A few favorites

We made two of our favorites the past two days: chive spread and ramp risotto.

Chive Spread

We have a ridiculous amount of chives and one way to use quite a few of them is a simple chive spread. I've adapted a recipe I've found online: stir together a larger tub of whipped cream cheese, container of 2% greek yogurt, a bunch of chopped chives and some garlic powder. Delicious!




Ramp Risotto

Still my favorite way to enjoy ramps! Look back to 2009 for the original post on ramp risotto for the recipe.

Goat Cheese and Chive Gnocchi with Asparagus

Mike commented at dinner tonight that we find making a dish two years in a row redundant. It's true! We say things like, "should we make Ramp Risotto again? But we made it last year! Maybe we should try something new."

We rarely eat the same meal twice with the exception of beans and rice and friday night pizza but even that is always tweaked differently. There a few things we've had several times but our weekly menus are almost entirely always full of new recipes. That's strange, right? Maybe I should make a list of recipes that we have made more than once. That might be interesting.

Back to the gnocchi! We all gobbled this up (Owen was more impressed with the gnocchi than the asparagus but Jillian ate nearly an adult portion). We said this one made it to our "make again...some year!" list.


Goat Cheese and Chive Gnocchi with Asparagus
Recipe from the kitchn



4 ounces goat cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 lb. asparagus, washed and trimmed
3 tablespoons butter

In a small mixing bowl, combine goat cheese, Parmesan, egg, 1/4 cup chives and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix with a fork until smooth. Add flour a spoonful at a time until dough comes together but is still a little wet.

Lightly flour a work surface and line a jelly roll pan with wax paper. On the floured surface, knead dough for about a minute. If it's still a little sticky, add some flour as needed, a spoonful at a time.

Divide dough in half. Flour hands and roll into each piece back and forth until it becomes a rope about 1-inch thick. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. If desired, roll each piece against the back of a fork to add texture. Place gnocchi on wax paper-lined pan and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to boil for the gnocchi.

Meanwhile, cut asparagus on the bias into 1/2-inch pieces. Steam for about 2 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.

When water is boiling, salt generously. Add gnocchi and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until they rise to the surface. Drain and set aside.

In a large sauce pan, heat butter over medium heat until it begins to brown. Add the asparagus, gnocchi, 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining chives. Cook for 1 minute. Add black pepper to taste. Serve. Garnish with chive blossoms if desired.

serves 2-4

Quinoa, Crepes and Beans with Rice

Quinoa Burgers

My friend Clare posted this Quinoa Burger recipe on another friend's blog. I have to admit, that Quinoa isn't my favorite food but maybe that's because I haven't had it this way? I really enjoyed these Quinoa burgers. I had a little trouble getting them to hold together and had to increase the heat to medium high in order for them to be a solid burger. Maybe Clare can show me her trick.




Banana & Salted Caramel Crepes
Adapted from this recipe

This was our Easter breakfast and it was so incredibly delicious. It was Mike's first time making crepes and he did a great job. Next time, I vote for nutella crepes!




Beans & Rice

Over the winter, we made a habit of eating beans & rice once a week. It's cheap, easy and we all love it. We'd mix up the toppings and sometimes use dry beans and sometimes use the time-saving canned beans. It will be great when we get into the tomatoes, onions and peppers season this summer!

Making it at home

We've been trying to make more and more food at home. This includes bread, pizza dough, ricotta and has now branched out to pasta. We had the opportunity to make some pasta for our dinner club and it's amazingly easy. I hope to make more of our pasta at home but sometimes we need to speed things up with a box of dry pasta.

In preparation for our dinner, we made a basic fettucini earlier in the week. For our dinner club, we made ravioli (homemade dough) with asparagus and ricotta (homemade). It was quite delicious, if I do say so myself.

Pasta with Ramps

Ramps are a little slice of heaven. No kidding! They are right up there in my favorites with arugula and tiramisu. I was a little worried about trying this recipe because I didn't want to waste the ramps on a mediocre meal. I am relieved to report that it was tasty and that the dish was simple enough for the ramps to shine. Next week, we'll be making ramp risotto. Yummmm!



