Recipe from New York Times April 18, 2013

The Dining Section of the New York Times had an interesting article about pairing chardonnay and goat cheese and suggested this recipe.  Anybody try it?  I think I will later this week.  If you do, let me know how it turns out.

Goat Cheese and Walnut Galette

TOTAL TIME

1 hour

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour plus flour for rolling
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, in pieces
• 2 eggs, 1 separated
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 2 scallions, trimmed and coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley
• 12 ounces plain goat cheese
• Ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

PREPARATION

1.

Heat oven to 400. Place flour and salt in food processor and pulse briefly to mix. Add butter and pulse until butter is cut to pea-size. Separate one egg and mix yolk with 7 tablespoons cold water. Open food processor and drizzle over flour mixture. Pulse until dough starts to come together. Add an additional tablespoon water if needed.

2.

Roll dough on floured surface to make a circle about 14 inches in diameter. Trim edges for a neat edge. Place pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment.

3.

Turn on food processor (I don’t bother to wash it out) and drop garlic through feed tube to mince. Add scallions and parsley and process until finely minced. Beat together remaining egg white and whole egg; add to processor along with goat cheese. Process until smooth. Season liberally with pepper.

4.

Spread filling in a 10-inch circle on pastry, leaving about a 2-inch border all around, then fold border over the edges of the filling, pleating it as you go. Scatter walnuts on top. Bake about 30 minutes, until filling is set and pastry is lightly browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

YIELD

6 or more servings

• By FLORENCE FABRICANT

Saturday Barn Report February 9, 2013

Having my second cup of coffee, after a dog walk in the deep snow, and before heading up to milk.  The Nemo blizzard dumped a little over a foot and roads are currently impassable so my milk maids can’t make it to the farm.  I am looking forward to my time alone with the milking ladies.

The snow is over Ruby’s head and she struggled through it as if swimming.  Part of the way, Honey broke the path for her, part of the way I carried her.  The bigger dogs bound through the snow with great joy.

So here we are February already and in the full swing of things.

We have 34 does in lactation and between 6 and 10 still to kid, depending upon who took and who didn’t.  We have eight “keepers”, seven doelings and Eli.  We have the two preemies, Sterling and Bernard, who are thriving and who we have dehorned and will castrate and find them an adoptive pet home.  We have four new babies that will head to Aden Brook Farm.  Cara has been a fantastic farm intern!

The ladies are producing enough milk so we are already making a full vat of cheese daily as well as selling lots of raw milk. Our faithful  milk maids, Rachel and Margaret, have been milking morning and evening and tending to the milk customers.  Dan and I have been experimenting with some fun new cheeses, a Newburgh Brewing Company brown ale washed tome and our own version of Drunken Goat that we think we will call Toasted Goat.  We have also been making vats of chevre, feta and bloomy rinds.  The first batch of bloomy rinds, our Firthcliffe, Aleck Meadow and Idlewild,  are almost fully bloomed and will go into the cave to ripen for the next week or so.   We find ourselves at the winter farmer’s markets in Cornwall, Beacon and Ringwood, NJ with the help of Daniel and Gabe.

Farm Tours started last weekend and were a great success!  The snow cancelled yesterday and today’s tour but Sunday’s tours look good and are fully booked.  Cara does the guided tours through the farm and Dan and I do the tastings in the viewing room and answer questions.  We’ve enjoyed getting to know many of our farmer’s market customers!  Tours continue through the end of April.

Tomorrow Dan is taking Rachel, our milk maid, and little Dor’ss the baby goat to the last Bialas Farms’ Mini-Market and bringing cheese and chocolate chvre truffles.  I can’t wait for the Bialas Farms veggies!  If you happen to go, make sure to wish Dan a very happy birthday.

Yesterday I made more truffles than I could count for Valentine’s Day treats.  I plan to make more this afternoon.  We’ll have them for sale at the markets and at the farm.

Did you see yesterday’s Cornwall Local?  Fun article about the goats eating Christmas trees.  We greatly appreciate DPW delivering to our door all the trees.  The goats have been eating about ten a day!

The chickens are not going to be happy with all this snow so we will likely spread some of the leaf bags we saved for them to romp around in.  I started thinking about what chicks I am going to order this year.  The ducks have started laying again.  Spring is just around the corner!  Things we are looking forward to: maple syruping, starting indoor seedlings, piglets, bees, spring and summer farmer’s markets!

