Posts filed under 'In Season'
While this is not a quick recipe, it is certainly an old favorite from the original Greens cookbook by "vegetarianista" Deborah Madison. This is a perfect vegetarian dinner, especially for a large group on a warm summer night.
Basically this roulade is a flat, filled souffle. You can fill it with anything you like, but I feel that less is more with a roulade.
This one was filled with drained ricotta cheese and pesto and the topped with a very simple salsa of fresh vine ripened tomatoes, some fresh chopped garlic and basil, a little EVVO and salt and pepper. Served alongside chard (stay tuned for recipe) and Israeli couscous with peas, our group of 12 had plenty to feast on.
For the Roulade:
10 eggs at room temperature
5 cups of milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup flour
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put a few dabs of butter on the pan to help anchor the paper in. Lightly butter and flour the paper, knocking off any excess flour.
Separate the yolks and the whites; lighty beat the yolks and set them aside. Heat the milk and make the roux by melting the butter, add the flour, and, stirring cook for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat until the roux is lightly colored.
Add the heated milk, and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly; then remove from the heat and season with 1 teaspoon salt and the nutmeg. Gradually whisk some of the hot mixture into the yolks to warm them; then return to the pan and combine with the rest of the roux.
In a large bowl, whisk or beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until smooth firm peaks form. Stir about a quarter of the whites and half the grated cheese and the milk-egg yolk mixture; then gently fold in the rest of the whites. Pour the whole mixture onto the baking sheet, spread it to fill all the comers, and sprinkle rest of the cheese over the surface. Bake until the top is nicely browned and puffed, about 15 minutes.
Remove the souffle from the oven and let it cool. Carefully turn it out onto a large flat cutting board, with a tea towel on it, by turning over the pan. Remove the paper. It is now ready to be filled and rolled.
Filling: If you’d like an extra punch of basil, scatter a few whole leaves over the ricotta mixture before rolling the roulade.
1 lb. tub plus 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1 cup prepared pesto (or Marcela Hazan’s tried and true pesto)
salt and pepper to taste
Place the drained ricotta into a bowl and stir in the pesto. Season with salt and pepper.
Assembling the Roulade:
With the long side of the roulade facing you, spread the ricotta/pesto mixture across 2/3 of the roulade. Using the towel gently guide the the roulade into a log form. If possible, take the whole cutting board and place it into your refrigerator and let the roulade sit for about 20 minutes.
Otherwise, you can cut the roulade in half and place it on to 2 smaller plates and refrigerate. You can assemble the salsa a this point. Remove the roulade from the refrigerator and slice into 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange on a serving platter or directly onto your dinner plates, top with the salsa and enjoy!
August 30th, 2010
I love my steam canner. I find it so much easier to use then submerging Mason jars into large pots of boiling water.
While searching the web for information on steam canning, I was surprised to find that there are some groups that suggest it isn’t adequate for preserving high acid foods. I find this hard to believe as I’ve been canning preserves with it for many years now and have had no issues.
This weekend I harvested our rhubarb and made a lovely strawberry rhubarb preserve. I also purchased 15 lbs of apricots and made enough apricot preserves for 2 years!
On the strawberry rhubarb I used the technique of sugaring the rhubarb and allowing it to macerate for a few hours before cooking them down. I did the same for the strawberries and then added them to the rhubarb after about 1/2 an hour of cooking the rhubarb.
I don’t use a lot of sugar when I make preserves. In fact for the 15 Lbs of apricots I used about 5 cups of sugar. For the 4 quarts of strawberries I used a cup of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of sugar on the 4 lbs of rhubarb.
Canning is a lot of work but if I consider how much a single jar of preserves costs at the farmer’s market ($7.00 for Plum!) for 1 rainy afternoon of prepping and canning, my yield was significant.
Granted I’ve been doing this for a few years so I’ve got the method down: Prepping the fruit one day ahead and then reheating it to can the next day (make sure you reheat it to boiling) and then placing all the canning jars in the dishwasher and running them on the sanitize cycle and keeping them hot just before filling, and keeping a pot of boiling water on the stove for all the lids.
If you’ve never canned before, try and find someone who has to get the method down. After all canning historically was a community event. With homesteading on the rise, some local cooking schools are offering classes on canning techniques.
In Boulder the Culinary School of the Rockies is offering a class on August 14, with a wonderful chef and urban homesteading guru Teresa Brown. Get your homesteading on and reap the rewards all winter long!
August 18th, 2010
Anyone else having fruit fly issues?
