Goat Cheese Thumbprint Cookies

On Easter Sunday, we went to our good friend Scottie's house for her festive and sprawling annual brunch. Each dish on the bountiful table was springy and delicious, but the highlight was the smoked ham made from a super-local (like backyard-local) pig. After fully digging in - for maybe too long - Jake realized that one of the regular guests, Susan Sellew of Rawson Brook Farm, wasn’t there and no one knew why.

When Susan walked in an hour later, she recounted her attempt to get to the party on time. On the way over she stopped by her barn and saw that one of the mother goats was having trouble birthing. So she turned around, changed, helped deliver twin kids then changed again and made her way to Scottie's! 

When we finished brunching, we decided to walk the 3.5 miles of back roads back to Susan's farm and see those two-hour old kids ourselves. And whoa! Those baby goats were SO cute! We oooh and ahhhed at them for a long time and finally tore ourselves away, picking up a tub of Susan's fantastic goat cheese on our way out.

Fast forward to yesterday, when Jake "pinned" a recipe for goat cheese thumbprint cookies topped with globs of jam in the middle. They sounded and looked amazing and we knew we had to try them. Silka quickly whipped a batch up, dotting them with her aunt's blueberry jam. The classic Monterey Chevre was the perfect cheese for this sweet and tangy dessert - we can't wait to make it again!

Goat Cheese Thumbprint Cookies

From Buttercream Blondie

+ 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temp

+ 1 & 1/4 cups sugar

+ zest of 1 lemon

+ 1 egg

+ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

+ 4 ounces goat cheese

+ 2 & 1/2 cups AP flour

+ 1 teaspoon baking powder

+ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

+ 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Cream butter and sugars till light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix in goat cheese.

2. Sift dry ingredients and zest together & mix into wet ingredients until combined.

3. Scoop cookies using a small scoop (about 1 tbsp) and make a small indentation in the center. Chill cookies for at least 30 minutes before baking.

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 14-16 minutes rotating once halfway through.  If they puff up while baking, just poke the centers with a spoon when you take the out of the oven to get that indentation.

5. Once the cookies have completely cooled, spoon a small amount of blueberry jam in the centers.

Field Trip: Rawson Brook Farm

Long before Jake was aware of concepts like “local food,” “small family farms” and “farm-to-fork.” he was eating Monterey Chevre. It could almost always be found in his family's fridge, both classic plain and garlic & chive varieties. When Jake recounts his journey to butcher and local food advocate, he remembers fondly influential visits to see Monterey Chevre made at family friend Susan Sellew's goat farm, Rawson Brook Farm. Jake, his brothers and Susan's cousin, their "other mother" Scottie Mills, would often stop by to watch the cheese making process and play with the kids - goat kids, that is! - and bring home a few tubs.

So, of course, we couldn't wait to write a field trip post about Rawson Brook Farm, Monterey Chevre, and Susan. We visited on a typical Berkshire autumn day- crisp air, sharp light, heavy gray clouds, exploding orange red and yellow foliage- aligning our arrival with the 5 o'clock milking shift. When we walked in to the milking room, which also houses the farm store, one of Susan's 6 employees, Craig, was starting to milk the farm's 40 goats. Her young nieces were running around, helping for the afternoon - a treat after finishing their homework.

As Susan said to us “One of the things about the Slow Food Movement is that (in my opinion) it doesn't speak at all to the life of the dairy farmer....or maybe any farmer who has to seek out a living, pay for health insurance and college. There is absolutely nothing slow about my life... it's 12-14 hrs a day, 7 days a week with not a whole lot of time for preparing food if you don't happen to have a homemaker in the mix...” The goats get milked twice a day, a process that takes about three hours. Every other day they make chevre with the collected pasteurized goats' milk, rennet, and any flavorings added for that batch. From 1000 pounds of milk, Susan can get about 150 pounds of cheese. 

Susan has been making her chevre for 28 years now, and while she says goats' milk cheese was a tough sell at first, Monterey Chevre has become a staple of the South County food scene. So much so, in fact, that Susan was featured in the New York Times last August, headlining for the historic local food culture in the Berkshires.  

While it's sold and served all over South County, Rawson Brook Farm chevre is difficult to get outside of the Berkshires- a result of Susan's (awesome) policy to never saying no to a local customer, which often wipes her out. But if you can get your hands on it, stock up (you can find it at Zabars or at the Park Slope Co-Op)! It goes great with bread or crackers, makes a wonderful cheese souffle, and is perfect for take-em-out-put-em-back-in potatoes. 

