Fig and Honey Galette

Nearly all of our fruit has come from Thistledown Farms this summer.  We went to get one more flat of blueberries to freeze for the winter, and I couldn't pass up the container of fresh figs.  When ripe in the summer they are such an amazing sweet treat.

To try something new, I made a galette recipe from Deborah Madison Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  This was my first time to bake with figs and first time to make a galette.  I like this forgiving type of dough that doesn't have to look perfect to have a delicate and delicious taste.  I see more galettes in my cookbook, and am looking forward to more experimenting!

Fig and Honey Galette

Galette Dough

2 c flour (Soft White Wheat from Lonesome Whistle Farm)
1/2 t salt
1 T sugar
12 T butter old
1/2 c ice water

Mix flour, salt, sugar and butter in mixer.

Remove and sprinkle in water until dough can be formed into a ball.   Then roll into a round shape approximately a foot in diameter and place on a baking sheet.

Fig Filling
3 T butter
1 pint of figs (Thistledown Farm)
2 T honey
1/8 t cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T sugar

Paint dough with 1T melted butter.  Slice figs in half lengthwise and lay on the galette dough.  Mix honey, 1T butter, cloves and cinnamon and microwave until butter is melted.  Pour over figs.  Fold up edges of the dough.  Melt last tablespoon of butter and add sugar and brush over the dough. Bake 35 minutes @ 400F oven.

Kale Chips

The little bags of kale chips at the store are delicious, but oh so spendy!  Making it ourselves is so much nicer especially since my daughter and I can eat nearly an entire bunch of kale in one afternoon.  She calls it seaweed, and in texture it can be similar to the seaweed snacks we sometimes buy.  I've found several recipes online, but many of them over cook  the kale causing it to be brown and bitter.  This recipe seems to work for us and our oven. The baking time also seems to depend on the moisture in the kale related to how fresh it is from the farm--grocery store kale cooks faster than that from the farm stand or CSA.

We've also found that we need to store the cooked chips  in the fridge so they don't go bad, and we can pop them back in to the oven for just a few minutes to regain the crispy texture.

Kale chips
1 bunch kale (from Thistledown Farm)
Olive oil or grape seed oil
Salt

Tear kale into 2-4inch pieces.  Sprinkle with oil and salt.  Bake 250 F for 12-15 minutes.  Check and turn around minute 10 to check for crispness.


Ready for the oven.

Crispy and ready to eat!

Sweet Meat Squash Sunday

Our Open Oak Farm CSA included half of a giant sweet meat squash.  I roasted it last weekend and divided it up into three separate freezer servings (each about 4 cups--this was a big squash).  Today is a good day to eat squash all day.

We started breakfast with Pumpkin pancakes from Eating Close to Home.  These pancakes when cooked on the light side tasted a little big like pumpkin pie even with the same gooeyness.  Later in the day moved on to a Pumpkin Scone recipe our friend Jean found in a Sunset Magazine in September 2001.  I'm trying to use rye flour from Lonesome Whistle Farm in my baking and tried this scone recipe for the first time with a mix of flours.

Sweet Meat Squash Pancakes (from Eating Close to Home)
1 egg
1 c sweet meat squash roasted (Open Oak CSA)
1/2 c flour
2 t sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 t melted butter
1/4-1/2 c milk

Mix egg and squash together and then mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Carefully blend together and then add butter and milk.



Sweet Meat Squash Scones (from Sunset Magazine)
1 c rye flour (Lonesome Whistle CSA)
1 1/2 c wheat/white mx
1/4 c brown sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter cut into chunks
3/4 c sweet meat squash roasted (Open Oak CSA)
1/2 c heavy cream (calls for milk...but cream is too good not to use!) + I had to add some more due to the dryness of the flours
cinnamon/sugar mix

Mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Add butter and use pastry blender to mix into a course crumb mixture.  Combine squash and milk in a separate bowl and then add to the dry ingredients.  Mix until just wet and pour onto a floured board.  Turn over and gently kneed 5-6 times.  Pat dough into a round and 1" thick and cut into equal wedges (12 today).  Place on greased cookie sheet and bake 375F for 25 minutes.  I forgot to brush them with an egg yolk, milk and sugar...so I sprinkled cinnamon-sugar on the top and baked again for 4 minutes.

2012 Christmas Meal Memories

As the activities of January have taken over, I am fondly remembering the time during our winter vacation to plan and savor family meals together.  Before the holiday is too distant of a memory, I want to post about all the yummy food and new recipes using as many ingredients as possible from our Open Oak CSA we tried for our family Christmas meals.

