RECIPE: Honey Boat Delicata Stuffed with Chorizo, Spinach and Cheese

There was a new variety of delicata in the farm store last week so I took a few to try them. 

Honey Boat delicata are sweeter and denser than regular delicata, and their skin is a little thicker.

I needed a quick recipe so I decided to use chorizo that I had home canned last year, and frozen spinach from the year before.  

 I tested the recipe with 3 small delicata, and ate one half plain to determine the difference between Honey Boat and regular Delicata.

Honey Boat Delicata Stuffed with Chorizo, Spinach and Cheese

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 small delicata
• 2 T melted ghee
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 cups cooked chorizo
• 6 oz frozen spinach, shopped and squeezed dry
• 6 oz grated jack or other Mexican cheese 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Wash the delicata.  Even if you don't plan to eat the skin, if there is dirt on the outside your knife will carry it onto the flesh when you cut it in half.  Cut the ends of each squash and then halve them horizontally.  Scoop out the seeds and discard them.

Arrange the squash cut side down on your baking tray and brush the outside with melted ghee.  Turn them over and brush the tops. Season with salt and pepper.  Bake until cooked through, about 20-30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan on medium heat, mix the chorizo with the spinach.  Heat until it's warm.  Turn heat to low to keep warm until the delicata are cooked. 

When the delicata are cooked, reduce the oven heat to 350 and remove the tray from the oven.  Mix 2/3 of the cheese into the filling and fill each half.  Depending on the size of your delicata you may have some left over.  Sprinkle cheese over the filling.

Bake the filled delicata for 5 minutes at 350F until the cheese has melted. 

Eat right away, or keep them in the fridge to have as a snack!

How to store herbs and vegetables to extend their lives.

This has been such a season of learning for me!  Just this year I learned the best way to store raw herbs and vegetables to extend their lives.

HERBS:

Some herbs - lemon balm, lovage, mint and basil (with long stems) - seem to do best in a small glass container on the counter.  I fill the container about half full, remove the leaves from the stems in the water, and top up the water every morning:

Others - chives, dill, parsley, thyme, rosemary, and sage - seem to do better in the fridge.  I wrap them in a damp (damp, not wet) paper towel, then store them in a plastic bag with the end open.

Basil trimmings are best stored in a paper bag at room temperature.  Even then, they will only last a few days.  In the fridge, they will turn black in a day or two.

Here's a photo of some herbs on my counter.  The sage, obviously, should be stored differently!  But the lemon balm, rosemary, mint and parsley kept well for a few days.  The celery didn't survive, unfortunately.

VEGETABLES:

Carrots: storage carrots, harvested on a root day, will keep for A YEAR in an open end plastic bag in the fridge.  It is now early September and we are eating carrots that were harvested LAST OCTOBER.  Do not wash them.  Thicker carrots will store longer.  I store 5-6 in one bag. 

Cucumbers: these do well wrapped in a damp paper towel (damp, not wet) and then stored in a paper bag in the fridge.  They may dehydrate a little but they won't rot.

Eggplant: similar to green beans, these keep well in a shallow bowl lined with a thin cotton dish cloth.  Keep the eggplant separate from each other. 

Green Beans: these do best in a SHALLOW bowl lined with a thin cotton dish cloth, and stored in a cool basement.  Cover them with a second dish cloth to protect from dust.  I stored one small bowl with a waffle weave dishcloth and they did not fare as well - the waffle weave absorbed moisture but did not release it.  

Peppers: these do well wrapped individually in paper towels (dry, not damp) and then stored in a paper bag in the fridge.  They may dehydrate a little but they won't rot.  I keep the jalapenos and poblanos this way until I have enough to process them.

RECIPE: Chilled Cucumber Soup or Dip

The first time I made this recipe, I was hoping to serve it as an appetizer in tiny cucumber cups.  When I fashioned a cup from a small cucumber, I realized there was no way to make it a 'one bite size', and with liquid soup inside it HAD to be one bite size.  

