Cinnamon - October 2010

Diva: Aven

Drinks:  Erin
Glogg

2 bottles red wine
2 oz dried orange zest
2 oz cinnamon sticks
20 whole cardamom seeds
25 whole cloves
1 pound blanched almonds
1 pound raisins
1 pound sugar cubes
5 fluid ounces brandy

Pour wine into a large pot.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Wrap orange zest, cinnamon sticks, cardamom and cloves in cheesecloth, tie with kitchen string and put into pot.  Let boil for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in almonds and raisins and continue to boil for 15 more minutes.  Remove from heat. 

Place a wire grill over the pot and cover with sugar cubes.  Slowly pour on brandy, making sure to completely saturate the sugar.  Light sugar with a match and let it flame.   When sugar has melted, cover pot with lid to extinguish flame.

Stir and remove spice bag.  Serve hot in cups with a few almonds and raisins.

Erin’s Note: Don’t add as many raisins/nuts, definitely take the spice bag out prior to flaming the brandied sugar, and don’t add as much sugar as it calls for

(From allrecipes.com)

Appetizer:  Mariah
Crostini with Roasted Garlic, Goat Cheese and Apple Chutney

1 c (packed) golden brown sugar
¾ c rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ tsp minced peeled fresh ginger
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
1 cinnamon stick
1 ½ pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into -inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 c golden raisins
1 French-bread baguette, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices
Olive oil
Roasted Garlic
12 ounces soft fresh goat cheese room temperature

Stir sugar and vinegar in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Add next 4 ingredients and simmer until mixture is syrupy and reduced to 1/2 cup, about 8 minutes. Mix in apples and raisins. Increase heat to high and boil until apples are tender, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. (Chutney can be made 3 days ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Arrange baguette slices on baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake until golden and crisp, about 8 minutes. Spread each toast with roasted garlic; top with goat cheese and chutney.

(Adapted from Bon Appétit October 1999)


Salad:  Aven
Fall Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

Mixed Greens (lettuce, mizuna, arugula)
1 Pear, sliced thin
1 Fennel Bulb, sliced very thin

¼  pound dry Gouda, grated 


Toss greens, top with pears, fennel, cheese, and dressing



Cinnamon Vinaigrette



¼ c white balsamic vinegar

¼ c olive oil

1 T lemon juice
2 T agave syrup
½ tsp cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cardamom
¼ tsp cayenne

Side Dish:  Colleen
Corn on the Cob with Cinnamon Honey Butter



Place corn in pot with cold water.  Bring water to a boilover medium-high heat.  When water boils, corn is done.

Cinnamon Honey Butter



1.5 sticks of butter, softened
¼ c honey

1 tsp cinnamon



Whip butter, honey and cinnamon until smooth.



This butter recipe yields a large batch - enough for many ears of corn and leftovers for toast or rolls or anything else you'd like to eat buttery and sweet!

Entrée:  Sara
Cider Brined Pork Loin with Dijon-Brown Sugar Glaze served with Apple Compote

1 center cut half boneless pork loin (4.5-5.5 lbs)
4 c apple cider
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 c light brown sugar
3 T orange juice concentrate
1 T honey
2 tsp cinnamon

Whisk together the ingredients in a heated sauce pan, then allow the marinade to cool.
Take a gallon slide lock freezer bag and stick your pork loin inside it. Make sure you can zip it shut before you pour in any liquid. If necessary, cut the pork loin into two parts so that it fits in your freezer bag (or use two). Pour in the liquid, squeeze out the air and zip the bag shut. Refrigerate 2-3 hours.

Take the pork out of the refrigerator, pour out the marinade, pat the pork dry and let sit for 30 minutes.  At this time preheat the oven to 350.

Place the pork loin on a rack fat side up. Cook 25 minutes per pound and check with a meat thermometer.

At 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, glaze the top of the loin (see below).  When internal temperature reaches 155 degrees, pull it out, cover it with foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Glaze

1 ½ c light brown sugar, packed
2 T flour
2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 T cider vinegar

Heat the ingredients in a sauce pan and allow to cool (5 mins).

(From baorao.blogspot.com)

Lentil Loaf
3 ½ c water or vegetable broth
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
2 c pre-cooked rice
½ tsp salt
¼ c ketchup or barbecue sauce
½ tsp sage
½ tsp Italian seasoning

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large soup or stockpot, simmer the lentils in water or vegetable broth until cooked, about 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly then mash the lentils until they are half mashed.
Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until soft.
Combine the onions, garlic and olive oil with the mashed lentils and add the rice, salt, ketchup or barbecue sauce, sage, and Italian seasoning.
Gently press the mixture into a lightly greased loaf pan.  Drizzle a bit of extra ketchup on top if desired.

