David chopping wood to be used for SLOW COOKING

Hi All- Well, consider this my first post. It may be a stretch, so please don't kick me off, but it is a great video. David, aka Pale Paul B. did a great job splitting these logs. In case of a power outage the Nordrums just might use the woodstove for cooking. Soon I will post more and maybe even a famous scone recipe. We Alaskan Schurter's will have to also post some fresh milk favorites-- yougurt and cream cheese to be sure. Craig

Goat cheese nachos

Wed night we had goat cheese nachos for dinner. Recipe was from old issue of Rachel Ray. Interesting and tasty I thought. No meat. Instead you make a mixture of beans, onion, cumin, cayenne, and something elese I can't remember. We added some peppers form the garden. You cook this about 5 min and then put half of the mixture in the food processor. Once pureed, add it back to the other half so you get some creamy, some chunky. The goat cheese is microwaved with heavy cream to make a white cheese "sauce". We also make some guacamole and opened a jar of salsa. Good, but the bean mixture was a bit thick so hard to eat without using a utensil to put the right amount on a nacho. Not sure how it might be thinned. With meat there is that fat to keep it "looser" but the bean really thicken up. Overall, like it, would make it again, and the Shiner Bock was a good beverage choice. Also, the peppers added some spice. I think it would be pretty bland without it.

Prairie Fruit Farm Dinner

Christine and I are going to the Dinner on the Farm tomorrow. Here is the menu:

This late September meal features late summer and fall vegetables and some of our organic apples and pears.
Hors d'oeuvres
Ø Moore Family Farm Polenta Crostini with Fresh Chevre and Dried Heirloom Tomatoes
Ø Mill Creek Shitake Mushroom Flatbread Pizza with Melted Moonglo Goat Cheese
Ø Fresh Melon and Triple S Farms Ham Canapes
First Course
Prairie Fruits Farm Heirloom Tomato Bisque with Little Bloom on the Prairie Goat Cheese Toasts
Second Course
Blue Moon Farm's Arugula Salad with our organic pears, shaved leeks, Krotovina and Jarrell Family Walnut Vinaigrette
Main Course
Moore Family Farm's pasture- raised Chicken braised in Illinois red wine with Jostaberry Relish, Blue Moon Farm's Organic Fingerling Potato mash and Kohlrabi
Dessert
Moore Family Farm's Cornmeal Crepes stuffed with fresh Goat's Milk Ricotta, Carmelized apples and Honey Ice Cream

It is a BYOB since they do not have a liquor license. I have a very nice Burgundy I am leaning towards to go with teh mushrooms, polenta, tomates and think it will be ok with chicken b/c of the red wine braise. Any thoughts are welcome on alternatives.

Website is www.prairiefruits.com. The menus are posted about 10 days in advance.

Progressive Dinner Appetizers

Pictures will have to be downloaded later, but I have some time to write. We did the appetizer portion of hte dinner. We had mushroom and goat cheese crostini, beef canapes, bleu cheese walnut turnovers, antipasta plate, sesame pork, tomatoes with bleu cheese dressing, crab cakes with honey mustard sauce. We have served at Christmas eve the crostini and crab cakes so I won't mention those much. Both were well received. Everyone knows about the tomatoes. For the beef canapes, I got the butt end of a tenderloin and roasted it in the oven. We sliced it very thin and served it on sliced baguettes, with a mayo-mustard dressing and carmelized onions. I would put this as ok. The tenderloin cooked on the frill was far superior in taste and the baguette was probably not sliced thin enough. Just not the best way to serve tenderloin. IMO, perhaps better with a flank steak or something with a bit more flavor to it. The bread, opnions and sauce dominated the flavor. The turnovers were good. Basic pastry crust rolled out and cut into 3" circles. Filled with mixture of walnuts, bleu cheese and carmelized onions(leftover filling was tremendous on homemade pizza). These were served at room temperature, but also tasted hot. They were good, perhaps a bit dry. These and the beef came from the Joy of cooking. The antipasta tray was very neutral b/c the group coming is not particularly "adventuresome" so I had very mild, group friendly cheeses, olives, peppadews(love those things) and sopressata and smoked ham. I would say the sesame pork was probably my favoite. It marinated in garlic, soy sauce, olive oil and something else for a couple hours. After marinating, it is rolled in honey, then sesame seeds, then roasted in the oven. Slice it thin after cooling, serve at room temp. There was a sauce similar to the maridade but with greeen onion added. Used pork tenderloins. Liked this alot as the meat was cooked just right and the flavor was good. Found the recipe on the internet. Drinks served included vodka lemonades, Shiner Bock, Sunset Wheat, a New Zealand beer, Austrailian Shiraz blend that I found unremarkable but was well received b/c more fruity than dry, and a very good vouvray. Hopefull I can find the label to pass that along. It was $10 and I thought very worth the moeny and a white I would certainly get again. Hint of sweetness without being overwhelming.

The Northern Schurter's Rack of Lamb

Lamb from Barb acquired from the U of I- this was so good! Oven baked with a butter/garlic/parsley/salt glaze and then a yummy pan sauce made from drippings, onion, garlic, Marlborough region wine, accompanied by potatoes, broccoli and onion mix baked in coconut oil, and corn on the cob (Craig was unimpressed with the corn quality for sure)! I'll try to post a picture of the little carnivores...

Broccoli Romanesco

Who else planted this? I know BT did - Mom, did you too? Has anyone else's done anything? Ours grew into normal-looking broccoli plants, but never did anything beyond that. I thought maybe they would just need more time, but still nothing. I don't know if they needed some sort of special treatment (fertilizer, pollinating, etc.), but I am pretty disappointed. My regular broccoli last year did fantastically, but this has really been a pooper. No wonder it is a heirloom - it never blooms... ha ha ha - just kidding! (the pic is from a head we got at the FM last year)

Linguine with Squash, Bacon & Goat Cheese

We made BT's recipe of Linguine with Squash, Bacon & Goat cheese last night for dinner. Our butternut squash was only so-so, so it wasn't as good as I remember it from last year. We will have to try it again a little later in the season and see if we can't get a better butternut. The recipe was from the Christmas recipe exchange last year - are we going to do that again this year? I think we should... especially with Craig and Steph coming.

2008 Gardens

9/14/08--We made 7 quarts of Tomato Sauce with the bushel of tomatos from BTS' garden--vonderbar.

Ricotta

We purchased some fresh ricotta at Fraboni's. Highly recommend it over the regular store bought. Need to let it ist in a colander to let out liquid for an hour or so. Comes in big containers. Any not used for manicotti, boil up some shells and stuff them. Put in freezer 1.2 hour and then bag in meal sized servings. We pulled some out for dinner last night and covered with simple tomato sauce from tomatoes we boiled down yesterday, herbs and Fraboni sausage. Excellent and quick. Last loaf of ciabatta from my weekend of baking.

Let the games begin...

Here's a pizza we made recently using artichokes from the Madison, WI farmers market, bacon from Bavaria Sausage in Madison, and goat cheese from Dancing Goat Creamery here in Grand Rapids. The carmelized onions were fresh from our own garden. The crust was a new attempt for us (using the recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle). Served with a cold Ambergeddon from Ale Asylum (Madison) - wow! Is that a perfect looking pizza or what?