I debated between using jalapeño peppers or serrano peppers, but I went with serrano purely because strawberry serrano sang nicer than strawberry jalapeño. The serrano is a type of chili pepper that’s actually notably hotter than the jalapeño. I say, the hotter the better. But don’t be scared, it’s not that crazy, tongue on fire, drink a glass of milk after kind of hot. Not in the amount we’re using here anyway. I’ve made this recipe using varying amounts of serrano pepper to find the level of heat I like best – the recipe I’m giving you is like a 6 on a 1-10 heat index.

It’s really simple to do to. First, cut the peppers lengthwise and remove about 80% of the seeds (yes, 80%) and dice them up into little bits. Then you can hull and cut the strawberries into med-sized pieces and simmer them with lemon juice until a lot of the liquid cooks out (about 25-30 mins). The sugar and peppers are added in during the last few minutes of the cooking process. Oh yeah, pepper gas warning!! Depending on the amount of peppers you use, the steam released during cooking might make you cough…uncontrollably. That’s why you should add the peppers toward the end. It’s no big deal, just something to be aware of. Open a window and you’ll be fine.

Look what I found!

Most of the jams and preserves you buy in the store contain pectin, which is used as a thickening agent. It’s tasteless and you can totally use it if you’re accustomed to doing so. I don’t use it in this recipe – simmering to cook out the moisture seems to do the trick. Cornstarch is another option if you’d like your preserves to be closer to that jam-like consistency. I have used cornstarch in this recipe and was pleased with the results. Just mix a teaspoon or two with equal parts of warm water in a separate bowl and then add it in to the pot while simmering. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Works great, but don’t overdo it.

This stuff is especially fantastic with cheese! Do it up with some goat cheese or queso blanco on toast or crackers. Even a mild cheddar is nice. Anything mild and creamy (cream cheese!) will work. A peanut butter and strawberry serrano sandwich is pretty amazing too!

I want to also mention the linen photographed throughout this post. It comes from Transylvania Images , a textile company that makes kitchen linens and towels, bags and upholstery using vintage grain sacks and organic hemp. They were nice enough to send me a couple beautiful samples! Their pieces are woven on authentic hand-looms by villagers like these in Transylvania…

Check out their collection!
Transylvania Images

I don’t generally love tomato soup because half the time it’s to acidic and tomatoey and just tastes like sauce to me. And bisque is another one I stay away from at restaurants because it’s usually way too rich with the cream base. But in this case, the squash really takes the edge off the tomatoes and the coconut milk makes it super silky with a hint of sweetness.

You can probably use any kind of squash for this, but I really like the pairing of acorn and butternut. Just roast your squash until tender with a little olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Super simple.

And same goes for the tomatoes – roast them the same way with the addition of some basil and red pepper flakes. Once the tomatoes are soft and bubbling, you pour the coconut milk over them to deglaze the pan. The milk will loosen up all those good bits that get stuck to the pan during roasting. (Side note: If you’re pressed for time you can take the short road and either boil the squash and/or use a can of fire-roasted tomatoes instead of roasting everything). Once it cools some, just blend it all up, adding water and additional coconut milk until you get to your desired consistency. I like to add the little drizzle of coconut milk on top as well cause it’s pretty.

We’ve served this soup on the food truck with great success. And it was funny to watch a lot of our customers order it reluctantly and then end up being really into it!

Garlic confit is about as simple as it gets. Literally just some oil and peeled garlic cloves roasted for about 40 minutes. You can’t screw it up…well, unless you burn the garlic. It’s rustic, but absolutely decadent at the same time, with that rich and smoky flavor and sweet finish. It definitely has a way of making you feel like you’re treating yourself to something special.

You can throw in some sea salt and cracked peppercorns or red pepper flakes or even some fresh herbs to add some depth to your confit. I did all of the above, as well as some sweet Italian peppers in this particular batch.

Roast it all in a covered casserole dish until the garlic is soft, but not brown because brown equals bitter. If you decide to add the peppers, make sure you remove the seeds and tops and skin before eating. The skin should peel right off as long as the peppers were cooked enough.

There are so many practical applications for garlic confit in the kitchen, so it’s nice to make a big batch to keep in the fridge so you can:

1. Impress your friends with a no-big-deal snack of velvety garlic confit and crackers, like so…

2. Use the flavored oil in your cooking.
3. Whip some confit into a salad dressing or some softened butter.
4. Be cute about it and jar some up as gifts.
5. Or drop a few cloves into a pasta dish or a frittata, like we did here…

Just look at this thing.

Can it even be called a pie though if it lacks that fundamental flaky element? Semantics. If it looks like a pie and it feels like a pie, it’s a pie! No crust means less fuss and a whole lot healthier pie (in most cases), so lets just go with it.

