Here’s a *fast* Valentine dessert, as in IT’S-AFTER-4pm-ALREADY and I, for one, have not yet hatched a sufficiently chocolate-laden-high-calorie declaration of my love for my peeps.  So here’s an adaptable, yet presentable dessert for folks with a household full of special Valentines.  Sure to please young and old.   

Step one – make some brownies!   Here’s a nice recipe from Mindo Chocolate.  No time for scratch?  Use a mix…Jiffy, made in Chelsea after all.  No time for mixes?  OK, buy some brownies on your way home.

Step two – vanilla raspberry sauce.

2 cups frozen raspberries (10 oz), 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Yep, that’s all you need, plus 10 minutes more.

Set aside a handful of raspberries for garnish.  Bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat in a heavy sauce pot.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the spoon leaves an obvious trail – it will close quickly.  Add the majority of the raspberries and cook and stir another 5 minutes. You’ll still have a trail, but it will close even faster.  Pour the mixture into a fine sieve over a large bowl, and press until only the seeds are left; discard the seeds.  (Or skip this step, and enjoy the seeds.)  Stir the vanilla into the sauce.  Let cool until you’re ready.

Step three – assembly.

Cut the number of brownies you need to accommodate the number of valentines waiting hungrily for dessert.  Place each brownie in a small bowl.  Top each brownie with vanilla or chocolate ice cream, or whipped cream, or frozen yogurt.  Spoon that lovely vanilla raspberry sauce over each brownie and its topping, and top that with a whole thawed raspberry or two.  Looking like you planned a fancy Valentine ’s Day dessert now!

What, who ate the frozen raspberries?  Don’t panic, this works equally well with frozen strawberries and cherries too!

February’s share of locally grown frozen food will keep hearts healthy and happy:  more blueberries, peaches, and sweet corn, plus cauliflower, green beans, raspberries, and whole tomatoes.   The RecipeHandoutFebruary2012Share is posted here. 

Yes, frozen whole tomatoes!  Frozen whole tomatoes are real “cooks’ helpers” for those hearty, cold-weather recipes that call for 1or 2 fresh chopped tomatoes.   You can also use them anytime a recipe calls for canned tomatoes.  These whole Romas and San Marzanos, sauce-type tomatoes favored by chefs, will provide great local flavor in the middle of winter.  Our tomatoes come from several small organic farms – Green Things, Living Stones, Tantre, Zilke, Dragonwood, and Capella, as well as some from larger family farms – the Goetz’s and the Ruhlig’s. 

Frozen whole tomatoes are quite versatile – you can use them directly from the freezer, or partially thaw for easy chopping, or thaw completely and drain.  They are easy to peel:  run them under hot water, or defrost them slightly in the microwave (e.g. 2-3 mins), or leave them to thaw for ~ 1 hour at room temperature, and the skins will peel right off.   Short on time for the soup?  Forget thawing and peeling, just toss them frozen & whole into the pot.  For baked dishes or a fresh salsa, squeeze partially thawed tomatoes a bit.  Yes, a new recommendation from the Locavorious test kitchen; you can thaw, peel, squeeze, and make local fresh salsa in the winter!  You won’t find flavor like these tomatoes have in a grocery store this time of the year.

This warm winter has resulted in something I truly appreciate – local organic carrots!  Who doesn’t love carrots?  As a gardener I’ve never had much success with them, so my gratitude and applause this winter go to a couple of local farms.  Hats off especially to Seeley Farm!  Mark and Alex’s carrots have been sweet and wonderful, so much so, that after snacking on them, there were rarely enough left to cook with in our house.  But last Saturday, I managed to score a couple bunches from the Goetz family.  Now with the Locavorious frozen whole tomatoes, local carrots, squash, onions and garlic, you can make a dish that is both exotic and local.

I clipped this recipe from a newspaper, (remember those paper things we used to get everyday?) and have saved it for years.  It is attributed to Bon Appetit magazine, January 2006.  The herbed quinoa was even a hit with the kids.  If you’re not into quinoa, rice or couscous can sub right in.  You can make the stew a day in advance, and then just re-heat when the quinoa or grain is ready.   Alternatively, sous chef everything in advance, and then cook the stew and quinoa simultaneously.

