Curried Acorn Squash Soup

We grow acorn squash pretty much to make this soup. It is delightfully sweet, its curried flavour gently elevated by a hint of dill.

1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 lbs acorn squash
½ teaspoon dry dill weed
¼ teaspoon curry powder (can use more to taste)
1 pinch cayenne pepper
3 cups chicken stock (+ potentially more at the end, see point 6, Veg stock for Vegetarian)
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

1. To bake the squash, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and cover the cut sides with oil. Turn over onto baking sheets and bake at 425°F for 20 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool before scooping out the flesh.
2. Once the squash flesh has been scooped out, sauté the onion in the melted butter. 
3. Add the squash and the spices, mixing well. 
4. Add the stock, stir to combine, and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Blend until perfectly smooth.
6. Pour in the cream and mix, and bring the soup back up to a gentle simmer before serving. (add stock to get the consistency of heavy cream)
7. Add salt and pepper, adjust the seasoning, and serve.

Velouté of Turnips

What? Yes, that's right, a cream of turnip soup that even turnip-dislikers will enjoy. Just to be clear, a turnip is small and has white flesh. Often in grocery stores I have see either large, powerful tasting turnips or even large rutabagas (which have yellow flesh) labelled as 'turnip'.

2lbs small turnips peeled and diced
1 leek, chopped fine
4 cups chicken stock (veg stock for vegetarian)
½ cup (4oz/114gr) butter
1 cup crème fraîche
¾ to 1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

1. In a soup pot, saute the leek in the melted butter at a very low temperature, so that you're pretty much poaching the leek in the butter. Poach until completely soft.
2. Meanwhile bring the stock to a boil and put in the diced turnips. Set to simmer.
3. When the turnips are thoroughly cooked, dump in the leek and butter, the crème fraîche, the salt and pepper.
4. Blend, season, and pass through a strainer.
5. Adjust the thickness of the soup with whatever liquid remains in the pot.
6. Serve hot with fresh snipped chives.

Herbed Courgette Soup - good hot or cold

I've lifted this recipe pretty much exactly as it's written on the My Gourmet Connection Web site. The version below is merely my personal preference for the options provided in the original. It makes for a tasty soup to bring on a picnic since it's as good hot as it is, cold.

¼ cup (2oz/58gr) butter
1 cup onion, chopped
4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup flour
3½ cups chicken broth (veg stock for Vegetarian)

1½ lbs unpeeled any kind of summer squash - a mix of colours is nice
½ cup cream
1½ Tbsps lemon juice
1½ to 3 Tbsps chopped fresh tarragon OR 1 Tbsp dry
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Note: Choose small to medium squash with tender skins and leave them unpeeled for both extra colour and nutritional value.

1. Cut the squash into small (½") cubes and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute longer.
3. Add the flour to combine and, stirring continuously, cook until the flour is pale golden in colour, 3 to 4 minutes. 
4. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and continue whisking until the mixture is smooth and well blended.
5. Add the squash and season with salt and pepper. (If using dry tarragon, add now and mix in). Cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
6. Remove the soup from the heat and purée until smooth. Return the pot to the stove, stir in the cream and lemon juice and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes.
7. Taste and adjust the seasoning, add the tarragon, ladle into serving bowls and top with a dollop of sour cream if desired.
8. OR allow to cool completely and serve with freshly chopped tarragon sprinkled on top.

Creamy Pesto Pasta

Versatility is incredibly welcome in a farm kitchen - when you've been working hard outside and have lost track of time, and your stomach reminds you that you've missed your cooking-time-window and the refrigerator reveals no useful leftovers. Whatever pasta you have, will work fine with this dish. I've tried this with basil pesto, sundried tomato pesto and cilantro pesto, and they've all come out beautifully tasty.