Bake for 1 hour.  Allow to cool slightly before serving, as this will help the lentil loaf to firm up.

(From about.com)

Apple Compote

2 c water
⅓ c sugar
½ vanilla bean, split in half
1 T Calvados or brandy
½ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground cloves
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
8 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cubed

In a large saucepan, combine the water, sugar, vanilla bean and seeds, Calvados, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt and bring to a boil. Boil gently until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the apples and return to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very tender and the mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and remove the vanilla bean pods. Let cool to room temperature before serving.  (The mixture will thicken as it cools.)

(From foodnetwork.com)

Dessert:  Tamara
Baked Pears with Cinnamon Soy Ice Cream and Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Points

Pears

6 pears, peeled, halved and cored
melted butter
1 T cinnamon
¼ c brown sugar

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat and stir in cinnamon and sugar.  Baste both sides of pears with butter mixture.  Bake in baking dish, 350 degrees until desired tenderness.

Cinnamon Soy Ice Cream

2 c vanilla soy creamer (or any non-dairy milk)
2 c vanilla soy milk (or any non-dairy milk)
¾ c sugar
2 T arrowroot
2 T cinnamon


Mix 1/4 cup of soy milk with the 2 tablespoons of arrowroot and set aside.
Mix the soy creamer, soy milk, and sugar together in a saucepan. When the mixture has just started to boil, take off the heat and stir in the arrowroot slurry. This should immediately cause the liquid to thicken (not a lot, but a noticeable amount; it will be thicker when it cools).  Mix in cinnamon.

Set the ice cream mixture aside to cool. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

(Adapted from veganicecream.blogspot.com)

Cinnamon Tortilla Points

2 whole wheat flour tortillas
cinnamon
sugar
spray oil

Lightly spray tortillas with oil on both sides.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake in oven at 350 until desired crispiness.

Serve pears with ice cream on top and a tortilla point.

Lottery:  Ashley

Locavore - September 2010

Diva:  Ashley

Drinks:  Stacey

Palouse Falls Brewery:  Idaho Gold Ale and Steptoe Stout

Local Apple Cider mixed with ginger ale.

Appetizer:  Lovina
Palouse Harvest Hummus

2 c raw garbanzo beans (Genessee, ID -- 16 miles)
1 c organic pumpkin seeds (central Oregon -- 250 miles)
grapeseed oil
salt
pepper
4 heads garlic (from local CSA - grown in Moscow)
1 large lemon
olive oil
fresh parsley (from my backyard herb garden)

To prepare the garbanzo beans, add the dried beans to a pot and fill with water to at least a few inches above the beans. Place pot in fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. After the beans have soaked, drain in a colander. Refill the pot with fresh water to at least a few inches above the beans. Generously salt the water and bring to a boil. Lower the temp, allowing the beans to simmer for about an hour. Drain cooked beans in colander.

To roast the garlic, place 4 heads of garlic on tin foil and drizzle with olive oil. Tightly enclose the garlic in foil and bake in toaster oven for 30 minutes or until garlic is softened and the outer surface of the garlic is lightly caramelized. Set aside to cool.

To prepare the pumpkin seed tahini, place about 1 cup pumpkin seeds into a food processor bowl. Process seeds for about 1-2 minutes until a fine grain is obtained. Slowly drizzle about 1-2 Tbsp grapeseed oil in using the feeder slot. Process until a smooth paste is obtained.  Salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare the hummus, place cooked garbanzo beans into food processor bowl. Add roasted garlic and tahini. Squeeze in juice of one lemon.  Add pinch salt and pepper. Process and add olive oil until the desired consistency is obtained. Lastly, add in rough chopped parsley and pulse to mix together all ingredients. Transfer to bowl and serve with Lavash Crackers with Pumpkins Seeds (recipe below).

Lavash Crackers with Pumpkin Seeds

1 ½ c unbleached bread flour (Harrington, WA -- 101 mi)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp instant yeast
1 T honey (Princeton, ID -- 22 miles)
1 T canola oil
⅓ to ½ c water, room temp
½ c organic pumpkin seeds, finely chopped (central Oregon -- 250 mi)

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, yeast, honey, oil, and enough water to bring everything together in a ball. Sprinkle the counter with flour and transfer the dough from the bowl. Knead for several minutes until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.  You'll know you have the right consistency when the dough becomes satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Grease a bowl and transfer the dough, rolling it around to get an even coat of oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temp for 1 1/2 hours or until the dough doubles in size. After the dough has risen, transfer it to a lightly greased counter surface. Using your hands, press the dough into a square and dust lightly with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a paper-thin sheet (roughly 15 by 12 inches). You should periodically lift the dough from the counter and allow it to relax to get the desired thickness. Cover the dough with a towel or plastic while it relaxes. When you get the dough to the desired thickness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and carefully transfer the dough to the sheet. Snip off the excess overlap with scissors.