Christmas Eve Dinner--We were joined by my husband's family for Vegetable Chowder from the Moosewood Cookbook, Butternut Squash Risotto from The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, and bread from Noisette.  I don't know if I can gush enough about what a delicious meal this was!

The chowder was a perfect soup for a dark winter evening especially topped with a little parmesan cheese.  My husband found the risotto recipe and took on the challenge to make it.  It was good to eat the first day and for leftovers for several more days.

Vegetable Chowder (adapted from Moosewood Cookbook)

1 T olive oil

1 onion chopped (Open Oak CSA)

6 cloves garlic minced (Open Oak CSA)

1 t salt

1/2 t thyme

2 t basil

1 medium potato diced  (Open Oak CSA)

2 medium carrots, diced  

2 c chopped broccoli  

2 c chopped cauliflower  (Open Oak CSA)

2 c corn

2 c chicken broth

1 c milk (I think I even added heavy cream to the recipe!)

pepper

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil with salt, thyme, and basil until soft.  Add vegetables and saute for a few more minutes.  Add broth and cook until all vegetables are tender.  Add milk and puree part of the soup with an immersion blender.

The delicious food did not stop on Christmas Day either when we had my mom's Poppyseed Roll (it over rose, but still tasted great), a Paula Dean Pumpkin Cheesecake (made with delicata squash--I could live in this), Cornish Game Hens with wild rice dressing (my husband also took on this challenge and created an amazing main course dish for our holiday dinner, and Roasted Vegetables with Green Parsley Dressing (yumm! from my new favorite cookbook--thanks, Jessi!).  

Roasted Vegetables with Green Parsley Dressing (from Eating Close to Home)

The green parsley dressing is from my new favorite cookbook about eating locally grown foods seasonally in the Willamette Valley.  The color was fantastic on a bed of roasted beets, parsnips, garlic, and fennel from Open Oak CSA.

2 clove garlic Open Oak CSA

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1/2 t whole fennel seeds

1/2 t dried taragon

1 c parsley Open Oak CSA

2T lemon juice

1 c olive oil

Blend everything together and serve over salad or roasted vegetables.

Delicata Squash Cheesecake from the Food Network
Graham Cracker Crust
1 3/4 c graham cracker crumbs (I was even able to find a brand without high fructose corn syrup!)
3 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 c melted butter

Mix all ingredients together and press into the bottom a springform pan (in this case a brand new pan I purchased on Christmas Eve, just so I could make this dessert).

Filling
 3 8-oz package of cream cheese
2 c cooked and squashed delicata squashed (from Open Oak CSA)
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 c sour cream
1 1/2 c white sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/8 t cloves
2 T flour
1 t vanilla

Beat cream cheese until smooth.  Then add additional ingredients until well combined.  Carefully pour into crust.  Bake 350F for 1 hour.  Remove from and set sit at room temperature before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating for 4 hours.

Rich Swedish cream dough with Poppyseeds From Amy Vandegrift collection- a holiday favorite!  Nothing from our CSA here, ties with the Christmas Blueberry Roll for my favorite Christmas treats.

You can make this dough in advance and keep it for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It works best when thoroughly chilled

1 envelope active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 cup heavy cream (have been known to use regular milk)
¼ c evaporated milk
3 eggs yolks, slightly beaten
3 1/3 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter or margarine at room temperature (although mine always comes right out of the refrig)

In a small bowl, stir yeast into warm water to dissolve. Allow to grow about 10-15 minutes.
Add and mix well the dissolved yeast cream, milk and egg yolks, and set aside
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar and salt.
Into the flour mixture, cut in ½ cup butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir yeast mixture into flour just to moisten. (a light hand so as not to break down the butter too much)
Spread dough with a light film of butter to prevent drying, place into a buttered bowl. Cover bowl with plastic and refrigerate overnight or up to 4 days.

Poppy seed braid roll
One 12.5 oz can of Solo poppy seed cake and pastry filling
In a bowl, stir one egg white into the poppy seed mixture

Roll out dough into a rectangle
Cut on dough the long way in three even parts. I find a pizza cutter works best
Working with one strip at a time
Put 1/3 of the filling down the center
Draw the edges of the dough together over the filling and pinch to seal seam. Sometimes some seeds
escape
Repeat for the other two strips

On a greased cookie sheet carefully place each strip side by side so that you can braid them. I do find
that the dough is long enough to do this on a diagonal of the cookie sheet. Fold under at the top, braid
the strips and fold and pinch the bottom.

Beat the remaining egg white slightly and gently rub a thin layer of egg white over the top of the
roll, (discard the rest). Let the braid rise in a warm place free from drafts until double in bulk ( 50–60
minutes)

Bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 25 minutes.