With all of the gorgeous summer produce out on the counter, it is understandable that fruit flies might find your kitchen an attractive place to hang out. I can tolerate a few fruits flies but just one single fly can drive Marco crazy bonkers.
I cannot remember where I learned this trick but it is cheap and super effective. Even a fruit fly infestation can be cured with these simple traps over the course of a few days.
Place some ripe fruit into a glass. I have had great luck with bananas, peaches and nectarines. A small amount of red wine mixed with some sugar also works.
Cover the glass with taught plastic wrap and use a rubber band to hold it in place. Poke one small hole in the top of the plastic wrap using a skewer or pencil tip. Set the glass in the area where you have seen fruit flies.
Sit back and watch (or in Marco’s case get on with life and stop obsessing). Flies are drawn to the scent of the fruit. They can get in but they can’t get out.
Fruit flies only live about 24 hours but they reproduce rapidly. After a few days, place the glass and all its inhabitants into your fridge or freezer. Once all the fruit flies have died in the chilled air, clean out the glass and start over.
I promise that you will be amazed at the effectiveness of this simple trap. Fruit flies be gone!
August 4th, 2010
I have been holding onto this dandy for some time, waiting for zucchini and tomatoes to come into season. The recipe is written by Jess Thomson, a skillful recipe developer and a fantastically funny food blogger who never ceases to make me laugh.
The first time I made this strata was about 1 week after she published it. It contains many of my favorite things (tomatoes, zucchini, feta and sausage); it is perfectly seasoned with fresh thyme and rosemary and it is super easy to prepare.
Jess offers this strata as a breakfast item, I’d suggest that it also works for dinner. Prep everything in the morning and simply bake it off at supper time.
So get thee to the backyard garden or the farmer’s market and get cooking.
For a printable version of the strata recipe, click here. Enjoy!
July 23rd, 2010
When I read this post on food52, I knew that the mint syrup portion of the limeade would be making an appearance at my house over the summer. Might it be possible to make a mojito-like cocktail without muddling? Mint Juleps also quickly came to mind.
I am happy to report yeses on the cocktail front, but wait there’s more! The original mint limeade is ultra-refreshing and not cloyingly sweet. The mint syrup is also a superlative sweetener for classic iced tea.
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For easy mojitos, make the mint limeade recipe as instructed and just add rum. Yum.
For mint juleps without muddling, make the mint syrup (recipe below). Mix together 1 cup of good quality bourbon and 1/4 cup of the mint syrup. Pour over shaved iced and if desired garnish with fresh mint. This makes about 6 drinks. The mixture can be refrigerated for an otherwise fussy cocktail at the ready. We don’t suggest you wait until the Kentucky Derby and do feel free to don a fancy hat.
In addition to tipples, this mint syrup can be drizzled over cut fruit and/or berries for a Four Seasons, fancy pants fruit salad. If I were a better planner, I would have saved a sprig of fresh mint for the photo above. Just the tiniest bit of syrup is needed to accent an otherwise everyday dish of fruit.
Mint Syrup from food52
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, washed with stems removed
Combine sugar, water, and mint in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil then allow it to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Strain and discard the leaves.
Many thanks to vvvanessa (aka Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan) for inspiring this flavorista to get her mint on.
July 2nd, 2010
I call this Buttrick’s Ginger Cake because the original recipe was introduced to me by a family of cake bakers.
For the Buttricks, dear friends from New York, cakes were an integral part of growing up. I made some slight changes to this cake which might be considered sacrilege, as the original recipe called for 1 cup dark molasses, zest from 1 whole lemon and whole milk.
Given that it will be sap running time in the North East and Canada soon, I thought I’d try this recipe with maple syrup. It is indeed delicious, just the right balance of sweet and spice.
1 cup maple syrup (or dark molasses)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
zest of 1 lemon (optional - I did not add any)
2 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
(the original recipe uses powdered ginger but I abhor powdered ginger)
1/2 cup buttermilk (the original recipe called for milk but I prefer to bake with buttermilk)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup flour
Garnishes
freshly whipped cream
maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place wet ingredients into a bowl and mix until blended. Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the dry to the wet and stir until smooth. Pour into a prepared 9" baking pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Allow to cool slightly.
For serving, whip about 1 cup of cream until there are soft peaks. You can add a touch of vanilla extract. I used vanilla paste. Heat about 1/2 cup of maple syrup to just slightly warm. Pour a little syrup on to a plate, place a piece of warm cake on top and then dollop some whipped cream. The cream does not need to be sweetened.
March 11th, 2010
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