During the holidays, I always look forward to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a Smith Family Christmas. The holiday traditions of my family have been carried throughout the years, and I love passing our family stories and recipes on to my nieces and nephews. This year, though, I’m hoping to create a new tradition around the dinner table with an alternative to our typical recipes- this year, I’m making Pekin Duck.

Pekin Duck is one of my favorite “sounds fancy, cooks easy” main dishes, and when paired with a citrus glaze it is a beautiful and delicious meal with a holiday twist. Long Island Ducks are what we know as “Pekin.” They were bred in China and in 1873, exported to Long Island. It’s the most common duck meat consumed in the U.S. and in my opinion, the tastiest. We tend to rely on the holiday meal staples, but I think trying out a different bird this year will be a hit and hopefully start a tradition of trying new recipes each holiday.

Pekin Duck with Mandarin Sauce

I find that it just takes one recipe to bridge the gap between the adult and kid’s table, though. Desserts are always a good go-to, but last year I tried fresh Brussels sprouts. I know what you’re thinking- “my kids would never eat Brussels sprouts!” But try this recipe and I bet you’ll be surprised just how many members of your family ask for seconds.

Tarragon Pimiento Brussels Sprouts

Do you want more information on heritage apples? Check out my column in this month’s AY Magazine. Click here to read it online.

This time of year sends my senses into a whirlwind. I love how so many of the sights, sounds and smells around me proudly announce autumn’s arrival. Heritage apples are the perfect example- come November, their colors are bright, their taste is crisp and fresh, and their smell… well, there is nothing better than the smell of baking apples wafting through the house.

The week leading up to Thanksgiving is one in which I don’t spend much time cooking, but I couldn’t help throwing together this 5-ingredient Apple Tart Tatin recipe yesterday. It is quick and easy to make, and I might even add it to the Thanksgiving menu because it certainly gets me in the mood for the holidays.

Ingredients

1 pre-made piecrust

1/2 cup sugar in the raw

6 apples, peeled cored and quartered

7 ounces butter

3/4 cup sugar

Instructions

In a heavy, oven safe, 9-inch skillet combine 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup sugar in the raw with 7 ounces of butter. Cook over a medium high heat until amber in color and brown around the edges. This should take about 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat and carefully circle the apple wedges around the skillet positioning them so they all face in the same direction. Place the apples as tightly together as possible because they will shrink during cooking.

Top the apples with a round pie crust that overlaps the skillet by about 1/2 inch all around. Fold the crust overlap toward the center. Push the edge of the pie crust down into the skillet with a rubber spatula or something similar to seal all the apple goodness inside. Cut 3 or 4 vent holes in the top of the crust.

Bake in the pre-heated 350 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the skillet from the oven and cool. Place a dish at least 1-inch larger in diameter than the skillet on top of the skillet. Carefully flip the tart to where the pie crust is now on the bottom with the plate.

We throw that term “local” around loosely, but what does it really mean?

“Food you love from people you know- that’s really what it’s about. It’s more than getting yourself full, it’s a connection,” said Stephanie Hamling, a jack-of-all-trades at North Little Rock’s Argenta Market.

The Argenta Market is a grocery and deli in the downtown community of Argenta that draws clientele and goods, from the adjacent Saturday farmer’s market. Hamling said there’s a good “synergy” between the two – Argenta Market offers the farmers free coffee, and when the farmer’s market ends they’ll come in to see what we need for the upcoming week in produce, jams, cheese, and sauces.

“We have over 100 local vendors, and they make this a destination spot,” Hamling said. She works on the website, manages customer service, and sources local products, but while she was originally a graphic artist, it’s the relationship with the customers that is her real concern. She said that she knows 75% of the people who walk through the front door, and while I was having lunch from the deli I saw her walk up to a man and hand him a gift certificate because she “appreciates him always coming to visit them.”

That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about community. But there’s more to it than that.

Loblolly Creamery is soda fountain a few blocks from our office. The digital team takes a walk over there at least once a week – it’s their “spot”, so to speak. For Sally Mengel, co-owner of the artisan ice cream shop, a local business is one that supports its community.

“We do that by buying all local ingredients and making everything from scratch,” the artisan ice cream maker said.

While we talked about their small-batch ice creams and traditional Arkansas ingredients, Sally said hi to a few customers by name, and knew what a couple of them were going to order.

“It makes it more enjoyable – you know who you’re serving, you get to know people. We’re creating this dialogue- we’re not a traditional soda fountain, sometimes we don’t even have vanilla. We’re kind of opening people’s perceptions and palettes… All with local ingredients.”

I like to buy Arkansas ingredients for a lot of reasons – I’m from Arkansas, want to support my fellow farmers and have those dollars flowing back into my state’s economy. Like Jack Sundell, from The Root Café, said, “whether its food or a hammer from a hardware store, if you seek out local suppliers you’re supporting all that local business, a place that has its own personality, and your community on the whole.”

But Brandon Brown, owner of Hillcrest Artisan Meats (“H.A.M.”), noted that “local” is kind of a trendy topic, and one that doesn’t always work for a business model.

