Growing Purple Basil and What To Do with It, Plus My Purple Basil Pesto Recipe & the Easiest White Bean Appetizer Dip / Spread Ever

When it comes to basil, purple is the new green.

Got (or want) basil in your garden? You'll find links to all of my basil growing posts, as well as more of my favorite basil recipes, at the end of this post.

2011 Update: Farmgirl Fare readers offer up even more ways to use fresh basil here.

I have no idea how it happened, but spring 2007 found me and my kitchen garden completely basilless. Thankfully a gardening friend—whose tiny city garden I usually supply with plants—was kind enough to share a couple of basil seedlings with me, including a purple one.

I'm not very adventurous when it comes to herbs, and I'd never grown purple basil, but begging gardeners can't be choosers so I gratefully took what he offered and stuck it in the ground.

The purple basil plant flourished. It was gorgeous, but I didn't know what to do with it. I love fresh basil in all kinds of dishes, and I loved the color of these leaves, especially how they're outlined in green, but the thought of blackish purple basil pesto—or blackish purple basil anything for that matter—just didn't seem appealing.

My dear friend Kat, who writes the scrumptious blog, She's In The Kitchen, suggested I make basil vinegar with it: You fill a large jar with half white vinegar, half cider vinegar, stuff it with purple basil, and let it steep for a week. Then you strain it and pour the resulting gorgeous magenta vinegar into a pretty bottle with a few sprigs of fresh basil.

That sounded nice, but I wasn't sure what I would do with the vinegar either.


First harvest of the 2011 season: a pound of Red Rubin basil from three plants.

I decided to appeal to my garden blog readers, begging them to tell me what they would do if they had a beautiful purple basil plant in their garden. They quickly came to my rescue with all sorts of delicious ideas, including:

—Add it to a white bean salad with some red peppers and green onions

—Throw it into a pot of beans, tomatoes, potatoes, zuchinni, and onion

—Put it in a red sauce made from fresh tomatoes

—Garnish anything that the flavor of basil will complement

—Stir into a slaw of chopped carrots, fennel bulb, and garlic just before serving

—Make purple basil lemonade or, better still, purple basil watermelon/honeydew melon agua fresca

Soilman in England suggested I put it in Mussels à l'Italienne and even offered up his recipe: Chopped onions sweated in olive oil for a few minutes. Add a few glugs of white wine and lots of chopped tomatoes plus tomato purée. Pour your mussels (cleaned and de-bearded) in, cover and cook for 5-10 minutes. Put into bowls with lots of chopped purple basil.

I couldn't wait to tell my city friend that I'd figured out what we could do with our purple basil. He listened patiently with a slight smile on his face as I recounted all these creative ideas. Then he said, "I turned mine into pesto."

"Oh yeah?"

"It was the best basil pesto I've ever had."

"Really?"

"It was like pesto on steroids."

"Wow."

"And it wasn't even that weird of a color."

"Huh."

So I skipped all the wonderful suggestions and turned my entire purple basil plant into the best pesto I've ever tasted instead.


Homemade purple basil pesto on homemade pizza (my easy pizza dough recipe is here)

Farmgirl Susan's Low Fat, Full Flavor Purple Basil Pesto
Makes about 1½ cups

**Click here to print this recipe**

This lower fat, reduced calorie pesto, which calls for less olive oil than most recipes, is bursting with freshly picked garden flavor. The tomatoes are a healthy way to replace some of the olive oil while adding a subtle new flavor.

When portioning out basil (and so many other ingredients), it works best if you weigh it rather than pack it into measuring cups. A digital kitchen scale is a worthwhile and useful investment, and once you have one you may wonder how you ever lived without it. I often use my Oxo 11-pound kitchen scale several times a day. The pull-out display is awesome, and it's also great for weighing outgoing packages.

Don't have any purple basil? Just use green instead!

1/2 cup (about 2½ ounces) roasted & salted whole almonds
3 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 ounces fresh purple (or green) basil leaves (about 4 cups packed)
1 ounce (about 1/2 cup) finely grated Pecorino Romano (or other hard cheese)
10 ounces fresh tomatoes (about 3 smallish) any kind, quartered
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste

In the bowl of a food processor use the S-blade to whiz the almonds and garlic until finely chopped.

Add the basil, cheese, tomatoes, and salt, and process until thoroughly combined and the consistency you like.

With the motor running running, slowly drizzle the olive oil through the chute. Add more salt to taste if desired. Store your pesto in the refrigerator for several days or freeze.

Except for the fact that purple basil isn't as pretty as the green and does make a rather oddly colored pesto (as you can see in the photo above), I would probably quit growing the green stuff altogether. Mixing a few green leaves into the pesto does help brighten it up a bit.

Unfortunately my friend couldn't remember what kind of purple basil we were growing, so I figure I'll just work my way through every purple variety I can find and do some scientific taste comparisons. There are even certain types of basil plants that are half purple and half green.

I didn't forget to plant basil seeds this year, though I did get a rather late start. Five different types of basil, including Purple Ruffles and Purple Osmin, plus a mixed variety surprise pack are just now sprouting in little containers, but I have high hopes for a bumper summer crop. (And besides, my tomatoes won't be ready for ages either.) 2011 Update: I had really good luck growing Red Rubin basil (see photo above).

I might even turn part of my purple basil harvest into something other than pesto. But don't hold your breath, especially since I've discovered such a delicious way to use it.


Homemade pita chips: tastier than store bought & made in minutes

Really Easy White Bean Pesto Dip / Spread

**Click here to print this recipe**

Opening a bag of cheez doodles and pouring them into a bowl would probably be a slightly easier appetizer to make than this, but they wouldn't taste nearly as good - or be as good for you. This stuff isn't exactly beautiful, but trust me when I say that no one will notice.

The consistency of this spread will vary depending on the type of beans you use, how well you drain them after rinsing, and the thickness of your pesto. I made one batch with Great Northern beans and a slightly thinner pesto and ended up with a dip rather than a spread.

If it's too thick for your liking, simply thin it out with a little olive oil or water.

Cans of organic beans are an organic bargain and a handy staple in my farmhouse pantry; I buy them by the case. I really like Eden Organic brand beans, which are organically grown in the U.S.A. on family farms, have no salt added (I prefer to add my own), and are packed in BPA-free cans.

1 15-ounce can organic white beans, such as cannellini (also called white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1/2 cup homemade or purchased basil pesto
1/2 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano or other hard Italian cheese
Salt to taste

Combine beans, pesto, and cheese in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the 'S' blade and whiz until smooth. Salt to taste.

Serve with pita chips (check out my easy recipes for homemade pita chips and pita bread, plus easy pita pizzas), crackers, raw veggies, or a spoon.

This spread improves with age, so try to make it a day ahead. Of course then you'll also have to try not to gobble it all up before serving time comes, but fortunately the recipe can easily be doubled.

After coming up with this recipe while my foodie mom was visiting last fall, I've become slightly obsessed with white bean dips. Sometimes I even have them as a main course (because I eat so much I don't have any room left for the actual main course).

It turns out that almost anything can be successfully mixed with a can of white beans (where have I been?), and I'll be sharing some of my other favorite creations soon.