Sunday Brunch: Fall Veggie Frittata

This Saturday, we hosted an engagement party for Jake's brother and his fiancée. After a lovely afternoon of 30+ guests, most of Jake’s family would be spending the night at our apartment. We knew everyone that the next morning everyone would be pretty groggy from a long day of Prosecco sipping, so we wanted to make something easy and absorbent for Sunday's brunch.

And what requires almost no labor, takes 30 minutes from start to finish, and fills you up with out weighing you down? A Frittata! Just beat some eggs, throw in whatever ingredients you have laying around, and you’ve got a beautiful showcase for seasonal produce. We already had some 3-Corner Field Farm brebis blanche in the fridge and plenty of herbs on the terrace. Along with Jake’s mom and brother, we took a quick trip to the market to pick up some early fall cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and a dozen eggs from Grazin’ Angus. The frittata- plus a boule from Bread Alone and a mixed green salad- was the perfect accompaniment to a sun-filled morning of post-party gossip.

 
Fall Veggie Frittata

+ 10 eggs

+ 1 cup cherry tomatoes

+ 1 cup chopped peppers

+ 8 oz fresh goat or sheep cheese

+ a large bunch of herbs, roughly chopped - we used parsley and basil

+ salt and pepper

+ 2 tablespoons of butter, oil or bacon drippings

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large (10-inch) cast iron skillet, heat your choice of fat on medium-high heat. When  fully hot, throw in the tomatoes and peppers. You could also add some garlic and onions here- really any vegetable you'd like to include.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in the cheese, half the herbs, a teaspoon of salt and some ground black pepper. Cayenne or paprika could also be added here.

4. When the tomatoes have started to burst and peppers have softened, turn the heat down to medium-low. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and sprinkle top with the rest of the herbs. Let the skillet stand undisturbed on medium-low for 10 minutes.

5. Move the skillet to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until it is puffed up and feels spongy.

6. Take out of oven and serve directly out of the skillet.

Recipe: Summer-into-Fall Beet Salad

We've been so preoccupied with mid-summer produce like sweet corn and zucchini, we almost didn't notice the bunches of deep purple and yellow beets that have started to take over the market. Thankfully, we didn't miss our chance! There's still plenty of time to take advantage of the long beet season, and believe us we will, because we love beets. Silka loves roasted beets almost as much as she loves mashed potatoes (read: a LOT) but Jake takes it to a whole new level. As a kid he loved beets so much he decided to marry one, drawing a portrait of himself and his beet bride. Don't believe us? It still hangs in his grandparents house.

For our first taste of beet season, we looked to a classic boiled beet and goat cheese salad- but we really wanted a hardier dish that would bridge the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Making it up as we went along, we picked up some brebis blanche from 3-Corner Field Farm, micro greens from Two Guys in Woodbridge, and a handful of herbs from our terrace to add a summery touch. On the other side of the seasonal spectrum, we thought a grain like farro could really bring in an earthy, fall flavor. We went to our favorite local grain source, Cayuga Pure Organics, and described what we had in mind. The young woman working the table suggested wheat berries. We'd never cooked with them before, but trusting her expertise, we decided to try it out.

Well, big thanks to the chick at Cayuga for introducing us to our new favorite grain! The boiling wheat berries filled the kitchen with a sweet, nutty flavor and we immediately knew that they'd compliment the sweetness of the beets and the grassy tang of the goat cheese perfectly. We served the salad with a lamb chop and a green salad for a beautifully simple weeknight dinner. 

Summer-into Fall Beet Salad

+ 2 lbs beets, peeled and cut into big chucks

+ 1 cup of wheat berries

+ a bunch of greens and herbs - we used parsley, mint, micro radish greens and micro watercress

+ 6 oz Goat or Sheep cheese

+ 3 tbsp olive oil

+ salt and pepper

1. Soak the wheat berries in a sauce pan with 4 cups of water for 2 hours. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 400.

2. Spread beets out in a large baking dish, pour olive oil over them and sprinkle with salt. Put into the oven for one hour.

3. Bring the water and wheat berries to a boil and then lower to a simmer and cover, just like rice. Cook covered for one hour.

4. Meanwhile, chop up the greens and herbs, and crumble the cheese in a large serving bowl. When the beets and wheat berries are done, mix everything together in the bowl and serve.