Carrot Ginger Soup

It took me forever to come up with a carrot soup recipe that suited my tastes - the surprising addition of salsa is what finally did it for me.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, coarsely chopped (from Schaner Farm)
2½ teaspoon ginger, fresh, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, minced (from Schaner Farm)
2 cups carrots, chopped (from J.R. Organics Farm or Suzie's Farm)
¼ cup salsa
3 cups vegetable stock
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Sauté the onion in the oil in a pan on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger; cook another 2 minutes. Add carrots and salsa; cook for 1 minute. Add broth, bring to a boil, and simmer covered until carrots are soft, about 20 minutes. Puree and season to taste.

Garnish with crema, sour cream, cilantro, onions sprouts or microgreens

Serves 4-6

Yuletide Wassail or Hot Mulled Cider

So, hot cider is not what wassail was originally, but it's the version we know today.  My mom made it every winter for every holiday event we ever attended, when caroling, or whenever she wanted to evoke a holiday mood.  It was her thing.  Here's my version of her recipe:

1 whole cardamom pod
½ teaspoon whole cloves
1 stick mexican cinnamon
4 thin slices fresh ginger
juice of an orange (or 2) off one of the many local trees heavy with fruit
1 quart fresh apple cider or juice (Smit Orchards is the best I've found)

Lightly crush whole spices.  Gently simmer all ingredients for about 20 minutes (longer for a spicier cider) in a pot on the stove or a crockpot.   Serve piping hot and while a-wassailing!

Makes about 4½ cups

Variations
Use other citrus instead of an orange
Add cherry or pear juice
And other spices, such as star anise

Apple Praline Pie

Okay, so the tarte tatin didn't quite work out how I wanted it to this year;  I've still got a single pie crust I made; I picked up some more Granny Smith and Fuji apples yesterday morning from Smit Orchards at the Hillcrest farmers market; I love apple crisp more than pie; so here's what I'm gonna do:

Roll out & form my a pie crust

10 apples, peeled, cored
1&1/2 tablespoons rapadura sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Cut apples in half and sliced about ¼" thick. Toss with sugar, cinnamon & lemon juice. Mound in the unbaked pie crust.

Topping
2/3 cup rapadura sugar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons walnut oil
2/3 cup flour
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup pecans, chopped
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix topping ingredients together until crumbly and cover the top of the pie.

Place pie on a baking sheet and bake at 375º until golden and bubbly, about 60 minutes.

Serve with the leftover maple whipped Spring Hill sour cream.

Variations
Use other fruit seasonally: pears, berries, stone fruit...

Pie Crust

This is not my favorite task...

Pie Crust (based on Martha's Pate Brisee)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon evaporated cane sugar
4 oz butter (from Spring Hill), cold, cut into 1/2" cubes
2-3 tablespoons ice water

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and using your fingers, quickly mix the dough, smashing the butter into smaller and smaller pieces with your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  You still want to be able to see little pieces of butter and you don't want the heat of your fingers to melt the butter so don't over do it.  (Alternatively, you can process for a few seconds in the food processor but I like to use my hands.)

Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and combine just enough so the dough holds together without being wet or sticky.  If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time.  Form a ball, wrap in plastic and flatten into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month. To make a pie shell, allow to come to room temp, then roll out about 1/8" thick and big enough to line your pie plate.  Line your pie plate to form your crust, cutting or crimping the top edge (any extra dough scraps can be topped with cinnamon and sugar and baked on a baking sheet for a little sweet treat) .  If pre-baking, poke bottom with a fork a few times or put foil and a handful of dried beans over the bottom of the pie crust when baking.

This is enough for a single pie shell.  Double this recipe if you want crust on top of the pie as well.

Make Your Own Mayo

Be not afraid - this is very easy.  The only problem is it makes about a cup and it only lasts a day or two.  So make it when you know it will be consumed (like for potato salad or lots of people having sandwiches).  If you want to make less you could look for smaller eggs and decrease the rest of the ingredients; sometimes the Schaners have little guinea fowl eggs.  Or if you want to make a big batch, sometimes they have larger turkey eggs.

You are using a raw egg - again, be not afraid. Do you know where your local eggs come from?  Do you keep them in the refrigerator once you get them home? Do you use them up and get fresh ones often? Are you immunocompromised? (yes, yes, yes, no) Good, then you have nothing to fear.

Mayonnaise
1 egg from your backyard or favorite farmer
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice from a local tree heavy with fruit
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 cup oil (more or less, depending on the size of the egg)
½ teaspoon sea salt
pinch cayenne pepper

In a food processor or blender, combine the egg, lemon juice and Dijon mustard. Process on high speed for 15 seconds. With the motor running, pour the oil in a slow, steady stream and process until emulsified. Watch while you're adding the oil: once it's real thick, (it will be harder to incorporate more oil and you don't want to over blend) and the oil just starts to pool on top, STOP.  Add the salt and cayenne, and pulse briefly to blend.

Makes a bit more than a cup will keep for about 24 hours.

I never liked mayo until I made it myself.  This is sooo much better than the shelf-stable stuff.

Variations
Try making with olive oil or half olive oil
Use different types of mustard
Use lime instead of lemon
Stir in chopped fresh herbs
Stir in other spices (black pepper, saffron...)
Make Aoli (garlic mayo): add 2-3 cloves of garlic to the blender first; blend well and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Kitchen Tip: How to Crack an Egg
Crack the egg gently (not too soft, not too hard) on a flat surface (e.g. your counter top), not the lip of your bowl.  This way, the egg shells don't go into the egg white and you shouldn't get any shell in your recipe.  Crack eggs one at a time into a separate small bowl before adding them to your recipe.  Then, if you do happen to break little pieces of shell into your egg, they are easily removed.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Breakfast this morning:
poached Schaner eggs with hiwa kai salt from Salt Farm & freshly ground pepper
homemade rolls with Spring Hill butter & local honey

Lunch today:
delicious sandwich of homemade mayo, arugula persimmon salad, cranberry compote & stuffing on multigrain sprouted bread (might sound strange but it was awesome)
Smit Orchard's apple cider with Schaner pomegranate seeds

Dinner:
straight-up leftovers - stuffing, smashed potatoes, broccoli, cheese sauce, mushroom gravy, twice (well, now thrice) baked sweet potatoes followed by pie

Sauce Bechamel (White Sauce), Mornay (Cheese Sauce) & Soubise (Onion Sauce)

Sauce bechamel is a very basic French white sauce that works well as a "mother" recipe for lots of different things and variations: in gratins, lasagnas, and other casseroles, over steamed veggies, mashed potatoes or Yorkshire Pudding.  This is based on the very standard Joy of Cooking recipe.

1&1/4 cups milk
1/4 onion
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
sea salt
freshly ground white or black pepper

In a small saucepan, heat the milk, onion & bay leaf on low heat, uncovered for 15 minutes.  Remove and compost the onion & bay leaf and set milk aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter on medium low heat, add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until golden brown.  Slowing whisk in the warm milk until well incorporated (no lumps).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Continue stirring until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.

Makes about 1&1/2 cups

Variations
After it thickens:

• stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese blend or smoked cheddar from Spring Hill
• add a tablespoon fresh minced herbs (chives, parsley...)

Or as the first step, saute an onion or a couple shallots (sliced very thin, sauteed until soft); then proceed with the recipe as written.