More posts about basil:
9/21/06: How To Keep Your Basil Growing Into Fall

6/25/06: Beautiful Basil Seedlings in the Greenhouse

7/25/06: Volunteer Basil in the Kitchen Garden

8/10/06: Basil Gone Wild - and Happy Pollinators

6/20/09: Harvesting the First Green & Purple Basil of the Season and the Best Ways to Store Your Fresh Basil

8/15/10: How To and, More Importantly, How Not To Store Fresh Basil

5/4/11: Bad Luck with Basil and Some Basil Growing Tips

More Farmgirl Fare recipes that call for basil:

Savory Tomato Pesto Pie with a No-Fail Biscuit Crust (one of my most popular recipes)

Easy Homemade Italian Sausage with Fresh Basil, Oregano, Garlic, and Fennel Seeds (no stuffing any casings!)

Fresh Tomato Pesto Pizza & A Simple Tomato Salad

Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

Simple Fresh Tomato Pizza Sauce (no blanching or peeling required)

The Easiest Greek Salad Ever

Colors of Summer Salad with Fresh Basil

Summer in a Bowl with Fresh Basil

All About Chives & How To Make Herbed Yogurt Cheese

Linguine or Farfalle with Sun Dried Tomato & Artichoke Pesto, Cherry Tomatoes, and Fresh Basil (I practically lived on this stuff last September)

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, where there can never be too much fresh basil, no matter what the color.

More Fast Farm Food: Healthy Swiss Chard Tuna Salad Recipe with Scallions & Kalamata Olives

Tuna Salad Goes Green

What do you get when you have a greenhouse full of Swiss chard, a bumper crop of scallions in the garden, long days of hunger-inducing farm work, not much time to cook, and a really annoying heat wave? Three batches of this tasty tuna salad in the last ten days — and no sign of us tiring of it anytime soon.

I created this simple yet satisfying recipe last year for NPR's Kitchen Window but never shared it here, and now I know why — I was waiting until I made it even better. It seemed a little odd to apply my More, More, More motto to one of my own recipes, but in this case it worked beautifully. This new greener version is better looking, better for you, and even better tasting.

I've mentioned before that Swiss chard is one of my favorite vegetables. In fact, if I were allowed to grow only two things in my organic kitchen garden they would be tomatoes and Swiss chard. This nutrient-packed chameleon of the vegetable world comes in a variety of colors and is a superb, year-round stand-in for lettuce, spinach and celery. When the spinach is suffering from heatstroke or the lettuce is keeling over from frostbite, my hardy Swiss chard doesn't even flinch. It's also easy to grow from seed and does exceptionally well in containers. And if you grow your own Swiss chard, you'll be able to enjoy the young, tender leaves which are rarely available for sale.

Swiss chard is bursting with nutrients, including vitamins K, A, C and E, plus several B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, potassium, iron and dietary fiber. It's a good source of calcium and contains promising cancer-fighting properties. Throughout history, various parts of the plant have been used to treat everything from ulcers to dandruff.

But more importantly, it tastes delicious. Peak season in most areas is from June through October, though in milder climates you often can find interesting varieties of just-harvested bounty at farmers' markets from early spring until late fall. Look for crisp stalks with shiny, unblemished leaves.


Swiss Chard is the New (Gorgeous) Celery

One of the best things about Swiss chard is that it's actually two crops in one — the crunchy stalks can be chopped up and used in place of celery in many recipes, which is especially nice since conventionally grown celery ranks number four on the Environmental Working Group's list of most contaminated produce. Choose colorful varieties of Swiss chard such as Pink Lipstick, Canary Yellow, and Orange Fantasia and you'll have some of the prettiest 'celery' around.

Tuna salad is the kind of thing I like to keep on hand in the fridge for quick meals and easy snacks, especially during the summer months, and this twist on the old standby will tempt even the most overheated appetites. If you don't have any Swiss chard handy you could substitute another sturdy leafy green such as spinach, kale, cabbage, or even some finely chopped broccoli or kohlrabi leaves (talk about healthy) or collard greens. Lettuce wouldn't hold up, but a handful or two of arugula would add a snappy bite.

This is one of those recipes that adapts easily to whatever you have on hand, so don't be afraid to be creative. Any type of olives would work — cracked green, oil cured, even the plain old canned black ones. Chopped purple onion in place of the scallions would be very nice. Some red cabbage would be tasty, and I almost tossed a shredded carrot into the latest batch. After taking these photos I did stir in a few handfuls of drained and rinsed organic kidney beans, which added protein and fiber and made this salad even more of a meal.



Susan's Swiss Chard Tuna Salad
Serves 2 to 4

If you have a chance, mix up your tuna salad and let it sit in the refrigerator at least a few hours before serving; it'll be even tastier. You can put it on sandwiches, stuff it into pita pockets, spread it on crackers, or serve it on a bed of lettuce. You could make baby sandwiches on Carrot Herb Rolls, Italian Olive Cheek Rolls, or Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones, or use Swiss chard leaves in place of tortillas to make easy low-carb tuna wraps. I often eat it straight from the bowl with a fork. Feeding a crowd? Just double the recipe. As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever you can.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (I like white balsamic)
1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives (about 10 olives)
2 teaspoons brine from the olives (or more balsamic vinegar)
2 6-ounce cans tuna (oil or water packed), drained
3/4 cups chopped Swiss chard stems
2 to 3 cups chopped Swiss chard leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed chopped fresh parsley, preferably Italian flat leaf
1 cup (or more) chopped scallions (green onions), white and green parts (about 10 small)
Salt & pepper to taste

Optional:
Few handfuls of canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Combine mayonnaise, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive brine in a medium bowl and mix well. Stir in olives, tuna, chopped Swiss chard stems and leaves, parsley, and scallions. Add salt and pepper to taste and more mayonnaise and/or vinegar if desired. Stir in kidney beans if using. Tuna salad will keep for three days in the refrigerator.

Related posts:
How To Grow Swiss Chard from Seed & Why You Should
Recipe: Hot Swiss Chard Artichoke Dip (and lots of other ways to use Swiss Chard)
Grow Arugula — Seed to Salad Bowl in Less than a Month
How To Grow Your Own Gourmet Lettuce from Seed
What To Do With 125 Scallions

To go with your tuna salad:
Four Hour Parisian Daily Baguettes
Beyond Easy Beer Bread
Oatmeal Toasting Bread
Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones
Carrot Herb Rolls (and a bargain bread book for beginners)
Italian Olive Cheek Rolls
How To Make Your Own Pita Bread & Pita Chips

Other Farmgirl Fare recipes you might enjoy:
Sour Cream & Onion Dip (and foodie travel)
Fiesta Cottage Cheese Veggie Dip (and factory tours)
Mexican Jumping Bean Slaw & Quick Vegetarian Tacos
Colors of Summer Salad
Summer in a Bowl
The Easiest Greek Salad Ever

Still hungry?
You'll find links to all my sweet & savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under Previous Posts: Food Stuff W/ Recipes. Enjoy!

