Dancing Spoon

Wicked Good Hot Sauce

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding

The Scotch bonnet pepper is slightly different from the Habanero pepper. They are two varieties of the same species but have different pod types. Both peppers have the characteristic thin, waxy flesh with a similar heat level and flavor however, the actual degree of "heat" varies greatly with genetics, growing methods, climate, and plant stress. While the Scotch Bonnet pepper originated in the Caribbean, the Habanero came from the Yucatan Peninsula.

I first discovered the Scotch Bonnet pepper in Jamaica while trying some Jerk Chicken; they are well known for their Jerk Sauce on chicken and pork. The peppers left a residual burn on your lip, it was a happy burn. 

The first time I made this sauce my nose was running and I was sneezing up a storm. I blew my nose and some of the juice went through the tissue. Not funny then but it is now. There I was running around with ice cubes up my nose calling the hospital to see what I could do since I had no milk products to calm this down. In the end I had to call my husband to come home with sour cream to neutralize the heat. I dilearn this one the hard way! Always wear gloves and don’t touch ANYTHING until your hands are clean!

Wicked Good Hot Sauce

Ingredients
Serves 2-4
1 ½    cup carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped    
2 cups white vinegar
¼ cup lime juice
12 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1  teaspoon sugar
13 fresh Scotch Bonnet peppers, chopped 

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients except Scotch Bonnet peppers in saucepan. Boil 19 minutes or until carrots are soft.  Add Scotch Bonnet peppers. Puree in blender until smooth. 
2. Pour in sterilized jars and refrigerate. 

Note: I follow regular canning instructions for a longer shelf life.

---

You can find Kate Gooding's book, Black Fly Stew - Wild Maine Recipes at Foodie's Emporium! Click here Kate has published three cookbooks: Wild Maine Recipes and Simple Gourmet Lamb with Side Dishes and Wine Pairings. She is currently is working on her one in the Black Fly Stew series – which carries and an international flair.
 More information at www.blackflystew.com

Maple Grilled Swordfish

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding
If you have never experienced Maple Sunday in Maine, put it on your calendar for next year and go to Dragonfly Farm and Winery in Stetson, Maine, or your closest maple producer. I paired my sample dishes with their wines. I made this maple mustard for dipping and later lathered it on a grilled swordfish. I have made this Maple-Mustard Sauce several time, with the new addition of Raye’s “Bar Harbor Real Ale” Stone Ground Mustard, your senses will reach heightened awareness as the taste of the mustard stimulates your taste buds!

Raye’s Mustard Mill, located in Eastport, Maine, is a working museum with tours given weekdays. Did you know mustard is perhaps the world's oldest condiment. All recorded histories note the cultivation and use of the plant for epicurean and medicinal purposes. Napoleon's armies were supplied with mustard to ward off digestive ailments and make their food more palatable. Modern science has shown that mustard seeds are high in antioxidant properties and in combination with other herbs and spices have antibacterial qualities.

Grilled Swordfish with Raye’s Maple-Mustard Sauce

Ingredients
Serves 2-4
1 pound swordfish steak, about 1 ¼-inch thick
2 teaspoons smoked sea salt   
2 tablespoons Dragonfly Farm Dark Amber Maple Syrup

Raye’s Maple Mustard Sauce
2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup Raye’s “Bar Harbor Real Ale” Stone Ground Mustard
2 tablespoons Dragonfly Farm Maple Syrup
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions
1. Spray gas grill rack with non-cooking spray and heat on high. Pat fish dry, sprinkle smoked sea salt and brush with maple syrup. Grill swordfish about 10 minutes; turn and grill 3 more minutes.
2. Heat butter in small saucepan; add maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and mustard and simmer until heated through..
3. Spoon auce over swordfish and serve.

Wine Pairing Dragonfly Farm and Vineyards-By-the-Numbers white wine.

---

You can find Kate Gooding's book, Black Fly Stew - Wild Maine Recipes at Foodie's Emporium! Click here. Kate has published three cookbooks: Wild Maine Recipes and Simple Gourmet Lamb with Side Dishes and Wine Pairings. She is currently is working on her one in the Black Fly Stew series – which carries and an international flair.

More information at www.blackflystew.com

And visit Foodie's Emporium for Unique Kitchen items!

---

(Cucumber) Relish Your Meal

Tips Tasty

by Anna Tourkakis

Relish Your Meals
Cooking is definitely simpler and easier during summer. Temperatures are warm, fruits and vegetables are plentiful and meals can be easily put together.

