For the second week in a row we have been blessed with a good amount of cherry tomatoes in our CSA box. Last week, my wife got her hands on them and I never saw them again, so this time I made sure I grabbed them before she did. My goal was to place them into our dehydrator and turn them into little flavor bombs. Freshly picked, perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes, on the own, pack a hefty amount of flavor, but dry them out a bit and you can up that flavor to epic proportions.

It’s important to note that what I am acheiving by this is not a way to preserve the tomatoes; I don’t remove enough moisture for that. I am merely trying to remove enough moisture to concentrate the flavors and provide a bit more texture to them. Once finished, these tomatoes will need to be refrigeratored or they will go bad. Even then, this procedure will only buy you a bit more time than you would have with competely fresh tomatoes.

While I use a dehydrator for this, you can do these in your oven also. Hopefully, your oven’s lowest setting is 150°F. Preheat the oven to 150°F. Place the prepared tomatoes on a rack, covered with cheesecloth, cut side down and place in the oven. check after 1 1/2 hours and every 20-30 minutes afterwards, removing tomatoes as they are done. Doing it this way is a little less forgiving, but still not very difficult. Just keep an eye on them.

Dried Cherry Tomatoes

1 quart cherry tomatoes (or any small variety of tomato)
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. finely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Finely mince the garlic then, using the edge and side of your knife mash it into a coarse paste. Grind the dried oregano and dried basil into a powder and mix with the garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Remove any stems from the cherry tomatoes and slice, in half, through the stem end. Toss with the olive oil mixture. Lay out on your dehydrator racks, making sure that none the the tomatoes are touching.

Set dehydrator to about 140°F, cover and allow to dry for 2 hours. After 2 hours rotate your trays, if necessary and continue to dry for another 1 1/2 hours. Rotate trays again and start checking the tomatoes every 45 minutes to 1 hour, removing any tomato that is done. Tomatoes are done when they have loss about 1/2-2/3 their size, are starting to feel firm to the touch, and are just slightly dry around the edges. It will take anywhere from 3 1/2-6 hours to dry. I can’t be any more specific as lots of factors affect the drying time; type of dehydrator, size of tomatoes, humidity in the air, etc. Mine took approximately 4 1/2 hours to reach the moisture level I wanted.

Once they are done place in the fridge for storage. They will last a week or 2. For longer storage you can cover them with olive oil, but you will still want to keep them in the fridge.

These little flavor bombs make a great addition to simple pastas, salads, or vegetable medleys, but really my favorite way to eat them is to simply pop them into my mouth, right out of the jar, although it is easy to get carried away and consume an afternoon’s work in just a short time!!

We received our second CSA delivery today, and just like a kid on Christmas, I couldn’t wait to open up our box, even though I already knew what would be in it (they deliver the weekly newsletter on Wednesday telling us what is in the box). This week we received more bok choy, more green garlic, another bag of baby greens, more pea shoots, a bunch of radishes and another pint of strawberries. In addition to these repeats (all of which I am very grateful for as it gives me a chance to play with these items even more!!) we received a bunch of Hakurei turnips, an early ripening Japanese variety of turnip. I’m really looking forward to “playing” with those as I have never had this variety before, although, from what I have read about them, most of them may get eaten simply washes and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper!

Since I still hadn’t used up the bok choy (a chinese variety of cabbage) and all of the green garlic from last week, and having received more of each, I knew that tonight’s dinner would have to feature both of them. I figured a simple stir-fry would be perfect. Not necessarily the most creative way to use up bok choy, but the meal hit the spot, and was done-start to finish-in just under 15 minutes, not counting the time it took to cook the brown rice that went with it.

Green Garlic

Chicken with Bok Choy
serves 2

1/2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tsp. hoisin sauce
2 Tsp. rice wine vinegar
1 Tbs. water
1tsp. corn starch
3 bulbs green garlic (white buld and an inch or 2 of the green stem), thinly sliced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3-4 bunches baby bok choy
1 pound chicken breast, boneless & skinless, thinly sliced
4 Tbs. sesame oil
1-3 pinches red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 cup cashews, roasted

Combine the first 5 ingredients and mix well. Set aside. Heat a wok over high heat. Add 2 Tsp. of the sesame oil and once it starts to smoke add the chicken. Quickly stir-fry the chicken until done. Remove from wok. Wipe the wok out and add the remaining sesame oil. When it starts to smoke add the green garlic and ginger. Toss once or twice and add the bok choy-do not let the garlic burn or it will become bitter. Stir-fry the vegetables for about 2 minutes then add about 1 oz (2 Tbs.) of water to quickly steam the bok choy. Add the chicken, and red pepper flakes if using. Then add the reserved sauce you made up earlier. Toss to coat. Add the cashews and serve immediately. This dish is best when the bok choy still has a bit of crispness to it. Let it sit too long and the bok choy will go completely limp. Not the end of the world, but I like it better when there is still a bit of crunch to it. Serve with white or brown rice.

