Alice Waters' Apple Tart

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. sugar

• 1/8 tsp. salt

• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, just softened, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

• 3 1/2 Tbs. chilled water

Filling:

• 2 lb. apples (Golden Delicious or another tart, firm variety), peeled, cored, and sliced (save peels and cores)(Check out the ones from Moore Farms and Friends and Watsonia Farm)

• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

• 5 Tbs. sugar

Glaze:

• 1/2 C. sugar

Directions

1. To make dough, mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; add 2 Tbs. of the butter. Blend in a mixer until dough resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining butter; mix until biggest pieces look like large peas.

2. Dribble in water, stir, then dribble in more, until dough just holds together. Toss with hands, letting it fall through fingers, until it's ropy with some dry patches. If dry patches predominate, add another tablespoon water. Keep tossing until you can roll dough into a ball. Flatten into a 4-inch-thick disk; refrigerate. After at least 30 minutes, remove; let soften so it's malleable but still cold. Smooth cracks at edges. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 14-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Dust excess flour from both sides with a dry pastry brush.

3. Place dough in a lightly greased 9-inch round tart pan, or simply on a parchment-lined baking sheet if you wish to go free-form, or galette-style with it. Heat oven to 400°F. (If you have a pizza stone, place it in the center of the rack.)

4. Overlap apples on dough in a ring 2 inches from edge if going galette-style, or up to the sides if using the tart pan. Continue inward until you reach the center. Fold any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.

5. Brush melted butter over apples and onto dough edge. Sprinkle 2 Tbs. sugar over dough edge and the other 3 Tbs. over apples.

6. Bake in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 minutes), making sure to rotate tart every 15 minutes.

7. To make glaze, put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan, along with sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover; simmer for 25 minutes. Strain syrup through cheesecloth.

8. Remove tart from oven, and slide off parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes.

9. Brush glaze over tart, slice, and serve.

Apple Sauce

Recipe by Kitchen 1204 (Kenan Hill)

Ingredients

• 2lbs apples

• 1" section fresh ginger root (Woodland Farms)

• 2-3 cinnamon stick (optional)

• 1/2 cup- 2cup water

Directions

1. Wash 2 lbs of apples. Remove cores, seeds, and peels. Dice into 1" pieces.

2. Add apples, 2-3 cinnamon sticks (optional), 1" section of ginger root (optional), and about 1/2 cup water to large pot. Cover and simmer over low to medium-low heat for 60-90 minutes util apples break down. Stir occasionally, and add more water as necessary (if apples are sticking).

3. If you prefer chunky applesauce, you're done! Allow to cool before storing. You can leave the cinnamon sticks and ginger in the container to continue infusing flavor, or you can remove them before storing.

4. For smooth applesauce, remove cinnamon sticks and ginger. Process apples through blender or food processor. Add more water if necessary.

5. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Notes: Substitute fresh finer and cinnamon sticks with 1 tsp + each of ground finer and cinnamon (or your favorite spices). If necessary, sweeten with honey or pure maple syrup. Try adding pears, cranberries, or other seasonal fruit.

Imam Bayildi

Ingredients

• 1 medium or large egglplant

• 1 red onion

• at least 4 cloves garlic

• olive oil

• 3–4 large tomatoes

• olive oil

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 tbs honey

• black pepper

Directions

1. Remove the top of the eggplant and halve the eggplant. Make a pocket in each eggplant by slitting them from top to tail, not cutting the whole way through. Peel the skin in alternating strips. Rub them inside and out with salt and set aside for half an hour. This sweats out the bitterness. Rinse the eggplants in cold water, and squeeze the flesh with your thumbs to make the pocket bigger.

2. Meanwhile, make a fresh tomato sauce using the red onion and lots of garlic–both diced. Sautee olive oil until golden brown. Add bit of honey, a twist of black pepper, a generous glug of olive oil, and three or four chopped tomatoes. Cover, and let them simmer for ten minutes or so.

3. Back to the eggplants: squeeze them out and fry in enough olive oil to coat the pan until all sides are golden brown. Set them in an oven safe baking dish, stuff the pockets with a generous heap of tomato sauce, add about 1/2 a cup of water and a big splosh of olive oil, and bake them, covered, in a hot oven for about 45 minutes. If your dish doesn't have a lid, cover with aluminum foil.

4. You can serve them hot; but better still give them time to cool and serve at room temperature. You know how good it is to pick at a cold stew? Same thing.

Summer Squash Soup, 3 Sister's

This fantastic recipe is reprinted with the kind permission of Moore Farms and Friends, who put these beautiful summer soup kits together (shown). This delicate soup will surely become one of your favorites, too! It's an elegant way to celebrate Laurie's favorite vegetable. Many thanks to Chef Steven Satterfield for letting us share the recipe with our Members!

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 cups chopped Vidalia onion

8 cups young summer squash (zephyr, crookneck, or other tender, young variety), washed and chopped

2 cups green beans

2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups chicken broth or water

Kosher salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

A few gratings of fresh nutmeg

Directions

1. In a sauce pot, heat the butter until foamy and add the vidalias. Season the onions lightly with salt and pepper and sauté for several minutes until translucent, being careful not to brown them.

