Cooking demo June 7 part 2 Pickles like you've never had them before and a touch of sweetness for dessert.

These pickles turned out so good I even surprised myself.  They can be eaten as sweet pickles or I chose to use them as topping with goat cheese on a lettuce leaf.  They are pretty as well.

Sweet Strawberry and Cucumbers with Curried Mango Vinegar Refrigerator Pickles

7 cucumber pickles slice 1/8 inch

1-½ pints large strawberries sliced across

1 cup Leslie Elizabeth Mango Balsamic Vinegar

1 cup white vinegar

½ cup Stonewall Kitchens Curried Mango Sauce

3 leeks sliced into rings

6 large spearmint leaves

1 large bunch of parsley

1 cup sugar

½ teas mild curry powder

1T salt

Place sliced strawberries and cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Allow them to sit for 15 minutes.  In a non-reactive pot add the vinegars, sugar, curried mango sauce and curry powder.  Heat while stirring and bring to a boil.  Using sterilized jars, put 1-2 spearmint leaves crushed and 2 T chopped parsley in the bottom of the jar.  Fill with strawberries, pickles and leeks to the top.  Top with another spearmint leaf and chopped parsley.  Pour the liquid to within ½ of the top.  Put in refrigerator for min 48 hours.  They can be eaten as pickles or served over goat cheese or ricotta cheese on a lettuce leaf as salad.  This recipe made 2 qts

This was a perfect dessert.  It was sweet but not too sweet and the honey added a richness to the taste.

Cheese and honey stuffed Dates

12 dried dates

1 cup ricotta cheese

½ cup whipping cream

2 T Savannah Bee Honey for Cheese

Sliced strawberries

Savannah Bee Honey comb

Slice dates down one side and remove the pits.  Blend the ricotta until smooth.  Add the whipping cream and honey and blend until smooth.  Fill each date with the cheese mixture top with a piece off strawberry a small mint leaf and a small piece of honey comb.

Cooking June 7-

Kale is in season so I decided to make a dish with it.  The Vegetables can be eaten as a side dish or used as a topping for the meatloaf burgers.  The recipes for the remaining dishes on the plate will be in the next post.  Enjoy!

Meatloaf Cheese Burgers with Kale and Kohlrabi topping

1.5 lb. ground beef

1 egg

1 chopped onion

½ cup regular oat meal

Parsley

Oregano

Sage

¼ c red wine

½ teaspoon Sabrosa Cumin Cinnamon Seasoned salt

Mix all ingredients together and roll into small patties about 2 -3 inches. 
Sprinkle additional salt over the top and bottoms of the burgers.  Cook until brown then add the red wine to deglaze the pan. Serve on French bread rolls with a slice of Cajun cheddar and Kale and Kohlrabi vegetables.

Kale and Kohlrabi with apricot mustard sauce topping

One large bag of Kale

1 large Kohlrabi

12 dried apricots

2 leeks sliced into rings

8 pieces fresh ginger

Olive oil

½ cup Stonewall Kitchens Apricot Mustard Glaze

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1T sugar

Peel fibrous outer layer from the Kohlrabi and slice in Julienne style.  De-stemthe kale and remove the large veins from the leaves.  Place into a pan with olive oil and sugar. Add the leeks and fresh ginger and cook until the vegetables are semi-soft.  Add the mustard gaze and pecans and chopped apricots.  Serve as side vegetable or on top of the burger with a slice of Cajun Cheddar cheese. For a vegetarian burger use a shitake mushroom instead of meat.

Chicken Roulade with Black Olives and Feta Cheese

We recently started carrying some wonderful crustini spreads from Elki.  As usual, I try to incorporate the products we carry into new recipe ideas.  This is the recipe from the May 31 cooking demo.

Chicken Roulade with Black Olive and Feta filling

4 chicken breasts

1/3 cup Basil Pesto and Black Olive with Feta Crustini Spread

4oz feta cheese

4 Roma tomatoes

2 cups Baby spinach leaves

6 med Shitake Mushrooms sliced thin

2 spring onions

¾ cup julienne carrots

¾ cup chicken broth

1 small can sliced olives

Olive oil

Truffle salt

Slice the chicken breasts into cutlets and pound thin.  In a skillet add the spinach, carrots, onions and mushrooms and crustini spread .  Add 2T olive oil and sauté until partially cooked.  Add 3 oz. feta cheese to the mixture.   Lay a piece of chicken flat then scoop 1-2 T of vegetable and cheese mixture at one end and roll.  Secure with a toothpick.  Place the chicken back into the skillet along with the remaining vegetables.  Pour the chicken broth over the meat and add ¼ t truffle salt .  Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes.   Serve with the remaining feta cheese and sliced olives on top.

We started selling Stonewall Kitchen's Truffle Marinara Sauce in February and have had to order 3 more times to keep it in stock.  The flavor is rich and delicious.  I decided to make crepe mancotties to serve the sauce on.  I had great help from 4 students from WCU to make the food happen.  I enjoyed them very much.  Thanks guys for coming.

 Veggie Manicotti Crepes with Truffle Marinara
Crepes:
2 cups Stonewall kitchens crepe mix
2 eggs
2 cups water
2 TBS oil
Mix with a whisk until no lumps are visible. If the mix is too thick to flow easily, thin with additional water. Pour about ¼ cup into the heated sauté pan with 1 teaspoon oil. Make sure the bottom of the pan is coated with a thin layer of batter. Cook until solid but not browned turn over and complete the other side the same way. Keep the temperature on med to low. Makes about 15 8 inch crepes. Allow them to cool.
 