We were very excited today as today marked the first delivery, of the season, from our new CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm. My wife and I had belonged to a CSA for a number of years, but stopped just before our daughter was born. After a 5 year hiatus we were more than ready to sign up for another season of fresh, locally grown produce. While we had been happy with the farm from which we had gotten our food from, for years, we were ready to try a new farm. After much research, on the internet, I narrowed our choices down to 3 or 4 and let my wife have the final say. We decided to try out Good Earth Farm, in Oakfield, WI, about 20 minutes from our home in Fond du Lac. You can check out there website here.

For those of you who are not familiar with what a CSA farm is, basically you purchase a “share” that entitles you to a set number of deliveries, of the farm’s product throughout the year. While there are all kinds of CSA’s, from fruit and vegetable shares, to egg shares, to honey shares, to meat and/or poultry shares, the most popular are the fruit and vegetable shares. While the price of a share varies from farm to farm and region to region, a good average price for a share in Wisconsin is $500-$600 a season. While this may sound like a lot of money once you start breaking it down then it ends up being a really good deal. Most shares will consist of approximately 20 deliveries (give or take depending on the weather) and often those deliveries will weigh in at between 10-20 pounds, again depending on the year and the season (spring and early summer boxes can be on the light side while late summer boxes can be overflowing with produce. Of course, all of this depends on the weather and Mother Nature. That’s why many of these farms plant tens to hundreds of varieties of vegetables so if one fails hopefully others flourish. It becomes a win-win situation for both farmer and consumer as the consumer gets lots of great (oftentimes organically raised) produce and the farmer gets some security knowing that they have been paid for their hardwork, even if Mother Nature doesn’t want to cooperate.

Now back to our CSA share. As typically of early season boxes ours was on the light side, but that didn’t matter because what was in it was excellent! We received a bunch of green garlic (can be used as garlic or in place of scallions), a nice large bunch of radishes, a large bag of spring greens for salad, some wonderfully sweet pea shoots, a pound of rhubarb (not that we needed any of that!), a pint of beautiful, local strawberries, and some wonderful bok choy.

In addition to our regular share, we purchased a bread share, which means that each week, with our box of vegetables, will be a loaf of bread baked, in the European tradition, by a local baker. This week the bread was a hearty, nutty 9-grain loaf. Overall, lots of great stuff to cook with and play with. Tonight though, I wanted to keep it simple and let the produce speak for itself. So I simply tossed the spring greens with the pea shoots and dressed this salad in a light vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced green garlic, salt and pepper. To accompany the salad I sliced up a few radishes and served the salad with 9 grain bread which I first brushed with a mixture of butter and minced green garlic and gently grilled until toasty and crisp. It was the perfect meal to celebrate the beginning of our weekly deliveries.

I look forward to sharing what we receive each week, and the recipes that our little box of goodies inspires me to make. Stay tuned!

The other day my wife took our daughter to see one of my wife’s clients, who she had become good friends with. Her friend has a small farm and my wife took Genevieve to ride the horses. Genevieve (aka Gigi) is 4 1/2 years old and just recently told us that she wants her own horse. This has created no end of amusment for my wife because ever since Gigi was born I have been writing letters to Santa that Gigi has “dictated” to me. Most of them revolve around the idea that she wants a horse by the time she is five, so needless to say when she exclaimed that she wanted a horse my wife considered it cosmic justice.

So Gigi got to ride a horse, learn a little about horsemanship and help brush her. As an added bonus, Kate sent Wanda home with 2 dozen eggs, from the hens she owns. They varied in size from a standard large egg to ones about the quarter of that size and in colors from off white to various shades of brown and even to a pale green (yes that picture above is color corrected-it’s not your monitor). I was thrilled and set about coming up with an idea to really showcase the eggs. While simply poaching them or hard boiling them might showcase the eggs in all their simple glory I wanted to do something a little more adventurous and seasonal. Our rhubarb is growing quickly and I knew I wanted to incorporate that into something so I decided to make custards and top them with a rhubarb compote. I was also keen to use up some of the tarragon I grow and thought about infusing the custard with tarragon. While not often used in desserts, tarragon’s anisy, licorice flavor lends itself well to many dessert presentations. The only concern is not to overpower the other flavors with tarragon, which can quickly take over if used with too heavy a hand. The flavor combination, at first, might sound a little strange, but trust me it works well, with the tarragon adding a nice subtle flavor to the custard and complementing the simple rhubarb compote.