I went back to the drawing board and made adjustments to thicken the soup.  I also wanted to ramp up the herbal flavors which were missing in the first version.  It is now a slightly spicy, slightly sweet, slightly creamy and thoroughly delicious summer soup!  I've abandoned my quest to serve it in cucumber cups. I've included instructions on how to make it a dip but I have not tried them yet!

Yes, I realize the cucumbers are done for this season, now that it's September, but I had stored a few wrapped first in damp paper towels, and then placed in a paper bag inside the fridge, and they all survived!   The herbs I either store wrapped in damp paper towels inside an open plastic bag in the fridge, or they live in small glass jars on my counter.  Please see this post on how to make produce last longer .

(FARM MEMBERS: there is lemon balm growing in the flower bed by the door to the creamery, the other herbs are growing in the PYO raised beds next to the field adjacent to the cow's loafing shed.)   

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Curry Lemon Cream

Makes 4 cups

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 t. curry powder
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream  
• 1 t. himalayan pink salt, divided 
• 1 pound cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1 cup yogurt (or quark*)
• 2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
• 2 anchovy fillets (optional)
• 2 small whole scallions, trimmed
• 1 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup mixed fresh herbs - lemon basil, lemon balm, parsley and apple mint
• 1.5 t. honey  
• OPTIONAL Garnish:
• 1/2 ear of fresh corn, shucked and kernels sliced off

*Using yogurt will give you a thinner soup-like consistency.  Using Quark should give you a thicker dip-like consistency suitable for serving in small cucumber cups, but I have not made this with quark yet!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix the curry powder with the lemon juice in a small bowl and let it bloom for a minute or two.  Whisk in the cream and 1/4 t. salt and let it thicken while you prepare the soup.

Combine the remaining ingredients, including the remaining 3/4 t. salt, but excluding the optional garnish, in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth - *a food processor will work better if you're using quark.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

You now have several options:

My favorite: Stir a little bit of the soup into the curry-lemon-cream to lighten it, then mix the curry-lemon-cream into the soup and serve it without the corn garnish. It makes two generous bowls of soup this way.  Served with toast points it's a wonderful meal on a hot day.

To serve as a soup appetizer: pour into espresso cups, drizzle 1-2 T. of cream on the top, sprinkle 5-6 corn kernels over the cream, and serve with a small spoon.  It serves 6-12 this way, depending on the size of your espresso cups.  You can put a small pinch of curry powder on top if you want.

OR... Serve it with the curry cream stirred in, and garnished with  lemon balm flower::

 

To serve as an appetizer, cut a thin cucumber into 1" pieces and scoop out the center with a melon baller.  Fill the depression with the dip and top with a bit of the curry cream and a pinch of flake salt. (*DISCLAIMER: I have not made this with quark yet!  LMK if it works.)

RECIPE: Beef Curry Stuffed Orange Peppers

Our farm store this year had both yellow and orange peppers for the first time ever!  When the green and yellow peppers arrived a few weeks ago, I wrapped them in paper towels, and then stored them in the fridge inside a paper bag.  When I pulled them out today they were like new!  So...for this recipe I'm using a mix of yellow, orange, red, and green, all from our farm store!! 

The last time I posted a stuffed pepper recipe, the stuffing was made from red rice and adzuki beans.  Now that we're eating low carb, I could have just replaced the rice with ground meat, but I decided to make a keema curry.  I kept the beans - they add some texture.

There are two keema recipes on this blog:

North Indian Keema and South Indian Keema.  They are similar, but the spice mixtures are different.  Use whichever one appeals to you most! 