“There’s a big difference between local food and good local food,” he said. “I think that people fall into a trap of ‘just because it’s local it’s great.’ There’s a lot of local stuff that’s not great.”

While we sat in the in the charcuterie, rich aromas hanging in the air, Brown pointed out the pictures adorning the wall – pictures from the farms where they source their meat, both in Arkansas and around it. He and his wife moved to Arkansas from Oregon, and saw an immediate need for a free-range, grass-fed meat source and started to befriend farmers, some of whom are in those photos.

“We were really disappointed in the food that’s available in Little Rock – so we opened this place out of selfishness and necessity!” he said with a laugh.

And that’s why he, and others, see the local food movement as an opportunity to educate.

“People expect to come here and have every vegetable or egg to be local. I try to explain that we don’t have local milk because our last local dairy closed a few years ago or that you just can’t grow avocados in Arkansas, so we have to source them from somewhere else,” Hamling said about Argenta Market. “I think we’re educators more than anything else.”

Part of that education means explaining that the price of high-quality, locally grown food is worth the extra cash.

Brown told a story of a first time customer coming in to pick up a whole chicken. When Brown rang his total up- about $20 for just the bird- the man was appalled by the price, but bought it anyway. By the next afternoon, the customer had posted to HAM’s Facebook page an essay about just how wonderful that chicken was and how he’d never buy another commercial chicken again.

“It’s really expensive to grow meat well, without hormones. What we buy it for reflects that, what we sell it for has to reflect that,” Hamling said.

Sundell says that there’s no comparison between these high-quality local foods and industrial products – people want good taste and good health.

“People are interesting in eating healthier. You’re eating local food closer to the time it was picked, so it just has more nutritional value than a tomato that was picked two weeks ago, shipped green, & sprayed with ethylene gas to ripen. It looks like a tomato, but it doesn’t taste like a tomato,” Sundell said. “Another big issue is transparency. You hear about food borne illnesses and outbreaks – that type of thing rarely happens when you’re dealing with a local food system because production isn’t so industrialized.”

And less industrialization means better tasting food.

“It doesn’t take a chef or a knowledgeable food critic to taste the difference between an Arkansas tomato and a store-bought tomato. There’s no comparison.” Sundell said.

When I go to the farmer’s market, I see a mixed bag of people both selling and shopping – young, old, first-time farmers, third-generation land owners. But eating local food isn’t a new idea.

“Before there was convenience food and all these packaged goods, people grew their own food and had to buy from farmers… But now it’s becoming more valued,” Mengel said.

Hamling echoed that sentiment.

“In generations past everybody was trying to get off the farm, but now I think people are looking for community and connection where they can get it, like going back to the land, and we want to support that.”

Like I said, I love the community aspect of my home state. We support our farmers, and there is a growing movement of people who want to make that more common. I think local food and the fellowship it creates is a powerful movement, but I couldn’t say it better than Jack Sundell does.

“I don’t see it as something that’s a passing fad. With local food, it’s something that builds community so naturally and it’s something that people really crave and haven’t had access to. When they come together over good food, I think they get something special that you can’t just find anywhere.”

My social media coordinator Anna Claire really cares about food systems- in fact, that’s one of the reasons we get along best. But she didn’t grow up on a farm, in fact she just started gardening this year. During one of our discussions I suggested she take advantage of a local resource – Heifer Ranch, a division of Heifer International. Located just outside of town, it’s a great place to learn about community supported agriculture and pick up a few pointers for her garden. I thought you might be interested in hearing about it too.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a combination of knowing your farmer, growing your own, and going to a farmer’s market… all in one. At its most basic level, a CSA allows a farmer to offer a certain number of “shares” to the public and in return for buying that share, shareholders receive a box of vegetables (or flowers, eggs, bread, or whatever else was produced at the farm that week) each week throughout the farming season.

The model has taken hold across the nation- tens of thousands of families hold shares in CSAs and in some areas there aren’t enough farms to support the demand. It just so happens that Heifer Ranch has a one acre vegetable garden that serves a CSA of about 60 members that each pay $350 a season, or about $20 a week for a basket of approximately 10 items. Some weeks you’ll get more – when Anna Claire visited the CSA drop-off, shareholders were getting 12 items and a $40 value- and some weeks you’ll get less. But each week you know that you’re getting fresh, typically organic produce because you know your farmer and you know your farm.

And that’s not the only advantage- because you receive only fruits and vegetables that are in season, you get exposed to new vegetables and ways of cooking. And the farmer benefits just as much as the consumer – instead of spending a couple of days a week driving to and sitting at a market just hoping that someone will stop in and buy something, they spend time marketing their food earlier in the season so that when the longer days in the field begin, they don’t have to worry about cash flow because the food is already purchased. Therefore, you’re supporting local business, too.

