recipes

Creamed Sweet Turnips

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:45:06 +0100

Our recipe this week is for a large whitish botanically-enigmatic knob in the turnip family. The Macomber turnip. also known as the Westport turnip, was introduced to Westport by the Macomber brothers in 1876. It’s crisp as a radish, sweet as rutabaga, white as a turnip, and winsomely smooth and mellow when cooked. Turnips suspiciously like these are also called Cape turnips. And before Eastham became famous for its turnips, Falmouth was known as the turnip capitol of the Cape (which is why our market bags pay homage to the root.) Whatever you call them, they’re worth seeking out --- look for them at the Windfall now that our 2011 market season is well and truly ending.

Creamed Sweet Turnips

3 lbs Macomber turnips, peeled and cubed
1 Tbs. finely minced onion
3-4 Tbs butter
¼ - ½ cup cream
salt and pepper
grated nutmeg and cinnamon
drizzle of maple syrup
finely chopped parsley

Cut peeled turnip into half-inch cubes. Put in a pan with enough salted water to float them. Bring to the boil, then simmer, partially covered, until perfectly tender, about 25 minutes. Drain well.

Meanwhile soften the onion in 1 ½ tablespoons of butter without letting it color. Stir in turnip. Mash as smooth as you can, then mash in ¼ cup cream, season to taste with salt, pepper, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, and whisk in another 1 ½ tablespoons or so butter.

You can stop right there, but for an even airier purée, don an apron and switch to a stick-blender (immersion blender). Heads-up: to avoid splattering, do not stir blender around in the purée, use an up-and-down motion instead. Plunge blender into one spot and pulse. Stop pulsing, lift out blender, plunge it into another spot and pulse again. Work around the pot until purée is super smooth. Then whisk in extra cream and butter to your liking and adjust seasoning.

Serve creamed turnips in an ovenproof dish, finishing with a fine drizzle of maple syrup and chopped parsley. (Without finishing touches, the dish can be made ahead and re-heated in the microwave.)

Asiago Crisps

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:11:15 +0100

Asiago crisps, our recipe for this week, are the perfect little cocktail nibble before you settle down to the big meal. We used Foxboro’s Asiago, available at several local winter markets. Ridiculously simple and good, these crisps, and you can easily double or treble the recipe assuming you have enough baking sheets.

Asiago Crisps

½ cup fine shreds of Asiago cheese
1tsp. flour

Heat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment. Finely grate Asiago, using firm strokes to make long shreds. Toss well with flour. Put 12 mounds of cheese on a baking sheet, using about a teaspoon for each one. Spread each mound into a thin, almost lacy, 2-inch round. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes, taking care not to burn. Lift off carefully with a spatula. Cool on a rack, and store crisps in an airtight tin until serving time.
These cheesy crisps are plain good, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun playing with flavorings. Grind black pepper over some of the Asiago circles before baking. Or sprinkle sparsely with poppy seeds, or minced herbs, such as fresh rosemary, thyme or sage.

Note: For Foxboro’s vintage Asiago, which is drier, use half the amount of flour and skip flavorings – it’s wonderfully nutty just as is.

Butternut-Apple Soup

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:53:14 +0100

Winter squashes, the tough-skinned ones, usually keep well, but are harder to peel. If you’ve a tried and true way of peeling squash, stick with it. But if the job seems daunting, try tackling it in small bits. Take butternut, for example. First truncate the squash where the neck meets the body. Next slice the body longitudinally in half, then into quarters. Scoop out the seeds. To make small dice for purées and soups, cut each quarter crosswise into ½-inch slices and pare away the skin with a small sharp knife. Then cut the slices into ½-inch dice. For the neck, just cut into ½-inch rounds, peel and dice, and you’re ready to make this delectable soup.

