Peach Salse
This recipe is prepared using local ingredients. Because we live on a beautiful 65 acre farm we grow some of the vegetables and herbs we use for breakfast and others we buy from the local farmers market. The tomatoes are grown right here on the farm and the delicious peaches are from nearby Romney, West Virginia.
Ingredients:
- 1 jalapeno
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
- Salt to taste
- 2 small/medium peaches (peeled and pitted)
- 3 - 4 medium tomatoes (peeled and chopped by hand)
- chopped cilantro or basil (optional)
In a food processor mince 1 jalapeno and 2 cloves of garlic.
When these are finely chopped, add 1 small onion and pulse until it is chopped.
Add 2 small or medium peaches (peeled and pitted) and again pulse until all ingredients are coarsely chopped.
Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (fresh or bottled) and salt to taste.
You can also add some cayenne pepper to make the salsa hotter (or you can omit the jalapeno all together if you like it less hot).
Chop the tomatoes by hand - if you do it in the food processor salsa will become too runny, and resemble gazpacho (a cold soup made with similar ingredients). Mix everything together and adjust salt and pepper according to taste.
The peaches in the salsa give it a slightly sweet taste. It can be served for breakfast with a frittata or with chips as a dip. If using it as a dip you can add fresh chopped cilantro or fresh chopped basil at the end.
You can add a twist to this salsa by using mangoes instead of peaches. Unfortunately once you start making our own salsa you wont want to eat those bottled kind anymore.
Enjoy!
Recipe
of the Month: Apple Pancake Soufflé
Ingredients:
4 Tbsp salted or unsalted butter
2 medium apples, peeled, cored, cut into 1/3 inch thick slices
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs at room temp.
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
Confectioner's sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" or 12" oven-proof dish.
In another fry pan over medium heat, melt 2 Tbsp of butter. Add
apple slices (granny smith is a good variety to use), cinnamon and
sugar and sauté, stirring occasionally until apples begin to soften
and brown, 5-6 minutes. Set aside.
In a bowl, beat eggs with a whisk, add milk and beat mixture until
blended. Sift flour and salt into egg mixture and beat just until
blended. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp butter, add to flour-egg mixture and
beat until smooth. Pour half the batter into prepared dish. Next
spread the cooked apples. Top with remaining pancake mixture. Bake
until top is puffed up and nicely browned (not burned) - about 40-45
minutes. It takes less time in the 12 inch dish than in the 9 inch.
Dust with confectioner's sugar and serve with maple syrup.
Nested Eggs (breakfast dish)
-
2 lrg (2 lb) pkgs frozen hash brown potatoes
-
2- 12 cup muffins tins (makes 24)
-
7 eggs
-
3 cups milk
-
2 Tbls flour
-
Fresh parsley chopped finely (dried can be
substituted if necessary)
-
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375-400 degrees. Generously spray muffin tins with
non-stick coating and set aside. Thaw hash browns and evenly place
into muffin tins, making an indentation in the center of each tin.
Mix the eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper, and pour mixture into
the muffin tins to slightly below the top of each tin. Sprinkle with
fresh parsely, reserving some for garnish.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until hash browns are slightly brown and
egg mixture is solid. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Remove
from muffin tins with fork, being careful not to break nests apart.
Set two on each plate, garnish with fresh parsley.
You can serve this with salsa, sausage and bacon and toast.
Zucchini Fritters
-
1 lb or more of zucchini
-
Remove ends,
peel skin (optional), remove seeds, grate
-
1 onion grated or chopped fine
-
2 cloves garlic minced
-
2 eggs (beaten)
-
1 cup of flour (could be more or less)
-
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
-
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
-
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
-
Red pepper to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)
-
Salt to taste (! teaspoon)
-
Canola oil for frying
Zucchini is abundant at this time of
year and this is an excellent way to use them up. Cover the grated
zucchini and onion with salt. Let sit for 15 or more minutes and
then squeeze juice from the vegetables and discard juice or save it
for vegetable soup. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the oil)
until you have a thick batter consistency.
Spoon batter into hot oil
(size of a plum, and not too thick or the center will not cook) and fry until
golden brown. Drain on paper towels so its not greasy.
Eat while hot with a sauce. Hienz hot
ketchup is good or you can make your own with ketchup and Chinese
hot sauce. Or can dip it in a coriander chutney.
Mandarin
Chicken Salad
Mix
the following in a bowl:
-
4
cups diced chicken
-
1
cup chopped celery
-
1
can water chestnuts
-
1
can (20 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
-
1
can drained Mandarin orange slices, 15 oz
-
1
cup toasted almonds
Dressing:
Mix
together and pour dressing on top of salad.
Sprinkle
1 cup toasted coconut on top.
Enjoy
Focaccia
Focaccia
is a wonderful flat bread much like peasant bread and yet is so much
easier to make and requires no heavy kneading or effort.
In a bowl mix flour, salt and herbs if adding them (about 1
tablespoon). Stir
together. Mix the yeast in the
warm water (make sure it is not hotter than 110 degrees or will
destroy the yeast). You
don’t have to wait for yeast to ferment.
