One Local Summer Week 10

Finally!



It seems from this haul that summer is really here! The Yankees are in first place, the warm weather has arrived and the garden is in full swing. Makes that wet, cold June so far away.

Last week while shopping at Marshall's in the cooking section, I came across a can of clams. To my surprise, when I looked closer at the label I realized they were from Maine. What a great find; I love having canned clams around for a quick meal, and what a bonus to have some that would even be local for us!

Linguini and Clams Casino (for 4)

3/4 pound of linguini
1-2 cans of clams
olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
4 slices bacon, chopped
oregano (we used fresh from our garden)
salt and pepper
white wine or seafood stock (I freeze mine in ice cube trays to use a little at a
time.)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt heavily. Add the linguini and cook to al dente. Meanwhile, warm a skillet over medium-low heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the pan. Add the bacon to the pan and cook until just crisp, but not too brown. Add the garlic, cooking until you can smell it, but not browned. Add the clams, with their juice. Turn the heat up so the juices begin to bubble. The liquids should thicken up a bit, and if you go too far, add a splash of wine or cube of stock to the pan (you can also add either for flavor if you wish). Add salt and pepper to taste. When the pasta is ready, add it immediately to the pan. Add the oregano and stir up the pasta and sauce well.

You could also add chopped tomatoes or chopped red bell pepper to this dish if you wish. It's also best served with a sprinkling of crushed red pepper on top.

One Local Summer Week 9

Squash and eggs. For me, one of the most comforting things about summer. Growing up in an Italian family, we often had traditional Sunday suppers, where we all sat down around 2 in the afternoon to a huge bowl of pasta (usually rigatoni, but ravioli as a special treat...no wait, rigatoni with ricotta cheese! that was a special treat) with meatballs and sausage. Now, eating what would be a usual weeknight dinner so early in the day always meant that around 8 o'clock everyone was hungry again. Most times I can remember reheating pasta fazool, or some leftover pizza, but during the summer? Many nights it was squash and eggs. Squash fried up in a pan, scrambled eggs dumped on top and cooked until they were good and brown. And always eaten on the rest of the Italian bread from supper. It seems there must have been something a bit magical about that dish, because it was the only way I ever ate zucchini when I was a kid. Now, summer is never complete without a squash and eggs sandwich eaten on a Sunday night.

Squash and Eggs (two ways)

For the sandwiches:

eggs (1-2 per person)
small onion, minced
fresh zucchini or summer squash, cubed (1 small is good for 4)
Italian bread (ciabatta perhaps?) or sub rolls

Heat up a pan over medium heat with some olive oil, enough to coat the pan. Toss in the onions and cook until nearly browned. Add in the squash. Cook until at least soft, or cook until they are browned if you like them that way. While the squash is cooking, break up the eggs in a bowl. Once the squash is cooked, reduce the heat to low and add the eggs. Stir the eggs, squash and onions in the pan as the eggs cook. You can keep your eggs on the soft side if you like, but in this dish it's fine to really cook them. Add salt and pepper to taste, and put the hot eggs onto your bread. Top with some grated cheese, or not, and enjoy. Just remember to keep a tight hold on your bread, the eggs always try to squeeze out the other end!

Squash stuffed with eggs (for 4)

2 zucchini, either large or round for stuffing
3-4 eggs
1 small onion
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh herbs

Preheated 350 F oven

Cut the zucchini in half and scoop out the middle and reserve. Rub the insides with olive oil and season with salt. Place zucchini halves on a sheet pan or baking dish and place in oven for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile mince the onion and chop the reserved zucchini. Heat a pan over medium heat with enough olive oil to coat the pan. Add the onion and zucchini along with a pinch of salt (I find when frying onions that salting them helps to keep them from burning). Beat the eggs with the vegetables are cooking. When the onions and zucchini are done, reduce the heat to low and add the eggs. Stir the eggs while cooking. They are done when they are still a bit soft. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the zucchini from the oven and add the eggs to each. Return the zucchini to the oven for 5 minutes. Before serving, add some chopped fresh herbs (I love oregano with these) or grated cheese.

Another version of this (in the picture above) is to use a round squash and bake an egg inside of it. Bake the squash shell as above. Instead of using scrambled eggs, break an egg into the squash and return it to the oven. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the whites are set. I find this method a bit hard to get the yolks just right...most times mine end up a bit overcooked.

One Local Summer Week 8

This post will be a quick and light one. I'm currently on an older, slower desktop due to a mishap with a little boy, a glass of wine and a laptop.

