Shiitake & Tofu Ranchero

Estia's Shiitake & Tofu Ranchero

serves 8

Ingredients for ranchero:

  • 2 blocks extra firm tofu
  • 4 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms
  • 4 cups salsa (tomato, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro)
  • 8 cloves garlic, diced fine
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 1 quart water

Brining the tofu will give it a good flavor boost. This recipe works best served fresh out of the oven.

Start by soaking the tofu in salted water for 30 minutes, then set on a cutting
board wrapped in paper towels, place another board on top, and weigh down
with 3 plates. Squeeze for 30 minutes to dry the tofu.

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Vegan Aquachile Rojo Salad

Vegan Aquachile Rojo Salad

Serves 2

For Salsa Rojo:

  • 1 cup white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup lime juice
  • 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 small roasted beet, skin removed, diced
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 jalapeño (seeds removed), diced fine
  • 1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 2/3 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 cup cold water

Combine vinegar, lime juice, olive oil and beet in a blender and run until smooth. Transfer pureé into a jar.

Aquachile Rojo pureé
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Vegan Paella: Estia’s Earth Day Dinner

Vegan Paella at Estia's for Earth Day weekend

Serves 4 people as a main dish

Ingredients:

  • 1 large artichoke – heart removed, sliced into 8 sections
  • 1 cup sugar snap peas – chopped
  • 1 small fennel bulb – sliced thin
  • 1 cup sweet corn
  • 1 carrot – peeled and diced
  • 2 celery stalks – diced
  • 1 cup zucchini – sliced
  • 1 small Spanish onion – diced
  • 4 garlic cloves – diced
  • 4 tomatoes – canned, cut into ¼ pieces 
  • 10 green olives – sliced
  • 4 cups vegetable stock 
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil 
  • 1 teaspoon of saffron threads 
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 large orange –  juiced
  • 1.5 cups jasmine rice

Preheat oven to 400° degrees.

Vegan Paella at Estia's for Earth Day weekend

Start by stirring saffron, salt and paprika into the vegetable stock, set aside for a few hours.

Vegan Paella at Estia's for Earth Day weekend
Vegan Paella with artichokes at Estia’s for Earth Day weekend
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Roasted tomato and basil pasta sauce: The A.Sisters Christmas giving

It’s been 8 years since the A.Sisters have made a batch of pasta with our machine at Estia.

Now that each of my daughters has their own kitchen and more of an interest in cooking (Mansell especially), we thought it was time to put together a Christmas gift of red, white, and green pasta with a simple tomato sauce and a chunk of cheese. We gifted these to family friends and a few hard working chefs that I love, too.

The finished Gift box
The finished Gift box
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Cornbread for the Thanksgiving table

Estia's Cornbread

My corn crop was destroyed by birds this past summer. It was coming in strong, 6 feet tall with a wonderful showing of several cobs on each plant in mid July. The bed I set wasn’t large, about 25 feet wide and 40 feet long. Then, late in the month a freak hurricane named Hanna ran up the Mississippi River and turned right mid way through the country, we were hit with its tail end. Just enough force to mess with my corn, twisting it up and opening the tightly packed rows. This in turn provided the birds access to each Cob which are generally buried tightly in the mass of plants that I refer to as my wall of Oaxacan green “Indian corn”. The birds ate all of my corn this year, it was hard to watch nature take her share.

The birds got to share our Estia’s garden corn this year.
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Mexican Sweet Corn Chowder

Mexican sweet corn chowder Estia's style

|serves a crowd|

Add ingredients in a large pot:

20 corn cobs – ( remove corn from cobs first and save kernels for later)

Bring 2 gallons of water to a simmer then add:

  • 1 lb unsalted butter
  • 1 quart 1/2&1/2
  • 1 large white onion – chopped
  • 3 bunch cilantro, stems included (rinsed twice)
  • 20 poblano chilis – (cut peppers in half and don’t remove seeds or stems)
  • 2 tablespoons sea salt
  • Add corn cobs
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Chocolate Pudding for 40 kids

Cooking at the Hayground school with the students

The annual Hayground school visit is a highlight on my winter schedule. This year the class was all boys. We started in the classroom and watched the riverside video demonstration for our main course recipe from Estia’s American Rivers Tour website.

