My Latest Food Obsession...

Have you heard of Dukkah? Well, me,neither, until Christmas. My son and daughter in law gave me an amazing cookbook from America's Test Kitchen called "DIY- Can It, Cure It, Churn It, Brew It". As I was going through all the great recipes for things I need to make fresh at home instead of buying pre-prepared (think- ketchup, worstershire sauce, bacon jam, ricotta cheese, oreos, and more!) I found one recipe for an interesting mix called, "Dukkah". It is a seed, nut and spice blend from North Africa that is served as a crunchy topping or crust for meat or fish, blended into hummus or yogurt, or stirred into olive oil as a dip for bread. It's primarily made from pistachios, almonds, sesame seeds, cumin and coriander, but there are many versions.
This past weekend, we went on a wonderful weekend getaway to the beautiful King Estates Winery in Eugene, Oregon for their annual 'All you can eat Crabfest and All you can drink Pinot Gris" Event. That whole story is for another post :)
On the way home, we decided to take the 1-5 to Medford to the 140 to the 97, instead of taking the 58 to the 97--which was a good call, since the 58 was loaded with snow and a winter weather advisory. We only encountered about 10 miles of heavy snow on the 58 and the roads were clear. Anyhow, in Medford, I begged our friends to stop at Trader Joe's- since it recently (December 2012) opened and I haven't had a TJ run since October 2012.
While wandering up and down the aisles, I encountered a container of "Dukkah" in the spice aisle. Since I'd never actually tasted it, I picked up a jar. It's delicious!
Last night, we weren't very hungry, so I baked up a small spaghetti squash and tossed it with my 'fake alfredo' sauce- some half and half and chicken stock blended with a package of Boursin cheese. Yes, I know, it's cheating, but it's soooo good!
Tonight, we wanted something a little more substantial, so I made some garlic lemon sauce with shrimp and peas and added a couple of dollops of the 'fake alfredo' from last night. I tossed it with some eggs noodles and topped it with chives and parsley from my herb pot, and sprinkled some Trader Joe's Dukkah on top.
OMG.
Here's the finished product...

 It was so delicious!
Enjoy!

The Holiday Season

I've been neglecting my blog for a while with the whirlwind of activities that have been encompassing my life over the past couple of months! 
One of my 'resolutions' for 2013 is to be a little more consistent with my blog, so here's the first installment (on the 12th of January, of course!).
This past Christmas season saw us in Baltimore MD for our oldest son's graduation from college (University of Maryland Baltimore County- an Honors University)  with his bachelor's degree in computer science. We figured it was so close to Christmas that we just...stayed. The flights to Baltimore were quite an adventure all in themselves (two of my flights out of Klamath Falls were cancelled due to stupid airline stuff by United Airlines) so 3000 extra miles later as compensation, I finally arrived. The rest of the family arrived a day or two ahead of me...including our younger son and my husband!!
We immediately donned our t-shirts (it's a family thing) and everyone headed out to Fells Point for a 'Pub Crawl'. Yes, we hit every single bar on our t-shirt plus a couple of extra bars. Only one on our list was closed on a Wednesday night. And, yes, we had a shot and a cocktail at every bar. Yes, we took a cab both ways...duh!!! 

Graduation on FRIDAY (yes, we had a day between!) was awesome! We are so proud of our oldest! Now, both of our sons are college graduates...as is our daughter in law! (well, she has her Master's Degree...but she is ahead of the curve ) ha ha! 
Since we had several days to kill before Christmas, we decided to go to Gettysburg. I didn't realize how close it was to Maryland- it was a little less than an hour's drive. 

It's one of the things on my 'bucket list'. I know quite a bit about Gettysburg (our little stand of aspens-Gettysburg- in the backyard are named after the 'little clump of trees' from the battle) and I have always wanted to be there...to commune with the ghosts of the valiant Americans on both sides who bravely gave so much of themselves. Oh, it was better than I dreamed. I'm not so much into the markers and statues, but the guide that Chris hired to take us through Gettysburg was the best storyteller and took us to the places we needed to see. It was incredibly moving and I still am trying to process this whole experience. It was the the best place I've ever been to in my life. I've been to a lot of amazing places, but I think Gettysburg is right on top.
If you are an American History buff, you MUST GO. 
So, more for the next blog...I am a little emotional after thinking about this place. Even though he was wrong about how little the world would note what happened here...I think Abraham Lincoln said it best:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Chickens before the snow

I've been neglectful of my blog with so much going on at work...weekends have been an endless cycle of canning or freezing tomatoes, cutting back plants, harvesting pumpkins, spaghetti squash, and tomatoes and finishing up the winter prep-in addition to getting used to my 'new' Sunday hours at the Church...and of course, the elections and debates have taken up a lot of my time too! I am a political junkie!
Today, I had some time when the sun was out, I didn't have anything to 'do' and my chickie girls were just being so cute so I took some photos!

