Kale and Leafy Greens Salad with Garlic Homegrown Garlic Vinaigrette

I have been enjoying homegrown season to the fullest this week! Tonite, our family of four celebrated a low-key Father’s day at home with bone-in ribeyes from our friend who raises our beef, Jack McCormick of Ellis Grove. Jack provides us with steers for our meat department and he produces beautifully marbled beef. The steaks were amazing but I think they were even better because of our buffet of homegrown veggies! In addition to grilled beets, potatoes and onions and the last of the season asparagus, we made a fresh garlic dressing for a greens salad.

A few years ago, Chris and I took a couples cooking class at the Kitchen Conservatory in Clayton MO. We especially enjoyed the recipe for fresh garlic dressing. I have modified the recipe a bit to use honey instead of sugar and to let the fresh farm garlic really shine. I hope you will give it a try. Freshly-harvested garlic is very mild and roasting it mellows it even further. The result is a savory dressing with a hint of sweetness. I guarantee it will become your favorite balsamic dressing of the season!

 I hope you had a great Father’s Day weekend too! Eat well this summer, Angie

For dressing:

2 heads of Eckert’s Homegrown Garlic
½ cup plus 2 Tbs. olive oil
1/8 cup fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Eckert’s Pure Honey
½ tsp Kosher salt
¼ tsp fresh cracked pepper
2 Tbs water

For salad:

5 cups of mixed greens and Eckert’s Homegrown Kale
1 cup of Eckert’s Homegrown Sungold Cherry Tomatoes, halved
2 oz goat cheese
Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut tops of garlic heads off (remove about 1/4 “ of papery tops). Place heads in an oven safe dish. Drizzle 2 Tbs olive oil over heads. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove garlic from oven, remove foil and allow heads to cool for 15 minutes.

Squeeze cloves out of papery heads into a blender or food processor. Process or blend roasted garlic, parsley, and vinegar. Drizzle in oil. Then add honey, salt, pepper and water until well incorporated.

Arrange greens in a medium bowl. Top with tomatoes and drizzle with dressing. Top with goat cheese crumbles and fresh cracked pepper. Serve immediately.

Grilled Spring Onion Salad

It is an exciting time on the farm thanks to warmer soil temperatures! Many of our early crops, like spring onions, are finally getting big enough to harvest.

This week my dad, Lana and I have been brainstorming the menu for our Wine in the Vineyard classes on June 11^th and 12^th. We were discussing past recipes including one of my favorites, Grilled Spring Onion Salad. My dad is always skeptical of salads pairing with wines because vinegar based-dressings often overpower the wine.  This salad uses fresh lemon juice and therefore pairs brilliantly with a dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc.

Since we were able to pick our first spring onions this week and I had this recipe on my mind, Chris and I made it last night. Chris grilled the onions and I prepared the other ingredients. For those of you unfamiliar with spring onions, they are smaller than the typical onions you see in the store. They are mild-flavored and fleshy making them an ideal candidate for the grill. Luckily we had company over last night because sharing this salad always generates compliments for its plate presentation and flavor!

 I hope you will try some Eckert’s Spring Onions this spring! Eat well, Angie

Grilled Spring Onion Salad

4 Tbs. olive oil, divided

8-12 Eckert’s spring onions, cut in half through the bulb, greens trimmed to about 4”

½ tsp Kosher or sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 Tbs. whole grain mustard

1 1/2 Tbs. fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp. chopped flat leaf parsley

1 Tbs. chives, divided

12-16 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 hard cooked eggs, sliced

Rub onion bulbs with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Grill bulbs on medium heat until well-marked while turning occasionally, about 6 minutes. Allow onions to cool.

In a small jar or bowl, whisk together, mustard, remaining oil, parsley and ½ of the chives.

Arrange onions between 4 plates. Arrange tomatoes, egg and remaining chives on the plates and drizzle with dressing. 

Aunt Helen’s Strawberry Salad

The days of May seem to trot along at a hectic pace filled with a plethora of end-of-school year activities and celebrations. Can you relate? My husband and I both have May birthdays, our anniversary and Mother’s Day tucked in there to celebrate! Of course I find this all fun but it does seem to cut into my time in the kitchen.

 Last week I needed a quick, seasonal salad for several weekend get-togethers with friends and family so I opted for Aunt Helen’s Strawberry Salad for several occasions.  Now it may seem like cheating to use bottled salad dressing, but I declare it officially isn’t if you are having a busy week! And if you want to be a little sneaky about it, you could pour the dressing into a Ball jar and act like you made it from scratch. I promise I won’t tell a soul!

