Some silent but beautiful signs of spring and life in the garden… Hello, old friends.
Horseradish – the leaves are sprouting and the roots are just peaking out of the soil.
Lovage – An old fashioned herb similar to celery in taste.
Russian Tarragon – Not the lovely French culinary herb, but tall and wispy all the same.
Chives – Add them to everything!
Nothing better than walking out to the garden to pick dinner – in the form of asparagus – unless of course you pick it in the morning and then cook it in the 207 kitchen. Rob Caldwell, of WCSH6 and 207 fame, and I made pasta together and as we often do, laughed our way through the recipe… It aired last night, so go have a peak.
I’m wearing my new, very special Molly Hutchins original design apron from On Board Fabrics in Edgecomb. It has a hand towel buttoned onto it so that you don’t end up getting the apron dirty when you wipe your hands one million times. Then you unbutton and wash. How smart is that?
Creamy Lemon Asparagus with Whole Wheat Pasta
Annie
Thanks again, 207 team. You are all so fantastic to work with.
Thank you. Thank you for the sun, the warm weather, the seeds that are sprouting and the really simple plastic covers that are making it all possible. Thank you for it all. It’s such a blessing to walk in the garden everyday and delight in new growth and green.
The plastic is a new idea this year and it’s working. When it’s rainy, it protects the seeds from hard rains which wash away the little gems. When it’s sunny, the plastic serves to retain moisture and buffer the wind on our windy property.
Simple, easy, perfect. Thank you.
Radishes, spinach and lettuce coming up under the mini-greenhouse.
Tiny, tender pea shoots. Salad here we come!
Moved the greenhouse which still needs to be covered. All of the beds in the background are seeded and sprouting!
Making good use of the chipper/shredder. Love that thing.
This week the cover came off the schooner! Sunny, warm, and folks we are going sailing soon. Now it’s just a race to see what we can get done before we drop the paint brushes and sanders, the cleaning rags and brass polish and hoist the sails for the first time.
This is a lovely time of year when the weather turns to bearable and the jobs don’t seem quite so dirty, the wait for sailing not quite so long and the layers of clothes not quite so confining. The crew begins to sing while they work, chat together now that the sanders aren’t running constantly and imagine what their summers will be like once we are out on the bay. Here’s a look at what we are doing.
Meanwhile, as a treat, I baked some of these scones for the crew. It’s a keeper of a recipe!
Don’t you wish you were going to sail this summer too? It’s easy to join us, just call us or email 800-869-0604 or sail@mainewindajammer.com
Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones
This recipe is adapted from Kate Schaeffer’s cookbook Desserted: Recipes and Tales from and Island Chocolatier who adapted her recipe from Kyra Alex at Lily’s Café.
Scones:
2 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream (a little less than)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
4 ounces cream cheese, cold
1 cup frozen Maine blueberries
Frosting:
1 ounce cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk, plus more if needed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together the egg yolks and enough heavy cream to measure 1 cup. Sir in the vanilla extract. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Grate the butter directly into the dry ingredients and mix with your hands, rubbing gently.
Cut or tear the cream cheese into small chunks and toss inot the dry ingredients. Add the blueberries and mix all together.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the heavy cream mixture. Add more cream if needed, mixing quickly. You should have a crumbly mixture that barely qualifies as dough at this point.
Turn the dough onto a cutting board and quickly knead together using a bench scraper to help you form the chunky mixture into a dought that barely holds together. Flatten the dough into a disc and cut with a biscuit cutter into 8 rounds. Place the rounds into a muffin tin lined with small pieces of parchment paper.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating once during baking. The scones are done when they are lightly browned and just firm to the touch. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Frosting:
In a small bowl, mash the cream cheese to remove any lumps. Add the powdered sugar and mash together. Add the vanilla and then the milk slowly, increasing the amount if needed to create a spreadable but not drippy texture. Frost the cooled scones and serve.
Makes 8
Ella played violin on the deck while wrapped in her winter coat. Chloe and I threw the Frisbee after dinner as the sky began to gloam and settle into night. In the dusk of a day that moved toward darkness, we were free to enjoy a moment of carefree play. In that moment, we also discovered that in only a few short days, the asparagus has arrived and is ready for it’s first picking.
Asparagus, that vital and vigorous harbinger, marks the beginning of a garden season. It’s been so warm recently that the shoots have emerged out of the now warm soil with a liveliness that I cherish.
This dish is one that honors the special and very seasonal nature of homegrown asparagus as well as our much lauded Maine lobster.
Lobster, Asparagus and Spinach with Dilled Gnocchi
3 whole 1 1/2 pound soft shell lobsters
2 cups onions, sliced; about 1 large onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic; about 3 cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch asparagus, stems removed and cut into 1-inch lengths
8 ounces spinach, stems removed and thoroughly cleaned and rinsed
In a large stock pot, bring 1 inch of salted water to a boil. Carefully add the lobsters to the pot and cover. Steam for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bodies have just turned completely red. Remove the lobsters from the pot with tongs to a large bowl to cool. Transfer the liquid to a large measuring cup or other heat proof bowl or container.
In the same large pot, melt the butter and add the onions. Cook the onions over medium-high heat for 7 to 10 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and sauté for another minute. Add the flour and stir to incorporate well. Add the white wine and reserved lobster stock and whisk briskly for a minute or two. Bring to a boil and add the heavy cream.