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares recipes, stories, & photos from her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres — and we feast on homegrown Swiss chard almost year round.

Foodie Travel and a Recipe: Pretzels & Potato Chips with Sour Cream & Onion Dip

My idea of vacation party fare

I often tell people that my life on the farm revolves around food. Basically everything I do around here - whether it's putting up hay (next month!), freezing tomatoes, fixing fences, feeding the chickens, sowing lettuce seeds, spreading donkey manure in the organic heirloom kitchen garden, or making sure a newborn lamb is nursing - is in some way responsible for eventually puting food in our and other peoples' mouths.

For a foodie farmgirl whose mind is never very far from her next meal, this is extremely good news, because even the most loathesome task (that would be putting up hay) is a lot easier to bear if you tell yourself that doing it will keep you from starving to death.

Food played a large part in my life before I moved to the country, but in a different - and much less work-related - way. Most of my fondest memories have to do with eating, especially while traveling. Some people go on vacation looking for beautiful scenery, amazing architecture, or some really good fly fishing. I go on vacation to eat.

Many years ago I spent a glorious couple of weeks in New England hopping from one historic diner to the next (passing up the free breakfasts at bed & breakfast inns so as to squeeze in even more diner fare), and I once took an 80-mile detour while driving through Arkansas in order to sample some highly recommended, but very out of the way, barbecue.

It was worth it, but to this day I wish I'd had room for one of their fabulous looking desserts. I'm a sucker for a piece of good homemade pie.

Other unforgettable food-related moments I've enjoyed over the years include high tea at Harrod's department store in London while living briefly in England as a kid, a hunk of Hula Pie for lunch (not dessert, but lunch) at the Kapalua Grill & Bar on Maui, and way too much breakfast (that had to include a pile of those signature home-fried potatoes and one of their enormous, freshly baked drop biscuits) in a booth on a crowded Sunday morning at Bubba's diner in San Anselmo, California.

Then there was the black rice pudding at a table in the tropical garden of Poppy's Restaurant on Bali, and a tiny taste cup of Cherry Garcia ice cream scooped right off the assembly line at the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Vermont. Actually I did the Ben & Jerry's tour twice.

Living on a farm puts a pretty big damper on vacations, but that's okay. These days my idea of a perfect getaway is spending a couple of days on the farm but blowing off most of the work - and sometimes that's almost sort of kind of possible. On the rare occasion I do leave for more than a day, it's usually to visit friends or family in some exotic and decidedly non-foodie place like Kentucky.

The truth is that besides having become a great big homebody, I'm probably unfit to travel. The other night as I was unhooking the bib of my overalls, Joe looked over as a couple of syringes dropped out of one of the pockets and onto the floor.

"It's a good thing you don't like to fly anymore," he said, shaking his head. "I'd never get you past airport security."

Fortunately I'm also a cheap and easy to please traveler. I love it when there's good country cooking to be found and make an effort to seek out local hole-in-the-wall eateries. But give me a motel room, a bottle of cheap champagne on ice, and a big bag of plain potato chips and I'm perfectly content. Throw in air conditioning and a container of dip and I'm practically at Club Med.

One of the things I love to do while visiting another place is scope out the grocery stores. Despite the profusion of cookie cutter malls and big box behomeths taking over the landscape, there are still some interesting local and regional food stuffs to be found around the country.

When Joe and I were in Cincinnati few years ago, I discovered an entire section in the supermarkets there devoted to nothing but pretzels. This apparently has to do with the German influence in the area (which also means you can find some really good bratwurst). There are so many different kinds of pretzels available that they literally get their very own aisle. So along with my enormous bag of 'I'm on vacation' potato chips, we picked out several packages of pretzels.

Then Joe announced that we needed some dip to go with our pretzels and chips, and we proceeded over to the dairy section where he tossed a carton of something I swear only said DIP into our cart. What a turning point! How had I been missing DIP all these years? This was vacation party food at its finest!

There are many things, like that black rice pudding in Bali, that can never be fully recreated at home, often because at least half of the memory has to do with the atmosphere. Even perfectly made black rice pudding served in a Northern California suburban kitchen simply doesn't taste the same.

Fortunately DIP does not suffer from this problem. DIP can be thoroughly enjoyed anywhere, anytime, and this homemade version I was inspired to create tastes infinitely better (and is better for you) than that slightly scary - but very exciting - stuff from the store. Of course it would be even better if I served it up in one of those cartons labeled DIP.

We generally try to hide out on the farm during holidays, so we don't have any big plans for this Memorial Day weekend. I could really use a little vacation, though, so I'm thinking I may have to dash into town for a big bag of potato chips and whip up a batch of dip. The cheap champagne is already chilling in the fridge.

So what's your favorite (or most embarrassing) food-related travel memory - or favorite vacation/party food?



Susan's Sour Cream & Onion Vacation Party Dip
2 cups sour cream (light is fine)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 to 5 scallions, green & white parts, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon onion powder (or granulated)
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or granulated)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
A smidge of anchovy paste (optional)
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and chill for several hours. Serve with potato chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, cut up veggies, or a spoon. If desired, close your eyes and pretend you're on vacation in your idea of paradise while consuming.

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

© FarmgirlFare.com, the chip and dipping foodie farm blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories, photos, original recipes, and sometimes embarrassing foodie glimpses into her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres.

How To Cook Lamb: Recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms with Ground Lamb and Feta (& My Mother's Secret Ingredient)

Stuffed Mushrooms With Homegrown Lamb, Onion, Parsley & Feta

We always eat well when my foodie mother visits the farm. During her most recent stay we were so busy with lambing season (which is still dragging on by the way) most of our homemade meals came straight from the freezer. Last fall, however, we had a chance to do lots of experimenting in the kitchen, and I'm slowly but surely getting some of those new favorite recipes posted. Enjoy!

I'm embarrassed to admit that up until last November I'd never stuffed a mushroom in my life. I now realize this is tragic, and I'm determined to make up for lost time because I've also realized there are a lot of stuffed mushroom recipes out there. I mean, you can stuff a mushroom with just about anything! Who knew? Okay, probably everyone but me.

My late-in-life stuffed mushroom introduction happened purely by chance. After picking my foodie mother up at the airport last fall for her twice yearly visit to the farm, we stopped by Trader Joe's to stock up for our upcoming ten day cooking and eating spree. And there they were: packages of giant 'Stuffer Mushrooms' nudged up against the regular-sized mushrooms and screaming at me. "YOU NEED US! YOU WANT US! TAKE US HOME AND STUFF US!"

Quick & Easy Recipe: Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup With Onions, Garlic, Garbanzos & (Oh Why Not?) Artichokes - And Lambing With Your Mom

Healthy and homemade, fresh from the pantry.

How do you jump start a lagging lambing season? Try to make a flight at an airport that's 200 miles from your farm. Three lambs, including a set of twins, were born Wednesday morning as we were scrambling to get out the door.

Joe had to go out of town last week, so last fall we planned lambing season accordingly; it should have been mostly over by now. But apparently the sheep, or at least Studly Do-Right Jefferson, missed that meeting because most of our ewes are still pregnant. Or else they heard that my foodie mother, who I picked up at the airport after dropping Joe off, decided that this year she wanted to come visit during lambing season.

