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.

Raspberry Chipotle Salsa

We had a salsa tasting this week at the Mill City Farmer's Market. I brought recipe cards, but they disappeared quickly, so I said that I would post the recipe here so that anyone who wasn't able to get one could print it. A few quick things about the recipe. I like to use zucchini in salsa, because it has a flavor and texture that is very similar to avocado, with substantially fewer food miles. Feel free to adjust amounts of ingredients to your liking, such as adding more peppers if you like it spicier. This recipe usually turns out medium to spicy. I hope that your family enjoys this recipe and we will see you at the market!

Raspberry Chipotle Salsa

Ingredients:
2 medium sized tomatoes diced small
1 small zucchini peeled and diced small
1 small red onion chopped small
3 chipotle jalapeño peppers chopped (see note on roasting)
¼ cup Raspberry Pepper Jam
2 TBS cumin
1/2 Tsp salt
3 TBS lime juice
www.LUCILLESKITCHENGARDEN.com ¼ cup finely chopped Cilantro

Preparation:
· Whisk together pepper jam, cumin, salt and lime juice
· Combine the rest of ingredients and pour whisked mixture over the top, stir all ingredients together gently, careful not to crush the tomatoes
· Serve with chips, over fried cornbread cakes or fried polenta

~~Chipotle peppers are simply fire roasted peppers. For the best flavor I recommend roasting them on your grill. In a pinch you can roast them on a sheet pan in the oven at 450 degrees. For either method you want to roast them long enough to cause even blistering and slight charring on the entire jalapeño. When this has happened (only a few minutes over direct flame and 10 to 12 minutes in the oven) sweat the peppers in a plastic bag until cool to the touch. Remove the stem and the skin, which should slide off quite easily and use immediately or they should be good in the refrigerator for about a week. I keep a little of the browned skin to add to my salsa, as it carries most of the smoky flavor. The seeds and veins inside of the pepper hold the heat, so if you wish for a milder salsa, you can remove some or all of these, however you do lose flavor by doing so. ALWAYS USE RUBBER GLOVES WHEN TOUCHING JALAPENOS!

Market Supper July 17

We are in full fledged berry season, so my time to write has been limited. Here is the Market supper from a few weeks ago. Remember to click on the above image to see it enlarged. I hope that you enjoy and we will see you at the market!

Market Supper July 3

Nothing says summer like BBQ ribs. The key to ribs is cooking them for a long time on low heat, so they are fall off the bone good. I actually boil mine in a vinegar, brown sugar, worchestire, lemon, and water brine for a good hour before I put them on the grill. Please enjoy this weeks market supper and we will see you at the market!!

Market Supper June 26

We have survived our first real week of heat and humidity. For us it is like an instant diet. We find ourselves eating later, in the cool of the evening, and eating less. This week's market supper is a reflection of the lighter meals that our family enjoys during the summer. The potato cakes let you enjoy the new crop of farm fresh potatoes, while keeping it light by serving on a bed of fresh Minnesota greens. The dessert combines fresh fruit and balsamic vinegar, a pairing that we don't see a great deal of in America, but is a wonderful way to dress up a pint of strawberries. A word on balsamic; you can spend a great deal of cash on a good balsamic vinegar. The best balsamics are more similar to a syrup then a traditional vinegar. I was watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS (one of the very few reasons that I still have a television) and they recommended that if you simmer down the standard grocery store balsamic in a pan on the stove top, that you will end up with a vinegar that is similar in taste and consistency as some of the more high end balsamics.

Enjoy the heat and remember that the good news is that chilled white wine never tastes so good as on a hot muggy day that is finally giving in to the cool of sundown. See you at the market!

Market Supper June 20

Here is the new Market Supper for Grill Week at the Mill City Farmer's Market!!

Market Supper June 10

It is official, this odd MN spring is going to lead to our fresh vegetables coming in a little late this year. However, each week we will have a few more fresh greens and the opportunity to try something new. This week I offer you Bison. Frequently Bison have been called American Buffalo, though they are really not very closely related to actual buffalo, such as the water buffalo of Asia. They are extremely efficient grazers, and this leads to a very lean meat, lower in cholesterol and saturated fat then most beef. The good news on the health side can lead to bad news at the supper table if the cook doesn't understand that the lower fat means that Bison cooks faster and should be cooked at a lower temperature then beef. You can use Bison in replacement of any recipe calling for beef, just be careful not to over cook it, which would lead you to the false impression that Bison is tough. In honor of Father's Day I offer you this Bison Burger recipe for your grill. Keep these burgers at least four to six inches above the medium flame of your grill and monitor them closely to see that they don't burn. Four to five minuets per side should do the trick! A happy Father's day to all the dads out there and See you at the Market!!