Off To Africa...

Well...not me, but someone I love dearly will be spending the next year in Djibouti. No, it won't be for the purpose of traveling and experiencing many different cultures on one continent. No remarkable food experiences. No vineyards with an everlasting supply of fine wine. The Djibouti experience is for a job. An opportunity was there for my husband, Scott, and he took hold and went for it....for work. The weather is brutally hot and the hours are long. Yes, we are grateful for this Djiboutian experience.

Only being two weeks since I took him to spend time with Air France, I can already see how cooking has changed. Scott is my number one fan, my great motivator. He's the reason that I'm excited to try new recipes. I definitely will have to find an outlet for new food experiences. As soon as I get used to tackling my farm by myself, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to spend evenings with friends and family in the best room of any house...the kitchen.

While I Was Dining On Moroccan Koftas......

The real problem I have may not be so much the library of cooking magazines I collect. Okay...maybe that is the real problem, but it is a super frustration of mine when I can't remember where I read a recipe of a great dinner I made last week or a dinner that I can't wait to make....a second real problem. I've tried using the little post-its on the pages I found interesting. But then I just had a thousand pink post-its all over the pages. Everything is interesting to me. How I fantasize of creating the "Monica Gellar, super organized, referenced and cross-referenced.....Ultimate Recipe Binder".

I was all set to share my food experience of Moroccan Koftas and Israeli Couscous and Tomato Salad with Arugula Pesto. I looked in my green folder (yes, I at least have a folder) for the printed recipes. I have the Koftas, Tzatziki....where's the Couscous? I've recently been going through a bunch of older magazines. Is it here in this 2004 bon appetit? No, I do recall this particular recipe in something recent. Found it...the latest August issue of Food and Wine.

The recipe I found for Koftas calls for ground beef. I didn't have ground beef, but I did have plenty of ground bison (thanks to my BFF who owns a bison farm). It worked beautifully and I actually thought the texture presented itself much better than beef. Any ground meat would be delicious.... lamb, turkey, goat, pork. For the Israeli Couscous Salad, I had to be creative with variations. I didn't have cherry tomatoes but a friend did give us plenty of his home grown Romas. It also called for additional yellow or orange tomatoes, none of which I had on my counter. But there was zucchini. I just diced and sauteed in olive oil and tossed it into the salad. The store was out of pine nuts for the pesto part. Not to worry...even though pine nuts are mainly used, walnuts are perfectly acceptable.

I think the most important piece of advice I have to offer.....if you don't have certain ingredients, you absolutely cannot be afraid to try variations. Sure, some recipes have to be followed precisely in order for it to work. But by all means, don't throw in the towel if you don't have pine nuts or cherry tomatoes!

Just as important....if you have a farmers market close by, you MUST get in the habit of visiting weekly. Find out in your area who is farming bison and beef, lamb and goat, chicken and turkey, and my favorite...pork!! You MUST get to know what is going into your food and how it is raised. You MUST experience what meat really is supposed to taste like. Enjoy!

Moroccan Beef Koftas

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon



Combine all ingredients and form into oblong, slightly flattened "meatballs". Thread onto skewers. Preheat grill and oil cooking grate thoroughly. Place koftas on hot grill and cook for about 8 minutes, turning once. Serve with pita and raw onions.

This is an ancient way of grilling ground meat. The secret is to make sure the meat is sticky enough to hold together on the skewers. Either using a grill pan or broiling would also work well. Can also be prepared without the skewers.




Israeli Couscous and Tomato Salad with Arugula Pesto (from Food and Wine)

6 cups packed arugula
2 cups Israeli couscous
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pints red cherry tomatoes, halved
4 yellow or orange tomatoes, cut into 1-inch dice

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the 6 cups of arugula and blanch for 10 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer arugula to a colander, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking, then drain thoroughly.

Add the Israeli couscous to the boiling water and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until it is al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain the couscous and spread it out on large baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and toss to prevent from clumping. Let cool to room temperature.

In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderate heat, tossing until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Let cool.

Squeeze the excess water from the blanched arugula and coarsely chop it. Transfer the arugula to a food processor. Add pine nuts, garlic, cheese and the 1/2 cup of olive oil and process until the pine nuts are finely chopped. Season the arugula pesto with salt and black pepper.

Transfer the couscous to a large serving bowl and stir in the pesto. Gently fold in tomatoes. Can be made ahead a refrigerated up to 2 hours.




Tzatziki (found on Foodnetwork.com courtesy of Molyvos Restaurant)

2 cups Greek style yogurt
1 large English cucumber (peeled, shredded and drained)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 T chopped fresh mint
1T chopped fresh dill
1 oz lemon juice

To prepare the yogurt: Line strainer with cheesecloth and set over a bowl. Bowl should support strainer so it does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Put the yogurt in the strainer loosely covered, and let it drain overnight in the fridge. Discard liquid and use the strained yogurt as directed.

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Pigs, Peas and Pinot

I'm just jumping in with this....

I wanted to create a cute logo, take great pictures and write the perfect introduction for my new blog......our new blog. I'm Rhonda, a food magazine addict, and my BFF who shares in the love of farming, food and wine...is Rob. I will let you all know who we are and what we do at a later date. But for now....I'm getting started with the third item in the title, Pinot. However, not specifically Pinot. I just needed a wine that started with "P".

My husband, Scott, says I have a huge problem. I have to agree with him. I cannot and will not toss out any of my food magazines. I won't even lend them out. How can I? When I get on a certain ethnic food kick, such as Indian, I'll pick up an old "Food and Wine" and be thrilled to see a great article and fantastic recipes from the very region I want my kitchen to turn into...India. Another magazine I dig out may speak about Tuscany, Mexico or even cured meats of Poland. I'm excited once again to read about such ventures. Sometimes I miss these articles or I may simply forget about them.

Last week I ventured through a "Saveur" magazine from Jan/Feb 2010. The main concept for this issue was the "Best 100". Readers share their favorite ingredients, chefs, tools, tips and more that they cannot live without.

"What's this on page 36?"

A reader writes about her discovery of Malbec wine. Apparently, the Malbec grape originated in France but was mainly used in blends to enhance the ruby red color of red wine. The Argentines brought this very dark grape down to their fertile soils and dry climate and mastered the Malbec wine. I'm immediately intrigued by the description....richly red, dense, balanced. I must have had wine from Argentina at some point but I don't recall ever trying Malbec. I was recently telling Rob how I am getting bored with the wine selection at our local grocery store. I would much rather browse in a small wine shop and ask questions about certain varieties and countries. I remember seeing Malbec on the shelf but it never seemed interesting enough to purchase. I usually stayed with what I knew for my house wines....a California Cab.

When it comes to red wine, the most important thing I look for is the ability to NOT see through it in the glass. Then a close second would have to be not too much fruit. I prefer descriptions of the non-fruit qualities, such as oak, cedar, cocoa, coffee, leather, truffle....

So, with the reader's advice and a desire to get to know Argentina a little better, I enjoyed a wine that evening that held everything I love in a red....dark color(can't see through!), very full bodied and an incredible balance of fruit, non-fruit and spice aromas. I already went through all the Malbecs at the store. Now on to the little wine shop....

As I sit here dining on Moroccan Koftas and Israeli Couscous Salad with Pesto, I realized that now is the perfect time to begin sharing our love for real food and great wine along with the experiences, places and stories that make it all happen. From Rhonda's pigs out in the field to Rob's Daisy the Jersey cow. From discovering Shrimp and Grits in Charleston, South Carolina to discovering a great winery in St. Michael's, Maryland.....and all the experiences in between.