Watermelon Gazpacho

During one of our stays at our beloved Keswick Hall (in Charlottesville, VA), the Villa chef made a delicious version of this cold soup for lunch. It was love at first bite (sip? slurp?) and I was determined to find or create a similar recipe when we got home. After a little experimenting, and using other recipes I found as guides, here is my final product. We love it, and think it tastes even better if you let the flavors meld overnight (the onion mellows the longer it sits, so don't freak out if it's strong when you first make it). So easy, light, fresh, healthy, and delicious, everyone should put some Watermelon Gazpacho on their menu for the week. Great as an appetizer, first course, BBQ side, or paired with a panini.

Watermelon Gazpacho

1 large tomato, chopped
1 serrano chili seeded and chopped (in lieu of this, you can use 1/2 t red pepper flakes)
3 cups watermelon, chopped or balled
1/4 cup sweet onion (or less, if you don't like an oniony after-taste), chopped
1 small cucumber peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 medium yellow bell pepper, seeded, and chopped
1/8 cup fresh mint leaves
3 T fresh lime juice
2 T raspberry wine vinegar

Use an immersion blender to liquefy all ingredients -OR- blend all ingredients together in small batches using a blender or food processor. Combine all batches, stir well, cover, and refrigerate until serving. Garnish with mint if desired. Tastes even better the second day!

Our First Five Egg Day!

Whew!

We did it.

Managed to keep five pullets alive until their point of lay. I feel like we should get a medal or something...

But instead of a shiny golden statue, our reward is our first five egg day! Which, of course, had to be documented in pictures:

These beauties are the handiwork of (L to R): Marilla, Tillie, Brooke, Pringle, and Muriel.

Our two babies are both late-laying breeds (an English Orpington, and a Polish), so it'll be quite some time before they join the layers club.

Funny anecdote about that: Mrs. Rachel loves to watch the big girls lay. She is fascinated by it. She'll follow them up to the coop, find a nice fluffy mound of pine shavings, and plop right down for the show. The "performers", however, are less than thrilled. Tillie even chases Rach out of the coop in no uncertain terms. It's hilarious!

Our girls aren't known to be prolific layers (save, Brooke the Australorp) so five egg days will likely be an uncommon event, but this first was akin to holiday status here at Ingleside! Hooray for fresh, beautiful eggs!

A French Cooking Class

Happy Weekend! Here's a post for the foodies ;-)

This afternoon here at Ingleside, I was in the kitchen enjoying some food prep for the coming week - including roasting up a batch of deconstructed Ratatouille... Which brought to mind the fact that I had never posted PICTURES about the most amazing cooking school we attended while last in the South of France (where I learned said unconventional Ratatouille preparation). Back on my old blog, Windy Poplars, I had written a couple of journal entry type posts while we were actually still in France (so I wouldn't forget a single detail!), and I had posted the one below sans pictures. - 

But today, I have the new-and-improved version. Might want to have a snack handy whilst you read...

_______________________

So here in France, what would you guess is the pervasive passion among the entirety of the population (young, old, rich, poor, well-educated or not, city folk, country folk...)?

Food and Wine

(Though for some, not in that order.) Being avid foodies ourselves, we knew we had to look into some local cultural experiences that included this, our most delectable hobby. Enter: Cooking By The Canal du Midi - a one day school with a classically trained culinary genius (Heather), and her fabulous husband David, in the lovely little hamlet (or nearly there) of Millepetit, right on the banks of the Canal.

Located just beyond an olive orchard, down a majestic, albeit bumpy, tree-lined lane, lies a full working farm from which was gathered the vast majority of our ingredients who, only the evening before, were still hanging happily on the vine as the warm sun caressed them gently into ripest perfection. Fresh locavore-ism at its finest! Besides the bowlful of gorgeous brimming veg (artichokes, asparagus, aubergines, courgettes, runner beans, spring onions, fresh garlic, sweet tomatoes...) there was olive oil from the grove next door, and wines from the vineyard just across the road to use as the star ingredients in our tasty adventure.

After a quick tour, we all reluctantly put down our cameras, excitedly fastened our aprons around our waists, and tucked our towels into place ready to begin! Heather was an absolute whiz at planning out how everything should go, and with our class, she had quite the extra challenge. Between us, we had: gluten allergies, dairy allergies, two vegetarians, and a lady on FODMAPS diet. But she saw it all as just a new mountain to be climbed, and my goodness, our menu was a smashing success - and it was all allergy-friendly!!!

As we dove into prep work: chopping, peeling, beating, scraping, separating, roasting, confit-ing, braising, stuffing, lolli-popping, we were busy every moment! But during it all, Heather kept us afloat with fantastic tips and great direction. Dave even gave us masterful instruction on preparing artichokes properly, a skill that has eluded me these many years!

