Now that the kids are heading back to school and weekday schedules are busy with activities, it's time to plan those quick, nutritious, and easy-to-prepare dinners. If you haven't already, sign up for Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon. Our meal-kit delivery service is full of delicious, wholesome dishes that can be on the table in 40-minutes or less.
Every week, I order several Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon meal kits to enjoy at my farm. Yesterday, my housekeeper, Elvira Rojas, cooked one of the kits I selected from the week's menu - Fast! Lemon-Herb Burrata Ravioli & Prosciutto with Mint & Peas. It's just one of our easy, satisfying, and flavorful meals. The entire dish was cooked in 20-minutes. And as always, all the main ingredients are pre-measured, pre-packaged, and included with the delivery. Our service features so many inspiring recipes and cooking ideas, and you can choose the recipes that best fit your family's lifestyle. Just go to the web site right now to subscribe and see our flash deals!
Here are some photos.
Whenever we cook our Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon meal kits, we remove all the ingredients included and place them on the counter. These ingredients are pre-portioned and come in easy to open packaging. All one needs to provide is the olive oil, salt, and pepper if needed. One of the great things about our meal kits is that we include a large recipe card with the photo of the finished dish on the front with the estimated cooking time listed…
… And images on the back showing each of the main preparation steps. Plus, we include the ingredients list, the tools or supplies necessary, and a rundown of the nutrition values. These recipe cards are great to save for future use.
The first step is to empty the two tubs of mascarpone into a medium bowl and combine with 1/3-cup water. Mascarpone is made similarly to American cream cheese, but it uses a base of whole cream rather than milk. Like cream cheese, it is a fresh cheese that is not aged before it is eaten.
Then, using a whisk Elvira mixes it all until smooth and adds pepper to season.
Next, Elvira heats two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Once heated Elvira adds the prosciutto piece by piece in an even layer. The word prosciutto, which translates to “ham” in Italian, is made only from the hind legs of pigs and is aged during a dry-curing process. There are typically two types of prosciutto: prosciutto cotto, which is cooked, and prosciutto crudo, which is uncooked, yet cured.
The prosciutto pieces are cooked until fragrant and browned in spots. Prosciutto is a flavorful, delicately sweet and salty product. It typically has a salmon pink to brownish-red color. Because prosciutto is already salty, our recipe does not call for any extra salt.
It only takes about two to three minutes to cook. Elvira also flips each piece halfway.
After the prosciutto is cooked, it is placed on a plate and put to the side.
In the same skillet, Elvira heats one-and-a-half tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high.
She adds the ravioli and cooks without stirring for about two minutes until the ravioli is golden brown on the bottom. Each ravioli is filled with burrata, lemon, and herbs. Burrata is a semisoft white Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. While mozzarella is more solid, burrata is a casing of mozzarella filled with soft, creamy curd.
The peas are added on top along with 1/3-cup water. Peas are so nutritious. They are a good source of vitamins C and E, zinc, and other antioxidants that strengthen the immune system.
Elvira quickly covers the skillet and cooks until the ravioli is tender and the peas are warmed. This only takes about five minutes.
Elvira picks the mint leaves off the stems…
… and chops them up into small pieces. One can also tear them into bite-sized pieces.
Elvira also tears the prosciutto into small pieces.
The prosciutto is plentiful and crispy. As a meat, prosciutto contains a good source of protein and various vitamins and minerals such as iron and thiamine. Additionally, prosciutto’s main fatty acid is oleic acid which is actually a “heart friendly” fat.
Next, Elvira adds the mascarpone to the skillet.
She also adds half of the prosciutto and half of the mint and then stirs until all the ravioli is coated with sauce. This doesn’t take long – just about 30-seconds.
The ravioli is plated and topped with some of the remaining prosciutto and mint and it’s ready to enjoy. Our ravioli looks perfect – just like the photo. And it’s so delicious. Sign up for Martha Stewart & Marley Spoon today and enjoy these dishes with us.