The dressing in this salad, Aunt Helen’s Sweet Vinaigrette, has a balance of sweet and tangy flavors that compliments ripe strawberries. I most often make this salad with feta cheese but it is also tasty with Swiss or Provel. I like it best topped with sliced almonds but walnuts are also delicious.

While this salad is named in honor of Aunt Helen, my husband’s great aunt, the recipe is not actually hers. We named  it after her so we could remember  her spunky personality and celebrate that she lived to be 105 years old! Aunt Helen’s Salad can be found on our restaurant menu and the dressing is for sale in our Country Store in Belleville.

I look forward to making this many more times this strawberry season and I hope you will give it a try when you find yourself craving a delightful salad amidst a busy week.

Eat well this spring, Angie

Aunt Helen’s Strawberry Salad

5-6 cups mixed salad greens

½ cup shredded Swiss cheese or Feta cheese crumbles

1/3 cup English walnuts or slivered almonds

Aunt Helen’s Sweet Vinaigrette drizzled to taste

We are so excited to announce that we now have Homegrown Strawberries available for purchase in our Country Store in Belleville and even more excited to tell you that Pick-Your-Own Strawberries will open this Saturday, May 17th at 9am at our Belleville Farm. As always, please check our harvest hotline for the most up-to-date picking information.

Chicken Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette

This week's temperatures have me craving basil like crazy- is anyone else with me? My basil plants are happily enjoying the warm, dry days from their playful patio pots. Since it is early in the growing season, I don’t have quite enough leaf production to make pesto from scratch which lead me to a recipe short cut. I used Cucino Vina's Pesto in a jar or as I call it "presto pesto" to satisfy my basil craving!

The pesto vinaigrette only calls for a tablespoon of pesto yet it adds an unbelievable amount of flavor to the salad. I have included the recipe for homemade pesto in hopes of inspiring you to plant lots of basil this spring. By the way, now is the perfect time to plant basil and we have sweet, cinnamon and thai basil plants available in our greenhouse in Belleville.

Give this refreshing and flavorsome salad a try if you want to get an early glimpse of summer flavor!

Eat Well, Angie

Pesto vinaigrette

¼ cup white wine vinegar

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tbs. pesto (see recipe on p. 26)

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. whole-grain Dijon mustard

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. ground black pepper

Chicken Salad

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 cup cored and chopped tomato

½ cup chopped black olives

½ cup chopped artichoke hearts

¼ cup toasted walnuts

4 slices Eckert's Hummingbird bread or 4 lettuce leaves

To prepare pesto vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, pesto, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper. Cover and chill.

To prepare salad: In a medium bowl, combine chicken, tomato, olives, artichokes and walnuts. Add the Pesto Vinaigrette, tossing gently to coat. Serve immediately open face on bread or on top of a lettuce leaf. Makes 4 servings.

Basic Basil Pesto

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

1 peeled clove garlic

¼ cup toasted pine nuts or walnuts

3 cups packed, fresh basil leaves

⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

 ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

On a cutting board, sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt over garlic and roughly chop. Using the flat side of a knife, crush garlic mixture into a thick paste. Add paste to a food processor with nuts, basil and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped. With machine running, add remaining olive oil in a slow steady stream. Add Parmesan and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Makes about 1 cup.

Register for this class or see a full listing of upcoming classes by clicking here.

Oven-Baked White Asparagus

We are very excited to announce the beginning of homegrown white asparagus season! Eckert’s is proud to now have fresh-cut, white asparagus for sale in our Country Store in Belleville. White asparagus is different from its green counterpart because it grows underground in mounds of soil. The deprivation of sunlight (and therefore chlorophyll) results in white stalks instead of green. The flavor of white asparagus is bit more bitter than green and that is why I love to serve with fresh slices of lemon to counter-balance the natural flavor.

Take a look at our grower, Don Ross, who farms white asparagus just a stones-throw from one of our peach farms, on his harvesting machine. He drives over the rows of asparagus and cuts tips under the earth. I encourage you to give this unique vegetable a try. The flavor is uniquely delicious and the growing story is a long-standing German tradition! It doesn’t get much more local than this….

 

1 lb. white asparagus spears, ends trimmed and peeled
2 Tbs. butter
Salt &  Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash asparagus and place spears on a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil; dot with butter. Bring edges of foil together to form a pouch, seal tightly and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until asparagus is “crisp-tender.” Carefully open foil to allow steam to escape. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Makes 4 servings.

Easter Honey Glazed Ham

Since Easter is just around the corner, we decided to feature a local ham with a delicious brushed-on glaze in last night's cooking class last in our Belleville Country Store. 

