Bloom.

After the first of the year, I was talking with a co-worker about cheese.

Embarrassingly, too common of a conversation for me.

She told me about this great wheel of cheese that her family had over the holidays. She said it was a combo of goat milk and cow milk. She also said the cheese looked totally crazy because it had a black rind made from ashes.

Incredibly interested, I asked, “So, what’s it called?”

“Beekman 1802 Blaak,” she said.

“Beekman, what?” I asked.

“Beekman 1802. It’s made by the Beekman Boys,” she said.

Reading the confused look on my face, she went on, “Oh my gosh, Claire. You don’t know the Beekman Boys? They are right up your alley with your big garden and food blog. You would love them!”

She told me that the Beekman Boys were partners from New York City who purchased a huge old home in upstate New York. They fell in love with living the country so they began raising goats and planted a large garden.

Now they have an online mercantile where you can purchase all sorts of kitchenware, garden tools, soaps made with goats milk and foods like the Blaak cheese.

I was intrigued. It did sound like I would love them.

She told me that they also had a book, The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir (P.S.),that tells the story of how they found their way from the city to the country. It also goes into detail about the first year of trying to get their goat milk soap business off the ground.

Adam and I were headed to Jamaica a few weeks later and I was in need of a good beach read. So, I hopped onto to Amazon and purchased The Bucolic Plague. It was a perfect, laugh out loud, easy read for the beach.

And, like my co-worker thought I would, I did fall in love with The Beekman Boys, Brent and Josh.

Since reading their memoir, I added their page to my likes on Facebook. I love staying up to date with new products that are constantly added to the online mercantile and any specials that they might be running. They also post beautiful, personal pictures of the house, their garden, and the goats.

It was on their Facebook page that I learned Williams-Sonoma was promoting their newest cookbook, The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook: 100 Delicious Heritage Recipes from the Farm and Garden, with a cooking class in mid June. Williams-Sonoma often has cooking classes where they showcase a new cookbook or teach basic kitchen skills, such as knife skills.

I have always wanted to take one of the classes at Williams-Sonoma so I thought what would be better then this class featuring my new gardening idols.

Plus, their cookbook looked amazing and it came with the class.

Turns out I was the only person in Indianapolis who signed up for the class so I got a call from, Dottie, the instructor the day before the class. She said she would do a more hands on class versus a demo class, like it was originally supposed to be.

Obviously, I didn’t mind. In fact, I was even more excited.

I showed up the next evening ready to cook and wound up having a great time. Dottie was a wonderful lady and was full of so much knowledge about food and cooking. I loved hearing her stories of traveling in Europe and we made the connection that we were both Purdue sorority girls.

That night we made Kale Bruschetta, a Beet and Ricotta Salad, Eggplant “Meat” Balls, and a cucumber ice cream in a carrot cookie cup. All were recipes from The Beekman Boy’s new cookbook.

The cookbook has fabulous photos of the Beekman home and garden throughout the seasons that are in line with the seasonal layout of the book. Majority of the recipes are vegetarian as they are designed to utilize produce that is available throughout the year in a garden like the one at their upstate home.

We didn’t plant eggplant and our cucumbers, carrots and beets are not ready yet. But, our kale looks great.

I like have kale in the garden because it is incredibly healthy and tasty.  It is a great addition to salads and smoothies. I also like to make kale chips.

Growing kale is very simple.  I started a few heads of kale in the basement and transplanted the seedlings to the ground this spring. I also started a few seeds right in the ground to have more kale ready to eat at a different time than the seeds I started indoors. We plan to have more kale this fall as it is a hardy vegetable that can tolerate cooler temperatures. In fact, their leaves are even sweeter when exposed to colder temps.

With our backyard garden kale looking awesome, I decided to share a bit of my fun night at Williams-Sonoma with Adam and recreated the Kale Bruchetta at home.

I loved everything we made during the cooking class, but this bruchetta was definitely my favorite. I knew that Adam would love the salty, creamy kale topping too.

I cannot wait to try other recipes from the Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook. I have a feeling it will be a great resource for me for many, many years! Be sure to check it out!

Kale Bruschetta

2014-07-01 17:26:22

Yields 8

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Ingredients

1. 2 Tbs. Olive Oil
2. 1 garlic clove
3. 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
4. 6 ounces kale, stems and ribs removed
5. pinch of salt
6. 1/2 cup of water
7. 2 Tbs. mayo
8. 2 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
9. 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Heat Olive Oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and anchovies. Cook stirring frequently until anchovies have melted, about two minutes
3. Add kale, salt, and water. Cook until kale is tender and water has evaporated, stirring frequently.
4. Remove kale from skillet and place on cutting board. When cool, finely chop.
5. In a medium bowl combine the mayo, Parmesan, and lemon juice. Add the kale and stir to combine.
6. Top eight pieces of toasted baguette or Bread crisps.

Notes

1. Making bruschetta isn't hard. All you need is some oil and a baguette.
2. However, there are lots of short cuts out there. Whole foods makes little bruschetta crisps and packages them. You can find them in their baked goods section. I used some bread crisps made by Stacy's.
3. No one around here judges for making your life easier!

Adapted from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook

Adapted from The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook

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