Straight from the Farm

Grilled Stuff Banana Peppers:  An easy recipe that adapts to whatever peppers you might have on hand. 

Homemade Herb Croutons: Sure, anyone can make a salad…but why not make yours extra special?  Or slice the bread thin instead of in cubes and set them out in a bowl instead of the prerequisite potato chips.

Farm Salsa:  Speaking of snacks, set out a bright bowl of this salsa with some homemade tortilla chips and watch the kids actually beg to eat more vegetables!

Sorrel and Almond Pesto:  Whir together a batch of this pesto and use it on lots of finger foods, such as tomatoes and toast, mini pizzas, or chicken tenders grilled on skewers.

Empanadas: Bring a little South American flare with you to the gathering. Since kohlrabi is out of season now, consider a mix of squash, zucchini and corn.  Throw in a few tomatillos for some zing.  No matter what the filling, these little doughy pockets make the perfect travel-happy entrée

Chocolate Beet OR Zucchini Cupcakes:  Dessert is always the first thing on my plate at a picnic.  Shameful, I know. These cupcake recipes let you sneak in some extra vitamins with your daily dose of chocolate. 

Cantaloupe Gelato or Watermelon Sorbet:  If you’re hosting the party and have an ice cream maker on hand, definitely impress your guests with some refreshing and unusual frozen delights.

Now that you’re armed to the teeth with menu ideas, get out to a local farmers market near you tomorrow and stock up on the ingredients for a fabulous and fresh fiesta.  And be sure to toast Farmer Dave’s birthday! 

What to do with a crisper drawer full of odds and ends that weren’t thrown into some other dish this during the week?  Well, if it were a chilly autumn Saturday afternoon, I would have most eagerly put on a pot of stew to simmer.  But since it’s still August and keeping the stove on for more than 20 minutes means a torturous death, I thought I’d try something else.

D pesters me on an almost daily basis now to make something for him and not for the blog.  You see, as dear a man as he is, he doesn’t have the most wide ranging of tastes.  So most of the dishes I prepare to post on the blog are to “exotic” for his preferences.   So is that I sometimes feel like I need to find more kid-friendly recipes to put on here.  Not that I’m trying to sucker punch him by making reference to kids…it’s just that his level of pickiness as an eater rivals that of a 10 year-old’s.   So when I came across this recipe in one of my most dog-earred cookbooks, I knew that despite it’s odd greek name, it’d be the perfect dish to get D to eat his veggies.  And to clear out my crisper drawer.

I’ve done zucchini fritters on here earlier this summer, but those were more like a crab cake than these easy greek-style fried slices.  The process couldn’t be simpler, and it worked just as well on eggplant as it did zucchini.   Apparently the dunking of the vegetables in cold water just before frying is what creates the nice crispy outer layer - almost tempura-like in look and taste.   My best piece of advice is to eat them as fast as you can though.  The hotter they are, the tastier.  Once they cool, they’re kinda boring.  But when they’re hot, oh baby!

Kolokithi Tiganito (Greek Zucchini/Squash Fritters)
Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian

1 medium zucchini
1 medium summer squash
1 medium eggplant
 *or just use one variety of the above if you’d like
1 t. salt

1 c. all-purpose flour
pinch of salt and pepper
3/4 c. peanut or canola oil for frying

Slice vegetables into thin rounds, about 1/3 inch thick.  Put them in a bowl and sprinkle generously with 1 teaspoon of salt.   Toss to coat evenly and allow to sit for about an hour.  Drain thoroughly and spread slices in a sinlge layer on paper towel.  Cover tops with more paper towel and press to dry completely.

Combine flour with pinch of salt and pepper on a large shallow plate.  In a large cereal bowl, place a cup or more of cold tap water.  Begin assembling fritters by dredging vegetable slices in flour and putting to the side until all slices are coated in flour.  Put oil in skillet over high heat.  When oil is good and hot, dunk each flour-coated slice of vegetable very quickly in the cold water before place carefully in the hot oil (be careful as the oil will “spit” at you).  Add only as many vegetables will fit in a single layer in the skillet.  Allow to fry on one side for 3 minutes or so until golden brown (they will brown so give them a bit longer if they are still pale after 3 minutes).  Flip over and allow the other side to brown.