On the flip side, there is a sense of “shared risk” when it comes to CSAs. When a shareholder buys in, they’re agreeing to accept whatever food is offered. Last year, the Heifer CSA had a tough spell when a flash flood left them cabbage-less after months of tending the garden. CSA baskets for consumers were lighter for the next couple of weeks. This year, there seems to be an endless supply of broccoli, so consumers may be getting more of one thing than they like. But there is a sense of community between the members and the farmers that springs from that shared risk.

Heifer International is a global non-profit that I plan to write more about in the future, but the Ranch itself is what I find most fascinating. The average age of American farmers is 57, but to visit Heifer Ranch it’s easy to see that the face of agriculture is changing. A young man named Ryan heads up the CSA and has two full-time volunteers, Brittany and Kenny. They both are giving a year of unpaid service to learn – and teach – about farming. One of the main projects at the Ranch is to offer sustainable agriculture training to farmers from impoverished areas in the US. Right now, the focus is on Hughes, a one-diner town in the Arkansas Delta. The practices that Heifer is teaching this community were learned and perfected on the Ranch.

Another major task involves teaching young students about food and farming. Groups of students on field trips or summer programs will visit the farm almost every day and part of their visit gets the students’ hands busy harvesting beans or other easy-to-pick items. While the extra help is valued, Brittany, Kenny and Ryan also get the chance to share their farming experiences and teach an even younger generation about knowing where their food comes from. For the rest of their day, Brittany, Kenny and Ryan spend long days in the hot Arkansas summers working to produce healthy crops for the CSA and learn enough to run their own farms, and maybe CSAs, someday soon.

Half of Heifer’s shareholders are new this year, so it’s likely that they’re learning about or getting involved with a CSA for the first time. One new share holder got involved because a close friend swore by it, and now looks forward to trying a new recipe with seasonal vegetables each week. Another woman loves the convenience of the CSA, but also loves that she knows her farmers and is supporting a good cause. It may not be the best option for everyone, but I think a CSA is a great way to support a local food culture and eat well throughout the year.

One of my favorite places in the world is a town on a small island off the coast of Maine called Stonington. The ferny woods skirting the edge of the water, the rumble of lobster boats, foggy mornings and intensely sunny afternoons are just a few of the things I love about it. Part of my heart is always there, especially in summer when it’s 100+ degrees here and delightfully cool in Stonington.

One of my favorite people on the island is Kyra Alex, exceptional quilter, owner of Lily’s Café, chef, and cookbook author. Her brownies are so good I want to rub them in my hair! They are the perfect dessert for July 4th festivities (so good with homemade vanilla ice cream) and Kyra was kind enough to send me the recipe along with a grilled “fried” chicken.

Even though I now have the know-how to make her brownies myself they’ll never be as good as Kyra’s. They are best eaten sitting in the dining room at Lily’s in the company of the cook.

If you want to know more about Kyra visit her blog LilysHouseStonington.BlogSpot.com. While you are there, be sure to order one of her cookbooks.

Hello all and thank you so much for having me here. I am writing this from beautiful Stonington, an island off the mid-coast of Maine. I have been taking a year of pause from my busy café – Lily’s – where I had the pleasure of meeting Allen through mutual friends, oh so many years ago. As special as he makes us all feel, I know in my heart that it was my brownies that kept him coming back in, year after year.

I am happy to share the recipe for these rich chocolate delights with you, along with something  else I just came up with that has made my summer entertaining easy peasy:

Fried chicken – summer style! Shedding its flour and oil coat for a crispy, charred on the grill look. Still moist and tender on the inside with that familiar spicy undertone, yet, light and easy, just like summer should be. A honey mustard dipping sauce really puts a hat on this beauty.

GRILLED “FRIED” CHICKEN
1 chicken approximately 3-4 lbs, cut into 8 pieces

Rub:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4-3/4 teaspoon cayenne (depends on how spicy you like it)
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion

Marinate
Mix all rub ingredients in a small bowl. Season chicken all over with rub mixture and place in a medium bowl, cover and chill overnight. Take chicken from fridge about an hour before you are ready to grill it to bring it to room temperature.

Grill
The key to cooking the chicken on a charcoal grill is to use indirect heat. Light your coals and pile them to one side. When the coals are white and red hot place the chicken pieces directly over the fire until you get nice grill marks on each piece, moving them over to the cooler non charcoal side as you achieve this. It should only take a few minutes for each piece, so don’t leave them unattended or you will burn your chicken.

Once all the chicken is chargrilled, arrange the pieces so they are all skin side up, cover completely with the grill lid, leaving the vent holes closed and cook until the meat is firm to the touch and the juices run clear, or until the breast meat registers 165 degrees F on a meat thermometer inserted in the middle of the meat, without touching bone. Dark meat should register 175 degrees F.

Let stand for 10 minutes before diving in!

HONEY MUSTARD DIPPING SAUCE
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoon honey

Whisk together, adjust seasoning with salt if necessary. These are approximate amounts, if you like more mustard, add it!  Same with the honey.

LEE BAILEY’S OUTRAGEOUS BROWNIES

This makes a big pan of decadent brownies that are just as good the next day.

4 sticks of unsalted butter (1 pound)
16 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, plus 3 cups in a separate bowl
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoon instant espresso powder
2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup sifted, unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12×18-inch jelly roll pan and set aside.

Melt together the butter, pound of chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate until smooth. I do this in a microwave on low, removing them just before they are totally melted and stirring them until smooth. You can also use a double boiler.

Cool the melted chocolate to room temperature – this is very important.

Combine, but don’t whisk, the eggs, espresso, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the cooled chocolate, set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix this into the batter until no white shows. Finally, fold in the remaining 3 cups of chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. It is important not to over bake these. Allow to cool and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Lemon verbena is a shrubby herb with loose, twisting branches and bright green foliage. It can grow to 6 feet tall by 8 feet wide where it is perennial (zones 8 – 11). In my zone 7 garden it stays a little more contained because I grow it in a pot that I move indoors for winter. It’s a fast grower that needs full sun and excellent drainage – too much water will rot the roots! Lemon verbena has a sweet lemon flavor – I tend to use it with desserts and as a seasoning for meat dishes, but I also love placing it near my outdoor living areas so I can enjoy its lemony scent. In fact, it was its lemony scent that led me to make this lemon verbena infused honey, and I can’t wait for you to try it.

What you’ll need

• A few stems of lemon verbena, cleaned and dried
• 1 mason jar
• Honey

All it takes is a little herb-tidying. Pluck the lemon verbena leaves off of their stems, rinse them, and dry them with a paper towel. Loosely fill a mason jar with the leaves and then pour the honey over the top. While you may want to try it right away, put the jar in a cupboard for a few weeks to infuse. After two weeks strain the honey to remove the leaves.

You’ll end up with a lovely lemon-flavored honey that you can stir into tea, drizzle over nuts or cheese, or use as a sweetener.

Do you want to know more about this great herb? Jump over to the Bonnie Plants website to read about growing lemon verbena.

Christmas may be over, but the celebrating isn’t; New Year’s is less than a week away. If you’re in the southern United States, you can bet that black-eyed peas will be on the day’s menu. All good Southerners know that if you want to have good luck in 2012, you’ve got to eat at least a spoonful of black-eyed peas.

The traditional dish, Hoppin’ John, consists of rice and black-eyed peas seasoned with onions and pork (bacon or a ham hock), but these days pretty much anything goes from black-eyed pea cakes to black-eyed pea salsa. At the Garden Home Retreat you’ll find us eating salt pork black-eyed peas, turnip greens and cornbread. The turnip greens ensure wealth in the New Year and you’ve got to have cornbread to soak up all the good sauce.

Here’s a recipe for salt pork black-eyed peas. Top them with a tomato relish, hot sauce or some folks even like their peas with catsup.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dried peas
• 6 slices of salt pork
• ½ medium onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Water

Directions:

Soak the peas overnight and drain.

Place salt pork in a medium sized pot and cover with water. The water line should be about 1 inch above the pork. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 1 hour. You’ll know it’s ready when the water looks oily.

Add the prepared peas, onion and crushed red pepper. Again, the water line should be about 1 inch above the peas. Cook for about 30 minutes and then check for doneness. They should be tender, but not mushy. The fresher the dried peas, the quicker they will cook.

Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot.

Red cheeked and hungry, we would run into a house full of mouth watering aromas. After washing up, we would all gather around for the meal – we small ones at the kids’ table on the back porch and the adults in the dining room.  Before dining in we would stand in a circle holding hands around the “big” table and my grandfather would say the blessing.  All the wonderful dishes made it hard to sit through the prayer, but as I grew older I learned to listen to what he was saying and now, as an adult, I hear his words  echoed around my own Thanksgiving table. That’s what this celebration is all about, being thankful for the blessings of the year and rejoicing in the bounty of the harvest.

Many members of my family are gone now, but their memories are very much alive and with us on Thanksgiving. Every year I dig out my grandmother’s recipe for corn bread dressing and my sister always makes mother’s cranberry relish. My young nieces and nephews have taken the place of my brothers, sister and cousins around the kids’ table and we’re passing on to them this very American tradition that each family has made into their own.

Josephine Foster’s Cornbread Dressing

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons bacon drippings

Cornbread:
1 ½ cups yellow cornmeal
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2 cups buttermilk

Dressing:
1 (6 to 7 pound) roasting chicken
8 tablespoons butter
3 to 4 celery rind, including leaves, chapped
1 medium onion, chopped
5 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
12 slices day-old white bread, crumbled
1 cup half-and-half or evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 level tablespoon rubbed sage
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
First, prepare the cornbread batter: Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add the egg and buttermilk, stirring well to combine.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Add bacon drippings to a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet and place in the oven for 4 minutes, or until it is hot.

Remove the hot skillet from the oven, and spoon the batter into the sizzling bacon drippings. Return the skillet to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cornbread is lightly browned. Remove the skillet from the oven and turn the cornbread out onto a wire rack to cool.

