Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Whipped Cream

The most perfect dessert in strawberry season. Can be adapted to any fruit. 

1 quart or so of your favorite fresh strawberries
3 cups heavy cream
1 ¾ cup sugar (or other sweeteners)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup buttermilk (buttermilk substitute: 1 tbsp lemon juice in 1 cup milk mixed and let sit 5 min – soy or other milks are fine for this)
1 egg yolk, well beaten

Slice strawberries and combine with 3/4 cup sugar (or to taste), and set aside.  Sugar helps draw the juice out of the berries. In a small bowl beat the cream until it thickens, blend with 1 cup sugar(or to taste) and vanilla, and set aside in the refrigerator.

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl.  Add butter, and cut into dry ingredients until mixture is like coarse cornmeal. You can also do that in a cuisinart.  Add buttermilk and egg yolk together, and mix just until all dry ingredients are moistened.  Form into a cohesive unit, and then put onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a 1/3 inch thickness.  Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes (or use hands to form 1/3 inch patties). The less working of the dough the better.

Bake on lightly greased cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, or until golden brown.   Top with strawberries and whipped cream. Cutting the biscuits open makes more pores to soak up strawberry juice, if you are into that! Serves 10.

Crunchy Spring Salad with Herb Vinagrette

Spring Herb Vinaigrette: 
1 tbsp honey or other sweetener
1/4 c white wine vinegar
2/3 cup olive oil
a handful of chopped garlic chives or regular chives
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp fresh chopped oregano
1 tsp or so fresh chopped parsley
Salt and pepper

Makes more dressing than needed for one salad. Combine honey and vinegar in a bowl. Then, whisking constantly, slowly pour the olive oil in a thin stream. Season with the herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.
If you have a chive bunch with blooming flowers on it, you can decorate the top of the salad by breaking up the flowers into their tiny purple florets.

Crunchy Spring Salad:
1-2 heads of lettuce – select varieties with good ribs, like romaine, little gems, or butterhead
1 large cucumber, cut in half longwise and then into relatively thick or 1/8th of an inch-ish pieces
7 red radishes sliced
a handful of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or other nuts
Rip or chop up lettuces, and toss salad ingredients together. Toss with some of the dressing, or have each person dress themselves 🙂

Green Garlic and White Bean Dip

1 (15-ounce) can white beans, drain and set aside liquid 
6 stalks green garlic
½ tsp red chili flakes
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1 tsp finely minced fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt
¼ cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend, adding back bean water until desired consistency is reached. Serve on crackers or toast with fresh rosemary as garnish.

Makes 2 cups.

Herbed Couscous with Green Garlic and Hakurei Turnips

This is one of our favorite springtime recipes. Green garlic is young garlic, before the cloves are fully developed and are harvested for drying. Hakurei turnips are the “white knight” of springtime produce, a heartier vegetable than all the tender greens we usually have at that time of year. Hakurei are deliciously crispy when raw, and also taste great with a light saute. The greens attached to the turnips are also a treat!

1 1/2 cup couscous 
2 3/4 cups boiling water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
½ cup chopped shallots or onion
2 Tbs finely chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme
1 bunch turnips, chopped (chop greens too, but keep separate)
1 bunch green garlic, finely sliced
1 Tbs fresh-ground black pepper

Pour boiling water over the couscous and sprinkle on the salt and cover for five minutes, fluff with a fork and cover again. In a medium sized skillet, sauté shallots in 1 Tbs. olive oil with the chopped oregano and thyme.
When they start to become translucent, add in the turnips and cover, stirring every minute or so. If they start to stick, add a little water. After 5 minutes, add the green garlic and the turnip greens, cover again and cook for a few more minutes.

Add to the couscous with the other Tbs. of olive oil and any more salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or chilled.

Mary’s Favorite Spinach Enchiladas

Recipe by Mary Leal, Granby Farm Stand Manager

While this recipe below is for the spring, one can make variations with any kinds of vegetable stuffing. Try black beans and roasted sweet potatoes in winter, or replace the tomato-based sauce with homemade salsa verde in summertime.

Start by making a tomato enchilada sauce. 
• 1 Qt tomato puree or canned tomatoes (my favorite is RFF tomato puree, of course) – can use 1 large can of crushed or diced tomato, or 2 small cans
• ½ tsp coarse salt/pepper to taste
• ¾ tsp dried oregano (or scant ½ tsp fresh)
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds (or scant ½ tsp pre-ground)
• heaping ¼ tsp chili pepper
• 1 large garlic clove, roughly diced

Pour the tomato sauce into a heavy-bottomed pot. Put the rest of the ingredients into a mortar or pestle and grind into a paste. If you don’t have a m&p, dice the herbs and mash them onto your cutting board with the flat edge of your knife. Stir the herb paste into the tomatoes; give the mixture a taste and then add anything that you think might either be missing, or might make it taste good. I have used (not always in the same batch!): fresh/dried cilantro, pre-made or store bought mole sauce, pre-made or store bought salsa, adobo sauce (yum!), sriracha, cocoa powder, cinnamon. Think about what flavors you like and play around.