Butternut-Apple Soup
Serves 4-6

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 2 ¼ --2 ½ lbs.)
1 small onion, peeled and diced
2 Tbs. or so butter
salt, pepper, and a fresh sage leaf
3 cups water
1 cup fresh apple cider (or juice)
To finish:
1 small apple, cored and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 Tbs. or so butter
4-6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream or stirred sour cream
drizzle of maple syrup

In a large pan, slowly sweat the onion in 2 tablespoons butter and a teaspoon of water. Stir often and cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Mix in diced squash, seasoning well with salt and pepper. Add water, cider and a large sage leaf. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until squash is perfectly tender. Cool soup slightly then blitz in batches in a blender (or purée with an immersion blender straight in the pot).

To finish: Sauté diced apple in butter until golden, and stir in sage. Check soup for seasoning and gently reheat. Ladle soup into warm individual bowls. Swirl in cream. Spoon over apple and sage, and drizzle in a few spots of maple syrup.

Roasted Cauliflower

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:00:31 +0100

Last week we ran a recipe for roasted eggplant. This week we’re roasting cauliflower. Even people who profess not to like cauliflower one bit can fall in love with this dish. Roasting brings out the sweetness of cauliflower and slightly caramelizes it. And the recipe couldn’t be easier.

Roasted Cauliflower
1 lb or so cauliflower, washed and trimmed
3-4 Tbs. mild olive oil
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
½ tsp. fresh chopped thyme, or parsley

Preheat oven to 400F. Slice a whole head of cauliflower, or large florets, from top to bottom to make cross-sectional slices about half an inch thick. (Think brain scan.) Put slices, and any cauliflower bits that have crumbled off, on lightly oiled baking trays -- you may need two -- arranging the slices in one layer. Brush cauliflower all over with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about half an hour, turning the slices once or twice, until cauliflower is tender and nicely browned. In the final minutes of cooking, squeeze over a little lemon juice and scatter over thyme. Serves 3 - 4 as a side dish.

Roasted Eggplant with a garlic-yoghurt sauce

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:35:37 +0100

As evenings get cooler, we don’t mind switching on our ovens and roasting vegetables at high temperature. You might want to try roasting eggplants while they are still plentiful. Choose the regular glossy dark eggplants for this. The addition of a pinch of turmeric is less for taste than for color – it imbues the eggplant slices with a golden hue. You can omit it if you don’t have ground turmeric handy.

Roasted Eggplant with a garlic-yoghurt sauce
1 medium eggplant
2 Tbs. light olive oil, plus extra for oiling baking tray
scant ¼ tsp. ground turmeric
salt and pepper
For the yoghurt sauce:
4 Tbs. Greek yoghurt
1 clove garlic
sea-salt , or Kosher salt
1 tsp. light olive oil
½ tsp. lemon juice
cream, half and half or milk
To finish: 1 tsp. finely chopped or julienned mint leaves
2 tsp. finely chopped walnuts
paprika

Preheat oven to 400 F, with a baking tray inside. Meanwhile, make the yoghurt sauce (see below.) Slice eggplant into thickish ½-inch or so rounds. Mix 2 tablespoons olive oil with turmeric and salt and pepper. Brush seasoned oil on both sides of the eggplant slices. Remove the hot baking tray from the oven and add just enough plain oil to glisten the bottom. (Alternatively, line the bottom of the pan with non-stick foil.) Add the eggplant slices and roast for about half an hour, turning the slices once or twice, until tender and golden brown.

For the sauce: Finely chop the garlic with a pinch of coarse salt, then mash it to a paste with the side of the knife. (Or use a garlic crusher.) Stir garlic into yoghurt; add lemon juice and olive oil, and enough cream or milk to thin sauce to a runny drizzling consistency. Check sauce for seasoning and let flavors mingle until ready to serve. Arrange roasted eggplant on a plate, drizzle with sauce, strew over walnuts and mint, and dot here and there with paprika. Serve remaining sauce on the side. Serves 2 as a side dish or as part of a meatless meal with grains and salad.

Wilted Beans

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:09:30 +0100

It’s been the vogue for a while to barely cook green beans—just plunge in boiling salted water for a few minutes until crisp tender. And, especially if they are skinny, beans are good cooked like that, in a squeaky, vibrant-green sort of way. There’s something to be said, though, for cooking beans over very low heat in their own buttery juices until they’ve wilted into a sweet, rich, slightly caramelized heap. A comforting dish, especially now the evenings are drawing in.