Herb Pot de Creme
makes 6 servings

3 cups half and half
9 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 pinch salt
1/ tsp. vanilla extract
3-5 sprigs fresh tarragon (feel free to try other herbs also such as thyme, mint, lemon balm, even rosemary)

Pre heat the oven to 350°F. Bring the half and half to a simmer. Add 3 sprigs of tarragon and allow to steep for 10 minutes, off of the heat. Taste the mixture. The herb flavor should be just a little stronger than you want it to be in the final product as this will be diluted with other ingredients. If it isn’t strong enough add a few more sprigs, return to a simmer, remove from heat and steep a few minutes longer. Remember, it’s easier to add more flavor than take it away so don’t go over board in the beginning. As the herbs are steeping combine the egg yolks, sugar, salt and vanilla, stirring until most of the sugar is dissolved. Add 1/2 a cup of the hot half and half to the egg mixture and stir to combine. Add another 1/2 cup and stir. Now that the eggs are tempered you can add the remaining half and half. Stir until well combined then strain. Skim off any foam on top of the mixture and pour 3/4 cup into 6 ramekins. Place ramekins into a large baking dish and add hot water to come about 1/2 way up the ramekins. Cover with foil, adding 4 or 5 small vent holes and carefully place in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes and check for doneness. The custards are done when the center still slightly jiggles like jello. If not done yet, replace cover and bake 5-7 minutes longer and check again. Continue doing this until custards are done. Don’t overcook or your custards will “souffle” and instead of a silky, smooth texture it will more closely resemble scrambled eggs. Still tasty but not quite as appetizing. These will take anywhere from 25-50 minutes depending on the size and depth of your ramekins. When done carefully remove from the oven then remove from the water bath. Cool on a rack until room temperature then chill. Serve topped with a couple tablespoons of Rhubarb Compote (recipe below).

Rhubarb Compote
makes about 1 /2 cups

3 cups rhubarb, diced
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup water

Add all ingredients to a nonreactive saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook, at a hard boil, for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Test for doneness on a chilled plate. Allow a small spoonful to chill on the cold plate. It is done if it holds together like a softly set jam with just a bit of liquid separating out. Once done chill for 2 hours to allow time for the compote to set up.

Okay, it’s a little late in the season, but I just recently discovered the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market and I wish I had learned about it earlier! I came across it quite by accident as I was searching to see if there were any producers of hard cider here, in Wisconsin. I found one producer, Aeppel Treow Winery, which produces bothapple wine and hard cider. In their information I also discovered that they were at the Milwaukee Winter Farmers’ Market on the first Saturday of every month. Bonus, not only had I come across a producer of hard cider, but I also “discovered” a new, off season farmers’ market.

The market is held every Saturday, through April 24th, at the Tommy Thompson Youth Center at State Fair Park. You can access it through Gate 5, on 84th St. While not large, I was impressed by the variety of Wisconsin grown and raised products. Besides, the hard cider and apple wine, there was an apple orchard that still had apples for sale. These over wintered apples were starting to just show their age and were a bit on the mealy side, but they were still sweet and quite flavorful. A little mealiness is small price to pay for their taste which beats any store bought apples hands down. Also included in the days list of producers were a couple of honey producers, a couple of bakeries, numerous farmer’s selling pasture fed beef, pork, poultry and elk, and a few stands selling processed foods made from local, Wisconsin produce, from salsas and jams to pasta and granola.

Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill is there selling their sorghum syrup and locally produced maple syrup. Of the few cheese producers there, we stopped at Saxon Homstead Creamery and picked up a wedge of their “Saxony” cheese, a washed rind cow’s milk cheese, which they describe as nutty and supple, a description that may be rather vague, but one I agree with. I will definitely be checking out some of their other cheeses. We also picked up some mushrooms from River Valley Ranch, Wisconsin’s oldest mushroom producer.

There wasn’t much in the way of produce, but I didn’t expect to find much at this time of year, in Wisconsin. But a few farmers were displaying some fresh spinach and radishes grown, I’m sure in hoop houses or hot houses.

While I didn’t purchase any, it did get me excited for spring to arrive and the farmer’s markets throughout Wisconsin to get started up again.

Probably, the biggest coup for the market though this the inclusion of Bolzano Artisan Meats.  Bolzano is Wiscosin’s first and only company dedicated to the art of dry curing meat.  While still relatively unknown in throughout the rest of the country, Bolzano has, in a very short time made quite a name for themselves among upper Midwest foodies.  They currently offer guanciale, dried and cured pork cheek and panchetta, an Italian slow cured “bacon” that remains unsmoked.  Both of their products are some of the best I have tasted and I expect it won’t be long before they gain a reputation from coast to coast.

With only 7 more weeks left before the market closes for the year, I doubt I will make it back,but not for a lack of wanting. Milwaukee is about a 45-60 minute drive and our weekends are pretty full for the next 2 months. So while I might not make it back this year, I will look forward to it’s opening next October, but just because I can’t make it back doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out if you are in the area. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

What do Gaspe Flint Corn, the Harrison Cider Apple, the Cayuga Duck and the Fish Pepper all have in common? Well, according to the book “Renewing America’s Food Traditions-Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” we are in danger of losing these foods from our collective plates. According to this book, edited by Gary Paul Nabhan, we are in jeopardy of losing hundreds of local foods, and thus, losing a significant part of our American culinary heritage.

Written by members of RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions) this book highlights a number of those foods we are in danger of losing. From wild plants and animals to Native American crops and domesticated animals, America’s culinary heritage is disappearing at an alarming rate. There are many reasons for the potential loss of these foods. Dwindling habitat and over harvesting are endangering wild populations, while changing tastes have contributed to the decline of many domesticated crops. One of the biggest culprits though is our modern food transportation system. Crops that don’t travel well or suffer significant loss of flavor soon after picking just aren’t profitable for farmers anymore. Many of these crops and animals are losing out to modern hybrids that grow more quickly, produce greater yields, or demand less care.

Luckily, for the foods showcased in this book, there is still time left to save them from becoming just a memory. If you have a garden plot I urge you to seek out the seeds of some of these plants and experiment with growing them and using the crops they produce. Support your local farmers, especially those trying to save some of these heirloom foods from extinction. It is not a wholly selfless act you will be committing. Once you try some of these heirloom foods you will find they taste so much better than most of the stuff you can buy at the local grocery store. That’s because these foods were bred for flavor, not bred for traits that made them easily transportable for thousands of miles. It is up to us to decide whether these foods remain an important part of our culinary heritage, or whether we allow them to disappear from our plates forever.

Last Saturday while shopping at the Fond du Lac farmer’s market I came across the first beets of the season. Well, at least the first beets to arrive at the market. Excitedly, I grabbed up a couple of bunches, just thinking of all the possibilities. Life interjected and we got busy with visiting friends, work, and the daily grind. I forgot all about them. This evening as I was driving home from work, in 90 degree weather, with no AC (I know you probably don’t care, but I thought I’d share my misery with you), I remembered buying them along with some beautiful baby spinach. Being hot out, salad sounded good so I threw this salad together for a refreshing late night dinner.

Beet and Spinach Salad
2 bunches Baby Beets, tops removed (if fresh you can add the tops to the salad)
2 pounds Baby Spinach
6 slices Bacon, thick cut
4-6 oz. Blue Cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup Pistachios, shelled
1 can French Fried Onion Rings
1/3 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Malt Vinegar
1/2 cup Vegetable oil (any neutral flavored oil will work)
Salt
Pepper, freshly ground

Place the beets in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until a paring knife, when inserted into the beet, encounters little resistance. For baby beets, this should take about 12-14 minutes, depending on their size. When done, remove from heat and run under cold water to cool them. Peel and quarter the beets. The skins should slip off relatively easily. Meanwhile chop the bacon and cook, in a saute pan until crisp. Remove the bacon, leaving the bacon fat in the pan. Add the maple syrup and vinegar. Scrape up an bits stuck to the bottom of the saute pan and cook 1 minute. Add the oil, salt and pepper, tasting and adjusting the seasoning as needed. Remove from heat. Combine the spinach, beets, and bacon in a large bowl. Add the warm, not hot, dressing to the salad and toss to coat. Add the blue cheese and toss again. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if necessary. Divide among 4 large plates and sprinkle with the pistachios. Place a small mound of the onion rings on top. This recipe serves 4 as an entree salad or 8 as a first course.

1/2 pound of Morel Mushrooms, quartered and rinsed thoroughly to remove sand and dirt