Smoked Basmati Rice

1 cup smoked basmati rice
1 ½ cup water
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons butter or ghee

- Bring water, salt and butter to a boil over medium heat

- Add rice and return to boil

- Cover and reduce heat to low

- Cook for 20 minutes without removing cover or stirring

- Remove from heat and fluff rice with fork.

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Ingredients
¾ cup toasted walnut pieces
3 eggs
1 cup + 2 T. sugar
⅓ cup La Nogalera Walnut Oil
⅓ cup dry California white wine
1 ¼ cup white flour
¼ cup Community Grains whole hard red winter wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. salt

-preheat oven to 350 degrees

- put the toasted walnuts and 2 T. of sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until very coarsely ground, then set aside

-beat eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer, then slowly add remaining sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy

-add oil and wine and mix well

-generously butter a 9 inch cake pan

-sift together flours, baking powder and salt into a large bowl

-add egg mixture to flour and with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined, then gently fold in walnuts and spoon into prepared pan.

-bake until until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes

-remove cake from oven and let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then turn the cake out on rake to cool completely

Note: You can simply dust with powdered sugar and serve or add ice cream, whipped cream or creme fraiche. We will be using it as a base for our poached pears and mascarpone.

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Serves 4-6

Ingredients
4 organic Bosc pears, stemmed cored and cut into eighths
juice of 2 organic lemons
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 vanilla bean
2 tsp. black peppercorns

-combine pear slices and lemon juice and let sit for at least 10 minutes.

-combine water and sugar in a medium sauce pan then bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer (this is a basic -split the vanilla bean and scrape the out seeds)

-put seeds, pod and black peppercorns in the simmering syrup

-remove pears from lemon juice and add

-let simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool in pan

-transfer to a bowl and serve at room temperature.

Note: The pears are great alone or with some ice cream or gelato. We are going to take them a step further by straining and then reducing some of the syrup to serve with the walnut cake and mascarpone.

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Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 ½ -2lbs. Assorted Weiser Family Farms potatoes
6 pieces (halves) Windrose Farm’s smoked dried tomatoes
3-4 T. of fresh organic herbs (we will be using savory, thyme, oregano and rosemary from Maggie’s Farm)
¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
salt to taste
1oz. Cowgirl Creamery Wagon Wheel Cheese, grated

-preheat oven to 425 degrees

-in a small heatproof bowl, just cover the smoked dried tomatoes with boiling water. Let sit until cool

-remove tomatoes from water and place in the bowl of a food processor along with the herbs.

-pulse mixture into a very coarse paste

-add olive oil and pulse to a coarse paste

-put in a bowl large enough to hold all the potatoes, reserving 1 T. (generous) for use later.

-cut the potatoes into quarters lengthwise, put into bowl with tomato/herb mixture

-lightly salt and toss well

-spread out on well oiled sheet pan(s) and roast in oven for 25-35 minutes or until lightly browned.

-put hot potatoes in serving bowl and toss with reserved tomato/herb mixture, sprinkle with grated cheese and serve.

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Serves 8-10

Ingredients
4 cups roasted fresh organic pumpkin (any of the orange flesh squashes like acorn, butternut,
etc. will work in combination or as a substitute for pumpkin)
1-2 medium roast organic shallot
4cups low sodium organic (or home made) chicken broth
2 cups of water
6-8 stems of fresh organic thyme
2T. of smoked paprika
salt to taste

To Roast Pumpkin/Squash and Shallots:

-preheat oven to 425 degrees

-peel and seed pumpkin and/or squash, peel shallot

-cut pumpkin/squash into pieces about one inch square

-toss with olive oil to coat well and place on baking sheet or roasting pan

-roast for 20 minutes or until tender and starting to caramelize (brown)

For Soup:

-place all ingredients except the smoked paprika in a medium pot

-place over medium heat and bring to a boil

-immediately reduce heat to a simmer

-add smoked paprika and simmer for 10-12 minutes

-remove thyme stems

-blend until very smooth in the pot with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender and return to pot

-add more salt and paprika (if you like it smokey) if needed

-adjust thickness by adding a little more water if needed

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Ingredients
1-2 small cloves roasted garlic
½ cup packed, organic flat leaf (Italian) parsley
¼ tsp coarse salt
¼ cup organic extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup roasted organic pumpkin seeds

Place garlic, parsley, salt and 1T. of olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make a coarse paste. You can use a mortar and pestle if you are feeling traditional. If you are, it is important to use a coarse salt. It will speed the process.

