Farm Fridays: Strawberry and Arugula Salad with Gruyere Fricos

The CSA season has officially begun! I'm really psyched. In fact, I've been so excited to get back to the farm that when I finished gathering my share, I stood around lamely in the farm stand for a minute or so, looking for a reason to linger.

Because we've had this strange spring - alternating unseasonable cold with spurts of summer heat - there wasn't much available yet. I took home four heads of lettuce, some arugula, some herbs, and a quart of strawberries. The strawberries look great this year - in the preceding two years of my membership, the Pennington strawberry fields have had issues with fungus, resulting in very low production. Last year the existing fields were torn up and a new strawberry patch was planted. I think it's a huge improvement - the plants are small yet, but they are producing well and look very healthy. I'm looking forward to a great strawberry season! My own strawberries also look very promising - we picked the first two red ones today and they were delicious.

Since the ripening of the strawberries marks the beginning of Honey Brook's CSA season, I thought it fitting to inaugurate this season's Farm Fridays with a strawberry recipe. My last Better Homes and Gardens (which they persist in sending me even though I let my subscription run out in December) had a recipe for a strawberry-arugula salad with cheese crisps. We had it for dinner tonight (served with a balsamic, Dijon and garlic grilled chicken breast and some grilled asparagus), swapping out the recipe's Manchego for the Gruyere in our fridge, and it was every bit as good as it sounded. This salad is all about strong flavors: sweet, juicy strawberries, peppery arugula, crispy, salty Gruyere crisps and a rich balsamic dressing. The recipe is simple, but the flavors were complex. It's the sort of dish that celebrates spring (even when it's 50 degrees and drizzling outside).

Strawberry and Arugula Salad with Gruyere Fricos
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens June 2013.

3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 c arugula
1 1/2-2 c strawberries, halved or quartered (depending on their size)
3 oz shredded Gruyere

Combine the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Toss the arugula and strawberries together in a large bowl.

To make the fricos, heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Quickly sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese evenly onto the pan.

Cook 2-3 minutes, until the edges are golden.

Remove the skillet from the heat for about 30 seconds, then carefully lift the frico out with a spatula. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining cheese. (Yes, each of these pictures is from a different frico - I had difficulty working quickly and taking pictures!)

Toss the salad with the dressing. Break the fricos into chunks to garnish. Enjoy!

Bacon and Butternut Pasta Bake

Are you holed up in your house waiting for the blizzard to start? Maybe it's time for a warm and tasty winter pasta dish!

I'm not going to lie to you - we made this a few weeks ago already, but I think it would be great for a cozy snowy evening. Bacon and Gruyere may not be good for the body, but they're totally good for the soul! And the kale and squash bump up the health factor a bit, don't they?

Ok, maybe not. It's not the healthiest dish, but it is tasty. And you'll probably burn those calories off with all the shoveling you'll have to do tomorrow.

Happy blizzard.

Bacon and Butternut Pasta
From Cooking Light January/February 2012.

5 c butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
12 oz ziti
4 c kale, chopped
2 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped
2 c onion, sliced vertically
1 tsp salt, divided
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 c chicken broth, divided
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 c creme fraiche
1/3 c Gruyere, shredded

Preheat oven to 400° F. Put on a pot of boiling salted water for the pasta.

In a large bowl, toss squash with oil. Transfer squash to a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 30 min, until tender.

Meanwhile, cook pasta about 7 min, until almost al dente (you want it underdone because it will continue to cook in the oven later). When the pasta has 2 minutes to go, add the kale to the water and cook with the pasta.

In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel. Add onion to the pan with the bacon drippings and cook for about 6 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp salt and garlic and cook another minute, stirring.

Meanwhile, bring 1 3/4 c broth to a boil in a small saucepan. In a small bowl, whisk remaining 1/4 c broth with flour. Add flour mixture, remaining 1/2 tsp salt and red pepper to the broth. Cook 2 minutes, until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the creme fraiche.

Combine the squash, pasta, kale, bacon, onion mixture and sauce in a large bowl and toss to combine.

Transfer to a 13 x 9 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Bake for 25 minutes, until bubbly and beginning to brown.

Farro Risotto with Winter Squash, Hazelnuts and Gruyere

I know my last post was about how busy we are and how great quick recipes are at this time of year. That's still true. But I threw this complicated recipe on my menu (on a weeknight, no less!) because I just couldn't resist it any more. The fact that I had most of the ingredients on hand already sealed the deal. I spent a Monday evening laboriously chopping the hardest winter squash in the world (seriously - I don't usually have much trouble with them but this one was a doozy), then standing over the stove stirring and stirring.

Yes, it took up time I should have been spending on work. Yes, all that standing aggravated my injured foot. Yes, I nearly chopped several fingers off working on that squash. But you know what? Once we sat down to eat it was totally worth it. This was a bowl of creamy, complex, earthy deliciousness. So earthy, in fact, that Jeff couldn't believe there were no mushrooms. The squash was sweet, the hazelnuts crunchy and earthy, and the Gruyere added a nice bite. I don't think you could improve this dish. We got six servings out of this - three meals - and it got better with each one. This is not only a keeper, but it's worth some more of my precious pre-holiday time.

