Farmers Market Day

Made my big debut at the Stuart Farmers Market. While it was not entirely successful, it was a learning experience and a beautiful warm, breezy day to enjoy being outside.  My jams, jellies and mustards were not the big hit I had hoped they would be, but that's ok.........I did score some awesome farm fresh veggies, one of which was a big yellow zucchini.

I already had three eggplants in the fridge from the Amish farm and knew I needed to use them up soon, I decided to go big and make a big batch of Eggplant Zucchini Parmesan. 

Here is what you will need:

Eggplant (I used three of the common oval purple type)

Zucchini (I used one of those bigger ones most people say are only good for baking)

soft breadcrumbs

eggs

salt, pepper

your favorite spaghetti or marinara sauce

parmesan cheese

mozzarella cheese

cooking oil

Wash vegetables and slice in about 1/2 inch think slices.  In a shallow bowl beat 2-3 eggs, season with salt and pepper.  Fill another shallow bowl with a mixture of 2 parts breadcrumbs, 1 part parmesan cheese.

I used soft breadcrumbs for better adhesion, so you will need to make these fresh. You can use any kind of bread you like, I went "budgety" and used a package of store brand hot dog buns, buzzed in the food processor.

Heat medium skillet over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon or so of oil. Using egg wash and breadcrumbs, coat vegetable slices and place in skillet. Turn when browned. When browned on both sides place in square baking dish, overlapping slices. Continue with sliced vegetables until you have filled pan or pans. I used A LOT so I had one for dinner tonight and 3 for the freezer.

Ladle red sauce over vegetables in the pan. If you are baking now sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese to cover. Bake at 350 degrees 30-45 until bubbling and browned on top.

For those being frozen, skip the cheese. Wrap firmly with heavy duty foil, label and freeze. Add cheese later when baking (from frozen, 375-400 degrees 30-45 minutes covered, then uncover, sprinkle with cheese and bake another 30-45 minutes).

This is a delicious light dinner that has a very decadent lasagna type feel. You can add meat to the sauce if you must but you definitely don't need it. Serve with crusty bread and a salad !

Boozing it up for breakfast

I promise, I will NOT bombard you with canning recipes this season (unless something really awesome comes along) but this is one I HAD to share.

Since it's summer alot of people are relaxing on vacation, perhaps a beachy location with a boozy, fruity cocktail with a cute little umbrella stickin' out of the glass. This jam reminds me a lot of that exact sort of summer beverage and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Strawberry Peach Schnapps Jam

2 1/2 cups crushed strawberries (measure after crushing)

4 1/2 diced/crushed peaches 

1 pack Sure Jell Pectin (this is the brand I used)

1/2 c Peach Schnapps

7 c sugar.

Combine fruits, pectin and schnapps in large pot. 

Man.......I wish you could smell this !!!

Bring to rolling boil stirring constantly. Add sugar all at once, mix well, return to boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and divide among prepared sterilized jars, fix lids and rings, and process for 10 minutes.

What I learned:

1. Buying my strawberries weeks ago, cutting them up and freezing them was an awesome idea.

2. Thawed frozen peaches are very much like a sorbet and not very chunky. Next time I will use fresh peaches.

3. It is EXTREMELY hard not to stick a straw in the pot and just DRINK the mixture. It smelled HEAVENLY.

4. I am in love with boozy jams and will be working on future combos!! I have a couple in mind already !!

Some people just can't take a day off

Talk about workaholics !!!!   Joe just can't NOT be a chef on his day off. I guess it's in his DNA. And oh poor me, having to suffer *wink wink*

Today I am going to tell you about Joe's amazing Sunday dinner in a little bit different format than before. Many of these components have already been shared with you so get to scrolling and check out ALL the deliciousness in between, rather than telling a little story and then posting the recipes. Anyway, starting with the basics, Joe made up a big batch of venison meatballs and got those baking off in the oven. Then he got to work on his fresh tomato sauce- diced tomatoes, tomato paste, a little water, couple handfuls of the frozen cherry tomatoes and the weird little golf ball tomatoes you get from volunteer tomato plants that revert back to their original non-hybrid form from the garden (we keep big bags in the freezer for use all year), garlic, herbs and let that simmer for a while.

Since I had been to the Amish farm and we had a table full of gypsy peppers, Joe thought a nice little saute/side of sauteed peppers and tomatoes would go nicely, so he got that going as well.

We had a giant zucchini. I mean giant. The kind most people use for baking, but not us. We have been cutting off chunks and having sauteed fresh veggies all week- with onions, mushrooms, just by the bowlful for a snack or even an omelet. But we still had a good 8 inch long chunk, so Joe halved it lengthwise, scooped it out and stuffed it with Italian sausage, smothered with mozzarella and mushrooms and popped that bad boy in the oven.

Meatballs out, sent off to swim in that tomato saucy goodness for a while, and Joe gets some water going for pasta and pops some garlicky, buttery ciabatta rolls in the oven to brown and crisp. We considered making a salad but.......why ??

A day at the farm

You can't even begin to THINK about rockin' the kitchen without ingredients. FRESH ingredients. After being cooped up for a week a trip to the Amish farm was exactly what I needed. So armed with a brand new box of small trash bags I headed off to the wonderful pick-your-own farm, Hilltop Farms.

