If I Can Do It, So Can You

All winter, going to the grocery store was an exercise in frustration.  I get so used to cooking with fresh herbs, I want them to cook with over the winter, too, but the prices are exorbitant.  Plus, the packages contain more than I need at the time, so I wind up tossing some in the trash when it goes bad.  Ugh!

On top of this, I'm the biggest brown thumb on the planet.  Seriously, I try every year.  I try hard.  But my little 35 square foot garden usually yields about 3 carrots, 2 tomatoes and a handful of jalepeños in a year.  Yes, I'm that bad.

But herbs are different.  Maybe they're more foolproof than veggies.  In any case, about this time I plant a bunch in pots, and I don't have to buy any for months.  One plant, that will yield all season long, costs about the same as 1 or 2 small packages at the grocery store.

Come fall, we'll talk about how to preserve herbs over the winter.

One more note.  Have you tried Trickling Springs's ice cream?  Waaaay good.  Their Strawberry is about the best I've ever had -- and when it comes to ice cream, I'm really addicted.  The seasonal flavor right now is Lemon Chiffon, and it's pretty darned incredible too.  Hurry up and get some, before I eat it all!

Salmon With Vegetables In Herb Butter Sauce

In Dublin's fair city, Molly Malone may have wheeled about her cart of cockles and mussels (alive, alive, oh!), but she might as well have been wheeling about fillets of salmon for as much as the Irish consume of this meaty, delightful fish.  That's one of the benefits of being an island, all the seafood, all the time!  And while most of us think of fish & chips when it comes to Irish seafood, that's like portraying all American cuisine as just McDonald's.  Those folks know their fishies, and how to best prepare them, and one of my all time favorite recipes comes from Margaret M. Johnson's cookbook The New Irish Table.  In a bit of a twist on a surf & turf, she tops some wine and butter poached salmon with veggies from the land and the sea. I'll spare you having to hunt down dried sea vegetables, and just stick with lovely land based ones.  But this is one dish that is sure to be a winner, winner, St. Patrick's Day dinner!

Salmon With Vegetables In Herb Butter Sauce

Ingredients
2 Tbsp dry white wine
1/2 cup fish stock or bottled clam juice
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 bay leaf
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
4 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup spinach, coarse chopped
4 salmon fillets, about 5-6 ounces a piece
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 Tbsp parsley, minced
1 Tbsp chives, minced
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste


In a large saute pan, heat the white wine over medium heat until reduced by half.  Add in the fish stock/clam juice, lemon juice, bay leaf, and all the vegetables from the carrots thru the spinach.  Place the salmon on top of the vegetables, cover the pan and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the salmon is cooked thru.  Transfer the salmon to a plate to keep warm, and into the pan add your butter and stir till well blended.  Then stir in your herbs, salt & pepper, and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Serve each piece of salmon with a generous spoonful of the vegetables and butter sauce.

Thanksgiving Favorites: Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Thanksgiving In Nalls’ Kitchen!

7310 Beulah Street, Franconia, VA 22315

(703) 971-4068 ~ info@nallsproduce.com

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

8-10 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed

1 cup sour cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

7 Tbsp butter, divided

1/3 cup chives, minced

Salt & Pepper

¾ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated, divided

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender.  Drain and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together sour cream and cream cheese until smooth.  Add in hot, drained potatoes and beat until potatoes are fully incorporated.  Add 4 Tbsp of butter, chives and salt & pepper to taste.

Rub the inside of a 9x13 baking dish with the 2 Tbsp of butter and sprinkle bottom of pan with ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese, tilting the pan to coat the sides with the cheese, as well.  Pour potatoes into the dish and dot with additional Tbsp of butter, and sprinkle remaining ½ cup of Parmesan evenly over the top.

At this point you can proceed with baking (preheat oven to 350 degrees F), or cover with foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days.  Remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to baking to allow pan to come up to room temperature.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Makes 8 generous servings.

Salmon with Grapefruit-Dill Yogurt Sauce via Tash's Noshes

A couple of our Crop Share members have started their own food blogs (and then there's some out there who really should -- I'm looking at you Bethany Duffy, Louise Burnett and Kat Cole), including the newly married, Natasha Gannon!  In the Spring, Tash and I had dueling low-cal, spring onion cream sauces for salmon, and here was her healthy take with some grapefruit thrown in for a pop of citrus.  Since it's not Spring, there are no spring onions, but you could easily substitute leeks, chives, green onions or even shallots.  So for anyone who doesn't care for grapefruit as it is, this is a great way to use it up and sneak it into a meal.  Clink the link below to view the recipe at Tash's Noshes and poke around her site for other great, healthy ideas.  Now that she's out of the wedding planning mire, we can expect to see more deliciousness coming out of her kitchen!