For quick cooking, grilling is a frequent go-to method. Adding a relish to these meals produces a surprising delightful lunch or dinner. Typically, a relish consists of raw vegetables, pickles and spices. This cucumber relish replaces the pickles with jalapeño and uses a combination of summer favorite ingredients that are colorful and flavorful accompaniment to grilled meats resulting in a satisfying, healthy and delicious meal.

Cucumber Relish

Ingredients
1 cup seedless cucumber with skin, diced
1 cup tomato, seeded and diced
½ cup red onion, diced
1 teaspoon jalapeno, minced
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Toss all ingredients together.
2. Taste for seasoning.
3. Serve as a relish.
TIP If you get excess liquid, drain the relish and use it as part of a salad dressing. Toss with mixed greens.

---

Anna's new cookbook Delicious Simplicity is now available. It's packed with quick-and-easy recipes, Delicious Simplicity is your go-to cookbook for scrumptious meals. Save time and money while preparing delectable recipes that make nutritious eating in your busy life practical.

Buy Delicious Simplicity.

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---

Radicchio Crostini

Italy Delicious

by Ashley Bartner
What to do with radicchio? Sauteed with cherry tomatoes and piled high atop crostini!  

Ok, so what is radicchio? If you once thought it was just a purple lettuce, think again. Its an ancient leafy vegetable in the chicory family. Radicchio has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted. Its commonly found throughout Italy and we grow it on our farm too! Radicchio is such as versatile ingredient — eaten raw, grilled with olive oil or in risotto.

Here's a quick and easy recipe to enjoy this under rated leafy veg, you can use this topping as crostini, atop grilled chicken or try it in a frittata.

Radicchio Crostini

Ingredients
Radicchio, core removed, sliced
4-5 Cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Clove of garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
Soft cheese (we use stracchino a soft cows milk cheese)
Toasty bread

Directions
1. In a frying pan heat 3-4 glugs of olive oil and gently fry the clove of garlic. Once brown, remove garlic.
2. Raise the heat, add radicchio, season with salt & pepper and saute for 3-4 minutes as the radicchio will cook down a bit.
3. Add the cherry tomatoes and lower the heat to medium-low. Gently cook everything down, letting the tomatoes wilt about 10 minutes. It may be necessary to add a spoonful or two of water if it looks like its drying out.
4. Taste and check your salt & pepper.
5. Turn off heat & allow to cool. Add a healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil over top and mix in.
6. Toast your bread slices. Spread layer of soft cheese & spoonful of radicchio mixture.

Tutti a tavola — everyone to the table!

---

Ashley Bartner is living the foodie dream in Italy. Together with her Chef-husband Jason, they own and run La Tavola Marche  an organic farm, inn and cooking school in Central Italy's region of Le Marche.

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---

Broccoli Summer Salad

Ordinary Out of the

OOO by Kate Krukowski Gooding
Summer is here and the weather is sultry. I don’t remember it being this hot in Maine for so long. “Take a jump in the lake” has been a term we have really taken seriously this summer. And, who would have believed you could swim in the Maine ocean?!

The more you can stay out of the kitchen and the longer a dish lasts, all the better. This dish is simplicity itself! Here is a tasty salad that can last a week in the refrigerator, as long as you don’t leave it on the table for any too long. Remember that mayonnaise is sensitive to heat. Enjoy!

Broccoli Summer Salad

Ingredients
6 cups broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds
¾ cup raisins
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
7 slices crumbled bacon
1 ¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon smoked sea salt

Directions
1. Combine mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar.
2. Pour over broccoli and stir to combine. for 3-4 minutes as the radicchio will cook down a bit.
3. Add sunflower seeds, raisins, red onion and bacon. Mix well.

---

You can find Kate Gooding's book, Black Fly Stew - Wild Maine Recipes at Foodie's Emporium! Click here. Kate has published three cookbooks: Wild Maine Recipes and Simple Gourmet Lamb with Side Dishes and Wine Pairings. She is currently is working on her one in the Black Fly Stew series – which carries and an international flair.

More information at www.blackflystew.com

And visit Foodie's Emporium for Unique Kitchen items!

---

Bermuda Fish Chowder

Chowder Simple

by J. Michael Wheeler
This Fourth of July Grill brought together friends, food, drinks, and even an impromptu bagpipe serenade! Joe, the piper, is also Joe the sailor, and he just recently completed the 2010 Newport (Rhode Island) to Bermuda (Sailboat) Race. It’s a 635 mile ocean race, most of it out of sight of land, and can last anywhere from three to six days. (If you’re into sailing, Joe sailed on a Hinckley 70!)

Besides his pipes, Joe also brought a big pot filled with a taste of the race destination: Bermuda Fish Chowder. It’s a locals’ recipe using local ingredients, but as with many fish stews, use whatever local, fresh fish is available. There are two very unique ingredients to this fish stew however: the local Outerbridge’s Sherry Peppers Sauce for kick, and Goslings Black Seal rum as a topper. 