My mother's farm stays revolve around eating. Menu requests begin to arrive via e-mail as soon as she books her flight, and on the way home from the airport we stop at places like Trader Joe's and buy enormous quantities of food. Once she's here we make charts and lists of everything we want to eat and when we want to eat it (because my mother is a chart and list kind of person) and then we try to figure out how we can cram five meals plus snacks into each day.

Quick & Healthy Dinner From The Pantry:Cream (or not) Of Artichoke Soup Recipe With Garlic, Onions, & Garbanzo Beans

Nothing Hits The Spot Like A Bowl Of Cozy Homemade Soup

Some of my favorite recipes were created by chance and circumstance. Last summer's popular Mexican Jumping Bean Slaw and Easy Vegetarian Tacos was the result of having a kitchen full of baby cabbages, my Apple Blueberry Crumble Bars came about while I was baking a bribe for a friend who really wanted Just Peachy Blueberry Breakfast Bars but it wasn't peach season, and my Whole Wheat Scones With Currants & Oats were born out of sheer laziness. Inspiration and invention can even hit during a simple trip into the pantry.

This isn't the Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup I'd planned to make one day last January. And it's even further from the roasted red pepper and tomato soup I'd decided to make instead of the broccoli soup. But that's how it is around here sometimes.

I was poking around the pantry, grabbing the jar of roasted red peppers I'd bought specifically for some other recipe and wondering if one big can of organic diced tomatoes would be enough for the soup or did I need two, when I spied the artichoke hearts. At least four cans of them hanging out and gathering dust.

You see, what happens is that I'm the kind of person who lives in phases of crazes, and when I really get into a dish I decide - usually while I'm at the grocery store, starving and pushing a big old empty shopping cart - that I'm going to make whatever dish I'm currently enamored with at least six more times so I'd better stock up on the ingredients. And then maybe I'd better grab a little bit more of them since this thing is so good I'll never get tired of eating it.

Then I get tired of eating it. Or I get lazy and stop making it. Or I forget about it. Or something beyond my control happens, which was the case with all those cans of artichoke hearts that were destined to become several batches of the Hot Swiss Chard Artichoke Dip I was pretty much living on for a while (and intending to live on even longer) last summer. Or maybe it was spring. I can't remember. All I know is that one minute I had more of my beloved Swiss chard in the kitchen garden than I could consume, and the next minute all sorts of creatures and acts of nature and other awful things had conspired to pretty much decimate my entire crop.

And it gets worse. The pittance that was left, bravely struggling through winter in the greenhouse in the hopes of surviving until spring when it could once again turn into monster plants that would supply me with enough greenery to make at least three batches of Hot Swiss Chard Artichoke Dip was eaten by rats. Actually probably just one big rat, though there's also a slim chance it might have been a rabbit or a very fat cat. But I don't really want to talk about it because it's entirely too depressing.

All I know is that back in January there were all these cans of artichoke hearts in the pantry threatening to jump into my as-yet-uninvented roasted red pepper and tomato soup, and then without warning they turned themselves into the star of the show. Suddenly I wanted to make artichoke soup even though I'd never heard of such a thing.

The calendar says spring has sprung, and recipes calling for the first fresh asparagus, potatoes, rhubarb, leeks, and other delights of the season are popping up on food blogs everywhere. This week's newsletter from CUESA says there are even strawberries to be had at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market. (Why oh why do I torture myself with a subscription to that newsletter?) But after a mostly frozen February, an extremely wet March, and temperatures still dipping into the teens, there isn't much happening in my Missouri kitchen garden.

It'll be 'pantry eating season' around here for at least a few more weeks, but as long as I have some recipes like this one up my sleeve, that's just fine by me.



Cream (or not) Of Artichoke Soup With Garlic, Onions, & Garbanzo Beans
Makes about 9 cups - Serves 4 to 6

I've never been a big fan of soups that are full of heavy cream. All those hidden calories that could have been consumed as cake or cookies instead! For years I happily thickened my soups with rice and, more recently, garbanzo beans. But since I started buying milk last year that goes from cow to gallon jar to my refrigerator, I've found myself with an overabundance of this amazing heavy cream.

Since there's only so much freshly whipped cream a girl can should eat, after tasting this soup I did the unthinkable; I stirred a cup of cream into the pot. And then I had another taste. And then I seriously thought about stirring in a second cup.

Without the cream, this soup is very good. With the cream, it's divine. And, I reassured myself while gobbling up that first batch, one little cup of cream in a entire pot of soup really isn't that much at all. Besides, think of all that calcium. So waistlines and virtues be dammed - there's no denying that I've turned into a cream soup fan. And after trying this one, you just might cross over, too. Look at it this way: you can always have a smaller piece of cake for dessert.

This easy recipe comes together quickly and contains some of the World's Healthiest Foods. It tastes even better after a day or two in the fridge, so try to make it up ahead of time if you can. As always, I urge you to seek out locally produced and organically grown ingredients whenever possible.

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 onions (about 1-1/2 pounds), coarsely chopped
4 to 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained & rinsed
2 14-ounce cans artichokes (packed in water), drained, rinsed & coarsely chopped
1 cup organic heavy cream (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat, then add the onions. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and cook until onions are soft and starting to brown, stirring frequently, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Make a space in the center of the pot and add the garlic, stirring so it all touches the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring, two minutes.

Add the artichokes, garbanzo beans, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid barely cracked for about 30 minutes.

Purée with an immersion blender, or transfer in batches to a countertop blender and very carefully purée, then return to the pot. I can't say enough good things about, or imagine life without, my KitchenAid Hand Blender; it's quite possibly the best $50 I've ever spent in the kitchen.

Stir in the cream if desired, let cook a few more minutes, then salt and pepper to taste.

Serve plain or dressed up with whatever you like: a dollop of sour cream; chopped chives or parsley or scallions; some cheddar, jack, or Irish Shannon (my new favorite cheese); a sprinkling of crispy fried shallots; or a few big fat homemade croutons (perhaps from a Four Hour Parisian Baguette).

How about some bread to go with your soup?
Beyond Easy Beer Bread (my most popular recipe)
Quick Rosemary Focaccia
Whole Wheat Beer Bread
Onion Rye Beer Bread
Savory Feta Cheese & Scallion Scones
Parisian Four Hour Daily Baguettes
No-Knead Crusty Freeform Bread
Oatmeal Toasting Bread (makes great rolls, too)
Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Italian Black Olive Cheeks
Carrot Herb Rolls (And A Bargain Bread Book For Beginners)
Three Onion & Three Cheese Pizza

You might also enjoy my other Less Fuss, More Flavor soup recipes:
Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup
Susan's Super Spinach Soup
Garlic Lover's White Bean Soup
Hearty Lentil Soup With Smoked Sausage
Use It Or Lose It Lentil & Escarole Soup
Spur Of The Moment Summer Squash Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup (The Autumn Version)

Still Hungry?
You'll find links to all my sweet & savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under PREVIOUS POSTS: FOOD STUFF WITH RECIPES. Enjoy!