Isn't Little Rhody adorable? She is so funny...she makes this plaintive sound, " bawkkkk...bawkkk.bawwwwwkkkk..." when she can't see me or the other chickens. It's like she's lost her best friend! She's enjoying the end of the kale here! She gives me a dark brown egg in the dirt every other day or so. But she trumpets when someone else lays an egg!

This is BO...named after the President...but she is now just "Bo-bo." She is a very aloof chicken. She does not like being touched, but she loves corn and worms. She is the only one who lays a dark brown egg every freakin' day in the nesting box. Ol' reliable.

This is Moa- the golden Hawaiian Goddess...well, she's an Ameraucana so she lays blue green eggs but she is a beautiful sassy and very friendly chicken. Her name means "chicken" in Hawaaian. My dear friend, Aarah, who lives on the Big Island named her! Moa will tolerate being picked up, and she LOVES greens...hence, the reason all the other kale leaves are GONE. She lays eggs every other day.

This is Squirt, the Light Brahama. She is the friendliest of all the chickens and the biggest! Her breed is called the "Gentle Giant". She loves to sit in my lap, or just hang out with me or Kevin! She is the sweetest chicken and loves to follow us around the yard. She is also my favorite. She talks to me and always comes when I call her name! Well, the others know their names, too- but Squirt is my little sweetheart! She is also the one that the other chickens picked on initially- until she got a lot bigger-and the dogs have grabbed her a couple of times and ripped out some feathers during a couple of yard mishaps...she has bravely weathered the storms and still is very curious about the dogs. I have been very careful over the past couple of months and she is really thriving! She lays a pale brown egg almost every day.

Foggy (Foghorn Leghorn) is the Queen Bee of the Hen House! She is a very dominant girl and disciplines and keeps after the rest of them! I swear, if she didn't lay a pure white egg EVERY single day, I'd think she was a rooster!
She is a very friendly chicken, and loves to sit on my lap, on the chair, and actually pecks at the back door to come in or to get our attention. She is also the first one at the door when I get home every day!
And she drives Bridget the Yorkie insane!!

Look at that face! "Really, Mom? Reallly? Foggy is teasing the heck out of me!"
We bought a heated chicken waterer for the porch (since they are in the yard free-lancing, uh, free ranging all day- to paraphrase Gunny Highway in Heartbreak Ridge)  and for the coop.
Kevin is building a play yard for the winter and I bought a bale of straw today for the playyard...yah, my personal advise is never buy a bale of straw after Church, in your dress clothes, and bring it home in a closed car and then, open the windows since it was stinky and warm...I have straw in places it never should ever be...
We are getting some snow tonight, so we will see how the girls handle the cold weather. They have a red lizard light in the coop that comes on at 35 and stays on until 45 degrees...but, since I do baby them, we might be making a temporary chicken hotel in the garage if it gets REALLY cold this winter. I guess, you will find out as soon as I find out what they can handle! So, enjoy our chickie pics!

Summer is waning...

We tend to eat much more simply in the summertime.

With loads of fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden, and lovely, bright orange-yolk freshly laid eggs from the pullets, we eat whatever is fresh.
A quick sear on the 'real' charcoal grill and zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, poblano peppers and kale tossed with chives, oregano and thyme become a feast. A little salad of fresh red leaf lettuce, Diva cucumbers and cherry tomatoes tossed together with some olive oil, rice wine vinegar and a lightly poached egg on top round out the meal. Adding a rib eye or chicken thigh or bratwurst to the BBQ just makes it even more fragrant and mouth-watering on the summer weekends!
But, the weather is starting to turn in the Kalamth Basin and our thoughts are turning to autumn. Last night, it was 34 degrees. I actually put a light blanket on the bed last night- of course, I kept the window open- I'm not ready to surrender to the cold just yet!
I might have to pull the remainder of the tomatoes soon, and put the heat lamp on in the coop at night for the chickies!
It's been in the mid 70's today with a light breeze- lots of sunshine, but a lot cooler than the past couple of months, so it's time to start bringing in the pumpkins and spaghetti squash to cure...and time to think about fertilizing the grass for snow, cutting back the plants and mulching for the coming winter, and preparing in general for the hard freeze that is coming.
Since it's been a little cooler at night, I've been making more soup-stew type meals.
I recently made an absolutely delicious recipe that was so tasty I have to share it! I guess it could be a summer recipe, or spring recipe, too...but it was warm, and very comforting!
It was originally a 'Shrimp Risotto with Chive Germolata' from the complimentary sample "Cuisine at Home" magazine that I received ...but I made it a little bit differently, because I am not a fan of risotto. I know, I have no taste- I am not cultured- but really, I dislike goopy, runny rice.
First, use your microplane grater to zest an entire lemon.

