Lamb Pide

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, stock up on pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, including peppers, Asian pears, and winter squash.

With Fair Valley Farm's ground lamb, I've been making a Turkish ground lamb flat bread or pide adapted from the cookbook from Soframiz by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick with recipes from a cafe from my hometown of Cambridge, MA. This recipe requires on stocking up on a few Turkish pantry items -- Turkish pepper paste and pomegranate molasses -- which I've found to come in handy for extra flavor for chilis (the pepper paste) and salad dressing (the molasses). The recipe is a bit of a commitment, so I've scaled it to make eight individual flatbreads, meaning that four can be frozen for another dinner. These are delicious with a big salad or bowl of soup.

Lamb Pide

(adapted from Soframiz by Ana Sortun and Maura Kilpatrick, makes 8 pides)

dough
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp honey
2 1/4 cup white flour
1 tsp kosher salt
3 Tbsp olive oil (divided use)

lamb filling
1 small onion, finely diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp tried spearmint
1/1 tsp ground black pepper
1 lb ground lamb
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp Turkish red pepper paste
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses

1. To make the dough, combine the water, yeast and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk, and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Add the flour, salt, and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Using the dough hook, knead on low speed for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth. If it feels stiff, you could add another Tbsp or two of water. Transfer to a large oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size, at least 1 hour. 

2. to prepare the lamb filling, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and diced onion and cook until glassy. Then add the dried spices and a pinch of salt, allow them to bloom in the oil for a minute, and then add the ground lamb. Cook, stirring, until the lamb is lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste, pepper paste, and minced garlic and cook until dry, about 5 more minutes. Stir the pomegranate molasses, taste, and add more salt if needed.


3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a long oval. Divide the lamb filling between the eight dough ovals, spreading it along the center length of the dough and leaving an inch free on each side. Fold the long ends over the lamb filling, leaving a gap in the center, and pinch the ends together to make a canoe shape. Transfer four pides to each baking sheet. Brush the top dough with the remaining Tbsp olive oil. Baked until golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Serve warm. Once cooled, the pides can be frozen and then reheated.

Mushroom Barley Risotto Cakes and Roasted Delicata

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you'll find pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, including greens, peppers, and winter squash.

Fall is officially here and so are the fixings for cooler weather meals, like these mushroom barley cakes I made from leftover barley risotto and served with a salad of flat parsley leaves and roasted delicata squash. 

Mushroom Barley Risotto Cakes

(makes 4 patties)

~1 cup cooked barley risotto (see recipe below)

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs, divided

4 pieces of mozzarella cheese (optional)

olive oil for frying.

Mix together about 1 cup barley risotto with 1 egg and 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Spread the remaining breadcrumbs on a plate. Shape into 4 patties. If you like, you can stuff a piece of mozzarella in the center of each patty, so that it will melt when it cooks. Roll each of the patties in the remaining bread crumbs to coat. Heal a large skillet over medium heat and add a generous amount of olive oil. Add the patties and allow to cook, undisturbed, until nicely toasted. Carefully flip the patties and cook on the second side until browned. Serve at once, with a salad such as this one with kale and delicata squash.

Mushroom Barley Risotto in an Instant Pot

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

4 cups vegetable broth or water

2 Tbsp olive oil 

1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms

salt and pepper

1 tsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp butter

1 small onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped

1 cup pearled barley

1/4 cup white wine or white vermouth

1/2 cup grated pecorino romano

1. Use scissors to cut the dried mushrooms into bitesized pieces into a large measuring cup. Add the broth or water and microwave until the liquid has small bubbles. Let sit to rehydrate the dried mushrooms while you prepare the other vegetables.

2. Brush off any dirt from the cremini mushrooms and cut into quarters or eighths. Turn the pressure cooker to saute. Add the olive oil and cook the mushrooms, seasoned with salt and pepper, until they release their juices and then concentrate them. Add the tablespoon of soy sauce and allow this to absorb into the mushrooms. 

3. Add the butter and the chopped onions and cook until the onions are glassy. Now add the pearled barley and cook to coat in fat, about one minute. Add the white wine or vermouth and allow to cook down. Now add the rehydrated mushrooms and broth, pouring slowly so that any grit from the mushrooms is left behind. Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 18 minutes. When the time is complete, carefully release the pressure. Turn the saute setting back on and stir in the pecorino romano. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm.

Note: the risotto can also be made on the stove top, simmering for about 40 minutes until soft. You can double the recipe if you'd like to be sure to have leftovers for risotto cakes.