Enjoying conversation with fellow students all the way, the day just FLEW by! By the end, we were tired and HUNGRY in the best way.

And can I just pause here:

Those of you with food allergies will very much understand what I mean when I say that social eating (i.e. having a meal anywhere but in your own home) can be a very sad, lonely, stressful experience. Especially for those of us who simply ADORE food. To have to watch other people eat something you'd kill for right in front of you, is oft akin to torture. To have a host prepare a meal that you can't partake of, and require you to bring your own grub, feels so alienating. To have to gamble with food at a restaurant, buffet, or picnic, can often cause as much gastric (di)stress and anxiety to your system as eating the off-limits food would have in the first place!

But when someone goes out of their way to show you kindness and consideration by researching your dietary needs (heaven knows we don't choose them!), and prepare safe foods for everyone to partake of together, is the. most. amazing feeling in the world! It makes you (me!) feel loved and included in all the best ways. And food prepped with that extra amount of heart just tastes 1,000x sweeter.

Heather was just such an angel. Our menu would have rivaled that of a Michelin Star chef, and to think we actually had a hand in the prep, and didn't ruin a thing?! Each and every bite was sensational. Though the weather was threatening rain all week, we woke Thursday morning to blue skies and sunshine, under which we enjoyed our feast, picnic-style, right on the banks of the canal.

We enjoyed Apps of:

Canapes of duck ham and quince, truffle tartes, red pepper gazpacho, roasted tomatoes with creme fraiche, three different dips (sun dried tomato, brebi cheese, and artichoke)

First Course 

of souffles on a bed of caramelized onions and asparagus three ways

Second Course 

of roasted guinea fowl stuffed with a homemade spinach ricotta moussilline, fondant potatoes, and deconstructed ratatouille with an amazing pepper sauce and the plate was finished with a delicious gastrique and crisped sage leaves

Third Course 

was chocolate cakes with strawberries and creme fraiche sorbet

Let me just tell you. We left there fat and happy. :-)

So to anyone planning a holiday to the South of France, I would encourage you to consider including a day (or two) of cultural cooking school in your schedule. It was one of the highlights of our trip, and we just can't wait until we have the opportunity to do it again sometime!

To Market, To Market...

One of the greatest perks to living here at Ingleside has been the ability to walk everywhere! It may have been  just the tick on the amenities list that actually tipped the scales in her favor while contemplating the purchase... We found ourselves asking: "How in the world can we NOT live in such a convenient location?" 

We love walking to the grocer, to the coffee shop, to the movies (well, ok, we haven't actually taken advantage of the theatre yet), to the bakery, to the restaurant, to the massage therapist, to the ice cream parlor, to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings...

It's just the best.

And having lived in the country for most of my life, it is the height of luxury to my community-loving soul.

We so enjoy running into friends, making new ones, beginning to establish ourselves as "regulars" at all the local businesses... it's just such an outward way to live, and it's what we'd been hoping to find.

Nice when things don't disappoint, huh?

There's just something about the unhurried act of choosing to walk, and shop, and hang out in your hamlet that says, "I'm open to the possibility of community, to the intersection of lives, to connection." So different from the American par. 

It's refreshing. 

And we're grateful for the opportunity to experience it.

Kale Salads

Ever since kale started making it's early spring appearance on the Farmer's Market scene, I just can't seem to say no to bringing a big beautiful bunch of it home!

Currently, I find myself mixing up huge salads with this bounty that will last us for several days. If you're anything like me, the decision for healthy eating often depends on my ambition level/energy du jour, and some days, I just don't feel like lots of washing, chopping, and tossing! So how nice is it to come home to a ready-made powerhouse of both flavor and nutrition?

The nice thing about kale is that I think it gets even better as it sits bathed in a light dressing...softening in both texture and flavor. Something we'd never dream of with spinach or lettuce! I've had a salad last us 4 or 5 days, and still be just as delicious as mixing day.

There are so many yummy fruit and veggie combinations you could try! The key is finding long lasting compadres for your kale base. For example, I don't like to use tomatoes for my original mix (because we all know refrigerators take every bit of happiness out of a tomato), but I'll toss a few grape tomatoes in just before eating - super easy. Same with most nuts, seeds, or any fruit that looses color after being exposed to air (like apples or pears).

Best part is, for days your salad will be all set for you to use as a side dish, or you can choose to add some meat and bread to quickly turn it into an entre'!

 Here are just a few combos to get your gears turning...