This is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Ramona at The Houndstooth Gourmet. Thanks to my foodie friend Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen, food bloggers around the world are now in their third year of sharing information and favorite recipes each week using herbs, plants, veggies, and flowers. Want to join in? Check out the Rules For Weekend Herb Blogging.

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and having homemade soup on hand in the fridge makes it harder to rationalize eating chocolate cake for lunch (which is probably a good thing).

Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup Recipe & Recharging Your Dead Batteries (Because Setting Them On Fire Isn't An Option)

Donkey Doodle Dandy On Fire Watch Duty

There are many things to love about living on a very remote farm. You can, for instance, go outside and howl at the top of your lungs at the coyotes at midnight, blast the stereo until the speakers threaten to blow, or run around the yard naked because there's no one around to care. (Not that I ever do the naked yard thing.) You also don't have to worry that the neighbors are going to complain about the dogs barking or the donkeys braying or the sheep baaing or the rooster crowing.

On the other hand, there are certain luxuries that I completely took for granted before moving to the middle of nowhere. Like mail delivery. And Chinese food delivery. And garbage pick up. Yes, you might want to take a few seconds to contemplate the enormity of that last one; I'll wait.

We're very fortunate, however, to have a wonderful recycling center only 35 miles away, which is practically down the street by rural Missouri standards. They happily take the feed sacks we've refilled with glass, metal, plastic containers labeled #1 and #2, cardboard, newspaper, and even glossy junk mail.

When you add in the food waste that we toss to the chickens and in the compost bins, plus the bag of stuff earmarked for the thrift store, the magazines headed for the library 'free' box, the empty wine and champagne bottles we leave at the natural foods store for people who make their own wine and beer (we put our homebrewed beer in 12-ounce bottles that we reuse over and over), plus the pile of newspapers we keep for starting fires in the woodstove, we have no fewer than 13 different garbage receptacles. Houseguests are terrified to throw anything away and ask things like, "Do chickens eat avocado skins?" "Can you compost dryer lint?" and "What should I do with this band-aid?"

We also reuse as much stuff as we can around the farm. Styrofoam mushroom containers and plastic food containers become seed starting pots that are labeled with strips I cut from unrecyclable #5 plastic sour cream tubs. Rows of large, clear plastic jugs that once held peanuts now neatly organize metal nuts and bolts and nails in Joe's shop. Plastic seltzer bottles are refilled with water and turned into long lasting ice packs for coolers. And #5 cottage cheese containers hold the homemade dog/cat/chicken food I make up in big batches and freeze.

Paper that's wet or dirty is burned, and anything else is put in what we call the 'trash trash' bag. It usually takes us at least a week to fill up one small plastic grocery sack with trash trash, which I think is pretty neat. You can pay a per-bag fee to dump trash trash at the recycling center, but because we generate so little they usually take ours for free. Plus I bring them cookies.

Burning all of your trash is very common around here, and before I moved in with Joe he routinely burned a little more than he does now, using what he called 'accelerants' to 'help the fire get started.' His motto was Everything burns eventually. He did recycle large glass beer bottles, but I suspect that was only because he couldn't get them to ignite. One day about ten years ago, noticing that some dead batteries had something like 'please call for proper disposal information' printed on them, he decided to call the toll-free number.

As Joe tells it, the guy who answered the phone said that yes, batteries did indeed need to be disposed of properly, "but he wouldn't actually tell me what the proper way to dispose of them was." So they went round and round until finally Joe said, "Well then I'm just going to burn these dead batteries."

"You can't burn batteries!" the guy said.

"Why not?"

"You just can't!"

"Oh yes I can, I just toss them in the burn barrel. I've done it before."

"YOU CAN'T BURN BATTERIES!"

I think this was about the point where Joe hung up the phone. Or maybe it was the battery guy who hung up on him. "He was getting really worked up."

Fortunately even borderline pyromaniacs can be converted into good little recyclers, and we all breathe easier now that my reformed hunky farmguy burns much smaller, more easily ignitable piles of trash. While we do still have the occasional discussion as to whether something is flammable or not (usually as I'm plucking it out of the garbage can saying, "You can't burn this!"), the battery issue was solved several years ago by the purchase of a couple of battery chargers and a bunch of rechargeable batteries.

I highly recommend this Sony Quick Batter Charger, which is the bestselling charger on Amazon.com for good reason. I've been using mine for over two years and love it. It comes with four Sony 2500 mAh AA Rechargeable Ni-MH Batteries and is an absolute steal at around 20 bucks, especially considering the price of disposable batteries these days. I'm still using the original batteries that came with the charger, along with a few four-packs of extra batteries I bought so that I always have four spares charged and ready to go in my digital camera, as well as enough for other things like flashlights. I use my camera several times a day, pretty much every day, and these batteries will last for several weeks. You can also charge AAA Ni-MH batteries with the Sony charger.

So the next time your batteries run out of power, I urge you to consider investing in some rechargeable ones. You'll be easing the strain on your wallet, the environment, and that poor guy answering the battery help hotline. Plus no accelerants required.

And if your own batteries could use a little recharging, I suggest a warm bowl of this deliciously simple broccoli soup. It tastes so good it's easy to forget how good it is for you.

Now if only you could plug in the empty pot and have it automatically refill itself.


Soup's On!

Easy Broccoli Onion Garbanzo Bean Soup

Loaded with onions, garlic, broccoli, and garbanzo beans - which are some of the World's Healthiest Foods - this cozy soup packs a powerhouse of nutrients. It's broccoli season right now, so you should have no trouble finding bunches that are both flavorful and inexpensive. In cooler climates, start looking for freshly harvested, organically grown broccoli at farmers' markets in the coming weeks.

I used to thicken my broccoli soup with a few tablespoons of uncooked rice, but one day I tossed a can of organic garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas, and one of my favorite foods) into the pot instead. I got the thickness I wanted along with more flavor, more fiber, and more protein.

Cans of organic beans are versatile pantry staples and can often be found for the bargain price of about a dollar apiece, or even less when they're on sale. Some stores such as Whole Foods will give you a case discount if you stock up and buy 12 cans at a time.

I like my soups thick and almost sludgy; simply add more chicken stock if you prefer yours thinner. If you're feeling decadent or in need of a calcium boost, you can stir in a cup or two of some nice cream after blending. It'll make your soup taste positively dreamy, but it really isn't necessary.

As with most soups, this one tastes even better after lounging around for a day or two in the fridge. As always, I urge you to seek out local and organic ingredients whenever possible. They really do make a difference - in so many ways.

2 to 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds onions, coarsely chopped
6 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large bunch broccoli (about 1-1/2 pounds), stems (peeled if tough) and florets, coarsely chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, preferably organic, drained and rinsed
4 to 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat, then add the onions. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and cook until onions are soft and starting to brown, stirring frequently, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Make a space in the center of the pot and add the garlic, stirring so it all touches the bottom of the pot. Cook, stirring, two minutes.

Add the broccoli, garbanzo beans, and chicken stock. The soup will look too thick; it is not. It's okay if the broccoli isn't all submerged in the chicken stock. Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer with the lid barely cracked until broccoli is tender, about 25 minutes.

