1, 3-lb rabbit (or two smaller) Ask your butcher to cut it up for a sautee for you.
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Marinade
1 large onion finely sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
3 healthy sized thyme branches
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
Pepper
1 Tbs olive oil
3 cups young, deep colored, tannic red wine
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Salt
Flour
4 Tbs olive oil
1 head garlic, cloves separated, uncrushed, unpeeled
Bouquet garni (lots of thyme, bay leaf, dried orange peel)
Pepper

In a large mixing bowl, mix up the rabbit pieces with all the dry ingredients for the marinade. Add olive oil and red wine to cover and let marinate for several hours. Turn the pieces over a couple of times. You can put everything into a zip lock.

When you are ready to start cooking, gather a big bowl and colander to fit inside and dump the rabbit and marinade into it. Dry the rabbit pieces, salt them and dredge in flour. Heat the olive oil in a heavy large sautaé pan and arrange the rabbit pieces and garlic. Brown on medium heat turning several times and during the process sprinkle a little extra flour over the browning pieces.

In a sauce pan, bring the marinade to a boil and then pour it over the rabbit. Scrape the pan to make sure all the bits on the bottom dissolve into the liquid. Add the bouquet garni and set to just a bare simmer with lid slightly ajar. After 30 minutes turn over the rabbit pieces. Check again in about 15 minutes. Test to see if the thigh of the rabbit is tender. If so you can remove the pan from the heat, add pepper and salt and serve.

The dish is better if prepared early in the day and allowed to sit a bit, then reheated. It is also very good if finished with the rabbit’s liver, pureed and mixed with a bit of the sauce and then reintroduced to the dish, stirring it around over low heat and letting the sauce thicken.

What to do with a ton of parsley? This is a very versatile soup that is easy to prepare and tastes great either cold or hot.

4 c chicken stock
1 lb white potatoes, skin on, sliced
1 c yellow onion chopped
2 T butter
2 giant handfuls parsley, washed and thick stems trimmed off
1/2 c half & half
salt
white pepper
1 T soy sauce
1 T lemon juice (or to taste)

Bring the stock to a simmer. In a large sautaé pan over medium heat sautaé the onions and sliced potatoes in the butter for about 3-4 minutes. Add a little salt during this process. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Lower temperature and simmer for 10 minutes. Add parsley, bring back to a boil, then reduce to simmer and let cook until everything is soft.

Puree in batches in blender. Returning to a pot, add half and half, soy sauce, lemon juice, salt, pepper and gently reheat. Taste, adjust seasoning. Serve.

This recipe is from Marolyn Charpentier, the Vagabond Gourmand. Visit her online at the vagabondgourmand.com.

Make the syrup at least 12 hours in advance or a day ahead:

12 fl oz (1 1/2 c) water
8 oz (1 cup) sugar
1 cinnamon stick
4 star anise
1/2 vanilla bean
4 fl oz Madeira

Mix the water, sugar and spices together in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the Madeira and simmer for another 10 minutes. Pull off the heat and let sit.

4 firm local pears (you want them just under ripe)
Juice of one lemon keeps the fruit from browning

Slice the pears in half and peel and core them. Try to leave the stems on, it is pretty for the presentation. Toss with a little lemon juice to prevent them from browning. Reheat the sauce and poach the pears (make sure the syrup comes up about 1/2-3/4 of the way up the pears) for 10 minutes. Test to feel doneness, the pears should still be firm and hold their shape. When done, gently remove them from the syrup, let cool and then respoon syrup over them, cover and place in the refrigerator to chill.

To serve, dish 2 pear halves per person and spoon syrup over them.

I have not given up grilling yet, but if you have, this steak can be cooked under the broiler.

Mix up marinade and put it and flank steak into a large ziplock for 4-12 hours. Turn a couple of times. Remove from refrigerator at least an hour prior to grilling.

