Beef Wellington

While working at Harter House Supermarket, I often talk recipes with customers. After a recent conversation, I had an inkling to make Beef Wellington, beef tenderloin smothered with mushroom duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry and baked.

Mushroom Duxelles is a recipe from very classic French cuisine. It's a paste-like reduction of finely minced mushrooms that have been slowly cooked with shallots and butter until all the liquid is gone, resulting in an ingredient that adds rich mushroom flavor to other dishes.

Beef Wellington is one of those dishes that was a lot more popular 40 years ago than it is now.

Here's a super simple Recipe for

BEEF WELLINGTON

(4) 6 oz. beef tenderloins cut 1 inch thick.
Let Harter House butchers cut them for you.
(1) Package purchased puff pastry.

Filling
1 Cup Chopped mushrooms
1/4 Cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 TBL butter
1 Tsp Dried Thyme
3 TBL flour
3 TBL Cream



Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Sear Tenderloins in heavy frying pan in small amount of cooking oil, about 2 minutes each side to seal in the juices. Set adise to cool.

Saute mushrooms and onions in butter; add thyme, flour and cream. Mix well. Set aside to cool.

Roll out each pastry sheet on lightly floured board. Cut sheet into quarters. Spread filling on top of each tenderloin. Set Tenderloin on quarter of pastry and wrapm paatry around tenderloin. and seal completely. Trip top of wrapped tenderloin with pastry scraps as desired.

Bake at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. Serve immediately.


Mushroom Duxelles
Although Duxelles were traditionally used in old-fashioned recipes like Veal Orloff, today it remains a way to add mushroom flavor to dishes that will benefit from this complex taste. For example, several spoonfuls of Duxelles is a perfect base on which to place fillets of white fish, like sea bass, which are then wrapped in parchment paper and baked.

Other uses include adding a heaping spoonful to scrambled eggs or omelets, to a simple pan gravy from your holiday turkey, on top of grilled bread for a luxurious crostini, or stirred into a toasted rice or barley pilaf.

While simple to make, Duxelles take a bit of time -- first to mince all those mushrooms (at least if you're cutting them by hand, which I think produces a far better result than if food processed), and then cooking off all the liquid that mushrooms always produce. But the result is worth the chopping and worth the waiting. I always make extra and invariably find ways to use any leftovers.

Ingredients
8 oz. white button mushrooms (your goal is to produce about 4 cups of finely minced pieces)
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 to 2 small shallots, finely minced (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt
Pepper

Tip: While not traditional, you can substitute extra virgin olive oil for the unsalted butter. Choose a gently flavored oil, not one that has a strong, green taste.

Tip: You can easily just double all the quantities and make twice the amount. Leftovers are always useful and won't last long. You can also freeze leftover Duxelles for a month or so and defrost in the refrigerator the night before you plan to use them.

1. Clean the mushrooms to remove any dirt using a damp paper towel or cool water and a soft mushroom brush. Dry completely.
2. Remove any coarse stems and any dark spots.
3. Finely mince the mushrooms. You may use a food processor to do this but be very careful to not purée the mushrooms. Your goal is to have very small but separate pieces.
4. In a large sauté pan over a moderate heat, melt the butter and add the shallots.
5. Sweat the shallots for about 5 minutes in the butter until soft and tender.
6. Add the finely minced mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice, a pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper.
7. Cook over a moderate to moderately-low heat until the mushrooms throw off their liquid and then re-absorb it, leaving no liquid in the pan. Stir occasionally. This process can take up to 20 minutes. When done the mushrooms will resemble a dark brown, mealy, almost paste-like texture. The quantity will also have been reduced by about half, so 4 cups of finely minced pieces will produce about 2 cups of finished Duxelles.
8. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
9. Let cool before refrigerating or before using in another recipe.

National Food Day TODAY

It was a beautiful, totally sunny, and 75 degree day for the 1st Annual Springfield Food Day Celebration held Saturday, Oct. 22. Harter House Supermarket participated in the downtown event. I think it was a success. Although I never heard the count of attendees, I know it was several hundred. Karen, Rachel and I greeted attendees at our Harter House booth all day, sampling deli meats & cheeses, chips and salsa, vegetables and our homemade signature vegetable dip to name a few items.



















Roxann from Harter House on Republic Road came out to enjoy the fun
with her boyfriend Scott and daughter Rachel.




















