1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
1 large egg
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup homemade or canned pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons canola or other light vegetable oil
Vegetable oil for cooking
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cloves. In a large bowl, beat the egg, milk, and pumpkin together until just blended. Stir in the oil. Add the flour mixture all at once to the egg mixture and stir until just blended.

Heat a griddle or large frying pan over medium high heat. Coat with vegetable oil. When hot, add the pancake batter 1/4 cup at a time. Cook until the edges pull away slightly from the pan and bubbles form evenly on the top, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn and cook the other side until golden, another 1 to 2 minutes. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Serve at once accompanied by butter, syrup, and toasted pecans.

Makes about 1 dozen pancakes.

Note: Be sure to grind your own spices for the best flavor.

If you are using a 3 to 4 pound pumpkin, bake it whole on a baking sheet in a 350 F° oven until a sharp knife easily pierces through to the seed cavity, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When it is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin, cut it in half, remove the seeds and fibers, and mash the soft flesh with a potato masher or process in a food processor. For a larger pumpkin, cut in half or into wedges before baking.

You will need:

5 Pounds of ripe tomatoes
Italian paste tomatoes work well. Heirloom tomatoes have a higher
water content so be prepared to cook them longer. You may continue to
add more tomatoes as the sauce cooks down.
2 red or yellow onions
4 to 5 whole garlic cloves
1 to 2 red, green, or yellow peppers (sweet, not hot)
1 ½ to 2 cups mixed fresh herbs including basil, oregano, thyme and marjoram
(Use less if you only have dried herbs instead of fresh.)
3 bay leaves
Several sprigs of fresh oregano, thyme and marjoram, and a handful of
basil leaves, for adding to the jars at the last moment before sealing
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut out the stem of each tomato and chop into three or four coarse pieces. Peel and cut the onions into halves or quarters. Peel the garlic cloves. Core and cut each pepper into three or four pieces. Coarsely chop the mixed fresh herbs. Place all of these ingredients, together with the bay leaves, into a large, heavy enamel or stainless steel kettle with a lid. Add salt and pepper.

Cover and cook slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally. Covering the pot allows the tomato juices to develop naturally without boiling away. If the tomatoes are ripe and juicy, it’s rarely necessary to add any extra water to the pot. The sauce will need to cook for at least an hour to reach the desired consistency. Once it has reduced and thickened, lower the heat, remove the bay leaves, and check for seasoning.

Finishing the sauce

You will need:

An Italian food processing mill or “Mouli” The next step involves pressing the sauce, a few cups at a time, through an Italian hand held food processing mill called a Mouli. This process yields a smooth, silky, thick sauce. While the mill screens out the seeds and the skins, it allows all the thickened pulp to go through. Using the mill means that tomatoes do not need to be skinned or seeded beforehand. In addition to saving time and trouble, I prefer leaving the skins on while cooking because they impart intense color to the sauce and act as a thickening agent. Once screened through the mill, return the sauce to the stove and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until your jars are prepared.

Canning the Sauce

You will need:

a case of canning jars, rings and lids
I prefer pint jars so that I can choose to open one or more jars according
to need
2 large stainless or enamel kettles with lids
long–handled spoons
large ladle and a jar funnel
jar-lifter for removing the jars from the hot water bath
tea towels

Sterilizing the jars

Fill one of the kettles half-way with water. Submerge the clean canning jars under the water. Cover and place over high heat to boil. The jars must be completely covered by at least an inch of hot water. Scald the lids and rings separately in a saucepan by covering them with boiling water removed from the flame. Keep them covered until ready to be used.

Canning

Using the jar-lifter, carefully reach down into the boiling bath, grab a canning jar by the neck, and lift it out. Set the jar down and place the wide-mouth jar funnel into the jar. Using the ladle, fill the jar with hot tomato sauce to within one-half inch of the jar rim. It’s very important to leave this air space as it is critical to the successful sealing of the jar. Dip a few sprigs of the reserved fresh herbs under boiling water for a few seconds and then arrange them against the inside wall of the jar. Use the tongs to place a jar lid exactly over the clean mouth of the jar. Screw down the jar ring and tighten with a tea towel. Repeat for the rest of the jars. Then, use the jar-lifter to return the filled jars to the boiling bath. Add water if necessary to ensure that the jars are covered by at least one or two inches of water. Cover the kettle, bring back to a boil and allow jars to remain in the boiling water for 45 minutes. Count processing time from the time the water returns to a boil.

