The Farm Report from Turkey Hill

First Day: wash slice and seed kumquats* use an equal amount of water by weight to fruit let stand overnight.

2 c water = 1lb of Kumquats

Second Day: boil until tender

Third Day: boil 30 minutes, weigh and add equal amount of sugar.

Boil 30 minutes more

Then bottle in boiling water bath 5 min.

*cook seeds with water for added pectin and add to mixture in last boil

  All bitterness is banished. I have adjusted this from time to time and used less sugar.

crust - 2 cups graham cracker crumbs   1/2 cup sugar  1/2 cup butter[really don't use more than that it gets too hard.]

mix em up and press into 9" springform pan. try to make it as smooth as possible. not lumpy and make it go up the sides pretty far.

Filling: 2 8oz packages of softened Cream Cheese. 2 fresh eggs. 2/3 cups plus 2Tblsp Sugar. 1 cup Sour Cream.  2 tsp vanilla or rum.

Cream the cheese til smooth. Blend in the eggs, 2/3 c sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla. pour into crust and bake in moderately hot oven(375), for 20-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the sour cream with 2 Tblsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla or rum. really mix it up until the sugar is dissolved.

Carefully spread this over the baked filling. Return pie to a hot oven(400) and bake 10-15 minutes more. Cool a bit, then load it up with the results of two ripe mangoes cut into cubes.

You may drizzle an apricot glaze over to make it look shiny like in the shops or not.  An easy glaze in to heat up to liquid apricot or currant or mayhaw or apple preserves or jelly and then drizzle.

I strain the preserves but you don't have to. The sour cream layer isn't totally necessary but.....mmmm.

Chill overnight or for several hours before serving. small slices makes it serve up to twelve. but not at my house.

we get our mangoes from The Mango Factory in Bokeelia, Florida. Awesome.

On the first cool day for our five star crew, I wanted something special for them at lunch. We have been eating new potatoes for weeks as I had gotten a half bushel from our neighbors. Lotta taters. This recipe is really fast because it uses leftovers. We served it with a fresh salad and corn muffins. All good.

1/2 pound of kale, chopped

one pound or so of cut up roasted new potatoes[maybe they were roasted with rosemary and carrots too]

5 cups of chicken/rooster or vegetable stock, heated

one huge Spanish onion, chopped

one big clove of Elephant Garlic, chopped

one or two Tablespoons of freshly grated ginger

butter or olive oil 

salt pepper marjoram thyme

You know the drill, saute the onion first because it takes longer, then add the garlic and ginger and saute till you swoon from the delicious aroma or the crew comes in to see what's cooking, whichever comes first. Add the herbs now too, if you like.

Add the chopped up kale and saute til tender, then the roasted potatoes, saute some more, then the stock, then the seasonings. Cook for a while til heated through, then blend up half to 3/4 of it to make creamy. Or add cream or whole milk if you want.

Call the crew in for lunch.

Split Pea Soup with Chard

Adapted from Vegetable Soups by Deborah Madison

2 cups yellow split peas, rinsed and soaked for at least 1 hour

2 bay leaves

3 cloves

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons of butter

1 large onion, chopped finely

¼ cup minced cilantro stems

1 ½ tsp ground turmeric (or try finely grated fresh)

1 tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of hot red pepper flakes

25 oz can of coconut milk (not low-fat)

juice of 1 lime

3 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves

1 large bunch of chard, leaves rinsed and chopped, stems removed and saved for a stir-fry later

Cooked rice

Wilt chopped chard leaves in a medium-hot skillet and set aside.

Fill a pot with 2 quarts of water, drained split peas, bay leaves, cloves, and 1 ½ tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered while you move on to the next step.

Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat and add onion and cilantro stems. Cook, stirring often, until onion starts to color and soften (about 10 mins). Add spices and ½ cup water from the simmering peas and cook until the water is gone. Add the onion to the simmering peas and continue cooking until both are very soft—about 1 hour. Remove the bay leaves and cloves, then puree.

Return soup to the stove, add coconut milk and lime juice, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the chard leaves and cilantro and serve over rice, with yogurt if you like.

Recipe provided by Sarah Keith

3-4 c scuppernongs  

2 T cornstarch or arrowroot powdetr

Water                                        3 T butter

1 c sugar*                        Cinnamon or Apple Pie Spice

Pastry for 2-crust pie

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Wash the grapes.  Use 2 medium-sized enamel or stainless sauce pans; squeeze pulp into one and use other for hulls.  Cover hulls with water and cook until tender, drain. [10 minutes about] Cook pulp until soft enough to run through sieve to remove seeds.  Add to hulls.  Mix sugar[*you can use less without hurting the taste!] and cornstarch.  Add to scuppernong mixture and stir it up good.  Sprinkle with spice as desired.  Pour into pastry-lined pie pan, and dot with butter, cover with strips of pastry.  Bake until pie bubbles and pastry is golden.  Serves 6-8.  8" pie.