The Beaver Dam Pepper is an heirloom variety from Beaver Dam, Wis. It has a beautiful spice that we are accentuating with an old world spice brine in our pickle. Forget the tabasco sauce or the cayenne pepper. Our Heirloom Pickle Beaver Dam Pepper It is THE secret ingredient in a Bloody Mary!

Our recipe also uses The Scrumptious Pantry Herbed Salt for a more complex herbal note. The original Bloody Mary recipe uses Gin instead of Vodka, so a couple of added juniper berries are also a great tribute to the origins of this classic Sunday brunch pick-me-up!

For the Virgin Mary mix well in a blender:

1 jar (16oz) The Scrumptious Pantry Heirloom Tomato Passata

1 cup water

1 tsp The Scrumptious Pantry All-purpose Herbed Salt

1 oz The Scrumptious Pantry Heirloom Pickle Beaver Dam Pepper (chopped)

3 tbsp The Scrumptious Pantry Heirloom Pickle Beaver Dam Pepper 
pickle liquid

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp minced horseradish

2 tsp worcestershire sauce

To make it a Bloody:

Over Ice, fill you glass with Virgin Mary & Vodka or Dry Gin (the original liquor base of the Bloody Mary) in relation 3:1

Know a Bloody Mary aficionado? We offer a Bloody Mary Gift Set over here in our online store. No better hostess gift for a Saturday dinner party or Sunday brunch!

Updating...

I just love when customers send emails or even call to say how much they enjoyed a product they picked up at an event or that was given to them as a gift. That just makes my day! What totally excites me is when I receive e-mails like this one from our customer Tiffany Sybert, sharing a recipe she developed using our products. In this case Tiffany had bought our Farro Pasta at a Farmer's Market this season, and while she was enjoying the first bag came up with the idea to use this nutty pasta for a Kugel for her Thanksgiving feast. The recipe was a hit with her family and guests, and today we are the lucky ones to benefit!

Thanks you so much, Tiffany, for sharing your recipe! And thanks to Carlo (pictured below) for making this delicious pasta!

Super Special Kugel
Makes a huge 9 x12 casserole

Ingredients

Base:
1.1 lb Carlo's Casarecce Farro Pasta, cooked- do not rinse the pasta!
1 lb small curd reduced fat 2% cottage cheese
8 oz reduced fat (low fat) sour cream
3 oz reduced fat (low fat) cream cheese
6 eggs or 5 eggs + 2 eggs whites
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup butter melted
Salt to taste
1 tbsp pure almond extract
¼ cup slivered almonds

Topping:
1 cup flax cereal crumbs
¼ cup butter melted or coconut butter (oil) melted
½ cup agave nectar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cardamom
3-4 pears, washed with skin on and cut into bite-size chunks (Bosc pears hold their shape well)
1-2 apples, washed with skin on and cut into bite-size chunks (I used Honey crisp)

Method

Combine all ingredients in base, except noodles in blender.  Taste liquid to see if your taste buds desire more salt or agave.  Gradually pour over noodles in a 9x12 or larger casserole dish.  Mix toppings ingredients together and pour over top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Kugel variations:

If you prefer pecans or walnuts than change your pure extract to vanilla, orange, anise, etc.   You may also substitute the fruit as to pair with your preferred nut and extract.  The fruit needs to be able to hold its shape- try persimmons, garnet yams, dried fruit, sweet potato, etc BE ADVENTUROUS!   If you are being adventurous maybe make only half a recipe.

I am a big fan of Farro, the most ancient grain from the Mediterranean. It was found in archaeological excavations and ancient tombs, some sites as old as 10,000 years. And it sure is a great tasting grain – no wonder people are falling in love with it again and again. It has become a staple in Tuscany since it was rediscovered in Israel around 1906 and reintroduced in the cuisines of the Mediterranean. Farro is served as salad in summer, as thick soup in winter - and they make Pasta out of it, too. Carlo has been growing Farro medio (compared to Emmer in the US) for a long time on his small farm and makes great Farro Pasta with it. I enjoy the nutty taste profile of Farro Pasta with fresh veggies to complement that heartiness, so a Farro Pasta salad is my go to summer meal!

