From From Asparagus to Zucchini ~ A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce
Bring stock and saffron to a simmer in saucepan. Heat olive oil in large, heavy saucepan. Add leeks; cook over medium-low heat until softened, several minutes. Raise heat to medium-high and stir in rice. Keep stirring rice 1-2 minutes, then add wine. Stir and cook until nearly all the wine has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add two ladlefuls hot stock (enough to barely cover the rice); stir frequently until most is absorbed. Continue to add stock a ladleful at a time and stir very frequently until nearly absorbed. Risotto is done when rice is barely tender and mixture is creamy; this should take 25-35 minutes. (Adjust heat if rice is absorbing liquid too quickly.) Stir in squash during last 10 minutes. Fold in most of the grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, with a little more cheese on top of each serving. Makes 6-8 servings.
Is it a pie, or is it a cheesecake? Well, it's a little of both, and consequently it's exponentially delicious. You can see the commercial now: at the left, a man with pumpkin pie in hand; at the right, a woman with cheesecake in hand. They are walking toward each other, their eyes on their own desserts, lips smacking, and WOOPS! They collide and the pie falls on the cheesecake. Light bulbs appear above their heads and they dig in, smiling, happy, and then they fall in love. You will fall in love with this Pumpkin Cheesepie.
From Farmer John's Cookbook ~ The Real Dirt on Vegetables
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
To prepare fresh pumpkin: cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Cut each half in half and lightly brush with oil. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until very tender when pierced with a butter knife. Scoop and scrape the flesh from the skin, and mash it as you would when making mashed potatoes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Combine the crumbs, 5 Tablespoons of the butter, and 1 Tablespoon sugar in a small mixing bowl. Mix well.
Grease the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with the remaining 1 Tablespoon butter. Press the buttered crumbs into the bottom of the pan to form a crust. Press on the crumb mixture with the bottom of a glass to form a solid, tightly packed crust.
Bake the crust until lightly brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees.
Reserve 2 Tablespoons of the sugar. Beat the eggs with the remaining sugar. Stir in the pumpkin puree, cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Pour the mixture into the crust; bake until the top is browned and the center is still a little jiggly, about 40 minutes.
Remove from oven; let stand on a rack for 5 minutes.
Combine the sour cream, the reserved 2 Tablespoons sugar, and the remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spoon the mixture on top of the pie. Bake until browned and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Let cool; then chill before serving.
Taken from The Joy of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker
Remember: 2 cups dry Jacob's Cattle Bean equals 4-5 cups cooked.
Always wash your beans before soaking. Soak in 3-4 times as much water as beans. Remove any that float or that may be moldy. They are usually soaked overnight. Bring them to a slow boil in the water in which they were soaked. Reduce the heat and simmer. All beans should be cooked until tender. (In this case, cannellini beans take about 2.5- 3 hours.) One test, provided you discard the beans you have tested, is to blow on a few of them in a spoon. If the skins burst, they are sufficiently cooked.
After soaking overnight, you can speed up the cooking process by pressure cooking for 18 minutes instead of the slower stovetop way.
If you have forgotten to soak, a quick method to tenderize for cooking is to cover beans with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. After removing them from heat let them stand, tightly covered, 1 hour. Alternatively, blanching for 2 minutes is almost equivalent to 8 hours of soaking.
From Cheri Sicard, editor of FabulousFoods.com
Here's an elegant side dish that puts all those extra green tomatoes you have to use. Greek style feta or French style chevres (both goat cheeses) work equally well here. Serves 4.
Cut tomatoes into 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat a shallow baking dish with oil. Place tomato slices, in a single, overlapping layer, in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle tomatoes with vinegar and scatter minced oregano over tomatoes. Top with crumbled goat cheese and drizzle with olive oil. Broil 5-8 inches below a preheated broiler and broil until tomatoes are hot and cheese is just starting to brown, about 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
From Cheri Sicard, editor of FabulousFoods.com
Here is a good basic version of the classic Southern side dish. Of course you can get creative by adding different seasonings to the coating mixture.
Serves 6-8
Soak tomatoes in a mixture of about 2 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt for about 1/2 hour.