8 oz uncooked pasta (any kind)
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter
1 Tbsp flour
1½ cups cream
¼ cup pesto (any kind)
2 oz Parmesan
¼ tsp pepper
salt, to taste
A little extra Parmesan
Pine nuts to garnish (optional)

1. Boil pasta in salted water.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter, and whisk in the flour, whisking continuously until the mixture starts to turn golden. 
3. Stream in the cream, whisking constantly. Whisk until it starts to thicken.
4. Whisk in the pesto, the Parmesan and the pepper (3 p's).
5. Drain the cooked pasta, retaining a bit of the water, and pour in the sauce, mixing until the pasta is covered.
6. Taste, and add salt, if needed.
7. Serve, garnished with freshly grated Parmesan and a few pine nuts, and a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

Savoury Rice

I have been making this dish for years! I use it whenever I make Indian or similarly heavily spiced dishes as an accompaniment.

Serves 3 to 4

1 cup white rice
1 tsp vegetable oil
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
2 cups water
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper

1. Pour the oil in a saucepan and add mustard and cumin seeds. 
2. Start the heat under the pot. When the mustard seeds start to pop (this is unmistakable), add the water, rice and salt.
3. Bring to a boil. Put on a low simmer and cover, cooking 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice is done.
4. Add the black pepper, and mix in before serving

Huge Apple Pie

This pie is best eaten when completely cooled to room temperature. It smells so good while baking, but when we've indulged in eating it warm from the oven, we notice that the fullness of flavour from the spices doesn't come through. I came up with the pie recipe because I found a beautiful used deep dish pie plate that I just had to have. This was about the same time that our Granny Smith apple tree started to drop its fruit in our first year on the farm. Being one of the classic apple pie fruits, it was a perfect fit.

Part 1 - the crust

1½ cups flour
2 Tbsps sugar
¼ tsp salt
¾ cups (6oz/172gr) very cold butter cut into 1⁄2 inch pieces
½ cup (2 oz) sharp cheddar, grated
1 egg yolk
4 Tbsps (more or less) ice water

NOTE: The pastry needs time to cool in the refrigerator not once but twice for 15 minutes each time, and then at least another 15 minutes before baking.
NOTE: The secret to a flaky crust is to keep everything cold. If you work the dough with your hands, be sure they are cool - my hands tend to be hot, so I dunk them in an ice bath before making pie dough.

1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and pinch with your fingers to create a crumb texture (it's like playing with sand) with bits that are pea-sized and no smaller. The goal is not to completely combine the butter into the flour, but to break it up into the flour so that there are tiny globule of butter that, when the dough is baking, will create pockets as they melt, giving you that lovely pie flake.
2. Stir in the cheddar.
3. Make a well in the middle and pour in the egg yolk and 3 Tbsps of water (add the 4th and more until you get the classic pie dough texture). Quickly work in the liquids into the flour until you can form it into a ball; don't overmix or you'll have tough dough.
4. Pat into a thick disk, seal in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough, line a deep dish pie plate with it (or divide into 2 pies) and chill at least for another 15 minutes.

Part 2 - the filling

The Cream:

2 cups heavy cream

1 whole star anise

1" piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated

4 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks (14 to 20 cm total)

pinch ground nutmeg

The Apples:

9 cups (2 to 3lbs when peeled and cored, or 10-11 fruits) of sliced apples

⅔ cup sugar

The Custard:

6 Tbsps (or ¼ cup+2Tbsps) flour

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Position the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven (to make sure the bottom of the crust bakes properly) and preheat to 400°F.
2. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan with the star anise, ginger, cloves, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. 
3. Remove from the heat and let the spices steep for at least 20 minutes. 
4. After 20 minutes, strain the mixture into a bowl and allow it to cool while you complete the following steps.
5. Combine the apple and sugar in a large pan and cook until the apple starts to soften. The apples won't cook much in the oven, so get them to stay whole as much as possible but get them to soften.
6. Remove from the heat, add the flour, toss to coat evenly and set aside.
7. When the cream is cool enough, whisk in the eggs and the vanilla.
8. Fold the egg and cream mixture into the apples, being careful not to break up the apple pieces any further.
9. Take the crust out of the refrigerator and pour the apple mixture into it. Pop in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
10. Meanwhile, combine all the streusel ingredients until well blended, in preparation for the final stage of baking.

