Gorgonzola and new potatoes

There are not many foods that Italian Gorgonzola doesn't complement!  From fruits to steaks and every kind of vegetable, Gorgonzola is my staple blue cheese.

I ran to the farm last night to see what was available for supper and much to my surprise were crates full of beautiful red skin potatoes! 

Still a bit gritty and rosy red, I picked the smallest of them and headed home! 



A quick wash and quartering and 15 minutes of boiling gave me enough time to get some steaks going and make the decision to add Gorgonzola!  After draining the potatoes, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter, the same amount of Dolce Latta Gorgonzola and a teaspoon or so of fresh rosemary.  A quick stir and it was on the table! 

The blue cheese complemented the beef well and the potatoes were creamy and comforting, all in 20 minutes or less! 

Farmers Market Etiquette

Enfant Rouge Farmers Market Paris France

Tables of fresh lettuce all in a beautiful, towering stack, bundles of radishes still damp from their morning under the faucet, wooden quart boxes overflowing with ripe, red, fragrant strawberries, globes of fresh mozzarella cheese and jars or jewel colored jams are just a hint of what we find at the Farmers Market each week.  It's also a large part of Four Corners Creamery and Prochaska Farms weekly work load. 

Les Halles Farmers Market, Paris France

There is something special about the Farmers Market, a way to connect a person to the food we eat, a sense of community, the anticipation and surprise of what we might find to take home this week and for me personally, a bit of mystery as to what we will be eating fresh this week!

Saline Tuesday Evening Farmers Market Saline Michigan

I thought I'd share a few insider tips on how to make the Farmers Market vendors your very best friends and get the best selections for the week!

• TRUST; trust that your vendor is bring the very freshest, ripest,  finest product he has to offer!  Look for the busiest vendors, they usually have a good reputation that you can build on.  Ask them to pick the "best" of the selection for your and they gladly will! 
• KNOWLEDGE; know approximately what should be in season and what to expect this week.  All climates are different and unlike the grocery store, farmers will have only what they have grown and is ripe that week.  

• QUESTIONS; Be clear when asking questions about pesticide use, production, handling etc, and be conscience of the farmer's time as Farmers Market hours are usually limited.  Often you can ask to visit the farm or facility if you'd like more information. 

• BAGS; I always bring at least 2 bags; one for dry stuff and one for wet stuff.  I never take the wooden or plastic boxes on display, they are too bulky and cost the farmer.
• TOUCHING; I just don't do it!  This is not the grocery store that has product and produce sitting on the shelves for weeks.  Fruits and vegetables are picked ripe and sold in a short time from the farmer.  Customers handling them for 6 hours will ruin tomatoes, berries, lettuce etc.  Cheeses and breads are also fragile, not to mention, do I want to purchase food that 100 people have had their hands on that morning?  I expect the best and if I don't get it, I won't buy from that particular farmer again.
• NEGOTIATING;  I have read many articles in magazines encouraging negotiating/asking for a price break with farmers and am always flabbergasted at this notion.  I feel as the value for the asking price is always very fair, if not downright cheap.  The cost involved in getting a farmer to market is quite extensive; labor to pick and wash, cost of space at the market, gas in driving large trucks full of product, time and extras like bags, signs, etc. Also, depending on the availability of produce, the farmer is competing with everything from backyard gardeners to huge stores like sams club.  There is no level playing field in farming.  If I come across the last head of napa cabbage, I am giddy that I got there before it was gone for the week!  I don't ask for a discount.  I'm not sure where people got the idea that it's acceptable to bargain with a farmer over a 50 cent pepper or $3 watermelon....Would your employer ask you for a discount on or negotiate your paycheck?  It's the same concept.  Walking 10 feet in a farmer's shoes has me gladly paying $3 for a quart of fresh strawberries.
• ENJOY YOURSELF; The Farmers Market is the one place you can really have fun with food, enjoy the weather & your community.  You can bring your dog (check out this gal dressed up) and your  children, ride your bike and have a coffee and a multitude of tasty treats!  You can feel great about shopping locally and bring home a beautiful bouquet!      

We really love bringing Four Corners Creamery cheeses to many farmers markets in the area and have met so many lovely people, we feel very grateful that they purchase from us each week and enjoy what we make for them!  I think it's particularly special that they have chosen our cheese for their supper table.  It's being there in spirit!

Main Street Farmers Market loot! Blissfield Michigan

The Possibilities of Strawberries

Pierre LOVES Strawberries!