Remove fritters from skillet with a slotted spoon or “spider” and drain on a plate covered with paper towel.  Repeat the process until all fritters are fried.  Sprinkle plate of hot fritters with a generous pinch of coarse salt and serve immediately with ketcup or greek-style yogurt. 

(serves 4 to 5 as a side)

We’re in our unofficial last week of summer here and I figured time was running out to embrace one of the season’s favorite sweethearts…fresh corn.  We’re not growing corn at the farm since we don’t have the acreage to support it.  But at Headhouse, our farm stand is cattycorner to a stand with the most amazing big white juicy ears.   While eyeing up the tangy fresh tomatillos at our stand and the corn at theirs, a passerby mentioned making a corn and tomatillo chowder once.  That’s all it took to sell me on the idea of combining bright tanginess with creamy sweetness in a cool soup to send summer on her way. 

It was nice to get the soup pot out again.  It’s by far my best highest quality pot or pan.  It’s a justified indulgence since in the colder months I make it a habit of conjuring up some for other soup on a lazy Sunday afternoon that supplies my lunches for a week.  Soups are sorta my “thing”.  But I rarely make them in the summer and this chowder was a nice change of pace - a foreshadowing of the approaching autumn I’m so eagerly anticipating. 

I have a basic creamy corn soup recipe I’ve got memorized from repeated and frequent use so switching it up a bit with some tomatillos and a hot pepper was easy enough.  I think next time I might try caramelizing the tomatillos in a bit of oil instead of boiling them to see if that brings out some smokiness in the final product.  Or perhaps a flame roasted poblano pepper instead of the Hungarian Hot Wax?   But I’d better not mess too much with a good thing.  Or at least not this summer since corn season’s about to run out.

By the way, in case your scowling at the idea of soup in summer, this one’s quite good when served chilled.  It would go nicely with some fried tortilla strips, BBQ ribs and a side of creamy coleslaw.   

CORN AND TOMATILLO CHOWDER
Adapted from a basic corn chowder recipe in The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Soup

2 T. peanut or corn oil
4 large shallots or 1 medium onion, diced
1 hot pepper such as Hungarian Hot Wax, diced
1 sweet pepper (purple, red or green), diced
2 ears of fresh sweet corn, kernels cut off (about 2 cups)
12 or so tomatillos
3 c. of vegetable or chicken stock
1 c. light cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Husk tomatillos, place in a small sauce pan and cover with water.  Place on high heat until water boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes until tomatillos loose their bright color and float to the top. 

Meanwhile, heat oil in large deep skillet.  Add the diced onion and peppers, reserving a tablespoon or so of the pepper for garnish later, to the hot skillet and saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until they get soft and brown on the edges.  Add the corn kernels to the skillet and saute for 2 minutes until softened and the color pales.  Finally, drain tomatillos from their hot water and add to skillet to toss with sauted vegetables.  Stir to incorporate.

Carefully pour contents of skillet into a blender (or use an immersion blender - so much easier) and process until smooth, adding a little stock if needed to loosen it up.  Transfer blended contents back to skillet and slowly add in stock over low heat.  Allow soup to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes to scrap up any corn sticking to the bottom of the skillet. 

Remove skillet from heat and stir in cream.  Serve soup chilled or warm.  If serving warm, gently reheat - never allow soup to come to a boil.  Garnish each bowl of soup with diced pepper and thin slices of an uncooked tomatillo. 

(makes 4 large servings)

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  And in this post, my imitation of a summer refreshment on one of my new favorite food blogs is most defintely meant to be genuine flattery.  The Traveler’s Lunchbox comes from across the “pond” - Scotland to be exact.  Melissa is a kindred spirit; she is a woman after my own heart who worships fresh ripe watermelon in the same unabashed way as me.   In fact, it was her Melon’s of Memory post that first hooked me on her blog.  

As far as I know, there’s no rule book on blogging, or if there is, I haven’t been shipped my copy yet.   My own rule thus far has been to not copy another blogger’s idea too closely.  If I can’t make something truly my own, I’d rather not post it.  But as with all rules, this one is about to be broken.  Melissa did such an amazing job with this recipe, and it’s just so good that I can’t do much more than give her all the credit and post her fabulous idea with a few minor changes. 

