With the holidays rapidly upon us my thoughts are turning to homemade gifts from the garden. A few years ago I received a wonderful gift of paprika which my friend Annie had prepared with peppers purchased from one of our local farmers. So this year I checked out the best peppers at the market.  Last week a farmer brought me a huge crate full of bright red peppers. I was told that this particular type of pepper would be sweet with a tiny bite to it. Perfect for adding to winter soups, stews and to use as a topping for spreads such as hummus. Homemade paprika makes a great gift for your "foodie" friends. One important thing to think about if you plan to make this recipe for gifts, is that the dried and powdered yield is quite a bit different from the whole fresh peppers you start with. I spent $24.00 on the crate of fresh peppers and ended up with 18 ounces of dried paprika; truley a special gift!

How to Make Dried Paprika

Put on your plastic gloves before cutting the peppers. Wash the peppers, cut in half and remove the seeds and ribs. Place pieces of pepper on the drying racks of your dehydrater and dehydrate over night or until each piece is completely dry.

Remove pepper pieces from the dehydrator and fill the Cuisinart halfway. Powder the peppers to the size you want them. Some people like their paprika a bit more chunky; I prefer it to be as powdered as possible. If you are left with some very powdered and some chunkier, seperate the two and use for different dishes. Pour the finished paprika into glass jars, label and enjoy.

As Halloween creeps up on us and the spiders are spinning webs throughout the garden, my thoughts turn towards comfort foods and cozy evenings with family and friends. Yesterday I pulled out this old favorite recipe for Transylvanian Stew for the dinner party I had  planned before heading off to see the Dell Arte's Macabe Cabaret in the evening.

With shopping list in hand, I walked around the Arcata Farmer's Market in the morning and  purchased all the vegetables needed for this delicious hearty stew. Farmer's Market on the weekend before Halloween is always a special treat. You'll find children with faces painted, delicious goodies for Dia De Los Muertos at the Los Bagels stand and of course lots of awesome carved pumpkins at many of the boothes. I then strolled over to the Coop and bought 1.5 pounds of Humboldt Beef stew meat and a bottle of local red wine. I was ready to begin the crispy autumn day in the kitchen.

Transylvanian Stew

 4 hearty servings or 6 smaller 

Ingredients for Stew

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced red onion

2 carrots, grated

2 orange beets, peeled and sliced

4 medium size potatoes, cubed
1 1/2-2 pounds beef stewing meat (cut into 1-inch pieces)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds or fennel seeds
2 cups veggie or beef stock
1 quart tomato sauce

1 large bell pepper, chopped into ½ “squares

3/4 cup red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Salt and pepper

Melt butter and heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of kosher salt and cook, stirring, until onions are translucent.

Season beef with salt and freshly ground pepper and toss with flour to coat on all sides. Stir paprika and caraway seeds into onions and simmer, stirring, 30 seconds. Then add the beef to the onion mixture, sauté until meat is browned on all sides.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot as the broth thickens with the floured beef. Gradually stir in the remaining stock. Stir in tomato sauce, grated carrots, sliced beets, potatoes and peppers and bring to a slow simmer. Pour in the wine,cover and cook, occasionally stirring, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until beef is very tender. Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; stir in dill.

Ingredients for Polenta

3 1/2 cups stock or water
1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
1 1/4 cup polenta
1 cup pumpkin purée. If you want a sweeter version, add cinnamon and nutmeg
pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions for Polenta

Bring stock and butter to a boil then reduce to medium-low heat. When bubbles subside, slowly whisk cornmeal into the hot stock. Continue to stir as the polenta thickens. After 3 minutes whisk in the pumpkin purée, constantly whisking until smooth. Season to taste with kosher salt and cayenne.

1 cup sour cream or 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Serve stew over pumpkin polenta topped with sour cream or a sharp cheddar cheese.

The harvest in its abundance is upon us as I write this first blog for the Locally Delicious web site. For the past few weeks I have been in a near state of rapture cooking vegetables and fruit from my garden and the many gifts from Suzanne “Brandywine” Simpson’s huge Willow Creek Garden. I’m not sure if it’s the colors of the vegetables, the smell in the air or the fact that I’ve had a little more time to rediscover my home kitchen after spending many hours in the commercial kitchen preparing for summer weddings.

The Locally Delicious website seems like an appropriate place to blog about all things local concerning food; the food it self, the folks who grow it and the folks who cook it. While preparing the Locally Delicious cookbook I discovered how much fun it is to photograph food in both their raw and their prepared form. Food styling has become as much a passion as actually cooking it has. The blog will mainly focus on all things grown or raised locally, but on occasion I’ll diverge to something stumbled upon while traveling outside of our Emerald Triangle, something local to another region.

Blog # 1 finds it’s inspiration in the form of the green heirloom tomatoes still hanging in the greenhouse, white globe eggplants draped over their pots, bright green basil needing to be snipped almost daily and the medium sized red onions pulled from their warm raised beds in the garden.  Our first recipe is a delicious tomato and eggplant stack, baked until the layers are crisp and the sauce bubbles and drips all around the edges.

Eggplant Autumn Stacks

2 eggplants of a fatter variety, washed and sliced into ½ inch rounds

2 tablespoons salt

On a baking sheet covered with a clean dish towel, place the eggplant rounds and lightly salt them. Leave to sweat out the moisture for 30 minutes minimum. Set aside until you can easily wipe off the sweat with a towel or paper towel.

2 green tomatoes or ripened tomatoes, washed and sliced into ½ inch rounds

1 medium red or yellow onion sliced into thin rounds

1 cup Panko flakes or fine bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon Italian herb of your choice or a combination of a few

Olive oil

1 cup tomato sauce

Grated mozzarella cheese (optional)

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Coat a cookie sheet with the olive oil. Preheat oven to 350.

Mix Panko flakes and Italian herbs together on a small plate.

Place eggs in bowl wide enough to hold the slices of eggplant with flat side down.

Dip the eggplant rounds first into the eggs and then dreg on both sides in the Panko flake mixture and place on the prepared pan.  Bake until crisp on the outside, approximately 30-45 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Prepare a glass cooking dish with olive oil or cooking spray. Spoon in ¼ cup of tomato sauce and spread evenly. Lay the eggplant rounds in first followed by the tomatoes and onions on top. Spoon more sauce over and repeat until all vegetables are used.

Top dish off with the cheeses and bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling. Remove from the oven and enjoy.