Beef Curry Stuffed Orange Peppers

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 7-8 medium size bell peppers, preferably orange or yellow
• One recipe keema made with 1.5 pounds of beef 
• OPTIONAL: 1/3 - 1/2 of a 15oz can adzuki beans, drained
• 6oz blanched spinach or kale, minced 
• For the Tomato Cream Sauce: 
• 1 T. ghee 
• 2 t. cumin
• 2 t. garlic powder
• 2-3 t. MILD kashmiri chili powder depending on your heat tolerance
• 1 jar (approx 20 oz) tomato passata or puree
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 t. himalayan pink salt 
• 8oz mozarella* cheese, grated  

*If you don't have mozarella, you can use oaxaca, but don't add it until you take the pan out of the oven.  Sprinkle it on the cooked peppers, cover the pan for 5 minutes, then uncover and let the whole dish cool.  The residual heat in the peppers will melt the cheese as the rest of the dish cools.

INSTRUCTIONS:

I make these in a Le Creuset casserole, because it has a tight fitting lid.  You can also use a baking pan and cover it with parchment-lined foil (please don't let the foil tough your food!). 

Choose your baking vessel and make sure your peppers will fit snugly in it.  If they aren't snug, they will fall over as they bake. Remove the peppers, cut 1" off the tops, and remove the seeds from the insides.  Don't toss the tops.  Put the empty peppers back in the pan and set them aside.  

Make the tomato cream sauce:  

From the pepper tops you removed, cut away all the pepper flesh from around the stems and mince it. 

Over medium heat, melt 1 T ghee and sweat the minced peppers until soft.  Add the cumin, garlic and pepper powders and stir for a minute or two.  Add the tomato puree and the tomato paste and stir to combine.  If your tomato puree is chunky, transfer the sauce to a tall container and use an immersion blander to smooth it out.

Stir in the cream and the salt.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  I like the tomato sauce to be spicier than the keema, but you should adjust to your heat tolerance.  The sauce should be quite thick, because the cheese and the peppers will both exude some liquid.

Make the keema adding the aduki beans and spinach.  This can be made the day before, and refrigerated overnight, but heat it up the next day before filling the peppers. Taste and adjust seasoning.  The keema should be seasoned to account for the peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400F (375F convection) and set a rack in the middle of the oven.

Put 2 T sauce into the bottom of each pepper.

Fill the peppers 3/4 full with keema.  Depending on the size of your peppers you may have keema left over.

Top the keema with additional 2-3 T. sauce.  Pour the remaining sauce around the sides of the peppers. 

Top each pepper with grated cheese.   Cover the pan, either with the lid or a sheet of parchment-backed foil.

Bake 20 minutes with the cover on.  If you don't cover the pan, it will take much longer to cook and the cheese will burn. 

Remove the cover and cook an additional 10 minutes, until the peppers are cooked through and the cheese is lightly browned.  

Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest 10-30 minutes.  Be careful when you eat this - the center will be very HOT!!! 

To serve, transfer one pepper to a soup plate, cut it in half, and spread some sauce over the cut sides.

 

 

Did you know that different color bell peppers contain different nutrients?  I learned this just recently:

Very roughly, the color differences are:

• Orange: particularly notable for zeaxanthin,  β-cryptoxanthin (vitamin A) and β-carotene
• Red: especially rich in capsanthin and capsorubin, also high in vitamin C 
• Yellow: more lutein and zeaxanthin in many cultivars, both of particular interest for eye health
• Green: immature fruit, with much more chlorophyll and generally lower concentrations of the carotenoids that accumulate as peppers ripen, but can have decent amounts of lutein

Carotenoids are fat-soluble. The ghee in the keema and cream in the tomato sauce should improve absorption of the carotenoids. Heat will reduce some vitamin C, but cooking also makes some carotenoids more bioavailable.

 

RECIPE: Keralan Keema Curry, Beef or Lamb

There is another keema recipe on this blog, from Northern India.  

This recipe is from Southern India, from Curried Favors by Maya Kaimal.  While there are some similarities, this recipe has a very different spice mixture.  We enjoy both recipes.

