M. I . A. no longer

Honestly, we didn't fall off the face of the earth. We have just been really busy on our beloved Mother Earth. We have been harvesting and preserving everything in sight. Where to begin?

We have been harvesting figs from our front yard. YUM!!! I picked so many on one day that I ended up cutting them in quarters and then drying them in our food dehydrator. We have 6 different kinds of figs, among them are White Genoa, Calmyrna, Brown Turkey and Black Mission. They get the barest amount of water and I wait to pick them when they are soft and droopy. When you bite into them they almost have a honey-liquid moistness. When dried they are like little nuggets of candy.

Our Bartlett pear tree also produced a big crop this year. Pretty good for its second crop! I dried most of them, too. I would like to make Swiss Pear bread with the pears and figs, but who knows if I will get to it this December. (I like to make it for my family for Christmas presents. Shh...don't tell them!)

We are fortunate to have been selected as one of the farms adopted by the culinary program at Windsor High School. Last week we had no less than 3 different classes come out to the Windsor Farm/The Ruff Garlick Patch. A few of the students were in charge of making breakfast while the other ones were given a tour of the farm and then were put to work picking Anaheim and Pasilla Chiles! FREE LABOR!!!

Farmer Jeff just couldn't help himself. He found a New Mexico-style chile roaster, ordered it and put it to the test! We figured that, once picked, we had over 220 pounds of Anaheim chiles in beautiful reds and greens. We, that is, Farmer Jeff roasted them while I bagged and labeled them in one pound bags. The freezer is full of them! They can be found at the Cheese Shop in Healdsburg and they are featured in both the Harvest Posole at Zin Restaurant as well as their "green" chile on the lunch menu.

After having roasted chiles all one morning, we received a call from our winemaker friend. He told us the Zinfandel grapes were ready. For the past 2 years we have been making Zinfandel jelly in annually increasing amounts. The first year Farmer Jeff made it specifically for Giada di Laurentiis's visit to Zin. With it he created the Warm Zinfandel Grape Jelly Filled Doughnuts. Last year our winemaker friend gave us a call when the second crop grapes were ready in a particularly good area in Dry Creek. Then four of us picked a pick up full of grapes and Farmer Jeff (and I for one of the 5 jelly making days) made 50 cases of grape jelly from 33 gallons of juice.

On Wednesday Farmer Jeff and I picked the second crop grapes for a couple of hours. I learned that the second crop is the little tendril cluster of grapes that is above the main cluster and used as a "second crop" insurance if the first crop fails or freezes or...well, you get what I mean.

That day was the best day of my life. It was so beautiful. The beginning of the day was filled with roasting chiles, a quick lunch and then picking. The weather WAS perfect. Sunny, a slight fall breeze, not too hot, not too cold. I think it was so special because Farmer Jeff and I were together doing exactly what we love to do.

On Thursday I went back out there with our friend's son. He and I picked for 2 1/2 hours, and then his mom joined us and we picked until dark, another 2 1/2 hours. Farmer Jeff was at work...

On Saturday we crushed the grapes. That was fun. All of this is fun. Right now we have 55 gallons of crushed grapes and are going to press them tomorrow night. Thankfully they are under refrigeration. We are looking forward to making jelly but not until we return from a well deserved vacation to New Orleans and Mississippi. I promise to write dispatches while on the road.

Picking our Zinfandel Grapes

Proud Farmer Jeff and I picked our Zinfandel grapes on Sunday. We heard that it was going to rain this week, so we hoofed it out to pick. Farmer Jeff went up to the local market frequented by the pickers (and us!) to buy a harvesting knife named "Red Rooster". We thought that was fitting now that we have FIVE roosters! (Still haven't given Duchess/Duke away and just this morning Queen Sophia started crowing again, so she/he is on his way out the door!!!)

I love this picture of Farmer Jeff. It reminds me of the Slaying of the Gorgon, all the way down to the knife!

Farmer Jeff and I ended up picking many buckets of our Zin grapes. He hand crushed them, let them sit on the skin for 24 hours, and then we pressed and strained them to make jelly!

We ended up with 7 gallons of lovely Zinfandel Rose Grape Jelly. It is the color of a rose, but that is just fine with us!

