Author Archives: putneyfarm

Husband, Dad, Cook, Surfer

  • Simple Garden Recipes: Summer Corn Salad

    August 7, 2012

    22 Comments

    Corn on the cob. So easy we almost feel guilty posting it.

    Summer corn salad.

    When you see this, stop and buy some corn.

    On the east coast of the US no other food says “summer” quite like fresh corn on the cob. Farm stands selling corn picked that morning are literally everywhere. And it is quite common (at least with our family and friends) to hear people arguing over what stand has the “best” corn. These arguments sound like wine aficionados comparing appellations and vintages- slightly ridiculous, but great, harmless fun. And while all the fresh corn here is good, there are differences between farms. We are lucky to have so many choices.

    The other argument you might hear is where the best corn comes from. Not surprisingly we are fans of eastern Long Island corn. The weather and soil are perfect, the demand is high and the farmers compete to raise the best corn. A good combination. Now, we also enjoy corn from New Jersey and other mid-Atlantic states, but we know of no other area where the farms are just a few minutes away from most of the people. You can literally bring your water to a boil, drive, bike or walk to the farm stand in less than five minutes and then bring the corn back and put it in the pot. And then you are just three minutes from heaven. And we do mean 3 minutes…

    Why 3 minutes? Well, if you have fresh corn, the best way to enjoy it is to eat it off the cob with minimal cooking. Simply boil the water, drop the corn in the water for three minutes. Once cooked, remove the corn from the water, slather with butter, liberally apply salt and pepper and serve. Perfection. The corn will be cooked but still very crisp and sweet. If you must cook the corn longer we suggest that 3 minutes=”rare”, 3.5 minutes= “medium rare”, 4 minutes= “Medium”, etc. But we suggest that anything past medium will rob the corn of its crisp texture. And the corn’s flavor and texture are some of the best nature has to offer.

    3 minutes- Max!

    Continue reading →

  • Weekly Cocktail #23: The Daiquiri

    August 3, 2012

    24 Comments

    The Daiquiri.

    If you are at the beach, and we are, there are few better flavor combinations than rum, limes and sugar. A simple trio, but one with many variables, and a canvas for almost endless experimentation. Rum comes in many styles, as does sugar, and it seems that almost all are used in some combination with lime to form an original cocktail. Rhum Agricole, cane syrup and lime gets you a Ti’ Punch. Cachaca, sugar and lime make a Caipirinha. Jamaican rum, lime and sugar (and sometimes bitters) forms a Planters Punch. And on it goes…

    Rum, lime sugar. Simple, but good.

    And if you start with white rum, add lime juice and a touch of simple syrup, you get the Daiquiri. The Daiquiri is probably the most famous of the rum/lime/sugar drinks, and perhaps rightfully so. While many will develop tastes that lean towards the funk of Cachaca or the richness of Jamaican rum, everyone must start somewhere- and the Daiquiri is a very good intro to this class of cocktails. Tasty, refreshing and simple to make, the Daiquiri is a perfect summer sip and an easy way to produce some smiles. Don’t take it from us, the Daiquiri was a favorite of both Hemingway and JFK. They knew how to party have a good time.

    As for the history of the Daiquiri, it is better documented than most cocktails. The Daiquiri is named after a beach in Cuba and was invented by Americans there after the Spanish-American war. The Daiquiri remained somewhat of a regional specialty until the late 1930’s, when it gained popularity in the states. The 1940’s brought more popularity for the Daiquiri, as rum was more available than many other spirits during the Second World War. And after the war the Daiquiri remained a cocktail staple.  (Note: There is a good recurring joke in the 1958 movie “Auntie Mame” about Daiquiris improperly made from honey. Lots of booze and bad judgement in that movie, if you like cocktails and parties it is worth renting 😉 .

    While the history of the Daiquiri is relatively well-known, there are some questions on how the make one. You would think it’s simple; white rum (Bacardi is a fine), lime juice and simple syrup (no honey, please), but the proportions are a challenge. Most recipes call for at least 2 oz. white rum, 1/2 – 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice and just a few dashes of simple syrup. While that may work for many, some (most?) will find the drink too sour. We suggest you play around until you find proportions you like. If you make your simple syrup in large batches, you will have plenty to experiment with. Our base recipe is 2 oz. white rum, 3/4 oz. lime juice and 1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water), a bit sweeter than the traditional recipes, but the lime still leads the drink.