Kale, blue cheese, blueberries, cucumbers, onion, salad burnet. -Adding pumpkin seeds and chicken just before eating

Kale, onion, olives, red pepper, feta, bacon. -Adding tomatoes just before eating

Kale, cucumber, strawberries, quinoa, onion, brie. -Adding cashews just before eating

I usually just use a simple dressing (either evoo/balsamic/salt and pepper or honey/stoneground mustard/water) lightly dress, and massage into the salad. Then cover tightly, refrigerate, and reap the joys of food prep for the coming week!

Waste Not, Want Not

Recently, I've been trying to be more aware of our consumption level (and consequent waste) of food. Though over-buying has never been a problem for us (thanks to never having a pantry or large fridge/freezer), there are still things I find myself regularly throwing away that, with a little extra thought, could be used/consumed/enjoyed and we would consequently be getting the most thorough bang for our food budget buck each week.

It seems that this sort of thinking really comes back to mindfulness...a large pillar in the slow living lifestyle. When we finish with what a recipe requires, we seem to mentally conclude that we're "done" with an ingredient, don't we? Any leftovers are just waste or excess. But they don't have to be!

This week, when I was doing some prep cooking for the coming days, I was really mindful of what was in our refrigerator, and a) what I could do to make it most easily consumed, and b) what I could do to make the best use of the ingredients I bought. Here are a few of my findings:

One of the most-wasted fruits I buy are strawberries. We like strawberries, they just come in a larger package than most fruit, require some prep work, and often by the time we get to the last 4 or 5, they are bruised, mushy, and not consumable. So this week, as soon as I got home from the market I soaked my berries in the vinegar-water solution we use, rinsed them thoroughly, topped and sliced them, and placed them in a glass container to store in the fridge. This makes them easy to see, instantly grabbable and ready-to-use for a snack, to top some yogurt and granola for breakfast, to eat with a little fresh whipped cream for dessert, whatever! The result: we went through the entire box of strawberries with zero waste this week. Win!

Another thing I wanted to tackle was the little bits and bobs left over from recipes...mainly citrus (lemons and limes) and fresh herbs. I use these, forget about them, and then find what's left in the back of a drawer weeks later having died a slow and lonely death. - So this week, as I was making a spring pea soup requiring fresh mint, I used the several sprigs I needed from the package (can't wait to have my own herb garden again!!) and dropped the remaining sprig to two into a pitcher of water in the fridge. Incidentally, I was also cutting up a cucumber for a kale salad, and snuck a few slices of that into the pitcher too. A recipe that called for half of a lemon obligingly donated the other half to our infusion, and the result: we've been enjoying some deliciously refreshing cucumber/mint/lemon water for the last few days with no bits and bobs going to waste!

Bananas: these guys can be rather unpredictable in their ripening habits. Sometimes I find myself with a whole bunch of very ripe, quickly darkening fruit. When that happens, I often peel and freeze them to use later for smoothies - the riper, the better!

Kale is another sometimes-forgotten bottom-drawer-dweller. I'll use what I need for a salad, and then the last bit I didn't use will languish away into eternity. So now what I'm trying to do is to just wash it ALL at the same time. Use what I need for my salad, and then tear the rest into moderate stem-less pieces, dry thoroughly, and store in a paper towel ready to grab for smoothie use. Somehow, having it already washed, and de-stemmed makes all the difference. Plus knowing it's there ready for me keeps it on my radar throughout the week.

Have you found little tips and tricks that helps you use up all your food and leaves you with a cleared out fridge at the end of the week all ready for a fresh filling from the farmer's market? Please share them in the comments!

Homemade Applesauce

One of the easiest ways to bring fall to life for your nose, is, I think, homemade applesauce simmering away on the stove. Such a cozy comforting smell that tells tales of crisp orchards, and warm evenings by the fireplace, hinting of the holidays to come.

If you've never made it before, it truly is easy as a wink! 

Wash, peel, core, and slice up your apples 

(I like using a variety of apples for depth of flavor)

Throw all of the slices into a pot, and add a smidgen of water to coat the bottom 

(just to keep them from burning before they start releasing their own juice)

Cover

Simmer away on medium-low until soft and falling apart, stirring occasionally.

When they're done, you have a few textural options:

+ Mash with a potato masher or just stir thoroughly with a spoon for a rustic texture (my favorite!)

+ Run through a food mill for a "traditional" applesauce texture

+ Give it a whirl in the blender (after it has cooled a bit) for a super-smooth baby foodish texture

 After that, the options continue! You can leave the sauce as is, add a hearty dose of cinnamon, add honey or sugar if you used tart apples, experiment with other spices (cardamom, nutmeg, ginger, allspice...) - sky's the limit! 

Ohhhhh, and the best part? Savoring that just-made warm applesauce fresh from the stove. A little bit of autumnal heaven partying in your mouth!

  

Enjoy!

Do you make homemade applesauce?