The last of the tomatoes are rolling in here in the Pacific NW and this tomato coconut milk curry (makhani curry) is divine!

This sauce is so delicious and can be used with/on any manner of vegetable, protein, grain or bean even–it’s delicious with chickpeas. Here I served it first (above) with rice and salmon and lots of cilantro and scallions and then (below), thinned out with a bit of cream and water with the black “forbidden” rice, some scallions and an egg.

Makhani curry (a North Indian dish) is classically made with butter and cream. I use olive oil and coconut milk here but substitute butter and cream if you’d like. I often stretch the sauce on the second day with cream and a little water.

If you have a few extra minutes you can toast spices and grind them for the garam masala. The flavor is fabulous but a store-bought version will be just fine.

–Inspired by Cook Republic

Yields 2 1/2 cups sauce (enough for 2 meals of 4 servings each)

2 tablespoons olive oil (or butter, see headnote)

1 fresh jalapeno or serrano chili, minced (remove seeds if you want to keep it milder)

3 bay leaves

1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated, fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced

1 tablespoon garam masala (homemade or store-bought, see headnote)

1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder (or more, to taste)

1 tablespoon brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups tomato puree or crushed tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes

1 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream, see headnote) or the whole can of coconut milk, which I often do so I have even more sauce!

Juice of 1 lime

To prepare with salmon (for 4 servings):

1 lb salmon fillet

2 teaspoons oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Black pepper

Cooked forbidden (black) rice or other rice

3/4 cup fresh cilantro, leaves and stems, chopped

2 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced

To make the sauce:

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add bay leaves and fresh chili and cook for about a minute. Add ginger and garlic, stir well and cook for another 30 seconds or so until fragrant but take care not to burn the garlic. Add the garam masala, cayenne, sugar, salt and tomato and stir well. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes or until slightly thickened again. Taste and adjust for salt. Add lime juice.

This quantity should be enough for 2 meals of 4 servings each. Freeze half the sauce, for the second meal, if you’d like. It will keep for several months in the freezer.

For salmon:

Pat the fish dry and put on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut the fish in half to fit the pan you’ll be cooking it in, if needed, and then cover the fish in a thin layer of the curry sauce–it will just take about 1/3 cup at most–you don’t want it dripping down the sides, really.

Heat a large, heavy skillet with just a little olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the salmon, skin-side down and cook for a 2-3 minutes, uncovered, then cover, turn heat down to medium-low and cook for another 4-7 minutes, depending on thickness of fillet and how you like your salmon cooked. Serve with rice, more sauce, the fresh herbs and scallions and another squeeze of lime juice, if you’d like.

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Recipe Collection from Cook With What You Have

Do you ever find yourself with an abundance of produce from your CSA subscription and are not totally sure what to do with it all? Or, if you’re a farmer — maybe especially because you’re a farmer — you’re more than set with a particular ingredient but short on ideas for how to prepare it in interesting ways again and again? We all have our favorites, but variety is always good and reducing waste is a big plus! The USDA estimates that 21% of the available food supply is wasted in homes, but we know that supporters of working farms and ranches want to make a difference in this regard.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

The post Tomato Coconut Milk Curry (Makhani Curry) from Cook with What You Have appeared first on Farmstay.

This is such a bright, sweet and crunchy salad for mid-summer. Use any blue cheese  you like or substitute feta or fresh goat cheese.

Variation

Substitute a handful of croutons or torn, toasted bread for the toasted seeds or nuts

Serves 4

• 1 large peach, peeled and sliced
• 3 cups arugula, washed, dried and torn, if large
• 3 cups lettuce (more or less), washed, dried and torn or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 tablespoons red onion (wonderful with torpedo onions), thinly sliced
• Handful of basil leaves, torn or chopped
• 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds or almonds or hazelnuts, roughly chopped if using nuts
• 1.5 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (or feta or fresh goat cheese)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil oil

Put the greens, peaches, herbs, onion, seeds and cheese in a salad bowl. Drizzle with vinegar, oil and add salt and pepper. Toss gently and taste and adjust as needed.

* * * * * *

Recipe Collection from Cook With What You Have

Do you ever find yourself with an abundance of produce from your CSA subscription and are not totally sure what to do with it all? Or, if you’re a farmer — maybe especially because you’re a farmer — you’re more than set with a particular ingredient but short on ideas for how to prepare it in interesting ways again and again? We all have our favorites, but variety is always good and reducing waste is a big plus! The USDA estimates that 21% of the available food supply is wasted in homes, but we know that supporters of working farms and ranches want to make a difference in this regard.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

The post Seasonal Recipe: Arugula, Peach and Blue Cheese Salad appeared first on Farmstay.

