Dukkah Potatoes

from Edible Madison 54 • Fall 2023

Pepper-Crusted Steak with Hazelnut Slaw

No fall harvest meal is complete without potatoes, and these potatoes—seasoned with an Egyptian-style dukkah nut and spice blend—pair perfectly with pepper-crusted steak. Much like the steak rub, you will end up with more dukkah spice blend than you need for this recipe, but we promise you won’t be sad about it.

Serves 8 . Prep 10 min . Cook 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons melted butter

4 pounds gold potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup whole milk Greek yogurt

¼ large red onion, finely diced

¼ cup finely chopped cilantro

For Dukkah Spice Blend:

1 cup hazelnuts (or shelled pistachios)

1 tablespoon fennel seed

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Pinch cayenne

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and butter. Divide half the mixture between two large baking sheets, using a pastry brush to create an even coating. Spread about half the potatoes on each pan, then brush the remaining oil/butter mixture over the top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Roast the potatoes for an hour until crispy and browned around the edges.

4. To make the dukkah spice blend, toast the hazelnuts over medium heat in a large skillet until the oils start to release, about 8 minutes. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor. Allow the hazelnuts to cool, then pulse until finely ground.

5. In the same skillet, toast the fennel, cumin and coriander seeds over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Grind in a spice grinder until finely ground. Combine with the ground hazelnuts, salt and cayenne.

6. To serve, top the potatoes with a generous sprinkle of dukkah spice blend followed by dollops of yogurt, onion and cilantro.

Recipe by Sarah Leong of Squashington Farm

This sautéed kale salad is a perfect start to fall when the harvest is at its peak. Most of the ingredients can be pulled straight from the garden making it an ideal addition to a fall menu. The sweet potatoes and cranberries nicely balance the bitterness of the kale, and the mushrooms add a subtle hint of nuttiness that brings it all together. This recipe uses white button mushrooms because they’re so easy to source but the recipe is tasty with other mushrooms like lion’s mane and oyster as well.

Serves 4 . Prep 10 min . Cook 40 min

INGREDIENTS

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

½ large yellow onion, diced

½ red bell pepper, diced

4 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced

2 bunches kale, stems removed, leaves roughly chopped

1 teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

Juice of ½ lemon, freshly squeezed

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Toss the sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until browned, about 25-35 minutes, rotating halfway through.

3. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a deep skillet and warm over medium-high heat. Add the onions, peppers and mushrooms and cook for about 3–4 minutes or until the onions are translucent. Add the kale, salt and pepper. Sauté the mixture for 7–10 minutes or until the greens are tender.

4. Remove the kale mixture from heat. Add the roasted sweet potatoes, cranberries, and top with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve immediately.

To be completely honest, I’m not much of a baker. As a vegetable farmer for many years, salads come much more easily to me than dessert. When it comes to sweets, I’m kind of a two-trick pony. I tend to lean on local sweeteners like maple syrup and honey, and I love to brown some butter for a “wow” factor. This recipe has both.

Serves 6-8 . Prep 15 min . Cook 40 min

INGREDIENTS

6 cups diced apples and pears (in whatever ratios you have)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon cinnamon, divided

½ tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup rolled oats

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a 9x9-inch baking dish, combine the diced apples and pears with maple syrup and 2 teaspoons of the cinnamon. Toss gently with a spatula to combine.

3. In a small sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Let it continue cooking until it foams, turns clear, and then takes on a golden shade (and smells nutty). Stir well with a spatula, scraping all the little browned bits into the mixture. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining teaspoon of cinnamon with the oats, brown sugar, flour and salt. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry blender or two forks until the butter is well-incorporated and you have a crumbly mixture with very small pieces. Spread this mixture over the apples and pears, and press down gently so it’s even.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until the crumble topping is golden brown.

1 Campo di Bella With a restaurant, farmstay and onsite winery, Campo di Bella is Wisconsin’s very own Italian “agritourismo” tucked right into the beautiful hillsides of rural Mount Horeb. Marc and Mary Ann Bellazinni’s Italian heritage inspired this 20-acre farm of their dreams. In the beginning Campo di Bella was simply a CSA farm, but Marc and Mary Ann eventually shifted their focus to a winery and offering Italian- and French-inspired meals at the farm. Open for multicourse farm-to-table dinners on Friday and Saturday evenings year-round, Campo di Bello shapes their seasonal menu around the vegetables grown in their garden and pasture-raised heritage lamb. Other ingredients are sourced as close to the farm as possible from local artisan producers. They also serve wine made from grapes harvested from the farm’s own vineyard and offer lodging through Airbnb, complete with views overlooking Blue Mounds State Park and cuddles with farm dog Stella.

2 Rooted Made up of two farms–Troy Farm and Badger Rock Urban Farm–and countless community-based programs, Rooted is a Madison nonprofit devoted to increasing equitable access to land, fresh food and learning opportunities throughout Wisconsin. The Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, where Renesha Carter formerly held the role of Community Connector, is a gathering place for the neighborhood providing seasonal, summer youth, and special activities at low or no cost to participants. The programs are aimed at helping enrich and strengthen the community while also nurturing resilience within each individual. The farms also serve as educational spaces for community members that double as spaces for vegetable production. Their certified organic produce is available through their membership program, at their on-site farm stands and at the Northside Farmers’ Market. Carter currently works for Public Health of Madison and Dane County with the Women, Infants & Children Program which provides healthy foods and health information to women, infants and children nutritionally at risk.

3 Mastodon Valley Farm Nestled in the hills of the Kickapoo River watershed, Mastodon Valley Farm raises grass-fed beef, pastured pork and prairie-fed chicken regeneratively on their 220-acre farm just outside Viola. Peter and Maureen Allen deliver their meat across the region through a meat CSA that operates much like a produce CSA, receiving payment in advance for regular shipments of mixed meat products. Wondering about their name? Peter and Maureen like to say they manage their land like mastodons, keystone species who once held back the growth of a woody understory, allowing for diverse and highly productive landscapes. Today at Mastodon Valley Farm, they are restoring diverse savanna ecosystems that provide abundant and delicious food. For those interested in learning their methods, their Mastodon Valley Farm School has courses available to help farmers and homesteaders become a keystone species themselves–teaching how to co-create resilient, regenerative and productive landscapes.

4 Squashington Farm Farming together since 2013,Sarah Leong and Pat Hager run a small, certified organic CSA and market farm just outside Mount Horeb along with their two children and pup Butternut. The majority of their 150 CSA members pick up directly from their farm or at the Mount Horeb Farmers’ Market through a market-style share (where you take what you want and leave what you don’t). Their CSA also offers a fruit share in partnership with Atoms to Apples and a bread share through Tisha’s Delicious Bakery. They are mainstays at the Thursday night Mount Horeb market and show up nearly year-round with their produce and value-added goods. Sarah and Pat just wrapped up their first season at the Dane County Farmers’ Market–offering everything from greens to beans.