Spanakopita - No Eggs!

'The sheaves of phyllo are laid flat,
Uncurling the folded edges.
Smooth and powder dry,
It feels like holding Nana's hand.
Violet talc and buttered rich,
A pocket full.
Smells of kitchen cutting boards and sharpened knives,
I cut my heart in two.' - Annie




I make these whenever I think of my Grandma Elva, especially for celebrations like weddings and birthdays.


In a large bowl, blend together 2 lbs firm and well drained ricotta, 1 1/4 lbs feta, well drained and crumbled, and 1 1/2 lbs well drained frozen spinach.









Mince and brown one sweet yellow onion in olive oil and then add to the bowl. Blend well.

Layer three sheets of phyllo, each well buttered, and cut in half the long ways. Scoop two tbls of filling in the bottom corner. Flag fold, tucking in the edge.

Lay on a buttered pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 380* for 25 to 28 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Crusted Salmon with Wilted Dandelions

Bob harvested a large amount of organic dandelions from the garden yesterday.

This evening I wilted and dished them with a drizzle of butter infused with crushed garlic, shallots, and lemon zest and served them atop crusted salmon.

Dandelion greens are high in calcium, one cup of chopped dandelion greens contain 103 mg, or 10% of the recommended daily amount. They are rich in iron, one cup contains 1.7 mg of iron. These greens are low in calories, one cup of chopped has only 25 calories. The leaves are high in Vitamin A in the form of antioxidant carotenoid (beta-carotene) and vitamin C, which helps facilitate iron absorption. The greens detoxify and cleanse the liver, kidneys, spleen and pancreas. Besides calcium and iron, they are a good source of copper, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium. Dandelions have more protein per serving than spinach. The greens themselves are 14% protein and contain all essential amino acids so it’s a complete protein. One chopped cup contains 1.5 grams of protein. Besides vitamin A as beta-carotene  and vitamin C, each cup of chopped dandelion greens are also good sources of vitamins B1,  B2, and B6, vitamin E and K (535%!). The nutrients in dandelion greens may help reduce the risk of cancer, multiple sclerosis, cataracts, age-related macular degeneration and stroke. They also contain anti-inflammatory properties which may help those with asthma and other inflammatory diseases.

Vitamin A is important in fighting cancers of epithelial tissue, including mouth and lung. Potassium rich foods, particularly in balance with magnesium, helps keep blood pressure down and reduces risks of strokes. Fiber fights diabetes, lowers cholesterol, reduces cancer and heart disease risks, and assists in weight loss. High fiber vegetables like dandelions take up lots of room, are low in calories, and slow down digestion so the food stays in the stomach longer and you feel full longer. Calcium in high concentrations can build strong bones and can lower blood pressure. B vitamins help reduce stress. Spring greens help rescue your body from the inadequacies of a winter diet. I highly recommend introducing dandelions, ramps, chives, asparagus, broccoli rabe, stinging nettles (steam takes the sting out!), and fava leaves into your Spring diet.

USDA Facts on Dandelions

Scottish Shortbread

Shortbread is an oft abused biscuit. People have added milk, eggs, water, extracts, vegetable oils, and other ingredients that should never appear in these crumbly "cookies".

They are made with only four ingredients, each as fresh as possible. Old butter leaves a metallic tang in the mouth, and old or cheap flour tastes mealy.

Only fresh unsalted butter, unbleached pastry flour, sea salt, and fine sugar will do.

3 cups finely sifted pastry flour
1 cup fine cane sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) of fresh unsalted butter
1 tsp sea salt (pink of grey)







Sift the dry ingredients then blend in the butter, 1 tbls pat at a time. The mix should be soft and granular like sand.








Press into two buttered pie pans. Score mid-way and bake at 350* for 30 minutes.








Set out and re-cut score marks with a large sharp knife. Completely cool. Serve with very hot tea, milky Earl Grey is my favorite.

Blueberry Scones

Freeze one stick of butter.
Shred it like you would cheese.
Cover it and tuck it back into the freezer.

Measure out 2 cups of flour, and blend well
with 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda,
and 1/2 tsp salt.

Add in the butter and quickly blend by hand.

 

Whip 3/4 cup of cream, 1/2 cup sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar. Whisk until foamy.

Add to the dry ingredients. Using a silicon spatula, blend until a shaggy ball of dough forms.
 

Preheat the oven to 400*

Roll out on a floured surface
to about 20 x 10 inches.

Fold up as shown in the photo to the left.

Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet.

Roll of the dough to 14 x 6 inches.

Firmly press about 1 to 1 1/4 frozen fruit, like these fat blueberries.

Roll the long edge until about 4 inches wide and press down to flatten the top.

Score half way through the roll, creating
triangles as shown in the photo to the right.

Drizzle milk or cream over the top.

Sprinkle sugar evenly all over the top.


Bake for 15 minutes. Pull from the oven and cut all the way through, separating the scones out onto the sheet.

Continue to bake until golden brown.

Set out to cool on a wire rack, sprinkle with a bit more sugar. Serve with whipped heavy cream.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Start by making a court bouillon. Dice an onion, carrot, celery, fresh bouquet garni, salt, a splash each of white wine vinegar and a cooking sherry. Cook on low in butter and olive oil until very soft.





Puree everything smooth.
Add 6 cups of water.

Make whole wheat pasta. I used this recipe but added olive oil to it. Sugarlaws shows how to make make it without a pasta machine. Once sliced, toss in a bit of flour and set aside for the last seven minutes before serving.