    And if you like the basic Daiquiri, there is plenty of room to experiment and expand. Different rums, liqueurs and sweeteners all make for easy variants of the Daiquiri, and many are very, very tasty. The Hemingway Daiquiri is also a very good cocktail (IMHO). So if you want an into to rum/lime/sugar drinks, or just a good summer sip, the Daiquiri is a great place to start.

    The Daiquiri:

    Note: To make simple syrup, combine 1 cup white sugar with 1 cup water and bring to a boil until sugar dissolves. Chill and store in the fridge. If you add 1/2 oz. of vodka to the syrup (off the stove) it will keep longer.

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. white rum
    • 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
    • Lime wheel, for garnish (optional)

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe’. Garnish with lime wheel, if you like. Serve.
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  • Quail Hill Farm: CSA? Heaven? Both?

    August 2, 2012

    15 Comments

    Flower at Quail Hill CSA.

    The rules.

    While we miss our own farm, it is hard to be sad here on the east end of Long Island. We are on some of the best farmland in the world, next to some of the best beaches in the world. And where you don’t have vacation homes, you still see many productive farms. And farm stands selling fresh produce are just about everywhere. The corn, potatoes, zucchini, squash, berries and stone fruit are all great this year. Yum.

    Today’s lineup.

    Your map.

    But there is one very special farm, Quail Hill, that is more than just some tasty produce. It shows the true potential of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to benefit an entire community. Quail Hill is a CSA on 30 acres of donated land and is supported by over 200 member families. The member families pay for a share of the produce and harvest a few times a week (anyone can visit, you just can’t harvest). The staff run the farm and have an apprentice program to educate future farmers. Farmland is preserved, new farmers are trained, families get access to a “real” farm. Oh, and the produce is awesome. Good land, great weather and hard work get you a good crop.

    Garlic for the taking.

    Fennel. We caramelized this and served with the steamed clams. Good match.

    Lots of squash and zucchini.

    While we aren’t members, our friends Chad and Monica are, and we got to visit for a Tuesday harvest. The farm is beautiful and bucolic, but also a place of work. Everything at the farm is there for a reason. While many people (including us) wax poetic about growing food, somebody has to spend some time in the dirt. But it is certainly good dirt. Good dirt makes a good farm. We will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

    Huge herb garden- take what you need.

    The herbs for the steamed clams.

    Orchard- mostly stone fruit.

    Peaches.

    Rows of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and eggplant.

    A little of the weekly haul. Continue reading →

  • Steamed Littleneck Clams: Summer In A Shell

    August 1, 2012

    27 Comments

    Steamed littleneck clams.

    We will cook many recipes during our time at the beach, but this dish will be served at most of our meals. Appetizer, starter, main dish- no matter, just good stuff. Littleneck clams, with a touch of cured pork, onion, herbs, bacon and wine might be the most tasty, and easy, summer dish we make. And if you have good hardshell clams, you need to make this dish, just invite some friends.

    Just a few ingredients.

    The key to this dish, like many seasonal recipes is what you don’t add, rather than any extra ingredients or technique. It is very, very simple- and sometimes (most of the time?) simple is good. Brown some tasty cured pork (bacon, pancetta, chorizo if you like spicy, etc.) then add some sweet onion and herbs, add some seasoning to taste and soften the onion. It will smell good. Then add some wine, bring to a boil and add the clams and cover the pot. Shake the pot every few minutes. It will smell even better. You will find yourself popular. Steam the clams until they open (or if uneven size, remove the clams from the pot as they open). Remove from the pot, garnish with lemon and parsley and serve. The whole thing will take 10-15 minutes.

    Chop your bacon and onions.

    Brown your bacon.

    It may almost seem like cop-out to say this is a world-class dish, but it is. There are only so many fresh clams in the world. A good cook lets them shine.  You may want to add some cherry tomatoes, breadcrumbs, or red-pepper flake, but go easy. The clams do the work for you. Briny and meaty, but tender (if you pull them from the heat when they open) the clams are a treat. And they even give you a tasty broth for bread-dipping. Nice.

    Add onions and herbs. Soften the onion.

    Add wine and clams. Steam the clams.

    When the clams open, they are done.