Mix together this blend of dried spices:

2 t sweet paprika

1 t salt

½ t ground black pepper

½ t ground coriander

½ t ground cumin

½ t turmeric

½ t ground ginger

½ t cayenne pepper

pinch of saffron

Other stew ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves

1 cup water

16 oz frozen whole tomatoes, thawed and peeled if desired, or just leave them frozen & toss them in

2 T fresh lemon juice

3 cups peeled butternut squash cut into 1-inch cubes

2 cups ¾-inch cubes carrots

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion; sauté until soft, stirring often, about 5 min.  Add garlic; stir 1 minute.  Add the spice blend.  Add 1 cup of water, the tomatoes, and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil.  Add squash and carrots.  Cover and simmer over medium low heat until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Herbed Quinoa:

1 cup quinoa

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

½ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup finely chopped carrot

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ t salt

½ t turmeric

2 cups water

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 t chopped fresh mint

Melt butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and carrot.  Cover; cook until vegetables begin to brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes.  Add garlic, salt, and turmeric; sauté 1 min.  Add quinoa; stir 1 min.  Add 2 cups water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat to med-low.  Cover; simmer until liquid is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.

Rewarm stew.  Stir in half of cilantro and half of mint. 

Spoon quinoa onto platter, forming a well in center.  Spoon stew into well.  Sprinkle remaining herbs over.

Tian is a French word that describes a shallow earthenware dish as well as the food it contains. Originating in Provence, it features a variety of vegetables, herbs and cheeses that are layered and then baked.  This version, I’d like to call Winter Farmers Market Vegetable Tian, or perhaps Vegetable Tian Redux!    Locavorious member Carol Lessure shared this recipe, that she adapted from a Barefoot Contessa recipe, and I included it in the January 2012 Recipe Handout.  However, after getting some kale at Saturday’s farmers market from our friends at Hand Sown Farm, and trying some new techniques with the frozen goodies, a recipe update to the handout version is in order.   

First update – add kale!  Second update – instead of frozen stewed tomatoes, use the frozen whole tomatoes that will be in the February share.   Third update – Chef Jeff has been experimenting with accelerated defrosting and with extra draining to much success!  I was skeptical, thinking that getting rid of juice is getting rid of flavor, but no, I stand corrected.  The dish benefits from a drier roasting of the vegetables.  Increasing the amount of cheese a bit helps too.  Yum. 

Locavores – this is a great recipe for winter!  At last Saturday’s market, one could get onions, garlic, potatoes and kale from several organic local farms, like Tantre, Carpenters, Schwartz and Hand Sown Farm, among others, and Locavorious has frozen summer squash medley as well as whole frozen tomatoes. 

Ingredients:

Good olive oil

2 large yellow onions, cut in half and sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ bunch of curly kale, washed and chopped into bit size pieces

1 pound medium round potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled

One bag frozen summer squash medley, defrosted and squeezed

16 oz frozen whole tomatoes defrosted, drained, peeled, squeezed and sliced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra sprigs

4 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated

 Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. 

Defrost the whole frozen tomatoes by microwaving them for ~ 3 minutes; you can do this in the package.  Drain off the water.  Peel the tomatoes.  Give them a good squeeze to wring out some juice.  Slice them and set them aside.  Defrost the frozen squash by microwaving for ~ 3 minutes.  Drain off the excess water.  Give the squash a slight squeeze to drive off a little more water.    

 Brush a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish with olive oil.

In a medium pan, heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 8 – 10 minutes, or longer, until translucent and starting to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook for another couple minute.   Add the kale and cook until the kale starts to soften.  Spread the onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish. 

Slice the potatoes in 1/4-inch thick slices.  Layer potatoes, then zucchini and tomatoes over the onions, covering them.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves, and thyme sprigs and drizzle with more olive oil. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Uncover the dish, remove the thyme sprigs, sprinkle the cheese on top, and bake for another 30 minutes until browned.  Serve hot.

These humble ingredients really roast into a lovely winter “tian”!

The December share includes festive meal favorites like sweet corn, cranberries and blueberries, and new this year – organic tart cherries from up north.   There are also foods to remind us of spring:  asparagus, sugar snap peas, strawberries and rhubarb.  Click here for the Recipes December 2011 Share Distribution.  Sweet local flavors for your holiday cooking – how about double cherry sauce over roast duck, sweet corn pudding, greens with strawberry vinaigrette, and a cranberry-walnut pie?   Mmmmm good eating!

