Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream and Poached Peaches

I'm on the look out for anything with peaches and anything with lemon verbena since our peaches are ripening and  my potager is over flowing with lemon verbena.






Tartlette blog  is my new favorite blog because she has the neatest recipes and the coolest food pictures. Incredibly inspiring.  Instead of getting ready for tomorrow's market, I'm indulging in drooling through her blog posts and particularly her recipe (which I posted here) on Lemon Verbena Ice Cream and Poached Peaches. 


Recently, I found a - just about brand new - ice cream maker and this recipe sounds perfect for my first try at the farm's home made ice cream!  


Oh, I'll be selling lemon verbena at the market this week!  


Lemon Verbena Ice Cream And Poached Peaches:
Serves 8

For the lemon verbena ice cream:

4 egg yolks
1 cup (100gr) sugar
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
1 small handful lemon verbena leaves.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and one cup of sugar until pale and thick. In a saucepan set over medium heat, bring the cream, milk, and lemon verbena to a simmer, without letting it come to a full boil. Slowly pour the hot cream over the egg yolks mixture while whisking to temper the egg yolks. Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the cream coats the back of spoon. It should register 170F on a candy thermometer. At this point you have made a custard sauce, also known as "creme anglaise". Let cool completely, and refrigerate until cold.
Once the custard is cold, strain and process according to your ice cream maker manufacturer's instructions.

For the poached peaches:
4 peaches
1 vanilla bean split in half
juice of one lemon

Prepare the peaches:
Place the peaches, vanilla bean, lemon juice and enough water to cover them in a tall saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Lower the heat and let them simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the peaches are just soft (poke with a toothpick to check).
Remove from the water using a slotted spoon and allow to cool on paper towel or baking rack.

To plate: cut each peach into thin slices and serve with a generous scoop of ice cream. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios if desired.



Monday, May 23, 2011

The Boys















Our boys were all sired from Crow's Dairy Charlie - SG Crow's Dairy Shellly's Debbie and his dam is Six M Galaxy Red Robin

Dam: 
Storm - Her sire is Jacobs Pride Show Me Zanziber and her dam is Reuel Stayce's AM. Stella

Dam:
Marie  - Black Mesa's Cory's Corianne/ and Black Mesa Edie's Huey


All our bucklings are for sale. For more information call Michael at 480.203.9189

Just a little update....all boys were sold to one family.

The Simple Farm's Heirloom Tomatoes

Why an Heirloom?

Heirlooms will offer you a true tomato taste.  An heirloom is full of flavor and you can actually taste the distinct flavor of each variety.

Heirlooms carry a valuable history with those seeds passed down from a few generations. I read once that "heirlooms come to us from another time."  "Heirlooms are true survivors," wrote the founder of Seeds of Change, a seed company that preserves old varieties (and from which we order many of our seeds."

At least 95% of our tomatoes are from heirloom seeds and at least 85% we have grown from our seed starts we began this past December in the sunroom of our farm.  When Michael completed our small green house they were all moved to continue growth there.