And before I forget, great news: we have launched our little online storefront, so you can now order your Scrumptious Pantry fix online anywhere in the USA! Also, we would like to ask for your vote in the Slow Money Favorite Business Competition - and check out all the other great businesses and entrepreneurs working to bring about change in our food economies! Thank you very much!

Ingredients

1 cup Carlo's Farro Casarecce

1 small eggplant (2 cups diced into 1.2” pieces)

1.5 tbsp Darro's 100% Mission Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ tsp Roberta's Fine Herbed Salt

1 small bell pepper (1/2 cup diced)

¼ cup onion, diced

½ lemon, juiced

1 pinch Cayenne pepper

2 small or 1 medium sized tomatoes, diced

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method

(1) Heat oven to 375. (2) Bring water to boil. (3) Dice eggplant, toss with ¼ tsp Fine All purpose Herbed Salt and ½ tbsp EVOO, put in oven for about 15 min or till done. (4) Add pasta to boiling water, turn down heat and cook for 8-9 min or until almost al dente (the pasta will soak up the liquid of the salad, so you do not want the pasta cooked perfectly well done! (5) Drain, mix with onion, lemon juice, the remaining 100% Mission Extra Virgin Olive Oil, All-purpose Herbed Salt, cayenne. (6) Add roasted eggplants, peppers, tomatoes and toss well. Let sit for 10 min. (7) Add parmesan cheese before serving.

It has been quite hot lately - I guess that is fair to say. And with heat, I tend to eat less (but you should see me eating in the cold Midwestern winters!) Especially a lot of warm food is not really up my alley when the thermometer scratches the 95 Farenheit mark. So you can imagine how delighted I was when Stephanie told me about a recipe for a chicken salad she had made using the Cranberry Catsup in the vinaigrette.

I loved the idea of it and so set out to recreate her dish with a bunch of fresh veggies, juicy grilled amish chicken and as a special touch some smoked cheddar cheese. It is the perfect mix of protein and veggies, very light and thanks to the Cranberry Catsup it has a nice tang to it.

The ideas for recipes we are getting from you guys are really amazing! It truly makes me happy to see that our products inspire you to play with new taste combinations in the kitchen. So - if you have an idea as how to use our products, please let us know via email or facebook and you could win a goodie bag if you win the popular vote by the end of the month.

Ingredients (four happy bellies)

2 cooked chicken breast (ca. 10 oz), medium dice

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, grated

1/4 medium red onion, finely chopped

4 oz smoked Cheddar Cheese in small cubes (optional)

for the Vinaigrette

4 Tbsp Darro's 100% Mission Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Tbsp Ruth's Cranberry Catsup

2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

(1) Mix the salad ingredients together in a large bowl. (2) Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients (you can also use a small blender). (3) Toss with salad and season to taste.

I consider ourselves the luckiest people - because we have all this great customers with the most amazing culinary creativity sharing their recipe ideas using our products. It's like a giant think tank - and a tasty one to boot!

Today, we are sharing a recipe from Andrew Cheng. A former pastry chef gone video game developer, he loves kitchen projects and one of them is to see how The Scrumptious Pantry products can elevate classic pastry and desserts. Lucky us! While he is still experimenting with finding the best application of your various EV olive oils (ice cream? pound cake? brownie?), he has fine tuned this flaky shortbread cookie using Roberta's All-purpose Herbed Salt. It is a buttery sensation with just enough salt to tickle your tastebuds and the elegant note of rosemary, sage and oregano. We think it tastes pretty spectacular.

