Tomato Vinaigrette

Olive oil
s/p
4-5 vine tomatoes (red and yellow)
dijon mustard
frozen pesto sauce
white vinegar and balsamic vinegar


Start blending tomatoes with mustard, vinegar, pesto, and s/p.  Slowly mix in olive oil.

Custard Pie with granola crust and raspberry/blueberry jam

 raspberry/blueberry jam

raspberries and blueberries
water, cognac, lemon zest, sugar

Let simmer until it reaches desired thickness.









Custard Pie with granola crust

Granola crust:
granola, honey

Pour the custard over.  I then dribbled in some raspberry/blueberry jam.

In retrospect, The granola may have been better on top.  It lost some of it's crispiness under the custard.  The honey was also overpowering the fruity taste I was looking for.

 

 I then added an extra dab of jam to enhance the flavor some more.

Gratin Dauphinois

Sliced potatoes
milk, butter, s/p
topped with parmesan

Start with the sliced potatoes, milk, and butter in a deep sautee pan.  Milk should be covering the potatoes.  Add butter (approx. 2tbsp~), s/p, and move around every once in awhile.  They are ready to move to a baking dish (like what is pictured to the left) when the milk has thickened, and has begun to catch to the potatoes.  I only had grated parmesan in the fridge (typically I like to use swiss), so I sprinkled some on top.

Stews and Red Wine Reduction

 Southwestern Beef Stew

cumin, paprika, s/p, cayenne, oregano, diced garlic
onion, red pepper, tomato, serrano pepper
beef chuck
olive oil
tomato paste, water

 Boeuf Bourguignon

beef chuck
onion, pepper, tomato
water, tomato paste, flour, red wine
olive oil, garlic, herbes de provence, s/p

Red Wine Reduction

A great site I used for reference is here.

Garden 9/15

taken last week (these two are the two pink ones down below)

Parsley and fall lettuce

Pink Brandywine

Chicken Kebabs w tzatziki

2 kinds of chicken kebabs

marinades:

soy sauce
honey
ginger
minced garlic
pepper


greek yogurt
curry powder
pepper
ginger
cumin
spicy chili hot sauce



tzatziki:

dill and cucumber from garden
greek yogurt
s/p
minced garlic

Harvest 9/6

Cabbageworms killin my kale!

Harvest 9/1/14

Burger and green beans (deceivingly simple)

Green Beans from the garden
prosciutto cubed
charred onions (extra leftover from the dip), but before the swiss chard was added.
minced garlic
olive oil

Saute that stuff in a pan.  I didn't blanch the green beans because they were just picked and I didn't want to lose any flavor.

Burger is cooked and seasoned...nothing too special...except for the swiss chard/charred onions hiding under the burger.

Kale Prosciutto Pizza

2 leaves of Kale, broken apart by hand into smaller pieces, mostly the curly/frilly part
2 slices of prosciutto, chopped into 1/2in cubes
tortilla
tomato sauce
shredded cheddar/jack cheese
minced garlic
oregano, chives, tarragon, black pepper

Pear Crumble

5 ripe pears, sliced
oats
granola
flour
sugar, honey
butter
water
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg

The pears were so ripe I didn't saute them with the sugar and butter.  So I layered them nicely in a baking dish.  Cooked off the butter and sugar/honey together.  Added the oats, granola, flour, and water.  Mix around, should be moist and a little maleable- but also able to crumble/fall apart.  Put batter mix over pears.  And then I realized I had forgotten to add sliced almonds into the batter, so I sprinkled a few on top...and got fancy with a few slices of pear.  I prob should have taken the extra two minutes of searching for a round pie dish...

DOUBLE CHARrD ONION DIP

Charred Onion Dip with a twist~

2 leaves of swiss chard, shredded
1 red onion. sliced
1/2c greek yogurt
1/2-1 tbsp of ranch dressing
s/p
touch of soy sauce, dab of tabasco
minced garlic
olive oil

Start olive oil in a pan with garlic, sliced onion and s/p.  Leave it alone for 5-10min and let it burn.  After 5-10min with a good burn on one side, move them around and make some space for the not-burned-ones left.  Now add the shredded swiss chard and let it sweat for 5min.  Once the swiss chard is done, the pan can be set aside to cool...or throw it in the fridge if you're in a hurry.  Put the sauteed mix in a bowl and add greek yogurt, ranch, soy sauce, and tabasco.  Stir it up! and you're done.