Bring your enchilada sauce to a simmer. Cover it and turn down the heat and go read a book or watch something on TV. Tell your family you are very, very busy cooking. You want it to gently cook (small bubbles) for about 45mins or so. If you’re tight on time, it will be fine after 30mins. Likewise, if you get caught up in a Dr. Who episode and can’t tear yourself away, you can let it simmer for at least an hour, or even longer. If your sauce is very chunky, your enchiladas will be fine as long as you like chunky sauce. If you want a more traditional enchilada, give the sauce a whirl in a blender or hit it with an immersion blender. It doesn’t need to be perfectly pureed.

While the sauce is cooking, prep your spinach and cheese.

• 8oz bag organic (RFF) spinach
• ~2 cups shredded, mild, white cheese – I use queso blanco, but mozzarella or Monterey Jack will work fine

Wash and dry the spinach and pinch off any thick stems. Roughly chop the spinach. Done! Shred your favorite mild melty cheese. Monterey Jack works well, as does mozzarella. My favorite is Queso Fresco or Queso Blanco – very mild, white, Mexican cheeses.

Assembly! Most important – Don’t skimp on the tortillas!
• 6 Mi Tierra, organic corn tortillas – locally made

The tortilla is like an edible suitcase for the lovely ingredients you’ll be packing away inside. Yes, you can use garbage bags to pack your clothes, but wouldn’t you rather pack in Louis Vuitton? Of course you would! And that’s what Mi Tierra tortillas are.

Prep your cooking dish. I use an 8×8 Pyrex baking pan to make 6 enchiladas. Spread a spoonful of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan, much as though you were making lasagna.

Taking one tortilla at a time, dip the tortilla into the sauce, getting the whole thing wet and tomato-y. Give up any notions of having clean hands. Holding the sauce dipped tortilla in the palm of one hand, use the other hand to put a handful (~ ½ cup) of chopped spinach onto the tortilla. Follow that with a generous sprinkling of the shredded cheese (scant ¼ cup). Of note – you can also add other ingredients at this point – cooked black beans, cubes of roasted sweet potatoes – just don’t stuff the tortillas too full. My rule of thumb is to be able to hold the tortilla with the fillings in the palm of my hand without stuff falling out willy-nilly. Once you’ve got the filling in place, fold the left and right sides over the middle of the tortilla (folding the tortilla in 3rds) – using the thumb of the hand holding the tortilla to hold the fillings in place. Place the filled tortilla, folded edge down into the pan. The first one might be unruly, but you’ll be able to bully it into place with the rest of the enchiladas.

Repeat the process, filling your pan with rolled enchiladas. You want the enchiladas to be snug, not crammed. My 8×8 pan accommodates 5 horizontal and 1 vertically placed enchiladas. You could make a small batch of 4 in a loaf pan, or a huge batch of “lots” in a lasagna pan (just be sure to make more enchilada sauce and prep more spinach and cheese.) Six enchiladas feeds three people (with a salad and/or side dishes – did I hear someone say pupusas?) or 2 hungry people.

Once the enchiladas are all snuggly and ready to be cooked, pour some (maybe all, if you like them saucy) of the enchilada sauce over the top (reserving a ½ cup if you want to make some Spanish rice as a side dish), sprinkle with the remainder of the shredded cheese (or shred more cheese, if you made them super cheesy on the inside), cover with aluminum foil and pop into a pre-heated oven at 350. After 20 mins, take the foil off and cook for an additional 5-10 mins. Some people love crusty brown cheese, some people love soft, melty white cheese. Take them out when they look/smell like you want to eat them. Let them rest for 5-10 mins and enjoy! If you are one of the happy people who don’t have the deviant gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, sprinkle with some chopped, fresh cilantro and/or serve with some fresh sour cream or plain yogurt. And consider serving with Spanish rice…

If you like rice with your enchiladas, once your sauce is done cooking and the enchiladas are filled, start your rice. Use whatever ratio you usually use to cook your rice, but substitute a portion of the cooking water with the enchilada sauce. For example, if you do a 2-1 ratio of water to rice, you would do ½ cup enchilada sauce with 1 ½ cups of water to 1 cup of rice. Continue cooking your rice as you usually would. The rice will be flavored with the enchilada sauce, making it the perfect accompaniment to your enchiladas!

Kohlrabi and Potatoes with Sour Cream and Dill

2 tbsp butter 
3 cups kohlrabi, peeled and cut into rough chunks
2 potatoes cut into rough chunks
1/4 tsp paprika
1 cup vegetable stock
½ cup sour cream or crème fraîche
1 bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped

Heat the butter in a pan over a medium heat and add the kohlrabi, paprika, potato and a little salt. Stir, lower the heat, cover and leave for 5 minutes or so.

Add the stock, bring to a gentle simmer and cover again. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft enough to cut with a spoon. The stock should have reduced quite a bit by then but don’t worry if it hasn’t.

Raise the heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the soured cream or crème fraîche and remove from the heat. Add salt as needed, then fold in the dill to serve.