Cooking class at the Hayground school

Both situations were a first in my experience cooking with the students in that school. I think the kids were excited and better informed going into the kitchen after watching a recipe demo in the classroom.

Our menu included corn bread crusted chicken pot pie, cranberry sauce, a salad of spinach, arugula and cabbage in a tangerine, mustard vinaigrette, and for dessert, chocolate pudding.

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Sofrito from field to plate

Estia's Sofrito

Harvesting different types of peppers at the Quail Hill Farm

Reporting in from the Quail Hill Farm on October 30th. My membership here extends back to the early days, having joined New York’s first Community Supported Agriculture adventure (CSA) in 1993 I’m always thrilled to harvest here.

Harvesting carrots was my first task.  Take a look at our carrot video in the Estia Seed to Plate series. Once I was finished with the pitchfork in the carrot bed I moved on to find an abundance of chili’s three beds to the west. As always my eye was distracted by the beauty of the farm that’s been created and maintained by the Quail Hill crew now run by farmer Layton and mentored by poet and seed specialist Scott Chaskey.

Last week my email inbox featured a note from my pal Laura’s wife Catherine. She had visited a garden—planted by a man she spoke fondly of—and she carried a large bag filled with peppers home that day. Her note to me requested a recipe that might properly celebrate the harvest. Read More »

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Lemon Squares

Lemon Squares

Ingredients for crust:

  • 1 pound butter – cold – cut into pieces
  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 cups gram cracker meal
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup corn starch

Combine flour, gram cracker meal & butter in a food processor, pulse for 30 seconds.

Add the rest and run until it starts to turn into a ball.

Line a ½ sheet pan with parchment. Roll the crust dough out to flat with a rolling pin and line the bottom of the sheet pan with the dough. Place in a 350°F oven for 25 minutes. Read More »

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“Over the top” Mac & Cheese

Estia's “Over the top” Mac & Cheese

This is a dish that I started using as a big starch filler for our annual Christmas party last year. The key ingredient was love as I had my 3 daughters by my side, each of them stuffing penne into rigatoni, singing Christmas songs and making it all so easy.

Today as I stood alone in the kitchen I was missing the girls—and their hands, their smiles & their cooking enthusiasm. Then our pals Stew, Tina and Amy walked in and took over the pasta stuffing. I made the béchamel, added the cheese, and in 15 minutes there were 3 casseroles going into the fridge, ready to be baked and served at tonight’s harvest dinner.

Recipe serves over 20 people

Ingredients:

  • 2 boxes Penne (DeCecco, Penne lisce #10)
  • 2 boxes Rigatoni ( DeCecco, Mezzi rigatoni #26)
  • 16 oz Swiss cheese, grated
  • 24 oz Gruyer cheese, grated
  • 16 oz Mozzarella, grated
  • 3 cups, salted butter
  • 1 cup A.P. flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 4 tablespoons salt

Estia's “Over the top” Mac & Cheese

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Sweet corn & rye berry salad

Sweet corn and rye berry salad
Serves 10

Ingredients:

  • 6-8 corn cobs
  • 1 cup dried rye berries (or wheat berries)
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 lemons, juiced
  • 2 cups diced zucchini
  • 1 cup chopped scallion
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

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Little Kitchen Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

Recipe serves 30 cups

Ingredients:

  •  6 quarts water
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 10 plum tomatos
  • 25 Guajillo chilis (stems removed)
  • 3 Arbol chilis (stems removed)
  • 1 Spanish onion
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2 tablespoons cumin powder
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 dozen fried, chopped tortillas

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Mid Summer Garden Vegetable Escabeche

Mid Summer Garden Vegetable Escabeche with flat beans, carrots, cilantro, garlic

Makes 4 quarts (32oz Mason jars)

Ingredients:

