Grilled Okra

Just grill it.

Go ahead. Be brave. Buy that fresh okra at the market. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper, and you’ve got a great side dish straight from the grill. You might want to trim the top a little, but be careful not to cut it all the way off as the okra will separate.

Many thanks to J. and B. who served this up on a tired Wednesday night with a great burger. Also grilling burgers? Try:

• homemade hamburger buns
• ketchup
• sage fries

It’s starting to feel like summer!

Potato Biscuits

Well, we may not have realized our homesteading dreams yet, but we are now one step closer to that idyllic, pastoral life. Just look at this beautiful biscuit cutter!

I fell in love with this and bought it at KY Craft, a festival of local artisans in Lexington. Sold by Campbellsville Handmade Cherry Furniture, we were first attracted to the absolutely exquisitely crafted cupboards in the booth. Do look at some of their samples, though the photographs really don’t show the artistry that they can coax from their wood. We also enjoyed meeting the guys at Hound Dog Press. They had a press set up and were encouraging people to make coasters. (The toddler loved watching the wheels and ink.) Check out their especially lovely wood engravings here or, if you’re a Kentuckian living far from home who’s ever had to explain where your home state was, you might think this is funny. We bought a beautiful butter pot from Crosswinds Pottery and regret passing up the charming thumb pot for watering seedlings.

The toddler and I just had to try this biscuit cutter out right away. The wooden cutter performed beautifully – with just a little tap, out popped perfect biscuits! They were light, yet sturdy enough to handle a fried egg. If your storage potatoes are starting to feel a little squishy (like mine are), I suggest making up a few batches of these. Freeze them before baking.

Makes about 10-12.

white potatoes, 8-1o ounces (probably one large)
1 cup AP flour
1 tbls. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 tbls. unsalted butter
1/2 c. milk

1. Peel potato and cut into 1/2 inch rounds. (If your potato has been stored and is extra starchy, go ahead and rinse it.) Simmer in water for about 10 minutes until tender. (Alternatively, you could use 8 oz. of leftover mashed potatoes.)
2. Measure dry ingredients into a bowl.
3. Drain, cool, and rice the potatoes. (Pass them through the holes of a skimmer or spoon, if you don’t have a ricer.) Gently mix the potatoes into the dry ingredients with a folding motion.
4. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender or knives. Add the milk, gently cutting through the dough with a fork.
5. On a floured surface, knead gently a few times, pat into a 1/2 inch rectangle, and cut with a floured cutter. Place on a baking sheet.
6. Bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes.

 

One skillet lentil and fennel stew

I’m usually someone who firmly believes in never lying to children. So what do you do when you get the jar of lentils out of the cupboard and the toddler, who has been very picky about what he eats of late, claps his hands and says, “Yay! Beans!?” You smile and say, “Yes, we’re having beans for dinner,” of course. (Then, if your husband looks at you ashamedly, you amend it to, “Yes, uhm…lentil beans.”)

This recipe, adapted from the Wildwood cookbook, will please even the pickiest of eaters. Who can resist fennel and bacon? No, not even the picky toddler.

Feeds 4 people as a main dish

1 cup dried green lentils

4-6 slice of bacon, diced
2 carrots, diced or sliced
1 bulb fennel
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. salt

2 cups stock (I used turkey.)
1 tsp. fresh thyme
pepper

1. Put the lentils in a bowl and fill with warm water. Allow to soak for one hour.
2. Dice your vegetables. To prepare the fennel, trim the bulb top, bottom, and any spots. Halve and slice thinly.
3. In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown the bacon. (Watch out, it will probably spit at you.)
4. Reserve the bacon drippings in the pan and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon.
5. To the hot drippings (now over medium), add the carrots, fennel, onion and salt. Sauté for about ten minutes.
6. Stir in your stock, thyme, and pepper. Add soaked and drained lentils. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Taste your lentils to test for doneness.
7. Add your bacon and enjoy.

I served this over some chopped, fresh spinach. Others ate it without anything green.