Snowy day! Farinata Soup!

A heavy wet snow fell over night, about four inches altogether.  Dan ended up plowing for four hours with the tractor!  I shoveled out below at the farm house.  Cara shoveled out her cottage and above  at the hoop house and buck shed.  This didn’t take us very long.

While I waited for Dan to finish plowing, I puttered around the house, cleaning, putting things away, thinking, not thinking and spacing out, starting the fire and deciding I should cook something  with stick to your ribs warmth for Dan when he came back inside.  I knew he’d be cold from sitting on the tractor in the alternating snow and rain.

I adapted a farinata recipe from Margaret Roach, adding Italian sausage and using what I had in the fridge.  You can find her recipe here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Italian sausage
• 4 cloves chopped garlic (I used Bialas Farms garlic, the best you can get)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 lb kale or cabbage or mix (I used Bialas Farms cabbage because I had it.  For a prettier soup with more contrasting color, kale would be better.  Bialas also has superb kale, I just didn’t have any today)
• 6 cups broth (I used part chicken and part water because I had an open box of broth in the fridge equaling 4 cups so I added 2 cups water to that)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3/4 cup polenta (cornmeal) (I used Brooklyn Bean‘s killer polenta…yum!)
• 1/2 cup grated hard cheese (I used some of my stash of 3 year old raw milk hard goat cheese that I had made before we were licensed)

Steps

Break up and cook the sausage well.  Scoop out with slotted spoon reserving the fat in the pan and set aside.  Add olive oil and saute garlic and greens until wilted.  Add broth and salt and cooked sausage and bring to a simmer until greens are tender.  Gradually stir in polenta and cook on simmer until creamy, about ten minutes.  Fold in grated cheese.  Serve immediately.

Recipe Sunday ( a day late): Chocolate Chevre Truffles

We hope that all of our customers who purchased our simple Edgwick Farm chocolate chevre truffles for this holiday season enjoy their rich flavor and taste.  They are really simple to make and if you freeze some of our beautiful summer chevre in the coming market season, you too can make some for the holiday season in 2013.  Think ahead.

Chocolate Chevre Truffles

Ingredients:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

8 ounces chevre (white spreadable mild goat cheese), at room temperature

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cooking cocoa powder (or sifted or shaved chocolate or finely chopped nuts or anything that strikes your fancy as a coating)

Directions:

In the top of a double boiler, or in a metal bowl set or the top of a simmering water (make sure the water does not touch the bowl), melt the chocolate, stirring until it is smooth.  Set aside the melted chocolate to cool for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a bowl, whisk together the goat cheese, sugar and vanilla until it is light and fluffy.  Whisk it into the melted chocolate until it is well combined.  Cover and chill until it is easy to work with but not too cold and hard.  To form truffles, take a heaping teaspoon of the mixture and lightly roll it into a ball with your gloved hands (it is messy).  Roll the finished truffles in the sifted cocoa powder (or your other coating creation) and chill until they are firm, about 30 minutes.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or freeze for later use.

Other flavors can be added to this by simply using a different flavor extract or an infused chocolate.  It is very easy to be creative with these ingredients.

Aleck Meadow penne

 

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds fresh farmer’s market  tomatoes, chopped ½ cup fresh herbs: basil, thyme, parsley, oregano (all or a mix of a few), chopped 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1 pound penne pasta ½ cup olive oil 1 Aleck Meadow crumbled, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS

Toss the tomatoes with the herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour. Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil. Stir in the penne and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta and return to pan. Add the tomato mixture and olive oil to the penne and stir. Check the seasonings and then gently stir in the crumbled Aleck Meadow. Cover the pot for 3 minutes, then serve immediately. Aleck Meadow will be slightly melted and delicious. Garnish with more freshly ground pepper if needed.

Watermelon, feta and mint salad

The heat wave has broken!  Let’s get out there!  There’s a whole lotta living to be done in this gorgeous world.   May I recommend a picnic and a swim in the lake?

Let’s make it easy.  Fresh chilled watermelon is sliced and diced.  A big chunk of our Moodna feta is crumbled.  Fresh mint is chopped.  And sesame seeds are sprinkled.

