Lamb and Herbs

Over the last month, I have rediscovered how much I love lamb!  Today they had some nice lamb chops at the store and I just felt that would be a nice protein to go with my roasted vegetables.  And given that I now have a small herb garden in my front yard, I decided to use some of the herbs to marinate the lamb.  Wow, how wonderful are fresh herbs? 

Pan-seared Balsamic Lamb with Fresh Herbs

•  2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 sprigs Lemon Thyme
• 2 sprigs Hot & Spicy Oregano
• 1 sprig Marjoram
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 4 lamb chops (about 1 pound)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a zipped bag.  Roughly chop herbs and add them to the marinade.  Add the chops and salt & pepper, seal bag and shake to evenly coat the chops.  Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator.  Bring chops to room temperature (about 20 minutes). 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sear chops for approximately 3 minutes on each side, to cook to medium-rare.  Allow chops to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

I Can't Believe It! Garlic Scapes!

I will admit that when this season started I thought I was going to miss out on all my favorite strange veggies.  Gotta hand it to the farmers at the Midland Farmers Market!  They have come through for me! This morning, I found garlic scapes!  It's been a couple years since I have had enough scapes to make pesto and I ran out of my stock about a year ago, so you can imagine that I am thrilled to have found these.  As with any recipe I make, what I put into it depends on what I have available.  Since I didn't buy anymore greens this week, I had to rely on what I have growing.  So, this pesto turned out a little less green than the batches I've made before.  What I had available was basil (which I have never included in my garlic scape pesto before) and burgundy Swiss chard. I have always used spinach in the past which kept the green theme going.  The burgundy chard did not change the color THAT much, but you can tell it's not the same.  I also didn't have pine nuts this time, so I decided to try almonds.  It definitely gives a different flavor to the mix.

Garlic Scape Pesto with Swiss Chard and Almonds

• 1 bunch garlic scapes**
• 5 leaves burgundy Swiss chard**
• 1/4 cup basil leaves**
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup roasted almonds
• Olive Oil

Wash the scapes, chard and basil leaves to remove grit.  Cut scapes into 2" pieces and add to the blender.  Break chard and basil leaves into bite-sized pieces and add to blender.  Add parmesan and lemon juice.  Place top on blender and process, on Puree, slowly adding olive oil until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.  Add the almonds and puree, adding more olive oil as needed, until smooth.  You may store in the refrigerator for up to a month or freeze.  I find it works very well to pour into ice cube trays to freeze as that size is about what you need for recipes.

**Farmers market ingredients

Fresh Michigan Produce: Beets, Greens and Asparagus!

I LOVE summer!  And I love being in Michigan in the summer.  This week's farmers market purchases included fresh Michigan asparagus and beets with beautiful greens!  I also found candy cane onions and garlic scapes.  But this post is about the first group of produce.  I needed to find a way to use those beet greens before I leave for my conference, so I took a look at what I could do with those and my CSA eggs.  What I found was a strata recipe that sounded very yummy.  I had pancetta in the freezer, so I thawed that to use for flavoring.  I also had a loaf of beautiful Italian sourdough that I really need to use before I go as well.  By combining these items with my CSA eggs and a queso quesadilla cheese, I came up with a beautiful strata.

The beets and the asparagus, I roasted.  I will put the directions for each further down in this post.  I just adore fresh summer vegetables and cannot wait to start receiving my Harvest Share the week after returning from my conference.  It will make teaching summer semester much more bearable ;).