 I had the Locavorious kitchen team over for a local foods brunch to celebrate their hard work and the end of the 2011 harvest.  The menu included asparagus quiche, cowboy potato-vegetable hash, berry-centric fruit salad with vanilla yogurt, and streusel topped sour cream coffee cake.   

While I love a good quiche for brunch, this blueberry coffee cake really…..took the cake!  Recipe comes from a cooking blog called Krista’s Kitchen.  It’s rich and flavorful and perfect for a special occasion breakfast or brunch.  Take out the blueberries to thaw while you prepare the streusel and cake batter.  Chef Jeff recommends using more blueberries, ~ ½ of the bag.

Streusel:

1/4 cup white sugar
3 T. brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I just put them on foil and into the toaster oven for a bit)
2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon

Mix streusel ingredients together and set aside.

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour + additional for tossing with blueberries
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 t. vanilla
3/4 to 1 cup blueberries, partially thawed works just fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch round pan or a springform pan. Combine dry ingredients. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition until the mixture gets fluffy. Add the vanilla to the sour cream and then add them alternately with the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, mixing until just combined after each addition. Toss the blueberries in some flour, then shake off the excess and fold them into the batter.  (Batter will be thick.)  Spread half of the batter evenly into the bottom of the cake pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel on the batter. Top with the remaining batter, followed by the rest of the streusel. Bake for 55-70 minutes until the cake tests done. Cool on a rack.

Here’s a nice change from the typical holiday pies…and you can make this with almost all Michigan grown ingredients!    Crustless Cranberry Walnut Pie

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole cranberries, fresh or frozen ( I used the whole Locavorious bag of cranberries ~ 3.5 cups!)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease one 9 inch pie pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Stir in the cranberries and the walnuts, and toss to coat. Stir in the butter, beaten eggs, and almond extract. If you are using unthawed frozen cranberries, the mixture will be very thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.  If the cranberries were frozen going in, adjust cooking time to ~ 1 hour.  Serve pie warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream, unless it’s for breakfast, then how about some vanilla yogurt! 

During one particularly ambitious October day in the Locavorious kitchen, we washed, cut, de-seeded, roasted, scraped and pureed 100 pie pumpkins. Everything and everyone was orange and sticky. At the end of the day I was still not “pumpkin-ed out” and went home inspired to try new things with the pumpkin puree. After considering autumn dishes like pumpkin gnocchi and butternut squash ravioli, I thought – why not a pumpkin lasagna? The idea for the pumpkin-Swiss chard combo comes from a Food and Wine.com recipe. Including Swiss chard seemed like an excellent idea, especially since it’s a popular green thing in our house, but I thought the Food and Wine recipe lacked that ricotta-mozzarella richness of traditional lasagnas so loved in cold weather, so I moved the recipe in a comfy cheesy direction.

If you are starting with a fresh pie pumpkin, (or other hard winter squashes would work too) start by slicing it in half, scraping out the seeds, and baking at 350 F for about 1 hour.   When the pumpkin halves are cool enough to handle, scrape out the roasted pumpkin and puree it in a food processor or with a stick blender for about 1 minute.   Kale would work just fine in this recipe too.

Pumpkin-swiss chard lasagna:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large bunch of Swiss chard, washed, de-stemmed and chopped, or 12 oz frozen Swiss chard, defrosted

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

15 oz roasted pumpkin puree, defrosted if frozen

15 oz ricotta

2 cups shredded or chopped mozzarella

½ cup Parmesan + few Ts for top

3/4 cup cream or milk

12 whole wheat lasagna noodles – could also used no-boil or any sort of lasagna noodles

In a large nonstick frying pan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chard, garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon sage, and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cook, stirring a bit, until the chard is heated through, and no liquid remains in the pan, ~ 4 -6 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Prepare the lasagna noodles (if necessary) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together ~ 2/3rds of the pumpkin puree, the ricotta, mozzarella, a scant 1/2 cup Parmesan, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 1/2 teaspoon sage, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and salt to taste. (I used ½ teas salt in the cheese mixture, but it could have used less.)

In a 9 x 13 or similar size baking dish, prepare the bottom to prevent sticking with either cooking spray, butter or pour in a little milk. Lay 3 noodles in the dish and then spread 1/3^rd of the pumpkin-cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread 1/3^rd of the Swiss chard mixture over the pumpkin. Repeat this noodle-pumpkin-chard layering two more times, and top with a final layer of noodles.