    We use littlenecks because they are small enough to cook quickly and are more tender than larger cherrystones and chowder clams. We serve 4-6 clams per person as a starter and 8-12 per person as a main course. Everything cooks in one pot (and you can even serve from the pot, if you like) so this is a great dish when entertaining. So if you have access to some good clams, try this dish out and be ready to make a few new friends…

    Steamed Littleneck Clams:

    Notes Before You Start:

    • Make sure to use fresh clams and get them from a trusted source. All clams have tags that show when and where they were harvested, if you have any doubts ask to see the tag.
    • Clams open when they are cooked. Remove them from the pot when they open to get tender clams. It is just a bit of extra work.

    What You Get: An easy, but incredibly tasty seafood dish that works at almost any meal (except breakfast, I guess).

    What You Need: No special equipment required.

    How Long? 15-20 minutes. Anytime dish.

    Ingredients:

    (serves 4 as a starter)

    • 2 dozen littleneck clams, rinsed of sand or dirt
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter, if you prefer)
    • 2-3 slices of bacon, cut into lardons
    • 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
    • 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh herbs like thyme or tarragon
    • 1/2 cup dry white wine
    • Salt and pepper
    • 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for garnish
    • 6-8 sprigs Italian parsley, form garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Rinse the clams. Chop the onion and herbs. Slice the bacon into lardons.
    2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and then add the bacon. Brown the bacon until crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Add the onion, herbs and a touch salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is soft, another 2-3 minutes.
    3. Add the wine and allow it to come to a boil, then add the clams. Stir the clams in the wine and then cover. Steam the clams until they open, about 8-10 minutes. If some clams open early, remove them from the pot and place them in a separate bowl. Taste broth and season, as needed. Discard any clams that don’t open.
    4. When clams are done, pour clams and broth to a serving bowl. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley. Serve with crust bread, if you like.
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  • The Farm At The Beach

    July 31, 2012

    11 Comments

    Breathe. Relax. Read a book.

    Well, we are back. Or at least settled. We are now at our “home-away-from-home” on the east end of Long Island. One of our favorite places in the world. I guess you can call it a “home” because we have plenty of friends and family here, and we pretty much know where everything is. That may seem simplistic, but part of being comfortable is familiarity. We cooked in three different kitchens in the last thee days but pretty much knew where everything was. Other people’s kitchens are a tough place to cook, but we know our way around. We can get back to business. But before we cooked, the first business was meeting the two newest members of our extended family. Beautiful babies and happy, if somewhat tired, parents. We can almost field a football team with all the cousins- which is very, very cool. We are so blessed and lucky, and the babies give us a reminder of just how good life is. And they are cute, too.

    Radishes are in season here, and very tasty.

    And we did get back to cooking. In many of our posts, we mention that certain dishes and drinks are good for a crowd. Well, we put a few to the test already. Most meals over the weekend fed groups of 15-20. So far, so good- but we do have a few notes and revisions. And, happily, mostly to the good. As for the actual food, we tend to have simply prepared fish and shellfish as our main courses. Seared ahi tuna, roasted striped bass, sea scallops and steamed clams made it to the table over the weekend, and will be part of almost every dinner this week. Most were caught within the last day or so. The fish is so fresh you don’t need to do much (just don’t screw them up), so we focused on sides that highlight the seafood or feature the local produce.

    The coconut rice goes well with the local fish. A big hit- we will make this throughout the trip.

    Firstly, we had fresh local radishes and served them with butter and salt. Always easy, always good. (My Dad also makes kick-ass guacamole every day, but that is another post). The biggest hit so far is the coconut rice. The rice went very well with the seared, rare ahi tuna (steaks almost 2 inches thick and sooo good). Served with a dash of soy and some cilantro chutney (working on that recipe), it was a perfect fit. A table of 16 were all very happy. One note here, we made the coconut rice with “Light” coconut milk, as the store was out of regular coconut milk. If anything, the light coconut milk gave the dish plenty of flavor, but perhaps a slightly lighter texture. Good to know that we can make a lower-calorie version of the original.

    We added fresh corn kernels to the Red Cat zucchini- it was great.

    Another surprise was how well the coconut rice went with the Red Cat zucchini. The dish comes from here, so everyone enjoyed it (the zucchini was right from the CSA), but as the dish is more Mediterranean, we are surprised how well the flavors meshed. Another note here- we added some fresh corn kernels to the zucchini and they added lovely texture and sweetness. If you have corn, give this a try. The next day we took the leftover coconut rice and combined it with the zucchini and corn. It made a delightful cold summer salad.