Farro Risotto with Winter Squash, Hazelnuts and Gruyere
From Cooking Light January/February 2012.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, white and light green parts sliced and cleaned
1 c uncooked farro
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c white wine
4 c water, divided
4 c cubed winter squash (the recipe calls for butternut, but I used a Golden Nugget that I had sitting around)
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 oz Gruyere, shredded
1/2 c hazelnuts

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leek and cook 5 minutes, until translucent and tender. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add the uncooked farro and cook another minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in the wine and cook 2-3 minutes, until it evaporates. Add 1 c water and cook 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until nearly all the liquid is absorbed. Repeat for next 2 c water.

Stir in remaining 1 c water, squash, sage, salt and pepper. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, until squash is tender. Meanwhile, heat a small pan over medium-high heat. Add the hazelnuts and toast, shaking frequently, until golden. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl.

When the risotto is done simmering, stir in the cheese and most of the nuts, reserving some to use as  a garnish. Serve hot.

Farm Fridays: Spinach Leek Frittata

Oops. I forgot to take a picture of this week's share. No big deal, though - it was essentially the same as last week's. Just add a pound of spinach and exchange the leeks for some hakurei turnips.

I was sad to learn that the strong storms yesterday brought hail to the Chesterfield farm, where most of the spring produce is planted. Much of the spring harvest was damaged or lost, including tens of thousands of heads of lettuce. While I hate to see things go to waste, I have to admit that I'm not that bummed about this. I'm already tired of lettuce (why in the world did I start buying it from the farmers market knowing I would be inundated by the CSA?). If there had been, say, a tomato crop failure, then I would be upset. Mother nature can have my lettuce.

Spinach wasn't on the list of affected crops, so I'm guessing we're going to see a lot of that in the next few weeks. I've already taken home five pounds of it. When I did my meal planning this morning, I made sure that every day of the week included plenty of spinach. This recipe is one I cooked up a few days ago, with last week's spinach and leeks. It's a tasty frittata packed with crusty French bread crumbs and Gruyere cheese. A large slice of this on my plate with a generous side salad (because we have to use that lettuce and arugula somehow) made me feel like I was eating at a trendy bistro.

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Spinach Leek Frittata
From the Rolling Prairie Cookbook.

1 tbsp butter
2 large leeks, thinly sliced and well rinsed (I soak them in a large bowl of water for a while after I cut them, to loosen the grit)
3/4 lb spinach, washed and chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c skim milk
4 oz Gruyere cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 c French bread, cut into 1/4" cubes

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and saute 4-5 minutes until softened.

Add the oregano and the spinach (I had to do it in batches, stirring to wilt it down and then adding more - it seems like the spinach will never fit that small pan, but I got all of it in there). Remove from the heat. 

In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir the bread cubes into the spinach and leek mixture, then pour the egg mixture over the top (you may want to stir it a bit to spread everything around evenly).

Put the skillet into the oven and bake 45-55 minutes, until the egg has set and the top is golden brown.

Reflections of a Part-Time Vegetarian (and Potato-Leek Hash with Chard and Eggs)

As Lent comes to an end in a few short hours, so too does our vegetarian experiment. In many ways, I am sad to see it come to an end, as it forced us to become more innovative and interesting cooks. Jeff told me that it made him love to cook even more, since we attempted more complicated and involved recipes than usual, expanding our skill bases as well as our palates.

I learned that I do not need meat to survive. In fact, I am often better satisfied without it. I can't say that I had a single meal in the past 40 days during which I missed having meat on my plate. However, I also can't say that I didn't crave it - especially as the weather grew nicer and the scent of burgers wafted off of our neighbors' grills. I would really like a burger right now. But I can't say that I really want a large amount of meat, either. I've missed meat more as an accent than the star of the show - I want some ground sausage in my stuffed shells and some bacon on my twice-baked potatoes. I am going to make a greater effort to try and keep meat in this subsidiary capacity - like Thomas Jefferson, I will use meat "as a condiment to the vegetables which constitute my principal diet." At least, on the days that we're not grilling burgers.

For lunch today, we made one of the recipes on my must-do list: potato and leek hash with Swiss chard and eggs. This is the perfect example of a satisfying vegetarian meal. While it is a bit time-consuming for a lunch, on a lazy, rainy day like today we didn't mind spending some extra time in the kitchen. I think this dish would be suitable for any meal, but would be particularly nice for a weekend brunch.

Chard is the second vegetable on my 30 by 30 list. I actually made it earlier in the week as well, in an asparagus ragout that didn't come out as planned, and so did not make it on the blog. I had never had chard before this week - I find it an earthy tasting vegetable - not my idea of a good time on its own. Combined with other things, that earthiness is suppressed and it becomes palatable. In this dish, it was actually pretty tasty. I would definitely have it again in this context. If you don't like or don't have chard, I think spinach would be the perfect substitute here (and it's currently in season in NJ farmers' markets - I saw some yesterday!).