My husband, Craig, was certain I needed his help (especially when I said “beer garden”) so he brought our BBQ grill/smoker to the event parking lot and smoked 6 large tri-tips. Of course Tri-Tips are a signature item for Harter House Supermarkets, so it was perfect that we sampled this delicious grilled beef cut. Many that came through were familiar with the Tri-Tip, but almost as many had never had it and never even heard of it. Needless to say, they were impressed because my husband grilled them PERFECTLY!



By the way, the beer was provided by
Mother's Brewing Company
a local Springfield Brewery.





Have you had a Tri-Tip lately?

They are SO wonderful!

We have recipes available at the meat counter.







During the day, several bands played music. There was dancing, kids face painting and kids jumping in the inflated room.

I think I can accurately say that fun was had by all and proceeds went to benefit the Ozarks Food Harvest which distributes food to more than 320 hunger-relief organizations across 29 southwest Missouri counties, reaching more than 41,000 people monthly.

In honor of National Food Day
which actually is TODAY, Monday, Oct. 24,

visit our community food bank

at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave. in Springfield.

CEO Bart Brown will conduct a talk and tour

beginning at 2:00 p.m.

Call Lindsey for questions or to arrange

for a group at (417) 865-3411.

Food Day Celebration

The first national holiday for FOOD DAY
(Think Earth Day for FOOD!)
is October 24, 2011
and will be an annual event every year from now on.


Springfield, MO Food Day Celebration
will be celebrated Saturday, October 22, 2011.

The event will have a beer garden, live music, kid’s activities, lots of things for families, free food sampling opportunities, exhibitor booths and other fun festivities.

Springfield's Food Day Celebration will be in downtown Springfield

at the Wilhoit Plaza parking lot at Jefferson and Elm.

Admission will be one canned good for each attendee

or $2 per person/$5 per family

and proceeds benefit The Ozarks Food Harvest.

Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes.

Plan to PARTICIPATE

Harter House Supermarkets will participate in this event also, because we want to celebrate the power that real food has to nourish us and bring us together.

We want you to participate in the conversation.

The most important ingredient in Food Day is you—and we invite you to join us for this event and help make Food Day a success.
Why Eat Real?
Real food tastes great. Meals built around vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are delicious and satisfying. We want to get Americans cooking real food for their families again. We want to celebrate fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy whole grains—and to support the local farms and farmers that produce them. We want all Americans—regardless of their age or income or geographic location—to be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet-related conditions.


Find out more by visiting http://www.fooddaycelebration.com

Veggie Pancakes

How do you slip veggies into your kids’ meals? Let me know!

I am always trying to find ways to add more vegetables to my family’s diet. This weekend, my niece and nephew visited and I made them vegetable pancakes!

It seems to be a textural thing rather than taste, so by marrying grains with vegetables, I can give them a healthy, well-balanced meal they enjoyed eating. Here’s the veggie pancake recipe that I found:

Wet Ingredients
1 ½ cups of vegetables (shredded zucchini, carrot, onion and frozen corn)
3 eggs (1 full egg and 2 egg whites)
4 TB (½ stick) butter
1 ¾ cups milk

Dry Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
¼ cup oats
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

These pancakes are really very simple to make. The most time consuming part is preparing the vegetables, so do that first.

Start by shredding 1 ½ cups of vegetables. For my pancakes, I used zucchini, carrot and onion and then added some frozen corn. But you can use whatever vegetables you like. (And if your child is not ready for chunky foods, you can pre-cook and puree the vegetables and place them in the batter that way). Once shredded or pureed, place the vegetables aside. Crack open three eggs and place one full egg and two of the egg whites into a small bowl. Whip the eggs and then add the butter and mix until creamy. Now, add the milk and vegetables and stir all of the wet ingredients together.

In a large bowl, add the wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them together. At this point, heat up a griddle or frying pan over medium heat. Add a bit of butter to the pan, if desired, to help keep the pancakes from sticking. Pour on about 1/8 cup of batter for each pancake – on my griddle I cooked three pancakes at a time. Cook for about 3 minutes, until bottom of pancake is set. Flip and continue cooking for 2 minutes. The recipe makes about 12 pancakes. I like to keep the cooked pancakes in a warm oven as I cook the remaining batter.