It's still too early for pick your own tomatoes, which is driving me nuts. I NEED canned tomatoes. An Italian chef is like Superman around kryptonite without his tomatoes. But the gypsy peppers are ready to pick, although not too many have changed to red, which is the best if you ask me, and they have plenty of other fresh vegetables to pick.

Of course I hit the pepper field first and loaded my first bag full with beautiful peppers. My chef will have his weekend the next two days and I know he is itching to make something Italian and I'm sure several peppers will make their way into his dishes. The rest I plan to chop and freeze for use all year long in the many wonderful dishes we make.

Juuuuust getting started !!

Wanna catch a girl's eye?? Plant a beautiful flower! Most people don't think of flowers in the vegetable garden, but of allllll the vegetable blossoms in the garden, some of which are quite delicious, I think the eggplant is the most beautiful. The delicate purple color is such a POP in a see of green leaves. Sadly, they tend to face downward so snapping a picture is not easy but I did it anyway.

And of course, this gorgeous flower led me to yet another one of my favorite vegetables that lends itself so well to the chef's Italian cooking style and my own very French cooking style, well.......I had to pick a bag. Thankfully only 3 fit in the bag! But if I can find a great canning recipe for eggplant, many more bags shall be picked!

Since this was my first full day of working around the house and running errands after being knocked down by illness for a week I tried to take it slow and easy. So I made my way over to the cucumber field just enjoying the views around the farm, the fresh air, the ancient little dog that greets visitors, the young and old in their Plain dress working so hard around the farm. I made one pass up a row and another pass down a row and bagged a full bag of small cucumbers, just the perfect size for a first batch of pickles anyway. I'm sure there will be more, pickles are pretty popular around here.

And so.........happy with my purchases I made my way home, with dreams of Eggplant Parmesan, stuffed peppers and bread and butter pickles dancing around my brain. It's a good day !!

Let's talk kitchen stuff

Let's do something a little different- instead of me just talking about a recipe, let's get a conversation going about our favorite kitchen stuff. We all have some item we just can't live without and something we wish we'd never wasted money on, a favorite cookbook, whatever the case may be. 

If you are serious about cooking, then you probably are serious about your kitchenware as well. I know I am! I believe that if you really care about the food you are preparing, you need to have the best equipment and utensils. You need to buy the best quality utensils your budget will allow.  You might think you're saving money buying a cheaper set or item, but if you have to replace if every couple years, your savings are going out the window.

Let's start with prep tools. The most basic of prep tools for me are knives. When choosing my knives I considered them an investment and I wanted knives that would last as long as I am able to cook, and perhaps be handed down to my children if they want them. There are a LOT of great knives on the market. You can find a pretty decent set of knives at the big box stores and they can hold up for quite a while. I used to have knives like that, but I found that I was always sharpening and checking for nicks. One thing I don't want is to be replacing knives every few years.

So I went knife shopping. I did my research. I knew what I wanted, I wanted high quality forged steel with a full tang through the handle. I wanted a respected name and I wanted something that lasted forever. I chose Wusthof, but rather than buy a pre-made set, I bought an empty block and individually chose the specific knives for the uses I wanted, a santoku knife, chef's knife, bread knife, sandwich knife, tomato knife, meat slicing knife, scissors and an assortment of varied use paring knives.

Cookware was an easy decision. I knew I wanted Calphalon. I've seen it used by other cooks and loved the performance of the hard anodized finish.  I wanted to avoid the nonstick coatings that scratch and flake and are potentially hazardous. Calphalon has cookware in all different price ranges, both sets and open stock. I got lucky and found a nice set at Kohl's for under $500 and added a few open stock pieces to complete my needs- a grill pan, for one. I have also added a few AllClad pieces here and there when I'd get a good deal.

If you have been following my blog for very long then you KNOW I am totally, utterly and hopelessly in love with all things LeCreuset. I FINALLY got my first dutch oven not that long ago after scrimping and saving and waiting for the right sale at Williams Sonoma and it happened to be during a season that they had colors I loved! I have lovingly used that awesome piece for some wonderful stews and braises, even duck confit!

I have also accumulated some fun pieces over the years- a Guy Fieri Knuckle Sandwich chef's knife, a Cutco chef's knife that cuts through bone like butter, and a variety of other fun utensils. IKEA has relieved me of several dollars over the last few years.

And then......... there are the cookbooks. I am a cookbook hoarder!! I like to buy a new cookbook and sit down in my comfy seat and read it cover to cover like other people read bestsellers. And I have cookbooks of all kinds, old church cookbooks I found at garage sales to books written by celebrity chefs. I could have an entire library of cookbooks if I had enough bookshelves (maybe someday).

I have some other kitchen items, some I thought I HAD to have, like an espresso machine that has been used once, a Keurig k-cup machine (like I needed another coffee maker that I don't use), a collection of Bundt pans I have no idea why I bought, and baking utensils of all kinds. But the one item in my kitchen you will have to pry from my cold, dead hands- my Kitchenaid stand mixer. I could not live without that!

