We want to thank everyone who came out to our open house last Saturday evening and joined us in celebrating our nursery's first year anniversary! We hope you were inspired through the evenings cuisine to grow more tasty herbs and veggies for yourself and to do even more of your grocery shopping at our local farmers markets.
As promised, here are the recipes.
Fresh Peach Ice Cream with Tarragon
1.5 lbs of farmers market fresh peaches
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups of half and half
2 tablespoons fresh, finely chopped tarragon
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar
Peel peaches, remove center stone and in blender, lightly puree all but 1/3 cup of fresh peaches. Remove and place in bowl. To this, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add all tarragon. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 cups of half and half. Mix and refrigerate until well chilled.
Meanwhile, mash remaining peaces [you want some chunks] with remaining vanilla and sugar. Place in bowl and chill for at least one hour.
Mix both mixtures together and chill according to your individual ice cream freezers directions. I like to take mixture and divide into two smaller containers when freezing. I let newly prepared ice cream stand in freezer for about 1 hour before serving. It will be soft - this is o.k.
Do enjoy the whole thing - left overs just are not the same.
Lavender Green Tea w/ Lavender
To a standard pitcher, add:
Filtered water
1/4 cup of sen-cha gold loose leaf Japanese green tea
4 tablespoons of dried organic loose English lavender buds.
Chill overnight or 6-8 hours. Strain loose tea/lavender buds out [set aside to reuse at least one more time - adding 2 tablespoons of fresh tea leaves ]. Add 1/4 cup of light agave syrup [Temecula Valley Cheese Co and our farmers market carries it]. Mix well and serve over ice!
Herbed Vegetables and Feta Lettuce Wraps
This simple, yet tasty treat can be a snack or a light summer dinner. The herbed feta will remain the same while the veggies used can change according to what is fresh at the market.
We used:
Summer squash
fresh onions
fresh zucchini
heirloom tomato [wait to slice these until just before grilling all veggies]
[all are sliced about 1/4 - 1/2 inch and placed in a large bowl]
For the herb seasoning:
2 tablespoons of freshly harvested, washed and chopped
Summer savory - stems removed
oregano - combination of hot and spicy, Greek and Italian
French & lemon thyme
finely chopped garlic chives
Combine all herbs and sprinkle over sliced veggies. Now drizzle olive oil over herbed veggies - enough to coat. Add pepper and juice from 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon. Combine thoroughly. Let stand several hours to overnight.
Just before grilling, add sliced tomato and some salt. Mix in with other veggies. Grill until lightly softened.
For the herbed cheese filling:
one package of East of Eden feta [Trader Joes - a cheese from Isreal]
1/2 - 3/4 cup of fresh, finely chopped garlic chives
1/2 cup of freshly chopped Italian parsley.
1/4 cup of freshly chopped oregano
Salt and pepper.
Combine well. Cover and chill for several hours.
To assemble, layer freshly grilled veggies on freshly washed romaine lettuce leaves adding a teaspoon of herbed cheese. Roll closed and tie ends with garlic chives.
Iced Herbal Water w/ Local Citrus
Combine filtered water,
1 fresh orange and lemon - sliced thin
2 tablespoons of fresh lavender mint leaves.
Chill.
Enjoy the day!
Carrie-Anne