Turn off the heat and remove the jars from the hot water in an upright position. Place the hot jars gently onto a folded towel to cool. Do not allow them to touch. Listen for the “ping” sound as the jars seal. Once sealed and cooled, you may remove the rings. It is best to store jars in a cool, dry, dark place.

Note: Plan to consume within a year of canning.

Serves 8 as an entrée

For the chowder base:

2 tablespoons water
3 ounces bacon or salt pork, cut into lardons
2 medium onions, medium dice
1 leek, trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and sliced about 1/2–inch thick
2 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
5 cups fish stock (or substitute 2 ½ cups clam juice and 2 ½ cups water)
1 tablespoon kosher salt, more to taste
2 bay leaves

To finish the dish:

2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half lengthwise, then sliced into 1/2 –inch half moons
1 ½ pounds white fish such as halibut, cut into two-bite chunks
1 ½ cups heavy cream, or to taste
White pepper to taste
Beer-Steamed Clams (optional, see recipe)

To prepare the base: Heat the water with the bacon or salt pork over a medium burner. Stir occasionally for five minutes, or until the water has cooked off and the pork is golden all over. Add the onion, leek and celery, and stir to coat in the pork fat. Continue to cook for five to seven minutes, stirring often, until the onions are translucent and smell sweet. Add the stock, salt and bay leaves. Bring the pot to a simmer, skimming away any fat or foam. At this point, the base can be chilled in an ice bath, then refrigerated or frozen for future use.

To finish the chowder: If the chowder base was chilled or frozen, bring it back to a simmer over a medium burner. Add the potato slices and salt, and skim the surface of the pot as it returns to a simmer. Cook the potatoes for eight to ten minutes, or until tender through. Add the fish and cream, then bring the pot back to a bare simmer. Adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper, and cook until the fish is just opaque through. If you wish to add clams to your chowder, see the recipe for Beer-Steamed Clams below. Serve immediately with oyster crackers or a loaf of crusty bread.

Scrub the clams under cool running water. Discard any clams that will not close when tapped firmly with a fingernail. Bring the beer to a boil in a four-quart pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add the clams all at once with the thyme sprig, cover the pot immediately, and cook over high heat until the pot recovers a boil. Lift the pot lid and stir well from time to time, until the clams have all opened.

Remove the clams to a baking sheet with a large slotted spoon or Asian spider, then strain the broth through a fine sieve to remove sand and grit, and reserve for use in the chowder.

By Chefs Gerald Gass and Mark Rohrmeir
of

Most Americans have grown up with the canned ripe black olives that are the mainstay of the California olive industry. These olives are cured quickly in an aerated lye solution that both removes the bitter glucosides and turns the fruits a uniform black. The color is set further by the addition of a small amount of ferrous gluconate. The resulting olives are even in color and texture, but insipid in flavor. This is in contrast to the very flavorful olives that are made in the Mediterranean by a variety of slower methods, most of which involve gradual leaching of the glucosides from the olives in water or salt brine. The process can be as simple as packing the olives in a mesh bag and submerging the bag in the ocean or a stream until the flavor is acceptable. More commonly, olives are put into a salt brine that is changed periodically until the glucosides have been leached. Another method calls for burying large, ripe olives in coarse salt and letting the salt draw the glucosides and much of the moisture from the fruit. These are known as dry-cured olives, and they are wonderfully meaty and chewy with a salty tang.

We have developed the following method for curing olives grown at the ranch. This method can be used for all varieties of olives and various degrees of ripeness, as long as the fruit is sound and unblemished. Pick through your harvested fruit looking for damage or indications of fly damage which will appear as a small sting or black puncture wound. Discard these fruit. Raw olives are sturdy-looking things, but they are actually fragile, with thin skins that are easily punctured. The flesh, although firm, bruises readily and begins to ferment rapidly from microorganisms introduced through punctures and soft spots. We cure fruit at all stages of ripeness and find merit in all the varieties and degrees of ripeness that we have tried. Some of our particular favorites are ripe Kalamata, half-ripe Pendolino and Frantoio, and ripe Sevillano.