Scaccia ai Broccoli (Double-crusted broccoli pizza)
adapted from: The Italian Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis

1 pound broccoli
Pizza dough (enough for 2 small pies)
8 ounces fresh ricotta (maybe homemade?)
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Crushed red chilis
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Steam broccoli until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Roll out the dough to a 12 x 24 inch rectangle. Make it as thin as necessary. Bring half of the dough onto the baking sheet. Spread the ricotta evenly over the dough that is on the baking sheet. Then sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Next, spread the broccoli evenly over the ricotta. Season again, this time adding chilis. Bring the dough resting on your work surface up and over the filling, pressing the edges together and lightly rolling the edges in. Brush the top with olive oil. Allow the scaccia to rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425F. Bake the scaccia for 30 minutes.

One Local Summer Week 7

Wow, 7 weeks already! The garden is nearly in full swing, and it is hard to keep track of the local food we've been enjoying lately. Our squash and peas are ready daily, and the broccoli and cauliflower are getting bigger everyday. I am trying to be patient before harvesting those, it would be nice to see how big they can get! Fortunately with the broccoli, after the first harvest, you still get the nice shoots they grow in after (and for which you pay a lot of money for at the grocery store). We have tasted one of our carrots, and one beet, but again, I'm trying to hold out and let them grow a bit more. The lettuce is still growing nicely, I suppose the one good thing from that long rainy month of June. I am certainly not happy about the fact that I am still waiting on our first tomato! (The sungolds should be ready in a day or two.)

We've been able to enjoy at least one or two locally grown (or garden grown) side dishes this past week. I am hoping this makes up for in a small way the terribly non-sustainable entree we had tonight: grilled swordfish. Oops. At least we served our own cauliflower and the potatoes we found growing in the compost pile.

One of my favorite dinners this week was pizza. Well, that's always my favorite. In any case, the dough this week was not the best we've ever used; I tried the no-knead version, and my husband had a difficult time working with it. It also didn't have quite the same texture that my usual recipe does. From the reviews I have seen of the no-knead recipe, it seems there must have been something I was missing. Luckily enough, the toppings made up for what lacked in the dough. We used some freshly harvested zucchini and squash blossoms, canned tomatoes, mushrooms, and some homemade mozzarella.



To make the pizzas, I used the no-knead pizza dough recipe found here. Because the dough was so soft, we decided to grill the pizzas a bit first before adding any of the toppings. We like to use a wooden peel to transfer the pizzas to the grill, so any toppings added must be done quickly otherwise the dough will begin sticking to the peel. The dough we used was so soft, it began sticking to the peel right away. After grilling the dough for a minute or two, we put it back on the peel and added the toppings. Then, back to the grill to finish cooking the dough and melting the cheese. Just be sure to have some great beer to wash it all down with!

One Local Summer Week 6

I'm so disappointed to have missed my post last week, but with all the rain making it hard to harvest local ingredients, and leaving early for our annual July family visit, I never got the chance to make a local meal. The closest I got in fact, was the Hummel's hot dog I ate on my way to Yankee Stadium on Friday. (By the way, if you have never had a Hummel's and you eat hot dogs, you need to make a point of getting to Connecticut to try one...there's nothing like it!) Thankfully we are finally seeing the sun again in New England (I may even turn on the sprinklers soon!) and I was able to get some great ingredients from our garden.

While in Italy some years ago, I had my first taste of squash blossoms. Unfortunately, once I returned to the States I was never able to find them again. One of the reasons we wanted to start our own garden was to be able to grow the ingredients we have not been able to purchase. When choosing zucchini to plant, I make it a point to find one or two varieties that claim to have numerous male blossoms (these do not produce fruit, but are needed for pollination) that are great for eating.

Farfalle with baby peas and squash blossoms

3/4 lb of farfalle (or any short dried pasta)
1 cup baby peas
12 male squash blossoms
2 Tablespoons European style butter



Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

If you have fresh peas, be sure to shuck them before cooking, you don't want snap peas in this dish.

To prepare the squash blossoms, rinse them gently under cold water to remove any debris. Carefully open the blossom, and pull out the pistil. Remove the blossoms from the rest of the stem. Chop the blossoms into fairly large pieces.

Once the water is boiling, salt it and add the farfalle. Cook the pasta to al dente, according to package directions. When the pasta has about 4 minutes remaining, begin to melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Do not allow it to brown. With 2 minutes remaining, add the blossoms to the butter and gently cook. Add the peas to the pasta pot when there is 1 minute left to cook. Drain the pasta and peas and add to the skillet. Toss the pasta, peas and blossoms together in the butter and remove from heat. Serve immediately with cheese - a fresh ricotta, feta or goat cheese is best, but you can never go wrong with a bit of parmigiano reggiano.