We have friends with some leftover grapes on their Zin vines and I think we will be picking those any day. More Jelly!!! Zin needs more Zinfandel grape jelly so they can put their famous Warm Zinfandel Grape Jelly Donuts back on the menu. Yes, these are the very donuts that Giada ate while visiting Zin for her Giada's Weekend Getaway show!

Taste of Sonoma and the Steel Chef

This past weekend was the annual Taste of Sonoma showcase held at the beautiful McMurray Ranch (think Fred McMurray) in Healdsburg across the Russian River valley from our little farm. Farmer Chef Jeff was invited to present food from Zin Restaurant and Wine Bar (our restaurant!). I decorated with produce from the farm, eggs from our girls, homemade Santa Rosa plum jam and the infamous Zinfandel grape jelly that Farmer Chef Jeff uses to fill his warm jelly donuts at Zin.

Part of the entertainment was a cooking competition, "Sonoma Steel Chef". Farmer Chef Jeff was one of the contestants. Each chef was given a bag of mystery ingredients and a time limit of 20 minutes. CAN YOU IMAGINE???

For the first heat, Jeff made Shrimp and Grits. He went so far as to make his secret ingredient for the grits, corn stock. At least I think it is the secret to the best grits on earth! His second dish was Roasted Pork Loin with a Fig and Nectarine pan sauce.

During the second heat, he made Curry- Rubbed Grilled Rack of Lamb with grilled Belgian Endive and Mock Ratatouille with a Pinot Noir sauce. The other dish was a Grilled Lamb Loin with grilled Portobella mushrooms and roasted fingerling potatoes, served with a Santa Rosa Plum Port Wine Sauce. HEAVENS!!!

The Winner? Farmer Chef Jeff!!!! HOORAY!!!
(Farmer Chef Jeff declared winner by Clark Wolf, renowned restaurant consultant)

Not only did he win bragging rights, he also won a case of wine and a very nice gift certificate from Castino's Restaurant Supply in Rohnert Park.

Here are a couple of the recipes.

Grilled Lamb Loin with Santa Rosa Plum & Port Wine Sauce, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes & Grilled Portabella Mushrooms

(4 servings, cooks in 20 minutes or less)

1 boneless lamb loin, trimmed of silver skin
Olive oil
1 pound Ripe Santa Rosa Plums
½ cup port wine
4 portabella mushrooms
1 pound fingerling potatoes
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Prepare grill for grilling.
Preheat oven to 350.

1. Season lamb with salt, pepper and olive oil.
2. Season mushrooms with salt, pepper and olive oil.
3. Bring potatoes to a boil in lightly salted water and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from water and slice in half and place in roasting pan with unsalted butter. Roast in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Season with salt & Pepper.
5. Grill mushrooms for 5 minutes, or until done, set aside.
6. Place plums in blender with port and puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Grill lamb to desired temperature. Let rest 4 minutes then slice.
8. Slice mushrooms into strips.
To Plate: Spoon potatoes onto plate, then add mushrooms. Arrange sliced lamb around mushrooms & potatoes. Drizzle with Plum Port Sauce.

Serve with a Sonoma County Zinfandel or Syrah.

Shrimp & Grits
4 servings, cooks in 20 minutes or less

For Shrimp
24 gulf shrimp, peeled & cleaned
1 Andouille sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 anaheim pepper cut small dice
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 ripe tomato chopped
1 clove garlic sliced
½ cup white wine
¼ cup catsup
½ cup heavy cream
½ bunch chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Split sausage lengthwise and cut into half moons ¼ inch thick.
2. Render sausage in oil in sauté pan until golden brown. Add shrimp, anaheim pepper, garlic and tomato. Saute over medium heat for 1 minute.
3. Deglaze with white wine. Add cream and catsup. Cook until shrimp are done and sauce has reduced a bit. Check seasoning and add parsley.

For Grits
1 cup coarse grain cornmeal
4 cups boiling water
2 ears sweet corn
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Shuck corn and drop in boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Remove from water and cut kernels off cob.
2. Add cobs back to the water and cook for 4 minutes to make a corn stock. Remove cobs from stock.
3. Add 3 cups of the corn stock to small pot with the cream, butter and 1 ½ tsp kosher salt and bring to a boil. Stir in the cornmeal.
4. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more of the corn stock if it gets too thick. Stir in reserved corn kernels. Season to taste.
To Plate: Mound grits in center of plate and spoon shrimp and sausage mixture over the top. Serve with a Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc.