Gove Hill Retreat - Recipe Blog

Gove Hill Bill's Pasta dish

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:45:59 -0800

This is one of the favorite pasta dishes we serve. It is easily made vegetarian by omitting the sausage. Bill has also been known to add mini mozzarella cheese chunks at the end for a cheesier dish. Enjoy!
1 red Pepper Julianne (aprox. 2 cups)
1 green Pepper Julianne (approx 2 cups)
1-2 large onion, Julianne approx (3 cups)
1 12 oz can tomato past
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 28 cans crushed tomatoes
3 med. Zucchinis quartered and sliced (or a combination of zucchini and summer squash)
1 ½ cups dried tomatoes, julienne
6 cups mushrooms quartered (baby portabellas or white)
2 pounds Italian sausage, cooked, halved and sliced
¼ Cup Fresh basil
1 T Tarragon
2-3 Tablespoons minced Garlic
1 T Marjoram
½ T Oregano
4 pounds Penne Pasta
Washed baby spinach leaves 12oz bag
Fresh Parmesan cheese, grated.

Sautee mushrooms with tarragon in olive oil, set aside.

Sautee zucchini with basil in olive oil, set aside

In a large pot, sauté onion, peppers with garlic and marjoram, oregano, basil in olive oil. Add tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, dried tomatoes and cooked Italian sausage. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add small amount of sugar if too acidic. Cook over low heat for 30 to 60 minutes.

Cook 4 # of penne according to package directions.

Drain Pasta and put in a large dish and toss with olive oil to keep from sticking. Keep warm if needed.

Add Zucchini to sauce and cook addition 1 minute.

Add spinach and sauce to Pasta and toss together, top with cheese and serve.

Oat rolls

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:30:12 -0800

2 cups boiling water
1 cup old fashion oats, uncooked
1 Tablespoon salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
½ cup honey
1 cup of water
2 Tablespoons of yeast
5 cups of flour

Place boiled water into a large mixing bowl. Add oats, salt, oil and honey and stir together. Let rest a few minutes to allow the oats to expand. Add additional water and wait for the mixture to read 110 degrees Fahrenheit before adding dry ingredients.

Add yeast to 4 cups of flour and add to oat mixture. Mix until well incorporated and the dough develops some elasticity. Add remaining flour as needed to make a soft, but not sticky, dough. Coat dough with a thin layer of oil to prevent drying, and set covered to rise until double in volume.

Punch down dough, either weigh out to 1 ¾ to 2 ounce rolls, or 1 ½ pound loaves. Place in greased pans. Let rise until double again. Bake at 375 until golden brown and cooked in the center. Cook rolls about 15-20 minutes. Loaves will take at least 30-45 minutes. Brush with melted butter and cool. Store in refrigerator for several days or this bread freezes well as long as it is well wrapped.

Makes about 35 rolls or 2 loaves. Recipe may be halved or doubled if you are cooking for a crowd. Rolls may be rewarmed wrapped in a very low oven (140 or so degrees) for 10-20 minutes.

From Bill Clark at Gove Hill Retreat. Recipe given to him from Roland Dow over 30 years ago. We use it for our dinner rolls. They always get rave reviews.

Lentil and Sausage Soup

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:29:44 -0800

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
2 Cups chopped leaks (some greens)
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon dried Thyme leaves
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cumin
1 ½ Cups chopped Carrots
1 ½ Cups chopped Celery
6 Cups chicken and/or sausage broth
8 oz dry lentils
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
½ pound Kielbasa, cubed
½ pound chorizo sausage, cubed (use more hot sausage if desired or all kielbasa for a more mild flavor)

Put cubed meat into a sauce pan with enough water to cover the meat. Bring to a boil and turn to a simmer for 10 minutes. Remove meat and set aside. Skim fat off of broth. Set broth aside. Measure stock and add enough chicken stock to make 6 Cups of stock.

Heat oil in large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté leeks, garlic, salt, thyme, pepper and cumin until leaks are softened. Stir in Carrots and Celery and sauté for 5 minutes. Add combined stock, lentils and tomato paste. Cover and simmer for 50 minutes or until lentils are tender. Add sausage and simmer 10 more minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese or hot sauce if desired.

Servings: 6

Crispy Caramel Corn

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:15:43 -0800

This recipe came years ago from Bill’s Friend, Zelda Knisley of Chester, VT. It is a popular snacks we serve at Gove Hill. Be careful, once you start tasting it, it is hard to not to eat the whole bowl.

Crispy Caramel Corn
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix in a large pot (mixture will expand as it cooks)
2 Cups of brown sugar, packed
1 Cup of Margarine (or butter if you wish)
½ cup of White corn syrup
1 teaspoon of salt

Stir together as it melts and starts to boil. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly add

½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Pour over 7 quarts of unseasoned popped corn (about 1 cup unpopped) and mix to coat the popped corn. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray (such as Pam). Spread mixture over 2 cookie sheets and bake for 1 hour, turning and re-coating the popcorn mixture every 15 minutes. Loosen the popcorn from the cookie sheet, but cool completely before storing or it won’t become crisp! Enjoy.

Store any remaining popcorn in tightly sealed container.

