Tangy Fresh Tomato Salad Dressing Recipe

We are being optimistic here- hopefully we will have early tomatoes. All these unseasonable storms keep knocking the fruit off our plants, but things are changing weather wise around here anyways- fresh tomatoes arriving soon!

We keep little baggies of poached chicken in the freezer for quick meals. During hot weather we love garden fresh salads, and a vegetable salad topped with tender moist chicken is a favorite.

Making your own salad dressings can be quick, economical and very healthy as well. This one takes a few more minutes to pan roast some garlic cloves but is so worth it in terms of fresh flavor.

You can zip this dressing up with some horseradish or even dijon mustard for a delightful seafood salad if you like:

• 6 cloves garlic, roasted then peeled ( I throw them in a frying pan with a cover on low heat while I prepare the other ingredients)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 medium Clerici Ranch tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup onions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons Clerici Ranch Lemon Vinegar
• 1/3 cup Clerici Ranch basil, finely chopped

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
Keep refrigerated if not using right away.

Enjoy!

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Clerici Chicken Ranch’s Lemon Rosemary Polenta Cakes (With Lavender Finishing Syrup)

We grind our own polenta here on the ranch and lucky for us the byproduct of coarse polenta is fine polenta (aka cornmeal). The difference in taste is immediate: it still tastes like fresh corn and has a softer texture than the stuff you find in the store. Because we use the whole kernel, it does still have the oils in the meal, so it is best frozen or used in a reasonably short period of time.

There are so many uses for this delicious grain, but here is our all time favorite polenta cake!

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup leftover white wine
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup polenta
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, zest of, finely grated
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary (fresh and finely chopped)

Lavender Finishing Syrup

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lavender flowers (crushed-may use lemon zest instead for a lemony syrup!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare an 8? cake pan for baking by cutting a parchment circle for the bottom. Next spray the inside of the pan with cooking spray, add the circle and spray the top of the circle so that all parts that the cake will touch are covered with a thin layer of cooking spray.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, 1 cup sugar, and wine until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, polenta, baking powder, salt, lemon zest and rosemary until well combined. Pour in the liquid mixture and stir until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Bake until cake begins to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
4. While the cake is cooking, make the lavender syrup. Heat the sugar and the water together in a small saucepan. Let this come to a low boil with a minimum of stirring and cook for about 5 minutes until it thickens slightly. Set aside.
5. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake; place a cake plate on the top of the cake pan. Holding both securely, turn both over at once so that the cake is now lying on the cake plate on your counter. Remove the pan & the parchment paper.
6. Take a toothpick & poke little holes all over the top of  cake. Slowly pour the syrup into these holes so that it seeps into the cake.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Lemon Balm Pesto Pasta (Use for our herbs #5)

Lemon balm is a delightful mint herb that has a lemony fragrance and taste. In fact, it is often used in recipes in place of citrus zest.

I started growing lemon balm when it was listed in an AARP magazine article on how certain herbs can help you stay sharp as you get older. It seems that some herbs such as lemon balm have been proven to help improve mood and mental performance in older persons.

According to Wikipedia, it also has anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. I think I am going to add this to my citrus sage tea for yet another tasty boost of flu prevention!

BTW- if you don’t have lemon balm handy, use basil- it will still be great!

If you love pesto, you will love Lemon Balm Pesto Pasta for 2:

• 1/3 cup Napa olive oil
• 1 cup freshly picked lemon balm leaves (discard the stems)
• 2 cloves garlic, halved
• 2 T fresh parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 t lemon zest
• 4 T Walnuts (about 2 whole walnuts will do)
• salt and pepper to taste

Place the olive oil in the bottom of your food processor.
Add all ingredients except salt and pepper.
Add the salt and pepper a little at a time until it tastes right to you!

If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the above ingredients and blend well.
Toss with your favorite pasta.

More Great Uses:

Poach some tilapia fillets and serve them over a bed of sauted spinach.
Top the fish with the pesto and serve.

Make Pesto BLTs using: crispy bacon, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, whole barley bread.
Butter the bread well with the pesto and layer on the goodies- guaranteed to be a favorite!

Wine Suggestion: Try a Sauvignon Blanc with this one.

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Uses for our herbs: #1. Citrus Sage Tea

Image by jspatchwork via Flickr

I have grown sage for many years mostly because it is such a beautiful plant once established. I admit that I usually only cut into it for foliage in my herbal bouquets or for cooking chicken or turkey.

AARP magazine had an article a couple of months ago that talked about the herbs anti bacterial properties and recommend using it for sore throat pain.

