General
Seafood Chowder
By The Gourmet Farm Girl
Let’s all keep in mind and send out a prayer concerning the tragedy on the Golf and the effect it has on the people and their families that fish for a living and supply the rest of the country with these delicious sea creatures. Let us also keep in mind the effect on our world.

  
5 strips Hickory Smoked bacon cut into pieces
1 leek chopped
3-4 green onions chopped                                                          
4 medium garlic cloves minced                                          
1- 8 oz bottle Clam Juice
2- 14 oz cans chicken broth
2 bay leaves
3-4 medium potatoes cut into chunks
1 lb bay scallops
½ lb salmon cut into pieces

½ lb tilapia cut into pieces or any white fish will work
1 lb crab meat picked from the shell or lobster
1 lb shrimp peeled and cut into chunks
1 ½ cups half and half or heavy cream

2 T corn starch mixed with enough COLD water to make one ounce

Salt and pepper to taste

Look at all the meat I picked from 1 pound of crab legs

In a heavy stock pot on medium heat cook the bacon till lightly crisp; remove and reserve 4-5 tablespoon of the bacon for garnishing the chowder; add to the remaining bacon the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes to release the flavor; add the chopped onions, leek, potatoes, clam juice; chicken broth and bay leaves; simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes till all is tender.
Add the fresh seafood and continue to cook on medium heat till the seafood is done; 10-12 minutes; stir in half and half or heavy cream; add cornstarch mixture to thicken chowder and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes till thick and creamy.

Top with the bacon crumbles and chopped green onion (optional)
Serve with some crusty bread for dipping
ENJOY!

For the Seafood Lover… Read More »

The secret ingredient…homemade tomato juice!

You will need 1 ½ – 2 ½ lb’s of good stew meat or cut up some of your own freezer beef. (Depends on how much meat you want in your soup) I use stew meat, the meat cutter has included (specified by me when the steer is butchered)  If I run out of stew meat, I will use some of the sirloin, round or a roast. Just make sure the meat you use has some marbling to it, this is the fat and believe me you want a little bit of fat for flavor. If there is too much fat attached, trim some of it off.

1 ½ -2 ½ lbs Stew Meat
3 t. extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced or 1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried basil
1 t. sea salt
2 T dried parsley or fresh chopped
½ t ground black peppercorns (or to taste)
3 beef bouillon cubes (optional)
4 14 oz cans beef broth
(Or you can boil down some soup bones that your meat cutter has included)
Recipe for broth to follow
1 medium onion
3 bay leaves
3 stalks celery and some of the light leaves
4 stalks carrots
4 medium potatoes
1 can corn (or 2 ears of sweet corn blanched and cut off the cob)
1 small yellow zucchini
1 small green zucchini
Greean green beans or 2 cups fresh picked beans form the garden snapped and chopped
1 qt tomato juice (or one from the pantry that you canned last summer)

Step One:
Brown the meat in the olive oil on med heat until it starts to turn brown
Add the garlic, basil, bay leave, salt, pepper, parsley, ½ of the onion and bouillon cubes to the meat and cook on medium heat till the moisture starts to reduce. (Do not let go dry) add the broth and let the meat and seasoning cook until tender 40-60 minutes
Could be less or more time  (You will need to taste test to see if the meat is getting tender)

As soon as it starts to tender:

Step Two:
Add the chopped potatoes, chopped celery with some of the light green leaves, green beans (if using fresh) carrots, and the other half of the onion
Reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables begin to tender
20-30 minutes longer

Step three:
Add the corn, green beans (if canned)
Zucchini and tomato juice
Continue to simmer till all is tender
15-20 minutes
Salt and pepper to taste
 
ENJOY!

Beef Vegetable Soup Read More »

 The Gourmet Farm Girl Soup Mixes have a brand new look.

 
Complete with Nutritional  information
 (very healthy by-the-way) and bar coded.
 
Same price of $8.00 per mix, has the recipe on the back of the label. Five flavors to choose from; Spicy Bean (shown in picture) Traditional Chili, Lentil, Split Pea and Gourmet Bean Blend. Each mix has it’s own seasoning pkt. and  yields between 8-10 servings.
 