Variations:
Add 2 cups of unsalted peanuts, pecans or mixed nuts to the popcorn and caramel mix before baking.
Use maple extract in place of vanilla extract for nice change.

Preparing Apples for the freezer.

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:54:35 -0800

This year Gove Hill Retreat has a large crop of apples. Of course, we can't use them all up before they spoil, so we prepare them for freezing. This way we can enjoy them for months to come.
Here is how we do it.
For each pie, we use around 3 pounds of apples per pie.
We peel, core and slice the apples as we would for a fresh pie.
The apples may then be tossed in lemon or orange juice to reduce the browning. The apples will taste the same in your pie if you do this step or not.
We measure the apples and put 8-9 cups into a plastic freezer bag.
Here you have a choice. You may season and add your thickener now and freeze with your apples for an easy pie later, or leave the apples unseasoned, ready for pie or other recipe that you wish later on.
We then seal them tightly and place in the freezer.
Before cooking into a pie, I thaw the apples overnight in the refrigerator, or more quickly in the microwave if I'm in a hurry. The bags always leak some apple juice, so do put the bag into a dish to catch the apple juice.
If you didn't season them before freezing, now is the time to add your thickeners and seasonings for your pie filling to your apples.
Place into your prepared crust for baking.
Feel free to use your frozen apples in crisp, strudel, muffins and other apple desserts.
The taste of fall, all winter long.

Maple cream pie

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:44:40 -0800

This also makes a great maple mousse.

Servings: 8

Mix together

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup water

1 Tablespoon gelatin (1 packet)

3/4 cup maple syrup (dark amber or cooking grade give the best flavor)

½ cup light cream

1/2 tsp maple extract

3/4c heavy cream, whipped to 1 1/2 cup whipped cream OR 1 ½ cups non-dairy topping (ie: cool whip)

Cook first five ingredients in a stainless bowl over (not in) simmering water. Whisk continuously, until 165° F Add maple extract.

Cool mixture in refrigerator to 60°F,occasionally whisking until starts to thicken.

whip heavy cream, when forming firm peaks, add 3 T sugar, gradually until well mixed and cream is making firm peaks.

Fold in whipped cream, (or use cool whip, omit 3T of sugar as is already sweetened.) Pour into a prepared 9 inch pie shell (regular, graham or chocolate cookie crumb if you like) or put in individual serving dishes for mousse.

Garnish with rosettes of whipped cream and a pecan half for each slice.

Cool several hours until set.

Serve and enjoy.

County Corn Chowder

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:39:49 -0800

This delicious soup is one of Gove Hill's most requested recipes . It is a variation on a Oyster corn chowder that Bill Clark learned in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bill Clark- Gove Hill Retreat Center
Makes about 5 servings

Ingredients:
½ cup diced carrots
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced celery
¼ tsp fine diced garlic
½ cup diced potatoes cooked “al dente”
½ pound diced cooked smoked sausage OR Keilbasa
6 oz. frozen corn
1 cup chicken OR other light stock
1 cup Milk
2 cups stock from sausage
Thyme leaves (1 to 2 tsp)
Cracked black pepper

Method:

                              1). Take the diced sausage, and simmer in about 2 cups of water for 15 minutes or so, and save the broth ( I like to cook the sausage the day before, and cool so it is easier to skim off the fat). Separate the stock from sausage

                              2) Saute the onion, celery, and carrot “(Miripoix)” in a sauce pan with about 2 TB of margarine until tender with thyme leaves (To Taste) Then add about 2 TB of flour to vegetable mixture and stir in. Add the diced sausage next.

                              3) Combine the milk and chicken stock with the sausage broth, and cook the frozen (or fresh) corn until tender. After cooking corn blend it lightly to break down the corn some. An immersion blender works well for blending.

                              4) Now add the hot stock to the vegetable rouix and whisk in. (DO Not Boil) Bring mixture to simmer. When soup thickens, you may need to add a bit of light cream or evaporated milk to get it to best consistency. You can hold it in a double boiler or crock pot till you are ready to serve. Add potatoes near serving as they will otherwise be too soft.

                              4) Finish seasoning with cracked black pepper, chopped parsley, and salt to taste.

Maple Syrup at Gove Hill Retreat

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:38:03 -0800

In the spring of 2011, I had the pleasure of making a short video about our maple grove and our neighbor, Jim Smith, who taps the trees and processes the sap into pure Vermont Maple Sugar.

Spritz butter cookies

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 06:37:10 -0800

Filmed by our son, Josh Clark, for a school project. This describes how to make our yummy spritz butter cookies. You may find this recipe a bit large. It may be halved, or freeze some of the cookies for enjoying later.
Spritz Butter Cookies
Sift together and place into a large mixing bowl
6 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 teaspoon Baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Blend into dry ingredients; mix until it looks like coarse crumbs:
3 cups soft butter (or margarine)
Break three eggs into a measuring cup. Add enough water to make a total of 3/4 cups of liquid. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. Add extract and liquids to the butter mixture until thoroughly mixed.
Using a pastry bag or cookie press, press cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. If the cookies dough is too stiff, you may need to soften butter in the dough to make it easier to manage. Sprinkles may be added to cookies before baking. Bake cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes. Edges of the cookies will be just turning golden brown.
Cool on rack. Enjoy or freeze for later use.