By Laura

Josephine’s Feast! Blood Orange Marmalade Vinaigrette

I go crazy at the farm when I see gorgeous heads of lettuce popping from the soil. The first weeks I am so content with a simple dressing of olive oil and vinegar. As the weeks progress I find myself looking for something new to balance a meal – and keep my interest. This is one of my favorite salad dressings – with the right mix of sweet and tart flavors that can show off tender baby lettuce or add zest to a bowl of bitter greens. In the fall it is simply divine on a bowl of shredded raw kale.

Josephine’s Feast! Blood Orange Marmalade Vinaigrette

Makes 3/4 cup
Ingredients
1/4 cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 Generous Tablespoon of Josephine’s Feast! Blood Orange Marmalade
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A Large Bowl of Market Greens: I prefer Baby Spinach, & Arugula combined. This dressing is also delicious on Baby Bibb Lettuce or loose-leaf lettuce such as Deer Tongue or Lollo Rosso.
For the Dressing:
Whisk together the lemon juice, marmalade and olive oil. The vinaigrette will keep for a few days in an airtight container and stored in the fridge.
To Make the Salad
Combine all the lettuce in a large bowl and drizzle with the dressing – toss actively to make sure the dressing is evenly distributed over the market greens. Finish with an optional dash of sea salt and grind of black pepper.

Thick Cut Blood Orange Marmalade
$14.00

Grilled Swordfish with Josephine’s Feast Meyer Lemon Marmalade

My everyday choice is a chunky thick cut marmalade – wonderful on toast and absolute essential to cook with. One of my favorites is a Meyer Lemon Marmalade that has a wonderful sweet tart flavor and a lovely fragrance. From salad dressings, to glazes for grilling, and even deserts & cocktails. A jar of this marmalade can go a long way.

Inspired by a friend at the Westhampton Farmers Market – I have adopted her sensational recipe for easy entertaining during these dog days of summer. Meyer Lemon Marmalade Glazed Swordfish serves along with a green salad and corn could not make for a better meal with friends!

Meyer Lemon Marinade for Grilled Sword Fish

6 swordfish steaks

1/ 2 cup of JF Meyer Lemon Marmalade
¼ cup fresh lemon juice – or vermouth, white wine or rum
¼ cup fresh chopped mint
salt & white pepper

One of the easiest meals for friends and family is a grilled swordfish with this delicious glaze. Combine the Meyer Lemon Marmalade with a whisk adding ingredients one at a time. Grill the swordfish flipping once on each side. Halfway through cooking glaze each side of the fish. Drizzle any leftover glaze over the swordfish streaks just prior to serving.

Thick Cut Meyer Lemon Marmalade
$14.00

BBQ Chicken – My Way

I am not a big fan of BBQ Sauce – the commercial bottles are loaded with all kinds of things I would never eat – preservatives, stabilizers and high fructose corn syrup.  But my 8 year old ( Josephine! ) recently went through a period where she could not eat a meal with out it.  She used it as a condiment, a dipping sauce and a salad dressing – what is a mother to do?

I spent a good part of the winter trying to answer that challenge and a friend dared me to create an interesting BBQ sauce – because as she put it, a good BBQ sauce makes everything better.  Really?

The question I am asked most get asked at the markets is how do I use a BBQ sauce to cook?   After we decide between a hot and spice BBQ Sauce –

Josephine’s Feast! Organic Smoked Heirloom Apple & Chipolte BBQ Sauce or a sweet and fruity BBQ Sauce – Jospehine’s Feast! Organic Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum BBQ Sauce

I do prefer a “whole bird” – as my grandmother would say.  But this recipe seamlessly for chicken pieces and is often easier for many cooks to master.

By all means start by purchasing an organic chicken at your local market– it really does taste so much better and is so much better for you.

Shopping List:

1 Whole Organic 5 lbs Chicken or 8 Chicken Pieces
Juice of one lemon
1to 2 T olive oil
2 T Josephine’s Feast! Shinnecock Bay Seasoning

1 T of Josephine’s Feast! Natural Sea salt with Herbes De Provence
1 cup Organic Smoked Heirloom Apple & Chipolte BBQ Sauce or Organic Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum BBQ Sauce

  1. Rinse chicken under cold water & lemon juice
  2. Pat dry
  3. Evenly coat the chicken with 1 – 2 T of olive oil
  4. Rub 2 T of Josephine’s Feast! Shinnecock Bay Seasoning onto the chicken
  5. Cover & let rest for 0ne hour – this helps to develop the flavor.