We all enjoyed the pancakes topped with butter and sour cream. I also served homemade apple sauce on the side, which turned out to be a lovely combination. The texture of these pancakes is great! My niece and nephew loved them and I loved seeing them eating up their vegetables (secretly hidden in those pancakes) and since breakfast is my husband’s favorite meal, he loved them too! Now, it may be “breakfast for dinner” at our house.

Oovvda Winery

Our Tour of Overboe’s Own Viking Vintner’s Distinctive Alcohol

Getting There

As we exited Springfield heading down Glenstone going North, we left the city behind prepared for the journey. About 5 minutes later, we were turning left at the flashing light at Farm Road 80and about a minute later we arrived at Oovvda Winery. A winery this close to Springfield was both a surprise and a relief, having driven hours upon hours to sample wines across the state, it was nice to have one in our own backyard. Oovvda is a beautiful winery as well, Brian Overboe’s, the owner, home sitting in foreground in front of a beautiful garden of asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash and a multitude of colorful flowers. The winery sits in the back and opens up to a couple acres of picnic area.

Making the Wine

Once inside the storefront, we rang the bell on the counter and owner, Brian Overboe greeted us warmly and invited us back to where the magic happens. They were just getting ready to crush 750 pounds of blackberries.



Oovvda's specialty is wines made from fruit, not just grapes (although they have the usual Missouri mainstays: Norton and Chambourcin.) They make wine from Blackberry, Cherry, Red Raspberry, Passion Fruit, Apple, Peach Melba, Red Plum, Blue Plum, and Strawberry. The even make a delicious dry Tomato wine. One thing that seperates Oovvda from other fruit wine manufacturers is they make a normal semi-sweet variety, but also a dry version of the fruit wines they offer, and they are amazing.

Oovvda uses local fruit including estate grown tomatoes, passion fruit, cherries, red and black raspberries. The wines are carefully crafted using the finest fruits available - the fruits they grow on property are hand-picked, hand washed and only the best fruit is used.

Oovvda follows the requirements of the Missouri Department of Agriculture requiring that at least 85% of the fruit used to produce the wine comes from Missouri, supporting local growers. Production has increased exponentially based on the popularity of Oovvda wines, going from 350 gallons originally produced in 2005 to over 2000 gallons produced in 2010.

Norton, the official state wine is made in three different varieties. A dry Norton, the one most Missourian's have tasted, as well as a dry Reserve that is double-aged in Oak barrels. However, unlike most Missouri wineries, Oovvda also produces a sweet Norton that is surprisingly refreshing and light.

The Wine

After watching the process of making wine, we then returned to the tasting room to sample Oovvda's vast selection of wine. Brian started with the Tomato, splitting the tasting between the dry variety and the sweet. My partner and I were both shocked about how good the Tomato wine was in both varieties. Expecting a flavor similar to pasta sauce, we were in shock that the flavor was subtle and delicate.



As we moved from one wine to the next, there, honestly, was not a bad one in the bunch. And there was a LOT to sample.

Oovvda's Wines:

Whites

Tomato (Dry only)
Pear
Apple
Cayuga White
Reliance (Semi-sweet only)

Reds

Norton
Chambourcin

Reserve Wines

Norton
Chambourcin

Available in Semi-Dry and Sweet

Blackberry
Red Plum (Semi-Dry Only)
Cherry
Red Raspberry
Strawberry
Blueberry

Dessert Wines

Cherry
Black Raspberry

Join the Club

Oovvda offers a special Club for those that discover how wonderful their wine is. For a $20 Annual Membership fee you can join the Oovvda wine club with great benefits including:

10% all wine purchase

Invitations to exclusive wine tastings

Free admission to events

Invitations to come experience the wine making process

No minimum purchases

Come Visit

Oovvda Winery is located at:

5448 North Berry Lane
Springfield, MO 65803


View Larger Map

Oovvda Winery is available for meetings, outings, weddings, reunions, parties, or just getting together. Their hours are from noon until dark, or just call 417.833.4896 to schedule an appointment.

They host special occasions with local musicians for both "Nooners" at 4 PM on the last Saturday in April, May, September and October, as well as, "Twilight Delight" from 5 to 9 PM on the last Saturday of June, July and August. Oovvda is family-friendly so bring the whole clan to enjoy the natural scenery and bring your picnic baskets, blankets, lawn chairs, and coolers. Bringing alcohol is not permitted, Oovvda will provide enough.