There’s a sorry lack of rosewater here in Philadelphia.  And I also used yellow watermelon since I had gotten such a large one at the farm last week. And I cut back on the simple syrup since I found the flavor of yellow melon didn’t stand up to the sugar’s more intense sweetness.  Or perhaps that’s because I used natural raw sugar instead of the refined white sugar…?  In any case, when it’s all said and done, this is a simple and fabulous recipe idea that deserves all the cross referencing posts it can get.   It would make a lovely final course for a nice dinner party - refreshing and light.  My only problem is how to file it…is it a beverage or is it a dessert?  Or even a palette cleanser for between courses?  Well, like I said -  make your own rules and then break them when the mood strikes you. 

WATERMELON IN LIME MINT SYRUP
Adapted from The Traveler’s Lunchbox

1 c. water
1/2 c. sugar (use raw sugar if you have it handy)
1 medium watermelon
2 t. lime juice or to taste
2 t. spearmint water (or use rosewater if you can find it)
several ice cubes

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, stir together the water and sugar to create a simple syrup.  Stir occasionally until all sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and chill. 

While syrup is chilling, begin to cut up the watermelon.  Remove all seeds - this is one reason I chose the yellow melon instead of the red Sugar Babies the farm is growing since the yellow Sorbet Swirl has far fewer seeds than most red varieties.  Or course, you can just buy seedless and skip this step altogether.  Once seeds and rinds are removed, cube melon into roughly 1/2 inch cubes (about the size of dice). 

In a large pitcher or bowl, combine watermelon with lime juice and spearmint water.  Add ice cubes and about 1/2 c. of simple syrup.  Stir all together, adding some cool water and more syrup as needed to reach desired flavor.  Allow ice cubes to melt completely before serving in small shallow bowls or tumblers with spoons for eating the watermelon.

Watermelon should be eaten relatively soon after being prepared.  It will keep for about a day or so if covered in the refrigerator. 

(serves 5 to 6)

I was so blown away by the beauty of the ingredients for this quick dish that I would rather not say a lot.  Instead, let me just show you.  As beautiful as the pictures are, the taste and texture of these quesadillas with tomatillo sauce and squash blossoms are even more exquisite. 

Quesadillas with Tomatillo Sauce and Squash Blossoms
Inspired by a Mexican food vendor at the Headhouse Farmers Market

1 lb. or 3 c. of fresh tomatillos
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 hot pepper (such as Hungarian Hot Wax), diced
generous pinch of salt
1/4 c. fresh chopped cilantro or sorrel (optional)
1 T. lemon juice (optional)

6 fresh squash blossoms per quesadilla
2 flour tortillas per quessadilla
1/2 c. shredded cheese (mexican mix or other) per quesadilla

Husk tomatillos and give them a quick rinse to remove stickiness from skins.  Place in a medium saucepan and add about 2 cups of water to cover.  Place pan over medium heat and bring water up to a boil.  Turn heat down to medium-low and allow tomatillos to simmer for 10 minutes until they begin to pale in color and float to the top.  Lift tomatillos out with a slotted spoon (they will be full of water) and put them into a blender.

Add diced onion and pepper and chopped herbs and lemon juice (if using) to the blender and pulse until a rough puree forms.   If need be, add a little water from that in which the tomatillos boiled.  Taste and add salt or more herbs as needed. 

Once the sauce has been made, assemble quesadillas by spreading a generous layer of tomatillo sauce on a tortilla.  Next sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over sauce and add squash blossoms before topping with the second tortilla.   Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray.  Place quesadilla in skillet and brown on one side for 2 to 3 minutes.  Spray top with more cooking spray and flip to brown on the other side. 

Serve immediately with extra tomatillo sauce on the side for dipping.  For a little extra flavor, sprinkle a little coarse salt over the tops as soon as they come off the stove.   Repeat process for each quesadilla.  You can also add additional fillings such as shredded chicken or sauteed mushrooms.   

(sauce makes enough for 4 quesadillas)

Another idea for using up the tomatillo sauce is to toss it with some roasted potatoes.