It's very important to keep up with the maintenance at my Bedford, New York farm - especially the four miles of carriage road that meander around my homes, my gardens, my pastures, and through the expansive woodland.
Every year, my outdoor grounds crew edges all the roads to make sure they are neat and tidy. This summer it was also necessary to re-cover the roads with a fresh layer of gravel. Once the 3/8-inch native washed stone was dropped, it had to be spread evenly, so the gravel was level and properly graded on the surface. Over the last several weeks, Pete Sherpa and Fernando Ferrari took on the tedious task.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
My farm sits on 153-acres of land that includes four miles of gravel-covered carriage road. Gravel roads are attractive and accumulate less pollutants over time, but it is important to keep them well-maintained.
This photo shows the carriage road leading into my Japanese Maple Tree Woodland. All the carriage roads were designed with my horses in mind. Whenever I can, I enjoy riding my horses around the farm, visiting all the other animals and viewing the gardens.
Over time, the gravel shifts, storms cause holes in areas where rain water tends to pond, and heavy use creates ruts.
High traffic areas such as this carriage road alongside my winding pergola often need attention and are edged and raked a couple times a year.
Strong storms cause run-off that also washes the road gravel away like this area along the carriage road through the azalea border.
Earlier this summer, we called in our friends from Lawton Adams Materials, Supplies & Recycling – a company in Somers, New York that offers a large variety of construction and landscaping materials including sand, gravel, topsoil, mulch, wall stone, and more.
Large 10-wheel dump trucks can carry anywhere from 13 to 25 tons of gravel per load. Here is a truck filled with the 3/8-inch native stone gravel I selected. It would take many truck loads to cover the entire four miles of carriage road here at the farm.
As the truck moves along the carriage road, the gravel is released from the bottom of tailgate.
The gravel is dropped slowly and evenly.
Here is the back all empty and ready to go back to the facility for another load.
And here is what it looks like once it is dropped. The gravel is in the center of the road and now needs to be raked to fill the width of the 12-foot wide surfaces.
Pete uses a landscape rake to spread and level the gravel to the edge of the road. This area is also high traffic. It leads from the allée of lindens to my chicken coops.
Fernando is in another area also leveling and spreading the gravel dropped by the dump truck.
This stone is not only pretty, but water drains more quickly through small stones and gravel, so it is good to use around the farm.
Around the stable, Pete also uses the tractor bucket to level and spread the gravel over a larger area.
And then Fernando manually rakes it closer to the stable buildings. We do a lot of our projects by hand – it takes longer, but the jobs are done more carefully and very nicely. Fernando also uses a landscape rake. This razor-back aluminum landscape rake has a wide head and teeth to level gravel quickly and smoothly.
Fernando also takes on the task of “raking the roads.” This attachment is made from four soft garden rakes secured to a wooden frame. Here is Fernando in our Polaris Ranger pulling the rake.
We created this special device to rake the gravel, so it is even. This is done every couple of weeks to keep the roads looking neat and tidy.
This is our Kubota M4-071 tractor. It’s designed to use auxiliary equipment such as the L1154 front loader that helps us transport so many things around the farm – potted plants, mulch, wood, etc.
On the back is our Land Pride PR1690 Power Rake. This piece of equipment has a 90-inch rake to work on large properties. We are using it to rake and grade the carriage roads, but it is also capable of windrowing soil, rocks, and debris in a field.
Here is a closer look at the roller of the power rake. When it is lowered onto the road surface and tilted to the proper angle, this attachment moves the gravel and road dust to the center, creating the proper crown for the surface. There should be about a three-percent slope from the shoulder to the center of the road. On less used roads, the power rake freshens up the existing gravel as it turns and brings any compacted gravel to the surface.
When maintaining a road it is important to ensure it has a crowned driving surface and a shoulder area that slopes directly away from the edge for water drainage.
Here is the finished area behind my stable with the allée of lindens in the distance – it looks great.
