Category Archives: All Recipes

  • Smoked Chicken With Peanut Coleslaw

    June 8, 2013

    23 Comments

    chix1

    Smoked Chicken

    chix11

    Peanut Coleslaw (before mixing)

    Here at the farm we normally post recipes with a mostly well-defined take on the ingredients and process. With this dish there may still be some work to do. But since this version was very good, and we will be tinkering with this recipe all summer, we decided to share it now. The reason for sharing is that the chicken came out incredibly moist and with a sweet, smoky flavor that was enjoyed by all. A winner. (Good enough that we ate it before we could take a shot of individual pieces. Oops.)

    chix3chix4chix5The reason we aren’t “done” is that we consider this a barbecue recipe (serious stuff in these parts) and these recipes require a lot of tweaking on the smoke, rub and sauce. But these pleasant diversions refinements are mostly to fit our tastes. Meanwhile, the fundamentals are already there for everyone to play with: brine the bird and smoke low n’ slow over fruitwood. If this seems like the same basic steps for pork barbecue, that’s because they are. Why not start from a strong foundation?

    chix6chix7chix8But there are a few differences worth exploring. Firstly, chickens don’t cook evenly due to an irregular shape and different target cooking temperatures for dark and light meat. This means you need to alter the shape of the bird for more even cooking (or cook it in pieces, which isn’t a bad idea, btw). You can either truss the bird into a bit of a ball or cut out the spine and flatten the bird as if “spatchcooking”. We flattened our bird, but trussed birds do cook evenly as well.

    chix9Secondly, rather than placing a dry spice rub on the bird, we use a liquid mixture of spice rub, vinegar, molasses and ketchup to baste the bird during cooking. This is traditionally called a “mop” and is rarely used on pork shoulder, but is often used on pork ribs to keep them moist, and this works equally well for chicken. You can also reduce any left over mop into a sauce, if you like. It is also worth noting that we use our standard pork rub on the chicken, but if you have a poultry spice mixture you like, we suggest you try it (this is the area where we will most experiment over the summer).

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  • Elegant White Cake With Chocolate Ganache

    June 3, 2013

    21 Comments

    Elegant White Cake With Chocolate Ganache.

    Elegant White Cake With Chocolate Ganache.

    Funny thing about cake. Baking a cake is easy. Really. Frosting the cake may be a challenge, but once you have the gear, you can bake cakes pretty much whenever you want. All you need are a few cake pans and a mixer (if you don’t have a stand mixer, baking cakes is a good excuse to get one). Ingredients? If you have the basics like sugar, flour, baking powder, butter and eggs you can bake a cake. Easy.

    elegant3elegant2Once you get the basics down, you can mix and match flavors, fillings and frostings to your heart’s delight. And the delight of others. “And I baked a cake”, is something people like to hear. Baking cakes, assuming you share them, is a good way to make friends and influence people. Such is the power of cake. And cakes serve a crowd, so they are a good excuse to have people over. (If you are gluten-free just eat the frosting and have an extra drink 😉 )

    elegant5elegant6So what’s the catch? Well, it takes some time and planning to bake a cake, and frosting cakes is either something you love or hate to do. Carolyn likes baking and frosting cakes, so we are in luck. And one of the bonuses of summer grilling and smoking is that I am often out of the kitchen so Carolyn has plenty of space to bake without any bumbling interference from me. Carolyn even has time to experiment. That is usually good news for us.

    elegant7elegant8elegant9For this cake, our youngest son wanted “a cake that tasted like a hot fudge sundae”. So Carolyn combined a King Arthur Flour recipe for “Elegant White Cake” with a filling of chocolate ganache and a basic vanilla buttercream frosting. This cake is indeed white in color (no egg yolks), has a very fine texture (cake flour, not AP) and has the added bonus of almond extract that imparts a welcome marzipan-ish note. Real. Good. Cake. Elegant? Sure.

    elegant10elegant11elegant13And the “elegant” cake worked very, very well with the chocolate ganache and buttercream. In fact, one of the treats was dipping the cake trimmings into the ganache and frosting (until Carolyn kicked us out of the kitchen so she could frost the cake). It may seem like a simple combination, but vanilla, dark chocolate and the touch of marzipan kept us coming back again and again. This cake disappeared quickly. Good thing it is so easy to bake another…

    elegant4Elegant White Cake With Chocolate Ganache:

    (Cake adapted from King Arthur Flour)

    Notes Before You Start:

    • The cake recipe makes enough batter for 3 8-inch rounds, 2 9-inch rounds or a 9×13 single layer cake. This recipe is for the 3 8-inch rounds. If baking 9-inch rounds, increase cooking time to 25-30 minutes. If baking the 9×13 cake, cook for about 35 minutes.
    • If you don’t want to fill with chocolate ganache, just use the buttercream.

