Winter squash soup

We made our first winter squash soup of the year with the Sibley Squash that I picked up at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market this morning .  Our main purpose of going to the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market was to procure some Ayers Creek Farm heirloom beans but I couldn’t resist when I saw this beautiful squash at their stand while waiting in line to pay for my many bags of beans.  Several people even commented on my arms full of beans.  I overheard someone say “now there’s a bean lover”.  Guilty as charged, but I do have a good excuse in that we don’t live in Portland, right?

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Cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta

I couldn’t wait to make this when I first saw the photo of borlotti beans in tomato sauce over polenta in the Heirloom Beans cookbook by Steven Sando of Rancho Gordo.  You are probably wondering when we will get sick of beans.  We have made pot beans, and ham and bean soup over the last couple of weeks, and now cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta.  And we haven’t even told you about all of our bean meals….

Would you think I was crazy if I told you that beans have become one of my comfort foods?  Our cold, dreary Northwest winter weather has a way of making me want comfort food like soup and vegetable braises, and beans seem to make their way into these dishes quite often.  It’s hard to think of a better comfort food – they’re healthy, relatively low in calories, and they go in just about anything.

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Crustless quiche with winter squash, leeks, and prosciutto

Crustless quiche is one of my favorite go to breakfast dishes for company – it looks beautiful, tastes delicious, and it’s all done at once.  What’s not to love?  I developed this crustless quiche recipe a few years ago by experimenting with ingredients that go well together.  Quiche is really forgiving that way, which makes it really adaptable to eating seasonally and locally.  Our local or regional ingredients include eggs from Laughingstock Farms, delicata squash from our CSA, and cream from Organic Valley.

Besides fresh, free range eggs, and seasonal produce, the key to a crustless quiche or savory tart is Herbes de Provence.  We use the Herbes de Provence from Dean and Deluca, although it would be simple enough to make your own.  The herbs included in their mixture are savory, fennel, thyme, rosemary and lavender, with the fennel playing a leading role.

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Bolognese sauce

We were looking for an easy meal afterreturning from a long weekend in Bandon.  And I didn’t want to go to the grocery store, so pasta with bolognese sauce it was.  Typically bolognese sauce simmers for several hours, but I found a recipe in Cooks Illustrated last year that cuts the time way back (to about 30 minutes) and achieves similar results.  It makes a pretty big batch, so we freeze the leftovers for lasagna.  We used some of our home canned tomatoes and ground beef from Deck Family Farm to make it a local meal.

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Ham and bean soup

Staying with the bean theme, we made ham and bean soup for dinner.  Ham and bean soup has always been one of my favorite comfort meals.

My original intention was to make black-eyed pea soup for an pre-New Year’s Day good luck meal, but I couldn’t find any locally grown black-eyed peas, and opted for the Yankee version instead.  We used our recently purchased Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye beans, but you can use any white bean.  If you are trying to use local beans, Azure Standard carries several regionally grown white beans including their organic navy beans.  (Incidentally, they also carry black eyed peas that are grown in Moses Lake, WA)

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Pot beans

When we decided that we would eat as much locally grown food as possible, we started using mostly dried beans.  There are sources for some dried beans (mostly black beans) in the Willamette Valley, but that will hopefully be increasing with the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project that is focused on converting grass seed farmland into bean and grain production.  A larger variety of dried beans can be purchased from Azure Standard, which sources most of their beans from the Northwest.

Imagine my delight when I ran across Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in San Francisco a few years ago.  Rancho Gordo sells dozens of varieties of heirloom dried beans.  Since they aren’t local for us,  I only pick them up on trips to San Francisco.  (They do have a mail order option.)  On our unexpected stop in San Francisco this past weekend, we picked up 5 lbs. of beans, including 1 lb of Red Nightfall, which we used in this recipe.  Although pretty expensive at $5/lb, they are very high quality making the extra cost worth it.  They have an almost cult-like following in the Bay Area.  On the airplane, our rowmate noticed our stash of beans which prompted a discussion about our favorite bean recipes.  Who would have thought people could be so passionate about beans?

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Borscht

I have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make.  But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht.  Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it and it was delicious.  I think the color is what turned me off.  Its kind of a weird color for soup – it reminds me of the soup that Renee Zellweger makes in Bridget Jones Diary (instead of using standard kitchen string for the bouquet garni, she uses red string that turns the soup pink).

We had some roasted beets leftover from our roasted beet salad, plus potatoes and carrots from our CSA, and a head of savoy cabbage from our Eugene Local Foods order – a majority of the ingredients for borscht.  I bought some chicken thighs to add to the soup, but forgot about them – I bet they would be delicious.  

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Baked eggs with dungeness crab

Baked eggs, or eggs en cocotte, are a new dish for us.  For some reason, I avoided French egg dishes because I thought they would be overly complex or fussy.  Nothing could farther from reality with eggs en cocotte.  They also make an attractive presentation, so would be a great breakfast/brunch to serve to company.  The eggs are served in the their ramekins, hence, en cocotte.

The preparation couldn’t be simpler – butter the ramekins, add cream and other ingredients (like dungeness crab), add the egg, followed by cream and a dab of butter.  Put the ramekins in a water bath and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.  They can sit in the water bath for 15 minutes or so while you are finishing other dishes for your brunch.  An egg dish that is pretty and patient is a perfect brunch dish.

We used leftover crab dip in our variation, but  artichokes, mushrooms, minced ham and cheese would also be delicious.

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Amy’s crab dip

Another awesome recipe from my awesome sister-in-law, Amy.  It is week 2 of dungeness crab season and I returned to Newman’s to pick up 2 crabs for this delicious recipe.  Instead of shelling them by myself, I recruited Matt to help me after work on Friday.  He is a champion crab sheller (see exhibit below).  Last week, I shelled 3 crabs by myself and my hands about froze.  I digress.

It is really one of the best dishes you can bring to a holiday party – it’s delicious, it’s easy, and you can make it ahead of time.  A bonus is that the recipe  consists of almost all local ingredients, with the exception of the coconut milk, mayo, and curry powder.  We served it at our annual holiday cookie decorating party.  I assure you that if you show up with this at a holiday party, you will be asked for the recipe and invited back.

You can see the large pieces of crab in the finished dip – make sure you don’t break them up too much when you mix everything together.  They are such a treat sitting atop your melba toast.

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Roasted beet salad

Image from Tiny Farm Blog.

Unlike our President Elect, I love beets.  And this is my all-time favorite beet recipe.  I have tried others and always wish that I had just made this one.  If you haven’t tried beets in years or only know beets from salad bars – this is your recipe.

The beets are roasted, which is the easiest, least messy, and most tasty way to prepare beets (in my opinion, of course).  I like to wrap beets individually in foil – it reduces the mess, helps them stay juicy, and the peels slip right off when you roast them this way.  It does take a little longer, but worth the extra time especially since the oven does all the work.

I have used all types of beets in this recipe – red, golden, chiogga, and they all work equally great.  This is a great weekday meal because the prep-time is minimal.  You just have to allow for enough time for the beets to roast (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).  You can also make the recipe a day or two ahead  (except for combining the beets and greens).

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