Roast Beets with Pine Nuts and Feta

For me I find the easiest ways to cook beets is to peel them with a knife and roast them, no need to scorch your fingertips peeling boiled beets.  Preheat your oven to 375 while you cut off the ends, peel, and cube your beets and toss them with a little bit of oil and place them in your roasting pan.  While they’re cooking toast a handful of pine nuts in a medium hot sauté pan until golden, no need to oil the pan.  You could also toast them on a sheet of tin foil, either way be careful not to burn them.  Give your beets a toss after twenty minutes and test with a knife after forty, they should be soft.  Mix in some chopped scallions, maybe a squeeze of lemon, and leave in the oven for another ten minutes.  Remove and top with crumbled feta before serving.

Leek and Barley Soup

It’s soup season and there’s still a lot of fresh local veggies around.  This one is all about the leeks, quarter and slice at least six and sauté on medium low heat until they’re very soft and mushy being careful not to let them brown.  Add some chopped garlic, ground black pepper, and a sliced carrot and sauté another five minutes before adding a pound of ground turkey or pork and a few pinches of dried chili flakes.  It’s best to break up the ground meat while it’s cooking, about five minutes.  Add a cup of dried barley, stir around, and then fill up half the pot with water before mixing in several tablespoons of condensed chicken stock, I prefer, Better Than Bouillon.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for forty five minutes or until the barley is tender.  Add some fresh shucked corn, or frozen if you can’t find it, and when it starts to simmer add some more stock and salt to taste.  And there aren’t many soups that won’t benefit from some grated parmesan over the top before serving.

Glazed Turnips with Garlic Breadcrumbs

The turnips don’t get any sweeter than they are right now and together with the garlic breadcrumbs make a great Fall side dish. Put a cup and a half of water into a sauté pan with a dash of salt and sugar and while its heating peel and wedge your turnips.  Add the turnips to the simmering water and let cook covered for five minutes, then uncovered until the water has evaporated and they’re tender, another fifteen minutes or so.  Follow with a quarter stick of butter and sauté over medium heat for another five minutes.  In a separate pan heat some extra virgin olive oil and add a chopped garlic clove, after a minute add a half a cup of breadcrumbs and with a spatula stir well so the oil is evenly absorbed.  Before serving add the breadcrumbs to your turnips and mix well.  This preparation would also be great for parsnips, leeks, or fennel. 

Fried Eggplant with Honey Sriracha Sauce

Vermont honey and Sriracha, an unlikely combination but the perfect two minute sauce for anything fried.  And this time of year eggplant is a great way to go…peeling isn’t necessary but salting is.  Slice and salt each piece and let sit for at least five minutes before patting off the bitter juices that appear with a paper towel.  While your oil is heating, a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch is all that’s required, prepare three bowls for breading, flour, eggs, and panko or breadcrumbs.  In that order bread each piece of eggplant before placing in the hot oil for about three to four minutes a side then set on a brown paper bag to drain.  For the sauce stir the Sriracha or your favorite hot sauce into the honey and form a puddle on the bottom of your serving plate.  Place the eggplant slices in the puddle, salt and serve.  In this case I added some crumbled blue cheese and chopped arugula but the dish is very tasty on its own.  Note that you can fry your eggplant ahead of time and reheat them in the oven before serving.

Pan Roasted Tomatoes

It’s October and the tomatoes are still coming.  They’re not as sweet as they were a month ago but with a little heat they still have the power to Wow!  I threw last nights’ crop of Sun Golds into a sauté pan for about seven minutes with a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic.  Once they split I added some coarse salt and white pepper then served them alongside a piece of chicken.  They would have been great tossed into a pasta with some olives, a risotto with some arugula, or into a couscous with feta and scallions.  I also could have easily turned them into a great side by adding a can of white beans.  The oven works just as well, especially for larger tomatoes.  Cut them in half, toss in a little olive and salt and place them on a baking sheet for an hour at 350.  They won’t be around for long, get them while they’re hot.

Coffee Spice Rub

Despite the leaves starting to drop here in Vermont there’s still a lot more grilling to be done and adding a bit of espresso to your spice rub adds a richness that you’ll never get with a marinade.  If you have a rub mixture you like simply add a quarter cup of ground espresso.  If not, start by combining four tablespoons of white or brown sugar with two tablespoons of salt in a bowl.  From there add varying tablespoons of the following depending on what it’s in your cupboard, chili powder, paprika, mustard, ginger, black pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander, or granulated garlic…it’s hard to go wrong....don’t forget the espresso.  Rub the mixture into your meat and grill as you would on the barbeque, it also works just as well in a cast iron skillet on high heat for a few minutes a side and then into the oven for five to ten minutes depending on your desired doneness. 

