Old Windmill Dairy

Edition 13; November 30, 2008

In this weeks Gourmet CSA bag:

Ross’ Garden Vine Ripened Tomatoes

1 Dozen Eggs from Estancia, NM

Pasta Divina Fresh Organic Pasta

Sunchokes

Fat Boy Coffee or New Mexico Tea Company Tea

2 Old Windmill Dairy Cheeses

Carrots

Radishes from Ross’ Garden

Au Gratin Potatoes with Goat Cheese

8 servings

Ingredients

·         2  teaspoons  butter      1  teaspoon  salt

·         3  garlic cloves, minced                        2  cups  2% reduced-fat milk

·         1  medium onion (about 5 1/2 ounces), thinly sliced

·         2 oz containers of Old Windmill Dairy Chevre

·         1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper

·         3  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 2/3 cup)

·         6  ounces  shredded sharp cheddar cheese (1 1/2 cups), divided

·         6  ounces  diced ham (about 1 1/4 cups)

·         3  pounds  peeled baking potatoes, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices

·         Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Combine milk, salt, Old Windmill Dairy chevre, pepper, and flour, stirring with a whisk. Add milk mixture to pan. Bring to a simmer; cook until slightly thick (about 2 minutes), stirring frequently. Add 4 ounces cheese and ham, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in potatoes.

Place the potato mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle potato mixture with remaining 2 ounces of cheese. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until lightly browned and potatoes are tender. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1072216

Food for Thought

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

Christopher Reeves

Try our new pumpkin pie flavored chevre. It is great spread on bagels, ginger snaps or sweet apples.

What is going on at the Farm?

Michael and I had a wonderful holiday. We actually had 3 days off thanks to our reliable farm hands. We visited family in Galveston Texas.

We have been busy in the Kitchen 3 new awesome chevre flavors. Try these savory and sweet combinations: Holy Chipotle, Holiday Delight and Pumpkin Pie

I had the most delicious Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes this Thanks Giving at Tammy Lobaugh’s House in Galveston Texas. If you are up for something new here is the recipe:

14 Oranges

8 Medium sized Sweet Potatoes

1 cup Heavy Cream

Cinnamon

Boil Sweet Potatoes until softly done. Peel Sweet Potatoes and mash with cream and cinnamon to taste approximately ½ tsp, then set aside. Cut oranges in half, juice then remove pulp leaving the half rind intact. Reserve freshly squeezed orange juice to add to the mashed sweet potatoes. Scoop the potatoe mixture into the orange halves. Place remaining potatoes in a 9×12 pan. Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. Serve piping hot with a dollop of whip cream.

http://www.emerils.com/recipe/5168/Brandy-and-Orange-Mashed-Sweet-Potatoes-in-Orange-Cups

Here is some information regarding the tuber –Sun Choke in this weeks box. The Sun Choke/Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called the sunroot or sunchoke or earth apple or topinambur, is a species of sunflower native to the eastern United States, from Maine west to North Dakota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.^[1] It is also cultivated widely across the temperate world for its tuber, which is used as a root vegetable.^[2]

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1.5–3 m tall. The leaves are opposite on the lower part of the stem, alternate higher up; the larger leaves on the lower stem are broad ovoid-acute and can be up to 30 cm long, the higher leaves smaller and narrower; they have a rough, hairy texture. The flowers are yellow, produced in flowerheads 5–10 cm diameter, with 10–20 ray florets, and are thought to smell like milk chocolate. The tubers are gnarly and uneven, typically 7.5–10 cm long and 3–5 cm thick, and vaguely resembling ginger root, with a crisp texture when raw; they vary in color from pale brown to white, red or purple.

Try this website for suggested Sunchoke recipes:

http://www.samcooks.com/relish/jerusalem_artichokes.htm

Respectfully

Dairyman Ed