Surely a strong contender for this month's recipe give-away! Do you have recipe ideas to share on how you used our products? Eggplant spread in deviled eggs? A great pasta salad recipe for summer? Share your ideas on our facebook page or send me an email lee (at) scrumptiouspantry (dot) com to enter the contest - all recipe ideas submitted will be voted on on our facebook page on August 1st! Who receives the most "likes" wins.

Shortbread with herbed salt (courtesy of Andrew Cheng)

cream together:

6 oz (1.5 sticks) butter
3/4 tsp The Scrumptious Pantry All-purpose Herbed Salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

add

1 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornmeal

and mix just until combined. refrigerate the dough until chilled.

Roll out on parchment, to a even thickness (i use chopsticks), and cut in rectangles, but leave together. Dock with a fork.

Bake at 325 degrees F for... 30 to 45 minutes?, until just lightly browned, depending on the thickness. When you take them out, immediately recut the shortbreads along the original cuts. Let cool before eating.

I realize this picture has a somewhat christmassy feel to it, but given that we had hail the size of golfballs yesterday night and that it has been so dark this morning that I have all lights turned on in my apartment, it sure is fitting! After working the Farmer's Market till 8.30pm yesterday I did not really feel like eating a full dinner, so I just munched on some fresh greens from my garden. So of course that made me wake up pretty hungry this morning. Hungry + no sun outside = comfort breakfast. I whipped up some German pancakes (not the ones you find at the International House of Pancakes. I do not know what those are. Pancake balloons do not exist in Germany!) with Barbara's Tomato Jam w. Grappa. It is super easy, very tasty and actually makes a nice dessert for a dinner party, too. You might want to add some ice cream in a dessert situation!

Compared to American pancakes, German pancakes are closer to an omelette with flour. They are much more moist and fluff up just like an omelette would. Do not wait for bubbles to appear - there are none! We often eat pancakes for dinner, too - both sweet and savory. Classics include cherries, sliced apples (served sprinkled with sugar & cinnamon) or bacon, cheese, salami - you can even put kale or spinach... you add the toppings on the pancake after you put the mixture in the pan and have to wait for it to settle well before you flip it. Make sure your pan is not too hot!

The following recipe yields either 10 small pancakes 3 inches in diameter (if you serve them as dessert) or can be a big dinner size one. If you choose a big dinner size one, pls. exclude the shredded coconut and adjust the cooking time!

Ingredients

1 egg

1/3 cup flour

1 tbsp shredded coconut

1/3 cup of water

pinch of salt

butter

5 tsp Barbara's Tomato Jam w. Grappa

powdered sugar to finish

Method

(1) Using a fork, beat egg with water. (2) Gradually sift the flour into the mix. (3) Let stand 15 minutes for the mixture to thicken. (4) Add shredded coconut and pinch of salt. (5) Adjust with water/flour if seems to thick or liquid - you can always do a test run if you are not sure. (6) Add butter in warm pan (if you insist you can use some non stick spray, but butter really tastes much better and a dab of butter in your pancake will not kill you. On the other hand, I am not quite sure if that spray thing can be considered real food) and melt. (7) Once pan is lined, drop a tablespoon of the mixture in the pan and let cook for about 90 seconds. Flip over and cook the other side.  A standard frying pan will allow you to cook four pancakes at once. (8) Spread 1/2 tsp of Barbara's Tomato Jam on each pancake and serve hot. Although they are also really good cold.

Guten Appetit!

Asparagus! More asparagus! I could eat asparagus every day right now. Actually, that is what I am doing. Asparagus in all it's glorious ways...

This is a quick and easy creamy asparagus recipe that you can whip up in a heartbeat and that really let's this glorious veggie shine through.