I have also heard that it is great for upset stomachs so I am going to keep it on hand in case I get a cold or  flu this year- it couldn’t hurt, right?

This tea recipe combines sage with fresh lemon so you can get some extra vitamin C in as well.

Citrus Sage Tea

Boil 4 cups of water, turn down the heat to low and add:

• 1/2 oz fresh Chicken Ranch Organic sage leaves
• 1 oz fine sugar
• 1/4 oz grated lemon rind
• Juice from one Chicken Ranch Organic lemon

Keep water at a simmer, and add the rest of the ingredients.
Steep for 30 minutes.
Strain out the herbs and serve hot or iced.

An Occasion For Fabulous Flan

Last night we had Chicken Empanadas in the Cancun style. These are made with pressed masa rounds that are filled with (in this case) chopped chicken and deep fried. They definately fall under the 80/20 rule (simple: live “correctly” 80% of the time and you can indulge a little more with the other 20%). The added grease from frying makes them a little high on the calorie count.

Well, for dessert I wanted to make something special for my friend Doris (who actually made the Empanadas). She has asked in the past for flan and I can’t believe that I just now got around to making it for her.

This recipe makes 12 individual custard cups or one larger deep dish pan sized flan.

Lemon Kissed Flan- The Recipe

For the flan:

• 4 cups whole milk  (I use evaporated milk as I never have fresh milk on hand)
• 2 Tablespoons lemon zest
• 5 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup granulated sugar

For the caramelized sugar coating:

• 1 cup sugar

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 300ºF.

To prepare the caramelized sugar coating, spread the sugar evenly in the bottom of a heavy saucepan and place over medium-low heat. It may take several minutes before the sugar begins to melt. Without stirring, watch the sugar closely as it begins to liquefy at the edges. All of it will slowly turn first into a yellowish and then golden syrup and finally into a brown caramel sauce.

When the liquefied sugar is turning from golden to brown, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat. (If you miss this point, the sugar will quickly turn too dark and taste bitter and you will need to discard it and begin again.)

Working swiftly, pour the liquid caramel into 12 custard cups each 3 1/2 inches in diameter and tilt to cover the bottom and sides evenly. It is important to do this transfer quickly, as the change in temperature causes the caramel to solidify rapidly. Set aside.

In a saucepan, combine the milk and lemon zest over high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately decrease the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes to infuse the milk with the flavor of the lemons. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a bowl, combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, and granulated sugar and whisk until foamy. Pour the cooled milk through a fine-mesh sieve held over the egg mixture and whisk until well blended. Pour the mixture into the coated custard cups.

Arrange the custard cups, not touching, in a large, deep baking pan or roasting pan.

Pull out the oven rack, put the baking pan on it, and pour boiling water to a depth of about 1 inch into the pan to create a water bath. Bake for about 1 hour, or until set when tested with a thin-bladed knife in the center .

Carefully remove the water bath from the oven, and then carefully remove the custards from the water bath and set aside to cool completely.

You can cover and refrigerate the cooled custards and serve them cold, or you can serve them at room temperature. One at a time, run the knife around the inside of each cup to loosen the edges of the flan and invert onto a dessert plate to serve.

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Another great use for lemons- make lemon vinegar!

I hate having chemicals anywhere near my house.

OK- I realize that in 2010 that is not a very practical statement, but I do want to avoid artificial anything as much as I can. I love making my own cleaning supplies because they smell so great and are so inexpensive (there goes that cheap thing again….). My house gets cleaned using simple household staples like vinegar, baking soda, etc.

I also put apple cider vinegar into the chickens water containers. It helps keep the water from growing any undesirable stuff that I don’t even want to think about. Also, according to the old folks it helps keep the chickens healthier.

In addition, I have discovered anew that you can infuse vinegar with many wonderful things. My favorite is lemon peels.

So simple to do as well! Get a really sharp peeler and fresh, firm lemons- 3 or 4 lemons will do. Peel a thin layer off the lemon and put into a clean quart sized jar (My mother in law gives me old mayonnaise jars and these come with wonderful lids).

Fill the jar with white vinegar and store in a dark place for at least a week.
Now you can open the jar and smell the lemon!

Put about one cup of the lemon vinegar into a spray bottle and fill the bottle with water. Spray on surfaces like counter tops to clean them. I use this solution to clean my kitchen floor and everything else imaginable.  I even spray it into the air to freshen the room up.

You will at first smell a lot of vinegar, something I don’t mind at all but you might. The vinegar smell quickly evaporates leaving only the lingering but subtle scent of lemons!

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