Next, combine the remaining pumpkin puree and 3/4 cup of cream or milk. Pour evenly over the top of the lasagna, sprinkle with the extra Parmesan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes. Uncover and bake until golden, about 15-20 minutes more.

This year’s peaches from our corner of Michigan are outstanding.  That wet spring weather and mid-July heat wave that drove folks and crops haywire apparently did not impact this year’s peach crop.  Locavorious got peaches from Wolfe Orchard in Tipton and Kapnick Orchard in Britton, both less than 35 miles from Ann Arbor.   Scott Robertello, co-owner with Sharon Kapnick of Kapnick Orchards, helped us determine which peach varieties are the best for preserving by freezing.  This year we froze a lot of Bellaire and Flaming Fury.  Since there are more than 2000 varieties of peaches grown in the US, it’s wonderful to have local, skilled orchardists willing to give guidance as well as cultivate great fruit.   

Kapnick Orchards now has its fourth generation of Kapnicks growing fruit and working at the farmers market; Sharon’s grandparents started bringing fruit to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market in 1935, and you can say hi to her kids every week at the market today!   

Of course this time of the year, all I really want to do with peaches is eat them!  Let them ripen to sweet juicy perfection on the kitchen counter and then stand over the sink while snacking.  So for when you are tired of just eating those wonderful fresh local peaches “straight up” here are a couple of recipes.

 Something sweet – peach crumble! 

This recipe comes from the Whole Heart Group, a new local food business in town.  Whole Heart prepares and sells delicious, nutritious and seasonally fresh prepared foods, and consults on healthier prepared foods, recipe and menu plans and nutritional support.  I love the simplicity of their crumble, and that it works with fresh or frozen, or a variety of local fruits. 

2 cups sliced fresh or thawed frozen peaches

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup rolled oats

2 tablespoons softened butter + more if crumble too dry

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange peaches in the bottom of a buttered 8×8 baking dish.  In a small bowl create topping by combining flour, oats, butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Stir with a fork until mixture is crumbly, adding more butter if necessary. Fold in nuts.  Sprinkle topping over peaches and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. 

Something spicy – peach salsa!

Peaches are so amenable to salsa, you can really just take your favorite tomato-based salsa recipe and swap out the tomatoes for peaches.  Or use both tomatoes and peaches. Or don’t even worry too much about a recipe – just toss together diced peaches, diced bell peppers and/or onion, either fruit juice or vinegar, and something spicy or flavorful!   Or if you prefer more specifics, here is my favorite peach salsa recipe, adapted from The Coyote Café cookbook by Chef Mark Miller.  If it is winter and you are using frozen peaches, let them thaw ~ 1 hour, or just enough such that you can dice them into little cubes.

1 cup diced peaches (about 2 large peaches)

1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1-2 teaspoons dark brown sugar (optional)

1 or 2 jalopena or serrano chiles,  or 1 or 2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced

¼ cup finely chopped sweet red peppers

¼ cup finely chopped sweet onion (optional)

Juice of 1 lime (~ 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro

 Mix all the ingredients together.  Taste and adjust with more lime or cilantro if desired.  A sprinkle of salt is a nice addition.  Enjoy promptly with tortilla chips, burritos or grilled stuff.

If you want to make peach salsa ahead of time and have it keep well, cook the salsa as follows: mix all the ingredients except lime and cilantro.  Bring to a boil and simmer gently for ~ 20 minutes.  Cool and add lime juice and cilantro.  Serve at room temperature with grilled pork, chicken or fish.

Heat waves are wonderful for berries, summer sweetness…but who wants to cook?  Here’s a no-oven-needed dessert perfect for fresh or frozen blueberries.

For the crust:   1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, 2 T white sugar and 1/4 cup butter, melted

For the filling:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice

1 or 2 cup whipped cream or frozen whipped topping, thawed

3 cups blueberries – fresh or frozen, but frozen works great.  Extra blueberries to decorate the top.

In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and 2 T sugar. Mix in the melted butter. Sprinkle evenly into 9 inch square baking dish or pie pan, and pack down into a solid crust.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup of sugar until smooth. Stir in salt, vanilla and lemon juice. Fold in the whipped cream until well blended; then gently fold in the blueberries. Spoon over the crust, and spread evenly.  Can decorate the top with extra blueberries.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.