    What You Get: Fine-grained white cake with a touch of almond flavor and then a big kick of chocolate. What else do you need?

    What You Need: Cake pans and a stand mixer. You don’t have to use a mixer, but most modern recipes assume you will.

    How Long? A couple of hours from start to finish, with 30-40 minutes of active time. Nothing here is hard, you just need patience and a bit of planning.

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  • Venison Loin With Cherry Cumberland Sauce And Goat Cheese

    May 31, 2013

    20 Comments

    Venison Loin With Cherry Cumberland Sauce and Goat Cheese.

    Venison Loin With Cherry Cumberland Sauce and Goat Cheese.

    How can you turn pork into venison? Simple, just make your own bacon and then trade it for other tasty stuff. It works like a charm. In this case we were lucky enough to get a full venison loin (or backstrap, if you want to use hunter’s vernacular) in exchange for a slab of bacon. This is a trade we will make any time. Good venison is a treat. We don’t have it often, but when we do it’s a special occasion.

    venison5venison6How do you cook venison loin? Carefully and never past medium rare. This is a perfect use for a sous-vide cooker. We cooked our loin sous-video at 130 degrees for about 2 hours and then seared it in butter. If you don’t have a sous-vide cooker (and most people don’t) just brown the venison in a hot skillet, turning and basting often, until you get to rare to medium rare. It doesn’t take long. And remember to rest the meat after cooking to keep the juices in.venison7

    venison9Now for a sauce. We just picked our Bing cherries from the orchard, so it wasn’t a hard call for us to combine the cherries and venison in a dish. It was, however, hard to find a recipe for fresh cherries and venison (plenty of recipes for game and dried cherries). But we did find a good Venison with Cumberland Sauce recipe at Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook (if cooking with game the website to visit, IMHO) and decided to riff on that.

    venison8venison4Cumberland sauce is a classic combination of currants (or other red fruit), port wine, citrus, beef stock (or demi-glace) and spices. Since we were using brightly flavored cherries, we omitted the citrus and went with shallots, thyme, a good dose of black pepper and finished with a bunch of butter (why not?). We also had heard of Norwegian-inspired recipes that combine goat cheese and venison, so we decided to crumble on goat cheese to add tang and creamy notes to the dish.

    venison3venison2And the dish was a big success. The venison was medium-rare with deep, but clean flavor and fine texture (like Filet Mignon, but with way more flavor). The sauce was sweet from the port wine, with rich flavors from the beef stock and butter, but the tart notes of the cherries and goat cheese and the kick of black pepper kept the dish in balance. The creamy goat cheese also added a welcome extra textural dimension. Yum. We like the sauce so much we will try it on lamb and pork as well.

    venison1Meanwhile, we will be curing more bacon and hope we can bribe tempt more hunters into trades. Maybe they will trade for some home-made jams or pickles as well…hmmm…

    Venison Loin With Cherry Cumberland Sauce and Goat Cheese:

    (Adapted, somewhat, from Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook)

    Notes before you start:

    – You can use beef stock or demi-glace in the sauce. The demi-glace will be richer and is worth using if you can get it. Otherwise, just allow 5-10 minutes of extra time to reduce the beef stock.

    – You MUST trim any silver skin from the venison loin to assure easy cooking and eating. It is easy to find and trim. Don’t skip this step.

    Ingredients:

    (serves-6, depending on the size of the loin)

    Venison:

    • 1, 1 1/2 pound venison loin (backstrap), trimmed of fat and silver skin
    • Kosher salt
    • Freshly ground black pepper
    • Butter, clarified butter or high-heat oil for browning

    Cherry Cumberland Sauce:

    • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • 1 shallot, minced
    • 1/2 cup port wine
    • 1/4 cup demi-glace (or 1 cup beef stock / broth)
    • 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
    • 3/4 cup sweet cherries (like Bing or Brooks), pitted and halved
    • Kosher salt
    • Freshly ground black pepper
    • 4 oz. soft goat cheese, like Chevre, for garnish

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  • Weekly Cocktail #52: Boston Expat Punch

    May 30, 2013

    11 Comments

    Boston Expat Punch

    Boston Expat Punch

    We often say here at the farm that “if life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. But when living in Boston gave Carolyn lemons, she moved back to Norcal (I followed from Connecticut, if you are curious). We think it was a good choice.