Enter… Cook With What You Have! Farm Stay USA has teamed up with Katherine Deumling of CWWYH to bring her searchable, seasonal collection of 900+ recipes to our readers and our farm members alike.

I have always loved food and cooking and all that food is, beyond the requisite calories. My childhood in West Germany and my creative, efficient, cook-with-what-you-have mother with a sprawling vegetable garden, shaped my early years. A Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 1996 took me to rural Italy and Mexico to deepen my understanding of how and why people cook the way they do. More than a decade of involvement with Slow Food, locally, nationally and internationally brought together my interest in food systems, regenerative agriculture and the combination of joy and justice. — Katherine Deumling

Users of the Farm Stay USA website may sign up for an individual membership on Cook With What You Have with a 20% discount using the code farmstayusa at checkout. For $4.99 per month, subscribers will have access to the entire searchable archive of recipes, tips, and techniques, plus a weekly newsletter with seasonal highlights and inspiration for the week.

Our dues-paying US Farm Stay Association members may subscribe to the Farm Stay USA organizational level and use CWWYH content (as applicable) in their day-to-day business of serving meals to guests, teaching cooking classes, or sharing recipes with their guests.

CLICK HERE TO GET STARTED!

Please enjoy one of CWWYH’s seasonal recipes below!

Collard Greens with Winter Squash and Bacon

I threw this dish together one night and it turned out to be a winner. You could fry or poach an egg to serve on top of this and call it dinner.

For this dish to work you need a large skillet and you need to cut the squash into really small pieces. I suggest 1-inch long little batons or some such. You want the vegetables to have enough room so they sauté/brown rather than steaming.

Serves 4+

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 smallish bunch collard greens, washed, any tough stems removed and leaves cut in half lengthwise and then cut crosswise thin ribbons
• 2 shallots or half an onion, thinly sliced
• 2 (or more) slices bacon, cut into dice
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or other hot pepper (optional)
• 3-4 cups winter squash (Butternut, Hubbard, Delicata, etc.), cut into small pieces, see headnote
• Salt and pepper

Heat oil in the biggest skillet you have over medium-high heat. Add the onion or shallot and bacon and cook until the onions begin browning and the bacon renders most of its fat. Add the squash and the greens and several generous pinches of salt. Mix well and cook, covered, stirring often to prevent the veggies from burning, until the squash is tender, the greens have begun to caramelize a bit but still have a bite. If things get too dry you can add a little splash of water and cover to speed up the cooking. Taste, adjust seasoning and serve.

The post Introducing… Cook With What You Have, plus a recipe for collard greens with winter squash and bacon appeared first on Farmstay.

Your hosts at Rancho Dos Amantes, located in Paso Robles, California, truly do it all. There are the TWO farm gardens, goats and chickens, and cooking experiences in their Red Barn Kitchen. Wedding parties can rent out the entire 40-acre ranch (also available to family reunions, corporate retreats, group getaways and so on), and, last but not least, there is the Farm Stay B&B!

Guests at Rancho Dos Amantes can choose to stay in one of the two casitas or in a private 2nd floor studio apartment with full kitchen inside the barn. The barn also houses a professional kitchen downstairs, which is not only used for cooking experiences and private events, but is available to all guests renting casitas.

With access to the large guest garden and this kitchen, you might never want to leave! The guest garden features fruit and olive trees, raised beds and in-ground crops, flowers, and a two-tiered patio for relaxing and socializing.

Tucked between Lake San Antonio and Lake Nacimiento, Rancho Dos Amantes is part of a vibrant community in and around Paso Robles. With over 200 local wineries, plus shopping, breweries, farmers’ markets (two!), dining, and entertainment, guests will never be short of something to do — if they can tear themselves away from the farm, that is. Day trippers can head to the coast and tour the famous Hearst Castle or visit the beach towns of Morro Bay, Cayucos, Cambria, and San Simeon.

Finally, we must mention the weddings. What a backdrop for a wedding! Just take a look at the farm’s photo galleries: Venue Gallery and Wedding Gallery (both links will take you to their website). By renting out the entire ranch to the wedding party, guests are assured a private and comfortable celebration in a beautiful setting.

To learn more about Rancho Dos Amantes, visit their listing here on Farm Stay USA, and then head to their website to start planning your California getaway!

Photos provided by Rancho Dos Amantes. 

The post Rancho Dos Amantes: Relax and Unwind in the California Countryside appeared first on Farmstay.