Beet Green Strata

• 3 slices herb pancetta, diced
• 1 bunch beet greens**
• 1/2 loaf (about 3 cups) Italian Sourdough bread, broken into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 3 large farm fresh eggs*
• 1 cup queso quesadilla cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
• salt & pepper, to taste

Wash beet greens by placing in a large bowl with water.  Change water several times to ensure removal of all grit.  Cut stems from leaves and cut into 1/2" pieces.  Layer the leaves and cut into 1/2" strips.  Set aside.  Heat large skillet over medium heat.  Add pancetta to pan and cook until browned.  Remove pancetta from pan and set aside.  Add beet green stems and mix with pancetta drippings. Cook about 4 minutes or until the are just starting to get tender.  Add the greens, a portion at a time, and cook until just wilted.  Add a splash of water, cover, and cook 2-3 more minutes or until stems are soft.  Add cooked pancetta, half the chees and bread cubes.  Mix well and then pour into a 13 x 9 baking pan.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs and milk with salt and pepper to taste, until custard consistency.  Sprinkle remaining cheeses over filling and then carefully pour egg mixture over the filling.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.  In the morning, warm casserole to room temperature.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake strata for 40-45 minutes until the top is brown and bubbly. 

*Middleton Farms CSA ingredients
*Farmers market ingredients

Roasted Beets and Asparagus

• 1 bunch beets*
• 1 bunch Michigan asparagus*

Preheat oven to 400F.

Scrub beets and remove tops.  Place in a baking dish with a splash of water.  Roast, covered, for 45 minutes.  When beets are done, you should be able to pierce them with a knife without resistance.  Remove from dish and cool enough to handle.  Using a paper towel, slip the skins from the beets (they skins should just slide off).  Cut into wedges and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle with olive oil and basalmic vinegar; mix well.

Break woody ends off asparagus (hold at either end and bend.  The woody end should break off).  Place in a ziploc bag.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Shake bag to coat evenly.  Place asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Roast for 8 minutes.  Remove the pieces that area cooked (the thinner ones) and turn the remaining pieces.  Roast for another 5 minutes.  Check to see if the thickest pieces are cooked.  Remove to a plate and serve.

*Farmers market ingredients

Purple Kale

The problem with going to the farmers market is that I have this terrible problem with wanting to purchase any fresh produce that looks beautiful.  I cannot resist, even when I should!  And given the fact that I am leaving for a meeting in just over a week, I should resist.  This weekend, the produce that looked beautiful was purple kale and beets with beautiful greens.  Thankfully, my husband is here, so I can share my quiches with him today and then when I drive to Detroit for my flights.  So, today, I am making a quiche with the purple quiche and then later this week, I will make one with the beet greens (and even possibly the beets).

To round out the ingredients for today's quiche, I had purchased some pork breakfast sausage from my CSA provider Middleton Farms, LLC (http://www.middletonfarmcsa.com/).  I will use it for the next quiche as well and I must say that I tasted it and it is lovely.  When I arrived to pick up my eggs this week, they told me that they had read my blog.  I am so pleased that my blog is gaining interest in Midland.  I hope that I do am able to highlight their CSA as well as I was able to highlight Fresh Fork while I was with them.  I also used more of the sun-dried tomatoes that I purchased from Beyond Measure (http://beyondmeasurebulkfoods.com/), our local bulk foods store.  And my cheese of choice today was queso quesadilla.  Oh yes, I also used some fresh basil from my little garden. 

I do also want to mention that one of the vendors at the market had potted Swiss chard this week.  I adore fresh Swiss chard, so I purchased one.  It has three plants growing in it and I should be able to keep it in the pot as I use the leaves up.  I should have fresh greens all summer (not that I probably won't get as many as I want from my Harvest Share). 

Kale Sausage Quiche with Fresh Basil

• 1 bunch purple kale**
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 pork breakfast sausage links*
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes***
• 5 fresh basil leaves
• 5 farm fresh eggs*
• 1 cup queso quesadilla, shredded
• 2 Tbsp grated parmesan
• 1 1/4 cups 1/2% milk
•  salt and pepper to taste

Wash kale and remove stems.  Allow to drain.  Heat small skillet over medium heat.  Add sausage and cook until just about done.  Set aside.  Add kale and garlic to skillet and cover; cook for about 5 minutes or until the kale is wilted.  Cut sausage into 1/2 inch pieces and mix with kale in bottom of a prepared baking dish.  Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and basil.  Mix into the kale and sausage.  Sprinkle the cheeses over the filling.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs.  Add salt and pepper and then beat in the milk until the mixture is smooth and uniform.  Pour carefully over fillings and bake in a 350F oven for 45 minutes or until a knife, inserted into the center, comes out clean.  Allow to set for 5 minutes before serving.