Remove the giblets from the cavity of the chicken (reserve them if you’ll be making gravy). Thoroughly rinse the chicken inside and out. Place it in a stockpot, and cover it with cold water by about 2 inches.  Bring the water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Remove the chicken and set aside while preparing the dressing. Reserve the broth.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, and set it aside.

Crumble the cooled cornbread into a large bowl. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the celery, onions, and green onions, and cook until they are tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Then add the mixture to the bowl containing the cornbread. Also add the crumbled white bread, 2 ½ to 3 cups of the reserved chicken broth, the half-and-half, beaten eggs, salt, sage, and black pepper. Mix everything well to combine.  Taste for seasoning. Spoon the dressing mixture into the baking dish. Place the chicken on top of the dressing – either whole or cut in pieces. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is brown on top and the dressing bubbly around the edges. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

I’d like to introduce you to Jean Ann Van Krevelen, author and edible gardener extraordinaire. I met her at the Independent Garden Center Show in Chicago when she and co-host Amanda interviewed me for their podcast “Good Enough Gardening.” She gave me a copy of her book, Grocery Gardening, and it’s a must for both the garden shed and the kitchen. Whether the topic is planting, purchasing or preparing it’s one of those books that will have you saying, “I can do that.” I highly recommend it for both gardeners and non-gardeners alike.

If you want more of Jean Ann’s gardening wisdom check out her blog, GardenerToFarmer.Net and definitely pick up a copy of Grocery Gardening.

I have long espoused the virtues of growing and cooking kale…frankly, I am nuts about this particular vegetable. First of all, it is insanely easy to grow…just sow the seeds in late winter and as soon as the ground warms a bit, little green sprouts will emerge. If you have cool damp springs, you likely won’t have to do much else. In other areas, keep fairly well watered to produce tender greens. In all regions, the plant benefits from soil that’s been amended with compost and a bit of fish emulsion fertilizer once a month or so.

Unfortunately, many people aren’t sure how to prepare kale. I suspect it is due to the sense that it should be cooked like a traditional “green”. And while kale can be prepared this way, it is far more versatile than tradition might dictate. Personally, I like to think of it as the ultimate “sneaky vegetable”. Its flavor is so mild that it adapts to almost any recipe. I have used it in pasta dishes, meatloaf, meatballs, shepherd’s pie…the possibilities are endless.

To get your creative juices flowing, here’s one of my favorite kale recipes.

Asparagus and Kale Pasta

This dish is a great way to use two seasonal ingredients together. Combine it with a handful of asparagus and a big can of chopped tomatoes and this dish is absolutely full of nutrition.

• 1 lb ground hamburger
• 1/2 lb kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
• 1 12 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Splash of half and half (optional)
• 1 tbs fennel seeds, 1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp thyme, and 2 bay leaves
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• generous amounts of flaky salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 package of conchiglie pasta

Brown hamburger and onions in skillet. Drain some of the excess fat leaving enough to prevent burning, omit draining if meat is lean. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper, sauté for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic. Let simmer to combine flavors and reduce liquid from tomatoes.

Start a pot of water to boil. Add conchiglie pasta and cook according to directions on package. Conchiglie is also known as shell pasta and is great for this recipe. Since this isn’t a really sauce-y pasta dish, the cupped shape of the pasta will grab up the bits of veggies and meat really well. To blanch the kale, add to the boiling pasta for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain.

In the last couple of minutes of cooking, add half and half and cheese. The Parmesan and half and half create a lovely pink sauce. Add pasta and kale to sauce. Toss to combine and let stand for a minute or two to allow the pasta to soak up the fantastic flavors. Serve.

The deer at the farm have been considerate neighbors, but in late spring the heritage apple orchard turned into a popular “rub spot” for bucks. While this gives me something to watch as I sit on the porch, it’s not a form of entertainment I enjoy because it strips the trees of their bark. No good.

The young bucks affection for our apple trees coupled with a terribly dry summer resulted in the loss of several trees and those that survived produced a paltry number of apples. It’s a disappointment, but the garden is a great teacher in rolling with the punches.

If you are having a better apple year than I am I suggest making this rustic apple tart. I made it last weekend with some apples I picked up at the grocery store. I can only imagine how delicious it would be with homegrown fruits. You’ll have to try it and let me know!

Ingredients

• ½ cup apple juice
• 3 cups thinly sliced apples (choose a tart variety)
• ¼ cup light brown sugar
• ¼ cup agave syrup
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 premade piecrusts

Directions

Pour the apple juice into a sauce pan and heat until reduced by half.

In a large bowl combine the apple juice, apples, brown sugar, agave syrup, salt and cinnamon. Toss until the apples are well coated.

Lay one pie crust on a greased cookie sheet and crimp the edges to form a lip.

Spread the apple mixture evenly over the pie crust.

Top with a second pie crust. Pinch the edges to seal.

Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon. Pierce with a fork to make vents.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the juices are bubbly.

If you are looking for plants for your garden with a heav­enly scent, lavender has to be right up there at the top of the list.

From a garden design point of view, lavender’s silver-gray fol­iage is an excellent neutral. Use it as a backdrop for brighter plants and as a bridge between contrasting colors.