One Local Summer Week 4

Samplings from week 4 meals :

Squash sauteed with garlic scapes

2 summer squash or zucchini, sliced
1 garlic scaped, chopped
olive oil

Warm olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add squash and scapes. Saute until squash is browned, then turn over and continue to cook until all or most of the pieces are browned. Add salt (fleur de sel preferably) and pepper to taste just before serving. A pinch of pepperoncino is great too!

Boiled Lobsters

Fill a large stockpot with enough water to cover your lobsters and bring to a boil (feel free to use sea water if you have access to it!). Add a handful of water to the pot, and plunge the lobsters into the water (head first!). Bring the water back to a boil, and then begin timing the cooking according to their weight; 8 minutes for the first pound, 3 minutes per pound thereafter. When they are done cooking, pull them out and allow them to rest on a platter. Serve with melted butter, but great fresh lobsters don't really need anything!

Local cheeseburger (from Savage Road Farm), with Cabot Cheddar and a tomato from the Exeter Farmers' Market.

Homemade Cheese Ravioli (Serves 4)

Fresh pasta dough, rolled out into thin sheets (made from 3 eggs and 3 cups flour)
8 oz. fresh ricotta (ours was homemade from local raw milk) - this needs to be of great quality,
really smooth and creamy!
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley
3 oz grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg yolk
Pinch of nutmeg

Combine the filling ingredients (parsley, cheeses, yolk and nutmeg) in a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside.

Lay out two sheets of pasta side by side. Have a small cup or bowl of water nearby to help seal the pasta. Lay a tea towel onto a tray our cookie sheet and sprinkle with flour; you will need this ready when you finish cutting the ravioli. Scoop one tablespoon of the filling onto one of the pasta sheets. Continue to add the filling to the past at 1/2 inch intervals until the sheet is filled.



With your finger, take the water and outline the scoops of the filling, like you are painting the pasta. Lift the other sheet on top of the pasta and ravioli filling. Carefully press down, starting close to the filling, so you can press out as much air as possible.



Using a pastry or pasta roller, cut the ravioli into squares or circles.



Try to cut as close to the filling, without leaving too much extra pasta around the edges. The edges don't cook as quickly as the rest of the raviolo, and tend to be a bit firm. For the round ravioli (which I prefer, in order to avoid the thick edges and get more filling with every bite!) I used a large coffee scoop to imprint an outline before cutting with the roller. I'd love to find a mini cookie cutter to use from now on though!

Place the finished ravioli on the tea towel, and continue the process until you have used all of the filling. Most times you will have some pasta dough left over, which can be cut and dried to be used later. It does not save well without being cut first.

If you wish, the ravioli can be frozen immediately on the tray and bagged for use at a later time. To cook the ravioli, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a good handful of salt. Add the ravioli, and when the water comes to a boil again, lower the heat so the water is just above a simmer. Cooking these in boiling water will most likely cause them to burst. Check the ravioli often, they will float to the top, so I use a spoon to push them down while they cook. The ravioli will take about 5-7 minutes to cook, but I like to test them by taking a bit from the edges. Remember, the edges will be more firm then the rest, and should be cooked al dente. Drain the ravioli as soon as they are done.

These are great served with a butter and sage (fresh from the garden!) sauce or a light tomato sauce.





Local sources:

Cabot butter
Exeter Farmers' Market
Defiant Lobster Co.
Savage Road Farm
Magic Hat Brewery - Wacko

Taming the tomatoes

It seemed not too long ago that most of our tomatoes were not looking like they would ever grow more than a foot tall. We coaxed them a bit under the row covers longer than we first intended, but then again, this cool weather has lasted longer than we expected it to! Surprisingly enough the tomatoes have quickly grown to this state:




Slowly but surely, we're working out a system to tame these tomatoes. First, I had to get in there and prune the largest plants. Too many of them had branches and leaves on the ground, and because the stems were so heavy, much of the new growth was growing down instead of up. (I actually thought it was pretty cool that our heirlooms are the heartiest plants of the bunch.) We will be using a stake-and-trellis method, and instead of going out and buying new stakes, we decided to take some of the old branches from our burn pile. I am really loving the look of the branches, and after getting up some twine to hold up the plants I will be getting the longer branches up near the beans so that the scarlet runners can grow up instead of twisting around each other on the ground (when I hold them up, they are already about 4 feet tall!). And if that's not enough to have to catch up on, the weeds are out of control and we have a new pest to fend off around the squash and beans; black aphids. At least this time around, I won't kill the plants while trying to fight them. I'll be spraying that homemade hot pepper spray on a cloudy day.