Ingredients (for four happy bellies)

1/3 cups tightly packed grated Parmeggiano Reggiano cheese

2 egg yolks

4 oz. Mascarpone Cheese

10 spears green asparagus

8 oz. Carlo's Durum Wheat Farfalle Pasta

1 tsp. Robert's Herbed Al Purpose Salt

2 tsp. fresh lemon zest

black pepper to taste

Method

(1) Bring salted water to a boil. (2) Mix mascarpone cheese and egg yolks to a creamy consistency. (3) Add grated Parmeggiano Reggiano and Roberta's Herbed Salt. (4) Cut off asparagus tips and set aside. (5) Finely shred asparagus stems with your box grater  and add to the cheese cream. (6) Blanch asparagus tips in boiling pasta water. Take out and set aside for decoration. (7)  Add pasta to boiling water  and cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes. (8) Strain pasta, saving a cup of pasta water in case you need to correct consistency of the sauce. (9) Let pasta slide into the cheese-asparagus mixture, gently turn pasta till fully coated and zest lemon into the mix to brighten up the flavors (10) Correct for salt and pepper. (11) Serve and enjoy!

The memories of visiting my grandparents in White Hall, IL, some 30 years ago from Germany include memories of going to the local supermarket and shop. There was a Kroger's not far from their house and to me it was a wonderland. All these foods we could not get back home. Peanut butter! Marshmallows! American Cheese!

I am always impressed when I see how greatly US artisan cheese making has developed over the last years. Being so close to Wisconsin, I have the great luck to indulge in some truly great cheeses which are widely available here in Chicago.

Now last week I came across an artisan cheese from Georgia - the Thomasville Tomme from Sweet Grass Dairy. It is a raw cow's milk cheese that is aged for a minimum of 60 days. Jeremy and Jessica exclusively use milk from Green Hills Farms' Jersey Cows, which are kept on pasture all year long. This cheese has great flavor, great texture - and is a superb ingredient for a mean Mac'n'Cheese. Which in turn is the perfect side with oven roasted asparagus.

So here you go, enjoy!

(ps. do not cut off the rind of the cheese - it is edible!!)

Ingredients (makes two tummies happy)

2 cups Carlo's Durum Wheat Semolato  Conchiglie

3 tbsp Darro's EVOO

1 small chilli pepper

1 small onion (diced) – ½ cup

black pepper

½ tsp Roberta's All-purpose Herbed Salt (or alternatively you own blend of salt, rosemary, lemon zest and sage)

1 ½ cups finely diced cheese (if you cannot get your hands on Thomasville Tomme, you can use Taleggio or Fontina)

½ breadcrumbs

1 lb. asparagus, cleaned

Method: (1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. (2) Bring salted water to a boil and add Carlos's Conchiglie, cook until not quite yet al dente (ca. 7 minutes). (3) In the meantime, sautee whole garlic - slightly crushed - and chilli peppers in 2 tbsp of Darro's EVOO, add onions and sautee till translucent. (4) Take out garlic, add a ladle of pasta water and over low heat mix in 1 cup cheese and let melt. (5) Drain Pasta and add to the cheese. (6) Mix well, season w. Roberta's herbed salt and pepper. (7) Pour in baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and ½ cup breadcrumbs. (8) Arrange cleaned asparagus on a baking sheet, season with a pinch of salt and a little black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and a little lemon juice  (9) Roast/bake asparagus & mac'n'cheese in the preheated  oven until cheese is melted and starting to brown and asparagus is tender, about 10 minutes.

Well, for everyone not living in the Midwest - good for you! I assume you can indulge in fresh veggies and sit in the sun during lunch hour. Not so in Chicago. One day the weather is really beautiful, the next day I wake up at night cause I am freezing and get up to turn on the heat (no kiddin'). The worst thing about this is that nature is really behind. My veggie plot in the Peterson Garden (Chicago's largest edible community garden) looks as if I had only just put the seeds. And the bad weather with lots of rain and cold days has not only delayed my garden, but also our local farms. So I have to admit that I have taken to buying fresh apples and greens from further away. After six months of storage crops and canned tomatoes my body was screaming for fresh leafy greens.