Here are two tasty and similar recipes (Joe says use either one). The first recipe is from Outerbridge’s of the Sherry Peppers Sauce, and the second is from Gosling’s Rum.

Farm to Table Fava Beans

Italy Delicious

by Ashley Bartner
Fava Beans
We've picked nearly a TON of fava (or "broad bean" as our British friends call them) out of our garden/farm – most likely if you have stopped by in the past 2 weeks you have either been given a bag of fresh picked fava to take home, shelled 'em, and/or eaten them!

So what to do with a crate of fava? Lots of choices, from crudo (raw) to crostini to pasta. Here we share a few of our favorite "Farm to the Table" fava dishes:

Simplicistic Antipasta
With the sweet spring flavor of shelled (double shelled) fava we simply pair it with a hunk of fresh pecorino cheese for the ultimate in simplicistic antipasta and country/peasant cooking.

Another great antipasta is fava crostini – the color and crisp flavor on crunchy bread – how can you only eat one?! Here's Jason's fava crostini recipe:

Fava Crostini
Ingredients
Serves 4

1 cup of double shelled (outer pod & inner shell removed) fresh fava or broad bean
couple glugs of olive oil
garlic clove, skinned, whole
squeeze of lemon
water
shaved parmesan
salt & pepper
baguette or crusty bread, sliced & toasted

Directions

1. Throw the fava in a pan and cover with water and a little salt. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer.
2. Cook a couple of minutes until the fava are tender. Drain.
3. Return the pan to the heat. Pour in a couple glugs of olive oil and the garlic clove. Fry the garlic until browned. Then discard garlic.
4. Toss the fava into the pan and sautee for a minute or two. Then begin mashing with the back of a wooden spoon until you form a paste. Add a bit of water if the paste is a bit too thick.
5. Remove fava paste from heat and season with salt and pepper add a squeeze of lemon.
6.Toast slices of good bread and rub warm fava mixture and top with shaved parmesan. You can drizzle a little really good quality extra virgin olive oil as well if you like.

Tutti a tavola — everyone to the table!

---

Ashley Bartner is living the foodie dream in Italy. Together with her Chef-husband Jason, they own and run La Tavola Marche  an organic farm, inn and cooking school in Central Italy's region of Le Marche.

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---

Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers

Grilling Simple

by J. Michael Wheeler
Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers
Grilling season opened this weekend here in New England and I was ready with my 1963 Vintage Charbroil charcoal grill. The cooking surface of this old workhorse is solid cast iron and as big as a restaurant grill. For me, the first grill of the season is all about loosening up and getting my chops back, so I like to keep it simple.

We had good friends over and while the day felt like burgers, I was disinclined to go for heavy beef burgers, so I opted for turkey. What I decided on was Goat Cheese Stuffed Turkey Burgers. As these burgers cook, the goat cheese melts and kind of oozes inside. It adds a great tang and a bit of body to an otherwise lightweight burger.

This technique of burger-stuffing works for all types of ground meats, and all types of cheeses and other stuffings. Try it with meatballs sometime!

Ingredients
Serves 8

3 pounds ground turkey. I used ground dark meat turkey.
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (Out of crumbs, I put a several handfulls of Whole Foods Tortilla Chips in a plastic ziplock bag and let my 7 year old son pound away at 'em till they were good and fine. That's how you teach boys to like cooking!)
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tsp fresh grated lemon zest
2 tsp chopped thyme, or rosemary, or whatever sounds good to you. (I even thought about sneaking in some red chili flakes, but I worried about the kids and some of the womenfolk.)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
4 oz goat cheese
4 tsp vegetable oil
Combine everything in a bowl, except the oil, with a wooden spoon.

How to Stuff 'Em

1. Divide your ground meat (beef, turkey, lamb, whatever suits your mood) into your own regular burger portions. Then divide each of those portions in half. You now have burger tops and bottoms.
2. Shape each half to the correct size and place about an ounce of cheese (or other stuffing) on the bottom half. Put the top half on the bottom and pinch the edges together.
3. Reshape I like to then reshape the entire burger, making sure the the stuffing doesn't try to sneak out the top. Shape the burgers round and flat. To keep them flat during grilling, put a thumb-indentation right in the center of both top and bottom sides. Now wash your hands.
4. Refrigerate Place the stuffed/formed burgers on a baking sheet or in a plastic container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but better for 6-8 hours. This lets everything firm up before the fire.
5. Grill Get your grill hot: gas grill to high, or charcoals glowing red with a white ash. Brush your burgers with the oil, and grill over direct heat for 7-8 minutes until browned on that side and then turn 'em over and do the same on the other.