While the ham was warming in the oven, we prepared the glaze and set it aside to cool. As it cools, the glaze thickens making it the perfect consistency to brush on the ham during the last stages of baking. Tangy Dijon mustard perfectly balances sweet fruit juices and honey, making this a delicious way to add a burst of flavor to Eckert's juicy, slightly-salty ham. 

 

Eckert's proudly sells  high-quality, local, bone-in half and whole hams. As we baked the ham, less than a teaspoon of juices escaped into the pan. This means the juices remained in the ham resulting in a juicy and tender finished product.

Keep this recipe at the top of your collection for holiday gatherings! We are sure your guests will love it as much as our classroom guests did - they were all asking for seconds!!

 

Eat well this Easter, Angie

 

 

10 to 12 lb. fully cooked, bone-in ham

⅓ cup Eckert's Pure Honey

1 cup brown sugar

⅓ cup pineapple juice

⅓ cup orange juice

2 Tbs. Dijon mustard

¼ tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 325°F. Place ham in roasting pan. Bake uncovered 2 hours. In a small saucepan, combine honey, brown sugar, pineapple and orange juice, mustard and cloves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside. After baking the ham brush ham with glaze and bake an additional 30 to 45 minutes, brushing on glaze every 10 minutes. Makes 15 servings.

 

Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

Thank you Show Me St. Louis! I had a ball at the station last Thursday making Herb Butter with Host Julie. Cooking on Show-Me is always a pleasure J

I made Herb Butter in during the demo and Julie loved it on Eckert’s Bakery Bread. Luckily, I had a extra Herb Butter to take home after the demo so I decided to use it on chicken last night. The results were delicious and kid-approved!! (Really! The kids didn’t even mind the little flecks of “green stuff.””) I simply melted the herb butter in the microwave for 20 seconds and brushed it on chicken pieces from Eckert’s Butcher Shop. I hope you will give both of the recipes a try.

Thank goodness fresh herbs are finally here in our greenhouse at Eckert’s. I have started to grow a few on my windowsill and as a result I am feeling like I have a little more optimism about spring actually arriving….

Eat well this winter-like spring, Angie

Eckert’s Garlic Herb Butter - As Featured on Show Me St. Louis

1 head garlic
1 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. fresh thyme
3 Tbs. fresh rosemary
3 Tbs. fresh sage
3 Tbs. fresh parsley
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

With a knife, trim the papery tip off the head of the garlic to expose the white tips of the cloves. Leave cloves connected to the root end. Place bulb of cloves on aluminum foil. Drizzle with oil and wrap with foil. Bake 30-45 minutes or until cloves are soft when pressed. Remove foil and allow garlic to cool.

Extract the soft garlic from the skins and discard skins.

In a small bowl, combine garlic, butter and herbs until well-combined. If desired, shape butter into a log and wrap with wax paper. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze for up to 3 months.

Oven Roasted Chicken with Herb Butter

3 Tbs Melted Herb Butter

3 ½ pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces (2 split breasts cut crosswise, 2 drumsticks, and 2 thighs)

Rinse chicken pieces and pat chicken dry with paper towels. Lightly season with salt and pepper. In a oven-proof baking pan, place chicken pieces, skin side up; arranging breast pieces in center and leg and thigh pieces around the outside of the baking pan.

Brush chicken with herb butter. (If butter is cold, warm a few seconds in microwave). Roast until breasts register 160-degrees and legs and thighs register 175-degrees about 35 to 40 minutes. Rotate the baking pan half-way through the roasting.

Transfer chicken to a warm serving platter. Tent loosely with aluminum foil and let rest 5 to 10 minutes.

We still have a few spots available in our upcoming herb classes. We are offering a herb class this Saturday, March 29th and another herb class on April 12th. Click here for a full listing of our upcoming classes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with White Wine

Our culinary team has been brainstorming plans and recipes for 4^th Annual Wine and FoodFestival at our Belleville Country Store on March 1^st and 2^nd. I am thrilled to have a new excuse to dig into my recipe file called “Cooking with Wine.” Last night Chris grilled some gorgeous steaks from our fresh meat department and I had the simple task of preparing the sides. I pulled this recipe from my files and within a few minutes it was roasting beautifully in the oven.

Chris and I were both impressed with this first-time recipe (Admittedly, the kids were not so big on

it but then again, they don’t ever like brussel sprouts!) The acidity of the wine and lemon juice complimented the bitterness of the brussel sprouts beautifully. I used a chardonnay but any dry white wine would work just fine. Give this delicious and simple recipe a try!