Filling:
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 16 oz. container ricotta cheese
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup shredded Redneck Romano cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp truffle salt
1 large Portobello cap Chopped fine
1 small broccoli head florets only, chopped fine
7 large Spinach leaves chopped fine

Mix all ingredients together. Stuff crepes and roll placing them in a baking dish
Cover with a little oil and diluted sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes then serve with a shallow layer of Stonewall Kitchens Truffle Marinara Sauce.  The sauce is ready to serve so I decided not to put it on until after the crepes were baked.  This made 2 large pie plates of manicotti but the recipe can be cut in half.  I had 11 people to serve so I needed the large batch.

Well, spring has finally come to the mountains.  I had the first demo of the 2014 season last Saturday.  We had 7 souls enjoy the fare.  I wanted to do something a little different so this is what I came up with.  The dessert dish will be a separate post which I hope I can do in a few more days.  Remember we sell all the products used in my recipes so call me to place a mail order@ 828-586-1600.  Enjoy.

• Bison Stuffed Mini Yukon Potatoes

1 lb. mini Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 lb. Ground Bison Meat
1/2 cup Maxpatch Gourmet Pepper butter ( sweet peppers with mustard seasoning)  Shitake and Portabello Mushrooms
1 Large Leek, sliced
20 leaves fresh spinach, chopped
4 oz. dry red wine
Black Truffle salt
S&P to taste
Bake potatoes in oven @400 deg for 30 minutes. (Do not use the microwave because the skins will be too soft to use as shells.) Allow to cool then hollow out the meat leaving some meat in the skins as shells. Spray the skins with EVO and bake @ 425 for 15-20 minutes until crispy. In a sauté pan add the mushrooms, sliced leeks chopped potatoes along with olive oil. Cook until soft then set aside. Add the bison to the pan with EVO and sauté unit cooked partly through. Add the red wine and reduce until mostly absorbed. Add the chopped spinach and 1/2 cup Pepper butter and cook until spinach is gently wilted. Add back the veggies and mix. Fill potatoes cups with mixture and finish with light sprinkle of truffle salt and serve. This makes a great hot appetizer or use larger potatoes for a main dish. 

• Salmon & Cucumber Bisque

One container of seafood concentrated stock
1 whole cucumber cut into 1/2 in cubes (not peeled)
½ lb. salmon fillet
3/4 cup sour cream
EVOO
3 tbsp. cornstarch
Smoked Spanish paprika
1 pkg cucumber dill dip mix
20 oz water
Add the water and stock to a sauce pan and heat until dissolved. Add the dip mix and cucumbers to the liquid and cook at a low simmer for 20-15 min. Add the sour cream and bring back up to temp. In 3 oz. of water mix the cornstarch and add into the soup stirring until it thickens. In a separate sauté pan add the olive oil and salmon sprinkled with paprika. Break up the fish and add to the soup. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and thinly sliced cucumber.

• Vegetable lettuce wraps

Julienned broccoli stems & carrots 2 cups
1 large leek sliced
Mixed akuna, lentil and pea sprouts ( sold in local store as crunchy sprouts)
1/2 cup Chopped celery                                                                                                 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
20 large lettuce leaves
2 TBS. Roasted pumpkin seed oil
1/2 cup Caramelized onion and balsamic spread
Put the EVOO in a saute pan then add the juliened vegetables, leeks, pumpkin seeds, celery and sprouts and saute until al dente'.  Add the caramelized onion crustini spread.  Put the roasted pumpkin seed oil, stir then place on a lettuce leaf and roll.

Cooking June 8 - Pork Roulade and Vegetarian Lentil and Wild Rice Dish

Cooking Demo June 8, 2013

I was shopping for this weeks demo and spied some thin pork chops and thought that a roulade   would be a nice change.  I was very pleased with this dish.  The mint leaves along with the lemon balm really gave a terrific taste to the sauce.  Enjoy!

Pork Roulade with Apricots

10 Thin pork chops

½ cup chopped Mozzarella cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

½ lb Shitake mushrooms chopped

8 Dried apricots chopped

5 basil leaves chopped

3 T fresh Greek oregano chopped

1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley

8 fresh Lemon balm leaves chopped

4 Spearmint leaves chopped

juice of 1 Lemon

¼ t Lemon rind grated

1Green onion bulb and greens chopped

1 cup Apricot Mustard Glaze

3/4 cup heavy cream

Olive Oil

Add the chesses to a bowl and mix until combined.  Add the chopped apricots and herbs and mix.  Lay the chop flat and cover with the cheese and herb mixture.  Roll and secure with toothpicks.  Brown in oil turning to make sure all sides have been seared.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add the apricot mustard glaze, lemon juice and rind and green onion to the pan stir until it starts bubbling then slowly add the cream.  Add the pork roulade back to the pan and coat the meat with the sauce.  Cook covered on a low flame until the meat is done.

Vegetarian Lentil and Wild Rice

1 cup Red lentils

¼ cup Wild rice

Mushroom essence broth

½ lb Shitake mushrooms

1 small head Red cabbage

Six leaves of Chinese cabbage

4T Sesame seeds toasted

1 T Pink peppercorns

2T Brown mustard seeds

Snow peas

2 Green onions

Red onion

3T Roasted Pumpkin seed oil

½ package Bacon Horseradish dip mix

Boil the lentils in mushroom essence until done.  In a separate pan, boil the wild rice until soft.  This will take a while so start it first.

In a pan, add the sesame seeds, peppercorns, brown mustard seeds and toast the seeds until they pop.  Add the cabbages, snow peas, green onion and red onion.  Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until done.  Toss the wild rice and lentils together and add roasted pumpkin seed oil. Combine the vegetables and lentil mix together.  Sprinkle the Bacon Horseradish dip mix and stir until well mixed.  Serve with Nasturtiums as garnish.