Bourbon Red Turkeys Get A New Home

We finally got our Bourbon Red Turkeys moved outside.  Here is they are loving their new pen.  We had to put a top on this pen as these turkeys are great flyers.  Luckily, my father had sent me fishing net - the kind used down in Florida - and it makes a great lightweight cover.  The turkeys are loving life... now.  Unfortunately, we lost two hens to predators before we figured out how they were getting into the pen.  We think we have it handled now.  But, boy, there's nothing like a caged turkey to call in all forms of predatory wildlife!  

We hope that the turkeys will breed, set on eggs, and eventually we'll have extra turkeys and will be able to sell Thanksgiving dinners.  Cross your fingers!

Yes, I know I sound goofy trying to get the tom to gobble.  Its amazing the silliness to which animals will drive you!

Summer Vegetable Tian/Ratatouille

I had green and yellow zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes.  What to make?  I scrolled through the internet and found a recipe for a vegetable tian.  Its very similar to the recipe for baked ratatouille, and I had to substitute vegetables.  So I think you could call it either.  The finished dish not only looks appetizing, but the herbs make it smell and taste amazing too!

Here's my version: 

Summer Vegetable Tian/Ratatouille

eggplant, peeled, sliced thin, salt and drain for 30 minutes then pat dry

green and yellow zucchini, sliced thin

tomatoes, sliced thin

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 med. onion chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried, or 1 Tbs. fresh thyme, minced

1 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary 

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses

Preheat oven to 400-degrees.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until translucent.  

Grease an 8 x8 baking dish.  Spread onion and garlic over the bottom of the dish. 

 Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the dish in an attractive pattern.  

Sprinkle with the thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper.  

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil, top with the cheeses, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more.  Until the cheese melts and is slightly browned. 

  

Yum!

(If you make this dish ahead and let it sit so that the flavors meld its even better!)

Tomatoes and Mozzarella

One of my absolute favorite summer treats is Caprese Salad.  I make my version with fresh-picked tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, a swirl of good olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Delicious!

From my garden!

Now, if I could just find some mozzarella di bufala - a fresh mozzarella made from the milk of a water buffalo.  This excerpt from Murray's defines the sublime mozzarella di bufala: 

Carefully crafted from the milk of water buffalo-- the richest milk in the cheesemaking arsenal, with more than twice as much butterfat as cow’s milk-- buffalo mozzarella is a gorgeous contradiction: at once feather-light and unmistakably rich, delicate and assertively full flavored, slightly sour, lightly gamy, buttery, grassy and tangy all at once.

Unfortunately, the $11.99 price tag (before shipping!) deters me from buying this.  Maybe someday...