To successfully grow lavender, select a spot with well-drained soil and a full day’s sun. Water consistently and apply an all-purpose, liquid fertilizer in spring as new growth emerges. To keep plants full, lightly prune after the flowers fade in summer.

Lavender is a multipurpose plant that is useful in herbal remedies, aromatherapy, cooking and perfumes. Here are three easy ways to put lavender to work around your house.

Lavender Syrup

Slowly boil one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Add ¼ cup dried lavender flowers and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and cool. Lavender simple syrup will keep refrigerated for 2 weeks.

Lavender Swizzle Sticks

Freshen up your drink with a little lavender. Snip a stem that is an inch or so longer than the depth of the glass. Strip the leaves from the bottom, leaving the ones at the top. The pungent flavor is particularly good for a gin and tonic or martini.

Lavender Tea

A cup of lavender tea is good for anxiety, upset stomach or sleeplessness. Mix one tablespoon of dried lavender flowers with boiling water in a teapot and steep for 10 minutes. Save leftover tea to use as a hair rinse.

It’s hard for me to use the words food and budget in the same sentence, but the reality is that eating is getting more expensive. This forces us all to be more conscious of where we spend our food dollars. For me this is a good thing. This awareness helps reinforce the idea of simplicity over convenience.

I recently did a cookbook exchange with Amy McCoy, author of the blog Poor Girl Gourmet. What initially appealed to me about Amy’s cookbook is her use of in-season ingredients but as I read through the introduction and recipes I discovered a shared belief that good food leads to a good life. She puts an emphasis on eating well with cost savings in mind. What I really like about her advice is she not only shares practical tips for food budgeting but also suggests that choosing in season, homegrown or locally grown produce will save money too.

With tomato season coming up I thought it would be timely to share her tomato tart recipe. According to Amy it costs $8.51 to make and will serve four people. If you really want to get frugal plant three ‘Roma’ tomatoes this summer. You will easily end up with a bushel of tomatoes, which will keep this tart on the menu all summer. What tomatoes you don’t eat you can dry in a food dehydrator.

As with any meal, be sure to make an event out of it and relish the idea of eating gourmet in your own home.

Poor Girl Gourmet
Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC
ISBN-10: 0-7407-8990-2
Find a bookstore near you.

Tomato Tart

Serves 4, $5.00 to $10.00

If, for some unfathomable reason, you haven’t yet made the Savory Pie Crust, let this tomato tart be the motivation to get into the kitchen and do so. This is a wonderful do-ahead dish, and, as it takes advantage of vine-ripened summer tomatoes, also happens to make for an easy warm-weather meal with a simple salad of mixed greens.

Ingredients

• 1 Savory Pie Crust, egg wash omitted (see Note; recipe follows)
• 1 pound tomatoes (approximately 2 medium), cored, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices, seeds removed
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 2 ounces goat cheese, cut into 1/2-inch pieces as best as you are able
• 2 slices bacon, cooked to desired doneness and coarsely crumbled
• 8 fresh basil leaves, roughly torn

Instructions

1. Set one oven rack in the customary middle position, and another rack one notch below the middle. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom on a 10 by 15-inch rimmed baking sheet to prevent that removable bottom from having its way with you. If the tart pan is not nonstick, grease it lightly, using the wrapper from the stick of butter that you used for the dough.
2. In order to make the transfer of dough to tart pan go smoothly, when I roll out dough for pie crust, I roll it out on a piece of reusable silicone parchment paper that is lightly—very lightly—dusted with flour. This same process will work with plastic wrap or disposable parchment paper, and saves you from having to fold the dough over your rolling pin—or worse, having to peel the dough off of the counter—to transfer it to the pan. So, roll half of the dough out into a 12-inch circle that is 1/4 inch thick. To transfer it to the pan (which is now sitting on a rimmed baking sheet and should be very near to you), simply pick up the parchment and slowly flip it over so the crust is facing down and centered over the pan. Lower the dough into the pan now, and gently peel back the parchment. Tuck the dough into the tart pan, folding a small amount of dough back over itself into the pan to form a crust edge. It is also important to know that if your dough round isn’t perfect, this is the time to go ahead and patch any areas that require patching, simply using a dab of water to adhere the patch to the rest of the dough. This is particularly handy if your crust edges come up a tad short during the final fold-over. Remember, no need to get frustrated, there’s always a work-around, and it’s going to be delicious, patch or no patch.
3. Refrigerate your crust for 30 minutes to prevent it shrinking up on you during baking.
4. In order to achieve a crispy bottom crust, the likes of which will make you wonder why you even bother with frozen crust varieties, you must first bake the crust without its fillings, a process known as blind baking. It’s quite easy, takes but a half an hour, and is worth the doing, for you will be amazed—amazed, I say—at the finished product. Remove the crust from the refrigerator, pierce the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, then cover it completely (edges, too) with aluminum foil, shiny side down, and pour in 1 cup of dried beans, distributing them evenly. No need for fancy pie weights—inexpensive dried beans will do the trick to keep our crust free from buckling while we blind bake it. Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Keep the heat at 400°F, remove the tart shell from the oven, carefully—we don’t want any burns, now—remove the foil and beans from the shell, and set them aside to cool, as those beans are now your fancy pie weights. Return the shell to the oven until it’s golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes.
6. While the crust is blind baking away, toss the sliced tomatoes with the olive oil and season them with salt and pepper. Place them in a small baking dish or roasting pan and roast them on that rack we placed one notch down from the middle rack (where the crust is baking) for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
7. Keep the heat at 400°F. Remove the pie shell from the oven. Sprinkle the Pecorino Romano over the crust as evenly as you are able. Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the roasted tomatoes from their pan, leaving the accumulated juices behind, and arrange them in a single layer over the crust, tucking them into place as necessary. Place the goat cheese chunks on the tomato slices, creating a lovely goat cheese and tomato kaleidoscope pattern as you do. Top that kaleidoscope with bacon crumbles, and return the whole lot to the oven. Bake until the goat cheese is lightly browned, 30 to 35 minutes. Now sprinkle torn basil leaves over the top of the tart. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the tart from its pan—using oven mitts to do so, as that pan is still hot a mere 5 minutes out of a 400ºF oven—and transfer to a cutting surface. Slice into 8 more-or-less-equal wedges, and, if the summer heat has really gotten to you, tell everyone to help themselves, they can find utensils in the drawer. They won’t mind, so crispy is the crust, so sweet are the tomatoes.