For the streusel

1 cup flour

½ cup (4oz/114gr) melted butter

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamons 

1. Squeeze the streusel ingredients between your fingers and palms to make clumps ranging in size from small to large grapes. Once the first 15 minutes of pie baking has elapsed, reduce the oven temperature to 375°F, remove the pie from the oven and scatter the streusel all over the top of the pie. There is a lot of streusel; use it all, gently mounding it in the centre (if you are making two smaller pies instead of one giant pie, you may choose to make a double recipe of the streusel, or just divide this one. It's whatever ratio you prefer of filling-to-streusel).
2. Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down again, this time to 350°F, and continue baking for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until the streusel is evenly browned and the pie feels firm when the top is gently prodded. If you can see any filling bubbling around the edges, that is a good sign of doneness, but also a sign that the streusel could have been spread more evenly in those areas.
3. Remove the pie from the oven and allow the filling to thicken and set. Feel the bottom of the pan to make sure there is no more warmth and that it is completely at room temperature before even thinking of serving it.
4. This pie is best when completely cooled.

Lentillette au porc salé (Lentils with salt porc)

This is one of my go-to recipes nowadays, it's so creamy and delicious. At the moment I can only get salt porc in the fall and winter months, which is fine since this is such a calorie-dense meal, it's meant for winter consumption.

8 oz salt pork ⅔ cut in small cubes, ⅓ cut in matchsticks
1 onion, finely chopped
4 oz to 1 lb winter squash (or carrots or other firm, sweet veg)
1 ⅓ cup du Puy lentils
½ cup red wine
2 ⅔ cups beef or mutton stock
1 bouquet garni of 2 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves, 6 stems parsley (optional: 2 sprigs sage)
2 oz grated parmesan
¼ cup crème fraiche (or heavy cream)
Crusty bread, to serve.

1. Blanch the pork for about 4 minutes to remove some of the saltiness. Pat dry and let cool enough to handle.
2. Make the bouquet garni by tying together the herbs - also remove the leaves from the parsley stems, chop fine and set aside.
3. Once the pork has cooled, chop into big matchsticks. 
4. Cook the pork in a saucepan until starting to brown. Remove ⅓ and set aside. 
5. To the remaining pork in the pan, add the onion and the squash and cook just until soft. 
6. Add the lentils and continue cooking another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
7. Add the wine and allow it to evaporate completely.
8. Add the stock and the bouquet garni, along with the parsley stems. Bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until the lentils are cooked (about 30 minutes). 
9. When cooked the lentils should still hold their form and not have become mush and most of the liquid in the pan should be gone.
10. Remove the bouquet garni.
11. Stir in the parmesan and the cream. Plate the lentils and garnish with the finely chopped parsley leaves, the bacon matchsticks, and some freshly ground black pepper.
12. Serve with crusty bread and something fresh or vinegary like pickled beets.

Aligot (Sort Of) - Mashed Potato and Gruyère

Aligot is a dish from the monks of Aubrac, France, which features the humble potato and lovely cheese. The traditional cheese is a "Tome d'Aubrac"; I yet have to experience this cheese, but from online references, it appears that Gruyère cheese is a suitable substitute, and I do like my Gruyère! Apart from the cheese substitution, this is a completely bastardized version - I use a third of the cheese listed traditional recipes, which makes for cream mashed potatoes with a strong cheese flavour - oh, so good!

