Radish Salad

Root vegetables have sustained people through long, cold winters for millennia. Harvested in late fall, root vegetables of all kinds were packed into wooden crates between layers of damp, clean sand and stored in the cool, darkness of root cellars. These heirloom radishes bring a fresh crunch and make a very pretty salad. Look for Watermelon radish, black Spanish radish, purple radish, and China Rose radish at the farmers markets.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8 people

  • 1 China Rose radish, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise

  • 1 Watermelon radish, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise

  • 1 Black Spanish radish, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise

  • 1 Purple radish, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise

  • 4 Tablespoons Verjus or fresh lemon juice

  • 4 Tablespoons peppery olive oil

  • Sea salt

Preparation

Prep: 10 min • Ready in: 10 min

Using a mandoline set for a very thin slice, begin to slice the radishes into fan shaped slices, keeping each type separate. Dress each individually with 1 tablespoon Verjus or lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil and a little sea salt. To serve, plate the radishes in individual piles on a salad plate.

Recipe from the Kenter Canyon Farms test kitchen

Sautéed croutons with garlic, cumin, winter greens and prosciutto

Winter greens are available year round but are at their very best in the colder months when their deep colors and hearty flavors soften. This simple dish is a quick fix for a late night supper.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 people

  • 1 cup Roan Mills croutons

  • 1 bunch Kenter Canyon Farms winter greens like chard, kale with ribs removed, or escarole, washed, and sliced into chiffonade

  • 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

  • 4 slices of prosciutto, sliced into narrow strips

  • 1 teaspoon toasted cumin and coriander powder

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

  • ½ cup white wine

  • Pinch of sea salt and cayenne pepper

Preparation

Prep: 10 min • Cook: 10 min • Ready in: 20 min

For the cumin and coriander powder: place a 10" skillet over high heat and toss in a tablespoon each of cumin seed and coriander seed. Stirring constantly allow the seeds to become golden and fragrant. Remove from heat , allow to cool and pound into powder with a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Season eggs, greens, beans and meats with this, we always keep a small bowl of this cumin and coriander powder by the stove with the salt and the pepper grinder.

In a 10" skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and add the prosciutto, cumin/coriander powder and garlic. Stir continuously until things become fragrant and start browning a little. Add the croutons and sauté for 1 minute before adding the winter greens. Increase the heat to high and once the greens are cooking down add the wine and cook while stirring until the wine has cooked off, about 1 minute. Serve this hot with a little goat cheese and the rest of the white wine.

Recipe from the Kenter Canyon Farms test kitchen

Meyer Lemon Tart

Our go to recipe for lemon tart comes from Lindsey Shere, the beloved pastry chef and partner of Chez Panisse restaurant who, in 1985, wrote the Chez Panisse Dessert book. Our first edition copy is a well used, stained and tattered mess filled with notes and comments for variations and new combinations that occurred to us while using her work. Lindsey holds the view that her recipes are guides, more of a method and expects the user to adjust as needed to suit the variations that the ingredients will present. We follow the lemon filling recipe to a tee but have adjusted the tart dough by using 100% whole grain pastry flour from a heritage wheat that we grow and mill ourselves at Roan Mills. We find that flavor of the whole wheat compliments the tart lemon flavor in the filling. This recipe is useful as the parts can be made well ahead and stored without a problem for 2 weeks before baking.

Ingredients

Serves 8-10 people

For the Dough

  • 1 cup Roan Mills Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

  • 1 Tablespoon sugar

  • ¼ Teaspoon salt

  • ¼ Teaspoon grated lemon peel

  • ½ cup unsalted butter

  • 1½ Tablespoons water

  • ½ Teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling

  • 2 lemons: peels grated, lemons juiced

  • 2 eggs

  • 3 egg yolks

  • 6 Tablespoons sugar

  • 2 Tablespoons milk

  • ¼ Teaspoon cornstarch

  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 3 Tablespoons salted butter

Preparation

Prep: 10 min • Cook: 30 min • Ready in: 40 min

For the Dough

Place the flour, sugar, salt and lemon peel into a medium bowl and mix together by hand, cut the butter into the mix and work it, using your fingers, into the dry mixture until the whole resembles corn meal. Toss the water and vanilla extract in and work until the dough holds together. Shape the dough into a flattened disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, leave it to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 6 months. When you are ready to pre bake the crust, press the dough into a tart pan and line it with a piece of parchment paper and weigh the pastry with pie weights to keep it from puffing up in the oven. Place it in a preheated 375°F oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, carefully remove the parchment paper and pie weights and spoon in the lemon filling. Return to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. Serve when cool.

For the Filling

Grate the peels from the lemons, juice the lemons and combine these in a glass bowl. Over medium heat, beat the eggs and the yolks with the sugar in a heavy, non-corroding saucepan just until mixed. Combine milk and cornstarch and add to mixture, stir well and add the juice. Keep stirring as you add the butter, a little at a time and cook until butter is combined and the mixture thickens to coat the spoon. Let it stand 5 minutes to thicken and then whisk to smooth it. Pour into the prebaked tart shell and return to the oven for 20 minutes. OR cool the filling and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe from the Kenter Canyon Farms test kitchen