Happy Grilling!

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---

How Hot Is that Grill?

Basics Grilling

by J. Michael Wheeler
Heat & Fuel
Cooking on an open fire goes all the way back to prehistoric Barbecue-Man. And while he probably wasn't clutching a can of Budweiser in one hand and a can of charcoal starter in the other, the basics of cooking over an open fire remain the same. And it doesn't get more basic than burning stuff and how hot it needs to get.

If you use a gas grill for your outdoor cooking your selection of fuels is, well, gas. But for those of us who prefer to cook on real fire, there are more choices. Here are some of them:

Lump Charcoal Usually made from softwood. It comes in a variety of sizes. Easy to light, but quick burning.

Charcoal Briquettes Slow burning, easy to find. Some claim they give food an unpleasant taste.

Self-igniting Charcoal Briquettes or lump charcoal treated with a flammable substance. Easy to light. Let all of that flammable substance burn away before cooking.

Wood Hardwoods like oak and olive burn slowly and the aromatic smoke imparts a great taste to the food. Wood fires must be tended carefully to keep an even and steady heat.

How Hot is Hot Enough?
"Heat your grill to medium-high and place the . . ." How do you determine the temperature of your grill? While some grills have built-in temperature gauges, and there are even infrared heat seekers to tell you how hot your grill is, you've got a couple of built-in thermometers yourself: your hands.

Place your hand, palm facing down, just above the grill where you'll be cooking. (Please don't wear long, loose-fitting clothing while grilling.) Without being too macho about it, hold your hand over that spot and count how many seconds it takes before you say "ouch" and have to take your hand away from the grill.

Here's a chart to help you determine your grill's temperature. If you can hold your hand above the grill for this long, the grill is that hot:

· Two seconds is high heat
· Three seconds is medium-high heat
· Four seconds is medium heat
· Five seconds is medium-low heat
· Six seconds is low heat
· Seven seconds or more means you have time to open another beer

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---

Farm to Fork New England

Very Local Eating

by J. Michael Wheeler
Know Your Farmer
You never know where you might eat that eight-course meal; it might be in a barn, a pasture, a micro-creamery, an heirloom apple orchard or even at a dairy. What you will be assured of, at a New England Farm 2 Fork Project, is that Chef Sebastian Carosi and his band of roving rural culinary visionaries will wow you with their on farm dinners, luncheons, brunches, and other culinary events throughout the different New England seasons.

The New England Farm 2 Fork Project is an eco-gastronomic organization that supports a biodiverse, sustainable food supply, local producers, heritage food-ways, and the pleasures that surround the American kitchen and table. They work closely with farmers and producers to raise local food supply awareness, and to support sustainable agriculture and economic development throughout the Northeast.

Our destiny and mission is to serve the best local, sustainably produced artisan ingredients and to treat them with respect and simplicity in our cuisine...This means using as much of a products resources as possible, be it the greens from garden grown organic heirloom beets, or the livers and gizzards of pastured barnyard heritage chickens...Our deep-rooted regional influences have shaped and continue to shape New England Farm Cuisine and inspire our cooking and food on a daily basis. — Chef Sebastian Carosi

The project is the brainchild of Chef Sebastian Carosi, an admitted local foods junkie, turophile, and Slow Food  practitioner. Chef Carosi wholeheartedly supports responsible agricultural methods, exposes diners to local food resources, and is cultivating a more conscientious food culture throughout New England.

What the Indians Ate Dinner, on May 29th & 30th, is the next New England Farm 2 Fork Project event. Here’s what’s on the menu:

Heirloom appaloosa bean, smokehouse ham hock and American snapping turtle soup, shagbark hickory cured steelhead with red alder smoked sea salt and crushed wild ramps, ossipee mountain cherry wood smoked trout cakes with misickquatash, air dried Maine raised red deer with Perkins Cove juniper berries, corn smut honey, fried parsnips and foraged wild greens, smoked squash and wild maine moose meat pie, indian fry bread ‘taco’ with braised black bear, shaved lettuce, smoked pepper sauce and pickled sunflower seeds, sinzibukwud cured magret duck breast with suppawn, crushed heirloom crane-berries and swamp cabbage.

And for desert? Abenaki Indian pudding with heirloom local rhubarb jam. Of course.

Wow.
Upcoming Events: A Shaker Supper in the Orchard, A Gravenstein cider press & dinner, and National Moldy Cheese Day & A Made in New England Cheese Social. Keep up on their Schedule. 

The New England Farm 2 Fork Project

---

Foodie's Emporium is an Amazon Pro Merchant!

---