Sprinkle a quartered chicken with olive oil and Old Bay Seasoning.




Cover with foil and cook for 25 minutes under a low broil or at 450* for 45 minutes. Set out to cool. Cube the breast meat.

Add 1/4 cup of the pan drippings to the soup base and blend with the stick blender. Add the cubed chicken and then the pasta and continue to cook for seven more minutes.

Serve with buttered bread and a salad.

Farfalle & Cheese - An elegant twist on traditional Mac&Cheese

Brown butter roux made with barley flour, First Light Farm & Creamery cheeses, organic sun dried tomatoes in olive oil and rosemary, and local heavy cream and butter.

Make the roux. Add the heavy cream and tomatoes. Use a stick mixer and blend till smooth. Add the cheese and stir until blended.




Boil one pound of Farfalle (bowtie), though any brass die cut pasta like spugnole, trofie or cappelletti will do.

Chunk up 1/2 pound of Cuba extra sharp white cheddar cheese. Shred another 1/2 pound and fold into the sauce.

Drain the pasta well and slide into a 9x11 casserole dish. Pour the sauce evenly over the top and using a wooden spoon turn over the pasta to coat evenly. The wood spoon prevents the pasta from being damaged.

Sprinkle the chunks of cheddar on top and cover with foil. Put into a pre-heated over, set to 400*.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil the last five minutes to lightly brown the cheese. Set out to cool for ten minutes.









Serve with a wild arugula salad and balsamic, olive oil, and mustard seed braised asparagus. A thick hearty red is best, consider a 2008 Palmina Barbera.

Sweet Sponge Bread

2 tsp yeast in 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tbls sugar
3 1/4 cups white flour, sifted very fine
1 tbls salt
1 tbls sugar
3 tbls sunflower seed oil

Proof the yeast with the sugar for 20 minutes until a thick foam forms. Add the all of the other ingredients in a large metal bowl. Form dough, mixing by hand.

Once a ball forms, roll it out onto the counter and then scrub the bowl very well until the bowl is clean and hot. Butter the bottom half of the bowl and roll the dough ball around inside until coated. Cover with a towel and set near the oven. Pre-heat to oven to 400 degrees. Let rise for one hour. Divide and roll each ball out to 1/4" and brush on a thin layer of melted butter and roll up very tight.



Set on a greased cookie sheet and cover for 30 more minutes and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and it knocks hollow on the bottom of the loaf. Serve warm with whipped butter. The sponge from this recipe is amazing. Fluffy like an angel cake.

Lembas Bread - Made 3x in size to satisfy Hobbit appetites (Lord of the Rings)

1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup warm milk
1 tbls baking powder
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
8 tbls butter (1 stick, room temperature)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls cinnamon and sugar or garlic and oregano

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Chop butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two knives until you get a crumbly mixture. Add sugar and mix. Add milk and stir with a fork until dough forms. Roll the dough out about 1 inch thick. Cut out two 8x8 inch squares and transfer to a greased cookie sheet. Score each square from corner to corner with a knife. Bake for about 20 minutes or until set and lightly golden.

Peach, Beet and Tarragon Pie with Homemade Vanilla Bean Chip Ice Cream

Peaches from Tom Towers Farm

Sunset Beets from Bozard Farm

Tarragon from Native Offerings

I came across this pie in search of Amish pie recipes. It called for cubes of soft cheese and other herbs and little crisp bits of sausage, but I was looking for something sweeter.

So I left out the the cheese and sausage and limited the bouquet of herbs down to one, the licorice flavored French Tarragon and one spice, cinnamon.

I reduced the sugar to one cup and added two extra pats of butter. The crust was crimped, washed with melted butter and cream and sprinkled liberally with cinnamon and sugar.

Baked for 40 minutes at 380 degrees, the pie was robust and savory. Couldn't tell by eye which were peach and which were beet after baking, but the flavors were noticeable enough. Mixed reviews from the family. However, since I love earthy and savory flavors, I really enjoyed it.

The vanilla bean chip ice cream was a snap to make. The bean soaked in hot water and then was minced and added to 1 pint of heavy cream, one cup of milk, 1/2 cup raw organic sugar and 2 tsp vanilla bean paste. Blended for 30 minutes in the ice cream maker, this soft ice cream was a great accompaniment to this unusual pie.

Traditional Buffalo Chicken Wings

These are wings. Notice I didn't say Buffalo chicken wings. Or chicken wings.


I'm in Buffalo. It's a Buffalo thing. Please, just call them wings.

This recipe is as simple as it gets. But in a home kitchen it's probably one of the more complicated things you could choose to make. 

First you'll want to melt two sticks of butter and then mix in 1 1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot. Just Franks and butter. If you add anything else, then they will not be traditional wings. They'll probably be really tasty but with this you'll want to stick with the original recipe.

These 40 wings are organic, locally sourced and well trimmed. They should be rinsed and pat dry before fried.

The organic canola was heated to about 350 degrees.

Because of the size of my wok and the size of the wings, I only fried five at a time. 

They went in for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the internal temp. read 170 to 180 degrees, at which time they're pulled from the oil and drained well.

These are absolutely perfect and are ready to be tossed in the sauce.

The sauce needs to be reheated on the stove for just a moment to keep the butter melted and well blended in between batches.

When you fry in batches, use a bowl to cover the wings to keep them warm before they're served. Serve with Blue Cheese dressing, a big lush salad and stacks of napkins.


Do not save the sauce or the oil when you are done, and please dispose of the oil in a container, rather than down the drain.