NOTE: The pie crust recipe will make two crusts, and you will only use one of them here. If you aren’t inclined to make another tart a day or two later, simply wrap the other half of the dough airtight and freeze it for future use. Oh, and there will be a future use.

Estimated cost for four: $8.51. The crust costs $1.02 as made in the Savory Pie Crust recipe, less the egg wash. The olive oil costs $0.12. Tomatoes should cost no more than $3.25 per pound. One-quarter cup of Pecorino Romano costs us $0.25. A 4-ounce log of goat cheese costs $3.99, we are using half, so that’s $2.00. The bacon will be about 2 ounces, so at $6.99 per pound, that’s $0.87. The basil consists of the leaves off of just one stalk of basil, but we’ll go ahead and throw a dollar in for them. Even though you and I both know that’s being more than generous.

Savory Pie Crust

Makes 1 thick or 2 thin (12-inch) crusts, $5.00 or less

We start this chapter with a recipe that will change your life—or, at the very least, will help you stretch your food budget all while appearing quite fancy, thank you very much. It is imperative that you know about savory pie crust.

Let’s just say you have some leftovers—perhaps a beef stew, perhaps some chicken in, oh, I don’t know, cider gravy—and you’re thinking, “Boring! I can’t possibly eat that again.” Well, my friend, should this happen to you, simply whip up a savory pie crust. In about a half an hour, you will be placing into your oven a dish worthy of
company. If you happen to be a guest at my house during the winter months, you need not worry about being gauche by asking if the meat and gravy part of the pie are leftovers. They most assuredly are. And yet, you will be overwhelmed with the transcendent buttery flakiness of the crust, and will not care that I am serving you leftovers, my dear guest.

The number of dishes that can be fancied up with this dough is practically limitless. Ok, so you’re a vegetarian. How about a vegetable stew, or a lentil and carrot stew? You there, Ms. Carnivore, let’s make a chili con carne and top it off with a layer of shredded pepper Jack cheese and then the crust. Or maybe a lamb and carrot stew would be more to your liking. Why not add a bit of goat cheese under the crust for that dish? You see what I mean? Practically limitless.

So, now, just forget that you’ve ever read anything that implies pie dough is challenging to craft. Get thee to thy pantry and gather up the flour and butter and vegetable shortening. We’re going to make a meal-saving, savory pie crust.

Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) very cold vegetable shortening
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup ice water
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon milk (any kind)

