recipe

Another recipe for your farm newsletter. This is the last one for the season; hopefully Beth will contribute to the Small Farm Central blog in other ways throughout the winter.

In review, here are a few of her recipes from the season:
Summer Tomato Recipes
Cinnamon-Vanilla Applesauce
Salad with Cantaloupe, Pecans and Honey Viniagrette
Apple-sage Roasted Chickenzilla & Honey-Sage Sweet Potatoes with Shallots
Sweet Potato, Gouda and Herb Gratin
The Versatile Mashed Sweet Potato
Fall Harvest Soup
Red, Gold and Orange Festive Salad
Coconut-Curry Pumpkin Soup
Weekend Recipe - Honey-Glazed Turnips with Shallots
Vanilla-Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan-Brown Sugar Crust

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A few beets are all that's left of my most recent CSA bag, but for those who are just ahead of the last frost, here's a great fall-into-winter recipe for the final cruciferous bounty of the season.

Cauliflower, Chard and Leek Gratin
1 medium head of cauliflower, florets only
1 bunch of chard, cleaned, stem removed and chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts only, washed well and chopped
1/4 cup chopped shallot
1 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. butter
2 tbs. flour
1/4 cup cream
1-3/4 cup 2 percent milk
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup grated Grana Padano cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower until tender crisp, about 10 minutes. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, saute the leek and shallot for a few minutes until just starting to turn golden. Add the chard and saute until just wilted. Mix with the cauliflower in a roasting pan.

Make the bechamel. Start by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Add the flour and whisk until it begins to turn golden and smells "nutty" and no longer like raw flour. Add the cream and milk slowly, whisking as you go to keep it smooth. Add the nutmeg. Whisk over low heat until it thickens. Add the Grana Padano cheese and whisk until melted and smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the sauce evenly over the cauliflower mixture. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until the top turns golden and it is heated through. You can also do this with broccoli.

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Another seasonal recipe for your weekly farm newsletter!

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For Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup pecans
3 tbs. Brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/2 tsp. Salt
4-5 tbs. Ice water

For Filling:
1 and 3/4 lbs. Sweet potatoes (2 large, red-skinned with dark orange flesh)
1 cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. Ceylon cinnamon (Ceylon has a softer, fruitier flavor without harsh bite)
1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out with back of knife
1/4 tsp. Salt
Plus:
1 egg white beaten for crust

For the crust, put the pecans in food processor and pulse to chop fine. Add the flours, salt and sugar to the food processor next and pulse to combine. Add cold butter one tablespoon at a time and pulse a few times until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time and pulse just until dough starts to come together. You may not need all the ice water. Less water is best. Try not to overmix. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a flat disk. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour and up to a day.

Roll the dough out between sheets of plastic wrap to about a 14-inch round. Peel off top layer of wrap and then invert dough into pie dish, remove wrap. Trim the edges to 3/4 inch overhang and crimp. Cover crust with plastic wrap. Place dish with crust in the refrigerator to chill while you make filling.

Place rack in bottom third of the oven. Preheat oven to 400°F.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Steam potatoes for about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Allow to cool a bit and mash with potato masher until smooth. (You can also use a food processor and pulse a few times). Measure one and one-half cups of puree for the pie, placing this into the food processor. Add brown sugar and pulse to combine. Add three eggs pulsing to combine, drizzle in cream while blade is running to mix in. Add salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and the seeds from the half of vanilla bean, reserving the pod for other use. Pulse to combine well.

Remove crust from fridge, remove wrap and brush with beaten egg white. Add filling. Cover crust edges with foil to prevent over-browning for the first 30 minutes of baking. Bake until the center is set and the edges puff up, about 40-45 minutes. Remove the foil from the crust halfway through baking so the crust will brown.

Recipe ©Beth Bader, The Expatriate's Kitchen. Have a Wonderful and Safe Holiday!

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Another seasonal "weekend recipe" from Beth Bader for your weekly newsletter needs.

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Here is a rich, warm soup for rainy fall days. The curry is not overpowering and the coconut is light, just adding depth to this easy, roasted pumpkin soup.

Coconut-Curry Pumpkin Soup
1 8-pound Musquee de Provence Pumpkin, or other eating pumpkin
32 oz. chicken broth
2 tbs. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 15 oz. can coconut milk
2 kaffir lime leaves
3 tsp. sweet curry powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 tbs. sugar
kosher salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash pumpkin. Cut it into halves and scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp. Spray a baking pan with nonstick as well as the cut sides of the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin on the tray cut side down and cook for about 90 minutes, until flesh is fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to handle. Scoop flesh from the skin.

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot. Sweat the onions and garlic until onion is translucent. The difference between a sweat and a brown is the stove temperature. Sweating is a medium-low temp that gets your onions and garlic (aromatics) to give up their moisture and flavor easily. You do not brown the veggies when you sweat them. Browning takes a medium-high temperature.

Add the curry powder, red pepper flakes and ginger and stir for half a minute to get the curry going. Add stock and kaffir lime leaves and heat to a boil. Add the pumpkin then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Use a stick blender to puree the soup. This type of pumpkin is very stringy, but it will blend easily. Add the sugar and the coconut milk and heat through. Season to taste with the salt. Discard the kaffir lime leaves. If desired, garnish with cilantro. This soup tastes better the second day when the flavors have blended more.

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com

Another seasonal "weekend recipe" from Beth Bader for your weekly newsletter needs.

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I know, many people are not beet fans. But this dish is different. These are not canned pickled beets. In fact, this might be the dish that makes you wonder why you haven't been eating them all these years.

Red, Gold and Orange Festive Salad
2 large (3-inch-diameter) red beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 large (3-inch-diameter) golden beets, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 small fresh fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, cut into eighths
2 shallots cut into quarters
Coarse kosher salt
Fresh black pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups coarsely crumbled feta cheese
1 small can mandarin orange sections, or 4 clementines peeled and pulled into sections.
¼ cup chopped mint leaves, optional

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place beets, fennel and shallot in 9x9x2-inch baking dish. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic over; sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Roast until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Toss beets with orange sections. Sprinkle on feta and garnish with mint, if desired.

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com

This soup is a lovely and healthy fall recipe. The squash and sweet potatoes are balanced by the more bitter greens and rounded out with rich, fresh-shelled purple hull peas. The fresh peas hold their texture well and stay al dente in the soup, giving it good texture with the squash.

Fall Harvest Soup
2-1/2 quarts chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbs. olive oil
1 lb. winter squash, peeled diced
1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 bunches (about three cups) chopped greens, mustard or kale (or chard)
1 tbs. dried savory
2 tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1-1/2 lb. fresh shelled purple hull peas (see instructions for using dried beans)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven. Sweat the onions and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the herbs, stock and beans. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the squash and sweet potatoes. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add the chopped greens. Simmer for 20 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.

For dried beans, you will need to soak them overnight. Rinse and drain. Set aside and proceed with the onions and garlic. After adding the herbs, stock and dried beans, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for an additional hour or until beans are al dente. Then proceed with the rest of the recipe. You can use dried, small white beans or any other variety you like.

Recipe ©Beth Bader. For more seasonal recipe ideas, visit The Expatriate's Kitchen, http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com

http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com
http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com