Category: Farm Life

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Cassoulet

All of our students know that the culmination of the summers workshops is a giant cassoulet flavored with the creative work of many hands; butchery, charcuterie, garden work, planning and delight!(90 percent of the ingredients are grown here on Quillisascut Farm)

Last Thursday evening was the last workshop dinner and the cassoulet was voluptuous! Duck confit, garlic sausage, lamb shanks, white beans, fresh tomatoes, and herbs all topped with a generous crusting of bread crumbs.

Today I noticed this fabulous article, Cassoulet: The Quilt of Cooking, inspired by a Quillisascut  cassoulet. The meal is celebrated in Wisconsin and showcases a wealth of their regional farmers. Enjoy the story by Jessica Luhning

Here is Chef Karen Jurgensen’s recipe (you can also find this recipe in Chefs on the Farm Continue reading “Cassoulet”

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Everbearing Strawberries

The gift that keeps on giving.

We are enjoying a steady harvest of strawberries this summer. They are an instant treat, most of them are consumed fresh from a bowl, a few sliced on granola and topped with yogurt. The last batch we made strawberry sorbet and popsicles.

Here is our formula:

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Peas and Cheese

What do you do with the first of the seasons fresh peas?

We have been harvesting a few things from the garden; baby beets, turnips, carrots, even a few cucumbers, but for us peas are just coming on. It is the second week of July, and the thermometer is reading 98F. The first picking was on Tuesday, enough for dinner and a bag blanched for the freezer.

My Mom used to make creamed new potatoes and peas. They seemed so fresh, tasting of the earth and sun. We wanted something a little lighter, a creamy hot-dish sounded too heavy, so we settled on one of our old favorites “Matter Paneer” (Peas and Cheese)

There were a couple tubs of firm ricotta in the walk-in, so we used that for the paneer.
The ricotta was made with apple cider vinegar and paneer is traditionally made with lemon juice. I believe the firm whole goats milk ricotta works fine in this recipe. Continue reading “Peas and Cheese”

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Strawberry Preserves

A first for our farm is a strawberry patch large enough to fill our desire for fresh fruit plus give us berries for processing. A few have been frozen whole for later use, we have had some as the lead role in spring desserts, and combined another harvest with rhubarb for jam, but now there is enough to make a batch of purely strawberry preserves.

I have been pondering flavors to add; you know that surprise addition that will tease the tongue. Champagne, sage flowers, spearmint, elderberry flowers, or vanilla, are all ideas that have come to mind. But none of them sound as intriguing as leaving them single. Simply strawberry coming at the tongue, straightforward, the full flavor of ripe June fruit, a little sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice and nothing more. That is how I am going to play it this time. Continue reading “Strawberry Preserves”