Instructions

1. Now, you do not need a food processor for this, but I will provide instruction for both the by-hand method and the food processor method. It must be due to the fact that I have to hand-wash my dishes (that’s right, I have no newfangled dishwashing machine) that I’m not fully embracing the food processor method, but in the interest of full disclosure, I thoroughly enjoy working with dough by hand, or a mano. It’s soothing and also gratifying to know your two warm palms and ten cold fingers put it all together.
2. To make the dough by hand, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Now, not to scare you about the dough, because we all know now that the dough is your friend and is infinitely useful, but the reason why the very cold items must be very cold is because you want a flaky crust, and that can’t happen if the fats blend into the dough completely. It is the little bits of fat that create flakiness and give you that buttery crust we all hold so dear. This is also why you should use your fingers, the cold part of your hands, and not your palms, which are the warm part of your hands, to work the dough. If it makes your life easier, you can put the butter and shortening into the freezer for 5 or 10 minutes to ensure that they are both very cold for the next step.
3. Cut the very cold vegetable shortening and the very cold butter into approximately 1/2-inch cubes and add them to the flour mixture. Using the tips of your fingers, blend the butter and shortening into the flour. What this means is, you plunge your fingers into the flour, coating the fats with flour, while breaking up the fats until they are roughly pea-sized. It is perfectly okay for some of them to be larger than pea-sized, you just don’t want them to be close to the same size as the cubes you initially placed into the flour. Remove your fingers from the flour and fats mixture. Get yourself a fork. Pour 1/2 cup very cold ice water (yes, I know I’ve mentioned “very cold” before—I am trying to make a point) into the flour and fats mixture and blend the water into the dough with the fork. You are trying to moisten the dough just enough that it holds together, so if there are still dry spots in your bowl, and I’m pretty certain there will be, add very cold, oh, absolutely frigid, ice water to the dough, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending in gently, until the dough is just holding together. On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
4. And now, the food processor version: In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, add the flour, salt, and baking powder. Then add the very cold butter and the very cold shortening, and pulse for about 10 seconds until the fats are pea-sized. Pulsing the motor, add 1/2 cup of the ice water to the flour mixture until it begins to form small balls. If there is still a fair amount of flour laying about in the processor, add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dry has become moist. Turn the small balls of dough out onto a lightly floured surface, being very careful of the metal blade—that thing is sharp—and form them quickly and gently into a ball. Cover the dough completely in plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. Now, let’s just say that you’re transforming Chicken in Cider Gravy (page 67) into pot pie, but let’s also say that you decided to use a rotisserie chicken that you picked up from the grocery store on your way home, and you’re going to make a cider gravy on the stovetop. You could pick the chicken clean and make the gravy in about the amount of time it takes for the savory pie dough to firm up in the refrigerator. Now, let’s pretend that your grocery store sells rotisserie chicken for $7.99 each. And that your cider gravy costs $4.16 as described in the Chicken in Cider Gravy recipe (page 67). And that the pie crust costs $2.60 to make. And that the pie serves at least six. Now, how much does that cost us? That’s right, people. It costs us $14.75 for the whole thing, or $2.46 per serving. With purchased rotisserie chicken. 6 Preheat the oven to 375°F.
6. So now your gravy is done; it and the chicken are in the pie pan, and you need only to get the savory pie dough out of the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to approximately 1/4-inch thickness in some approximation of a circle (or a rectangle, or a square; whatever shape baking dish you’re using). As soon as the dough is rolled out, gently lift it and place it atop your baking dish. Push the dough down the sides of the dish to firmly cover the filling as though you’re tucking someone you love into a toasty bed, allowing for an inch or so of dough overhanging the edges of the baking dish. Crimp the overhanging dough over itself to create a thicker crust edge. Beat the egg yolk and milk together and brush it over the top of the crust. Cut five 1-inch slits in the dough over the filling—be decorative with it if you like—and place your masterpiece into the oven. I advise you to put the baking dish on a foil-lined baking sheet in order to prevent spillage on the bottom of the oven, which might result in copious amounts of smoke in your kitchen, and might require you to set the oven to clean the next day. Ahem. Not that this is has ever happened at my house or anything. Bake until the crust is golden brown, approximately 40 minutes.

NOTE: When making pot pies, be certain that there is some liquid in those leftovers you’re transforming. Don’t go putting meatloaf slices sans gravy in a pie dish and topping it with pie crust. No. In fact, you should wrap the meatloaf slices in this pie crust as though you’re mailing them off in savory little envelopes and call it pain de viande en croute. Now, that’s fancy.

Estimated cost for one pie crust: $2.60. The flour is $0.71 for 3 cups from a bag that costs $4.49 for 19 cups. The baking powder costs $0.01. The vegetable shortening is $0.90 for our 8 tablespoons at $5.49 for 49 tablespoons. The butter used is 8 of 32 tablespoons at $2.79, so that’s $0.70. The egg yolk is from 1 egg, which is $0.26, and the milk for the wash is $0.03, 1/64 of $1.99.

From Poor Girl Gourmet: Eat in Style on a Bare-Bones Budget by Amy McCoy/Andrews McMeel Publishing

Fava beans are delicious and full of good things like fiber and low-fat protein. So what’s the hold-up? Well, they are somewhat of a pain in the buns to prepare. The cook must shell, parboil and then remove the beans from a waxy, bitter-tasting pod before they can be used. However, the buttery consistency and nutty flavor make fava beans well worth the effort.

Also known as broad beans, Windsor beans or English beans, favas prefer cool temperatures and take 80 days to mature. Here in central Arkansas the time to plant is mid- to late-February and I always seem to miss my window of opportunity. This is the first year I finally remembered to get some planted. In regions like Southern California where winters are mild beans can also be sown in fall.

The plant is bush forming so there is no need to stake, but give it some room because they can grow 4 to 7 feet tall. Sow the seeds 1-2 inches deep, 3-6 inches apart. Space the rows 12-30 inches apart. The beans are ready to harvest when the pods are plump, around 6 inches long and still green.

Since this is my first year to grow fava beans I don’t have a collection of fabulous recipes. I’ve been eating them sautéed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. They are a delicious addition to salad. How do you recommend preparing them?