Interestingly, for the penultimate meatless dish of our Lenten project, this dish tasted like it had meat. If you had told me there was bacon in there, I could easily have believed it - something about the caramelized leeks and garlic evoked a bacony flavor. And if you are eating meat, I think some crumbled bacon on top might be quite nice, too! And if you are like me and do not like runny eggs, scramble some and serve alongside the potato-leek-chard mixture.

Potato-Leek Hash with Swiss Chard and Eggs
From Cooking Light April 2011.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 large sliced leeks (whites and light greens only, chopped and then soaked for a bit to remove the grit)
12 oz fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 tsp paprika, divided (the recipe called for Spanish smoked paprika, which we couldn't find)
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp pepper, divided
4 c thinly sliced Swiss chard leaves (about one bunch)
1 oz shredded Gruyere

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and heat. Add the leeks to the pan and cook about 8 minutes, stirring frequently (maybe a little less time or heat, if it starts to brown too soon, as mine did).

Add the potatoes and garlic to the pan. Cook 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. (Try to keep the skin-side of the potatoes up so that the flesh browns nicely!)

Stir in 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Add the chard and cook 4 minutes, stirring constantly.

Make four egg-sized wells in the mixture with a spoon (like I mentioned above, since I don't like my eggs this way, we only made two eggs in the pan for Jeff and scrambled the others in a separate pan for me). Crack one egg into each space and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1/4 tsp paprika. Cover and cook 3 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the potato mixture , cover and cook 2 more minutes, until the egg yolks are lightly set.

Rustic Vidalia Onion Tart

I've been a little lax with my posting lately. I've been working on a conference paper that is the first fruits of my dissertation research. It took several weeks to drag all my disparate thoughts together into a reasonably coherent argument, but I was happy with the result and the presentation, which I gave this past weekend, went well. So now I can get back to focusing on cooking (which is really more important, right?). Fortunately for you, I made a killer recipe on Tuesday and actually remembered to take a few pictures.

I really am a baker at heart (my favorite words are "cream the butter and sugar together"), so any opportunity to bring those skills to the dinner table is a good one, in my eyes. This savory, rustic tart is just the thing. A buttery, flaky pie dough filled with sweet, delicate sauteed onions? Come on! Who wouldn't love it? And it's fairly quick - you just have to make the dough in advance. I love it so much, I think I'm going to make it again for the department potluck next week.

The recipe called for store-bought, frozen pie dough, but since I am now anti-prepared foods I threw one together myself. I did not use the savory tart shell recipe that I posted back in October. While delicious, it tends to be fairly difficult to roll out. Every time I've done it I've had lots of rips and tears to fix once it was in the tart pan. Since this is a free-form tart, it needs a sturdier dough than that - one that can handle being moved around without breaking. Instead, I used the basic pie crust from my Baking Bites cookbook, which produced a beautiful, buttery result. With the egg wash on top, it reminded me more of a flaky turnover dough than a tart dough. While I'm sure you could use frozen pie dough for this, I wholeheartedly recommend making your own. The result is better and so much more satisfying!

Single Pie Crust
From The Baking Bites Cookbook.

1 1/4 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
8 tbsp cold butter, cut into small chunks
4-5 tbsp ice water (I needed just about 5)

Combine your flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the chunks of butter and pulse until no pieces larger than a pea remain. Add ice water and mix until the dough comes together as a ball. (If you don't have a food processor, combine the butter with the flour mixture using your hands or a pastry cutter.) Form the dough into a small disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for at least one hour before using.

Rustic Vidalia Onion Tart
From the Southern Living Farmers Market Cookbook (my favorite!).

2 tbsp butter
4 medium-sized Vidalia onions, thinly sliced (or any other sweet onion - about 6 1/2 c total, or whatever will fit into your tart - I used three huge onions and it was far too much)
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary (I used a large pinch of dried rosemary)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg white, beaten
3/4 c shredded Gruyere, divided
one 9" pie crust

Preheat oven to 425°. Melt the butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, rosemary, salt and pepper (if you have too much onion for your skillet, just put in what fits - it'll be too much for your pie crust, too). Cook, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes, or until tender (if the onion starts browning, turn down the heat).

Roll out the pie crust on a lightly floured surface into a 12" circle (yes, circle - try to keep it as close to round as you can, since the shape of your dough will end up being the shape of your tart!). Place the pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet (I was out of parchment so I just used baking spray and it turned out fine). Brush the dough with egg white. Sprinkle 1/2 c Gruyere around the center of the crust. Spread the onion mixture over the cheese, leaving a 2 1/2" wide boarder. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 c cheese over the onion. Fold the pie crust border up and over the onion, pleating as you go, leaving a 4"-wide opening at the center. Brush the crust with egg white.

Bake at 425° on the bottom oven rack for 17-19 minutes, or until crust is golden (I did it in my small top oven which only has one rack, and it took about 25 minutes to get that golden look). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.