Grow it, cook it and eat it... with friends

Ranch Dressing

Here’s another classic farm recipe, inspired by a fat little carrot dug up at the farm today. Carrots and ranch are a natural combination, but did you ever stop to look at the label on that famous commercial brand of ranch? First four ingredients: Water, corn syrup, maltodextrin, sugar. What? Ranch dressing isn’t even supposed to be sweet. Here’s a homemade version... easy and super delicious.

Ingredients:

~3/4 cup mayonnaise

~1/4 cup coconut milk

~1 small shallot, minced

~1 clove garlic, minced or pushed through a garlic press

~1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

~1 Tablespoon snipped chives

~1 Tablespoon minced dill

~1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all of the ingredients together in a jar with a lid. Shake. All done!  This ranch will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Oatmeal Scones

Here is Waverly Farm’s signature recipe, the one that tastes so good with our farm marmalade. It’s easy to make, from ingredients probably already in your pantry, and the baking scones will fill your house with a delicious, comforting aroma. Get up early and surprise your family for breakfast, or stir up a batch in the afternoon and enjoy a classic afternoon teatime. Either way, you will be your family’s champion!

Ingredients:

~1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

~1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

~1 tablespoon baking powder

~3/4 teaspoon baking soda

~1/2 teaspoon salt

~1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats

~1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

~Finely grated zest from 1 orange

~2/3 cup well shaken buttermilk*

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.

• Put the flour, sugar, baking power and soda, and salt into a food processor. 

• Pulse a few times to combine, then add the oats and pulse 15 times. 

• Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with small, pea-size lumps, then transfer to a bowl.

• Stir together the zest and buttermilk and add it to the oatmeal mixture. 

• Mix together with a spoon. 

• The mixture will seem crumbly and dry, with no hope of making a dough. 

• Use your hands to squish it together most of the way, then dump it out on a lightly floured surface. 

• Gently gather up all of the loose bits until you have formed a ball of dough, then knead it six times.

• Pat or roll the dough into a 1-inch-thick round, dusting the surface with more flour if necessary. 

• Using a round biscuit cutter (or a small glass), cut out as many scones as you can, dipping the cutter in flour each time.

• Transfer the scones to a baking sheet. 

• Gather up the scraps of dough into a ball, pat into a round and cut out more scones until you have used up the dough.

• Brush the tops of the scones with buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

• Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, and then transfer to a rack.

• Serve warm, or at room temperature.

*If your pandemic pantry stock doesn’t include buttermilk, here is a link with a few substitutions:

The Best Buttermilk Substitutes 

Ingredients:

~2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

~1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted (12 Tablespoons)

2 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over for stems and blossom ends

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

Directions:

1.  Place a rack in the center of oven and heat to 375° F.  Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper so that the paper overhangs two sides like handles.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Pour in the melted butter and stir until it forms clumps and the dry ingredients are evenly moistened.  Set aside one cup of the crumble mixture, then press the rest into an even layer in the bottom of the prepared pan.

3. Put the blueberries in a medium bowl and sprinkle them with the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice.  Stir until the cornstarch is moistened.  Add the blueberries in a single layer on top of the crumble mixture, then sprinkle the reserved crumble mixture on top in clumps.  Fruit will show through.

4. Bake the bars for 45 to 50 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and the crumble mixture is lightly golden.  Cool completely.

5. Make the glaze.  In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until smooth.  Add more milk if the glaze seems too thick.  Using the parchment paper handles, remove the bars from the pan and drizzle with glaze.  Slice, and serve.

Ingredients

1 cup glutinous (sweet) rice--find this in the Asian specialty sections of most grocery stores

1 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk (see note)

1/2 cup granulated cane sugar, raw sugar or light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 coconut cream (see note)

1 or 2 ripe mangoes, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices

Note: A 13.5 ounce can of coconut milk will yield the 1 1/4 cups milk, plus the 1/2 cup cream.  Open the can, spoon off the cream, and stir up the remaining milk.

Directions

1.  Put the rice in a bowl and rinse several times in cold water until the water is clear, not milky, then drain.  Cover rice with cold water and let soak for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

2.  Drain the rice using a fine-meshed metal sieve or colander.  Place the rice over a pot of rapidly simmering water (don't allow the water to touch the sieve and steam, covered, for 15 minutes.

3. Remove the lid and flip the rice over.  Continue steaming, covered, for 10 minutes, until rice is translucent and glossy.  Taste to make sure rice is completely cooked; it may take up to 10 minutes more.  Turn off heat.  Fluff the rice with a wooden spoon, then cover and let rest for 5 minutes.

4. While the rice cooks, put the coconut milk, sugar and salt in a small saucepan over low heat.  Cook, stirring, just until the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.

5. Put the warm rice in a serving bowl.  Pour the coconut milk mixture over the rice and stir well.  Leave for 10 minutes to let absorb, then stir in the coconut cream.  Serve warm or at room temperature with mango slices.