 

 

 

2 cups brussel sprouts, halved

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 Tbs minced shallots

2 Tbs white wine

2 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs olive oil

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Toss ingredients together in a 9x9 or similar size baking dish. Bake 15 minutes. Stir and bake another 15 minutes or until sprouts are beginning to soften and brown.

Eat well this winter, Angie

 

Please join us, March 1st & 2nd for a celebration of wine & local foods! Be sure to bring this coupon with you to receive $10 worth of FREE groceries.

 

Eckert's Sweet Party Meatballs

My favorite part about Super Bowl is the ….. FOOD! Are you with me on that? I can’t tell you who is playing but I can tell you what I will be serving. Speaking of that, I have been looking for a good meatball appetizer recipe for Super Bowl Sunday for several weeks. I was intrigued by the many recipes for cocktail meatballs calling for grape jelly but I wanted to put an Eckert’s spin on it. I experimented last night with a few sauces until I arrived at this sweet and savory combination.

The meatballs themselves were moist and very flavorful. They would be great on pasta with tomato sauce or as an appetizer straight from the oven. The combination of Eckert’s Peach Grilling Sauce and Eckert’s Peach Preserves provides a sweet medium to keep the meatballs moist throughout a party.  I will be making them again this Sunday and I hope you will too.

This is our last week for our ground beef special in our Belleville Country Store. When you buy 1 lb you get 1 lb free. Perfect timing don’t you think?

Eat well this Super Bowl, Angie

Eckert's Sweet Party Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 Eckert's applewurst sausage link (a link of bratwurst can be substituted)
1/4 dried plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely minced onions
1/8 salt
5oz Eckert's Peach Grilling Sauce (your favorite BBQ sauce can be substituted)
1 cup (8oz) Eckert's Peach Preserves

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl gently mix ground beef, applewurst, bread crumbs, onions and salt until combined. Form mixture into round balls about 1 1/4" in diameter. Place meatballs on a baking sheet and place in oven for 12-15 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 150 degrees. Pour grilling sauce and preserves in slow cooker. Transfer meatballs to slow cooker and gently toss to cover with sauce. Cover slow cooker and place on high for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours. Makes about 30 meatballs.    

Grandma's Egg Custard Pie

A few nights ago, I had the urge to make a pie for dessert but I was lacking fresh or frozen fruit so I decided to go with a classic custard pie.  My family likes this pie because it reminds them of another family favorite…crème brulee.

The pie is relatively simple to make once you learn how to scald milk. According to the Food Lover’s Companion Cooking Guide, scalding is a “cooking technique whereby a liquid is heated to just below the boiling point.” Before I attempted to scald milk,  I watched a few videos on-line to make I understood the process.

To scald the milk, I placed the milk in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. I stirred the milk every few minutes until I started to see small bubbles form around the perimeter of the pot. Then I started stirring constantly. I tested the temperature and turned off the heat when it reached 210 degrees F. Then I set my pot outside in the cool winter air to allow the milk to cool down to 100 degrees (one of the very few benefits to cold winter days!!). When I poured the milk into the eggs and sugar mixture, there was some milk stuck to the bottom of the pot that I did not include with the ingredients.

 Once all the liquid ingredients were well-combined, I poured them into the pie crust and topped the pie with freshly grated nutmeg (ground nutmeg works fine too). I had a little extra liquid so I baked it alongside the pie in a ramekin without a crust.  I placed the pie on a sheet pan to prevent oven spills and set my timer!

 For pie serving time, I heated a few different jars of Eckert preserves in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. The heat made the preserves thinner and easier to drizzle on the pie. We tried several different preserves in a recent cooking class at Eckert’s. The crowd favorite with the custard pie was Eckert’s Rhubarb-Raspberry Jam. This jam had just the right balance of sweet and tart to pair with the pie.

Give this pie a try and you’ll see how a simple technique results in a classic & delicious dessert. Eat well this winter, Angie

 

 

 

 Grandma's Egg Custard Pie

 

1 Eckert’s frozen pie shell
1 egg white
3 eggs, beaten (preferably free range)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush inside of pie crust with egg white to help prevent crust from getting soggy. Scald milk by pouring it into a medium, heavy bottomed pot. Place pot over medium heat. Watch pot and stir periodically. Once bubbles start to form around the edges, read temperature. Milk is considered scalded when it hits just below the boiling point (The boiling point is approximately 212 degrees F). Cool milk to approximately 100 degrees before proceeding.

 

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla. Pour milk into bowl and mix well. Pour liquid into pie crust (you may have more liquid than you need to fill the crust.) Grate nutmeg over the top of the pie. Bake 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool before serving. Store remaining pie in refrigerator after serving.

 Note: Free range eggs provide more color to the custard. We recommend Miller Farm eggs.