Purée with an immersion blender (I can't say enough good things about - or imagine life without - my KitchenAid Hand Blender; it's probably the best $50 I've ever spent in the kitchen) or very carefully purée in batches in a countertop blender, then return to the pot and cook a few more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve topped with whatever you like: chopped fresh chives, a drizzle of olive oil, some coarsely grated Pecorino Romano, a dollop of sour cream, a slice or two of sharp cheddar or Monterey Jack, some nice blue cheese crumbles, or absolutely nothing at all. Curl up in a cozy spot and devour, making sure to spend a few moments between slurps feeling grateful for the existence of something as wonderful and warming as a bowl of homemade soup.

How about some bread to go with your soup?
Beyond Easy Beer Bread (my most popular recipe)
Whole Wheat Beer Bread
Onion Rye Beer Bread
Savory Feta Cheese & Scallion Scones
Parisian Four Hour Baguettes
No-Knead Crusty Freeform Bread
Oatmeal Toasting Bread (makes great rolls, too)
Fresh Tomato & Basil Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
Italian Black Olive Cheeks
Carrot Herb Rolls (And A Bargain Bread Book For Beginners)
Three Onion & Three Cheese Pizza

You might also enjoy my other Less Fuss, More Flavor soup recipes:
Susan's Super Spinach Soup
Garlic Lover's White Bean Soup
Hearty Lentil Soup With Smoked Sausage
Use It Or Lose It Lentil & Escarole Soup
Spur Of The Moment Summer Squash Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup
Simple Summer Harvest Soup (The Autumn Version)

Still Hungry?
You'll find links to all my sweet & savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under PREVIOUS POSTS: FOOD STUFF WITH RECIPES. Enjoy!

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories & photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres, and "Come on baby light my fire" isn't just part of a song.

How To Cook Lamb: Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs Recipe & Grilled Lamb Leg Steaks

Simple Yet Superb: Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs

People often ask me if we eat any of the animals we raise. The answer is yes, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You can read more about my philosphy on raising animals for meat in my previous post, Book Review: Cooking With Shelburne Farms & A Recipe For Grilled Lamb Burgers With Roasted Red Pepper, Parsley, & Kalamata Olive Relish. And look for more of my Less Fuss, More Flavor lamb recipes to be posted soon. Well, maybe not soon, but in the near future.

There are lots of people in this country who do not eat lamb. Some of them had very bad experiences with mutton many decades ago, usually while in the military. Others consider lamb too expensive, preferring to plunk down the same amount of hard earned cash for a couple of juicy T-bone steaks rather than some itty bitty loin chops they aren't completely sure what to do with anyway. And, sadly, a surprisingly large number of people have simply never had the opportunity to taste lamb in any way, shape, or form. According to USDA's Economic Research Service, each American eats less than one pound of lamb a year.

The most well known cuts of lamb are the chops and the leg. Roast leg of lamb, the year round Sunday dinner of choice in England for centuries, is sometimes found on formal holiday tables in this country, as is rack of lamb. Both are suitably impressive looking, which no doubt helps to foster the reputation lamb has of being a very fancy dish. Lamb in America has become the champagne of meats, and serving it is often reserved for special occasions. But this reputation - as anyone who has ever had a cozy dish of slow cooked braised lamb shanks will tell you - is undeserved and needs to be abolished (as does that whole ridiculous 'champagne is only for celebrations' nonsense). And I'm not just saying that because I happen to raise and sell lambs. There is much more to a lamb than a couple of roast legs and some chops.

When I was a child, lamb chops made a regular appearance on our family dinner table. My mother broiled them, and they were always served with mint jelly. I don't recall having any other cuts of lamb, though once I moved to a farm and started raising sheep, I discovered that my mother has a deep and abiding love for lamb. During her 10-day visit last fall we ate lamb at least seven times. When I dropped her off at the airport, she had a lamb sandwich in her carry-on and a small insulated container of leftover roast leg of lamb in her suitcase.

We sell our naturally raised, grass-fed lambs directly to local individuals each year in late spring. We deliver the lambs to a nearby family-owned processor, and a week later the customers pick up their frozen meat which has been cut and packaged to their specifications. This butcher didn't have a whole lot of experience processing lambs before I - totally clueless and not real good at picturing things three dimensionally - showed up with my battered copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook opened to the page titled 'Lamb Retail Cuts: Where They Come From And How To Cook Them.' The last several years have been a learning experience for all of us.

I ask lots of questions, and they do their best to accommodate me. Can you tell me the exact time to deliver the lambs so they don't have to wait around being nervous and stressed? Yes. Can you hang the dressed meat using this special technique so it ends up even more tender? Yes. Can you hang it for several days longer than you usually do? Yes. Can you make us some lamb salami with seasonings I provide and without any nitrates? Yes. Do you know how to cut a rack of lamb? No, but we'll figure it out.


Easy Summer Supper: Grilled Lamb Leg Steaks & Garden Veggies

Last year, after talking with a new customer who mentioned that he and his wife don't cook roasts ("We're grill people!"), I asked our butcher if he thought it would work to cut the legs into steaks instead of leaving them whole. Yes! Since we probably use our outdoor propane grill 300 nights a year, we decided we would have the legs on one our own lambs sliced into 1-1/4 inch steaks (the same thickness we get our chops). We love roast leg of lamb, and we love having all the leftovers for sandwiches, but we just don't end up cooking them that often, especially during the warmer months.

We grilled two test steaks for six minutes a side and served them up alongside some sauteed veggies from the organic kitchen garden. I took one bite and stared down at my plate as a big grin spread across my face. "It's like eating an enormous boneless lamb chop!" (The legs are actually bone-in, but you barely notice the little piece in each steak.)

When I called the butcher the next day to ask if he could cut up meat that's already frozen, without skipping a beat he said, "You want me to cut up the other legs you have in your freezer, right?" Yes. Leg steaks are now hands-down my favorite cut of lamb.

Nobody's perfect of course, and butchers do make mistakes from time to time. Unfortunately when you're doing custom processing, there isn't a whole lot that can be done once you've messed up somebody's meat. Take, for instance, the time a friend of mine went to pick up her fat hog and found that the two whole hams she'd ordered (and had special plans for) had both been sliced into steaks. It isn't as if they could just be glued back together.

Last year one of our customers was truly distraught when she realized that her two racks of lamb spareribs were nowhere to be found. They'd inadvertantly been turned into stew meat, an understandable oversight since according to the butcher almost nobody ever wants the ribs. Unfortunately they just happened to be this woman's favorite cut, and she'd been looking forward to eating them for months.

It isn't easy to find whole racks of lamb spareribs (which come from the breast) for sale, but this overlooked cut is worth seeking out, and they shouldn't be very expensive when you find them. Check with a good butcher or try searching at Local Harvest for a lamb producer in your area.

As always - and especially during these times of more and more scary recalls - I urge you to pay attention to where your food comes from and under what conditions it was raised. Do you want to eat animals that have been given growth hormones and antibiotics? Or spend their lives crammed into a filthy feedlot eating GMO corn?