Add remaining oil and pumpkin seeds and pulse (or pound if using mortar and pestle) until it is

again a coarse paste. Do not over process or pound. It should be a little chunky.

Use as garnish for Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Smoked Paprika

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Cool weather begs for hot filling soups. This week our soup pots are filled with Paris Bistro Bean Soup. Paris Bistro Beans are a longtime favorite of Surfas customers  and makes a delicious vegetarian potage.

For meat lovers, add cooked sausage.

Here’s an easy recipe that’s also a Surfas favorite!

Ingredients:
Olive Oil about 4 tablespoons
1/2  medium onion- diced
1 carrot-diced
2 stalks celery- diced (with leaves- chopped)
One 1-lb. bag Surfas Bistro Beans
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 Bay leaf
Sprig Thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:

1. Put olive oil in a heavy bottomed 4 quart soup pot. Place on medium heat until oil is hot but not smoking.

2. Add carrots, onion, celery and celery leaves; sauté until onion begins to turn translucent.

3. Add stock and beans. Season water with salt and pepper (to taste). Bring to a simmer and cook until beans are tender, about 60 minutes.

4. Taste. Adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Note: Some of the beans in the Paris Bistro Soup will disintegrate into a creamy texture while other types will retain their shape.  The soup is ready to serve when the firmer beans are tender and the softer beans have disintegrated to a creamy hearty texture.

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(This is NOT like most heavy cheesecakes)

10 – 12 servings
1 -  8oz  package cream cheese, softened (microwave for 1 minute)
½  to 2/3 cup (to taste)  sugar
3 cups milk (whole)
1 big lemon, (juice only)
½  pint whipping cream
0.7 oz (20g or 2 envelopes) unflavored gelatin, melted with warm water
4 heaping tsp blueberry or blackberry jam

Step 1.  Heat the milk and sugar in a medium deep pan over very low heat, stirring until melted.

Step 2.  Use a whisk to rapidly stir in melted gelatin into the milk.  Add lemon juice and whipping cream.   Then add the softened cream cheese and stir.

Step 3.  Pour the mixture, 1/3 at a time, into a blender and blend until smooth.  In order to make the mixture smooth, strain through a small strainer.

Step 4.  After blending the smooth mixture, pour into a deep dish bowl (at least 9” in diameter, 2 1/2” deep) or mold of your choice. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight (or until set).

Step 5.  Remove the plastic wrap and set flat dish upside down on top of the mold, then carefully flip over to remove from the mold.

Step 6.  Cut and serve as individual pieces on flat cake plates.   Garnish with jam on top of the cheesecake.

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4 servings

8 oz (4) medium SATOIMO, peeled and chopped into bite sizes
4-5 oz DAIKON, julienned
6 cups water
4 heaping tbsp SHIRO (white) MISO
1 ½  tsp DASHI
2 green onions, finely minced

Step 1.  Boil the SATOIMO in water (4 cups) in a deep saucepan until soft.  Drain off ½ the sticky liquid then add fresh water (2 cups).

Step 2.  Add the DAIKON and DASHI and boil for 3 minutes.

Step 3.  Decrease heat to low, add MISO stirring until melted.

Step 4.  Bring to a boil for 1 minute.  Add more MISO or DASHI as desired.

Step 5.  Serve in individual MISO-SHIRU cups and toss a pinch of green onion on top.

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4 SERVINGS

10 oz ground turkey
8 ½  oz (1/2 package) TOFU drained, cut into ½ “ pieces
½  medium red and yellow bell peppers, diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
8 medium button mushrooms, diced
1 small onion (yellow) diced
4 tbsp AKA (red) MISO
20 pieces Yumi’s Yummy Flavor Peels, chopped in small pieces (recipe available at here)
3 tbsp grape seed oil
2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper/red pepper
½  cup fresh cilantro, chopped in 1” long
3 cups Japanese rice, cooked 6 – 8 servings

Step 1.  Stir-fy the ground turkey in a large frying pan over medium heat without oil for 2 minutes, then add 2 tbsp oil.

Step 2.  Raise heat to high, add mushrooms, onions, zucchini, bell peppers, bouillon, basil, oregano, sugar and cayenne pepper stirring constantly for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 3.  Decrease heat to low and stir in MISO, add another 1 tbsp oil and flavor peels until well mixed.  It should be juicy and have a powerful, bold taste at this stage.

Step 4.  Add TOFU and mix gently with veggies and meat, simmer until TOFU gets hot.  Then stir in cilantro.  Serve over hot sticky rice on individual dinner plates.  Yummy!!

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