Wilted Beans
For 4
1 lb or so green beans, not ultra-skinny, trimmed
1 Tbs. mild olive oil
1 Tbs butter
salt and pepper
squeeze. lemon juice
1 Tbs. chopped parsley

Warm butter and oil in a medium pan over gentle heat . (A non-stick or heavy-bottomed pan works well for this.) Rinse beans, and halve any larger ones, so they’re all more or less the same size. Add beans, still wet from rinsing, to the pan. Turn beans over in the butter and oil for a few minutes until well coated.

Season with salt and pepper, stir in a tablespoon of water (or stock if you have it) and cover the beans with a circle of cooking parchment or foil cut to the size of the pan. (If you use foil you can make the circle a bit larger and “pinch up” a handy little grab-hold in the center.) Lay this first cover directly over the beans, then cover pan with a lid. Cook very slowly for 20-30 minutes, uncovering the beans several times to stir and add a splash of water or stock if the pan gets dry—you want the beans to caramelize just a bit but not burn. When beans are done, glistening with juices and flecked with the odd spot of brown, add a squeeze of lemon juice and check seasoning. Scatter over parsley and serve ---with fish or meat, and steamed or roasted potatoes on the side.

Sticky Plum Paste

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:46:15 +0100

We still hope to see peaches and plums, the stone-fruits of late summer, before they vanish for another year. Here’s a recipe for a gooey plum paste that makes an unusual addition to a cheese plate. It’s also good with roasted meats, game and turkey. And, of course, you can use it in sandwiches or spread on toast.

Sticky Plum Paste
1 lb or so purple plums, washed
2 cups sugar
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
2-3 leaves Thai or other anise-scented basil (optional)

Halve plums and remove stones. Cut plums into pieces and blitz in a blender to purée the fruit. Keep blending until skins are mere specks. Measure purée – you should have about 2 cups. Measure 2 cups sugar. Put 2 tablespoons of water in a heavy medium-size pan, add plum purée and stir in sugar and lemon juice. Bring to the boil and skim. Moderate heat a bit and add anise-scented basil.

Let plum purée bubble steadily for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly. Meanwhile chill a small plate in the freezer. As soon as the purée is thick, dark and looks almost toffee-like, put a teaspoonful on the chilled plate, return to the freezer for a couple of minutes and check if it sets. (Cook a little longer and test again if it doesn’t.) Carefully pour hot paste into a shallow dish (a rectangular dish if you have one) fishing out basil with tongs.

Cool; transfer to the fridge to finish setting. Serve, by the small sticky spoonful, with cheese – a sharp cheese like Parmesan, or aged Dutch cheeses, or even (at the other end of the spectrum) a creamy Brie. Keep plum paste covered with cling film in the fridge.

Sugared Peaches

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:34:12 +0100

We’re still enjoying peaches, one of summer’s quintessential treats. Easily bruised, peaches are often brought to market on the hard side. Put them inside a paper bag (side by side, rather than all piled up) and give them a day or two to fully ripen. Here’s a simple way to prepare peaches, to serve with cream or ice-cream. You’ll need to peel and pit them. You’re usually told to blanch the whole peach, then skin and halve it to remove the stone. If you’ve had plenty of practice at this, great -- but skinned peaches are apt to be slippery and susceptible to dents. So, for the less practiced, here’s another way to go about it. Either way, once your peaches are prepped, the rest is a breeze.

Sugared Peaches
For 4

3 medium-to-large firm ripe peaches (1 lb or so)
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 Tbs. sugar

Wash peaches. Halve each peach by cutting it lengthwise, rotating your knife around the stone, and following the fruit’s natural crease. Cup peach halves in your hands and carefully twist until the two halves come apart. Ease out the stone. Boil a large kettle of water. Put 2 peach halves in a loaf tin or bowl that holds them steady, and pour just-boiled water around them, reaching up to the brim of the peach halves (but not over them.) A bare minute later, remove peach halves, dunk in cold water, and peel off the skin. (If skin doesn’t come off easily, scald peach halves in freshly-boiled water just a little longer.) Repeat for the second peach, then the third, scalding with freshly-boiled water each time.