For the dough:

•  2 1/2 cups lukewarm water (if you have a thermometer go for 105-115°F)

• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

• 2 1/2 teaspoons honey

• 5 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 Tablespoons Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1 tablespoon fine sea salt

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the pan and finishing

• Flaky salt for finishing 

For the brine:

 1 1/2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt 

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir together water, yeast, and honey to dissolve.  In a very large bowl or dough container, whisk flour and salt together to combine and then add yeast mixture and olive oil.  Stir with a rubber spatula until all the flour is incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave out at room temperature to ferment for 12-14 hours until at least double in volume.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons oil evenly onto a 18-by-13 inch rimmed baking sheet.  When dough is ready, use a spatula or your hand to release it from the sides of the bowl and pour it out onto the pan.  Pour and additional 2 tablespoons of olive oil over dough and gently spread across.  Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward, taking care not to tear it.  The dough will shrink a bit, so repeat stetching one or twice over the course of 30 minutes to ensure dough remains stretched.

Dimple the dough by pressing the pads of your first three fingers in at an angle.  Make the brine by stirring together salt and water until salt is dissolved. Pour the brine over the dough to fill dimples.  Proof focaccia for 45 minutes until the dough is light and bubbly.

Thirty minutes into this final proof, adjust the rack to the center position and preheat oven to 450°F.  If you have a baking stone, place it on rack.  Otherwise, invert another sturdy  baking sheet and place it on the rack.  Allow to preheat with the oven until very hot before proceeding with baking.

Sprinkle focaccia with flaky salt.  Bake for 25-30 minutes directly on top of stone or inverted pan until the bottom crust is crip and golden brown when checked with a metal spatula.  To finish browning top crust, place focaccia on upper rack and bake for 5-7 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and brush or douse with 2-3 tablespoons oil over the whole surface (don't worry if the olive oil pool in the dimples, it will absorb as it sits).  Let cool for 5 minutes, then release focaccia from pan with metal spatula and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Or preferably, cut it up right in the pan and eat it immediately!

Directions:

Use a mortar and pestle to pound and grind the pine nuts to a fine paste (no distinct pieces should be visible).  Add the garlic and pound until smooth and integrated.

If the basil leaves are large, use a knife to cut them down to size a bit.  Add basil to pine nuts along with a pinch of salt, which will help break down the leaves.  Continue pounding and grinding until the basil breaks down completely, about seven minutes or more depending on how tender or tough your basil leaves are.  Pound, pound, pound! Once the nuts and basil combine into a thick green paste, transfer it to a bowl and stir in the parmesean, pecorino and oil.  Taste and add salt as needed.

Note:  If your mortar is small, you may need to pound the basil in batches.  Pesto can also be made in a food processor (but how much fun is that?) and in the unlikely instance there are leftovers,  pesto can be covered with olive oil and refrigerated for up to two days.  

Directions:

1.  For this recipe it's important to use Japanese short or medium grain white rice, sometimes called sushi rice.  Brown or long grain rice will not work.  Cook the rice according to the package directions along with the salt.  While the rice is cooking bring the soy sauce and mirin to a boil over a low heat until it's reduced by about half.  Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.

2. When the rice is done and cooled just a bit (it should still be quite hot), cut off a square of plastic wrap and pile 1/4 cup of the cooked rice in the center.  Wrap the plastic around it and use your hands to press it together into a 1-inch thick triangle.  Make sure they are densely packed together so they won't fall apart on the grill.  Repeat with remaining rice.

3. Preheat the grill to medium.  We used a cast iron griddle on a camp stove instead of a grill.

4. Use a pastry brush to baste 1 side of the rice balls with the butter mixture and put them on the grill, buttered side down.  Let them grill until browned and crisp on 1 side (about 3-5 minutes) then brush the tops of the rice balls with the butter mixture.  Flip them over and grill until the second side is crisp.  Transfer the rice balls to a serving platter.  Brush again with the butter mixture and serve.

*Note* Are you wondering how I got my rice balls to look so perfect?  I am a big cheater!  I have a plastic rice ball mold given to me by a Japanese friend.  You could probably find one for yourself at a Japanese grocery store once we are venturing out again.  But don't let that stop you from making some now, no matter the shape they will be delicious.

Directions:

1.  Place the avocado in a bowl and mash until mostly smooth.

2.  Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Serve immediately.

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 ℉.  Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.

2. Scatter the butter on top of the dry ingredients, and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with pea sized bits of butter.

3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to clump together.

4. Sprinkle a work surface with some flour.  Dump the shaggy dough onto it and gently press it into a rough, thick oval.

5. Using a floured biscuit cutter or a glass, cut out as many biscuits as possible and place them on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart.  Gather up the scraps, gently press together, and cut out more biscuits.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until puffed and browned.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:  

Bread:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray (we used coconut)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp finely grated ginger (from about one 3" piece fresh ginger)

1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp sugar

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Maple Butter

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3/4 tsp flaky sea salt, plus more for serving