Simple Corn Soup

This is a very easy, very delicious recipe that you can tart up in many delectable ways...

4 ears corn, remove husk (save and dry for tamales) and silk (save for stock)
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/3 cup grated potato
Sea salt to taste

Cut the kernels off the cobs and set aside.  Put the cobs, silk (for the health benefits), and any other appropriate veggie trimmings if you got 'em, in 5 cups water, bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.  Strain out the veggie parts and now you've made your own broth.

In a soup pot, melt the butter (or heat the oil) on medium heat.  Saute onion for a minute, add potato and about a cup of the broth.  Cover and simmer until soft, about 15 minutes.

Add the rest of the corn broth and half the corn kernels.  Simmer for a few minutes and then blend the soup until smooth (be careful! it's hot).  Add the remainder of the corn kernels and salt to taste.  Serves 4.

Variations:
garnish with roasted tomatillo salsa, a little lime zest, sauted poblano chile, avocado & tortilla chips

garnish with diced heirloom tomatoes, julienned basil or parsley

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Sage Mountain Farm had gorgeous tomatillos this week and they have some of the best garlic!

a pound of tomatillos, peeled
1 small head garlic cloves, skinned
a few of your favorite chiles (or more or less to taste) - this week: padrons from Suzie's Farm
a little olive oil
1 bunch fresh cilantro (from the Schaners), chopped, including stems
1 small onion, diced small
sea salt to taste

Kid's Day at Reeger's Farm

Toss tomatillos, garlic and chiles with a little drizzle of olive oil and roast on a baking sheet under a very hot broiler until blistered and soft (5-10 minutes), stirring occasionally. Cool; transfer to blender, including juice, and blend to a course puree. Add cilantro and onion and season with salt to taste.

Makes about 4 cups - if this is too much, freeze or can some of the puree (before adding cilantro and onion) for later.

Kitchen Tip: Peeling Garlic
Pull cloves apart. Using a wide chef’s knife, cut off tough base of clove. Place the side of the knife flat against the clove, parallel with the cutting board. Very carefully – don’t cut yourself - crush (lighly if you want to keep the cloves whole, with more force if you're going to be mincing) the clove between the cutting board and the flat side of the knife. The skin now can be easily removed.

Make you own sour cream/crema/creme fraiche

This is easy to make and just requires a little thinking ahead when menu planning 

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons buttermilk

                 

Combine cream and buttermilk well in glass jar and cover loosely.  Let stand at room temperature for about 12 hours, or until thickened.  Stir and refrigerate.  It will keep in the refrigerator for 7 days.

My Favorite Zucchini Recipes: Calabacitas & Zucchini Quick Bread

Both of these recipes were handed down through my mom's family...

Narcissa’s Calabacitas
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound summer squash, sliced into bite-sized pieces
3 large tomatoes, diced
5 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
2 cobs fresh corn, kernels sliced off the cob
handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
sea salt & pepper
2-3 ounces cheddar or jack cheese, grated

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, squash, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently until start to soften. Stir in corn, tomatoes, cilantro, salt and pepper to taste. Top with cheese and cover until cheese is melted. Serve with tortillas.

Serves 4-6

Zucchini Bread (or Muffins)
(Funny enough, according to Wendy Johnson's Gardening at the Dragon's Gate, this recipe is shockingly similar to the one served at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in the early 1970s)

3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 1/2 - 2 cups evaporated cane or rapadura sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour (I use a mix of whole wheat pastry, buckwheat, quinoa, and oat)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
3 cups grated zucchini

1 cup nuts, toasted, optional (I suggest pecans or walnuts)

Beat eggs light and foamy. Mix in oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Add zucchini and nuts; mix until well combined.

For muffins: bake in cupcake tins at 325º for 20 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.
For bread loaf: bake in 2 greased 9x5 loaf pans at 325º for 1 hour.
Cool on rack.

Variations
Eliminate the cinnamon (or not) and add ¼ cup cocoa powder and ½ cup chocolate chips.
For a lower fat version, replace 1/3-2/3 of the oil with applesauce.

fresh squeezed lemonade

Fresh, organic, local, ice-cold lemonade is a beautiful thing.  I'm so happy to have a lemon tree but if you don't, there are tons of trees around town heavy with fruit: make friends with your neighbor or stake out a tree that's easy to reach.  And they are almost always in season here in san diego.