Lambs that are allowed to graze freely on pastures, exercising and gaining weight slowly, are happy, healthy animals. Their lean meat is better tasting and better for you than lambs quickly fattened up on grain in commercial feedlots. Studies show that grass-fed meat is lower in fat and higher in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It also contains as much as 500 times the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a compound substance and essential fatty acid necessary for optimal health, as conventional animals fed grains and feed.

One lamb has two racks of spareribs. Ours weigh between 1-1/2 to 2 pounds each. The ribs don't have a lot of meat on them, but they're very tasty. Two whole racks should serve four people, though after a hard day of working around the farm, my lamb loving mother can polish off nearly an entire rack by herself. I roast the racks whole and then cut them up before serving. Eating lamb ribs is a messy but thoroughly enjoyable experience.


Just A Few Minutes Of Prep & They're Ready For The Oven

Onion & Herb Crusted Lamb Spareribs

This is the same way I prepare a whole leg of lamb for roasting. You simply slather on a thick layer of the onion and herb mixture and pop it in the oven. Both the leg and ribs will taste even better if you allow the meat sit for several hours once you've spread the topping on (set it in the fridge if it's going to be more than two hours). You can cook the ribs for as little as an hour, but two hours makes the topping nice and crisp and the meat more tender. You could probably slow cook them at a lower temperature for even longer.

Onion flakes are marvelous little things that I toss into all sorts of stuff. I see them selling in the bulk herb sections of natural food stores for a ridiculous $15 to $18 per pound, but for years I've been ordering them - along with all kinds of other top quality herbs and spices at wholesale prices -for $3.10 a pound from AmeriHerb in Iowa. The minimum order is just one pound of anything, and they only charge you their actual shipping costs. You can read more about AmeriHerb and why I love them so much in my previous post, Onion Flakes & Things For Cakes.

I never measure out quantities when I make this; I just start with at least a couple of big handfuls of onion flakes and go from there. As long as there's enough olive oil to hold everything together and enough paste to make a thick layer, you really can't go wrong with this combination of ingredients, especially if your herbs are freshly picked. Simply adjust the amounts of everything to suit your tastes.

2 whole racks of lamb spareribs (about 3 to 4 pounds)

Onion flakes
Chopped fresh garlic
Chopped fresh rosemary
Chopped fresh thyme
Chopped fresh basil
Chopped fresh parsley (I use lots)
Dijon mustard (not too much)
Nice salt & pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

Spread spareribs in a large roasting pan.* Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl to form a thick paste. Using your fingers, spread it all over the ribs. Cook, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 1 to 2 hours. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut each rack into individual ribs. Pile on a platter and serve with plenty of cloth napkins and a bowl for the bones.

Leftover ribs can be reheated in the oven or toaster/convection oven the next day for lunch. Or if you're pressed for time because your mother, disguised as a starving farm worker, is sure she will pass out from hunger before they're ready, you can gently reheat them in the microwave.

* Our lamb ribs come with a couple of separate end pieces that won't fit in my big new roasting pan (how did I survive so long without one of these?), so on a whim I slathered them with Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce that I bought at Trader Joe's and cooked them in a separate small dish. Yum. Then I tried marinating two entire racks in the stuff overnight. Double yum. So if you can't get a hold of some nice fresh herbs for this recipe, here's another easy and tasty option.

This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a wonderful monthly food blogging event hosted at Andrea's Recipes that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. This month's roundup will be posted at Andrea's Recipes in a day or two. Want to join in the Grow Your Own fun? Find out how here.

Still hungry?
You'll find links to all of my Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage.

© 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where Farmgirl Susan shares stories and photos of her crazy country life on 240 remote Missouri acres - and we all eat very, very well.

Valentine's Day Treats: Lots Of Sweet Recipes On My Latest Recipe Roundup For FoodieView

Chocolate Babycakes With Mocha Buttercream

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and while the traditional card and box of candy or bouquet of flowers definitely lets that special someone know you care, a homemade treat from the kitchen truly says I love you. You'll find a wide variety of romantic recipes from around the web - including Chocolate Mousse Tartlettes, Coconut Orange Cake, Homemade Berry Marshmallows, and these Chocolate Babycakes (made using my super easy Emergency Chocolate Cake recipe I wrote about back in 2005) - in my Valentine's Day Treats Recipe Roundup at FoodieView.

FoodieView is a neat site run by some really nice foodies that makes "good food easy to find, whether you're dining in or dining out." Check out the restaurant guides for nine major cities (more will be added) or search through over 1 million recipes from places like Cooking Light, Eating Well, Gourmet/Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Food Network, Sunset, and Saveur. The neatest part about the FoodieView search engine is that you can narrow down your search criteria by ingredient, dish, cuisine, special considerations (gluten free, low carb, vegetarian, etc.), sources, and more, including famous chefs.

My last FoodieView Recipe Roundup covered Cozy Breads For Cold Winter Days, and my next one will be all about potatoes. You'll find all of the FoodieView Recipe Roundups here, and you can subscribe to them via e-mail here.

So what's your favorite Valentine's Day treat? If you've written about it on your blog, you're welcome to leave a link to it in the comments section.

Sweet tooth still not satisfied? You might also enjoy some of my other recipes:
Decidedly Different Chocolate Chip Cookies (And How To Correctly Hug A Sheep)
Chocolate Biscotti For Beginners
Toasted Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Crazy Cookies (with chocolate, butterscotch, coconut, nuts, & oats)
Molasses Ginger Spice Snaps
Spicy Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins
Mexican Monkey Cake
Blueberry Breakfast Bars
Apple Blueberry Crumble Bars
Really Raspberry Tartlets
Cranberry Christmas Scones (tasty any time of year)
Lazy Susan's Whole Wheat Scones With Currants & Oats

Don't worry - we eat more than dessert here on the farm. We enjoy lots of homemade bread, too. And you'll find plenty of my Less Fuss, More Flavor savory recipes (let's hear it for vegetables!) in the sidebar of the Farmgirl Fare homepage under Previous Posts: Food Stuff W/ Recipes. May you always eat well.

© Copyright 2008 FarmgirlFare.com, the award-winning blog where dessert often comes first, and it's never hard to rationalize eating chocolate cake for breakfast.

Recipe: Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread (Pane di Ramerino)

Pane di Ramerino — Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread

For more years than I like to think about, we've been slowly but surely working on a large metal building here on the farm that will one day house our wholesale artisan bread bakery and us. (2011 Update: The bakery is on possibly permanent hold, but we've finally moved in!)

Since progress lately has been more along the lines of slowly rather than surely, we finally broke down and admitted to ourselves that this project was never going to be completed unless we hired some outside help. Besides, The Shack is literally falling down around us.

For the past five weeks our new contractor and his helper have been hard at work by 7:30 nearly every weekday morning. Great headway is being made, and we're both extremely excited. It looks like 2008 really will be The Year We Move Out Of The Shack. It's like a checkbook-draining dream come true.


Home Sweet Soon-to-Be Home

The builders weren't planning to start until the end of this month, but a spot opened up in their schedule and anybody who's ever had construction done or watched the movie "The Money Pit" knows that you never, ever turn away a contractor who is willing to show up and work.