Once you have the olives, you will need only water, Mason jars with lids (use the lids with red sealant as the gray sealant used on some lids will not stand up to the oil used later in the process), sea salt, and red wine vinegar. First, rinse the olives well in water and place them in sterilized Mason jars. Fill the jars to the brim with water and screw on the lids. Place the jars on a tray to catch any overflow and put them in a cool, dark place. Leave them undisturbed for 1 week. They may appear to be carbonated, with small bubbles visible on the surface of the olives. This is a natural fermentation that will

drain off the water. For sanitary reasons, it is important not to touch the olives or to touch anything, such as the bowl of a spoon, with which they might come into contact. Refill the jars with clean water, replace their lids, and leave in a cool, dark place for another week.

Drain off the water from the jars as before and refill them with brine made by dissolving 1 cup sea salt in 4 quarts water. You need not be concerned about making an exact quantity of brine because you will be changing it weekly for the next few months and any excess brine can be stored in a glass jar. Drain the jars and refill them with fresh brine each week. After about 6 weeks, use a clean spoon to remove a representative olive before changing the brine. Taste a small piece to assess how the curing is progressing. If the olive is still too bitter, change the brine, wait another week, and try again. It is difficult to predict how long this process will take. The variety of olives, their ripeness, and ambient temperature all affect the process, which can last from 6 weeks to 15 weeks-or even more. Remember, the model is not the California ripe olive, but one of the more flavorful imported olives.

When a taste of a few representative olives from a batch indicates that enough of the bitterness has leached away, drain off the curing brine one final time and refill with a storage brine made by dissolving 2/3 cup sea salt in 4 quarts water and 3 cups red wine vinegar. Pour enough olive oil onto the surface of the liquid in each jar to form a layer 1/8 inch deep, and replace the lids. It is best to store the unopened jars in the refrigerator, although a cool, dark place is acceptable. When you open a jar, remember to use a clean utensil, never your fingers, to remove the olives. Once a jar is open, store it in the refrigerator and use within 1 month.

MCEVOY RANCH CERTIFIED ORGANIC EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Available at fine food stores nationwide.

Please visit our store in San Francisco’s historic Ferry Building Plaza Marketplace.

To order direct, contact customer service toll free at 1-866-617-6779.

To order online, visit www.mcevoyranchstore.com.

For more information about McEvoy Ranch, please visit www.mcevoyranchstore.com.

P.O. Box 341, Petaluma, CA 94953

tel: 707-778-2307 • fax: 707-778-0128

3 tablespoons butter
4 cups freshly peeled, sliced shallots
Turkey roasting pan with caramelized juices
2 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup Armagnac or other brandy
1 cup dry white or rosé wine
2 cups golden chicken (or turkey) stock [preferably homemade—Chef Katz’ recipe ]
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Heat the butter in a heavy skillet over a medium burner. When the butter is foamy, add the sliced shallots, and stir to coat well. Cook for approximately 20 minutes, stirring often. When the shallots begin to brown at the edges, stir carefully and often against the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release the caramelized juices. If the shallots begin to stick, add a tablespoon of water as necessary to dissolve the caramel. When the shallots are deep honey brown color, transfer to a bowl to cool, then refrigerate until needed.

To make the gravy, transfer your roast turkey from the roasting pan to a platter or cutting board to rest. Pour off all but about two tablespoons of the fat in the pan. Place the roasting pan on the stovetop over a medium burner. When the fat is hot, sprinkle the flour over, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon for about one minute. Turn off the burner, add the brandy and wine, then stir carefully with a wire whisk until the mixture is smooth. Return the pan to a medium burner. Continue to whisk, and stir until thickened, then transfer the contents to a three quart saucepan, scraping as needed with a rubber spatula.

Stir in the stock and caramelized shallots with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, and bring the pan back to a simmer over medium heat. Skim away any fat or foam that comes to the surface. Adjust the heat as necessary to keep the pot bubbling gently for 10 minutes. Carefully pour the contents of the pan into a blender. Make sure to take out the plug in your blender’s cap, and cover the hole with a folded towel (this will allow the hot gasses to escape from the blender when you turn it on. Cycle the blender up to high speed and blend thoroughly for one to two minutes.

Return the puréed gravy to a clean saucepan and season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Warm the gravy gently over a low burner. For an extra touch of richness, add a drizzle of heavy cream just before serving.

