Homemade marinated feta. A glass of red wine, a loaf of crusty bread, and friends to share it with: it doesn't get better than that!

It was so good that I was instantly sad that I had no more. Thankfully I found a few quarts of feta in my spare fridge leftover from the summer. I typically make feta in the summer when it’s too hot to easily make chevre.

Here is a simple recipe for making your own marinated feta. You can use store-bought or homemade feta. Do you have a favorite recipe? I’d love to hear about it!

Marinated Feta

1. Cut feta into 1 inch chunks, or smaller or larger per your preference.

2. Into a clean and sterile pint-sized jar (or jar appropriate to the amount of feta you have), place a clove of garlic, halved or crushed, a goodly pinch of peppercorns and a dash of red pepper flakes.

3. Place feta chunks into the jar, nestling a bay leaf and a sprig or two of fresh rosemary half way up. Fill to cover with olive oil. Cover and let stand for several days to encourage the flavors to meld. You can start eating after a few days, but it’s best after at least a month. I put it in the fridge to age if I can wait that long. The leftover oil is delicious in salads, over bread or vegetables.

Enjoy!

Our last workshop of the season will be this Sunday, December 4th, on Making Goat Milk Soap. If you’re interested in learning this craft, we still have a few spaces left.  Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Come make soap using my milk!

For those of you who have been looking forward to coming out for a workshop, our next one is on Making Goat Cheese, January 15th. More info to come!

Kristen from Boxcar Farms will be making her annual wholesale heirloom potato/squash delivery on Nov. 13. Don’t miss out on your chance to stock up on her gorgeous spuds and squash! Email Kristen for full variety/cost details: kristen@boxcarfarm.com

Local pasture-raised meats are hard to find in Albuquerque (not impossible, but difficult!). Pork especially. Thankfully Kretsinger Farm from southern Colorado will be making their monthly delivery in Albuquerque on November 18, and in Santa Fe and Taos on November 19. Contact Trudi for her complete price list and drop off times/locations.

Retail cuts of NM beef, lamb and local poultry can also be found at La Montanita Coop.

Albuquerque peeps: who’s your favorite farmer for beef and pork and poultry?

Don’t know your biga from your poolish? Not to worry, we’ll cover ingredients, ovens, methods and why slow-ferment and real sourdough breads are not only more delicious but healthier for you.

This is a fun hands on workshop, and there will be plenty to taste. Hope to see you there! To register or for more details, see our workshops page.

The workshop is part of an entire day of festivities at the Local Food Festival. The great line up this year includes music all day, fun for kids, readings by local authors, a farmer’s market with local food and crafts, and as always, tastings from local chefs ALL FOR FREE!

It doesn’t get better than this. Big thanks to Lora Roberts and the crew over at MRCOG for organizing this incredible community event!

Pickled Beets - Delicious and Gorgeous!

I’m down to a quart of pickled beets, so this morning I dug up the remaining summer beets from the garden. These are so simple to make, and even die-hard beet-haters come around with this recipe. Plus, unlike the “canned” vinegar pickled beets, these are good for you. No added sugar and fermented vegetables benefit the digestive system. Enjoy!

Lacto-Fermented Pickled Beets

Fresh beets
Sea salt or pickling salt (no iodized salt)
Water

1. Make a brine of 1 tablespoon salt dissolved in 1 cup water.

2. Scrub beets and remove root ends and tops. You don’t want any sand in those pickles!

3. Chop beets into 1/2 inch dice and add to a quart-sized mason jar, leaving an inch of head space. Fill with the brine to cover the beets. Cover with a lid, but do not tighten the lid all the way down (leave some “give” for any fermenting gases to escape) or affix a paper towel with a rubber band to keep dust and fruit flies out.

4. Let sit on the counter for 3 days. Move to the refrigerator and let sit for at least another week or two. I find that they get better with age, and I prefer them after a few months of aging. Enjoy!

Moon and Stars Watermelon

The irony of growing watermelons in a 4-season climate like New Mexico is that by the time they ripen, the weather is starting to turn cool again, and I start thinking more of apples than watermelon, but thankfully (?) it was such a blasted hot, rainless summer that when I cracked open the first congo, it was just what the meteorologist ordered.

After Tree and I ate our fill of the fruit, I realized I had an enormous amount of cut watermelon left and no room in the tiny fridge. So I decided to make some watermelon granita. This recipe is from Epicurious. And, let me tell you, it’s a keeper.

Eat me!

It’s not even much of a recipe, just blend up the watermelon a with a little sugar and lime juice. Watermelon is so cooling. It’s the perfect dessert for a warm late summer evening. Even though it’s getting late in the season (and some of you may have had your first frost), if you still have melons in the garden, try this. You won’t be sorry! I also made pickled watermelon rind for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I’ll share the recipe in another post.