 Yesterday took John, Pierre and I to the family farm just a couple miles away from our home.  My brother has planted acres of strawberries in the last couple years to sell at Farmers Markets and also to fill his CSA customers weekly boxes.  He is always generous to allow us to share his bounty too! 

This week is beautiful strawberries!  It took me only about 20 minutes to pick this huge basket full and begin to indulge in springs finest fruit!  This year we are making conserve (a concentrated jam without added pectin) strawberry shortcake, Verrine with  lemon balm and bowl upon bowl or sliced strawberries with raw sugar!

A dirty but fulfilling job!

I tried a new shortcake recipe that we really enjoyed.  I'm not much for the "biscuit" type shortcake and I detest those weird sponge things at the grocery store (with a 12 year shelf life) so the experiment continues, but I think this recipe is a keeper! 


STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES:
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons self rising flour (you can make your own easily; 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt)
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 stick butter
2 Tablespoons raw sugar or demerara sugar




Mix flours together and cut in the butter until mixture resembles crumbs.  Mix in the sugar until dough just comes together.  Using your hands, form into a log, wrap with plastic and refrigerate about an hour. 

Cut dough into 6 chunks and roll out each one into a thin circle about 4 inch round.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden and just firm.  Remove from parchment immediately and place directly onto serving plates with a large spatula. 


Instead of whipped cream, I beat together a carton of mascarpone cheese with a couple tablespoons powdered sugar and a 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest.  Beat until smooth and spread evenly onto shortbread or drop a nice dollop along side your fresh strawberries.

I can't wait until you see the verrines tomorrow!  I brought back all of our yogurt containers from France JUST for these delightful desserts!  (Yes, there was much eye-rolling in security)

A Dog Birthday Party!

Birthday Boy Marty!!

Yesterday was Marty's 1st birthday.  Marty is my brother Mike's miniature Australia Shepard.  He is a little farm doggie, he helps himself to fresh vegetables from the fields, chases away the rabbits and does a great job herding all other animals and people to their appropriate places!  Marty lives across the road from my parents, so they babysit him quite frequently and he gets along well with their dog, Ajax.

Pierre LOVES his dog family!  So we thought we ought to have a birthday party for Marty with all of the trimmings!

The dog family: Marty, Pierre and Ajax

I found a cake recipe here: http://baking.food.com/recipe/dog-doggie-birthday-cake-193085 . I was out of a couple ingredients, so I adjusted to to this recipe.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup corn oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup chicken, diced small
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/4 cup carob chips
peanut butter and yogurt for frosting

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 9X5 loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter adding eggs, oil and meat.  Stir in dry ingredients and pour into pan.  Bake for 1 hour until golden brown and crispy on outside.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and turn out, leaving cake on it's top side.

Almost party ready!

I took a sharp bread knife and cut away the sides and notched the ends, so the cake resembled a dog bone.
I then frosted with peanut butter and piped MARTY with greek style yogurt (ziploc bag with end snipped off) and decorated with some carob chips.

Pierre's hat had to be customized!

Mike and Ajax; the uncles

What a hit!!!  The dogs absolutely LOVED the cake!!  They even allowed us to put party hats on them and pose for photos (sort of) for another piece of cake!  A birthday party was complete with some doggie take home treats in bags!  

 

Dessert...add your own fruit!

My grandmother, Frances Prochaska, was an amazing woman. I grew up on the farm across the road and we visited every day. She was an important example of the woman I wanted to become and I can only hope I am a quarter of what she was. Baking was something we did together often. Grandma was not a fussy baker with frostings and such but made simple, farm style, comfort desserts usually with her own fruits!

This "cobbler" recipe was her favorite and now my favorite! It is great with absolutely any fruit, takes pantry ingredients, is delicious and SIMPLE, taking only minutes to put together! I tend to put this together with supper and bake it while we are eating, then serve piping hot with a scoop of ice cream!

I had blackberries on hand, but use any fruit or combination of fruit. Peach/blueberry is classic, but peach/raspberry is yummy. You can add additional spices or a glug of brandy or liquor. I LOVE to use salted butter! Because the butter is a main component and flavor, use something of really good quality and I like the barely salty-sweet combination that salted butter provides.

1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup all purpose Flour
1 Cup Sugar, divided into 3/4 of a cup and 1/4 of a cup
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
3/4 Cup Milk
1 Pound Fruit, cleaned, pitted, sliced (whatever you need to do to it!)