2. Add the squash to the pot and season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir well to coat and sauté for a few minutes to release the juices and flavor from the squash into the pot.

3. Add the chicken broth or water, just enough to come below the top of the vegetables in the pot. Simmer until squash is tender. Transfer in batches to a blender and blend until smooth. Serve hot with a grating of fresh nutmeg across the top of the soup. Stop here for Steven Satterfield's original soup, continue for something even better.

4. Wash, trim ends and chop Beans into 1/4" bits. Cut fresh Corn kernels from the cob. You want 2 cups of prepared Beans and Corn to add.

5. Saute Beans and Corn with 1T Olive Oil, salt and pepper until just tender.

6. Stir the veggies and 1/2 cup Heavy Cream into the prepared soup and serve warm, room temperature or chilled.

Cucumber Water, Simple

Ingredients
1 cucumber
water

Directions
1. Halve a cucumber lengthwise and cut into ½ inch slices. Simply combine cucumber and water in large pitcher and let steep for 1 hour. Add mint leaves and lemon or lime wedges for an added zing.
2. Serve over ice.

 

Summer is just around the corner, and staying hydrated should be number one on your list. We need just a few things in this world to survive and the basics are: food, water, and air. In considering this it is important to make wise decisions on how we feed our bodies. Our bodies are approximately 60% water and therefore we MUST hydrate by consuming a certain amount of water each day. Some of the water that we need to consume can come from food! There are lots of options when shopping for foods that contain boatloads of water. My number one go to veggie is the cucumber. The cucumber is 95% water. It helps keeps the body hydrated while helping to eliminate toxins. Since our farmers do not use harmful pesticides it is safe to eat the skins, which contain a good amount of vitamin C, so be sure to leave those skins on! They are also a good source of B vitamins. So if you need a little pick me up in the middle of the day skip the caffeine and eat a cucumber. Cucumber salads, cucumbers for dipping, even better make cucumber water. Here are two different ways to prepare Supper Hydration Cucumber Water!

 

Spinach (Wilted) Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh spinach leaves, stems removed and washed (Rise N Shine Farm)
1/4 cup chopped green onions (Woodland Gardens)
2 hard cooked eggs, peeled and chopped (most of the farmers have eggs)
1 cup chopped mushrooms (Sparta Imperial Mushrooms)
4 slices of bacon (Riverview Farms)
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1-tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1-cup croutons

Directions
1. Tear the Rise N Shine Farms’ spinach leaves into bite-sized pieces, and place in a large bowl. Add Woodland Gardens’ green onions, chopped eggs, and Sparta Imperial Mushrooms.

Carrot Soup

Jarrett Stieber's creamy carrot soup was a much needed feast of
sunny colors against a rainy afternoon.

Ingredients
2 bunches of baby carrots
1 quart of milk
1 quart of water
1 cup of honey
1 stick of butter
salt and lemon juice to taste

For Garnish
Sparta Imperial Lions Mane and Shiitake (cut into pieces and roast in a 350º oven until they look sexy)
some toasted peanuts
some ground espresso

Directions
1. One of the most convenient things about soup making is how easily you can see how much you'll be making. This recipe should yield enough soup for dinner, but if you need to make a bigger or smaller batch you can just fill up a bigger pot with more of everything and have more soup. This recipe is very easy to make and if you pay attention to the little details, it is extremely delicious and will impress your diners!
2. Take your carrots firstly and cut off the green tops (since the soup is blended, the greens will mix with the orange and you'll end up with a less pretty brown color). DO NOT THROW THE TOPS AWAY, THEY ARE NOT GARBAGE! From here, you can add the carrots (unpeeled and cut into smaller pieces to increase cook time) to a pot with all of the other ingredients and boil vigorously until the carrots are completely tender and mushy but not overcooked to the point of loosing their pretty orange color. The butter will 'break' and be floating at the top. That is ok! It will become friends with the rest of the soup when you put it in the blender.
3. Next, ladle enough of the soup mixture to fill your blend halfway (blend in batches because over stuffing will cause improper blending and the hot liquid will expand too much and teach a scalding lesson on how easy making a mess can be). Blend on high speed for about thirty to forty five seconds (hold the top of the blender down with your hand holding a kitchen towel for safety because the heat may cause it to pop off), until the mixture is very well blended. Should you want to put on your fancy pants, you can even pass this soup through a strainer to take any remaining clumps out and give it that velvety restaurant feel... but after it's blended, it's ready to eat! Taste it and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Garnish the soup with some of your mushrooms, toasted peanut, a good pinch of ground espresso (freshly ground, please... you worked hard on the soup, don't ruin it by sprinkling the top with brown sawdust!) and some of the carrot tops (picked from the stems like you would with parsley or any other herb).

More on Carrot Tops:
The carrot tops can also be used for purees, pesto or soup but I would recommend blanching them in water with a good pinch of baking soda added to it for a minute or two before shocking and pureeing (the alkaline water will preserve the color of the chlorophyll and keep it forest green instead of swamp brown).

Most importantly, eat your soup with ample beer or wine and good company!