I've made this version many times, and every time I think to myself "that's a LOT of coriander!"  but the result is delicious!  I always eliminate the potatoes, because I don't eat them.  I have substituted carrots, parsnips, spinach or kale.  You could use celeriac, turnips, or garbanzos if you prefer, or you can leave the potatoes and peas out altogether and reduce the spices by 1/3.  

I'll add a photo next time I make it. 

Keralan Keema Curry made with Ground Beef or Lamb  

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:  

• 1.5 pounds lean ground beef or lamb 
• 1/4 cup ghee
• 2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions 
• 3 t. minced garlic
• 3 t. minced ginger
• SPICE MIXTURE:
• 8 t. ground coriander
• 1.5 t. ground cumin
• 3/4 t. ground red pepper (I use kashmiri, you can use paprika if you don't tolerate heat)
• 3/4 t. ground black pepper
• 1/4 t. turmeric
• 1/4 t. ground Ceylon cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground cloves 
• 1 or 2 fresh chilies split lengthwise (serrano, or jalapeno)
• 2 t. salt
• 2 cups chopped potatoes OR carrots OR parsnips OR celeriac OR turnips OR or garbanzos 
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned, peeled and drained
• 1 cup frozen peas OR 8 oz blanched spinach, minced
• 1 cup water
• 1 t. fresh lemon juice 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

Mix the spice mixture in a small bowl and set aside.

If you're using root vegetables, pare them and chop into 1/2" pieces. 

In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, fry the onion in the ghee until the edges are nicely browned.  

Add garlic and ginger and stir 2 minutes or until the onion turns medium brown.   

Add ground meat and fry until it browns, stirring to completely break up lumps.   

Stir in the spice mixture, chilies, and salt.  Add the roots, if you're using them, the tomatoes and water, bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, and stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the roots are tender.

Add the peas or spinach and cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.  Mixture should be neither dry nor watery.

Sir in lemon juice and remove from heat.  Taste and adjust the salt. 

 

MENU: My favorite Indian Recipes

When we have friends over for Indian Food, this is the menu I generally prepare, because it includes all my favorite Indian recipes.  Many of the dishes can be made in advance, leaving only the rice, dal, and frying the paneer for the last minute.  I may substitute a ground lamb curry (keema) for the lamb with turnips.  

 

BEVERAGE:

Spiced Mango Lassi with optional Saffron Gin

 

STARTERS:

Tamarind Chutney and Quark Dip

Coriander Chutney Yogurt Dip

Fenugreek Crackers (Methi Mathri)

 

DINNER:

Lamb Curry with Turnips

Palak Paneer (Spinach with Paneer Cheese)

Cauliflower with Cumin, Fennel and Black Mustard

Basmati Rice

Cucumber Raita 

 

DESSERT:

Saffron and Cardamom Phirni (Rice Pudding) with pistachio garnish 

 

RECIPE: Floral, Herbal, or Fruit Ice

Floral, Herbal, or Fruit Filled Ice

Our freezer doesn't have an ice machine, so we freeze our ice in silicone molds.

To dress them up, I like to add 'stuff' to the ice.  

In summer I'll add EDIBLE flowers, herbs, or berries, in winter I'll add fruit.

EDIBLE flowers are varieties that are non-toxic and have been grown without chemicals.  Whole Foods sometime sells them, or you can grow your own.  Our farm has you-pick flowers, some of which are edible.  Pansies, nasturtiums, cornflower, roses, bachelor buttons, and calendula (marigolds) are all edible.   

INGREDIENTS:

• Water, or juice - I have used cucumber juice....
• EDIBLE Flowers, herbs, berries or fruit.  Strong colored flowers will show the most.
• I am using nasturtiums here, which are nice and bright.
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

Note: if you boil and then cool the water, it should freeze clear, but I have not tested that.

Choose flowers that are about the same size as the depressions in your ice cube tray, they won't twist or float as much as smaller flowers. Cut fruit to fit the depressions.

