Now it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Hot Lips Soda, hand-crafted, real fruit soda which sources extra fruit from local farmers. Earlier this year, we were excited to know that you could purchase it in Seattle (though it had been well worth routing your road trip though Portland to pick it up.)

Now, HOTLIPS has made it big. Check out their blurb in the NYT.

Stocking up for holiday guests? Make the yummy soda choice. Read: Some Soda Starts at the Farm.

Thanksgiving is fast approaching! We’ve been assembling our ingredients for a locally-based Thanksgiving for some time now. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some of our favorite holiday recipes with you.

On the first Thanksgiving that we spent in Seattle, my brother-in-law made poached pears. They were a lovely and a refreshing addition to the meal. Now, I make this version that includes cranberries. (We were lucky to be able to purchase some local cranberries at the U-district market.) This dish can be prepared the day ahead and benefits from sitting in the refrigerator overnight. It doesn’t usurp the cranberry sauce on the table but adds a little extra bite of fruit, just when you think you can’t eat any more heavy food. This also serves well the next day for breakfast with yogurt.

This year, I plan to use my home-canned pears. I’ll decrease the first simmering time by a few minutes.

about 8 pears
2 tbls. sugar
1 cinnamon stick
5 tbls. honey
10 oz. fresh cranberries
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Peel and slice the pears into halves. Put in a medium sauce pan and just cover with water (about 4 cups).
2. Add sugar, cinnamon stick, and honey. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar, and immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer for ten minutes or until pears are tender.
3. Add cranberries and simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
4. Transfer the pears and cranberries to a bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Ladle as much syrup as you would like over the pears. Store covered in the refrigerator when cool.

You may have made a ‘charred’ lasagna before, but have you ever tried a ‘chard’ lasagna? (Ha  ha.) This is a tomato-less lasagna and is a good winter alternative to the traditional version.

1 lb. chard (after broken down, leaves should weigh 1 lb.)
1 c. walnuts, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups ricotta
1 c. Parmesan, grated
3 balls fresh mozzarella, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 c. milk
fresh lasagna noodles (or about 12 boxed noodles)
olive oil, salt, white pepper

1. Rinse chard and remove the stems and thick middle rib. To do this, press your knife down on the leaf  against the midrib and pull up on the stem. Zip! One side of the leaf will come off easily. Set the chard leaves aside.
2. Cook fresh pasta noodles for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from water with a mesh strainer to a bowl. When cool enough to touch, hang or lay out on a clean towel. (If your noodles touch, they may stick to each other.)
3. Toss the chard leaves into the boiling pasta water and cook for 4 minutes. Drain as much water from the chard as possible and set aside to cool.
4. Mince garlic.
5. With your hands (or wrapped in an old dishtowel), squeeze the chard out over the sink. Squeeze until most of the water is out.
6. Toast walnuts in a pan set over medium for about 5 minutes. (Watch these nuts carefully. Don’t multi-task.) Remove walnuts from pan and wipe it out, if needed.
7. Add 1 tbls. olive oil to the same pan. Cook garlic and chard for about 2 minutes. Cool briefly.
8. Mix chard, garlic Parmesan, salt, and pepper together.
9. Oil a 9X13 pan and pour 1/4. c. milk on the bottom. Proceed to layer:
   noodle, cheese/chard mixture, mozzarella, nuts, milk, noodle, etc.
   End with:
   noodle, mozzarella, nuts, sprinkle of Parmesan
10. Cover your lasagna with foil (see note). Bake at 400F for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 10 more minutes, until the top is nicely browned.

• If you are making fresh pasta noodles, roll out to width 5. You do not need to be overly concerned about moisture content, however you do want to flour the noodles enough so that they won’t stick to themselves.
• If using boxed noodles, cook them until only al dente – they will cook more in the oven.
• If your homemade ricotta is too dry, add a few tablespoons of whey back in. When you stir the ricotta mixture, it should be loose enough that your spoon doesn’t give you much resistance.
• Tired of foil sticking to the top of your beautiful lasagna? Place a piece of oiled parchment on the top before covering with foil.
• If you’re making everything from scratch at the same time, I found this sequence to be efficient: heat milk for cheese, make pasta dough and, while it rests, break down chard, chop garlic, hang cheese, roll noodles, boil noodles, then remove and boil chard in same water

You can play around with the proportions of pasta recipes and decide what suits you best. This is the version that we like.

8.5 oz. AP flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 tbls. olive oil

Mix dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and mix with fork until partially combined. Finish the mixing with floured hands. Turn the dough onto a board and knead for 5 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. (Don’t cheat. This step allows the dough to absorb the flour properly.) When it is time to roll it out, cut the dough in half. Knead the ball that you are about to work with gently a few times. Run it through the rollers at the widest setting. Fold your dough into a little package or envelope shape and run it through again. Add flour as necessary. If cutting dough into strands, be careful with moisture content. Your rollers will not cut all the way through if your dough is too moist.

Here’s a delicious dessert to enjoy when you have plenty of eggs. Cream puffs are actually easier than they look! Give them a try.

one batch of double chocolate pudding (or pudding of your choice)

1 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbls. unsalted butter
1 cup AP
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a medium saucepan, mix the water, salt, and butter. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat.
3. As soon as it boils, remove from heat and sift in the flour. (A fine mesh strainer works well here. Measure your flour into the strainer and then shake it over the mixture.)
4. Stir with a rubber spatula and return to the medium heat. Stir the mixture constantly over the heat for about 3 minutes. It should come together in one piece and begin to look a little drier.
5. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and let cool for 1 minute.
6. Add eggs one at a time. Mix well after each addition. (This will become easier, though it’s tricky after the first egg.)
7. Fill a pastry bag with your pastry mixture and fit it with a large, round tip. (Alternatively, you can improvise with a plastic bag. Cut the corner off and it will work just fine.) Pipe your cream puff onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Begin by making a tight spiral of your desired width, and then continue adding about two smaller spirals on top. (You want to do this all in one continuous piping motion. If you do not make a complete disc on the bottom, you may wind up with a hole in the bottom of your cream puff.) For larger, single serving cream puffs, begin with a bottom disc of about 3 1/2  inches. For dainty ‘tea size’ servings, being with a disc about 2 inches.
8. Bake these cream puff shells for 20 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350F degrees and bake for 20 minutes longer. Cool on a rack.
9. When cool, cut the top off the cream puff and fill the bottom with pudding. Put the ‘lid’ back on and finish by sprinkling with powder sugar.

Notes:

• Have fun with fillings! Ice cream and chocolate sauce would be extra decadent. A fruit filling is intriguing. How about a savory cream puff with fromage blanc and herbs?
• Pastry shells are best used on the same day. Fill right before serving. After a day, they will taste just as delicious, but be a little less crunchy. Store by wrapping tightly in plastic or by freezer.

Just a few tips for islanders:

• Persephone Farms has heritage turkeys available for order for November or December. If you haven’t made arrangements for your holiday bird yet, what an opportunity! Contact Louisa at: 360.621.8949 .
• Storage boxes for your winter hoarding are also available from Persephone right now. They include:
  - 5 pounds of rose fingerlings
  -5 pounds of ozette fingerlings
  -10 pounds German butterball potatoes
  -10 pounds onions
  -15 pounds winter squash
  -10 bulbs of garlic.
  The box is $95 and is available for pickup at the Bainbridge market. Visit Rebecca at her stand this weekend to make arrangements.
• Sweet Dahlia Bakery, a local baking venture, has released their winter and holiday menu. Make things a little easier on yourself this busy winter and let someone else do your fancy baking.