Because of our schedule, however, this has necessitated my becoming more involved with the project at this point than was originally planned.

Suddenly I've been busy making command decisions about phone jacks and bathroom lighting while frantically trying to figure out whether we might someday want to put in a bigger refrigerator or a second seven-foot-wide deck oven.

I also get to go pick stuff up.

I now know what it feels like to spend five and a half hours shopping alone at Lowe's Home Improvement Center. The other day, arriving mostly clueless and clutching a very long list, I systematically worked my way through what felt like 3,000 miles of aisles, pouncing on every one of those PRESS THIS BUTTON IF YOU NEED HELP thingies I could find.

But since the store was practically empty of customers - everybody else was apparently out shopping for holiday presents rather than junction box covers and 33 feet of 10-3 wire for the dryer - there was only a skeleton crew on the floor. The third time this one guy rounded a corner and saw me standing by the help button he actually blurted out, "Not you again!" At least he was smiling when he said it.

After I'd sweet talked another guy into helping me pick through an enormous pile of 2x4s in search of 32 really pretty ones (did you know you can use a garden hoe to pull the far stacks of boards within reach?), and yet another one into helping me secure said 2x4s (along with the several dozen other boards I'd picked out myself) in the bed of the truck, I headed out into the dark and foggy rain for the 90 mile drive back to the farm, smiling at the half-price rosemary topiary I'd treated myself to as a reward for making it out of the store alive.

It's important to learn new things, and I'm proud that I can now carry on a semi-intelligent conversation about RACO boxes, ring shanks, and SEU cable. I understand the difference between full round head and clipped head nails, and I've fallen head over heels for 1x4s, which from now on I will refer to as 'girl boards.' I also know more than I ever thought possible about breaker boxes and pulling amps.

This is all very thrilling of course, but I'd much rather be baking than taking Wiring 101, especially as I watch our bread bakery finally becoming a reality. It's a proven fact that all workers are 50% more productive when they've been well fed (no, really), and our two builders informed me early on that they love baked goods of any sort.

When I'm not stuffing them with molasses ginger spice snaps, Mexican monkey cake, or my whole wheat chocolate chip and raisin cookies—which they both declared were the best cookies they'd ever eaten—I've been experimenting with new bread recipes, including this one.


It's almost too pretty to eat.

Italian Rosemary Raisin Bread
(Pane di Ramerino)
Makes 2 small loaves - Adapted slightly from Bread

This is the second recipe I've made from a wonderful European book called Bread: Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Focaccia and Brioche by authors and cooking instructors Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno (he's French, she's Italian). If you learn best by looking at pictures, then this is definitely the book for you because it's packed with gorgeous, full-color photos.

And while it's perfect for beginners, I think many experienced bakers would also enjoy it. I've already discovered all sorts of handy tips and useful nuggets of information. The carrot herb rolls I created last month using the carrot bread recipe were a big hit, and there are several other breads I'm planning to make. At around $15, this book is also a bargain.

Pane di ramerino has been baked daily throughout Tuscany since the early 16th century. As you can see, this is a beautiful bread, and it would not only be perfect to serve to guests but would also make a lovely gift. Thankfully the recipe makes two small loaves so you can spread the yeasty joy and still have some left for yourself.

I never would have thought to combine raisins and rosemary in bread, but the result is delicious. The flavor of the rosemary is subtle, so double the amount if you want to taste it more.

This is a rich, easy-to-work-with dough made with milk, olive oil (which adds another layer of flavor) and eggs. The texture of the crumb is reminiscent of a cinnamon roll. This bread freezes beautifully and can even be sliced while still frozen. (I use a large serrated knife.)



It also makes amazing toast, which I've been eating slathered with apricot jam and thinly sliced sharp cheddar cheese. This may sound like an odd combination, but it reminds me of the cheese and chutney sandwiches I was introduced to by an English pal when I was a kid.

The authors claim pane di ramerino is a superlative breakfast bread and "quite simply the best accompaniment to fresh goat cheese." My friend Amanda, who writes about glorious Mediterranean food at Figs Olives Wine, suggested using this bread to make her cool weather bruschetta with ricotta salata and thyme. Mmmmmm. I'm thinking it would also make marvelous French toast - perhaps for brunch on New Year's Day.

I've never had good luck using those little packets of yeast, and they're pricey. Instead I buy instant yeast in inexpensive 1-pound packages and store it in a jar in the freezer, where it will keep for at least a year.

3¾ cups organic bread flour (1 lb, 2¾ oz - 533 g) plus a little more while kneading
2 teaspoons instant yeast**
1/2 cup warm milk
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1½ packed cups (4½ oz - 127 g) raisins
4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 large eggs, beaten
1½ teaspoons salt

1. Mix the flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the milk, rosemary, raisins, olive oil, and eggs. Mix to form a soft, sticky dough, adding extra flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, if the dough is too moist.

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead 6 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

3. Knead in the 1½ teaspoons salt, and continue kneading until the dough is silky, springy, and elastic, about 5 to 8 minutes.

4. Put the dough in a plastic lidded container (or in a large bowl covered with a damp tea towel) and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1½ to 2 hours.

Shaped loaves ready for proofing

5. Divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each into a round loaf and place on a well floured couche or work counter. If you don't have a baking stone (they make the best pizza and bread!), bake your focaccia on a heavy duty baking sheet. I've been using the heck out of some of my commercial rimmed baking sheets for 20 years for everything from baking scones to roasting Brussels sprouts.

Lightly dust tops of loaves with flour and cover with a damp tea towel.

6. Put the baking stone in the cold oven and heat to 400 degrees (never put a cold stone in a hot oven). Proof loaves until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Note: the book says that the loaves will spread and look slightly flat after rising, but will rise up dramatically during the initial stages of baking. Mine didn't flatten out, but my dough was on the dense side.)

7. Cut a slash, 1/2 inch deep, across the top of the loaf, then another in the opposite direction to make an "X."

8. Bake in the preheated oven (directly on the baking stone if you're using one) until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath, about 30 minutes with a baking stone and 45 minutes without. Cool on a wire rack.

Still hungry? You'll find links to all my sweet and savory Less Fuss, More Flavor recipes in the Farmgirl Fare Recipe Index.

**A NOTE ON YEAST: I prefer to use instant yeast when baking bread because you can add it straight in with the dry ingredients. If you're using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, you'll need to proof it first.

For this recipe, place the 1/2 cup of warm milk in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve. Add this yeast mixture to the flour along with the rosemary, raisins, olive oil, and eggs.

Instant yeast is stronger than active dry yeast, so some bakers recommend using up to 25% more active dry yeast than the amount of instant yeast called for in a recipe (that would be 2½ teaspoons for this recipe). Others substitute active yeast for instant yeast 1 to 1. This may take your dough a little longer to rise, but that will only result in even better tasting bread.

Alternately, if a recipe calls for active dry yeast and you want to substitute instant yeast, you may want to use a little less. The original version of this recipe actually called for 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast and I simply used 2 teaspoons of instant yeast instead.

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