If you're using flowers, immerse them in a bowl of ice water to flush out insects and to plump the petals. 

Plump your flowers in ice water

To prevent the 'garnish' from floating to the top of the ice cube, I will start by filling the tray half full.
 

Lay the flowers on the water with their good side towards the sides of the cube.  If the flower(s) isn't totally immersed in the water, that's OK.
 

Freeze.

Bottom layer of flowers before freezing

Several hours later, check to see if the water has frozen.  
 

Once the water is frozen, place another flower face up on the ice and fill the cubes to the top.  

Top layer of flowers before freezing

Freeze overnight.

The next day, your beautiful cubes should be ready to use!

Frozen flower ice cubes! 

Stack your cubes in a tall glass.  You can see there are two flowers in each cube:

Stack flower ice cubes in a tall glass.

The ice isn't as visible in colored liquid, which is why I try to use brightly colored flowers:

Flower ice cubes in apple cider & tonic.

RECIPE: Cauliflower Soup with Three Garnishes - Lovage, Saffron, and Red Pepper

There was cauliflower at Groh Farm a few weeks ago so I made one of my favorite cauliflower soups - raw Cauliflower and Cashew Soup.  I normally serve this with a roasted red pepper puree, but I have also served it with lovage oil.  Since I JUST made a fresh batch of lovage oil, and the new harvest of red peppers is starting to come in, I made a fresh batch of the roasted red pepper puree.  Then...looking for one additional flavor to add to the party, I made the saffron extract I used in the asparagus risotto I made earlier this year.

Cauliflower Soup with Three Garnishes - Lovage, Saffron, and Red Pepper

The garnishes can be used separately or together.  

Using these three different colors, I was able to draw a flower on the surface of the soup!  I outlined the flower with a skewer, so the oils would have a boundary, then pulled the point of the skewer through the 'petals'.  Because the soup is served cold, you have plenty of time to play around with the garnishes.

INGREDIENTS:

Cauliflower and Cashew Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Puree

Lovage Oil (either recipe, but the darker one will be more visible)

Saffron Extract

Small skewers, small droppers, and small spoons.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Transfer the soup to a small soup bowl and smooth the top (I played around in a custard cup).

Transfer the garnishes to small containers, and add droppers and/or small spoons.  

I now store the oil and extract in 4oz amber bottles with a dropper top which makes it easy to pull them out to add flourishes.  My red pepper puree does work in a dropper, but make sure your puree works in your dropper!  If your puree is thicker you may need to add a little more oil or cream.

Garnishes in small pitchers with droppers and small spoons.

To clean the droppers, soak them in water with a little dish soap overnight.  The next day, remove the glass dropper from the bulb.  Using a small brush (I use the one that came with my glass straws), scrub the inside of the dropped with a little soap.  Thoroughly rinse the soap from the dropper, then use a small piece of tissue to dry the inside:

Drying the dropper with a tissue.

My first attempt was a bit of a failure, because the oils didn't stay where I put them, but it still tasted good:

 

RECIPE: How to Sous Vide a Beef or Bison Chateaubriand Tenderloin

A friend of ours, who describes himself as "the steak expert,"  offered to teach me how to sous vide a chateaubriand tenderloin with both a pre- and post- sear.  

How to Sous Vide a Beef or Bison Chateaubriand Tenderloin

 Serves 6

We used a 1.75-pound chateaubriand, and intended to serve it in 1.5" thick slices, medium rare on the inside, and nicely browned on the outside.  Here are the photos I took:

First, he tied the roast with butcher's twine to insure it stayed round; 

Second, in a hot pan, he melted some beef tallow and seared the outside of the roll including the ends;

Third, he vacuum sealed it with some seasoned butter (grey shallots and thyme):

Chateaubriand tied, seared, and vacuum sealed with seasoned butter

Fourth, he cooked it sous vide at 130F for 1.5 hours.  This is how it looked when he removed it from the vacuum bag:

chateaubriand cooked sous vide at 130F for 1.5 hours

Fifth, he sliced it into 1.5" thick pieces - we ended up with 5 good size steaks and one slightly smaller:

Cutting the chateaubriand into 1.5 inch steaks

Sixth, in the same pan used to sear the outside, he melted some additional tallow and seared each steak on both sides until browned:

Searing the steaks on both sides

When he removed them from the pan, he sprinkled each one with a little coarse salt.  