Marinade suggestion:
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
Worcestershire Sauce
5 shallots chopped fine
soy sauce
honey

Method: Remove steak from marinade and pat dry. Brush a little olive oil all over. Place steak on hot grill or under prepared cast iron skillet (heated for 15 minutes prior) under broiler. Flip after 3-5 minutes. After 3-5 minutes, check for doneness (poke at it with your finger for the rare, medium rare, well test). Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes to absorb the juices. Slice thin slices against the grain.

While steak rests prepare the salad:

Arugula
Lemon
Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Champagne vinegar
Good Parmesan
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground pepper

Mix Oil, squeeze of lemon juice, a little champagne vinegar, salt & pepper together briskly. Toss with arugula.

To plate the dish: Place several slices of the flank steak on the bottom of the plate and cover with arugula salad and top that with a good couple of broad shavings of parmesan.

Serve with good Chianti.

These are mashed and wonderful. Put two large sweet potatoes into a pot and cover with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil uncovered and cook until you can poke a knife into them and there is just a little resistance.

Remove from water and when you’re able to skin them, remove the skin and place sweet potatoes in a bowl with 3 tablespoons room temp. butter cut into cubes. Add 1-2 teaspoon adobo sauce (most grocery stores carry little cans of chipotles in adobo sauce). With a fork mash everything together together, add a little salt to taste and ground black pepper to taste.

Bread options: Ciabatta, crusty sandwich rolls, sliced sourdough

Cheese Options: Mozzarella, Fontina, Gorgonzola, fresh goat cheese

Meat options: bacon, left over roast chicken, venison roast sliced very thinly, locally prepared smoked meats

Raw Vegetable Options: Tomatoes, yellow & red peppers, tender lettuces (butter or baby spinach or arugula) onions, mushrooms

Cooked Vegetable Options: Roasted garlic, fried or grilled eggplant and zucchini and summer squashes, sautaéed mushrooms or marinated mushrooms

Herbs: basil, parsley, oregano, chives, rosemary

Condiments: Olive oil, aioli, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes,

So you have a mix and match here. The important thing is that your bread be of very good quality because even if it is not fresh that day, once you dress it up and put it between two hot irons, it’ll be toasty, warm and delicious.

Assembly: think about putting the flat and spreadables on first. So if you have a sauce or roasted garlic to spread on the bread, put about 3/4 of it on the bottom piece and then arrange your meat and/or cheese (cheese on bottom or on very top or both) and then the green leafy things or tomatoes and onions. Salt and pepper — this would be the time to add a little olive oil also — then top with other piece of bread and press down on it a little to flatten it a bit. Cook! Keep an eye on it.

This is a very Hudson Valley dish. We have great local dairy and terrific potatoes. The Rhinebeck Farmers market will have lots of what you need for this dish. Timing is important in the final preparation of this dish.

1 pound boiling potatoes
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour (approximately)

Boil or steam the potatoes with skins on, avoid puncturing them too much, you do not want to add water into the potato. Skin them when hot and press them through a sieve. Then work the flour into them, kneading the dough and roll out into approximately 1/2” wide cylinder(s). Cut the into 1” pieces. Dust with flour, then very gently press down the back of each with a fork to create a ridged pattern. This important for sauce adhesiveness. Cook in large pot with salted boiling water until done, ,between 4-8 minutes. Check for doneness starting at 4 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon, draining well, to warmed platter.

Gorgonzola Sauce
1/4 lb gorgonzola
1/3 cup milk
3 TBS butter
Salt
1/2 c heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup fresh parmesan

Add the gorgonzola, milk, butter and a little salt and cook over low heat. Stir, mashing the cheese with the back of the spoon to help it mix with the milk and butter. Cook until dense and creamy. Remove from heat.

When the pasta is nearly ready, add the cream and stir over medium heat until partly reduced. Toss very gently with gnocchi and add parmesan and again gently toss.

Warning: Gnocchi may dissolve in the water. Could be the potato consistency so next time use the beginner’s method of adding an egg to the dough mix. This produced a heavier gnocchi, but it binds them well and they will not disappear in the boiling water.

