Smokey Corn Chowder with Fire-Roasted Poblano Peppers

Serves 46
4 cups Crema de Calabacn soup (page 97)
4 mildly spicy green peppers such as
Poblano or Anaheim
14 cup (12 stick) butter
A few sprigs fresh sage (10 large leaves)
2 ears corn
Salt and black pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
Serves 3040
8 quarts Crema de Calabacn soup (page 97)
4 pounds mildly spicy green peppers such as
Poblano or Anaheim
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 bunch fresh sage
1 dozen ears corn
Salt and black pepper
5 cloves garlic, crushed

Make the basic Crema de Calabacn recipe (page 97), omitting the Parmesan. This is the
creamy, chowder soup base to which you will add your fire-roasted veggies.
Fire roast the green peppers, then peel and cut into strips as described in the sidebar.
Reserve. Melt the butter in a skillet and fry the sage leaves briefly until they crisp up.
Remove with a slotted spoon and let cool. Crumble and reserve, but save some of the
prettier ones whole for garnish.
Shuck the corn. Then place each whole cob on a hot flaming grill or directly on a gas
stovetop burner until it just begins to char a little, turning frequently. Cut the corn off the
cob and add to the buttered skillet with a little salt, a few generous grinds of fresh black
pepper, and the crushed garlic. Saut for a few minutes until some of the water from the
corn evaporates and the garlic has mellowed.
Stir the corn, peppers, and crumbled sage into the blended Crema de Calabacn soup
base. Stir in the lemon juice. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream, reserved whole fried
sage leaves, and a dash of your favorite hot sauce.

Photo by tali aiona.

M aki n g Q u ick F ir e - R oa st e d Ve g g ie s
Summer veggies such as peppers and eggplant can be quickly charred on a grill or gas stovetop for
adding rich, fire-roasted flavor to any dish.
Place whole peppers or eggplant directly over an open flame, ideally on a grill above a blazing
wood firethis is a nice task to take advantage of the high flames licking up at the beginning stages
of getting a bed of wood coals going for a barbecue. You can also place the vegetables directly on the
gas burner of the stovetop. Take care and attend to them constantly, turning them with tongs to get an
even char on the outside skin. When they are good and black all over, place them in a stockpot with a
tight-fitting lid so that they continue to cook and sweat in the heat generated from charring. After 30
minutes or more in the enclosed pot, they should be cool and ready to be processed. Rub the skin off
with your hands or with a towel to expose the flesh; discard charred skin and seeds. Slice into strips or
use as directed in your recipe. Save the juice that remains in the bottom of the potyou may want it
for your recipe or for livening up a soup or salad dressing.

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Rainbow Beet and Carrot Salad with Garden Herbs

Beets come in a surprising variety of colors, shapes, and sizesred, golden, white, and candy-striped, round and
cylindrically shaped. Some of the varieties that we have trialed in the Mother Garden include Detroit Dark Red,
Crosby Flat Egyptian, Bulls Blood, Chioggia, Burpees Golden, Albino Vereduna, Formanova, and various types of
mangelsthe ancient predecessor of modern beets that was originally raised for livestock feed.
This salad is a simple way to highlight the diversity of heirloom beet and carrot varieties in the garden. Let the
natural size, shape, and color pattern of the roots tell you how they would like to be cutwhole, quartered, diagonally sliced, or cubed. Make sure to keep all the vegetables separate until plating them up at the end, otherwise the
red beets bleed all over everything and you will have a fuchsia salad instead of a rainbow salad.
Serves 46
Roots
112 pounds mixed heirloom carrots and beets
Dr essing
4 sprigs fresh mitsuba, parsley, basil, or chervil
4 chives
Pinch of celery seeds
13 cup Summer Herb Flower vinegar (page
269), plain red wine vinegar, or apple
cider vinegar
14 cup olive oil
Salt to taste
Garnish: edible flowers, sprigs of herbs
Serves 3040
Ro ots
1012 pounds mixed heirloom carrots
and beets

If youre using baby beets, leave them whole. Cut large beets in half. Place the reds and
Chioggias in one pot fitted with a steamer basket and the golden, yellow, and whites in
another (or steam them one after another if you only have one basket). With a little water
in the bottom, steam the beets for 15 minutes or so until soft when pierced with a fork.
Drain and allow to cool. In a bowl of cold water, peel the skins with your hands and rinse,
separating the varieties into individual bowls. Cut the beets into cubes, quarters, or slices,
and reserve in separate bowls.
Boil a large pot of water and prepare an ice bath for blanching. Peel the carrots and cut
into diagonal slices, cubes, or half-moons. Blanch each variety separately and shock in an
ice bath. Reserve in separate bowls.
Whisk all the ingredients for the dressing together. Divide the dressing evenly among
the bowls of roots and toss to coat. Allow to marinate for 20 minutes or longer for larger
chunks of vegetables. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar to your liking.
Mound the root varieties side by side in a pleasing pattern such as rings, a yin-yang
swirl, asymmetric clusters, or of course a rainbow. You may serve this over a bed of raw
greens such as miners lettuce, frise, romaine, baby mustards, or wild arugula. Garnish
with sprigs of herbs or edible flowers.