In a large plastic food bag, mix flour, salt, pepper and cayenne. Drain tomatoes and drop a few slices at a time into the bag and shake to coat completely. Heat oil in a large skillet and fry coated tomato slices until browned on each side, about 2 minute per side. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
From Kitchen Gardeners International
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Trim bottom of Brussels sprouts, and slice each in half top to bottom. Heat oil in cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers; put sprouts cut side down in one layer in pan. Put in garlic, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook, undisturbed, until sprouts begin to brown on bottom, and transfer to oven. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until sprouts are quite brown and tender, about 1/2 hour. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir in balsamic vinegar, and serve hot or warm. Makes 4 servings.
Braising is an excellent method for cooking Brussels sprouts. Braising refers to cooking food with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.
Check each head, peel off any loose or discolored leaves. Using a paring knife, cut an X through the core end of each head. Bring sprouts, water and salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower heat, cover and simmer. Shake pan once or twice during braising to redistribute sprouts.
Cook until just tender 8 to 10 minutes. Test by piercing with a knife tip. Drain well.
Melt butter in a large skillet of medium heat. Whisk in mustard until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly until smooth and creamy, about 30 second.
Add sprouts to skillet, coating well with the butter mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Serves 3 to 4.
From Saveur, November 1998, page 136
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a 4" lid out of the pumpkin. Remove and discard seeds and string. Rub inside of pumpkin with 1 Tbsp. salted butter, season with salt, and place on a baking pan.
Melt remaining butter in a skillet over low heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in bread crumbs and cook for 2 minutes. Add nutmeg and sage, and season generously with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, stir in cheese, and spoon mixture into pumpkin. Add enough stock to fill pumpkin to within 1/2" of the rim. Put bay leaves on top, and then replace pumpkin lid.
Bake until pumpkin begins to soften and brown on the outside and the stock bubbles inside, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter. Scrape flesh from bottom and sides of pumpkin with a spoon. Just before serving, stir in heavy cream if desire.
Peel and cut butternut into 1/2" squares. Put in 13x9 pan. Peel and cut shallots and place in pan. Coat the butternut and shallots with olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake at 450 degrees until soft (around 20-30 minutes). Halfway through baking, pull out and rub/sprinkle sage on top and then continue baking.
Mix with pasta and Parmesan cheese.
]]>From Food Book ~ for a Sustainable Harvest, By Elizabeth Henderson and David Stern
Saute onion in oil, until clear and slightly golden. Halfway through cooking onion, add garlic. (If you prefer, you can toss in the onion and garlic raw.) Add onion and garlic to olive oil, vinegar, and herbs. Mix well. Toss with shredded, raw cabbage and serve.
From Food Book ~ for a Sustainable Harvest, By Elizabeth Henderson and David Stern
Peel and slice winter squash into a greased baking dish. Cover with sliced and cored apples. Top with other ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees until tender (about an hour). Note: maple syrup, molasses and honey also make good sweeteners to a dish like this.
From Farmer John's Cookbook ~ The Real Dirt on Vegetables
Where do you put your hot sauce? Eggs? Pasta? Green beans? Steak? On everything you eat? When you see how easy it is to make your own scorchin' hot sauce, you'll soon become a hot-sauce-over-everything person. And then you'll start improvising, adding maybe a few garlic cloves, or some tomato paste, or rosemary sprigs. Different people have different secrets to a great hot sauce, but here we give you the basics. You can make this in a quart-size mason jar, or you can do it like they do in the South: in a big old rum bottle. Measurements are approximate; you do what you need to fill your container completely. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
Stuff as many peppers as you can in the bottle or jar, dropping in a few peppercorns between peppers. Bring the vinegar to a boil in a medium pot. Stir in the salt and remove from the heat. Let it cool for about a minute. Pour the vinegar over the peppers until they are fully covered. (You might not use all of the vinegar.)
Pound a cork into the jar or bottle (an old clean wine cork works fine) or screw the lid on tightly. Put the peppers in a cool closet for 1 week; then transfer to the refrigerator. The sauce will be ready to use after 1 week, but it will get even better and hotter with time. Once the sauce has reached a heat to your liking you can transfer it to a smaller clean container and store it in the refrigerator; at this point it will keep indefinitely.
Taken from Simply Recipes