Preheat the over to 350 and place the rack in the center of the oven.  Mist the dough with water and sprinkly a covering of finely chopped pumpkin seeds. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough diagonally, creating unique shapes of crackers. There is no need to separate the pieces as they will do so on their own while baking. Alternatively, you can leave the dough entire then break into shards after baking. Bake dough for 15 to 20 minutes or until the dough has evenly browned on top. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the crackers to cool for 10 minutes.

If crackers are made in advance, store them in a paper bag for up to 24 hours.

(adapted from the "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of
Extraordinary Bread" by Peter Reinhart, 2001)

Salad:  Tamara
Lentil Salad with Roasted Beets and Carrots

½ dozen small beets, peeled and cubed
salt
cumin
nutmeg
8-12 carrots (Moscow, ID, GT Farms)
2 c cooked green lentils (the Palouse, Lentil Capitol of the World!)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
3 T oil
salt, pepper
1 T toasted fennel seeds
Lettuce (Santa, ID)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place beets in a baking dish and sprinkle with salt, cumin and nutmeg.  Roast for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Add carrots, sprinkled with salt, after the first 15 minutes.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Combine lemon juice, zest, oil, salt and pepper to taste toasted fennel seeds and mix well.  Serve lentils, beets and carrots over a bed of lettuce and drizzle with dressing. 

Side Dish:  Aven
Roasted Ratatouille Stacks

Eggplant 

Tomato

Bell Pepper

Zucchini

Onion

Garlic

Basil 
Oregano
some form of alcohol

some form of vinegar



My vegetables and herbs came from Affinity Farm, Backyard Harvest and my own garden.  I used homebrewed mead and the juice from some pickled garlic scapes I made this spring - both of which had many not local ingredients (vinegar, salt, yeast, etc.).  However, I didn't use any salt or other spices in the dish and I thought it tasted great.


Mix alcohol and vinegar with finely diced herbs and garlic; this is your marinade for the veggies.  Cut veggies into round slabs, preferably all the vegetables are about the same diameter.  Marinate the eggplant, zucchini, and onion for an hour or so.  Stack the veggies in a casserole or roasting pan with one of each veggie in each stack pouring a little marinade between each, order doesn't really matter but the tomato will end up the softest so it should go on top.  Extra garlic cloves can be sprinkled on and around the stacks.


Bake at 400, covered for about 45 minutes and uncovered for about 15 minutes or until everything is soft.

Entrée:  Mariah
Walnut Crusted Salmon

1 Onion
2 T butter
3 T Honey
1 clove garlic – spicy variety
2 tsp savory, dried
dash Salt/Pepper
⅓ c walnuts, ground (from a friend’s tree in Riggins)
Half a Salmon Fillet (caught in Riggins)

Sauté onions and butter until onions are very soft add ½ cup of water, let simmer for 15 plus minutes add honey and garlic and dash of salt/pepper. Reduced to mostly onions.  Let simmer another 10 minutes.  Put salmon (tomato steaks) in a foiled baking dish.  Check mixture, it should have a slightly watery consistency, if not add 2-3 Tbsp of water and let simmer for 30s-1min for flavors to meld.  Pour mixture over salmon (tomatoes) keeping onions on top, let mixture cover bottom of pan. Salmon should not be immersed in water, cover and put salmon in fridge for a couple hours.  Mix finely chopped walnuts, a pinch of savory, salt and pepper -- store walnut mixture in fridge.  Preheat oven to 400 F. before putting salmon into oven pack walnut mixture on top of salmon - leaving onions in place.  Bake uncovered about 10mins per inch of thickness of salmon at widest part or until salmon flakes apart.

Vegetarian option is made with beefsteak tomato “steaks” (from Moscow Farmers’ Market); cut toms into thick slices, prepare as Salmon is prepared and bake for approximately 6 minutes.

(adapted from sparkpeople.com)

Dessert:  Ashley
Blackberry Clafoutis 


½ c all-purpose flour (WSU wheat lab)
¼ c plus 2 T sugar
salt
3 large eggs (from my neighbor)

3 T unsalted butter, melted
finely grated orange peel

¼ c plus 2 T milk (from Spokane's Family Farm)
3 cups blackberries (from my garden)

confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 9-inch gratin dish.  In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt.  Whisk in the eggs, butter and orange zest until smooth.  Add the milk and whisk until light and very smooth; about 3 minutes.  Pour the batter into the gratin dish and top with the blackberries.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the clafoutis is set and golden.  Let cool slightly.  Dust with confectioners' sugar, cut into wedges and serve.

(adapted from Food and Wine April 2010)

Lottery:  Erin

L'Shana Tova!