Dr essing
1 bunch fresh mitsuba, parsley, basil, or chervil
1 small bunch chives
2 teaspoons celery seeds
112 cups Summer Herb Flower vinegar
(page 269), plain red wine vinegar, or
apple cider vinegar
1 cup olive oil
Salt to taste
Garnish: edible flowers, sprigs of herbs

Photo by Tali Aiona.

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Nanas Chiles Rellenos

This is a fourth-generation recipe handed down to Ryan Silva, our facilities manager, by his great-grandmother
Inez, who was from central Mexico and owned a successful Mexican restaurant in San Luis Obispo called Nanas.
Que rico! While there are peppers being sold now in America under the variety name chile relleno, chile relleno
just means stuffed pepperthe original variety is most likely Ancho or Poblano.
Serves 46
8 large mildly spicy stuffing peppers such as
Poblanos or Anchos
4 ounces (about 2 tablespoons stuffing
per pepper, or 1 cup total) shredded
cheeseOaxacan cheese is best if
you can get it, but a combination of
good melting cheeses such as Jack,
mozzarella, and Parmesan also works
5 eggs
12 teaspoon paprika
14 teaspoon chipotle
Cayenne to taste
2 tablespoons cornmeal
Oil, for frying
Salt to taste
Serves 3040
60 large mildly spicy stuffing peppers such
as Poblanos or Anchos
214 pounds (about 2 tablespoons stuffing
per pepper, or 9 cups total) shredded
cheeseOaxacan cheese is best if
you can get it, but a combination of
good melting cheeses such as Jack,
mozzarella, and Parmesan also works
40 eggs
112 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons chipotle
Cayenne to taste
114 cups cornmeal
Oil, for frying
Salt to taste

For the large batch, preheat the broiler to high. Lay the peppers on a cookie sheet and broil
on the top shelf until the skins become charred, but the flesh does not become too mushy.
For the smaller batch, it is faster and more energy-efficient to char the peppers directly
on the stovetopsee the directions on page 98 for quick fire-roasted veggies. Transfer to
a pot with a tight-fitting lid and let the peppers steam and sweat for about 20 minutes.
(While the peppers are roasting or sweating, you can shred the cheese and separate the
eggs.) When theyre cool enough to handle, rub off most of the charred skin with your
hands. Dont worry if there is a little skin still left on.
Open the skinned pepper and remove the seeds. To do this, cut halfway around the top by
inserting a knife at an angle around the stembut leave the top attached on one side. Gently
open the top, being careful not to detach it, and pull out the seed core. Cut off the lump of seeds
attached to the top and gently shake out the seeds. Again, dont worry if a few seeds remain.
Stuff each pepper with about 2 tablespoons of cheese or other stuffing and replace the top.
To prepare the batter, separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs into two separate
bowls. Mix the spices with the yolks. If your peppers are on the spicy side, go easy on the
cayenne. With a whisk or electric mixer, beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff.
Fold the cornmeal and yolk-spice mixture into the whites. The texture of the batter should
be fluffy but pourable. Large-batch tip: Depending on the size of your mixer and your frying speed, you may want to make the batter in smaller batches. Otherwise the whites get
so fluffy, they may expand beyond the capacity of your mixer. (For an 8-quart mixer, divide
the whites in half.) Also, as the batter sits, it separates and loses volume, so only make as
much batter as you can use within half an hour or so.
Heat 12 inch of fry oil in a skillet. When the oil is good and hot (a drop of batter
sputters in it), ladle in about 14 cup of batter to create a bed about twice the width of the
pepper. Lay the pepper on one side of the bed. Fry until the batter starts getting crispy. Then
with a spatula, gently turn the pepper over onto the other side of the bed so that it is enfolded
in a blanket of batter. If necessary, ladle in a touch more batter to cover. Fry for a few seconds
more, rolling the pepper over again if necessary, so that it becomes fully encased and sealed.
Remove with a slotted spatula and drain on paper towels. Lightly sprinkle the peppers with salt
as soon as they come out of the oil, though you can skip the salt altogether if the cheese is salty.
Chiles rellenos are, of course, delicious when served hot out of the skillet, but they
also hold exceptionally well. For a crowd or a dinner party, we recommend making these
ahead of time, sparing your guests the greasy mess without sacrificing flavor or freshness
in the slightest. Allow the chiles to cool completely as they drain on the paper towels and
refrigerate them for up to 24 hours. Reheat in the oven at 375F until theyre crispy and
hot. Serve with crema and your favorite salsa.
Va ri at i o n s
Plain cheese is the traditional stuffing that allows the flavor of the pepper itself to shine through, but you
can also replace some or all of the cheese with cooked corn, drained and rinsed black beans, cooked quinoa, or any other plain, unspiced leftovers that will not outcompete the flavor of the pepper. Soft cheeses
such as chvre dont work well as they tend to ooze out the top.