By Chef David Katz of Panevino
www.panevino-napa.com

Makes 1 gallon

3 pounds chicken neck and back bones (substitute turkey, duck or quail bones)
2 whole chicken legs including thigh, cut in half
1 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 gallon cold water

Cheesecloth sachet containing:

• 6 thyme sprigs
• 6 parsley stems
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 black peppercorns

2 white or yellow onions, large dice
1 leek, trimmed, large dice
2 carrots, large dice
2 stalks celery, large dice

Preheat oven to 400°.  Place the chicken bones and legs on a lightly greased baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the chicken to an 8-quart stockpot. Heat the pot over a medium heat and add the wine, then reduce by about half.  Add the water and sachet and bring the pot to a simmer over high heat.  Reduce the heat to maintain a bare simmer and cook for 45 minutes, skimming away any fat or foam that comes to the surface.  Add the vegetables and continue to cook at a bare simmer for an additional 90 minutes.  Strain the stock through a sieve lined with cheesecloth and chill thoroughly in an ice bath.  Refrigerate or freeze the stock in a tightly covered container until ready to use.

BY JENNIFER CARDEN

Bring your child along to the market or pumpkin patch to pick out just the “right” specimen for this dish! These can be made for the Thanksgiving meal, or a few days later when you are sick of leftovers, but still crave the flavors of fall.

An easy way to make homemade ravioli, Gyoza wrappers can be baked, fried, or boiled like pasta. In this case, the wrappers cook up just like ravioli, with a creamy filling inside. Serve topped with browned butter and a dusting of cinnamon, or butter and grated Parmesan cheese, or just plain as a great finger food.

Makes 60 ravioli

FILLING:

8 ounces cream cheese
One 3 to 4 pound pumpkin (See note)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1 tablespoon for pasta water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra for optional garnish
1 package (60) round gyoza wrappers (See note)
2 tablespoons butter, for garnish
Grated Parmesan cheese, for optional garnish

Wash and split the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and fibers, scraping with a metal spoon. Discard fibers and save seeds for toasting later. Oil a sheet pan and place 2 halves cut-side-down on pan. Bake in preheated oven until pumpkin flesh is tender when pierced with a knife - about 60 minutes.

Remove the pumpkin halves from the oven and when cool enough to handle, scoop the baked flesh out of each pumpkin half with a spoon. Puree pumpkin in a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade or mash by hand.

Place cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 30 seconds to soften. Add the pumpkin and stir to combine. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon and mix with a stick blender or by hand until the filling is smooth.

Place a 1/2 teaspoon-sized ball of filling in the center of each wrapper. Wet the edges with water and fold the ravioli over to form half moons. Pinch to close, pressing down lightly around the mounds of filling to prevent air bubbles.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Gently add the ravioli and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they float. Depending on the size of the pot, you may have to cook them in batches. Drain the pasta and top with your choice of browned butter and cinnamon or butter and grated Parmesan.

RECIPE NOTES:

• If you are making these out of season, you may substitute a 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree for the freshly roasted pumpkin.
• Freeze any extra Pumpkin Pockets for those nights when the kids are hungry and you are too tired to cook. To serve, boil the frozen pockets in the same manner as fresh, but extend the cooking time to 6 minutes.
• Wonton wrappers are square and gyoza wrappers are round and slightly thicker, but they are essentially made of the same ingredients. You can use either for this recipe. The flavor and cooking time will be longer for thicker gyoza.
• Filling saves well in the freezer, wrap tightly and thaw before using.

Recipe courtesy of Chef David Katz. www.panevino-napavalley.com

Serves 8

This beautiful, light cake is a relative to chiffon cake, but uses fragrant olive oil.

11⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, separated
½ cup orange juice
1⁄3 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
powdered sugar, for dusting as a garnish

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Combine the flour, 2/3 cup of the sugar, the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks, orange juice, oil, zest and vanilla at medium speed until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture just until combined.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar on high speed until soft peaks form. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture, a little at a time.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 9-inch spring form pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Run a thin spatula around the side of the pan, remove the rim. Invert the cake onto a plate and remove the base of the pan. When cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

This cake stands alone beautifully as a tea cake (follow baking directions above), but we often bake the batter in individual silicone bomb molds, for a more elegant single serving.