Thank you to the wonderful cookbooks The Art of Eating Well and The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

Dutchess Fair Thick Chocolate Milk Shake
One really big serving

3/4 cup whole milk
2 T chocolate syrup
3 scoops chocolate ice cream

Place all ingredients into the a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into glass and serve immediately.

At the fair: I like the Sinon Farm thick shakes because their ice cream is really good and that makes the shakes really good. But it is great to support 4H if you have the patience to stand in line.

Potato Pancakes (or Potato Latkes)
1 lb potatoes
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Sour Cream

Peel potatoes and grade by hand into a large bowl of cold water. Soak the potatoes for a few minutes (1 or 2), then drain well. Get as much of the moisture out without

Spread potatoes and onion onto on a kitchen towel and roll up. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much of the liquid as possible. Put into a bowl and stir in the egg and salt.

Heat 1-2 cup oil in a 12” cast iron skilled over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Spoon 2 T potato mixture per latke into skillet, you can get 4 into the skillet at once, do not crowd them. Spread into 3” rounds and reduce the heat to medium cooking until they are browned on the underside. Flip and brown other side. Transfer to a paper towel to drain and season with salt.

Eat immediately with lots of sour cream. Be careful, they are hot!

Melon
Nectarines
Strawberries
Berries

Fresh ricotta

Whole milk plain yogurt
Heavy cream

Melons are amazing this year. So are the nectarines. So are our strawberries. It is worth it to have your own strawberry patch because they are amazing and satisfying.

The best fruit is going to smell good. I know that the fine art of picking a melon eludes many of us, but I just pick them up and smell them. If they smell good, have no blemishes, super soft spots, I take it home with me; after I pay for it. It us usually pretty good.

So pick three or four types of fruit and for the ones that need to be cut up, cut them into similar sized dice. I peel my nectarines or peaches for textural purposes only. I mix everything up in a nice sized bowl and let is all sit for a little while.

If you have available to you an outstanding fresh ricotta, then pull it out of the fridge long enough prior to eating for it to come close to room temperature. Scoop a big spoonful of it into a bowl, drizzle a little honey over it and then top it with your fruit. Delicious. Joe Papovich at the Rhinebeck Farmers market has a great fresh ricotta if you’re up there on Sundays.

The other thing to do is mix a little heavy cream with some plain whole milk yogurt. How sour or creamy you like it is up to you. Then let people spoon it how ever much they want over their fruit.

We talked about grilled pizza last year, but we did not provide a recipe. There are several we like, depending on our mood and who is making the pizza. Today’s recipe is pretty much the recipe in the Best Recipe Cook Book, but you should tray Alton Brown’s dough crust also.

1/2 c water at about 105 degrees
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups water at room temp
2 T extra virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Oil for the bowl

Measure 1/2 c water into a larger container and add the yeast, sprinkling it on top the water. Wait about 5 minutes until it all dissolves and foams. Stir in the olive oil and the room temp water.

While yeast is doing its thing, measure flour and salt into bowl of standing mixer, add stir to combine with paddle attachment. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry on low speed until it forms a big mass. Replace paddle attachment with dough hook and knead until dough is elastic feeling. This will be about 5 minutes. Form it into a ball and add it to a big deep bowl that is oiled. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.

After 2 hours. turn out the dough onto a floured board and divide into 4 equal sized balls. Shape into round or oval disk. Careful not to make holes in it, but you do want it to be fairly thin. Put it on the grill, flipping it once the one side is cooked. Once both sides are cooked, move off the flame and to the indirect heat part of the grill and brush some olive oil on it and sprinkle salt. You can eat it that way, it is delicious

Toppings can be anything from grilled summer squashe with feta cheese & jack cheese to fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. If you’re using fresh zucchini or squashes, slice them in 1/4″ long slices and drizzle olive oil on them along with salt and pepper. Grill over a nice bed of coals turning over as needed for even cooking. When you pull them off, sprinkle some chopped thyme or oregano or basil over the veggies along with a very little bit of lemon juice.