Creamy Goat Cheese Deviled Eggs with HERBS

Creamy Goat Cheese Deviled Eggs with HERBS

6 hard-cooked eggs split & seperated

2 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled (Feta)

6 T. Mayo

2 t. minced shallots (or grated onion)

2 t. minced fresh herb: tarrogon, chives, chervil, dill or basil.

S & P to taste.  Goat cheeses can be pretty salty, so taste first.

Place the egg yolk in a medium bowl and mash with a pastry blender or fork, add cheese, and mash again.  Stir in mayo and then remaining ingredients.  Spoon or pipe mixture into the whites.  Flavor will improve if you refrigerate them for a few hours before eating. Garnish plate with your home grown lettuce leaves.

Substitutes for herbs:                              

•  Use cilantro and lime juice.
•  Chopped smoked salmon & no salt
•  Proscuitto and grainy mustard

 

Clebrate Autumn

With your own harvest time feast from your backyard, you can celebrate the bounty of nature. Invite your friends and family to join in the celebration. It means more if you don't wait for a major holiday to do it. It demonstrates our appreciation for how the earth sustains us, with food and beauty.

It's the perfect time to share new recipes for foods people cannot get at the grocery stores. Some very ancient dishes that immigrated with our ancestors have gone out of style for lack of availability in most areas. A simple French Ratatouille dish is supurb with all 'fresh from your own garden' vegetables and herbs.

Garden Veggies Over Rice

Picking vegetables in the garden usually provides a variety and abundance of squash to eat, along with other vegetables. Pick some herbs every time you are in the garden to use in the dishes you prepare with what you harvest. With what you have, you can fix this super easy dish, make it as big as you need it, and use whatever herbs you pick.

The flavors in this dish will vary with the choices of vegetables and herbs, making it a fun and creative way to cook. It is a good dish for your 'meatless' meal nite or as a side for other entries. Don't be afraid to try new things in it.

Garden Veggies Over Rice begins with preparing the rice first so it can cook while the vegetables are prepared. Fix rice in your favorite way in the amount you need to feed your family. I usually fix 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water with a little olive oil or butter added, and some parsley. Bring the water to boil, add the rice and parsley and let it come to a boil again, stir once, cover tightly, reduce the flame so it will simmer for about 20 minutes. While it's cooking, get out a stir fry pan or wok and all the veggies you want to use, as well as herbs.

I always start with saute-ing some onion, any kind I have on hand, or leek, and a few cloves of garlic in some olive oil. While it is simmering, you can throw on some herbs and wine and have some true aroma therapy for cooks while you clean, trim and slice your veggies for the pan. The veggies that take the longest to cook are the ones you want to get ready for the pan first. Toss them in as you get them done.

Usually I will put bell pepper or any other pepper in next, and some mushrooms if I have some. Then the squash can go into the pan, and lastly any soft leafy green you wish to add. Spinach is excellent in stir fry dishes and adds a deep green color. Red peppers are colorful also.

Stir the veggies often as you add more to the pan. You also may need to add more olive oil as the pan get fuller. You can substitute butter and wine for a more mediteranian taste. At the last minute of cooking, add some optional flavorings such as: Italian seasoning or any other kind you like, fresh basil and parsley from the garden, soy sauce, oyster sauce, S&P.

This dish goes well with some fresh French bread, garlic bread, wine, steak, seafood, more wine, and desserts!

Creamy Fettucccine Alfredo

This recipe will give you a chance to show off your Basils.

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb of fettuccine pasta
• Salt & Pepper
• Fresh Basil leaves from your garden

Easy Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and cream and mix in the cheese stir until well blended. Set it aside.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to boil for the pasta and cook as directed on the package. Then drain it well and add it to the bowl of sauce, and toss to coat the pasta. You can add S & P to taste.
3. Slice the fresh basil leaves into shreds and sprinkle on top of the pasta and serve immediately. The heat from the pasta will bring out the aroma of the basil.

The perfect addition to this is a simple salad of vine ripe tomatoes from your garden, or mix tomato slices with red onion slices and toss with a little olive oil and balsimic vinegar. With the heavy cream on the pasta and the tangyness of the tomatoes, you will want a strong red wine that is not too oaky with this meal. Maybe a Merlot.

Haluski

1 medium head cabbage from your garden

1/4 pd. marg or butter

4 large potatoes from your potato patch

1 egg

S & P

1 cup flour (or more if needed)

Shred cabbage, then saute in butter until soft, stirring occasionally.