All you do is add the fresh ingredients and the love…


I will be sampling at the New Albany’s Winter Market next Saturday February 23rd. from 9:00am to noon at the Church of the Resurrection, 6300 Dublin Granville Road in New Albany.
Stop by and taste all the vendors great food samples and stock up…this is the last winter market.
   
 
 

Lookin Good… Read More »

 This was one of my favorite meals growing up. I loved to go to the garden and pick green peppers for this particular meal. Just the smell of them takes me back to mom’s garden…
This is a great way to use any late season peppers and tomatoes.
Moms Stuffed Green Peppers
By The Gourmet Farm Girl

4 medium size green peppers
1 medium size tomato (sliced)
1 lb. ground lean hamburger
1 sm. chopped onion
1/3 c. ketchup
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/2 c. milk
½ c. dried bread crumbs or panko crumbs
½ t. dried mustard
½ t. salt
½ t pepper
1t. Worcestershire sauce
¼ t. garlic powder or 1-2 small cloves chopped
or 1/2 teaspoon of Farm Girl’s House Blend seasoning
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Spray a 9×9 inch baking dish with cooking spray
Wash peppers and cut around the top of stem to remove and create a hole; remove the seeds and ribs of the peppers and set aside; slice the tomato and set aside.
Mix all of the other ingredients together with hands (or a large spatula) and fill each pepper with the meat mixture. Place peppers in the baking dish and top each one with a slice of tomato.
 Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the peppers are soft and meat mixture is cooked through.
Remove from oven and top with additional parmesan cheese; allow to rest for 2-3 minutes while the cheese melts. Serve with additional sliced tomatoes and rice or mashed potatoes
Serves Four
ENJOY!

Garden Memories… Read More »

It is a simple idea, just mix vinegar and oil together and you have a salad dressing, or vinaigrette. Of course we are asking nothing less than to defy the laws of nature. That is because oil and vinegar don’t mix. I am sure you have witnessed this yourself.

The best we can do is encourage them to come together for a little while, which they will do, provided we whisk, shake, stir or otherwise mix them up really well.

This is called a temporary emulsion — temporary because the oil and vinegar begin to separate as soon as you stop whisking, mixing or stirring.

The Formula

If you remember nothing else about vinaigrettes, remember this: the magic ratio of oil to vinegar is 3 to 1. As long as you remember that, you will never need to consult a vinaigrette recipe ever again. Just remember__three parts oil to one part vinegar. If you get them backwards and do three parts vinegar to one part oil, your taste buds will tell you that you have made a mistake….pucker up!

The 3:1 ratio is somewhat set in stone? But keep in mind that different vinegars have different strengths, so the ratio might need to be adjusted somewhat. You may want a more tart dressing sometimes, and other times a bit milder flavor or even a sweet dressing, just add a little sugar, brown sugar or splenda. (Aprox. 1 teaspoon for a small amt. of dressing or as much a 1-2 tablespoons for larger amounts) This you will have to experiment with to suite your own taste. Just keep in mind what other foods you are serving with your salad so it all complements each other.

Your dressing will be perfect when you use your infused oil with all of its flavors and mix with vinegar.

The Vinegar

the most neutral flavored vinegar is white vinegar, but generally not used in a vinaigrette. At the very least, use white wine vinegar. The flavors and types of specialty vinegars, like balsamic, aged red wine, sherry or raspberry, are varied and diverse, but usually are good choices. Cider vinegar is made from apples and is a good choice for fruity vinaigrettes. Balsamic vinegar, (my favorite) is sweet, dark and aged in specially treated wooden casks, is one of the most sublime vinegars you can find. Some are very expensive but you don’t have to spend a lot to find a good Balsamic. Another interesting choice, for an Asian-flavor is rice vinegar, which is made from fermented rice.

The Mixing

The most effective way of combining oil and vinegar is in a blender or you can combine everything in a glass or stainless steel bowl and just whisk them together thoroughly. (Just don’t use an aluminum bowl — the acid in the vinegar can react with the aluminum, producing a metallic flavor.) You could also use a clean glass jar with a tight lid or a bottle and shake to combine.

For best results, all your ingredients should be at room temperature when you begin. The cooler the oil, the more difficult it is to make an emulsion. You may want to mix your dressing up and leave it sit for an hour or two, it’s nice to let the flavors meld for a while.

Give it another good whisk or shake before pouring on your greens.

Enjoy!

Make it yourself Salad Dressings Read More »