farmhouse party quesadillas

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To know Eggboy is to know that, when left to his own accord, lunchtime means dumping a can of beans into a bowl and topping it with raw walnuts and dinnertime means going across the street to eat Eggmom’s salmon and roasted vegetables. In the past year or so he’s started salting his beans so that’s a step up. I used to feel guilty when I’d go out of town without leaving a lasagna in the freezer but I’ve witnessed him do the beans for lunch thing enough times even when there is a perfectly good leftover soup in the fridge that I think he actually just… likes it? He’s the first person I’ve ever really gotten to know who basically just eats to survive and doesn’t seek out the best bakeries wherever he travels. And yeah, aside from the occasional egg and my annual birthday cake, he doesn’t really cook! At all. I’ve never had an issue with it because he is a great dishes doer and also I like cooking haha. 

So imagine my surprise when he took up a tortilla making hobby! Last fall I returned home from a trip to find a baggie of really adorable amoeba shaped tortillas that were doughy and delicious. They were slightly thicker than the tortillas that we buy at the store and super dense. I thought it was a one off thing that he did while I was away but then there were multiple nights when I’d be standing at the stove stirring a pot of something and I’d turn around to find him kneading tortilla dough. It was so fun!!! I’d made Turkish Yufka before, which is super similar, and a few of our friends once had us over for tacos with homemade tortillas, but this was the first time we’d made tortillas at home and I can’t believe it took us this long. They are soo good. So for Chrismukkah I got him a few tortilla themed goodies like a server, a press, and a few taco holders to up our taco Tuesday game and we can never go back to store bought tortillas now. 

We always make a big batch to have some leftover, and when it’s lunchtime and we have leftover tortillas I usually make quesadillas. Quesadillas were the best already but when you throw in two thick doughy homemade tortillas, it is like, game over, it does not get much better. For the topping, I like to clean out the fridge of whatever vegetables we have on hand and pile them on top for a colorful fork and knife situation that is a total party. I usually start with a layer of something creamy, like yogurt or sour cream, and add some avocado, pickled onions, fresh herbs, chopped peppers, maybe some greens, a squeeze of lemon or lime, hot sauce, etc., etc., and when the tomatoes come back there will be those too. Inside the quesadilla, I have been using Cabot’s Farmhouse Cheddar which has a delicious sharpness that shines through brightly from under this bed of toppings. And it’s called Farmhouse! And Eggboy is a farmer! So it all checks out and I’m running with it! 

Note: lard is traditionally used in tortillas but we don’t typically have that on hand so we usually use canola or olive oil. I kinda wanna try schmaltz in a tortilla though?? Don’t tell Macaroni. 

Farmhouse Party Quesadillas

Makes 4

Ingredients

Tortillas

2 c (254g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp sugar

3/4 c water

1/4 c flavorless oil or olive oil, plus more for cooking the quesadillas

 

Filling and Topping

6 oz cheese Cabot Farmhouse Cheddar, shredded

Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream

sliced onions, pickled or raw

Sliced avocados 

Sliced Radishes

Fresh herbs

Fresh greens

Other chopped veggies, as desired

Lemon or lime wedges

Hot sauce

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Clues

To make the tortillas, combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix in the water and oil and stir to form a dough. Turn it out onto a surface and knead for 5-7 minutes to form a smooth, slightly sticky dough, adding more flour if needed. Cover it with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. (Full disclosure, when we’re hungry we skip this step. But letting the dough rest does make it easier to roll these out.) Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and roll them out until they’re really thin, keeping the dough balls covered until you roll them out. I like a 1/16” or 1/8” thickness but wouldn’t turn down a 3/16” thick one. Cook them in the skillet on both sides until they’re just starting to show some brown spots. Keep in mind that they’ll cook more when you’re making your quesadillas so don’t be afraid to keep them on the undercooked side. Immediately transfer cooked tortillas to a large ziploc bag, stacking them up, and keeping the bag mostly closed while you finish cooking the rest. This will steam them and make them nice and soft.

To make the quesadillas, keep your skillet hot but add a thin layer of oil. Top 4 of the tortillas with the cheese, distributing it evenly, and top them with the remaining tortillas. Cook on both sides until they’re splotchy and golden and the cheese is melted. Top with a blob of yogurt or sour cream, any and all veggies and herbs as desired, a squeeze of lemon or lime, a few shakes of hot sauce, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Enjoy! 

Any unused tortillas can be stored in a ziploc bag in the fridge!

thank you, cabot, for sponsoring this post! 

-yeh!! 

photos by chantell and brett!

cheddar and thyme scones with tomato jam

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this has been a very fun week of gingerbread chicken coop building, cookie making, and spending quality time at home*

*and realizing what a slob i am and that i need to devote all of my holiday break to cleaning up this place. 

how do people stay clean? where do they put all of their cookbooks?? i feel like i'm in an igloo made of cookbooks and boxes that are about to be filled with cookies and it's all going to cave in on me soon unless i start adulting. at least i finally feel like eggboy and i have some time to get to work on it all. his work days are shorter since the farming season has slowed, and i have barely enough sunlight to photograph for more than a couple of hours each day, so we shall become clean people in these remaining few weeks of 2016! i have these fantasies that i'll one day be able to walk into my prop room and not have to tip toe around breakable dishes as if i'm playing twister, or that i'll be able to quickly find a specific cookbook without having to somersault through slobby stacks in our living room...

remember when fantasies were more centered around hello kitty and lisa frank chrismukkah presents? lololol. 

