Spring Risotto Kit Recipes
Rich with comforting flavors, yet bright with spring ingredients, this week’s risotto-themed box is equally fit for a grand feast, or a romantic meal for two. Simply top a pot of risotto with our seasonal hazelnut-nettle pesto and a grating of Tomme cheese, then pair with roasted Romanesco broccoli and cauliflower salad, a crisp wine, and fresh fruit crisp to finish. Voilà!
Here are a few recipe ideas for side dishes this week:
Roasted Radishes
This easy roasting method from Martha Stewart highlights crisp, spring radishes with hints of olive oil, salt and lemon juice.
Sautéed Fiddlehead Ferns
These bright green fronds lend themselves to many of the same uses as asparagus. Here they shine with a simple dressing of butter and lemon juice.
Braised Fingerling Potatoes
Buttered and simmered in water, these rich, flavorful potatoes will wow.
Rhubarb Crisp
A quick and easy dessert using spring rhubarb—simply toss rhubarb with the following ingredients, then sprinkle with our hazelnut crisp topping.
Spring Risotto
This recipe is a favorite here at the farm. Creamy and delicious, it pairs well with steak, chicken, pork or can stand well on its own as the star of your meal—just remember to stir!
Eat Your Veggies Recipes
This week’s wide variety of fresh produce and provisions make it easy to satisfy the food pyramid in delicious fashion, whether packed into a main dish—say, spinach-stuffed ravioli or our hearty-healthy lentil soup—or enjoyed all on their own. (Be sure to try our roasted Chioggia beets with shallots.)
Here are a few of our favorite recipe ideas to try this week:
Roasted Garlic, Three Ways
The Hungry Mouse blog shares favorite ways to enjoy this essential aromatic ingredient: roasted, in compound butter and as an infused oil.
Garlic Confit
A great way to use up extra garlic, this mellow confit makes an amazing topping for pizza, pasta and crostini.
Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette
Punched up by sherry vinegar and Dijon mustard, this vinaigrette adds a bright, yet rich, finish to salads.
Peas with Spring Onions, Lettuce & Herbs
This side dish from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters is bursting with the bright flavors of spring.
Sautéed Kale with Garlic and Vinegar
Tossed with just a hint of garlic and vinegar, this Vitamin K-rich dish is sublime served with pasta. (Hint: This basic method for cooking greens works equally well for all leafy greens!)
Kale & Potato Soup
This rich, traditional Portuguese soup—called caldo verde (green broth)—is given a modern spin with fresh kale.
Braised Red Cabbage
This French dish courtesy of Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook is an excellent accompaniment to roast pork or game. The trick here is the slow-cooking process, which produces a wonderful texture and result.
Colors of Spring Recipes
Purple and ivory-tipped crocuses and sunny daffodils are starting to peep out of the soil—spring is almost here! To celebrate, we are bringing you the season a little early this week with a wide variety of fresh ingredients in cheerful colors, from deep, rich greens to crisp radishes in vibrant red and purple hues. Explore the bounties of spring all week long with a herb-kissed pasta dish, our housemade ham and vegetable frittata and other seasonal provisions.
Here are a few of our favorite recipe ideas to try this week:
Homemade Granola
Marge Granola owner Megan Gordon shares her tips and tricks for creating your own scrumptious batch of granola.
Romanesco Salad
Bright Romanesco florets are tossed with an equally vibrant red wine vinaigrette, plus red onions, celery and capers in this fabulous salad from food blog Simple Recipes.
Roasted Romanesco
So easy, so stunning: Use this basic roasting method as a jumping off point for enjoying this crunchy, mellow vegetable.
SEASONAL RECIPE: FARM-FRESH APPLE BUTTER
One of our favorite pastimes during this cozy-up season is spending a little extra time in kitchen whipping up preserves to stash in the pantry. So after recently harvesting the apples from the orchard our thoughts naturally turned to warm, succulent apple butter.
Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cider, the soul-soothing spread is perfect on rustic toasted bread (and makes a great hostess gift at dinner parties, too). Try making a few jars for yourself with this easy slow cooker recipe courtesy of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso:
Ingredients:
5 pounds (about 10 large) mixed apples, peeled, cored and cut into medium-size pieces
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
1 whole star anise pod
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon coarse salt
1;4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups fresh apple cider
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Turn a slow cooker on high and add all ingredients. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Mixture should be bubbling vigorously. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour more. Remove and discard star anise pod.
With the lid set slightly ajar, continue cooking until the butter is dark brown and thick, 7 to 9 hours more. Stir well and pass through a food mill or strainer, if necessary to remove any lumps.
Place six clean 1-pint or twelve clean 1/2-pint jars right side up on a rack in a boiling-water canner. Fill canner and jars with hot water, about 1 inch above tops of jars. Bring jars to a boil over high heat; boil for 10 minutes. Using a jar lifter, remove and drain hot sterilized jars one at a time, reserving hot water for processing filled jars. Place jars on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet.
In another large pot filled with water, bring to a boil over high heat and reduce to a simmer, then add clean lids and lid rings. Simmer lids for 10 minutes; do not boil, as this may cause problems in sealing jars. Drain lids and set aside.
Divide apple butter evenly among sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of space at top of each jar. Using tongs, place lids on jars. Using your hands, place rings on jars and tighten (but do not overtighten). Reheat water in the canner until it reaches at least 180 degrees, within 10 minutes of filling the jars. Place filled jars into the canner, one at a time, using a jar lifter securely positioned below neck of jar. Keep jars upright at all times.
Add more boiling water, if needed, so that water covers jars by at least 1 inch. Increase heat to high and cover. Once water begins boiling, heat jars for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and gently transfer jars to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet, taking care not to tilt jars and spacing each jar at least 1 inch apart. Avoid placing jars on a cold surface or near a cold draft.
Let jars sit undisturbed until fully cooled, 12 to 24 hours. Do not tighten ring bands on the lids or push down on the center of the flat metal lid until jars have cooled completely.
Once jars have cooled completely, test to make sure each jar is completely sealed: Press down on the middle of the lid with a finger. If lid springs up when finger is released, jar is unsealed. Store sealed jars in a cool place. If any of the jars are unsealed, store in refrigerator and use within several weeks.
