If it is in a pot covered with chicken stock, it's a soup!

Fall is the time of year where I make a lot of soups. From the farm today I will be getting leeks and potatoes for sure. I'll put up a recipe for potato and leek soup later on. I wanted to share a recipe for something I made the other night. I thought it was pretty good. Somebody looked in my pot and said "That doesn't look like soup." I might have looked funny at the beginning, but it turned out pretty delicious.

Aaron's Tortellini Soup

4 cups chicken stock
12 oz Tortellini
chopped onion
1 clove of garlic
halved cherry tomatoes
carrots
1 green pepper
1 green chili pepper
salt
pepper
oregano
olive oil

Swirl the EVOO in your pot. Saute the garlic and onions until soft (don't forget to layer in your salt and pepper). Add the chopped peppers and cook until you think it is ready. Add the halved tomaotes, chicken stock, and oregano. Bring to a boil.

When the pot is boiling rapidly, add the carrots and tortellini. Those should cook at the same rate. If you have fresh tortellini, add the carrots first and wait about ten minutes before adding the tortellini. When stirring, attempt to crush up the tomatoes.

As soon as everything is cooked - the soup's done.

Greek Food

My friend's grandma makes the best Spanakopita (Greek spinach pie) I have ever had. Numerous attempts to recreate what Yia Yia does has gone unsuccessful. I think I just don't use enough butter. But combining phyllo, butter, spinach and feta is a "can't lose" situation, and however you make it, the results will be delicious.

Farmy Spanakopita (Greek Kale Pockets)

2 Bunches of Kale (stems discarded and finely chopped)
1 garlic glove
1 onion
salt
pepper
feta cheese
oregano
thyme
sheets of phyllo dough
butter
olive oil
1 beaten egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt 1/2 - 1 stick of butter and get your pastry brush handy.

Saute the garlic and onion in olive oil and add the kale when the onions are soft. When the kale is cooked put the greens aside in a bowl. Once cool, mix in the egg, feta, orgeano, and thyme in the kale.

Take a sheet of phyllo, brush with butter, and fold in half. Imagine taking the far left corner and folding a triangle. Where the corner would fall on itself, put a nice sized dollop of kale mixture. coat dry phyllo in butter, and fold the triangle on to itself, brushing the dry phyllo in butter. Repeat until you have a nice tetrahedron.

Bake for 30 minutes or so or until the phyllo is golden brown.

This is not my photo but use it as a goal.

Fall Soups

My favorite fall soup is a butternut squash soup with honey and ginger. I don't feel like finding the recipe right now. I'll post the recipe for the soup I made last night instead.

Squash and Apple Cream Soup

1 medium onion
3 lb butternut squash
2 apples
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup Apple juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tbs olive oil
salt
pepper
cinnamon
nutmeg

Add olive oil to your stock pot. Coarsely chop the onion and saute it while you deal with the squash and apples (don't forget to layer your salt and pepper here). Peel, remove seeds from, and chop the butter nut squash. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Add to the pot and add all of the liquids as well. Make sure the squash and apples are covered. If not you can add more juice, water, or stock.

Boil for 40 minutes. When the squash is soft, use an immersion blender and blend until smooth. Add cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir to mix. and serve.

Here's what it looks like when done. Credit onapples.com for the photo. It's not mine.

Farm Fresh Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's pie is a staple in my "comfort food" repertoire. It can be as easy as browning meat, adding a bag of frozen corn, and topping with mashed potatoes. Or you can take a bunch of different vegetables from your CSA distribution and sandwich that in the middle instead. Adding cheese on top of the mashed potatoes, and making a gravy while it bakes are things I do that make this one of our favorite meals at home.


Farm Fresh Shepherd's Pie Recipe

8-10 potatoes
Beets
Carrots
String beans
1 LB ground turkey
Montreal Steak Seasoning or equivalent
Chicken Broth
Flour
Cheddar Cheese
butter
salt
pepper
milk

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring a 6 qt Pot of water to a boil and add potatoes and cook for 20 minutes. Drain water (reserve a cup to add back into mashed potatoes). Add butter, salt, pepper, water, and milk and mash until desired consistency of mashed potatoes is met. Put aside.

Slice carrots and beets, toss with salt, pepper, and EVOO and bake for 30 minutes.

Heat a skillet and brown ground turkey (beef or whatever). Add Montreal steak seasoning if you got it to add flavor. When the meat is done, layer it at the bottom of a lasagne pan. Top with the cooked beets and carrots and uncooked string beans (string beans take less time to cook). Layer the mashed potatoes then top with cheese. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, uncover and bake until the cheese is brown.

In the meantime make gravy. I usually deglaze the meat skillet with butter, add flour, make a roux, and slowly whisk in chicken stock until I make a tasty gravy.

Enjoy!!!

Hiatus Explained

I apologize to all my fans out there for such a long delay between blog updates. I have a great excuse though, I got married! I promise I'll be back. Root season is quickly approaching, and I'll share some of my recipes with you, my loyal fan base. But in the meantime, here's proof of my alibi.

Confused little flowers

We have a lots of different plants growing in our gardens. From strawberries and hostas to catnip and tomatoes, there's almost every type of plant life represented.





Today I saw something that didn't really fit. I'm not sure what it is.







But it definitely looks like a spring bud.

Aaron's adapated chicken salad

Summer offers numerous activities out here on the north shore of Massachusetts. Starting in June, the Crane Estate at Castle Hill offers a summer picnic concert series. For twenty-five dollars, you can bring a car load of people and set up a picnic. The views are spectacular, the music is good, and the bugs really aren't that bad. We attend most Thursday nights.


Having the farm share helps us contribute lots of healthy dishes to the picnic. We bring green salads, pasta salads, and potato salads. We have also made different wraps, pizzas, and sandwiches. There is so much potential for cold and finger foods we always have more than enough to eat. And the spread is always very unique.

Last week I made a potato and chicken salad that I really liked. I'm usually not a fan of potato salads, but the combination of ingredients seemed to click for me on this recipe. It's a mix of a few recipes I found on the web. Basically I tried to include things that I had on hand when I made it. I used purple Peruvian potatoes from our farm share. They added a nice color to an otherwise monochromatic dish, and hold up pretty well due to the starch content.

Chicken and Peruvian Potato Salad

3 chicken breasts
5 purple Peruvian potatoes
2 eggs
Handful of chopped dill pickles
2 tbs. of sweet relish
1/3 - 1/2 jar of drained capers
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
chopped dill
salt to taste

Boil and chop the chicken breast and potatoes, and hard boil the eggs. Slice the eggs when they're cool. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, potatoes, eggs, pickles, relish, capers, mayo, lemon juice, salt, and chopped fresh dill. Stir everything together and chill. Serve cold.