SPRING 2013 has finally arrived; and with it our inspiration to return to Our Local Pantry. Thanks to Zach at Tree and Leaf Farm for his beautiful baby leeks. They inspired this simple and delicious spring dish. Yes this is as easy as it it looks -- a dish that lets the wonderful ingredients stand alone and shine together.
We prepped the baby leeks by washing and cutting them in half. Then, we tossed with a bit olive olive and seasoned them with salt & pepper. We grilled the leeks -- happy to be huddled around the grill in the brisk Garrett County evening -- until they were beginning to soften. We moved them directly from the grill to a warmed plate and topped them with a few wedges of Merry Goat Round. The heat of the grilled leeks warmed and melted the goat cheese beautifully.
| The baby leeks from Tree and Leaf Farm -
simply prepped for the grill. | Merry Goat Round: clean, creamy and lactic with earthy undertones that amplify with age. |
This week's recipe is in honor of MountainTop Bleu's recent bronze medal award at the 2012 American Cheese Society Conference that took place in Raleigh, NC a few weeks back. It had been far too long since i'd made stuffed peppers -- something I often ate growing up in my Italian-American household. This time I substituted rice for quinoa, and the result was spectacular. I am not sure i'll ever go back to a traditional rice-stuffed pepper again! Stuffed peppers are a total nostalgia food for me -- so I always find them really fun to prepare. I found the quinoa to be an excellent alternative to rice in this case, and highly recommend it -- but if you like to stick to what you know, rice would work just fine.
Here's what you'll need:
1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of vegetable stock or broth -- I used veggie stock for added flavor
4 medium to large bell peppers
1 shallot -- finely chopped
1 small eggplant, skinned & cubed -- I used an organic purple eggplant from Whole Foods
1 tbs minced garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh basil
Cayenne pepper
Start by combining 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of veggie stock/broth. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until quinoa is translucent -- when you see a white ring around the grains you'll know they're done.
Warm a medium sized saucepan over high heat. Coat saucepan with extra virgin olive oil. Add shallots and garlic -- cook for a few minutes. Add the cubed eggplant and basil. Allow eggplant to cook for about 8 minutes -- or until soft but not mushy. In the meantime, prepare your peppers to be filled! Wash and remove stem, core, and seeds from pepper. Halve them lengthwise. Preheat your oven to bake at 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil -- shiny side down and coat with some olive oil.
Combine your cooked quinoa to eggplant mixture in saucepan and season with a few shakes of cayenne pepper. Let quinoa/eggplant mixture warm over low flame for a few minutes -- stirring throughly to evenly distribute flavors. Spoon filling into peppers and pop into oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and place a few strips of MountainTop Bleu over peppers -- place back into oven for another minute or so, allowing cheese to fully melt. Prepare your palate for a truly delicious tasting experience and dig in! Or, as my grandmother says: mangia!
-- Quinoa & Eggplant Stuffed Peppers with Melted MountainTop Bleu provided by Daniel
This twist on an old back-yard favorite is a real winner. Creamy Allegheny Chèvre elevates this Aunt-inspired classic to a whole new level. You may find yourself with a Tupperware container full in the fridge at all times.
This is another simple summer appetizer. You know the basics: hard boil the eggs, peel them, halve them and set aside the yolks. Mix the yolks with Allegheny Chèvre -- we used about half a log for a dozen eggs. Add a few tablespoons of your favorite dijon mustard and a few tablespoons of light mayonaise. Mix in a healthy dash of hot sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and spoon into the halved egg whites.
From here, top as you feel inspired. We topped with some beautiful Spanish white-anchovies and a sprig of fresh parsley. It was fabulous. Enjoy.
This yummy creation is somewhere between deep dish pizza and cheese casserole. Pablo was inspired by the beautiful fingerling potatoes and mushrooms at FRESHFARM Markets Dupont and this was the result: well-seasoned and sauteed fresh vegetables layered with shredded Cabra LaMancha all resting on a crisp pastry-shell bottom. We ate it with our hands :) This begins by lining a 9-inch tart pan with a simple pastry crust. Pre-bake the crust in a 400 degree oven until just golden.
While the crust is browning, slice the fingerlings and put them in a fry pan with a bit of olive oil. When they begin to caramelize and soften, add the rough-chopped mushrooms. Season and saute the potato & mushroom mix just a few minutes until the mushrooms begin to cook. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool a bit.
| First a layer of the vegetable mix, then a layer of grated Cabra LaMancha.
| Put the deep dish back in the 400 degree oven and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.
|
When the crust and the potato and mushroom mix has cooled a bit, rough chop an onion. We used a large sweet onion from
Next Step Produce. Mix the raw onion into the potatoes and mushrooms. Grate about a half pound wedge of Cabra LaMancha. Now for assembly: first a layer of the vegetable mix, then a layer of grated cheese. Repeat. Top the deep dish with some ground back pepper and oil-cured olives. Put the deep dish back in the 400 degree oven and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.
We ate this hot the first time and enjoyed the melted-goat-cheesy-goodness. Leftovers were eaten cold -- just as satisfying,
Awhile back we came across Meatless Monday while surfing the twitter-sphere. For those unfamiliar with the movement, Meatless Monday is a national effort that aims to reduce the average meat consumption by 15% in order to promote personal health and the health of the planet. So, this past Monday (6/18) I decided to partake in the movement in my own way by cooking-up this simple and tasty pasta dish. The abundance of beautiful veggies at
FRESHFARM Markets Silver Spring made having a meat free Monday a breeze; the hardest part was restraining myself from buying more than was necessary! This recipe is reminiscent of something my mother would often make me and my sisters growing up, so the nostalgia factor only adds to its appeal. There are only a handful of ingredients needed to make this dish, and a few simple tricks that make it extra special. Here's what you'll need: one bulb of fresh garlic (I mince the cloves and slice-up the entire stalk), 1-2 lemons (the juice and zest), a small to medium-sized bulb of red-onion, your favorite pasta (I prefer the grainer texture and nuttier flavor of whole wheat pasta), and of course a nice chunk of Bella Vita!
| The aroma of the garlic, red onion, and zucchini was intoxicating. | DeBoles Angel Hair Pasta - Their Whole Wheat with Golden Flax is delicious , nutritious, and tastes great with some grated Bella Vita. |
Start by getting your pasta water boiling -- keep an eye on it and add the pasta when the water starts bubbling. In a large 4 qt. saute pan heat-up some extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced zucchini and cover for a few minutes, allowing them to sweat a bit before browning them on both sides.
Uncover, and stir the zucchini around to ensure their sufficiently browning on both sides. Add the garlic, zest and juice of one lemon, and red onion. Season the veggies with sea-salt and cracked black-pepper. Save about one cup of the pasta water, set aside, and drain the pasta when it's al dente.
Remove a zucchini round and give it a taste-test -- it should be cooked through yet still slightly crunchy. Add the cooked pasta directly to the saute pan and toss ingredients around. Grate some Bella Vita over the hot pasta, toss, add the juice of another lemon, a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, and about a quarter of a cup of the pasta water. The Bella Vita, lemon juice, olive oil, and pasta water combination create a perfectly balanced creaminess without the need for heavy cream or butter. This recipe is great because it's super versatile -- just switch out the zucchini for any seasonal vegetable of your choice and voila dinner is served.
-- Bella Vita Primavera recipe provided by Daniel.
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