Then, fry 4 strips of applewood smoked thick bacon. OK, you can use whatever bacon you like.

When nice and crispy, chop finely and combine with 2 tablespoons each of finely chopped chives, fresh parsley and garlic. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and set aside.

I am very fond of the 'great grains' pack from Trader Joe's. It contains couscous, quinoa, lentils and several other tasty grains of varying textures. It's very easy to cook, and we always buy a few bags whenever we run across a TJ's when we travel. Instead of risotto, I made a a 'half serving' which makes about 1.5 cups, using the seafood stock. 

Here's the recipe I used...
Peel and devein 1/2 lb. of shrimp, saving the shells.
Place the shells, 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1/2 cup of chopped onion, 5 whole peppercorns, 4 sprigs of fresh parsley and 1 bay leaf in a pan and bring to a boil on high heat. Boil for 5 minutes, and then lower the heat to medium. Cook for 15 minutes. OK, yes, I did add all the other shells I've saved over the summer, so yes, you do see lobster shells! Turn the heat off and strain the mixture into a bowl, squeezing every bit of juicy goodness out of the shells and veggies! Discard the solids.

 Melt 1 tbsp. of butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of finely diced onion and slowly sweat the onion. Don't allow it to brown! Add 1/2 cup of Sherry and bring to a boil. Boil for about 1 minute.
Use this stock to make the 'Great Grains'. (Or if you want to make risotto, saute 2 tbsp. of butter and add the onion, add 1/2 cup of arborio rice and saute for 2 minutes. Add the sherrry, and saute for 2 more minutes. Add 1/2 cup of stock at a time until it's absorbed by the rice. Keep adding a 1/2 cup at a time until the rice has absorbed it all and the rice is tender, 20-25 minutes.)
Add the shrimp, and 1/2 cup of frozen peas to the rice or grain mixture. Stir for a couple of minutes, until the peas are hot and the shrimp is cooked through and pink, about 5 minutes.
Add 1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional)
Off the heat, add 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir well, and serve with the BACON gremolata.

It was DELICIOUS!!! Kevin thought it was too 'lemony' with the gremolata, but he also does not like lemon or things like chicken picatta or veal picatta...so if you like a light lemony, bacony and chivy-parsley topping, you will like this!
Enjoy!

Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup and Panini Croutons

I received my Food Network Magazine on Friday, and I've been pouring over the pages...as usual. There are so many different things in each magazine that I want to make!
We are still having very hot weather in Klamath Falls...80s-90s during the day with cool nights in the mid to low 40s. We are very fortunate- this time last year, I was frantically picking green tomatoes to put in newspaper in order to not lose them to a hard freeze! This is the warmest September I have experienced here in the Basin...and that's a good thing for the tomato plants!
As a result of the lovely weather, we are getting nice, vine-ripened tomatoes every day! Well, we are getting tomatoes that the chickens aren't sampling...the little brats were jumping up, eating the bottom out of a not quite ripe but pink 1 lb. German Giant tomato yesterday! I was pretty irritated at them- but now it's covered with poultry netting, so I think I have a handle on that little problem! I don't mind sharing with the chickens as long as they are eating the earwigs, but there are NO earwigs on that side of the garden! Sigh.
Anyhow, I have been canning at least 2 quarts of roma tomatoes the past few weekends, and I made 4 quarts of tomato sauce that are resting in the freezer after this weekend!
So, back to the Food Network Magazine- one of my favorite celebrity chefs is Ina Garten, the former owner of the Barefoot Contessa in the Hamptons of New York. She also had a Food Network Show called, "Barefoot Contessa" and she has many cookbooks under the same title.
She was one of the featured chefs for this month and she made a lovely tomato-orzo soup with 'panini' croutons. I liked the idea, but I wanted to find a recipe to use up the many ripe tomatoes I had sitting on my counter. I found her recipe for Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup and decided this would be perfect with the panini croutons!
I was also lucky enough to find a nice size block of Gruyere cheese on sale at Dirty Bird (oops, Sherm's Thunderbird Market) and paired with a freshly baked ciabatta loaf, I made a delicious dinner (and lunch, and dinner, and lunch, and dinner...) 
I used yellow Lemon Boy and Firework tomatoes from the garden. Unlike Ina, I cut a small x into the bottom of each tomato, dropped it in boiling water for 20 seconds or so and then dropped it into a bowl of ice and water. I peeled off the skin and cut out the core, and squeezed out the seeds.
I also doubled the recipe....and I also doubled the amount of basil. It was delicious! Instead of adding kosher salt, I used 1 tablespoon of basil salt that I made in August- another Food Network Magazine recipe!
It was rich, flavorful and delicious!
The best part were the panini croutons!
I took a 1/4 slice of ciabatta bread, buttered on side, and placed it on the bottom of a George Foreman grill. (I knew it would come in handy someday!) Then, I added about 1/2 cup of grated gruyere cheese, covered it with another piece of 1/4 in sliced ciabatta bread, that was buttered on one side. I closed the grill for about 4 minutes. The bread got toasty, beautifully marked, and the cheese melted. I took it off the grill, cut it into small croutons, and garnished the soup.

This has to be the best tomato soup I've ever had! And the croutons....even better than a toasted cheese sandwich on the side! You have to try this if you have a tomato garden!

Festivity Corn Pudding

As promised yesterday, I am writing about our absolutely delicious Corn Pudding that rounded out dinner last night!

We are growing an heirloom type of corn this year that was given to us by a friend, Art Sayles. He sent us some dried cobs a couple of years ago. We've never grown corn before, and didn't really have the space, but this year, we reclaimed a patch of ground that had been decorative only and amended the soil with compost and mycorrhizae (a beneficial fungus that supports root growth- I've written about this before). We started the corn plants from seed in the house, and transplanted them in batches of 12 plants at a time, two weeks apart. We have 36 stalks...every single corn kernel germinated!
The corn is absolutely beautiful. Art said it's called, "Festivity" which can be eaten as a sweet corn, or dried on the stalk as a decorative corn. I can attest to the beauty, and deliciousness of the corn!

These ears are a week apart in planting...it's really interesting how they go from 'white' sweet corn, to a little speckled, to mostly dark purple. they are really beautiful!

The left side of the yard has been an herb/vegetable garden for the past 5 years, but the right side was covered with decorative bark since it does not get as much full sun as the left side. Well, apparently, it's sunny enough to produce a lot of corn!
Anyhow, I had 6 ears total that I had to pick yesterday, so I decided to make a delicious side dish called Corn Pudding. Here's the recipe I used as a guide by Ina Garten- called Sagaponack Corn Pudding
but, I did make some changes. I also cut the recipe in half, since I don't have 8-10 people to feed :)

I cut the kernels off of the corn for about 2 1/2 cups of fresh corn. The cobs went out to the chickens. They like corn, too-cracked and dried or fresh. They also like newly planted corn plants- I learned that the hard way.
I added the kernels to a pan with 1/2 cup of finely chopped onion and 2 tbsp. of butter. I sweated the vegetables for 4 minutes, took them off the heat and let them cool.
In a large bowl, I beat together two of the biggest eggs I had (the girls are still hit-or-miss on large eggs and forget about extra-large at this point in their laying life!) 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. I was completely out of fat free half and half and ricotta, but I figured small curd fat free cottage cheese could be a substitute. I added 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and about 5 large fresh basil leaves, chopped up. After this was all mixed, I slowly mixed in 1/4 cup of cornmeal.

I also sprayed a 6 cup baking ramekin with canola spray and heated the oven to 375 degrees.
I didn't have any sharp cheddar cheese. Kevin doesn't like sharp cheddar, so I usually buy medium or mild or Colby, but I was out of that, too. I did have a block of Pepper Jack, however, so I cut off a chunk of about 3 ounces and shredded that up.