For even more flavor – refrigerate over night.

  1. If marinating overnight – take chicken out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking to bring the chicken to room temperature.  This is a very important step as it allows for more even cooking.
  2. While the chicken is resting build an indirect grilling fire.  Allowing the heat to reach 350 degrees
  3. If using a whole chicken – truss with cotton string.    TRUSS
  4. Cook for 50 minutes on the grill

10. Baste with BBQ sauce every 5 minutes for the next 15 minutes

11. The chicken is done when the meat easily pulls away at the joints and the crust is golden brown.

For an oven alternative:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees –
  2. While you are waiting on the oven to heat, take the chicken out of the refrigerator and allow to reach to room temperature.
  3. Brush the chicken liberally with ½ cup of BBQ sauce.
  4. Place the trussed chicken on a rack in the center of the oven.  Immediately turn the oven down to 350 degrees
  5. If you are using chicken pieces – place them face down on the rack and flip once half way thru the cooking process when basting.
  6. Baste with BBQ Sauce every 20 minutes.
  7. The chicken is cooked after 1 hour and 10 minutes or when the meat easily pulls at the joints
Smoked Apple Chipolte BBQ Sauce
$12.00

What to Cook when the Snow Falls and the Wind Blows.

Pork with Jospehine's Feast Pork RubI am always inspired by traditional cooking in the winter. The forecast of snow and the wind chill factor well below freezing has me yearning to slow roasting something wonderfully fragrant.

Today I am cooking in a Basque tradition, a piece of pork smothered in spices and slow roasted at 300 degrees. Slow roasting has its roots in rural cooking where few people had ovens and meats were placed at the back of the fire pit, fire place or bakers oven and heated all day long. When a roast is cooked in this manner, all the luscious fats render into the meat – self basting the roast. This is a rich and delicious meal, a guilty pleasure that brings friends and family together for a memorable feast!

Seek out the best piece of pork that you can find – I have made this with a supermarket pork picnic and is is delicious . But if you are lucky enough to have an organic or heritage pork producer the result is so much better. Here in NYC  I shop at the Union Square Farmer’s Market and the gentleman at Violet Hill Farms or Flying Pigs have OUTSTANDING pork. Nothing comes close in my book. The end result exceptional with heritage producers. Here is the deal, the pork is more flavorful and the fat is well – out of this world.

Pork Roast
Josephine’s Feast Pork Spice Rub
Josephine’s Feast Natural Sea Salt
Pepper
Bottle of apple cider

Preparing the meat could not be easier. Unwrap the roast. Wipe it down. Cut slices of garlic and use the sharp end  of a pairing knife to create a slit in the skin and push the sliced garlic into the skin. Rub the roast with a mix of fragrant spices – in my opinion , paprika is key, mustard, cumin, salt & pepper are some of my other favorites.  Some of you have no problem playing with spices – others need a formula. I’d like to recommend Josephine’s Feast Pork Spice Rub.  it has at it’s base Spanish Smoked Paprika, with Black Mustard Seed, Cumin, & Garlic. The rub has no salt – just before placing the roast in the oven rub it down with natural salt – also available at JosephinesFeast.com or in your kitchen shelf

When the roast is ready for the oven, place on a rack and pour 2 to 4 cups of apple cider in the baking pan.  Just enough to cover the bottom but not touch the roast.

Slow cook for at 325 for the first 30 minutes then drop the temperature to 300 for the next 3 to 6 hours.
Check the roast every hour making sure there is enough apple cider under the roast to keep it from drying out

Pork with Jospehine's Feast Pork RubWhen the roast is ready the meat should pull away from the bone, there should be a crispy crust, and the internal temperature should read 160 degrees.

Tent the roast under foil for 10 to 15 minutes.

It is best served with roasted potatoes – I like to quarter organic potatoes – Yukon gold or other small sized spuds. Drizzle with olive oil, rosemary, whole garlic cloves, and salt. Roast in the oven with the pork for 2 hours. While the meat is resting – turn the temperature up to 350 for 15 minutes.

Garlicky greens or a wild arugula salad dressed with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil are a great addition.

As a condiment Josephine’s Feast! Apple Compote cooked with Dijon Mustard is the perfect match.  Made with Organic Heirloom Apples it is a tradition accompanyment with roasted meat in Normandy.