Place skinned peach halves flat-side-down on a board and cut each half into 6 slices. Gently toss with lemon juice in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar and mix again. Leave until all the sugar has melted into a syrup and serve peaches right away, or cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Bread and Tomato Salad

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:35:25 +0100

Peachtree Circle has been growing at least half a dozen tomato varieties this year at its Sippwissett farm. They include sweet small Sun Golds, Lillian’s Heirloom Yellow, orange Kellogg’s Breakfast, beautifully lobed red Soldacki, Eva Purple Ball (reminiscent of Brandywines) dusky Cherokee Purple and some amazing long tomatoes with crooked tips that look like hot red peppers. Real tomatoes in all shapes and sizes, with loads of personality! (If you’ve read Tomatoland, Barry Estabrook’s eye-opening best-seller about the modern tomato industry, you’ll be all the more grateful for locally-grown tomatoes like these.) Carrie Richter from Peachtree Circle will happily guide you through each variety’s flavor and texture.

Bread and Tomato Salad
Ripe tomatoes, almost bursting with juice, and dry left-over bread (to sop up their juices) are the prime ingredients for this rustic salad. If you don’t have dried-out bread (or baguette) at hand, use lightly-toasted bread instead. What you’ll need per person:
1 large, very ripe tomato
salt and pepper
½ tsp. red wine or sherry vinegar
2 tsp. olive oil
1 dry (or lightly toasted) slice of bread
2 slices red onion, stacked and chopped
few torn up leaves of fresh basil or oregano
1 bocconcini, or thick slice of fresh mozzarella
few small black olives, optional

Cut tomato into cubes (about ¾-inches) saving all the juice on the cutting board. Tip tomato and juice into a small soup bowl. Season well with salt, pepper, vinegar and oil. Stir in chopped onion, and leave for 5 minutes to let more juices run and flavors mingle. Cut or tear bread into rough cubes about the same size as tomato chunks. Add to the bowl, mixing to coat bread in juice. Cut or tear mozzarella into rough cubes (ragged edges catch juices better.) Stir mozzarella and herbs into salad. Taste for seasoning; add a final sprinkle of vinegar and drizzle of olive oil if salad looks dry – though if your tomato is luscious and juicy, that probably won’t be necessary. Add olives, if you like, and your salad is ready.
Market variation: instead of Mediterranean herbs and olives, add local zing with 1-2 teaspoons Singe-sations jalapeno topping.

Further reading: Tomatoland is available through Eight Cousins bookstore, a few minutes’ walk from the market.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Basil and Garlic

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:08:39 +0100

Tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic and olive oil…. All are available now at our market. Together they form the basis of many a great summer dish. Including this one for baked tomatoes, which delivers great flavor with a minimum of fuss.

Tomatoes stuffed with basil and garlic

4 medium-large firm ripe tomatoes
2 fat cloves of garlic, halved lengthways
4 large basil leaves
sea-salt
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Find an ovenproof dish that will hold tomatoes snugly – you want a tight fit. Core tomatoes at the stalk end. Use a paring knife, or even a small apple corer, taking care not to perforate tomatoes at their base. Stuff half a garlic clove into each cavity, followed by a large basil leaf. Season well with salt.

Place tomatoes upside down (core down) into an ovenproof dish. Pour olive oil over and around the tomatoes, enough to film the bottom of the dish by a good ¼ inch. Slide dish into a 350F oven for about an hour, or until the tomatoes are soft, somewhat wrinkled, and starting to brown. To serve, carefully spoon out tomatoes onto individual plates with a puddle of their fragrant oil.

Note: Serves 4 as an accompaniment to fish, chicken or lamb. Any left-over oil can be stored in the fridge and used for dressing pasta or salads.