Oovvda wines is avaible at both Springfield Harter House locations. The Eastgate store offers the Cayuga White, Reliance, Chambourcin, Blackberry and Blueberry, while the Republic Road location offers Apple, Blackberry, Cherry, and Blueberry. Oovvda wines go great with a Harter House steak, so make sure to pick up some meat while you are at the store.

Apple Oat Pancakes with Almond Butter

It's a rainy Sunday morning. Standing over my kitchen sink, looking out the window at the dreary day, I decided some warm pancakes fit the mood.

And since so much depends on the green tree, with the red apple, glazed with rain - apple pancakes it will be.

Of course, I purchased everything I need for my breakfast at Harter House Supermarket!

Apple Oat Pancakes with Almond Butter

Ingredients
2 cups Oat Flour
3 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 apples (I like to use a tart apple like Granny Smith but any apple will do)
2 beaten eggs
2 cups nonfat milk (water will do)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of kosher salt
1-2 tbsp rolled oats


Directions
In a medium mixing bowl stir together oat flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Shred 1 1/2 apples (about 1 cup). Core and thinly slice the remaining apple half and set aside. Make a well in the middle of flour mixture. Add shredded apples, eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix just until combined. Heat a large skillet over medium. Spray with canola oil and drop by the 1/4 cup-fuls, spreading out just a bit with the back of the cup.



Sprinkle with a pinch of oats and press in one apple slice. Cook till little bubbles start to form on the surface (about 2 minutes depending on the heat of your pan). Flip and continue cooking other side for 1 - 2 minutes. Continue with the rest of the batter. Serve with a dollop of almond butter, which is lower in saturated fat than peanut butter.


Make 15 to 20 pancakes. Enjoy.

A Green Smoothie

Start your shopping at Harter House and Harter House World Flavors for the freshest ingredients!

The easiest and most vibrant breakfasts of all — and my personal standby — is smoothies. Usually my smoothies consist of a little fruit, some nuts or seeds, lots of greens and some water mixed together in the blender. It’s quick, nutrient rich and easy to consume while on the go. Plus, you can easily tailor any smoothie recipe to meet your tastes and what you have on hand. (Just don’t forget the vegetables!)




Just getting started? Try these two easy and delicious green smoothies. Who knew it could be so easy and delicious to incorporate greens into your morning routine?


1) Serves 2
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unsweetened almondmilk, soymilk, ricemilk or hempmilk
1 1/2 cups packed baby spinach
1 1/2 cups frozen cherries or berries
Method
Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.


2) Serves 2
Try this surprise smoothie for an on-the-go breakfast that's packed with the nutrients of hearty greens but tastes like a perfect blend of fruit.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unsweetened non-dairy beverage, such as almond, rice or soy
2 dried apricots or 4 pitted dates
1 banana
1 cup chopped kale leaves
1 cup spinach leaves
1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries
Method
Combine non-dairy beverage, apricots, banana, kale, spinach and berries in a blender and blend until smooth.

Not only will green smoothies help to reduce cravings, but it will also require less time to prepare than other meals. You don’t have to think about what you’ll have for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner sometimes.

Freezing your fruit can make your green smoothie more thick and colder. I typically don’t freeze all of my fruit, but I do freeze the bananas, sometimes apples, and then I’ll freeze any fruits that are about to be too ripe. You can also pick up frozen fruit in your health food store that is organic. My favorite is frozen cherries, peaches, and strawberries. Another great idea is to purchase fresh fruit in season and then freeze it yourself for the winter.

Since I started blending my green smoothies, I’ve found some methods that make it easier to blend.

Pack your soft fruits in first, then add your frozen fruits, then add your greens on top to blend as well as any spices. Blend your green smoothie and then taste the smoothie to see if any changes are needed, i.e. more or less sweetness, then add ice if necessary. I always add ice if needed at the very end to make sure the taste of the smoothie is just what I want. Once you add ice, it’s more difficult to add fruits or greens, because your ice will begin to water down the smoothie if you blend too much.

As you drink more green smoothies each day, you will probably notice that you are able to add more greens and less fruit depending on the green that you add. The more greens you can add to your smoothie, the better you will feel, and the more nutrients you will ingest. Try to add in more greens as you get more comfortable with the greener taste and less sweetness from the fruit.

Enjoy & Feel Great!