Grate potatoes into a large bowl. Add egg and S&P to taste. Add enough flour to make a heavy dough, at least one cup. Drop by teaspoonfuls into salted boiling water. Let boil for 20-30 minutes. Drain in colander. Add to cabbage and serve.

Haluski is a traditional Slavic dish, usually made in the fall when potatoes and cabbages are available fresh from the garden. This dish represents a northern climate garden planting. Cabbages and potatoes, being cold hardy, are harvested well into the fall months in spite of the cooling temperatures of the northern climates.

Zucchini Bread

ZUCCINI BREAD (BECKY’S RECIPE)

This is the real reason we grow zuccini

• ½ cup packed br sugar
• 6 T white sugar
• 1 ¼ t cinnamon
• ½ t ginger
• 1 t bkg soda
• 1 cup oats
• 3 large eggs
• ¾ cup veg oil
• 2 t vanilla
• 2 cups grated zucchini (drain if needed)
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Don’t over mix when putting it all together.

Bake 50-65 min in loaf pan

350*

Borsch (Beet Soup)

If you have grown beets in your garden you may want to try this soup.  It is really quite simple to make.

4 large beets peeled and diced

2 onions minced

1 qt. water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 t salt

1 t sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

 

Place beets and onion in a kettle with water, bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 35 minutes or 'til beets are tender.  Force through a course sieve or ricer, add salt, sugar and enough lemon juice to your taste.  Serve hot or cold with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Makes about 1 quart or 4 servings.

 

About Borsch:

Borsch is the basic soup of the Russians and Poles, and of many of the people whom they  have influenced, such as the Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and the Jews, all of whom have their own versions of borsch.  There are probably as many ways to make borsch as there are cooks.

Buttermilk Dressing

GOT LETTUCE!?  Make dressing.  When my lettuce bed overflows with full heads of lettuce we sometimes have just salad for supper.  I grow beets, radishes, gr. onions, parsley and spinach along with herbs to put with the salad greens.  It all tastes great with a simple, fresh dressing on top.  Add some croutons and maybe some boiled eggs for a hearty salad.

Buttermilk Dressing 

"A low calorie dressing for tossed salads"

2 T Mayo

1/3 cup buttermilk

4 t grated onion

2 t dried oregano leaves crushed

2 t chopped fresh parsley

1/2 t garlic salt

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and refrigerate, covered, for at least 3 hours before serving.

Makes 1/2 cup

Eggplant Pie

Not all eggplant fruit is shaped like an egg.  The traditional
blackish-purple "Black Beauty"(74 days), pictured, is over 100 years
old and has become the industry standard for black eggplant because it
ripened earlier than others with 6-8" perfect fruits.  Harvested fresh
makes all the difference in the world to eggplant taste.  You might
also like the bright deep purple color of "Rosa Bianca" (74 days). It
has 4-6" oval white fruits that are heavily streaked with rosy purple,
and looks like it has a distressed paint job of rosy purple on white.
The sepals are larger, purple and more attached, making it a very regal
looking vegetable.  It is very fat and slightly sweet tasting. An old
Italian variety and heavy yielder.

Flavor is better in the more
mature fruit.  Eggplant can be breaded and seasoned with garlic powder
and Italian seasoning, and fried like chicken.

You can also fix
"Eggplant Parmesiani" in which the eggplant replaces the meat, and is
very delicious.  Perfect for your "meatless" meal night.

I have used Eggplant in a vegetable turrine, where it adds not only flavor but color to the sliced turrine.

Epplant
has a heavy, lingering taste, which allows it to mix well with other
ingredients without getting lost.  It mixes well with pasta sauce,
spicy sausages, herbs and flavorings.  The best wines to serve with it
are deep reds that are not too heavy, maybe very mildly sweet to
balance the flavors, clear and crisp and not too oaky.

EGGPLANT PIE

You
can make the filling for this dish ahead of time and either refrigerate
up to 2 days, or freeze until you need it.  A great way to treat
mid-winter guests staying for super.