Pasta with Ramps
From The Splendid Table

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds fresh ramps
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or half oil and half butter
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
1/2 pound dry pasta, in any shape, such as penne, linguine or orecchiette
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino cheese

To prepare the ramps, trim off the roots with a paring knife and slip off any discolored or dead skin that clings to the bulbs. Wash the ramps in several changes of water and drain well. (As you clean the ramps, stack into loose bundles, so the bulbs and leaves are lined up; this will make them easier to cut). Place on a cutting board and cut off the bulbs; cut the leaves in half crosswise. Reserve both bulbs and leaves. Put a large pot of water on to boil.

In a large non-stick skillet set over low heat, combine the ramp bulbs, olive oil and 1/3 cup water; cover and cook until the bulbs are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the pepperoncino and cook, tossing frequently, about 1 minute. With a tablespoon, scoop about 1 tablespoon of the oil into a small bowl and reserve. Add the ramp greens to the pan along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and about 3 tablespoons water. Cover and cook over moderately high heat, tossing frequently, until the greens are tender and the water has completely evaporated, about 5 minutes. (If the water evaporates before the greens are cooked, add a tablespoon or two more to the pan. If too much water is left in the pan once the vegetables are cooked through, uncover, increase the heat to high and boil it off, or simply drain it off). Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bulbs and greens are meltingly tender and the greens are no longer stringy. Turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, salt the boiling water well. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still slightly firm to the bite. Using a measuring cup, scoop out about 1/4 cup of the cooking water and reserve. Drain the pasta well.

Pour the reserved cooking water back into the pasta pot. Add the reserved ramp oil, and the cooked ramps and bring to a boil for 30 seconds. Add the drained pasta and toss to coat, seasoning with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper. Divide the pasta among four warm shallow soup bowls, spooning some of the vegetables over each. Serve at once, passing the cheese on the side.

Serves 4

Salmon Cakes with Sorrel Sauce and Spinach Salad

This was a delicious meal - we will definitely be eating this again! Thank you, Martha Stewart (I don't say that often)! A note of caution - Mike said the sauce wasn't great on it's own but it was phenomenal on top of the salmon. So, don't try to improve the sauce until you taste it with a bit of salmon.



Salmon Cakes with Sorrel Sauce
From Martha Stewart

1 pound cooked or canned salmon, flaked
2/3 cup cooked potato, from Crisp Potato Skins
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 scallions, white and pale-green parts only, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups thinly sliced fresh sorrel leaves (4 ounces)
1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Directions

Mix salmon, potato, eggs, scallions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a bowl. Form into twelve 2 1/2-inch cakes.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the cakes, and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining oil and cakes.

Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add sorrel and parsley, and cook for 2 minutes. Puree with lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or a food processor until smooth.

Spoon sauce over salmon cakes, and serve immediately.

Sunchoke and Chive Soup

I'll be honest, I don't go crazy over sunchokes. Last year we did pretty well with them but they started to accumulate toward the end of the season and we had to throw some out. This year we vowed to not let any carry over to the next week.

I don't like sunchokes, but I did think this soup was pretty good. And, the bacon isn't optional in my opinion!




Sunchoke and Chive Soup
From the Harmony Valley Farms Newsletter, May 2007, Week 19

1 lb sunchokes, unpeeled
2 ½ cups vegetable stock
½ bunch chives
1 cup milk
6 slices bacon (optional)
4 Tbsp sour cream (optional)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp white pepper

- Cut Sunchokes into 1" chunks. Put into a medium saucepot and add
vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer
gently until the sunchokes are tender. Remove from heat and drain off
liquid into a separate container. Reserve the cooking liquid to add back
to the soup to adjust the consistency.
- In a blender, puree sunchokes, adding cooking liquid as needed to get a
fine puree. Cut chives into 1" pieces and blend into sunchokes along with
milk, salt and pepper.
-Pour the soup back into the saucepot and bring back to a simmer. Adjust
seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.
- Slice bacon into small strips and cook over medium heat in a sauté pan
until crisp. Drain and reserve.
- To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls and garnish with bacon and a dollop of
sour cream if desired.