When the corn/onion mixture was cooled, I added it to the egg/milk/cornmeal mix. Then, I added about half of the cheese and mixed it all together. I poured it into the greased ramekin and topped it with the rest of the cheese.
I popped it into a baking pan and filled the pan with enough hot water from the tap to go up the sides of the ramekin halfway. I placed it in the oven, and let the heat do the magic! It took about an hour.

We also had a small rack of St. Louis cut ribs that I had dry rubbed with my homemade rib rub (for another day- it's fantastic) and baked in foil in the oven for 3 hours at 275. I added some steamed zucchini slices tossed with the tomato vinaigrette from yesterday, and voila! Dinner! It was scrumptious! And the purple and yellow and reddish and maroon kernels of the corn mixed with the yellow creamy and cheese-y texture was so pretty, too. I hope you try this recipe- it's pretty easy and you can adapt a lot of vegetables to this version!

Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette

I recently watched one of my favorite Cooking Channel Shows, "Chuck's Day Off". Chuck Hughes is a very talented and creative young chef and his show is always exciting- in the food he cooks, in his enthusiasm and in his passion for fresh, sustainable ingredients. I like that!
On the show I watched, he made a roasted halibut served over a 'Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette".  That made my mouth water, especially since I am looking for some creative ways to use the abundance of tomatoes I have in my garden this season!
I made a really tasty red enchilada sauce from scratch a few days ago- using Sweet One Million and Sungold cherry tomatoes. It was incredibly tasty, but very sweet. After watching Chuck, I thought a sweeter version of his Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette would be delicious made with the over-abundance of cherry tomatoes in my yard.
So, thanks, Chuck. Here's his original recipe with the halibut, which also sounds delish!
I made some changes.

First, wash, stem, cut in half, and seed a huge amount of cherry tomatoes. I used about 2 cups. Seeding cherry tomatoes is a pain in the neck, but worth it in this instance.
Then, get your homemade smoker ready.
This was a very easy technique. I have had a Chinese steamer for years- but never thought to use it for smoking in the kitchen!

Unless you want to ruin a heavy duty pan, line your pan with a double layer of foil. Turn the heat on high, and toss in a couple of handfuls of smoking chips- in this case, mesquite. When it starts to smoke, TURN ON THE HOOD/FAN. Seriously!

 Rinse your Chinese steamer basket out, and place the cut side up of the tomatoes on the trays. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and add either some sliced green onions, or shallots, as Chuck suggests, or as I did, half a chopped onion. Then, top with fresh herbs of your liking- in my case, some fresh torn basil, oregano, and thyme from the garden. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.
Add about 1/2 cup of water to the chips when they start to smoke, cover the Chinese steamer, and place on top of the smoking chips.
Let it smoke for about 20 minutes.

Take the steamer off of the heat and let it cool a bit. Toss all of the smoked veggies into a blender. Add a little kosher salt and pepper, and if  you have it handy (I ALWAYS DO!!) add a tablespoon of roasted garlic.
Don't know how to make roasted garlic? Get a nice head of garlic, slice it across the root to expose the ends, put it on some aluminum foil, drizzle some olive oil and a pinch of salt over the cut ends, wrap up the foil and bake in a 350 oven for about 25 minutes. When it cools down, pop the soft, gooey cloves into a small container and cover well. Refrigerate. It keeps for a week ...ha ha, as if it will actually stay around a week! I add it to many, many dishes- the sweet, deep, carmelized garlick-y flavor makes everything taste better. You can even spread it on bread in the morning after toasting...it is fantastic. No harsh, garlick-y breath or flavor, either!
Anyhow-I digress. Back to the vinaigrette...Toss in 1/4 cup of rice vinegar. Well, I guess you can use another type of vinegar, but I like the mildness of rice wine vinegar. Blend the heck out of the veggies and vinegar. Slowly add 1/2-1 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a drizzle as you blend. You don't want a runny, oily mess- just a nice emulsification.
Now, this had a very mild smoked flavor. I thought it was good, but I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika to bump up the smokiness.
This came out absolutely incredibly delicious!
I am not sure how to 'can' it yet, but as soon as I figure it out, I'll be shipping some to my niece, Lauren, who has already expressed interest in this unique flavor!

My batch made 4 cups of deliciousness. I'll be drizzling this on our zucchini tonight, and on a roasted beet, goat cheese and arugula salad on Monday for the Catholic Daughters potluck. No, I'm not joining. I'm just checking them out.
Now if I am really lucky, I'll be posting my amazing success with Festivity Corn Pudding tomorrow! It's in the oven as I write...