For me, the only issue going crustless presents is a structural one. How can you get the whole thing to stay together without first laying that crusty foundation? I’ll tell you: It’s all in the fruit you use and how you slice it. Here, we went with apples – the most structurally sound of fruits. First, you’ll want to peel the apples and then use a mandolin or sharp knife to slice the fruit into 1/8-inch rounds. Don’t cut the fruit into wedges before doing this because you want your slices of fruit to be as large as possible. They should be like sheets. So just work away at one side of the apple until almost reaching the core and then flip it over and do the other side. Then you can slice the excess pieces off the core and reserve them for the binding sauce we’re going to make.

Binding sauce? I don’t know, that’s just what I’m calling it. The binding sauce is basically an apple sauce made by cooking down the excess apple pieces with some water, sugar and a thickening agent like cornstarch or arrowroot. Then you blend it up to make the silky sauce that’s brushed between each layer of apples as you build your pie. It holds all the layers together, like cement, so it’s not a step you can skip!

Assemblage of the pie is pretty simple. You start by lightly greasing the bottom of the pie pan, and then sprinkling with some cinnamon and sugar. Then you do a neat installation of apple rounds, followed by the binding sauce. And so on, until you get to the top of your pie dish. Like so…

And stacking it all up this way will ensure that you get a nice and neat cross section. Like so…

The blueberry sauce is cooked in the same exact way. It’s totally optional, but I recommend it for a little extra flair (the color bleeds through and is so pretty). Spread it on top of the pie just before baking.

I didn’t add the walnuts until the end so they wouldn’t burn. Another option is to sprinkle on some granola if you for that crunch you might miss without the crust.

It’s been a hectic, hectic couple of months. The food truck is keeping us busier than either of us could have imagined. Here’s a super quick rundown of the last couple days just to give you an idea. I’ll spare you all the messy details…
Yesterday: Up at 8am to shop for produce. Stop at mechanic to see if he can fix the tail lights this week. Then straight to the kitchen to cook from 11-6:30 with a 30 min break for lunch (kind of). Load up and drive to location. Set up and sell food until midnight. Yes, midnight. Drive back to the kitchen to unload and clean up. Get home at 12:45. Asleep at 2 a.m.
Today: Wake up at 8:30. Skip breakfast to get to kitchen on time. Clean the truck until it shines because we have the health inspection today. Make some empanadas. Load up and drive to location by 11 a.m. Set up for lunch shift while nervously awaiting inspector. We pass, of course. Head back to the kitchen at 2:30 to grab our cars and go our separate ways for a quick 2-hour break (during which I can hopefully finish this blog post and put on some makeup). Head back to truck at 5 where we’ll be until 10 tonight.

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

So yea, it’s a lot. Sometimes we want to drop to the floor and cry. And sometimes we do. But we always remind each other that we wouldn’t want it to be going any other way. We’re SO thankful to be making this actually happen and that the customers keep coming back! (Even if it is killing us.)

Right now we’ve got one employee helping us in the kitchen so we just need to find someone who can be on the truck a couple nights a week so we actually alternate some nights off! The ‘help wanted’ sign is going up next week so let’s keep our fingers crossed. Hiring someone to work on the truck was a tough call to make from a financial standpoint, but the idea is that if we can get some rest we can apply ourselves to growing the business in other ways. And enjoying life a little more.

It’s our first time at all this so it’s all trial and error. Any suggestions? Anyone looking for a job? Ha. Anyone else working their fingers to the bone in the food industry? Anyone else wake up with sore feet? That’s the worst part I think.

Everyone likes to ask us if we ever take days off. Those will come, I’m sure. But for now, we don’t generally work Friday or Saturday nights unless it’s a special event and we aim for either Sundays or Mondays off. Sometimes we get at least one day. And it ends up being laundry day. But hey, in the midst of all the food truck madness, we’ve managed to sneak off for both Thanksgiving and Christmas to spend some days with family – that’s one perk of being your own boss!

So there you have it. That’s why I’ve been somewhat absent from the blog the last few weeks. This blog has always been my happy place and I intend to keep it that way, which is exactly why I haven’t been too hard on myself when I can’t find the time to post a new recipe for a couple (or a few) weeks. I’m trying to remind myself that that’s okay to focus on the business right now, and that it’s better to update the blog when my mind is clear and free so that I can enjoy the process of sharing something with you all. So that’s what I’m doing! And thanks to a little break over Christmas, I was able to dedicate some time to a few recipes that I can’t wait to share in the coming weeks! Here’s the first of them…

This slaw is for all of you that like crunch. Cabbage, fennel and almonds. Crunch, crunch and crunch. It’s light and refreshing and healthy cause we use yogurt instead of mayo or cream! We’ve been serving this on the truck for a few weeks and people have been loving it. Even had a few customers say it’s the best slaw they’ve ever had. And why would they lie? Makes the 60-hour workweek worth it.

I use a handheld mandolin to shave the fennel and cabbage nice and thin. The almonds give it the just the right amount of healthy fat (instead of the fat you’d get from the mayo), which also balances the tanginess of the lemon yogurt dressing. I sweeten with honey or agave, but that’s up to you. The poppy seeds don’t add too, too much flavor wise to the slaw, but they’re a nice touch and so pretty!