2 lbs potatoes (preferably old potatoes, which are best for mashing)
½ cup (4oz/114gr) butter
1 cup crème fraîche (for mildness) or Greek yoghurt (for a little tang)
⅔ cup grated Gruyère, about 2 oz (or 2 cups for traditional version)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed

1. Peel and boil the potatoes until thoroughly cooked (about 12 minutes, depending on size). If you have a vegetable mill, run the potatoes through this, or press with a spoon through a sieve (you can add the butter and crème fraîche and do an initial mash to make the potatoes more liquid, which helps with this part if you're doing it by hand). Do not use a food processor - you'll end up with potato glue; a little texture is good in this recipe.
2. (If you haven't already) Add the butter and crème fraîche.
3. Put the potato mixture in a pan and slowly add the cheese, mixing constantly, until the cheese is all added.
4. Meanwhile, add the salt, pepper and pressed garlic.
5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cheese has completely melted.
6. (If using the traditional volume of cheese, cook until the mixture stretches in a thick rope when you lift the spoon out of the pan - this is the sign that it's ready. Do not overheat or heat too long as this effect will cease.)

The Day After
If you have leftovers, add an egg or two depending on how much you have, and shape into patties to fry up on the stove. You can also add flour at a rate of 1 part flour for every 2 parts Aligot; this helps the patty keep its shape when the butter and cheese in the dish heat up and melt.

Pear and Chocolate Tart

It is extraordinary that there is no additional sugar added to this tart. I admit that we tend to like less sweet desserts, and if you do, I'd recommend sprinkling a tablespoon of sugar on top after the initial 10 minutes of baking.

Part 1 - the pie crust

1 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
½ cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp + cold water

1. Follow the instructions for the Pie Crust, but substitute the vanilla for 1 egg yolk and be careful about the amount of water you add to avoid having a wet dough. 
2. Put the crust to chill for at least 15 minutes.

Part 2 - the filling

4 oz 70% dark chocolate, chopped fine
3 to 4 pears cut in half, peeled and cored
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. After chilling the crust, sprinkle in the chopped chocolate, and arrange the pear halves, cut-side down, to fill the crust as completely as possible, most easily accomplished if arranged in an attractive flower pattern.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the egg, yolk, cream and vanilla to make a simple custard.
4. Pour the custard mix over the pears so that they have all been touched by the liquid - this will help them brown nicely. This is most easily accomplished if you use a spoon to ladle the custard over the pear halves.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350°F and cook an additional 25 to 30 minutes.
6. If the pears have not caramelized, put under the broiler until they do.

Spicy Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta

Yes, kale. As an easy-to-grow cold weather vegetable, it's worthwhile for us to try to find ways of making this tough, strong-tasting vegetable palatable. I've found that strong flavours can achieve this goal. In this instance, the sausage has a strong flavor and is robust enough in texture to balance the kale.

12 oz hot Italian sausage
8 oz kale leaves, massaged and thinly sliced
6 large garlic cloves (30g) coarsely chopped
3 Tbsps olive oil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2 cups chicken stock
1 lb Rotini pasta (or use your favorite chunky pasta)

½ cup Pasta Water
¼ tsp salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan; squeeze sausage out of casings and crumble into the pan, cooking until the sausage is nicely browned. Turn the heat down.
2. Meanwhile, wash and massage the kale and cut into thin slices.
3. Add the garlic and hot pepper flakes and cook for about a minute, then add the kale. Cook until the kale is all wilted, stirring constantly to prevent garlic from browning.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, leaving the pan uncovered. This will increase the flavour by concentrating the liquid and further contributing to browning.
4. Now, start the water for the pasta and bring to a boil. The kale needs lots of time to soften while cooking. NOTE: Save ½ cup pasta cooking water, then drain pasta.
5. Add the cooked pasta to the sausage/kale mixture, adding as much pasta cooking water as you think you need for it to be moist enough.  Add the Parmesan cheese and serve hot, garnished with extra Parmesan cheese.