    But we can’t say life in New England was a total loss. We ate plenty of good seafood, gained an affinity for the Red Sox (which continues, as long as they aren’t playing the Giants) and still have plenty of friends to visit. And the beaches of New England and Long Island in summer are as close to perfection as you can get…..outside of country farms in Northern California. 😉

    expat2Back when we were in Boston, it was not much of a cocktail town. Lots of beer, whiskey and attitude were served at most bars, and that was fine with us. Nowadays, Boston has quite the cocktail scene, and it is very well-documented by Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut, among others. Plenty of creative, new-school cocktails from Boston have graced these pages, but for this week’s cocktail we are going dead simple and very, very old-school Boston.

    expat3expat7One of the complaints comments we often get about our cocktails is the use of random, geeky and hard-to-find “esoteric” ingredients. And we have to cop to that, we like playing with booze (in moderation, of course). But when we stumbled upon this simple recipe from noted cocktail historian David Wondrich, we figured it would be a fun recipe that we can adapt, and almost anyone can make.

    expat6expat1Boston Expat Punch is based on the traditional Boston Punch. Boston Punch is simply lemonade and dark, aged rum, sometimes with grated nutmeg. Back in the day, this was the stuff Paul Revere drank when he wasn’t brewing beer. Our version just uses the sweeter and less acidic Meyer lemons (very common in Norcal) for the lemonade and we heavily suggest using the nutmeg. Wondrich also recommends using a very flavorful rum like Smith and Cross, which is very good but almost too much for some. As the Meyer lemons have a notably sweeter flavor, slightly lighter rums like Appleton V/X or El Dorado 3yr also work well. And even lighter rums will play, but then the nutmeg really helps to add some depth.

    Boston Expat Punch

    Boston Expat Punch

    How does it taste? Like rum and lemonade with a whiff of spice. And since rum adds sweetness and funk, it compliments, rather than dilutes the flavor of the lemonade. And the better the lemonade, the better the drink. As a last bonus you can mix Boston Expat Punch as a single drink or make a batch to serve on a lazy summer day. Works for us….even in California.

    Boston Expat Punch:

    (Adapted from David Wondrich)

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. dark, aged rum (Smith and Cross or Appleton V/X)
    • 4 oz. Meyer lemon lemonade (see below for recipe)
    • Nutmeg
    • Lemon wheel, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the rum and lemonade. Shake until cold and then pour the liquid and ice into a highball or pint glass. Grate nutmeg over the top and garnish with a lemon wheel. Serve.

    —-

    Meyer Lemonade:

    Ingredients:

    • Peels of 6 Meyer lemons
    • 3/4 cup white sugar (superfine is good here)
    • 6 oz. Meyer lemon juice
    • 24 oz. water

    Assemble:

    1. Place the lemon peels and sugar in a large bowl. Muddle to extract the oils from the peels and let sit for at least 2 hours.
    2. Add the lemon juice and water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Strain out the peels, pour into a bottle and store in the fridge.
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  • Butter-Poached Shrimp With Grits

    May 28, 2013

    43 Comments

    Butter Poached Shrimp With Grits.

    Butter Poached Shrimp With Grits.

    “Umm…ok” is what I heard from Carolyn when I told her we were having shrimp and grits for dinner. The boys just looked confused. Then I said “think of it as prawns and polenta with butter sauce” and they all looked relieved. It’s funny, because Carolyn knows that grits and polenta are basically the same thing, but there is something about the word “grits” that (at least for many outside the south) has some negative culinary vibes attached.

    gritsgrits1And that’s too bad, because this is a killer dish that uses simple, readily available ingredients and is easy to make. Carolyn and the kids loved it. And that shouldn’t have been a surprise. We all enjoy polenta (cornmeal mush), so the grits were just a slightly more rustic version of the Italian classic. Basically the grits were polenta, but with bacon, onion and butter added instead of the cheese and pancetta we might include in polenta.  Either way, pretty hard to go wrong here. Just remember to stir (the only real work with grits or polenta is to stir often to keep it from burning).

    grits2grits3grits4We adapted the recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s cookbook “Ruhlman’s Twenty“. We are fans of this cookbook, it has 20 different ingredients, tools and techniques for the home cook and then provides recipes to match. Some of it is basic stuff like “salt” “roast” and “butter”, but it is always good to remember fundamentals like seasoning and cooking with butter.  So when we want to expand or refine our cooking, we often open “Ruhlman’s Twenty“. In this case we were looking for different ways to cook shrimp and Ruhlman had butter-poached shrimp with grits in the “butter” section. Good stuff.