  • 16 carrots, peeled and cut into four sticks each
  • 10 jalapeño peppers with top removed, quartered, leave the seeds
  • 1 quart flat beans, ends trimmed
  • 1 quart string beans, ends trimmed
  • 3 heads of garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 1 bunch of cilantro, washed twice in water bath to remove sand
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup salt
  • 32 oz white vinegar
  • 4 32 oz Mason jars, sanitized in boiling water*

In a 4 qt. or large stockpot, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Drop the carrots in the boiling water and simmer at medium heat for 1 minute. Add flat beans, string beans, and jalapeños. Stir and boil for 2 minutes. Read More »

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Refrigerator Beet Pickles | Red and Yellow Beet Recipes

Finding pickled beets at Hayward Farmers Market

Red Beet ”Refrigerator Pickles”  

Ingredients:

  • 6 medium sized beets (peeled and sliced into ½ inch discs)
  • 2 cups shredded beet greens
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
  • 3 dried red chilis, chopped
  • ½ cup chopped green onions
  • ½ cup chopped fennel bulb
  • ½ cup chopped celery
  • 8 oz water
  • 5 oz white vinegar (plus extra to top off jar if needed)
  • 3 oz white sugar
  • 1 ⅔ T sea salt

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Inside Out Lasagna

Inside out lasagna

Makes one 9 inch lasagna
Serves 4 as a main course with salad
Use a 9 inch springform cheesecake pan

Ingredients:

  • 4 large tomatoes (roast at 350°F on a well oiled sheet pan, 20 minutes) reserve all oil and remove the skin after roasting
  • 1 yellow summer squash, 6 inches long
  • 1 large eggplant, medium size
  • 1 red onion
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 sweet yellow pepper
  • 1 sweet red pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

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Mexican Chimichurri

  • 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
  • 1 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
  • handful oregano sprigs, chopped
  • ½ cup finely diced fresh garlic
  • 4 tsp dried chili powder
  • 2 tbsp finely diced fresh ginger
  • 1 cup finely diced jalapeno
  • ½ cup finely diced red onion or shallots
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • 3 cups oil
  • ½ cup white vinegar
  • salt

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Woodfire Beets with fennel, currants, raisins and yogurt

Woodfire Roasted Beets by chef Megan Huylo

Recipe by chef Megan Huylo of Amber Waves Farm Kitchen in Amagansett

Woodfire Roasted Beets w/ baby fennel, fresh currants, golden raisins & yogurt

Serves 2

  • 6 medium red beets, ends trimmed
  • 4 lemons, zested & juiced
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup Greek yogurt, whipped with a fork
  • 2 baby fennel, thinly sliced & fronds reserved
  • ¼ cup fresh red currants
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins
  • 2 tablespoons chopped, toasted walnuts

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Beet Moussaka

Beet Mousaka

Recipe by chef Arie Pavlou of Bridgehampton Inn & Restaurant in Bridgehampton, NY

Beet Moussaka

makes 4 servings

  • 1 lb beets, boiled until tender and peeled
  • 3 oz. sweet butter
  • 1 medium onion caramelized in 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 8-10 cloves garlic confit, mashed
  • ½ cup sweet sherry
  • 1 cup stock of your choice, we use duck stock
  • 1 tsp dried or 1 Tablespoon fresh marjoram
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into ½” discs
  • 2 medium eggplant sliced into ½” discs
  • 1 qt. béchamel
  • ¼ cup grated gruyere cheese

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Smoked Baby Beet and Arugula Salad

Smoked Baby Beet and Arugula Salad by chef Sam McCleland

Recipe by chef Sam McCleland of The Bell & Anchor in Sag Harbor, NY

Smoked Baby Beet and Arugula Salad

serves 4

  • 16 baby beets, roasted and quartered lengthwise
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 6 sprigs of thyme
  • 1/2teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 bulb of fennel, cored and shaved thinly
  • 4 cups baby arugula
  • 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
  • 2 oz cranberry vinaigrette (recipe to follow below)

For Beets:

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium bowl, toss whole beets, olive oil, salt, pepper and whole thyme sprigs. Transfer to a sheet pan, cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast in oven for 30 minutes or until tender. Cool and then gently remove skin with a dry towel (skin will slip off when gently rubbed). Read More »

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