here is an anytime snack that is perfect for when you need something cheesy and carby but you don't have any bread in the house and yes, you could use a little break from cleaning! it's a savory scone that's laced with onions, cheddar, and tiny flecks of thyme and served with sweet tomato jam. shoutout to eggmom for stocking our freezer with garden tomatoes from the summer! they were perfect for this. these scones are crumbly yet moist and i've used kerrygold's reserve cheddar here since it's flavorful enough to cut through the scone dough that surrounds it. (also because whenever i think about scones my inner voice puts on an irish accent since i ate about 12 million of the best scones of my life when i was in ireland on kerrygold's farms.) 

cheddar and thyme scones

makes 9

ingredients

2 c flour

1 tb baking powder

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

1 tb sugar

5 oz shredded kerrygold reserve cheddar 

1/2 c  kerrygold unsalted butter, cold and cubed

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 large egg

1/2 c heavy cream

for the tomato jam:

2 lb Roma (plum) tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

a pinch of crushed red pepper

black pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

clues

preheat the oven to 400ºf and line two baking sheets with parchment.

in a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, thyme, salt, a few turns of pepper, and the sugar. add the cheese, reserving 1/2 cup for the topping, and butter to the food processor and pulse until the butter is pea-sized.

add the mixture to a large bowl and mix in the onion. in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and heavy cream. add this to the dry mixture and mix to combine. 

turn the dough onto a surface (you may need to give it a few kneads to bring those last few crumbs in) and pat it out into a square that is 1 inch thick. cut the large square into 9 smaller squares and place the scones on the baking sheets spaced 2 inches apart. top each with salt, pepper, and a bit of the reserved cheese.

bake the scones until they're lightly browned, beginning checking for doneness at 15 minutes. remove from the oven and serve warm with tomato jam (recipe follows).

for the tomato jam:

in a saucepan, combine the tomatoes, sugar, salt, crushed red pepper, and a few turns of black pepper. set over medium heat and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has cooked off, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. press through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the tomato skins. stir in the lemon juice. let cool and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

-yeh!

thank you for kerrygold for sponsoring this post!

apple, onion, and aged cheddar mini pies

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hi from minneapolis where i have just arrived with the smallest suitcase i've used all year. it is a carry-on and in it i have squeezed three pairs of shoes, my buttercream sweater, and a small stack of sugar beet tattoos which i have to conserve because they are almost gone!

i am packing light for this two-day trip and considering it a test for my theory that packing light is wildly overrated. i decided this back in may when i went to ireland and hemmed and hawed so hard about bringing both my green clogs (since everyone told me i'd be miserable in them due to the rain in the forecast) and my rain wellies (since that would have required a second checked suitcase). in the 11th hour i brought a second suitcase of shoes to ireland and ended up being extremely happy with my footwear options because in the end it barely rained at all and when it did i was covered. as i rolled down the irish hills in my favorite clogs in the world on my sunny birthday, and then sloshed through the rain the next day with a bowl of carrots and labneh, i decided that it's much more important to be over prepared than it is to prove whatever you're trying to prove when you pack light. (WHY ARE PEOPLE SO PROUD OF THEMSELVES WHEN THEY PACK LIGHT???) i had to explain this all to the customs lady when she questioned my decision to bring two suitcases for a five-day trip. 

but now i'm testing my theory for no real reason other than i was running late this morning and wouldn't have made it to the airport by the time cutoff to check a bag. 

oh, maybe that's a reason to pack light. 

more importantly, i am so freaking excited for my minneapolis events! i'm spending the day tomorrow at cooks of crocus hill (12pm signing that is free and open to the public!) and then having brunch with my minneapolis homeslices and of a kind, in celebration of the new line artisanal kitchen supply from bed bath & beyond! in between i'm going to go to spoon and stable, marvel bar, and the bachelor farmer. yay!

and speaking of ireland, i have a recipe for you today that uses some irish cheese!!! if you have been to ireland you are aware that it is the land of cheese and butter. and if you have not been to ireland, you can experience this all by coming over and opening up what has essentially turned into my cheese refrigerator. i got to meet some kerrygold cows when i was in ireland, and they are so beautiful and happy in their green rolling fields, it was pretty clear how they're able to make such tasty stuff. kerrygold's aged cheddar is one of my favorites, it's a rich cheese, the kind you want with an apple pie. so here is my version of an apple pie (it's savory!), which combines apples and onions in a grownup mac and cheese-type sauce. it's perfect for a fall picnic or road trip! 

apple, onion, and aged cheddar mini pies

makes 9

ingredients

2 tb butter

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 large apple, thinly sliced

1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste

pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp cayenne

2 tb flour

1/2 c veggie broth 

1/4 c dry white wine

2 oz kerrygold aged cheddar, shredded

 

14-15 oz pie dough

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tb water

clues

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Coat a 12 cavity muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, apples, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add a few turns of pepper, the paprika, and cayenne and cook 1 more minute, until fragrant, and then stir in the flour. Add the broth and white wine and cook until thickened and then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Taste and add salt as needed. Remove from heat and let cool while you shape the dough.

Roll out the dough to 1/4” thickness. Cut out nine 4” circles and nine 2 1/2” circles, re-rolling scraps when needed. Press the 4” circles into the muffin tins. Spoon the onion mixture into the tins and top with the 2 1/2” circles. Fold the edges over and pinch to seal them. Use a fork to poke holes in the tops. Brush with a thin even layer of egg wash and bake until golden brown. Begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove to the rack and serve.

-yeh!

thank you for kerrygold for sponsoring this post!