Watermelon Granita
This recipe makes 4-6 servings, depending on serving size. You can make this ahead of time for a dinner party. I’ve managed to keep it as long as a week in the freezer (before I ate it all!).

Generous quart of seeded watermelon, cut into chunks, I used probably 6 cups
1/2 cup sugar (or less, if your watermelon is as sweet as mine was)
1 tablespoon lime juice (I used a little more because I love lime juice.

1. Whir everything up in a blender or food processor. Taste and adjust for seasoning (sugar, lime).

2. Pour into a square pan. Find room in the freezer (this is the hard part of the recipe).

3. Let the granita freeze for an hour. Stir. Freeze until firm and then scrape the granita into flakes with a fork. I frequently let the granita freeze solid without stirring. This makes it labor-intensive to scrape into flakes. When this happens, I tend to just chunk it, and eat it in chunks. Or you could do a quick blend to mush it up without melting it. Garnish with mint leaves. So delicious! Enjoy!

Got veggies? Use 'em up in this delicious ratatouille!

If you’ve been reading my posts, you know that I’m not one to follow recipes. So while eggplant and summer squash are traditional, use whatever vegetables you have on hand. I first tasted and fell in love with ratatouille in San Francisco thanks to a college roommate that took me out of my baked potato dinner doldrums oh so many years ago. Thanks, Christie!

RATATOUILLE
This recipe tastes much better the next day and makes enough for a generous dinner for two plus four quarts of ratatouille to put in the freezer.

1-2 large onions, cut into chunks
generous pour of olive oil (I mean generous!)
6-8 chard stalks, optional
1 tablespoon of whole sea salt (or 1 teaspoon finely ground salt)
several pinches dried thyme, garbled, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon or so dried oregano, garbled, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (only if you like a bit of a kick)
1-2 bell peppers, chopped, optional
1 large zucchini (great use for that baseball bat zuke, minus the seeds)
1 large eggplant, chopped into 1-inch cubes
4-8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can whole or crushed tomatoes or 1 quart fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 quart water
very large handful fresh basil, chopped
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 bunch greens, any kind, chopped, optional

1. Heat a 1 gallon pot. Add olive and heat. Add onion and chard stalks, if using. Add salt, oregano and thyme. Saute and keep adding vegetables as you chop them, adding the garlic last.

2. Add the tomatoes and water and simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until the vegetables are completely cooked. Adjust seasoning. Serve over cappellini or linguini with extra fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan on top. Enjoy!

I had a jar of apricot jam in the pantry that was getting lonely, so I did a quick search for tart crust recipes and found David Leibowitz’ Jam Tart recipe. I made it with a few alterations, but loved his addition of cornmeal to the crust. This tart was perfect on its own and even better with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

JAM TART

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornmeal/polenta or corn flour (if you don’t let the dough rest for the cornmeal to absorb enough moisture to soften, then use corn flour, otherwise, you’ll be picking cornmeal out of your teeth).
1 jar jam (Bonne Maman is the right size jar. use more or less to your taste. I used the whole jar).

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, extract, salt and baking soda. Combine well. Add cornmeal, then flour. Combine thoroughly, then form into two logs, put in a ziploc or wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. If you like more bottom crust than top, then make one log bigger than the other.

When the cornmeal is soft, take out of the fridge and pat into the pan (Or roll out. I’m a big on patting doughs into pans -saves time.). Spoon jam over the crust. Flatten chunks of the dough and lay over the jam for a crust. Alternately, you can roll out and do a formal lattice. Bake at 350 until the crust is lightly browned, anywhere from 20-40 minutes. Enjoy!

If you are interested in learning more about keeping you and your family healthy, naturally, using plants you can harvest from your garden, join us on the farm, once a month for six months for a series of fun workshops.

Each class we take an herb walk around the gardens, harvest something & prepare different herbal medicines, sample different herbal teas. I share favorite formulas and herbs for common ailments (allergies, colds/flus, etc.). Each class we focus on one particular type of herbal medicine (tinctures or salves, etc.) and one or two body systems (e.g. digestive, skin, nervous system, etc.).

Poppies! California Poppies!

You’ll also learn how to recognize quality herbs, how to harvest, dry and store herbs, and how much you need to take for various ailments.

The classes are $35 each or $180 for all 6 classes if you pay in full by the first class. You can get complete registration details on our website. We also have a work exchange position open if you have a love of digging bermuda grass & weeding!

Hope to see you on the farm!