    grits5grits6grits8The key technique here is to poach the shrimp in a butter and water emulsion over low heat. This technique is easy and gives you very moist, flavorful shrimp. Even at low heat shrimp still cook quickly, so it only takes 4-5 minutes. This is also a forgiving technique, so if you go a little over the cooking time the shrimp will still be good (unlike high-heat cooking methods). You also get the bonus of a very flavorful butter sauce to enhance the grits and drizzle over the shrimp. Add a little seasoning and some lemon and you are in business.

    grits9grits10So regardless of what we call it, we will make this dish a few more times this summer. So, once more, we say “thanks Ruhlman” for a successful recipe, we expect to say it again soon…

    Butter-Poached Shrimp With Grits:

    (Adapted from Michael Ruhlman)

    Notes Before You Start:

    • You can use white or yellow grits, just look for high-quality stoneground grits.
    • The recipe suggests you make the grits with water and then stock and/or milk. We like chicken stock, but feel free to experiment.

    What You Get: An excellent shrimp dish and some very tasty grits. A good introduction to a southern classic.

    What You Need: No special equipment required.

    How Long? 45-60 minutes, most of it active. This is an easy dish but there is plenty of work to do. Anytime dish if you find cooking therapeutic after a long day. Otherwise, best made on weekends.

    Ingredients:

    (Serves 4 as a main course)

    • 4 oz. bacon, diced
    • 1 medium onion, diced
    • Kosher salt
    • 1 1/4 cups stoneground grits
    • 2 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or milk (or water)
    • 2 cups water
    • Freshly ground black pepper
    • 1 cup butter, cut into 12 chunks
    • 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
    • Lemon wedges
    • Smoked paprika, for garnish (optional)
    • Italian parsley, for garnish

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  • Caramel Cake

    May 23, 2013

    37 Comments

    Caramel Cake.

    Caramel Cake.

    caramel13So here is the good news, this is one tasty cake. The caramel frosting has a crystallized, almost maple candy-like outer shell and a creamy, caramel-flavored interior. The yellow cake is moist and delicious. The combination is a perfect bite. You don’t even want ice cream with this cake. Just enjoy it as it is.

    caramelcaramel1So here is the bad news. This is a hard cake to make and not one that welcomes any messin’ around with the recipe. Caramel frosting is tricky stuff and you need to make a sturdy cake to handle such a heavy frosting. But if you follow the formula you get a delightful dish. And it is worth the effort.

    caramel2caramel5And we do use the word “formula” here. As we (and others) often like to note, baking is a form of chemistry. And in many cases you simply can’t play with the basic formula and get good results. To be fair, baking is hardly as exact a science as “real” chemistry. Humidity, inconsistent ingredients, finicky ovens and variations in cookware make baking a very inexact science, even in the best conditions. But we suggest that if you make this cake you stick with the recipe (at least the first time you bake it).

    caramel7caramel8We adapted the recipe (barely) from a Cook’s Country recipe. Cook’s Country is Cook’s Illustrated’s less  ridiculous? obnoxious?  “overbearing” cousin, and tends to feature recipes that you can make and actually work. This is one of those recipes. They do add some technique and tuning to a traditional recipe, but in real terms the big addition is using all-purpose flour in the cake and not softer cake flour. Using AP flour makes for a firmer, but still moist, cake that can handle the thick, heavy frosting.

    caramel9caramel11Otherwise, the other key technique is to beat extra butter into the frosting just before you apply it to the cake. Butter does make everything better, and if it makes the frosting easier to work with, then we are all for it. The bigger challenge will be keeping your fingers out of the frosting. It tastes so good, you can lose quite a bit as it makes its way to the cake. But we do encourage a little patience. When you combine the frosting with the cake, it is even better.

    caramel10caramel14So if you have the time this Memorial Day weekend, this is a cake worth making. Is it a bit of extra fuss? Well….yes. It it worth it? Without a doubt.

    Caramel Cake:

    (Adapted from Cook’s Country)

    Notes Before You Start:

    • No extra notes. Just follow the recipe and take your time.

    What You Get: A crowd-pleasing, sweet and flavorful cake with awesome caramel frosting. Yum.

    What You Need: A stand mixer (or electric mixer) and 2, 9-inch cake pans.

    How Long? 3 hours, with about an hour, maybe a little more, of active time. Details matter here, so taking your time is advised.

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