    As for the cocktails, we made fresh Tommy’s-style margaritas every day (2 oz. blanco tequila, 1 oz. gave nectar, 1 oz. lime juice). But the big hit was the Lani Honi. As predicted, everyone thought of it as a lemony summer punch with a little extra depth. We served a pitcher alongside the margaritas and the Lani Honi held its own. We had requests for more the next day. Very good.

    As expected, a perfect drink to make for a crowd.

    Lastly we made a punch-sized batch of the Nouvelle Fleur. The drink was a success, but did need some tweaking. In the original recipe we used ruby-red grapefruit and the flavors meshed very well. Out here, we used white grapefruit and the drink was way too sour. Happily, a little extra St. Germain and some agave nectar did the trick and the Nouvelle Fleur was a success, particularly with grapefruit fans. But a quick reminder that it pays to taste your drinks and adjust as necessary.

    A great punch, but we needed to adjust for more sour white greapefruit.

    Today we are off to the CSA garden and then looking for corn and stone fruits. And just wait until we start talking about the pies…oh my. We have new photos and recipes coming all week! It’s good to be back.

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  • Weekly Cocktail #22: The Margaret Rose

    July 28, 2012

    12 Comments

    The Margaret Rose. A good intro to “Daisy” cocktails.

    This week’s cocktail takes us back to the classics. The Margaret Rose is a well-balanced cocktail made of gin, Calvados (or Applejack, in a pinch), Cointreau, lemon juice and grenadine. The Margaret Rose is smooth, with clear apple flavor and a very tasty sweet / tart combination from the lemon and the Cointreau. The gin adds some depth and complexity. The grenadine adds more sweetness and the rosy color. This drink is easy to make, works well in any season and is a good introduction to a class of cocktails known as “Daisies”. More on that in a bit.

    This recipe first appears in print in “The Cafe Royal Cocktail Book“, a 1937 book that came out a year or so after the more famous Savoy Cocktail Book. In a nutshell, the Savoy book was written by an American Harry Craddock, working in the UK. The UK Bartenders Guild thought that the Savoy book was perhaps a bit too “American” and came out with their own cocktail guide, The Cafe Royal. Both are good cocktail books and each has some unique recipes. For whatever reason, the Savoy is a more popular modern reference. Maybe it’s the illustrations.

    We found this recipe and notes on the Cafe Royal Cocktail Book from Cocktail Virgin Slut, one of the better cocktail blogs. We tried the Margaret Rose and liked it (Carolyn gave it a nod, and she is normally not a lover of brandy) and decided to do some more research. The Margaret Rose is from a class of cocktails known as “daisies”. Daisies are one of the oldest types of cocktails and were common in the 19th century. Definitions vary, but a daisy usually combines brandy, citrus juice (normally lemon) and a sweet liqueur like Cointreau or Chartreuse. Other spirits like whisky, gin or rum may be part of the recipe. A good combination, and a clear precursor to “Sours” like the Sidecar and, much later, the Cosmopolitan.

    As for the ingredients, the only somewhat “rarefied” ingredient is the Calvados. Calvados is simply apple brandy from the Lower Normandy region of France. Most Calvados is dry, but features clear apple notes and a touch of heat from the alcohol (depending on the quality of the Calvados). American apple brandy, known as Applejack, tends to run a touch sweeter and more tangy than Calvados. Applejack will work well in this recipe, but the drink will be a bit different. Regardless, there are literally hundreds of cocktails (mostly 19th and early 20th century) that feature apple brandy, so Calvados or Applejack are a worthwhile addition to your bar.

    In the end, the Margaret Rose is a good drink to try. It is a good excuse to get some apple brandy, try a “daisy’ cocktail and even get a copy of a cool (if somewhat obscure) cocktail book. Nothing like a bit of history. Or you can ignore the history and just make the drink and enjoy it. That also works pretty well.

    The Margaret Rose:

    Ingredients:

    • 1 oz. dry gin
    • 1 oz. Calvados (or Applejack)
    • 1/2 oz. Cointreau
    • 1/2 oz. lemon juice
    • 2 dashes grenadine

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, coupé or flute. No garnish. Serve.
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