of local flour, grain, beans, and oil, they are a unique asset and we want their products to remain widely available through the Saturday market, year-round. While we understand the need to make decisions to allocate space at the market, please find an alternate solution!

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