5 T olive oil

1 med onion chopped

1 med eggplant cubed

1 stalk celery chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 t dried thyme leaves

1/4 t crushed red pepper

1 16 oz can whole tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 t sugar

1/2 t salt

2 T chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 T balsamic vinegar

6 phyllo leaves thawed if frozen or strudel

1 T pine nuts (optional)

 

1.
In large skillet, heat 2 T oil over med heat, add onion and saute until
golden brown, add eggplant, celery, garlic, thyme and red pepper;cover
and simmer 5 minutes, stir occasionally.  Stir in the tomatoes, sugar
and salt and cook covered 10 minutes.  Uncover and cook over low heat,
stirring occasionally until most of the liquid evaporates and
vegetables are tender.  Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon
parsely and the vinegar; set aside. (This is the point at which you
would let it cool and then refrigerate or freeze.)

2. Lightly oil
an 8" round baking pan.  Place thawed phyllo between 2 sheets of waxed
paper, then cover with a damp towel to prevent drying out.  (Pyllo will
dry quickly because it is thin, be sure to keep damp.)

3. Heat
oven to 350 F.  Remove 1 sheet of phyllo and brush evenly with olive
oil, repeat with the other sheets, stacking them off center to make a
large round when finished. 

4. Lift all the sheets together and
press into the oiled round pan, letting the edges extend over the rim
of pan.  Pour filling into the pan, then fold in extending edges to
cover filling.

5. Bake pie 20-25 minutes or until phyllo crust is
lightly browned.  Cool in pan 5 minutes; meanwhile, if desired, toast
pine nuts in oven until lighty browned and fragrant.

6. To serve,
gently invert pie onto plate, and then invert again onto serving plate
so the top side is up.  Garnish with remaining chopped parsely and pine
nuts if desired.

 

Fines Herbes

A combination of three or more herbs finely chopped, use to flavor many dishes and occasionally salads.  The classic French fines herbes are chervil, parsley, tarragon, chives, and thyme.  Beyond the classic French cooking recipe, the selection of which herbs to include varies considerably, depending both on the dish and the availability or preference in herbs.

In Italy, basil will be incuded, in Hungary, Germany & Scandinavia, dill will be used.  You might find mint in the mix in Middle Eastern countries or Greece.

Some other herbs used in a fines herbes formula include:

• Savory                                   
• Lemon thyme
• Burnet
• Hyssop
• Purslane
• Marjoram  >
• Celery (seed)
• Fennel
• Borage
• Cress

Obviously, there is ample room for experimentation in developing your own special blend which may become your signature flavoring in your cooking.

HERB Butter

1 c butter softened

1 T snipped fresh Italian parsley

1 T finely snipped fresh chives

2 t snipped fresh tarragon or 1/2 t dried crushed

1 t snipped fresh chervil

salt to taste

 In a small bowl, combine the ingredients well.  At this point, you can put the herbed butter in molds or shape into balls with a melon baller or your hands.  Chill the butter for 3 hrs.  Is a good accompaniment for fish, potatoes, grilled meat, poultry or use as a sandwich spread.

Makes about 1 cup.

HERB Dressing

Halibut with White Beans in Tomato-Rosemary Broth

Beans absorb some of the delicious broth.    Serve in shallow bowls, garnish with fresh Rosemary sprigs, add a salad of fresh greens with one of your own vinaigrettes and a white wine of choice.

• 1 T olive oil
• 1/4 t salt & pepper fresh ground
• 4 halibut fillets (6 oz each)
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 c chopped plum tomatoes or any kind you have in your garden
• 1 can of cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed & drained.
• 1 1/2 c chicken broth
• 1/2 dry white wine
• 1/2 t chopped fresh rosemary

In a non-stick skillet heat the oil, add the fillets and S&P, cook on medium 5 minutes each side or till done.  Remove fish from pan and keep warm.  Add garlic to pan, cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.  Stir in plum tomatoes, broth, wine, beans; bring to boil; reduce heat & simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat; stir in rosemary.  Divide between 4 bowls, place fish on top and garnish with rosemary sprigs.

A loaf of fresh french bread will help soak up the delicious broth.

Herbed Shrimp Skewers

Are you tired of the same ol' bbq food?  This recipe will make a great change and is quick and easy using mostly ingredients you probably have on hand.

