Jen started the day with several batches of fruit pancakes. The key to fluffy pancakes is gently mixing batter until just combined and allowing it to rest for 30 minutes. This yields 10 3-4 inch pancakes
1/3cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, generous ¼ teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg lightly beaten, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted and cooled, fruit.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and the melted butter.
- Stir together the wet and dry ingredients. The batter should look like a light cake batter, if not add more buttermilk. After 30 minute rest, fold in 1 to 1 ½ cups fruit. Don’t overdo it or your pancakes will be flat and dense rather than fluffy.
- Heat pan. Add butter after heated. Cook on medium heat until golden brown on each side. Don’t crank up the heat, this will yield pancakes with burnt outsides and raw centers, and that’s just sad
Next up, cream cheese on toasted baguette. This a very simple appetizer of cream cheese pressed in fajita seasoning and baked at 250 until just cracked and softened. Served on toasted baguette with a raspberry chipotle sauce.
Raspberry chipotle sauce: Raspberry jam, sieved to remove the seeds. Open a tiny can of chipotle sauce and add a couple of teaspoons sauce to taste.
Sautéed mushrooms on toasted baguette: Oyster mushrooms from Hillcrest mushrooms were sautéed in 2tablespoons butter with garlic chives and 1/4 cup of white wine. Cook until mushrooms are done. Serve on toasted baguette. They were also stuffed into rosemary bread from Part Me Farm that was buttered and browned on both sides in a skillet until heated through.
Biscuits and gravy with greens were next. 1-pound crumbled No-sugar sausage from Part From Me farms was cooked in a large skillet low and slow, do not brown. Kale from Jahworks Farm was chopped and mixed into the sausage when cooked ¾ of the way. Jen took 2 tablespoons softened butter and mixed it with about 2 tablespoons flour to make a ball of playdough consistency. Add more flour ifn needed. That was added to the sausage kale mix and stirred. Once it was incorporated, she added enough milk to cover and stirred until thickened, about 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Taste and add salt and pepper and serve. White pepper adds a nice touch to this dish.
Salads were highlighted with several dressings including ranch, vinaigrette and ginger-carrot. These were all made in a blender.
Ranch: Combine 1 cup mayo, 1 cup buttermilk, 1/4cup buttermilk powder salt and pepper and ¼ cup of chopped chives in the blender container. Blend until combined and smooth.
Vinaigrette: Combine 1 cup Extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup balsamic vinegar, 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon honey and a pinch of salt in the blender container. Blend until combined and smooth.
Ginger-Carrot: add 2 medium shredded carrots, 1-inch piece of ginger thinly sliced, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup rice vinegar, salt and pepper and up to a tablespoon of honey in the blender container. Blend until combined and smooth.
The surprise hit of the Cooking day were zucchini pancakes with zucchinis from Harvest Moon Farm.
Shred 1 pound of zucchini. Add a teaspoon of salt and gently massage. Put in a colander for 5 minutes and allow to drain. Then squeeze out all the moisture
you can.
In a large bowl, beat 3 eggs. Add ½ cup of flour whisked with 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, shredded zucchini, 1 cup crumbled feta cheese, 3 chopped scallions, 1 tablespoon chopped dill until just combined. Let sit while you make the yogurt sauce.
Yogurt sauce: Combine 2/3 cup yogurt, 2 cloves finely minced garlic(we used a microplane) and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir well. Serve with the pancakes
Cook on medium heat in a well buttered pan until golden brown on each side and serve with yogurt sauce.
The last dish was beef tacos with meat from Peaceful heart farm. 1 pound of ground beef was crumbled and cooked until well browned and sautéed with a clove of minced garlic. Tortillas were heated on a griddle until softened and topped with shredded cabbage, ground beef and shredded parmesan cheese.