Other fennel recipes:

• One skillet salmon and winter veggies
• Orangette’s potato fennel soup

Wishing we had more stored in the freezer

Mostly milk (thanks, Snowville), homemade turkey stock, herbs, and one last lonely local broccoli

Baked Eggs

I think one of the best things about a day off of work is having an unhurried  breakfast. Here’s a quick dish that you can make for yourself (and tastes fancy enough to serve to friends.) It’s reminiscent of the flavors in a dish that I used to get at Toulouse Petit, a fantastic breakfast place. Someday I’ll work on recreating that meal, but for now here’s the lazy version.

For 1 or more-

Butter a ramekin. Dice a small piece of ham and scatter it in the bottom of the ramekin. Crack your egg in. (Don’t scramble or stir.) Sprinkle Parmesan or other spunky, grated cheese over the top. Add salt and pepper. Drizzle on about 1 tbls. of cream. Bake your egg at 325F for 10-12 minutes. 

-If you’re baking an egg just for yourself, skip the post-breakfast scrubbing by using a muffin paper in the ramekin. (Don’t butter it, just crack your egg right in the paper.)
-Friends coming for brunch? Bake your eggs in a muffin tin.
-Make this recipe your own by adding herbs, leaving out the meat, or experimenting in any other way.

Make Your Own Peppermint Bath Soak

Here’s a luxurious gift to make and give someone. Co-workers have questionable dietary needs? Family members eschewing sweets and trying to be healthy? Sometimes it’s nice to make and give something that isn’t food. (Shocking, I know.)

If you’re lucky, you still have mint in your backyard. This year, sadly being without an established herb garden, I picked mine from our school playground. It was still alive and well, as we haven’t had a big freeze yet. About a week before I wanted to make my gifts, I snipped it and hung it upside down in a bunch to dry.  You can probably get everything else that you need at the grocery store or drug store. Epsom salts usually come in a bag or in a container that looks like a milk carton. I found my peppermint oil at a health food store (on sale!) but you can find it in most grocery stores too. Look for it in a tiny little bottle, probably shelved near candles or bath items. (Don’t look in the spice aisle – you don’t want peppermint extract.)

You can decide how you want to package and accessorize this present. I like the quilted jars because they’re beautiful and reusable for many purposes. You could add some peppermint tea, a tiny wooden scoop, or anything that might complete a little collection of luxury items. (It’s hard to resist this little cookie.) Here’s a gift tag that you can use, if you like.

Bath salt proportions:

1 cup kosher salt
1 cup epsom salt
1/4 cup baking soda
4-5 drops of peppermint oil
About 1 cup mint, dried and chopped finely

Since the proportions are easy to manage, this recipe is easy to enlarge to suit your needs. I measured the salts using a jar, according to how many gifts I wanted to make. (Get out the big bowl for this one!)

1. Assemble and organize your ingredients.
2. Mix salts and baking soda together.
3. Remove about 1 cup of your mixture to a small bowl and stir in the oil. Mix well. Add this back in to your big mixture.
4. Stir in the mint.
5. Package and give with love.

Much merriness to you all!

Macaroni, Cheese, and a lot of Broccoli

The small boy in my house is fickle. He’ll like something one day and purse his lips and refuse to eat it the next day. It’s my job, as a mother, therefore to get better at packing each meal with good stuff and making them count. (Right?) This baked pasta dish hides 3 pounds of broccoli.

1 lb. pasta (I’ve been loving the organic boxed pasta at Whole Foods for quick meals.)
6-8 oz. medium white cheese, grated
3 lbs. broccoli
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. chicken stock (or veggie stock, if you prefer)

1. Boil pasta for three minutes less than the recommended time. (It will finish cooking in the oven.) Set aside.
2. Wash and chop broccoli coarsely. Steam over boiling water for 5 minutes. Puree in a food processor until smooth. If needed, add a splash of milk to make blending easier.
3. In another pan, melt butter, then whisk in milk and salt. Heat until warm over medium. Over the heat, add grated cheese and whisk until smooth. Whisk in broccoli mixture.
4. Toss this sauce with the pasta and then spread it into a 9X13 pan.
5. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes until it’s toasty and brown on top.

Dedicated to all first graders (or anyone, really,) who think ‘macaroni and trees’ is a funny joke.