Here's my basic recipe:

in a 1 gallon container -

2 - 2  1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (including pulp)
zest of a lemon (optional)
1  1/2 - 2 cups your preferred sweetener (I usually use agave or a simple syrup made from evaporated cane juice and sometimes half honey)

Fill the rest of the container with spring water.


Lemonade is very easy to rift on using a vast array of seasonal ingredients.  Add any one of these ingredients before filling the container with water.  All amounts are approximate, so just use what you got and adjust to taste:

• a tablespoon of zest and/or the juice of lime, buddha hand, tangerine,  orange, grapefruit (with rose), and/or kumquat
• a handful of fresh lavender or rose geranium, steeped in a cup of hot water for 20 minutes, strained
• 1 cup cucumber, blended and a handful of fresh mint, blended and strained
• 8 cups watermelon, seeded and blended
• a cup of chopped pineapple guava or dragon fruit, blended
• a cup of pomegranate juice
• a cup of berries, blended (and maybe strained; blueberry was a favorite and mulberry had amazing color)
• POG - guava, passion fruit and orange

My little sister and I recently made an amazing lemonade with mulberries from my tree and strawberries and blackberries from the farmers market.


I also love to cut the sweetness by mixing lemonades with various iced teas and herbal tisanes.

Here's a few of my favorite combos:

• raspberry lemonade & mint tisane
• kumquat lemonade & white peony tea
• mixed citrus or berry lemonade & jamaica (hibiscus tisane)
• lemonade & oolong tea
• citrus lemonade & black assam ginger tea

Serve over ice and garnish with edible flowers!

eggs and backyard chickens

We are very fortunate to be fostering a friend of mine's chickens, 3 of which lay beautiful eggs.  we even got one with a double yolk!  I'd heard of these but never saw one in real life before - how special.  We were surprised how big the egg was compared to  their normal eggs.

Our favorite way to prepare the best eggs is to poach them:
Take your eggs out of the fridge to allow them to come to room temp (or use your fresh eggs from this morning!).
Cooking one egg at a time, crack your egg onto a small plate and set aside.

in a small pot, bring a few cups of water to a simmer.  Add a splash of vinegar and pinch of salt.  Swirl water to create a little "whirlpool" action and slide your egg into the center of the whirlpool (this helps keep the white of the egg together).  Cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on how runny you like it (I like my yolk a bit cooked so i slice into the poaching egg about half way through the cooking process.)  Use a slotted spoon to lift your egg out of the water and place on buttered bread with a bit of salt and pepper, a bed of dressed mixed greens, your favorite breakfast potatoes or hash. mmmmm...cheese sauce eggs!

mulberries: 1st harvest & 1st canning

Jamming is not hard and what an awesome way to use fallen fruit!
We just bought a house and we have not had time to plant a garden yet (we're working hard on the house - a fixer) but thankfully we have many fruit trees! So today I made jam with a friend of mine with some experience under her belt.  Here's our basic recipe:

First we boiled our ball jars and lids (separately) for 10 minutes and left them to sit in the hot water.

6 generous cups lightly smashed mulberries
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (also locally harvested)
1/4 cup good balsamic vinegar (next time I'll add another tablespoon - thank you for the suggestion Galen!)
4 cups evaporated cane juice (next time I'll use sage honey)
1 tablespoon pectin (next time I'll use apples)
1 tablespoon calcium water (it came with the pectin so we used it)

We mixed the sugar in with the pectin and set aside.

We brought the fruit with the lemon juice, vinegar & calcium water to a boil, added the sugar-pectin and simmered, stirring for 1-2 minutes.  We brought it back up to a boil and turned off the heat.

One at a time, we filled up the jars to 1/4 inch from the top, wiped off the rim, screwed the lids on fairly tight and returned the hot jars to the boiling water for 5 or so minutes.  it was so easy that we made another recipe:

3 1/2 cups minced local citrus, seeds & white pith removed (many kumquats, 3 tangerines, 2 oranges & a lemon)
zest from 2 oranges and a lemon
3 1/2 cups minced loquat, peeled & seeded
2 cups fresh local orange juice
2 cups evaporated cane juice
1 1/2 tablespoons pectin (mixed into the sugar)
1 tablespoon calcium water

We brought the fruit & juice to a boil and simmered for 20 minutes, added in the calcium water, brought back to a boil, stirred in the sugar-pectin for 2 minutes and then filled the jars in the same manner as above.

We got 3 pints of mulberry jam and 4 1/2 pints of loquat marmalade resting undisturbed for the night.  Can't wait to try them on fresh baked biscuits!

Thanks Celeste!