While the sauce is coming to a boil, remove the lobster from the shells in whatever way your grandmother taught you or with picking tools. Reserve any liquid.
Taste for salt and pepper and add the asparagus. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes and then add the lobster meat, any reserved liquid and spinach, stirring well to incorporate. When the spinach is wilted, turn off the heat and wait for the gnocchi to be finished if needed.
Dilled Gnocchi
6 russet potatoes
2 eggs
3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of fresh white pepper
2 tablespoons minced dill
1/4 cup semolina flour (optional)
In a large stock pot, cover the potatoes with salted water and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the potatoes are cool, peel and push through a ricer onto the counter. Make a well in the center of the potatoes and add the eggs, dill, salt and pepper. Mix with a fork into the potatoes. Add 3 cups of flour to the potatoes with 1 cup in reserve. Only add if needed to keep the dough from sticking. Combine with hands and a bench scraper until the flour is completely incorporated. Work the dough as little as possible.
Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and roll into 4 1/2-inch logs. Dust the board with semolina or all-purpose flour when needed. Cut the logs into 1/2-inch pieces with the bench scraper and using either a gnocchi board or a fork roll the pieces across by pressing your thumb and pulling the dough into a curl. Transfer to the boiling pot of water and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for several minutes until the gnocchi rise to the surface. Drain and serve immediately with sauce.
Serves 6 to 8 people
These photos are outtakes from a photo shoot for the new cookbook, Sugar and Salt. This is the chapter is for the September segments called Cooking with my Girls.
Sometimes when I plant pea seeds in the garden, I can feel my impatience to see them sprout and feel there is a small child inside of me avidly watching the ground for the first sign of lime green to poke through deep brown. That child is practically dancing around the pea bed, with barely contained restraint. While outside, of course, I’m an adult and wait patiently for each new delight, savoring the waiting and the manifestation with my hands folded nicely in my lap. NOT.
The peas have come really well under the cold frame where I can control the amount of water they receive and avoid both drying out from spring winds and rotting from spring rains. I think I may have found my system!
This week’s column also has Snap Pea, Almond and Feta Salad; Lemony Peas, Pea Shoots and Tomatoes; Pea Shoots with Red Peppers and Red Onion.
Green Pea Risotto
1 1/2 cups fresh peas
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup diced onions, about 1 onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
several grinds of fresh white pepper
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a medium sauce pan, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Meanwhile add the half the peas to a blender. When the broth is hot, add gradually to the peas in amounts just enough to achieve a smooth paste or a little looser. Reserve the remaining broth in the pan off the heat. Puree the peas until they are very smooth.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and sauté until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. If the onions begin to brown, reduce heat. When the onions are done add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon for one minute. Add the white wine and stir. Bring the wine to a simmer stirring occasionally. When the liquid has mostly evaporated, which you can tell by sight of course, but you can also hear it as the rice begins to get a little noisier and crackle just a little, add 1 cup of the chicken broth and stir. Continue to add the stock, one cup at a time, until it is all incorporated, stirring frequently and listening for changes in the sounds of the rice. When the rice is almost done and needs maybe only a minute or two more, add the pea purée, the rest of the fresh peas and the white pepper. The rice is done when the liquid is completely incorporated but everything is still creamy and the grains are just the tiniest bit al dente in the center. Add the Parmesan cheese, stir and serve immediately.
Serves 4-6
Annie
Tickled Green
How is it that we are loosing hens? STILL! For the past several weeks, Ella comes back from feeding the hens in the morning to report “There’s another one down.” And by ‘down’ she means completely annihilated. They are very dead.
This is the part of caring for these gentle animals that I will never get used to. So out I trod, to dispatch of the VERY dead hen and to, yet again, inspect the fencing to see where the infiltration of the unknown predator is occurring. Handsome Rob (our rooster gifted to us by Caitlin at Appleton Creamery) is doing an admirable job of herding the hens and they are all crowded together behind him as he does his utmost best to be big and threatening.
On one auspicious day I just happened to notice a hawk perched on the pine tree. Right. Above. The hen house. Ah ha!
But I have garden tape strung from one side to the other… How can this be? And then I see in the snow the sweep of wingtips that are decidedly un-chicken like and my hunch is confirmed. A hawk is getting into the hen yard.
So I string more tape and when those are broken along with another hen, I add baling twine. A lot of it.
Silence… Peace… Happy hens… Whew!
Annie
A good hen mama
To go with the Red Rice and Asparagus Salad posted yesterday…
Roasted Leg of Lamb Stuffed with Parsley Walnut Pesto
The size of the lamb leg will vary depending on how large the animal was when butchered. I’ve seen them as small as 4 pounds and as large as 8 pounds. Most of the ones that I buy are from smaller animals, come directly from the farmer and are very tender. I prefer them that way, but when purchasing from a grocery store, the options are limited.
1, 4 to 6 pound leg of lamb, bone removed
1 cup parsley walnut pesto
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
If the lamb leg is tied or wrapped in netting, remove the binding and spread the leg out on a cutting board, inside up. Spread the pesto over the inside of the roll and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Re-roll and re-tie or –wrap and sprinkle the outside with salt and pepper also. Place on a plate or a roasting pan in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roast for 30 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees. Roast for another 1 hour plus or until an internal read thermometer registers 130 to 135 for medium rare. Rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes before slicing thinly.
Serves 6 to 8 generously
Parsley and Walnut Pesto
1 packed cup parsley leaves
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the leaves are finely blended.
Makes 1 cup
