More Goodies From My Kitchen

Yes, I've been at it again this week.  I can't help it.  Although I've only been canning and preserving for three seasons, it is in my blood to stay.  And I love it.  I'm always pouring over my canning/preserving/jam making books looking for something new, different and exciting to do with the bounty of produce Michigan produces every summer.  Here's a peak at what I did this week:

I made some pretty interesting preserves/jams this week, such as Tomato and Caramelized Onion Conserve; Blueberry Mojito Jam, Roasted Pepper Relish; Zucchini and Pepper Jam with Spices; Blueberry Conserve with Pecans; Mexican Pickled Pintos, Corn and Peppers; and 13 additional pints of various types of tomato sauce.  I counted 44 jars of goodies to add to my pantry. 

I also spent a wonderful afternoon with these lovely ladies (my husband's great nieces) making homemade ricotta ravioli.

As you can see, it was another productive and very fun week in my Michigan kitchen.

Next week... it's Peaches!

Roasted Turnip & Ramp Salad

Very unusual but very good.

So I bought all those gorgeous vegetables at the farmer's market last weekend and I bet you're wondering--what's she going to DO with all that produce?!  Yes, well, I've been wondering the same thing.

But I've been cooking for such a long time that I'm pretty good at improvising-'"what do I have" kind of cooking.  I found this salad recipe online for roasted turnips and ramps and since I just bought both at the market, I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, I cant' leave well enough alone so I borrowed this basic recipe then made it my own and it turned out very good.

Roasted Turnip and Ramp Salad
1 bunch turnips, trimmed, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4-5 small ramps, cleaned and trimmed
good extra virgin olive oil

couple tablespoons good mayonnaise
teaspoon or so of grated lemon peel
teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
tablespoon good prepared horseradish
tablespoon or so of whatever fresh herbs you have (parsley, chives, thyme)  I used chives and thyme because that's what I have growing
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Place turnips and ramps on baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and place in oven to roast.  The ramps will be done after 10 minutes or so and the turnips will take about 20-30.

Meanwhile in mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix well.

When ramps are done, remove from oven, chop and add to bowl.

Remove turnips from pan when finished and add to bowl.

The salad was good at this point but in my opinion, it was missing something, something crunchy.  So I looked in fridge and found this lone radish from my last trip to Wiley Farms.  So I cut it up, added it to salad and Done!  It was delicious.  

Sorry that the bowl looks kind of messy, but the salad was quite tasty.  I'm not sure I'll be able to recreate it anytime soon, but it was good this once :-)