Absolutely perfect medium rare tenderloin steaks!

After resting for 5 minutes, we served the steaks with additional seasoned butter.  They were perfectly medium rare inside!  Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the inside!  I was too busy eating! 

RECIPE: Nasturtium Butter

Our nasturtium plants are outdoing themselves this year, and I want to preserve their wonderfulness, so here's another way I save them.  Nasturtium plants are in the same family as horseradish, and have a similar bite.  Therefore...we like this over grilled beef...

 

Make this during summer, when the nasturtiums are prolific, and freeze it to use over winter. 

 

There are two ways to freeze it: one is shown below - in ice cube trays.  Once frozen, I wrap them individually in parchment, then in foil before returning to the freezer.  I made a double recipe for the ice cube tray shown below.

The other way is shown at the bottom of this post: I form the butter into a log, roll it in parchment; then roll it in plastic wrap to hold the shape; then roll it in tin foil to protect it from freezer burn.  The log can be sliced into coins.

 

 Nasturtium Butter

 

Makes about 3/4 cup

 

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup finely chopped nasturtium leaves

1 or 2 nasturtium flowers for every tbsp of butter 

1/2  tsp salt or to taste

1/2 tsp lemon zest

Optional:

1 t. garlic, micro-planed

1 t. lemon juice

 
INSTRUCTIONS:

Remove the petals from the flowers and slice them 1/16".  Add the rest of the flower to the nasturtium leaves.

Chop the nasturtiums leaves in a food processor. 

Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt and pulse to blend.  If you're using the garlic and lemon juice, add it now.  Taste and adjust seasoning.

Stir in the sliced flower petals by hand.

Chill or freeze. 

*In the photo above, the flowers were all very light yellow and didn't show up well.  Since then, the bush with the dark red flowers has blossomed so I made another batch with them, and I think it will be nice to serve it with our holiday raclette meal - butter with green and red flecks!  

How I wrap a roll of seasoned butter (I made a half recipe for the roll shown below, and used 8 red flowers):

(1) Roll the butter in parchment.

(2) Roll the parchment in cling wrap.

(3) Roll the cling wrap in foil.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished roll.  I labeled it, slipped into a small zipper bag, and froze it.

Here's how to use nasturtium butter:

Beyond steak and dip, it could be terrific in places where you'd normally use a finishing butter:

• Fish or shellfish — melt a slice over scallops, shrimp, cod or wild salmon. The pepperiness should be especially good with scallops.
• Eggs — fry/scramble eggs in it, melt onto poached eggs, or use it in deviled-egg filling.
• Green vegetables — green beans, asparagus, broccoli, peas. Melt it over green beans after cooking rather than cooking the butter hard.
• Cauliflower — roasted cauliflower finished with nasturtium butter 
• Winter squash — the peppery butter against sweet squash could be fabulous.
• Pasta — butter + pasta water + Pecorino/Parmigiano for an extremely simple nasturtium pasta.
• Risotto — beat a little in at the end instead of plain butter.
• Beans — melt it into white beans or white-bean purée. This might be one of the best uses.
• Chicken — tuck it under the skin of a breast before roasting, or melt it over a simply browned breast afterward.
• Bison burgers — a little coin melting over a smash burgers.
• Bread/croissants — particularly the flower version, where you can actually see the petals. It could also make very interesting croissant croutons.
• Sauce starter — shallot + wine/stock reduction, then whisk in cold nasturtium butter off heat. Essentially a nasturtium beurre blanc/pan sauce.