Herbed Shrimp Skewers

• 1 pd of large shrimp peeled and deveined, but whole (about 24)
• 1 1/2 t grated orange zest
• 1/2 c of fresh orange juice
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 T olive oil and some for the bbq grate
• 1 T+ of chopped fresh thyme
• S&P

Combine all of the ingredients in a shallow pan and marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. (Can be marinated up to 8 hours before cooking).  Put 8 wooden skewers in water to soak for 30 minutes.  When ready to bbq, heat the grill to medium, oil the grates.  Thread the shrimp onto the skewers broadside so the shrimp will lay flat.  Grill for about 3-4 minutes, turning once, until the shrimp are opaque.  You can blend a little mayo with some of the marinade to make a dipping sauce for the shrimp.  

This is a refreshing, lighter meal change from burgers and steaks.  It can be dressed up with rice or serve it with fresh green salad and the dipping sauce.

Rosemary Fried Chicken

Tools you will need:

• Heavy iron skillet or Dutch oven or other heavy pan
• Preheated oven at 450 degrees
• A baking sheet with a rack on it (or two).
• The usual kitchen utensils

Ingredients for this recipe:

• 8 chicken legs and 8 chicken thighs, about 3 1/2 pds
• 2 cups low fat buttermilk
• S&P
• 3 c all purpose flour
• 1 T sweet paprika
• 1 T finely  chopped fresh rosemary leaves plus 4 small sprigs
• 2 c vegetable oil

Four easy steps:

1. Position the racks in your oven on the upper and lower thirds of the space.  In a large bowl combine chicken, buttermilk, 1 t salt and 1/2 t pepper.  Set aside (or can be refrigerated up to 2 days)..
2. In another large bowl whisk together flour, paprika, chopped rosemary, 1 T salt and 2 t pepper.  Take the chicken out of it's bowl a few pieces at a time and dredge in the flour mixture, set them on a tray.  Then dredge them all a second time, knocking off any excess flour.
3. In a large skillet or dutch oven heat the oil and the rosemary sprigs over medium-high heat.  When the resemary sizzles rapidly, remove and discard.  In several batches fry chicken until golden brown, 4-5 minute per side; transfer to the racks on the baking sheets.
4. Place baking sheets of fried chicken in the oven until the thighs run clear when pierced-no blood.  If using a thermometer, 165 degrees.  Should take about 15-20 minutes.  Let the chicken cool 5 minutes before serving.

Tip for better fried chicken:  Soak the chicken in a salt brine for 2 to 24 hours before starting your recipe.  A salt brine is approximately 1/4 salt to one quart of cold water stirred to dissolve the salt. Use a glass or pottery bowl for the brine.  Once you are finished using the brine, use it to kill weeds between the bricks or slugs.  Leftover cooking oil can be poured over your dogs dry food to improve his coat.

This recipe goes well with a pasta salad and fresh sliced veggies.

Spagetti with Bay Scallops, Leeks and Tarragon

A quick meal perfect for summer nites:

Ingredients:

• Freshly ground salt and pepper
• 12 oz. spagetti
• 4 T butter
• 4 leeks with the whites and tender greens halved, sliced and washed
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 pd by scallops patted dry
• 1 t lemon zest, plus 1 T fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 c fresh tarragon leaves

Three easy steps:

1. Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water.  Reserve 1 cup of the boiling water when done, drain off the rest. Return pasta to the pot.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 T butter in a large skillet over med-low heat, add leeks and garlic, S&P and cook til tender, 6-8 minutes.  Add the leek mixture to the pasta in the pot.
3. Heat 1 T butter in the skillet over med. heat, add scallops and zest, cook, tossing, until scallops are done, 2-4 minutes.  Tranfer to pot with pasta.  Add tarragon, remaining 2 T butter and lemon juice; toss, adding enough pasta water to create a thin sauce that coats pasta.  Serve immediately.

This dish is good served with a white reisling wine.

Super Easy Squash Bisque

Did you get lots of Butternut squash in your garden this year?  Here's one very easy-to-make dish that will use up some of the bounty.

The average size of butternut squash is about 12" long.  This size will make enough recipe to serve 4 to 6 people, depending on the size of the serving.

Tools you will need:                                        Ingredients you will need:

• A blender                                               One Butternut Squash from your garden
• An oven and baking pan                        One can of chicken stock
• A sauce pan                                           Seasonings of choice

Wash the squash and cut in half lengthwise, place in a shallow baking pan, bake @ 375* until very tender, about 30-40 mins.

Scoop out the soft squash and put into a blender, blend until smooth.  Add chicken stock as you are blending.  If the soup gets too cool, put it into the sauce pan to heat.  Add the seasonings you like.  Serve.