Market Supper September 15, 2008

As the temperature drops, we find ourselves digging out all of our favorite sweaters and soup recipes. I like to serve a light side with cream soups, like the squash curry soup featured in this week's Market Supper. The Zucchini Latkes can be served as a starter, or along side your soup, as all of the flavors marry well. I have been using the Garlic Pepper Preserve for my fall latkes. You will also notice that I mention Very Prairie graham crackers as a dessert or snack. Very Prairie makes a unique selection of products ranging from hand crafted pastas and crackers to a lovely chev're. Next week I plan to try a pasta recipe from her pasta selection and I will let you know how it turns out! A word on the squash you pick for your soup. I have used many different types of squash for this recipe and am currently using butter nut squash since my garden is overflowing with them. I recommend that you choose whichever variety of squash that you have enjoyed in the past. This recipe makes a medium spicy soup. Feel free to add additional ginger or curry powder to taste. Stay cozy and see you at the Market! Remember to click on the Market Supper Image to enlarge for printing or reading.

Apple Season is Here

Apple season is starting with some of the early varieties and we spent the weekend with the family in Appleton, MN picking apples with Amy's Mom and Dad and getting peppers from Uncle Lowell. We want to share with you where we get much of our produce and the people who have been so generous in helping us!

RNC Media Party and the Pie that Lost

We were very excited this week to be asked to serve our jelly at the Media Party that the city of Minneapolis hosted for the visiting media for the RNC. See mention in Saint Paul Pioneer Press http://www.twincities.com/rnc/ci_10346762?nclick_check=1 We served well over 1000 crackers with our Raspberry Pepper, Blueberry Pepper, and Green Pepper Jam. We also got to talk to so many interesting people from all over the world. Amy's sister Anne and our friend Clara helped us to keep the crackers rolling out. Earlier that day I decided to completely over schedule myself by entering a pie contest. As shown by the title my pie did not win, but by all the requests for the recipe, it must have been pretty good. I am posting it here because we ran out of recipe cards at the market. Serve this pie as you would a cheese cake (narrow slices), since it is very rich. The pepper- dark chocolate combination is wonderfully romantic, so I recommend making it for someone you love. Enjoy the Pie that Lost and we will see you at the Market!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Pepper Pie
http://www.lucilleskitchengarden.com/

Ingredients:
1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches), 2 Jars of Lucille’s Kitchen Garden Raspberry Pepper Jam, 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened), 1/3 cup sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup whipping cream (whipped), 2 squares (1 oz. each) dark chocolate, 3 tablespoons butter

Preparation:
· Bake pastry shell at 450 degrees until golden brown; 12- 15 minutes. Let cool.
· In sauce pan, gently warm over medium heat 2 jars of Lucille’s Kitchen Garden Raspberry Pepper Jam. Remove from the heat; cool for 5 minutes. Spread into shell; refrigerate.
· In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Carefully spread over raspberry layer. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Melt chocolate and butter; cool for 5 minutes. Pour over filling. Cover and chill for 2 hours; store in refrigerator.
· Serve with fresh raspberries.

Crepes at the MN State Fair

We have had an exciting week her at Lucille's Kitchen Garden. We were at the MN state fair in the Eco Exoerience building doing a jelly crepe demo and talking about the Mill City Farmers Market and local food. We ate so many crepes on the weeks leading up to the fair that I think we will hold off on crepes for a bit. I thought that I would share with you my crepe recipe and a few words on crepes.

Crepes are a great Saturday morning family breakfast. Miss Lucille, all of 6 years old, helped with the demo by putting the jam in the crepes rolling them up and sprinkling the powdered sugar over the top with a flour sifter. She was so fond of the flour sifter that I needed to stop her a few times, as the crepe began to look like it was stuck in a snowbank.

Crepe batter should look like a thinner version of pancake batter. I used an 8 inch pan with a tsp of butter to oil and poured a touch over 1/4 cup of batter in the middle, rotated the pan to coat the bottom and cooked the first side over medium high heat for about 3 min. or until the top looks dry. I then flipped the crepe and cooked for an additional 30 seconds to a minuet. It is actually easier to flip the crepes with the pan, then with a spatula since crepes are so thin and tear easily. Here is our crepe recipe, and see you at the market!

Crepes with
Lucille’s Kitchen Garden
Pepper Jams
www.LUCILLESKITCHENGARDEN.com

Ingredients:
1 cup of flour, 2 eggs, ½ cup milk, ½ cup water, ¼ teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons butter, melted, 1 tablespoon of Lucille’s Kitchen Garden Blueberry Pepper, Green Pepper or Raspberry Pepper Jam

Preparation:
· In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
· Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using ¼ cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
· Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.
· Take 1 tablespoon of Lucille’s Kitchen Garden Pepper Jam and apply.
· Roll crepe and sift powder sugar on top; Serve with fresh fruit.