Have you ever combined watermelon and feta cheese?  The sweet and juicy watermelon is wonderfully complimented by salty feta cheese.  The mint makes it pop!  The seame seeds had balance to the color scheme and a crunchiness.  This sald makes my mouth thirsty and quenches my thirst all at the same time.

Watermelon Feta & Mint Salad

serves many or few

Dice as much watermelon as you’re in the mood to eat or share.  Sprinkle the watermelon generously with our Moodna feta cheese.  Coarsely chop fresh mint leaves and sprinkle on top.  I also love a good sprinkling of black sesame seeds.  For a super sweet watermelon treat, add a drizzle of honey.

Enjoy your picnic and swim!

Another use for whey

Check this out:

http://medievalcheese.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-preserve-vegetables-in-whey.html

Where to find us: Week of June 4th to June 10th

Here are the farmer’s markets we are now at weekly (through October):

 Cornwall Farmer’s Market Wednesdays 11:30 am to 5:30 pm and first Saturday 11 am to 3 pm

Goshen Farmer’s Market Fridays 10 am to 5 pm (except June 29th)

Ringwood NJ Farmer’s Market Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm (starting June 30th)

Raw milk is for sale daily on farm.  Bring your own clean glass jar or buy a refillable one from us.  During milking hours, twice a day…8 am to 10 am, 5 pm to 7 pm.  If you are buying milk, you can pick up eggs and cheese depending upon availability at the same time.

Weekend open farm hours where you feed babies and taste cheese and tour our facilities are finished for the season.  They start up again in January 2013 when kidding season begins again.  We loved having you all come and love up our babies.  They are obnoxious teenagers now.

Restaurants serving our cheese: Hudson Street Cafe, Backyard Bistro, Painters, Canterbury Brook Inn.

National Cheese Day – June 4th

 

No whey – June 4^th is National Cheese Day!  (Not to be confused with National Cheese Lovers’ Day, in January, or National Cheese Ball Day, which was in April.)

While the origins of cheese are unknown, ancient people used cheese as a way to store milk for the winter that they had from the spring.  Today, cheese is made from good bacteria and rennet that have been added to pasteurized milk.  The formed curds and whey are cut and then heated.  The whey is drained out and the curds are salted, pressed and aged cheeses are cured.

Celebrate this national holiday with your favorite cheese.  We hope it is one of ours!

Recipe Sunday

 

Our intern Lauren made this traditional Italian Easter pie for us using our whole goat’s milk ricotta.  It was not only beautiful but tasty.

The New York Times published this recipe last week:

Pizza Rustica

Time: 2 1/2 hours, plus time for cooling

FOR THE DOUGH:

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

1/4 teaspoon salt1 pound chilled salted butter, cut into large pieces

5 large eggs, beaten

FOR THE FILLING:

12 ounces prosciutto, in 1/4-inch dice

8 ounces boiled ham, in 1/4-inch dice

8 ounces pepperoni, in 1/4-inch dice

8 ounces soppressata, in 1/4-inch dice

8 ounces mozzarella, in 1/4-inch dice

8 ounces provolone, in 1/4-inch dice

2 pounds ricotta

4 ounces grated pecorino Romano

10 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon pepper

1 large egg, beaten, for brushing crust.

 

1. For the dough:

In a large bowl, whisk together 6 cups flour and the salt.

Using a pastry cutter, large fork, or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add eggs and knead for 1 minute.

Add about 1 1/4 cups ice water, a little at a time, to form a cohesive dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it forms a large smooth ball, about 5 minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

 

2. For the filling:

Mix the meats, cheeses, the 10 eggs and pepper in a large bowl.

 

3. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Divide the dough into two pieces: two-thirds for the bottom crust and one-third for the top.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger portion of the dough into a rectangle to line the bottom and sides of a 10-by-15-inch glass baking dish, with some overhang.

Add the filling and smooth it lightly. Moisten the edges of the dough with a little water.

 

4. Roll out the remaining dough to cover the top of the dish with some overhang.

Trim off excess dough and crimp the edges to seal. Poke several sets of holes across the top with a fork.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and brush top and edges with the beaten egg, then return to the oven until golden brown, another 45 minutes.

Let pie cool completely before serving.

Yield: One 10-by-15-inch pie.