And here is the carriage road near my Winter House with the stately grove of bald cypress trees ahead. I love how the roads look after they are done.
This time of year is always fun at my farm because there’s so much growing in the vegetable garden.
It's important to check the garden every day - one never knows what will be ready for picking. At last check, we had cucumbers, okra, eggplants, artichokes, onions, kale, and more - all thriving and doing so well. And, we'll soon have tomatoes to pick too. I always look forward to having lots of farm-grown produce to use in my summer cooking and in salads.
Enjoy these photos.
Here in the Northeast, August is typically very warm and dry, which means watering is a must in the gardens. This year, we’ve been fortunate – we’ve also had some good soaking rains. There’s a good chance of rain again tomorrow, but when it’s needed, we water, water, water.
This new half-acre vegetable garden is thriving. Here is our bed of okra. Okra leaves are medium to large in size and oblong to heart-shaped, and covered in small bristles or spines.
And then look closer for the fruits. I love okra, but for some, okra is too slimy when cooked. Okra is very healthy, however – it’s high in fiber, vitamin-C and full of antioxidants, so give it try! Okra or Okro, Abelmoschus esculentus, is also known in many English-speaking countries as ladies’ fingers or ochro.
Okra is a “cut-and-come-again” vegetable. Keep cutting the pods every day or two, and they will keep on growing. The okra is ready when they’re about three to four inches long.
We have already harvested lots of eggplant, but there are more growing. It’s a good season for eggplants.
Pick eggplants when they are young and tender. Picking a little early will encourage the plant to grow more, and will help to extend the growing season. I prefer to pick them when they are smaller.
Sweet bell peppers are popular in the garden – all grassy in flavor and super-crunchy in texture. I love making stuffed peppers – so easy and so delicious.
We have so many peppers growing – sweet and hot. Always be careful when picking peppers – keep the hot ones separated from the sweet ones, so there is no surprise in the kitchen.
Beets – the beetroot is the taproot of the beet plant, and is often called the table beet, garden beet, red or golden beet or simply… beet. Beets are highly nutritious and very good for maintaining strong cardiovascular health. It’s low in calories, contains zero cholesterol and is rich in folates, vitamin-A, B-complex and antioxidants.
Our onions are doing excellently also. We planted a lot of white, yellow and red onions.
Here’s a closer look at one of our onions. Onions are harvested when the underground bulbs are mature and flavorful. The telltale harvest sign is when the stalks turn yellowish or brown, dry out a bit, and topple over.
There were a few ready to pick. This is our first harvest of onions.
Look at the cucumbers! These are perfect, and we have so many this season. All growing in the center of the garden on our fence-trellis.
Cucumbers, Cucumis sativus, are great for pickling – I try to find time for pickling every year.
Cucumbers require a long growing season, and most are ready for harvest in 50 to 70 days from planting. The fruits ripen at different times on the vine, but it is essential to pick them when they are ready. If they are left on the vine too long, they tend to taste bitter.
One can harvest any time of day, but when possible, the best picking time is early morning, when the sun is just clearing the eastern horizon and greens are still cool and dew-covered from the previous night.
And this yer, we’ve had bounties of summer squash for all to share.
Our bed of kale is still going strong – very pretty with ruffled leaves. Kale or leaf cabbage is a group of vegetable cultivars within the plant species Brassica oleracea.
And then there are the tomatoes. Everyone waits so patiently for the tomatoes. In early August, gorgeous green fruits begin to grow.
We planted more than 120-tomato plants this year. All the plants are well-supported by bamboo stakes. We’re growing both hybrid and heirloom varieties. There are already so many fruits growing, but they need a little more time before harvesting.
Some of them are already red. Tomatoes are heat loving plants, so all the hot weather really helps our crops – the tomato vines are laden with fruit.
My garden just keeps on giving. I hope your gardens are just as productive as mine are this year. Enjoy your home-grown bounties.
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