So, I've talked about some of my favorite things in the kitchen- what are some of yours? What is your go-to cooking utensil? The best kitchen gift you've ever received? The biggest waste of money? Let's hear some feedback!!

One Hot Jelly Mama !!!!

The Mad Scientist is at it again !!!  I couldn't HELP myself !! My wonderful friend Ron Elkins has this awesome fresh pepper business in Florida, www.ghostpepperfarms.com, and I couldn't help but order some fresh ghost chiles this summer, as we did not grow any at home this year.

Well a pound of ghost chiles is A LOT of heat to work with so I knew I needed to get creative and fast. Knowing that pepper jelly is a pretty popular food and super easy to whip up, I thought  I'd do at least one batch. Researching recipe after recipe I couldn't really find what I wanted. Many called for red bell pepper, which is a readily available ingredient, but for me in small town Iowa, can be outrageously expensive. I know a lot of people make jellies from fruit juices so my little brain started thinking.......apple ? Too mild. Grape ? Too sweet. Ahhhhh CRANBERRY !!!!

So armed with 100% cranberry juice NOT cocktail, with no added sugar I began my experiment!! 

NOTE: This recipe/method is minimum 2 days prep so allow for that time.

Hotter Than Death Ghostly Cranberry Jelly

8 cups cranberry juice
4 ghost chiles
1 package Mrs. Wages pectin (just happens to be the brand I used, use whatever you like)
9 cups sugar

Start off by heating the cranberry juice to simmering. Meanwhile, CAREFULLY quarter the peppers leaving the stem end intact. Seeds and everything stay inside for now. 

Once the juice is hot, add the peppers,cover and let steep overnight. Refrigerate when it's cooled down a bit.

The next day TASTE TEST your juice. If it is way too hot you can replace some of the juice with fresh cranberry juice that has not been steeped with pepper. If you don't think it's as hot as you like, reheat WITH the peppers in the juice and allow to steep overnight, or add another pepper if you have one. The next day you will want to re-taste again before proceeding. Mine was not quite hot enough so I reheated the juice with the peppers in it, let it steep another couple hours and then it was perfect. You want a product with good hot hot hot heat that is still edible. When you have reached the right amount of heat, strain the juice through a jelly bag or coffee filter to remove all seeds and proceed with the jelly making.

In saucepan, combine juice with pectin. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium high heat. Add sugar all at once, stir constantly and return to full rolling boil for one minute. Remove from heat, skim foam if necessary.

Ever stared down into a volcano filled with molten lava?

Ladle hot jelly into 8 or 4 ounce jars, wipe rims, fix lids and seals and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove from water, allow to cool at room temperature overnight. Remember, sometimes jelly does not "jel" immediately. Give it a few days before reprocessing with more pectin if needed. Check for proper seals, refrigerate or freeze any that did not seal. Label and store in cool, dry place. After my jelly boil over and sticky mess to clean up I ended up with 13 half pint jars processed and a custard cup in the fridge to test.

Now.......you have this beautiful ruby red and hellishly hot jelly. This is NOT peanut butter and jelly stuff, so what do you do with it? Some people like to spoon it over a softened block of cream cheese and serve with crackers. I plan to use it as a glaze/sauce for sticky sweet hot wings, a glaze for pork roast or kebabs, even steak cubes. Mix a little with cubed chicken and fresh Asian veggies for a spicy stir fry. Add a teaspoon to a vinaigrette for a roaring hot kick in the pants. Use your imagination and have fun !!

Relishing the spring produce

What a weird year it's been weather wise. Snow, warm, snow, warm, freezing like the arctic circle, snow, HOT, cold and rain rain rain. Seemed like we would have another early warm spring (and early warm planting season) but, alas, that was not to be. Finally we are starting to see the lovely spring produce and cool weather crops hitting the farm stands and markets

One of my favorite cool weather veggies is the humble radish. Crunchy, a little heat, a little sweet, and such beautiful red color. LOVE radishes !!! Over the winter months I browsed lots of blogs, websites and books looking for the right recipes to make this little veggie shine, as well as give me something new to make for the cupboard, and I happened upon a recipe for Radish Relish. So........ I had to, of course, make my own adjustments to make it "my own" so here it is, and I hope you enjoy.

Radish Relish

2 lbs red radishes, cut into tiny matchsticks

1 cup finely minced onion

1 tsp ground ginger

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 Tb kosher salt

1 Tb whole coriander seed, slightly crushed after measuring

1 Tb cumin seed

1 Tb mustard seed (I used brown- any color is fine)

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

Cut radishes into tiny matchsticks. The reference recipe said to shred them but I like more crunch and bite to relishes.

Combine vegetables with seasonings and set aside.

In large non-reactive pot bring vinegar and sugar to boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add veggies to boiling brine, stir well, return to boil. 

Prepare half pint jars for boiling water bath canning (warm lids in hot water, sterilize jars in boiling water). Ladle hot relish into jars with half and inch headspace. Wipe rim of jar, fix lid and ring and process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes (start processing time when water is at a full rolling boil).

I can't wait to try this out on a freshly grilled steamy brat with some yummy stone ground mustard !!