*CSA ingredients from Middleton Farms, LLC (http://www.middletonfarmcsa.com/)
**Farmers market items from Shari at the Willard Hilton (http://www.shariatthewillardhillton.com/)
***Ingredients from Beyond Measure Bulk Foods (http://beyondmeasurebulkfoods.com/)

Chard, Ramps & Sun-dried Tomatoes

I  picked up Swiss chard and ramps this past weekend at the farmers market.  I knew I wanted to use them in this week's quiche, but wasn't sure what else I wanted to include.  I went to the local bulk foods store, Beyond Measure, to get some almond flour and I noticed they had sun-dried tomatoes.  It's been a long time since I've had those, so I bought a small container.  I also had some thick-cut bacon and the remaining feta cheese from last week's quiche.  So, this week's quiche is a summer vegetable quiche with bacon.  I love to use young spinach or chard because you can put it into the quiche fresh and it cooks perfectly.  Saves a lot of time and tends to taste a lot fresher.

Chard & Ramp Quiche with Sun-dried Tomatoes

• 1 small bunch young Swiss Chard*, chopped
• 1 small bunch ramp leaves*, chopped
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes**, chopped
• 6 slices thick-sliced bacon, chopped
• 2 oz feta cheese crumbled
• 4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 6 farm fresh eggs+
• 1 1/2 cups 1/2% milk
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning; to taste

Wash the greens and chop into bite-sized pieces.  Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes.  Cook the bacon in the microwave, 3 slices at a time, between double layers of paper towels for 3 minutes.  Allow to cool and then chop into bite-sized pieces.  Mix all of these ingredients and place in a prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle with cheeses.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until smooth.  Add seasonings and milk and beat until well mixed.  Carefully pour over fillings.  Bake in a 350F oven for 45 minutes or until a knife, inserted into the center, comes out clean. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

*Farmers market ingrdients
**From Beyond Measure bulk foods store
+CSA ingredients

Fresh Michigan Asparagus!

Okay, I managed to procrastinate on the last quiche I made.  This one was so very different from the ramp and spinach one.  We have been able to get Michigan asparagus for a couple weeks at the farmers market, so I figured that a quiche with asparagus, caramelized onions and feta cheese might be good.  What I will say about this particular quiche is that I would change a couple things, but I am presenting the recipe as I made it.

Asparagus Feta Quiche

• 6 large farm-fresh eggs*
• 1 1/2 cups 1% milk
• 1 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 large Vidalia onion, sliced thin
• 1 bunch asparagus*, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
• 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
• salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried basil, to taste

Beat eggs and milk with seasonings until well blended; set aside.  Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat.  Add onions, stir to coat with butter/oil; cook until the onions begin to brown, stirring occassionally.  Turn heat down to low and continue to cook onions, stirring frequently, until onions are golden brown (caramelized); set aside.  Add asparagus to pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occassionally, until bright green.  Mix asparagus and onions in bottom of prepared 9" round baking pan.  Sprinkle with feta cheese.  Carefully pour eggs over filling.  Bake in preheated 350F oven for 40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Allow to set 5 minutes before serving.

*CSA and Farmer's Market ingredients

Notes: There are two things I would change about this quiche.  1) I would use a whole onion.  While the onions were good, there weren't enough.  2) I would go back to steaming the asparagus before adding to the quiche.  There were some pieces of asparagus that were just a little crunchy for my taste.  It's not that they weren't cooked, they just were a little too al dente.