Roasted Pepper, Eggplant and Feta Scramble with Sausage Patties

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you'll find pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, including celery, greens, peppers, and winter squash.

Having weathered our first full week back at school, and with the fall chill in the air, this morning felt like the time to have a hearty, celebratory breakfast. I made a batch of these buttermilk biscuits, fried up some Fair Valley Farm sausage meat into patties with caramelized onions, and whipped up some scrambled eggs with feta cheese and left over roasted eggplants and peppers from Camas Swale Farm. A leisurely weekend breakfast was just the right prescription to offset the weekday mornings' increased hecticness and dwindling summer sunlight.

Roasted Pepper, Eggplant, and Feta Scramble (for two)

I cup roasted vegetables, such as peppers and eggplant, chopped
1/4 cup cubed feta cheese
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
butter for the pan

Heat a skillet over medium low heat. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper. Prepare the roasted vegetables and feta cheese. Melt a pad of butter in the skillet and swirl to coat. Pour in the egg mixture and then sprinkle over the cheese cubes and chopped vegetables. Use a fork to pull the cooked edges of the eggs to the center and tip the pan to distribute the liquid eggs outward. Repeat until all of the eggs are cooked. Immediately transfer the scrambled eggs to two warm plates. 

Sausage Patties with Caramelized Onions

1 lb ground sausage meat
1 large or two small onions, peeled, halved, and sliced into half moons
slick of vegetable oil

Shape the sausage meat into 8 to 10 small patties, 1 inch thick. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Coat with a slick of neutral vegetable oil. Add the sliced onions to the pan and toss to coat in the oil and to break up the onion layers into strands a bit. Move the onion to the center of the pan and add the sausage patties. Allow to cook until well browned on one side, then flip and cook on the other side until the meat is completely cooked through. Meanwhile stir the onion strands occasionally so that brown nicely but do not burn. Serve warm.

Seared Corn and Scallion Quesadillas

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, you'll find pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, including tomatoes, eggplants, summer squash, peppers, and corn on the cob.

If you are exhausted from the first week back to school, plan to treat yourself to an easy supper of seared corn and scallion quesadillas, which are so simple that they don't need a formal recipe. Just heat a griddle or big skillet over medium high heat, give it a slick of oil, and throw on a husked corn cob and some whole scallions to sear. Meanwhile slice some cheddar cheese, rinse some cherry tomatoes, locate some tortillas and perhaps some other vegetables (above I had some leftover roasted radishes handy). When your vegetables have charred, slice the scallion and cut off the kernels into a bowl. Turn the heat to medium low. Toast a tortilla on one side until it starts to brown, then flip and cover with slices of cheese and the seared vegetables. Cook on the second side until the cheese has melted. Serve with cherry tomatoes and your favorite hot sauce. 

Grilled Vegetable Bibim Guksu

You can shop for all of your Labor Day weekend supplied this Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. You'll find pastured meats from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm and fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm, including tomatoes, eggplants, summer squash, and peppers for grilling.

If you are planning to grill this weekend, I can highly recommend a grilled vegetable version of bibim guksu, which is a variation on Korean bibim bap, but with soba noodles instead of rice. We've made this dish a couple times this summer with grilled vegetable, chicken skewers, smokey Chinese eggplant salad, crunchy cucumbers, cilantro, and kimchi. Every time it's been gobbled up before I can get a picture of the full spread.

Bibim Guksu

serves four

noodles
300 g (3 circular packets) of soba noodles
Cook in salted boiling water until barely cooked through (about 4 minutes), then immediately rinse under cold water until entirely cooled. Toss with the bibim guksu sauce (below).

Bibim guksu sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Korean gochujang paste for a mild, kid-friendly sauce, or more as desired 
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Mix together all the ingredients. Taste and adjust flavorings as desired.

Serve the noodles at room temperature with grilled vegetables and meats, Chinese smokey eggplant salad (below), fresh cucumbers and cilantro, and kimchi.

Chinese Smokey Eggplant with Garlic

adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain of Rice

2 large eggplants

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp Chinkiang vinegar

2 Tbsp chili oil with its sediment (or use a diced fresh hot pepper and 2 Tbsp sesame oil)

1 tsp sesame seeds

2 Tbsp finely sliced scallions (green part only) 
Cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

1. Prepare the eggplant and garlic cloves as in the recipe above.

2. Mince the garlic and dice the eggplant pulp. Combine in a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Garnish with cilantro leaves if you like and serve with soba noodles.