Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe
Serves 4-6
Recipe by Jason Ditzler
8 ounces dry orecchiette
10 ounces broccoli rabe, rinsed and chopped
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
¼ cup grated aged Pecorino Romano
2 cloves garlic
1. Prepare pasta to package directions, reserving pasta water.
2. Peel and chop garlic, then sauté in skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil just until it starts to brown.
3. Rough chop broccoli rabe; toss in skillet with olive oil and garlic.
4. Add 1-2 ladles of reserved pasta water and cook broccoli rabe until tender.
5. Toss cooked broccoli rabe with cooked pasta. Top with Pecorino Romano and crushed red pepper. Drizzle with olive oilto finish.
Tofu Wraps
Serves 12
Recipe by Jason Ditzler
Ingredients:
Flour tortillias
Spinach
Marinated baked tofu
Pickled onions
Sriracha
Instructions:
Assemble using your favorite tortillas, layering with spinach, tofu, onions, and Sriracha on top for an extra kick of heat.
For the Tofu:
Drain and slice one container of tofu. Place in a zipper storage bag.
To the bag add ½ cup rice wine vinegar and 2 tablespoons turmeric. Marinate 4-5 hours.
Place marinated tofu on lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
*For the pickled onion:
1 large red onion
1 large carrot
1 cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Slice the top and bottom off the onion and then slice it in half from top to bottom. Remove the outer peel. Lay the cut surfaces of the onion onto the cutting board, and then slice into half moons about ⅛” thick. Peel and julienne carrot (cut into very thin matchsticks).
In a medium saucepan over medium to medium-high heat, bring the vinegars, sugar, and salt to a boil. Whisk until sugar and salt dissolve, then remove pan from heat and whisk in red pepper flakes. Carefully add sliced onion and carrot to the pan and gently stir to combine. Let mixture cool completely at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour into a glass container (I like to use a large canning jar), cover tightly with a lid, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. The pickled flavor will intensify over time, but they are good to go after resting overnight in the refrigerator.
*This recipe is for refrigerator pickling only and needs to be stored in a refrigerator.
Berry Galette with Cornmeal Crust
Serves 4-6
Recipe by Kirsten Ditzler
For the filling:
4 cups mixed berries (I like to use 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup raspberries, and 1 cup blueberries)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
For the egg wash:
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
For the cornmeal crust:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
¼ cup cold buttermilk
Optional: coarse sugar
1. Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter or some forks, cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbles.
3. Add buttermilk and stir until all is moist. Add 1 more tablespoon of buttermilk ifthe dough seems dry.
4. Gently knead the dough a few times until it starts to stick together. Make it into a ball and then flatten it. Wrap in plastic wrap to chill, for at least an hour or up to 3 days. (You can freeze it too. It will last in the freezer up to 3 months.)
5. Mix berries, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice together in a large bowl.
6. Cover tightly and let sit until the dough is ready.
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Season 10-inch cast iron skillet with butter sparingly on the bottom and sides and set aside.
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch
circle (or something like that). Transfer the dough to the prepared cast iron skillet.
10. Spoon the berries (without the juice!) into the center of the dough, leaving approximately 2 inches of dough border all around. Carefully fold the edges of the dough over the fruit, overlapping the dough where needed. Press gently to seal all edges of the galette.
11. Brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with the coarse sugar—totally optional, but makes for a pretty good looking dessert!
12. Bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes depending on oven and altitude. Allow to cool in the cast iron skillet about 10 minutes before serving. (It’s hard not to dig right in, but it’s worth the wait for the fruits to set.)
13. Serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream—whatever you fancy! (The Ditzlers pride themselves on their homemade whipped cream recipe, which we can attest is one of the best!)
The Ditzlers’ Homemade Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract.
1. Freeze a metal bowl and the wire whisk attachment for your mixer for about 20 min or until frosty.
2. Add heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to mixing bowl and whip on high until light and fluffy. Sugar can be adjusted to desired sweetness.
Photo by Jen Foster
“I have to eat extremely healthy now,” says Jason Ditzler. At the age of 37, he was running along Rawlinsville Road and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was a healthy guy, a US Army veteran, a nurse at Lancaster General Hospital. When he recovered, he decided he was no longer going to “punch the clock” as a nurse while he missed out on his children growing up. His wife Kirsten has her doctorate in physical therapy and “she worked really hard for that,” so he decided to be a stay at home dad. And then he decided to start a farm.
As it turns out, neither Jason nor Kirsten had ever farmed, but her family had this land, so they decided to give it a go and are currently building a home—and a business—from the ground up.
Starting Over
“I was a nurse for 12 years on the floor that focused on infectious disease, isolation patients, and post-op G.I. It may sound cliché, but I did enjoy helping people; most of the times when [I was] working with patients it was some of the worst times in their lives. Helping people through something like that was rewarding. I was working per diem when I had my heart attack. Obviously going through something like that is life changing. Going from being a caregiver to a patient was really difficult for me. I was used to helping people, but I wasn’t used to letting people help me. I was told to sit down and rest, but I’m not a sit down and rest kind of guy. I would try to mow the lawn or work in my wood shop and got in trouble for that. Those were the things that relaxed me though. I was a little lost; I didn’t know what to do. Nursing was a stressful job, so if I continued it would have to be part-time.”
He continues, “I’ve always had a big garden, so when I was offered the chance to take over a part of field to farm, I jumped at the opportunity. I traded one stress for a different kind of stress. I still use my nursing skills to care for people in my life; I stay at home and take care of the kids on a daily basis. I think producing food that’s organic—no pesticides, I try not to use GMO or processed foods whenever possible—giving people a healthy alternative for foods grown locally is another way of caring for people. The mentality hasn’t changed, it’s just shifted.”
Chasing Roots Farm is in its fourth year now. “We have a total of 20 acres; we farm a little under an acre, plus the pasture-raised chickens.” The farm specializes in different varieties of onions. They also grow produce like tomatoes, carrots, blueberries, raspberries, and more. In the off season, Jason likes to pursue his passion for woodworking.
Consumers and farmers of the past might be surprised to hear that the Ditzlers actually do most of their business via social media. They post what they have for sale that day or week, and folks nearby come to pick it up from their stand.
The Famous Farmer
Jason’s story has another interesting twist. “My sister gets me into a lot of things,” he laughs. “She went to see a Rachel Ray Show episode. She volunteered me to be a swimsuit model.” Jason says, “It was a trip to NY; it was fun. Then they found out that I had the farm and [Rachel] used some of my eggs to cook with on the show.”
Next, Jason got to cook with Mario Batali on another one of his sister’s adventures. She had submitted his story in a contest about overcoming a challenge. The broccoli rabe recipe they made together wound up on the menu at one of Batali’s famed restaurants in NYC.
Despite the twist of fate in their story, Jason and Kirsten have focused on their fortune (and have fun with the stories of Jason’s not one, but two, 15 minutes of fame). By rebuilding their dream together, they’re remaining true to their Lancaster County roots, Penn Manor High School grads farming right down the road from where they both grew up, feeding their community and raising their family (and some chickens).
Chasing Roots Farm
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