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Photo by Tali Aiona.

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Millet with Toasted Cumin Seeds

Millet is a group of cereal grains widely grown in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa and could provide a
grain alternative here at home if desertification and drought conditions persist in California. This is a reliable
method for fluffy millet, every time.
Serves 46
2 tablespoons cooking oil or ghee
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
112 cups millet
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
14 cup butter or olive oil, for serving
Serves 3040
12 cup cooking oil or ghee
13 cup whole cumin seeds
8 cups millet
11 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or olive oil, for serving

In a medium pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the cooking oil or ghee on medium heat.
Add the cumin seeds and cook for a minute until they begin to give off a toasted aroma.
Then add the dry millet. Stir frequently for a few minutes so that the oil and cumin are
incorporated and the millet gets toasted a bit. Add the water and salt, cover, and bring to
a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 more minutes. When most of the water has been
absorbed (the surface of the millet appears to be dry)about 10 minutes or a little longer
for the large batchturn off the heat and leave the pot covered (dont peek!) for 15 more
minutes while the millet finishes steaming.
To serve, fluff with a fork and toss with the butter or olive oil. Adjust the salt to taste.
Top with fresh herbs or a sprinkling of paprika for garnish. For a fabulous presentation,
serve this cornucopia-style in a steamed winter squash half (see Wilted Arugula in a Whole
Roasted Pumpkin, page 174). Encourage guests to take a scoop of soft squash along with
their portion of millet.

Photo by Tali Aiona.

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Best Lemon Tart

This is a reliable, easy lemon tart. Because it uses whole eggs and does not have an excessive amount of sugar, the
custard isnt too eggy, but allows the citrus to sing through clearly and brightly. It works best with a tart lemon
variety like Eureka and is not recommended for the sweeter Meyer lemons.
Serves 46
Makes o ne 1 0 - i n c h ta rt pa n
Rich Tart D oug h
112 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unrefined sugar
Pinch of salt
12 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter,
cut into pieces
3 tablespoons cold heavy cream
Lemon Custa r d
cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2
Eureka lemons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3 cup unrefined sugar
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
(from about 2 lemons)
10 tablespoons (114 sticks) cold unsalted
butter, cut into pieces
13

To make the dough: Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Quickly
cut the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips or mix in a stand-up mixer with a
paddle attachment until it resembles a coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle the cream into the dry
ingredients and mix until it seizes up into a dough. Remove the dough and gather into a
ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour before baking.
Cut the refrigerated tart dough into 12 -inch slices. Working quickly, press the slices with
your fingertips into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim, ultimately to a thickness
of about 18 inch. Chill the shell for at least 15 minutes before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the shell in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes,
until it turns a nice golden brown and is baked all the way through. Cool to room temperature.
To make the lemon custard: In the top of a double boiler or in a heavy noncorroding
saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, vanilla, and sugar, warming on low heat just
to the point that the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. In a bowl, whisk together
the eggs so that the yolks and whites are thoroughly mixed. Stir the eggs slowly into the
warming sugar mixture back on the stove. At this point, add the zest and butter pieces.
Cook this mixture on low to medium heat, whisking constantly, melting the butter thoroughly; continue until the custard is thick and smooth, about 10 minutes or so. Do not let
it boil. Pour the custard through a fine sieve into a clean bowl to strain out any cooked egg
pieces and the zest, pressing it through with a rubber spatula if necessary. This step makes
for a velvety-smooth custard.
Pour the custard into the cooled shell and bake until just set, about 30 minutes. Watch
closelyif you overbake, the custard can bubble up and collapse or dry out. Remove the
tart from the oven and cool on a rack before serving. Garnish with candied lemon slices or
peel, and serve with whipped cream.

Photo by Doug Gosling.

364 D e s s e r t s a n d S w e e t S t u f f

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