Place stick of butter in a casserole dish (I use a 5X7) and place in oven to melt while oven is preheating to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar and baking powder until throughly blended. Add milk and whisk until just smooth.
Pour batter on top of melted butter-DO NOT MIX- and top with fruit-DO NOT MIX-sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar on top-DO NOT MIX and bake for 40-50 minutes until a lovely dark golden brown.

Rich, buttery, crispy, sweet & salty....easy. You can even use canned fruit if you're in a pinch. Praise and thanks can go to Frances Prochaska.

bountiful...Cherry Tomato Tart

It was a day! 80 degrees without a hint of humidity, nothing but blue sky and nothing on the to-do list! Rare day indeed! I so enjoyed working in the gardens and washing the car, taking a short siesta at 3pm and watching the curtains blowing in the breeze.

I do have a vegetable garden even though my brother, Mike, is the owner of Prochaska Farms vegetables. MY tomatoes, basil, fennel, peppers and haricot verts taste better than his. I think it's the "sweat and blood" factor as well as the plucking from the vines. It just doesn't seem as sweet if you haven't invested yourself.

So on the menu is a Cherry Tomato Tart! I have made several tomato tarts in the past and they all seemed a bit too "wet", so we are taking the best from the rest and creating our own! Simple, simple and simple is the word of this recipe. You can use large, heirloom tomatoes as well, but choosing a less juicy tomato is the trick to making these tarts.

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 1/2 Tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 Tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour and salt, add butter and combine with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add ice water and using a fork, stir until dough just begins to come together. Do not over process...this leads to tough dough and applies to all pastry dough. Form dough into a ball and put in fridge for about 30 minutes.

On a floured surface roll out dough until about 2 inches larger than pan. Place dough in pan and press into bottom and edges. Cut excess dough from edge of pan and bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

REDUCE OVEN TO 350 DEGREES after baking shell!


Filling:
1 lb. or so of different colored cherry tomatoes cut in half
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons good quality Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard (I used Maille)
6 ounces Fresh Chevre (goat cheese...of course I used Four Corners Creamery!)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon Fresh Basil, chopped
1 Tablespoon Fresh Sage, chopped
1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Optional: a few chopped black olives and a Tablespoon of Pine Nuts (toasted)

In a saute pan over medium heat, heat olive oil and cook cherry tomatoes about 2 minutes. Add garlic and sugar, stir to coat evenly and cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Mix together egg and goat cheese until smooth and add fresh herbs, season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Spread mustard on bottom of tart crust and top with cheese mixture. Arrange tomatoes on top and bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with olives and pine nuts before serving. Serve hot or room temperature.

We went all European and served with an incredible pork pate made in Detroit (I'm going to have this at The Boulevard Market before long, as I am officially addicted!) and barely scrambled eggs fresh from the Main Street Farmers Market and ate fresh peaches with juice running down our chins! A beautiful summer meal with the family.

Late Summer Corn Chowder

Pisum sativum; Sweet Corn

Born and raised in a farming family, there are 2 types of sweet corn; "not enough" and "too much"! Every year, we wait for the first glossy kernels to ripen and explode in your mouth with the first bite! We are impatient and eat them a bit too young, but it matters not, because they are so delicious! At the end of the season, we are taking those golden stalks for granted and we're PICKY! "This is overripe", "this is too chewy", "are we having sweet corn again?!", "not as sweet as last weeks'" and on it goes. We are cutting the stuff off of the cobs like no tomorrow and running out of ziploc bags and vacuum sealer bags. The counters are sticky, and you can't seem to get every little cut kernel swept off the floor. However, those fat little bags of steamy corn will remind us of summer come January...and you can't just throw it away!

With a rain storm brewing last evening, I made my favorite corn chowder. Rich, thick, packed with flavor and garnished with cheese! It was a masterpiece that I'd like to share with you! I actually saved about 3 days worth of leftover sweet corn just for the soup, so no waste! I hope you enjoy as much as we did! I served my soup with toasted bagels layered with a bit of cream cheese and a thick slice of fresh tomato! Late Summer....

10 ears of sweet corn blanched and cut from cob
1 1/2 medium sweet white onions, chopped
1 pound baby red potatoes, washed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 pound of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 Tablespoons good quality olive oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
8 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 Tablespoon fresh snipped chives
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, snipped
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, snipped
1/2 pound of good quality cheddar cheese

In a large dutch oven, brown bacon in olive oil until crispy. Remove bacon and add fresh onions and saute over medium heat until translucent and soft. Add flour and butter and cook about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add stock and potatoes and let cook about 15 minutes until potatoes are fork tender. Add sweet corn, herbs and heavy cream and reduce heat to simmer about 10 minutes or until soup has thickened. Garnish with shredded Irish cheddar cheese from The Boulevard Market and bacon.