Salmon with Grapefruit-Dill Yogurt Sauce via Tash's Noshes

Oh Honey, Let's Be Rad...ish!

If you haven't figured this out yet, I'm incapable of talking about radishes without making a pun.  It will keep happening, so just smile and nod.

Anywho, last evening I finally got around to using up my radishes from two weeks ago (thank you cooler season produce for lasting so much longer and suiting my procrastination tendencies), and was able to finally make this Radish Dip that Crop Share member Missie Welch had shared with us.  She was oh so right with how delicious it is.  We baked up some Beet Chips to go with it, but this would make a fantastic veggie dip.  So for holiday parties, if you're tasked with bringing the veggie tray, whip up a quick batch of this dip and tell the french onion dip to take the night off and keep off your hips!  It has an almost hummus like consistency so it's a great, healthy alternative for a chip dip, too.

We used the juice of 1 lemon and a full 8 oz of cream cheese (we use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese to keep it dairy, free but you can use any reduced fat variety to keep the calories down).  Plus at one point I went to add a dash of pepper and opened the pour and not the sprinkle side, so I spent a good 5 minutes scooping what was about 1/4 cup of ground black pepper out of my blender.  *sigh*

Radish Dip via Missie Welch

Happy Halloween! Don't Forget The Sock of Colcannon!

I'm part Irish and I was a goth kid, so Halloween is kinda a big deal for me.  I will always dress up and go somewhere, no matter how old I get.  But another tradition is always whipping up a big batch of colcannon, because it's just the Irish thing to do...and it's an excuse to eat potato product.  Colcannon is mashed potatoes that become a vehicle for cabbage, leeks, chives, and lots and lots of butter.  There's really no magical reason why the Irish traditionally made colcannon for Halloween other than it's made with ingredients that are in season and plentiful right now.  However, legend says that, for all  you single ladies, if you stuff a sock with colcannon into a sock and hang it on your front door tonight, it will bring love your way.  It may also bring stray animals, but hey mashed potatoes in a sock might actually be less crazy than most of the attempts we make to try and attract love.

So enjoy this most spooky of nights, and fuel your inner ghoul with our oldie but a goodie recipe for colcannon!

Colcannon

Radish Dip: Guest Post From Crop Share Member Misse Welch

This week's Crop Share is going to be RAD!  Why?  Because you're getting a bundle of RADishes!  If you're a radish skeptic, fear not, because do I have a recipe for you.  Or more like Crop Share member Misse Welch has a recipe for you.  During the Early Spring round, Misse sent us this recipe as an entry into our Nalls Next Top Food Blogger Contest, and we've been drooling over it ever since and waiting for another go-round of radishes so we could share this great recipe with you all.  So from Misse's kitchen to yours, we give you delicious way to prepare radishes.  Because we all know, cream cheese makes every thing amazing!

Radish Dip

Ingredients:
5 oz cream cheese
1 cup radishes, quartered
1-1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 bunch chives, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic
Sea salt
Black pepper
Paprika

I threw the radishes, chives, garlic and parsley in my food processor until finely chopped, and then added the lemon juice and cream cheese (cubed to make it easier).  Once it was combines to the consistency of a dip, I added sea salt and pepper to taste and put it in a serving dish.  I sprinkled it with paprika and it was ready to eat, more like devour!  It can be eaten with veggies, potato chips, or I even used it as a sandwich spread!

Adapted from Farmgirl Fare (http://www.farmgirlfare.com/2009/08/advice-for-new-vegetable-gardeners-what.html)

Keep That Corn Husky!

All my life I thought the only way to prepare corn-on-the-cob was to shuck it first.  I have fond memories of sitting on the back porch with my Mama and Grammy, trash cans or buckets between our feet, as we shucked away for summer cookouts.  And then last month the Mister and I went to Captain White's and beheld corn boiled and steamed IN the husk.  It was pure magic, and despite what I thought would be a mess of silk to pick through, it all effortlessly peeled off.  Since then, we keep keep that corn husky!

So whether you're planning to boil up the bi-color corn this weekend or throw it on the grill, here's our two favorite ways to prepare corn-on-the-cob in the husk.

Boiled Corn In The Husk

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add in your corn with husks on, and boil for about 6 minutes.  Remove from water and allow to drain on a plate.  The silk will pull back with the husk when you peel into the corn.

Perfectly Grilled Corn On The Cob

Ingredients:

4 ears of corn

Kosher salt

Herb butter, recipe follows

Herb Butter (combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth):

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/8 cup fresh herbs (basil, chives or tarragon)

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

To view the rest of the recipe, please visit: Perfectly Grilled Corn On The Cob