But there are clear signs that the end is near (no, not THAT end). The sign I am talking about looks like this:

Yes! Green Garlic. I love the subtle, fresh garlic taste, so today I married local green garlic with some chard from some other place and enjoyed it over polenta and a farm-fresh egg. Nothing beats a farm fresh egg over polenta, let me tell you that! Enjoy this week's dinner inspiration and let's keep our fingers crossed for a good growing season!

Creamy polenta with sauteed chard, green garlic & a farm-fresh egg (for two growling stomachs)

For the polenta

1 cup polenta/cornmeal

1 cup regular milk

3 cups water

For the veggies

1 tbsp Darro's Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 stems green garlic, finely chopped

1 bunch of chard, roughly chopped (ca. 2 cups tightly packed)

1 small cayenne pepper

1 tbsp Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread

zest of 1/3 orange

salt

For the eggs

2 tbsp Darro's Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 farm fresh eggs

Pimenton de la Vera powder (Spanish smoked sweet pepper)

black pepper

Method

(1) Mix polenta, milk & water. Stir well. Bring to a boil, turn down the flame and let cook, stirring occasionally until done. Depending on the type of polenta you are using, this takes between 20-45 minutes.

(2) For the veggies, heat Darro's olive oil in a pan, add small cayenne pepper and thicker white parts of the chopped green garlic to sautee'. (3) When starting to turn translucent, add the chopped chard, and chopped leafy parts of the green garlic. (4) Let the greens wilt over very low flame. (5) Mix in Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread, orange zest and season to taste with salt.

(6) In another pan, heat Darro's Olive Oil, let two eggs slide into the warm oil and cook to taste over medium heat. (7) Arrange polenta and veggies on two plates, top off with egg. (8) Dust the egg with Pimenton de la Vera (a smoked Spanish sweet pepper powder every one should have for the exact purpose of putting in on eggs) and finish with a crack of black pepper.

I love Carlo's pasta for many good reasons. The first is that it tastes amazing. Why? Because of the care and attention which with Carlo farms his biodynamic grain. Because of the Semolato grind he chooses for this pasta - packing it with more minerals, vitamins and fiber that the classic white pasta. Because he follows the traditional artisan pasta making process - extruding the pasta though a bronze dye and then slow drying it.

So today I am happy to announce that we also have Carlo's Farro pasta in The Scrumptious Pantry. The classic Penne Rigate and the fun Casarecce shape. Farro medio - the variety grown by Carlo - is THE most ancient grain from the Mediterranean. It was first cultivated in 7000 BC, but then it's importance faded away with the rise of higher yielding varieties. It was actually considered a lost species before it was rediscovered in 1906 in Israel. Luckily Italians loved it and it has since established itself as a staple grain in Italy, especially in Tuscany. It is richer in vitamins, minerals and proteins than Durum Wheat and has a different gluten structure, so people that are gluten intolerant may be able to enjoy farro (depending on the seriousness of the condition). Farro has a hearty, nutty taste profile - it pairs deliciously with stronger tasting flavors, as we do in this pasta salad.

Ingredients (feeds four as main dish)

16 oz of Carlo’s Farro Penne Rigate

4 oz. prosciutto/dry cured ham, torn into pieces

4 oz. feta cheese,  crumbled

8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 tbsp. Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread

1/3 cup walnuts, crushed

Zest of one lemon

2 tbsp. parsley, chopped

3 tbsp. Cosimo’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil “Blend”

Method: (1)  Cook pasta until almost al dente, drain water, spread pasta on a baking sheet to cool down (the steam would continue to cook it in the colander or bowl). The liquid of the salad will be soaked in by the pasta, which is why you want the pasta not quite al dente, otherwise it becomes mushy. (2) Add ham, cheese, walnuts, lemon zest, Roberta's Sun-dried Tomato Spread and Cosimo's Extra Virgin Olive Oil and toss well. (3) Salt & pepper to taste  and set aside. (4) When ready to serve, add tomatoes and finely chopped parsley. (5) Correct seasoning and serve.