Oh summer, you taste so good.

We've been hoarding our rhubarb.  Okay, not really, but we had quite a bit to use up.  I've always been a little underwhelmed by my rhubarb creations so I hunted around for a new recipe and came across Smitten Kitchen's Rhubarb Snacking Cake.  First off, I just have to say that I don't think I've disliked anything I've made from that blog - she has amazing recipes!  And this rhubarb cake was no different.  Amazingly delicious, especially with a scoop of ice cream on top.



Rhubarb Snacking Cake
via Smitten Kitchen

Cake:
1 1/4 pound (565 grams) rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch lengths on the diagonal
1 1/3 cup (265 grams) granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice (psst, skip ahead and zest it for the cake before you cut it)
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups (165 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup (80 grams) sour cream

Crumb:
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces, or 55 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Make the cake: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter or a nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper, extending the lengths up two sides. (It will look like a sling). Stir together rhubarb, lemon juice and 2/3 cup sugar and set aside. Beat butter, remaining sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Whisk together flour, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon table salt and ground ginger together in a small bowl. Add one-third of this mixture to the batter, mixing until just combined. Continue, adding half the sour cream, the second third of the flour mixture, the remaining sour cream, and then the remaining flour mixture, mixing between each addition until just combined.

Dollop batter over prepared pan, then use a spatula — offset, if you have one, makes this easiest — to spread the cake into an even, thin layer. Pour the rhubarb mixture over the cake, spreading it into an even layer (most pieces should fit in a tight, single layer).

Stir together the crumb mixture, first whisking the flour, brown sugar, table salt and cinnamon together, then stirring in the melted butter with a spoon or fork. Scatter evenly over rhubarb layer.

Bake cake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is done when a tester comes out free of the wet cake batter below. It will be golden on top. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Cut the two exposed sides of the cake free of the pan, if needed, then use the parchment “sling” to remove the cake from the pan.


It's Friday Night

Tonight is Friday which means... ?  Pizza Night!  I made a new pizza tonight - the BLT pizza.  Super easy and very tasty.  I used my stand-by crust recipe, topped it with a very thin layer of mayo, scattered tomato slices, chopped cooked bacon, cubed fresh mozzarella and baked it for about 15 minutes.  After taking it out of the oven, I threw some torn arugula (from our backyard garden!) on top.  We polished off two pints of farm strawberries and most of the sugar snap peas, too.  Yum yum.  This pizza will be going in our rotation and I can only imagine the taste with garden fresh tomatoes!

Long time, no post!

The blog got put on the back burner after some serious morning sickness last farm season. Earlier this season, our beautiful baby girl was born (June 2nd) and things were just too hectic to even get dinner on the table, let alone remember to take a photo and post about it. But, here I am again. I hope to resume my weekly posting for the remainder of the season, even if that seems like quite a daunting task.

In the meantime, here's some photos of things we've made that I didn't have time to blog about.

Delicious medium rare (oh how I missed that while pregnant!) burgers made with Thousand Hills ground beef.



Coconut Curry - One of our favorite curry recipes from All Recipes.




Rhubarb Galette - This one looked a little better than it tasted.






Friday Night Pizza: Golden Beets, Artichoke Hearts, Capers, Banana Peppers, Feta



Stuffed Figs - I wish I could eat this through the screen. I absolutely love figs.




Friday Night Pizza: Figs, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto, Arugula

Update: Box 1

I'm a blog slacker. We're finished with Box #1 and almost #2. Here's what we ended up doing with the rest of Box #1.

Ramps: Ramp Risotto, courtesy cook eat FRET via A Good Appetite. Result? Absolutely, positively delicious!

Ramp Risotto

1 1/2 T unsalted butter
7 ramps, sliced thin, greens & all. Keep the sliced bulbs & stems separate from the sliced greens.
1/4 c cream
salt & pepper
3 1/2 c broth (chicken or vegetable)
1/4 c white wine
1/2 T olive oil
1 shallot, minced
3/4 c arborio rice
1/4 c grated Parmesan
pinch - 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)

Heat 1/2 T of the butter in a small skillet over med heat. Add the sliced ramps bulbs & stems & cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the cream & cook for another few minutes until the cream has thickened slightly. Salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a saucepan bring the broth to a simmer & keep it warm during cooking.

Heat 1 T of the butter & the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the shallot & sauté for a minute or two. Add the arborio rice & stir for 1 minute until coated. Add the wine & stir until completely absorbed. Add 1/2 c of the broth & cook until absorbed, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Once absorbed add the next 1/2 c of broth along with the ramp greens & cook until broth is absorbed. Continuing adding the broth, 1/2 c at a time, as each addition is absorbed. When 1/4 - 1/2 c of broth is left, about 18 to 20 minutes, the rice should be creamy & tender but still have a bite. Add the final addition of broth, red pepper flakes & the cream ramp mixture. Stir to combine. Remove from the heat & stir in cheese. Serve immediately.



Sunchoke, Ramps, Black Radish and Burdock: We used the sunchoke, ramps and black radish in an adapted version of Quinoa Sunchoke Pilaf. Result? Pretty tasty. We'd make it again but it's not to die for or anything. Main pitfall? It tasted too healthy. Then, we fried up some burdock chips. We had to fight over these, Owen included. We also sauteed some fiddleheads from the garden to go with - those were fantastic.





Rhubarb: Mike made a delicious rhubarb sauce using a recipe from our farm, Harmony Valley, to go on top of some homemade vanilla icecream.

Rhubarb Sauce

For the simplest preparation, rinse the stems and chop into 1 inch chunks. With just the water still clinging to the pieces place in saucepan and add sweetner. Simmer over low heat, covered, until the rhubarb is softened. Stir frequently. If you prefer a thinner sauce, add several tablespoons of water. Adjust sweetner and simmer and stir until throughly mixed. Enjoy over ice cream, cake or just as a dessert sauce on the side. Serves 4




I'll try to do a big update tomorrow on what we did with box #2 before we get box #3!