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to be able to complete this post for you! Absence does make the heart grow fonder. But seriously, as we get into a groove with the truck and get our employee thing figured out, it’ll be back to regular programming here on Honest Fare. Promise.

Thanks for sticking around. xoxo, gabi

I think the temp ended up getting down to the low 50s so hot soup was perfect for all our truck-side diners. Floridians are so funny about cold weather. It’s like we want to fully embrace it when it comes around, but we’re simply not capable. We’re either not properly prepared or we’re simply in denial about it. Perfect example: the customer that came up to the window that night wearing a fur coat to her ankles and flip-flops on her feet. What? Only in Florida. We just don’t know what we’re doing. Anyway, the soup…the soup takes the place of boots, apparently.

I love parsnips. (see: Parsnip Potato Purée and Parsnip Carrot Pasta). They’re so magnificently aromatic, and unexpected. People are always pleasantly surprised by parsnips because they’re not all that common, which is another reason I love using them. The parsnips definitely set the tone in this soup, adding an element of sophistication to the sweet and earthiness of the carrots.

After a quick sauté, everything is boiled in some milk and water or veg stock until soft. You can blend it up using whatever device you like, but I definitely recommend an immersion blender when it comes to soups. I blended this one until really silky, but feel free to do less if you like it chunkier.

This soup is seriously fantastic. Velvety and comforting. And what makes it even better is that it’s the kind of thing that can go nicely as an accompaniment to a variety of meats or fish or pasta or whatever!

It’s essentially just some egg and flour, milk and butter on a pan. No big deal. But once in the oven, they start to puff up, and up and up, right before your eyes, until they’re peaking and spilling out of your pan. It’s insane. And so pretty!

I used a miniature cast iron pan so the ones you see here didn’t puff up as much as ones made in larger dishes can.
Exhibit A: this guy.

Don’t worry, they do actually deflate and settle once removed from the oven, which is kind of fun to watch too.

To help with rising:
1. Use room temp/warm eggs and milk.
2. Beat the eggs a lot before adding the rest of the components.
3. Get the pan immediately back into the oven once you pour the batter in.

Flavor wise, they’re kind of like a pancake, but not as cakey. Lighter and spongier. So maybe more like a soufflé. But…less delicate and eggy. In a way, they also kind of remind me of a crepe. Okay, forget it. You get the point. They are delicious.

The question is, where have these babies been hiding all my life? I’ve never seen them on a menu. Never heard any talk of them. Never even seen photos of such a thing. My mom recently introduced me to Dutch babies, sometimes referred to as German pancakes, after she had them at a bed and breakfast somewhere in Oregon. (Oops, can’t remember where right now.) She’s been all about them ever since, topping them with fruit and yogurt and syrup. I’ve made them several times now and see exactly why she’s so into them.

Traditionally, Dutch babies are finished off with a little lemon juice (which sounds weird) and powdered sugar. I’m not crazy about powered sugar so I messed around with a few other toppings. I did one with pumpkin puree, cinnamon and maple syrup. That was awesome. But, even better was the simple pairing of raspberries, sliced almonds and maple syrup.

Not sure what it was about this mix, but it was fantastic.

I was also really pleased with this savory one of sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes and arugula, topped with Romano cheese. Looks like a cute little deep-dish pizza!

They cool thing about Dutch babies is that you can play around with them. Just serve them up and let people have fun with the toppings. You can make large ones for people to share, or smaller individually sized ones like the ones I made here. They’re usually eaten for breakfast, but I think they’re good any time of the day depending on what you top them with.

Since taking the tuck out wasn’t going to be an option, we did the next best thing. Got pedicures and went shopping. Now, don’t be shaking your head. It’s all work related, I assure you. Our feet were exhausted and battered from the week, and we needed some new work shirts. Plus, spending relax time with your business partner is really important. Sometimes Janelle and I have to make an effort to actually just hang out and not work in order to be okay with how hard we work every other minute of the day. Like in romantic relationship, you’ve got to do fun and special things to keep the love in the air. The crappy weather gave us a chance to do that.

And the moral of the story is: Rain is bad for business, but good for the soul.

Reading is another thing the rain inspires. I did some of that too. Here are some good ones for your rainy days…

1. An Everlasting Meal

A philosophical approach to cooking that’s more concerned with how to think about cooking, rather than instruction and recipes. Can’t wait to get my hands on it. Written by Tamar Alder, who worked at Chez Panisse under Alice Waters. Read the forward written by Alice Waters and an excerpt from the book here.

Tamar talks a little about the book’s concept in this video. Such a soothing disposition.

2. ACQ Taste Magazine

A new magazine dedicated to food culture with respect to design, art, architecture, fashion, film and music. Check it.

3. Kinfolk Magazine

There’s been a good amount of conversation about this new journal online. Its focus is on appreciating the beauty in small gatherings and a table of friends and loved ones. Kinfolk explores the relationship we have with food, eating and mealtime. Beautiful photography too. I’m into it, but take a peek at the magazine for yourself.

Heeeey, I think I actually see some sunshine out there today! I’ll be back later in the week with a recipe. Promise.