 

Kale Pesto with Caramelized Onions

The kale pesto would have been amazing enough on its own, but combining it with the sweetness of the caramelized onions put it over the top.  To start, slice a couple of onions and sauté on medium high heat with some butter or oil, and a teaspoon of sugar.  Stir the onions occasionally so they brown evenly. In the meantime heat a large pot of salted water while you’re deveining your kale, I like to use the same water for both blanching the kale and cooking the pasta.  Blanch the kale for a minute then scoop it into a colander and drain thoroughly by squeezing it like a sponge once it has cooled down a bit. 

While your pasta is cooking start the pesto in the Cuisinart with two cloves of garlic, some kosher salt, and a handful of pine nuts.  Once minced add your drained kale and with the motor going drizzle in your extra virgin olive oil until you get the desired consistency.  Grate in some fresh parmesan, salt and pepper to taste, one final pulse, and you’re ready to combine all of your ingredients for the perfect late summer pasta.

Pickled Onions

Pickled onions are great to have around as they’re adaptable to so many dishes and last for weeks in the fridge, and without a lot of fuss you can be eating them in just a few days.  For this quick pickling method you need only add two tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt to a bowl of malt, cider, or white vinegar, and stir until dissolved.  I often add a pinch of cayenne or dried chili flakes for a bit of spice.  Slice an onion, stuff it into a mason jar, then fill to the top with your vinegar mixture, seal, and refrigerate.  They’re okay after a few days, and better after a couple of weeks.  Try them on a burger, in a tomato or beet salad, with pork, salmon, tacos, or on a grilled ham and cheese sandwich….they’re not so bad with vodka either.

Potato Corn Vichyssoise

Vichyssoise sounds fancy but in reality it’s just cold potato soup, and a great way to take advantage of the local harvest this time of year.   While you simmer your cubed potatoes in salted water sauté some leeks, scallions, or shallots, in a little butter or oil.  Then cut your corn from the cob and add to the sauté, after five minutes or so add three cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil, turn down and simmer until your veggies are tender.  Your potatoes should be tender at this point, drain and add them to the veggies, season with salt and pepper, and blend until smooth.  Chill for at least a few hours and before serving stir in some sour cream or heavy cream, and garnish with some scallions and, or, some fresh corn.

Clams and Chorizo

I’ve recently discovered the magic of Vermont Salumi’s chorizo, it’s got such great flavor that you really don’t need to add much else to create some very tasty offerings.  For this clam and chorizo pasta begin by sautéing some chopped shallot and garlic in a little bit of oil.  Then take your chorizo and slice them top to bottom to peel off the casing, add to your shallots and garlic and lightly break apart with the side of a spoon.  While that’s cooking bring a half inch of clam stock to a boil in a separate pot, add you clams, cover, lower heat to medium, and cook until your clams open, approximately five minutes.  Spoon the chorizo mixture into the clam pot, stir, let sit for a minute, and serve over pasta or alone with a sliced baguette.  I used clams this time around but it would have been equally amazing with mussels.  Garnish either with some chopped chives, the green tips of some scallions, or parsley.

Grilled Nectarines

Grilling fits in quite well for keeping to my mantra, less time at the stove and more time at the table, and these grilled nectarines were an easy way to jazz up an otherwise boring pork loin.  I simply made a slice all the way around the nectarine right down to the pit making sure that I ended at my starting point, then twisted the two halves so they easily came apart….same way you would halve an avocado.  Then I grilled them on the barbeque over medium heat, that’s it, no oil, no spice, no nothing.  This time around I chopped them up with some fresh mint, coarse salt, and a few drops of chili oil and served the mixture over my sliced pork.  However in the past I’ve left them whole and topped them with some crumbled feta or blue cheese, tossed them sliced in an arugula and tomato salad, or with some basil over grilled chicken. 

Tomato, Fennel, and Basil Salad

The tomatoes haven’t appreciated all the rain we’ve been having this summer but better late than never, and they’ve arrived.  Don’t waste any time, a tomato a day I say, whether in gazpacho, a quick tomato sauce, salsas, or sliced on a toasted baguette with salt and olive oil, there’s nothing like a locally grown tomato.  I topped my pan fried chicken cutlets the other night with some of Gaylord Farm’s red and yellow heirlooms, fennel, basil, coarse salt, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Last night I layered them with some mozzarella, and for breakfast laid a thick slab on my scrambled eggs with some olive oil and crumbled feta.  It’s hard to go wrong any way you slice them.