Dessert Crackers with Custard and Blackberries

What happy things accidents can be! I've been trying to find an easy and 'perfect' way of baking little tart shells because I wanted to make Lucie's Buttertarts for Linda for her birthday. I still haven't succeeded in making the little shells (an ongoing project until I can crack the code, sans the troublesome pie weights), but one of the accidents in my attempts was that they just baked into flaky delicious disks. The following is what I made with them.

1 recipe Cookie Pie Crust

2 recipes Pastry Cream

80 to 90 blackberries

¼ cup chopped 70% dark chocolate

1. Start the Cookie Pie Crust to make the dessert cracker base.
2. While the dough is cooling, prepare the Pastry Cream up to step 5, then set aside.
3. When you've rolled out the dough, cut into disks - I use the top of a standard round plastic container, like a yoghurt container lid, for my cutting shape.
4. Arrange the disks on a large cookie sheet to blind bake, as per the instructions in the recipe, except lightly place a second cookie sheet on top. This will prevent the dough from puffing up excessively. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the top cookie sheet and bake another 5 minutes or until the crackers start to lightly brown.
5. Allow the crackers to cool completely. 
6. Finish the Pastry Cream by following step 6 of the recipe which is to whisk in the heavy cream.
7. Assemble the crackers by evenly distributing the Pastry Cream in dollops onto the crackers; arrange the blackberries on top of the cream and lightly press into the cream.
8. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and drizzle lightly over the loaded crackers. 
9. You can either wait for the chocolate to set, or serve with the chocolate still semi-liquid. 
10. Have napkins at the ready - it's easy to get smeared with the chocolate!

Pastry Cream

I've seen other pastry cream recipes call for whipped cream instead of liquid cream. I've tried this, and it is a tasty variation but it also changes the texture, making it much lighter. In most of the recipes I use this for, a thicker, more unctuous texture is preferable.

1 cup milk
2 tsps vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsps flour
¼ cup heavy cream (option: whipped cream)

1. Put the milk in a saucepan. Heat to a simmer, remove from heat, add vanilla, cover, and set aside to cool about 10 minutes. 
2. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour. 
3. Gradually whisk the milk into the sweet egg mixture. 
4. Pour this back into the saucepan and, whisking constantly, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cook, whisking, one minute. Remove from the heat. 
5. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. 
6. When chilled, stream the cream in and mix with whisk until smooth.
7. OR, if you want a lighter cream, first whip the cream then gently fold in.

Pommes de terre en omelette (Potato omelette)

Although this is a simple recipe, it requires about an hour to complete, since each ingredient can only be cooked when the previous is done. It is a delicious brunch item.

A few strips of bacon (4oz/120gr) cut into lardons or paper clip-size pieces
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter 
1 onion, chopped (6oz/170gr)
1 clove garlic, chopped
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter (yes, another one)
4 medium potatoes (about 2lbs), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
5 eggs
½ tsp salt
Pepper, to taste

1. Heat a cast iron pan at a medium-high temperature. Cook the bacon until just starting to brown. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat and reserve in a medium sized bowl.
2. Lower the temperature to medium, add a Tbsp of butter, and slowly cook the onion until soft and translucent. This will take a while, maybe something like 20 minutes. For the last minute of cooking, add the garlic. Strain out and add to the bacon bowl for set aside.
3. Splash the balsamic vinegar in the hot oil and cook until the spitting and bubbling almost ceases - this is when most of the extra water will have been cooked away.
4. Add the potatoes with another Tbsp of butter and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it is soft and starts to brown.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, add the salt and pepper.
6. When the potatoes are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and pop into the bowl with the bacon and onion. Pour out all but 1 or 2 Tbsps. of bacon fat. 
7. Put the bacon, onion and potato back in the pan, stir to mix well, and then pour the egg on top, settling everything with the back of the spoon to make an even surface. 
8. Cover and cook at a low temperature until the egg sets, but the surface remains a little soft or runny or, conversely, cover and bake in the oven at 350°F until set.
9. Serve with cornbread muffins and a fresh salad or pickled onions and beets.