This is a rather large batch, but you can share with a friend or have leftovers! I have also thrown in a small container of leftover cooked rice and that was fabulous! All of my produce is compliments of Prochaska Farms...we trade cheese and labor for vegetables and pick up truck usage!

French Cooking with Sophie

For the month of July we have been hosting a young woman from Paris by the name of Sophie. We have had a wonderful time! We have stayed here in Michigan, and found new joy in some of the everyday things we do!

Last night, Sophie and I baked for The Boulevard Market's first-ever "French Social"! The French Social was created as a way to get friends and neighbors together, that have a common love of France, French cooking, travel and wine! Each guest is invited to share photos, food and memories of their time in France or their dreams of going to France. Who has the best advice, but the ones who have done it?!

I put together a small basket of treasures that I purchased in France just for this occasion, to have a prize giveaway and Sophie and I tied up bouquet garni with Le Monde newsprint as a small gift for each attendee, herbs courtesy of Prochaska Farms!

Gerard Bertrand Pinot Noir is on the menu and of course a bevy of beautiful french cheeses, Cantal, Roquefort, Morbier, Camembert and Baguettes!

Sophie and I went over a few recipes and decided on a few easy appetizers to share, that she loves and misses! Cheese Straws, Gougeres and Meringues!

We had a great time baking together and sampling our efforts! These are fairly simple recipes with a bit of technique involved, but no one will criticize that...they will be too busy eating! I will post some photos of the event tomorrow...berets included!


Gougeres

1 cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup flour
4 large eggs
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan , over medium heat, combine milk, butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg until scalded. (Scalded is just below boiling point) Add flour all at once and stir until smooth dough is formed. Turn heat to low and continue cooking about 2 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat eggs & cheeses until smooth. Dump hot mixture into eggs and whisk until smooth and eggs are incorporated.

Spoon mixture into a pastry bag and pipe out into approx. 2 inch balls. You may need to press lightly after piping to form a nice little ball. Bake 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Serve immediately, or if making ahead, warm in a 425 oven for 5 minutes.




MERINGUES

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a whisk attachment on an electric mixer, beat egg whites & cream of tartar on medium speed until frothy. Add 1 cup of the sugar, raise speed to high and beat until whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Fold in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar carefully.

Fill a pastry bag with meringue and pipe onto parchment paper into desired shapes. You can make a style, or try making small bowls to hold fruit and whipped cream!

Bake for 2 hours or until meringues are dry but not browned. Turn off heat and allow meringues to sit in oven 4 hours or overnight.

Store in airtight container!

Cherries...

Some of my fondest memories are about a cherry tree. The family farm had the biggest, gnarliest, sweet cherry tree! Huge trunk, large branches that were low to the ground (except when you're 5!) and notches that you could sit in all day, and I did. This cherry tree was magical, full of birds and nests, hiding spots and cool breezes, it was also our favorite spot for family pictures and created many mean pies.
The tree is ancient and now most of the branches have died, but there is still a branch that won't give up. It saddens me to see it so broken and old, yet, it has given so much over the years that we can't help but treasure it today!

As John and I planted a sweet cherry at our place last year, I wanted a special recipe that would highlight my favorite fruit. I will be old (er) before massive production kicks in, but I'm keeping these branches low, so I will always be able to pick cherries!

Clafoutis is a French dessert that I love...not too sweet, bursting with fruit and rich. My favorite recipe comes by way of the French Feasts cookbook and with only a slight variation. Enjoy!

1 pound of sweet black cherries, pitted
1 cup flour
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla

Butter a 7X11 casserole dish (9X13 is a little too big, but 9X9 is too small...you may need to dig in your cabinet for your right size! Add a little time to baking if using a smaller dish, it will still turn out great!) and arrange cherries in it.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, mound flour and mix in the eggs one at a time, not allowing the dough to get lumpy, not all flour can be incorporated. Slowly add some milk to keep batter-like. Stir in 1/4 cup of sugar and extract.
Pour over cherries and bake about 25 minutes until golden brown and puffed up. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Serve at room temperature.

The clafoutis will cut more like a cake than a cobbler and you can totally change the fruit to whatever you like. It also tastes great with a hard sauce poured over it, or a scoop of ice cream!
Enjoy!