Farm to Table Dinner: November 8

{Photo from Soul Food Farm}

Soul Food Farm is driven by the belief that "You are what you eat.…and what you eat, eats."

At Canvas Underground, we wholeheartedly agree and when we heard Soul Food Farm's 55 acres suffered a devastating fire, we did not hesitate to pull together a benefit dinner. In fact, SFF just lost 300 more chickens after they drowned in the floods that ensued after this week's rainstorm.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to do good by eating! And you get to meet your local farmer -- Soul Food Farm's co-founder, Eric Koefed is joining us for this truly farm-to-table event.

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Happy Boy Farm Collard Greens and Sweet Potato Soup with Homemade
Andouille and Creole Cream Cheese

Wild Louisiana Shrimp and Organic Grits with Homemade Bacon, Early
Girl Tomatoes and Green Onions

Barbecue Braised Oxtails, Kristy's Coleslaw and Mac 'n Cheese

Lemon and Buttermilk Pie with Chantilly Cream, Benne Wafers and
Candied Lemon Peel

Wine will be generously provided: 2002 Cavedog's Cuvee Foreign Cinema Cab Franc/Merlot

If you'd like more info on how you can help (such as building chicken houses or installing irrigation equipment, bidding on auction items), click here.

Easy Halloween Favors: Mummy - Ghost - Skull Lollipops

We threw a birthday bash for my fiance last night and because he's really into Halloween, I made these fun lollipop favors!

Here's what you need (makes approx. 28):

• 1 bag of Tootsie Roll pops
• 1 bag of white chocolate candy melt
• 1 bag of dark chocolate candy melt
• (Optional - any other color, such as orange if you want to make pumpkins or green for Frankenstein)
• 3-4 floral foam bricks (I had rounds for vases)
• Sprinkles
• Squeeze bottle (for decorating)
  

First, unwrap all of the Tootsie Roll pops and lay flat on a plate. Ensure your floral foam bricks are staged within reach. Employ a double boiler method to heat the candy melt -- bring a saucepan of water to boil and place another smaller pan (or bowl) on top. Pour half a bag of the candy melt into the top pan and gently stir the candy until it melts. Dip the lollipop and spin so that all of the Tootsie Roll pop surface is coated. Set the finished lollipop in the floral foam and continue until finished.

For decoration, use 2 squeeze bottles, one with dark chocolate and the other with white chocolate.

If you want to make mummies, use a squeeze bottle to drizzle thin ribbons back and forth across the lollipop.

You can make eyes, mouths, etc with the dark chocolate. Or use the white chocolate to affix sprinkles (such as green or red for eyes) to the lollipop.

I finished the favor by inserting the finished pops into a candy bag and tied with twine and attached a tag.

Potato Bacon Torte for under $10

{Photo of Melissa d'Arabian from Food Network.com}

I've never been inspired to seek out and execute a recipe until I watched the Food Network's newest star, Melissa d'Arabian. My fiance and I had made the wine braised pork for about $8 around Labor Day -- which was fantastic -- and tonight, we decided to make the potato bacon torte for a potluck dinner.

Ironically, I just started a new healthy lifestyle and potato, bacon and heavy cream are not at the top of the list for low fat, low carb foods. To offset the calories, I did complete my Biggest Loser Bootcamp workout for 45 minutes and walked around the nearby lake!

Because of our late afternoon walk, we were pressed for time. We cheated and bought 2 ready-made pie crusts ($2.99) and a can of Grands biscuits ($1.99) instead. The Gruyere cheese called for in the recipe was a bit pricey ($8.99/lb), so we opted for a brick of Monterey Jack ($2.90) instead.

Since we used biscuits -- which cook in 12 minutes instead of the 55 minutes that would have been appropriate for a real pie crust -- we tented tinfoil and covered the potatoes with it for 45 minutes. We rolled out the Grands biscuits and placed it on top of the potatoes 12 minutes before they were thoroughly done.

Our tortes were a hit at the party! I loved the heavy cream and thyme (we used dry and didn't strain it out) with the bacon. Next time we make this, we will experiment by using a tangier cheese. And actually everyone loved the biscuit "crust" versus a pie crust top. So we'll keep that in mind for next time.

Potato-Bacon Torte

from Melissa d'Arabian (via FoodNetwork.com)

4 strips bacon

3 sprigs fresh thyme

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 pie crusts, recipe follows

3 medium baking potatoes, peeled

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1 egg yolk, whisked with a splash of water

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel lined plate and set aside. Crumble the bacon when cool to the touch.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the thyme and cream over low heat to a bare simmer. Turn off the heat and let steep for about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs.

Remove the pie pan from the refrigerator. Slice the potatoes in half lengthwise and then finely slice the potatoes. Working in circles, arrange the potato slices in the pie crust, stopping to season each layer with salt, pepper, and about 1/4 of the crumbled bacon. Continue layering until the pie pan is nearly full. Top with an even layer of the cheese and gently pour cream around and over the entire pie, allowing it to seep down between the potato slices.

Roll out the remaining disk of refrigerated dough. Cover the pie with the dough and crimp the edges closed. Brush the top and edges of the crust with egg wash. Make a few slits in the center of the top crust, for the steam to escape, and put the pie pan on a baking sheet. Bake the torte until the crust is browned and crispy and the potatoes are cooked through, about 50 to 60 minutes. If the crust edges get too brown, cover them with some strips of aluminum foil. Remove the pie from the oven and let rest at least 15 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

Pie Crust

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

8 to 10 tablespoons ice water

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each addition. Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps. Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the torte ingredients.