Add this mixture to the flour.
Add olive oil. Mix with a spatula until all the flour is incorporated in the
dough. May need to add
more water (depends on the humidity).
Should end up with a sticky dough.
Leave
the dough in the bowl; spray with cooking oil on top and cover with
plastic wrap and place somewhere warm. After an hour or so the dough
should have risen to double. Get
a 10 x 15 inch jellyroll pan and oil generously with olive oil.
Spread the dough onto the greased pan (don’t worry if it
doesn’t quite touch the edges).
Spray with oil on top. Cover
with plastic wrap for 30-45 minutes.
Remove
plastic wrap and sprinkle with kosher salt or even better with a black
spice called kalonji (often find this on Afghan bread) and place in a
preheated oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, and then lower to 350
degrees and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or until brown (don’t
let bottom of bread get too dark). If want bread to be extra crispy
can splash ½ cup cold or iced water in the bottom of oven when baking
(they do this all the time when they bake French bread).
This
bread is really great with soup or cheese.
If want to make the focaccia into a pizza you can
add toppings of goat cheese or mozzarella , roasted peppers, sun-dried
tomatoes (prior to cooking), and then bake as shown above.
Pumpkin
Bars
-
2 cups all-purpose flour
-
2
cups white sugar
-
1 cup vegetable oil
-
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts)
-
2 teaspoons baking powder
-
2 teaspoons salt
-
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-
4 eggs (beaten)
-
2 cups pumpkin pie filling
-
2 teaspoons baking soda
This a really easy recipe and great for the holidays. First
preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease two 9" x 13"
pans. Mix all the ingredients together (first the dry ingredients and
then add the wet ingredients) until well blended. Pour into the
greased pans and bake for 25 minutes. Allow the bars to cool and then
frost them with a cream cheese frosting (but they are delicious even
without the frosting). I really like them with a cup of hot mulled
cider. Cool the bars and cut them into desired squares. Makes
about 20 bars.
Almond Rocha
(these are so delicious)
-
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
-
1 stick margarine (1/2 cup)
-
1 1/3 cup cups sugar
-
1 cup sliced almonds
-
1/2 large Hershey chocolate bar
-
1/2 cup slithered almonds (lightly toasted)
In a heavy iron pan add butter, margarine and sugar.
Cook until the mixture is lemon colored. Add the 1 cup of sliced
almonds. Cook until velvety brown and mixture begins to smoke, but not
burn. Pour into a cookie sheet lined with foil. Melt 1/2 a large
Hershey bar chocolate bar on top and sprinkle the toasted almonds on
top. Wait until candy sets and then break into pieces (these can be
any shape or size). This makes a wonderful Christmas present and
tastes really delicious and crunchy.
Turkey Chili
-
3 lbs. of ground turkey meat
-
1 onion (chopped)
-
4 cloves of garlic minced
-
1/2 green pepper (chopped)
-
1/2 red pepper (chopped)
-
1 cup chopped celery
-
2 each green and yellow Zucchini (diced)
-
2 cans of dark red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
-
2 small cans of tomato paste
-
Salt and pepper to taste
Put turkey in a large pot and let the meat brown,
turning it frequently. Drain off any fat once turkey is cooked (no
longer pink in color). In a separate skillet saute the onions, garlic,
peppers and celery. Once the onions are cooked (they become
translucent) add the zucchini. Cook a little longer. Add salt and
pepper. Add the onion mixture to the turkey. Put in the two cans of
tomato paste, kidney beans and 2 cups of water (you can add more water
if you want the chili to be more runny). Let the flavors mingle for
another 20 minutes on low heat. If you want this to be more spicy, add
some Tobasco sauce.
This is a very healthy meal and is great on the new
South Beach diet which I recently started. You can make a big pot and
freeze some of it for later. Isn't it great when you can have a
healthy meal and enjoy it at the same time. Happy Eating.
Hot Crab Dip
-
1
lb Backfin Crab Meat-(pat out excess water)
-
8
oz Cream Cheese (can be low or non fat)
-
8
oz Sour Cream (can be low or non fat)
-
1
tsp. Dry Mustard
-
1
to 1.5 tablespoon Lemon Juice
-
3
shakes of Garlic Salt
-
Dash of Old Bay
Thoroughly mix all the ingredients except the crabmeat
(if you can't get the backfin crab meat, you can use a couple of cans
of crabmeat (drained), but the crab meat is usually of a lower quality
in the cans. Now fold in the crabmeat. Spray a glass pie dish with Pam or some other non-stick
spray. Pour mixture into
pie dish. Cover with a thin layer of cheddar cheese.
Sprinkle with Paprika (I actually prefer cayenne pepper to
paprika, but this may be little too hot for most of you).
Bake at 325° for 30 minutes and simmer.
You can make this dish
a day ahead and cook it just prior to serving. Serve with
Triscuit or other cracker of your choice and enjoy. Its a great
appetizer.
