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.

Weeknight dinner in four courses

We needed to do something fun for an easy weeknight meal. I turned an ordinary dinner into a four course meal. This was a winner with the 4 year old--meat, raw vegetables, applesauce, and dessert, and I didn't have to try and create something else that he would willingly eat for dinner.

Course One: Vegetables

Lettuce and shredded carrot salad with Yumm! sauce

Green peas

Parsnip puree

I have watched several cooking show recently where guests are served a form of parsnip puree. This one had a nice flavor with the roasted parsnips, but it had a funny texture--a little grainy.

Parsnip puree

5 parsnips peeled and diced (from CSA)

olive oil

sour cream

milk

salt

nutmeg

Roast parsnips with olive oil and salt in oven 350F for 30 min. Pour into food processor with sour cream, milk, and nutmeg. Blend and keep adding until they reach the desired consistency.

Course Two: Meat

Baked Chicken (Adapted from Wheat-Free Recipes and Menus by Carol Fenster)

1/2 chicken cut into pieces

1/2 c milk + 1 t cider vinegar (or real buttermilk)

1/4 t garlic powder

1/4 c flour

3 T corn flour (from CSA)

1/2 t salt

1/4 t paprika

Mix dry ingredients together on a plate. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Dip chicken pieces into buttermilk then into flour mixture. Place on baking sheet. Cook 400F for 45 minutes.

Coure Three: Fruit

Applesauce

One colander full of apples (from our apple tree)

1 c water

1/4 c sugar

2 t cinnamon (optional)

Core and cut apples and place in large pot with water. Simmer until apples are completely soft. Process apples through food mill and add in 1/4 c sugar. Serve topped with yogurt.

Course Four: Dessert

Walnut Potica Roll from Andrej's European Pastry in Chisholm, Minnesota

Thank you Nana! We love this traditional Serbian Christmas dessert (and that it arrived in our mail box--great present)! Yum, yum, yum! I'm going to learn how to make this for next year.

Easy Winter Roasted Vegetables

Only recently have I discovered how wonderful winter roasted vegetables are to eat!

Winter Roasted Vegetables
Parsnips (from CSA)
Beets (from CSA)
Potatoes
Onion
Garlic (from CSA)
Sweet Potatos

Cut vegetables, coat with olive oil and a little salt. Bake 350 F for 45-60 minutes. Enjoy.

First CSA Bag of the Season

Over the last decade, my husband and I have tried to eat more locally. We have frequented farmers' markets in Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis, and Eugene. We've grown vegetables in two different community gardens and at each of our homes. We've also joined four different Community Support Agriculture (CSA) farms.

We were fortunate to find and join the Open Oak Farm's winter 2010 CSA. It had the perfect mixture of staple vegetables and grains and new foods for us to try (and the best carrots I've ever eaten). We loved it so much that we joined again for Summer 2011 and are delighted that the Winter 2011 farm share has begun. This season we are splitting the vegetable share with our friends, who write a blog about the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. We are also splitting a winter grain and bean CSA from Lonesome Whistle Farm.

I've been having a great time exploring new recipes each week to use the items from my vegetable share, and am looking forward to writing about them here.

Our first CSA bag of the season arrived last week. I spent several days looking through recipes in my newest cookbook Slow Cooker Revolution from America's Test Kitchen to find the perfect inaugural recipe for both a new slow cooker and for the winter CSA season. It was a winner! This recipe is designed to serve 6-8 people. We had enough for two adults for several meals and froze the rest for another day.

Super-Veggie Beef Stew

3 T oil

3 onions chopped (from CSA)

1/4 c tomato paste

6 garlic cloves minced (from CSA)

1 T thyme

1/3 c flour

1 1/2-2 c chicken broth

1 1/2 c beef broth

8 oz mushrooms (recommends portobello caps, I used regular buttons) chopped

1/3 c soy sauce

2 bay leaves

4 lb cubed beef (We only had 1lb and it was perfectly fine)

2-3 medium potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks

4 carrots cut into 1-inch pieces

3 parsnips cut into 1-inch pieces (from CSA)

8 oz kale cut (from CSA)

Heat 2 T of oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions, tomato paste, thyme and garlic and cook until onions are softened. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out lumps. Transfer to slow cooker.

Stir in beef broth, mushrooms, soy sauce, and bay leaves. Season beef with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker. Toss potatoes, carrots, and parsnips with oil, salt, and pepper and place into foil packet. Lay foil packet on top of stew (keeps vegetables from getting too mushy).

Cover and cook 9-11 hours on low or 5-7 hours on high.

Remove foil packet. Let stew settle for 5 minutes and remove fat. Discard bay leaves. Place kale into slow cooker and cook 20-30 minutes. (However, we just cooked it a bit with olive oil on the stove top and then added it to our individual bowls before eating.)

Carefully open foil packet (watch for steam) and pour vegetables and juices into the stew. Let it heat through and mix about 5 minutes before serving.