SCONES MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER.
I never cease to be inspired by the food photography on this blog. Truly! Julie makes the most amazing food and takes the most beautiful pictures - and her recent recipe for Vegan Blood Orange//Chocolate Chip Scones was no exception. BUT - it wasn't the gorgeous images of juicy citrus and steaming cups of coffee that urged me to make my own scones. It was the words accompanying the post - about living a life in limbo, about getting in a February funk, about the terrible sadness and stress that can come with waiting. Jesse and I can so relate to her feelings of limbo. It can be difficult to really feel joy and peace in your life when you are waiting for a big change, for a big a move, for something. I love that Julie's response to the chaos and madness during a time like this is FOOD. The kitchen. Slowing down and being still and gathering your family.And so, in solidarity with Julie, I made some blood orange and chocolate chip scones (mine were not vegan). I would encourage anyone else out there who may be feeling the "February winter blues" to do the same.- Hannah.
*Julie is also the face behind the lovely magazine Seasoned. If you like the sound of this recipe, you should check it out!
DIY INDIAN FOOD.
After our recent Valentines Day lunch, I have been craving Indian food constantly. We got some good advice on cookbooks and are planning on purchasing Julie Sahni's - but until then, I set out on my own to experiment in making my first naan and tikka masala. As always, I improvised quite a bit, but everything turned out so delicious. I was able to throw the naan together quite quickly by using baking powder instead of yeast. I plan on making the bread traditionally with the yeast next time, but it's nice knowing it can be made last minute if you are lacking the 3 hours of prep time.We have some aspirations of trying to grow some crazy Indian herbs and spices in our incredibly hot high tunnel. How amazing would it be to have local CUMIN!?Here are some photos from our meal, with the naan recipe following.- Hannah.
easy -no yeast- garlic naan
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of all-purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons of butter (melted, for brushing on top)
- 1 cup of plain yogurt
- 1 cup of warm milk or cream
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions:Combine all of your DRY ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) in one bowl and all of your WET ingredients (yogurt, milk, honey, oil) in another bowl. Let these sit out for about 30 minutes of so.Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring together with a wooden spoon until well combined (a big dough ball has formed). Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, adding flour as it starts to stick to your fingers. The dough should become smooth and somewhat stretchy, like a pizza dough. Work the dough into a ball and let it sit, covered, for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 500°.Tear off walnut-sized balls of dough and use your hands to stretch them into thin ovals, placing them on foil-lined baking trays. Sprinkle minced garlic on the top and press it into the dough with your hands.Bake for 5 minutes on the top rack, and then turn the broiler on HIGH for barely a minute, to get the little puffed places of the naan to crisp. After you remove the tray from the oven, brush with melted butter.I served mine with basmati rice, lentils, and tikka masala with potatoes and chickpeas. (I can also share the masala recipe if anyone wants it!)
//UPDATE//
As requested, here is the tikka masala recipe (that is probably not very accurate - it is incredibly improvised and mostly made up, per usual).
tikka masala with potatoes and chickpeas
Ingredients:
- 3 med/large potatoes
- 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 cup of plain yogurt
- 4 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ginger (minced)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 1 jalepeno pepper (minced)
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 8 oz of tomato paste (or sauce)
- 1 cup cream
- salt
- fresh cilantro
Dice potatoes and boil until they are just soft enough to stick a fork in (not quite mashed potato soft). Drain and let cool.Mix yogurt, 2 tsp of cumin, ginger, cinnamon, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and 2 tsp of salt in a large bowl. Stir in the potatoes and let this mixture marinate for 1 hour.Melt butter and coconut oil in a large skillet. Saute garlic (and maybe a jalepeno if you like spicy food!) for a few minutes over medium heat. Add in the tomato and cream, seasoning with the remaining 2 tsp of cumin, paprika, and a bit of salt. Let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes, or until it thickens.Add in the potato mixture and chickpeas, stirring into the sauce and continue cooking on low for 10 minutes.Garnish with cilantro and enjoy! It should basically be a big wonderful mushy mess - served over basmati rice and lentils, and scooped up with huge chunks of your homemade naan!
VALENTINES LUNCH.
Jesse and I went a little bit over the top last year, for our first Valentines Day together. We were still living with my parents, going through a kind of rough time with the first farm - in fact, we were so stressed about it, the next morning we randomly hopped in the car and drove off to New York City! ANYWAY - we are in a much, much different place this year. And since both of us had to work last night, we decided to have a simple little lunch date. We have become rather fond of doing a "lunch" for special occasions, because it is usually much cheaper, there is less pressure to go somewhere fancy, and we end up having a lot more fun. We went to Woodlands, probably our favorite restaurant in Nashville if we are being honest. Indian vegetarian buffet. What could be better? We are hoping to do a lot more Indian cooking this year, especially when we have our wood stove up and running....sounds perfect for lots of lentils and rice and curries. We are on the lookout for a good Indian food cookbook - any recommendations?- Hannah.
TREE JUICE.
Have you ever had a glass of maple sap as it's being boiled down into syrup? It's a profound experience, perhaps even life changing––like an earthy sweet tea. When I went back to the farm this week, the Smiths were boiling down their sap––follow their experience here!––and let me have a taste. Now I want it every day with everything.I feel there are a lot of possibilities with sap, and with trees: wines, beers, medicines, syrups. In fact, recently, a friend sent us some hickory syrup (made from the nuts, husks and bark of a hickory tree) and some crabapple jelly. They're wonderful. We've put them on bread and on biscuits and (hopefully soon) pancakes.Anyone have any other good tree/sap recipes? We're into it!- Jesse.