My Market Menu: July Edition

This month’s market menu was celebrating star ingredients in unexpected ways. I wanted to find simple ingredients but use them in a slightly non-traditional way. This month I came home with ranch dressing mix, fresh zucchini, and ginger wine syrup from a local winery. It seemed slightly eclectic, but it turned into a very special menu with cheesy ranch rolls, stuffed zucchini soup, and a very special blueberry cake soaked in the ginger wine syrup. When I say I loved this month, I LOVED this month! I ended up making everything on this menu several times, and probably will again next month too!

So here’s my market menu for July! Are you hungry? Let’s dive in!

Cheesy Stuffed Ranch Rolls

I love homemade ranch! It’s creamy, cool, and tangy. I love how fresh and vibrant homemade ranch is vs store-bought. When I found some locally made ranch packets I decided to give it a try. Unlike the ultra salty versions you get at the store, this one was ultra herby, light, and quite delightful. I loved that the ranch mix uses ingredients commonly found in the fridge. No special ingredients required! Obviously this tastes amazing as salad dressing or as a dip, but my goal this month was to use my market menu items in unexpected ways.

The Saga of Ranch

I was initially inspired by Korean garlic bread. Korean garlic bread uses bread rolls like Hawaiian sweet rolls, a slightly sweetened cream cheese filling, and then they are dipped in a egg/butter mixture with lots of garlic and herbs. Korean garlic bread has a very garlicky, slightly sweet flavor profile. Ultimately I followed the same method, but omitted the cream cheese filling. Cream cheese overpowered the ranch flavors, and didn’t have the nostalgic ranch nod I was hoping for.

Method to the Ranch Madness

The method of making Korean garlic bread is reminiscent of making French bread because you dip the bread in an egg custard mixture. This allows the ranch reasoning and cheese to stick to the bread while it bakes. It also gives the bread a soft, glossy finish with a pillowy soft interior. I tried omitting the dipping, but the end result is a drier roll.

Third Times the Charm? More Like Eighth!

You would think that making ranch rolls would be straight forward…it’s actually way more complicated to get a roll that mimics the creamy texture and flavor of ranch dressing. While you would think you could make these exactly like normal garlic bread, it’s a little more nuanced. The lighter flavors of dill, parsley, and chives can get quickly hidden and lost. They aren’t half as strong as garlic is, so you need to approach it with milder complimenting flavors.

Ranch Roll Fails

Fail No. 1

The first fail started with straight up cream cheese. Unfortunately the tang from the cream cheese overpowered the ranch dressing and all you could taste was cream cheese. I was disappointed.

Fail No. 2

Next fail was a mix of cream cheese, garlic, and mozzarella. That also seemed too intense and ended up oily, curdled, and gloopy. The garlic overpowered the more subtle flavors of dill, parsley, and chives found in ranch, so it turned into a confusing flavor competition.

Success!

Finally after SEVERAL tries, multiple packets of ranch dressing, and many trips to the store, I opted for Parmesan, mozzarella and ranch dressing seasoning. Mozzarella was for the creamy cheese pull effect, Parmesan for the tangy flavor, and I let the ranch dressing seasoning shine as a key flavor ingredient. You end up with a delicately soft bread roll with noteworthy cheese-pulls and a beautiful herbaceous cheesy filling. This is not like garlic bread. It is an herby, dilly, light flavored bread roll that makes the perfect summer side.

My New Favorite Party Side

I love how addictive this ranch bread is! It’s perfect for parties because you are just dressing up Hawaiian sweet rolls! Best served hot, this is a perfect companion for hardy soups, spaghetti, and game days. If you are a ranch fan, this is another fun way to incorporate ranch!

For extra ranchness, you could top these with ranch dip or make ranch infused butter. The ranch possibilities are endless!

Stuffed Zucchini Soup

What does one do with never ending zucchini? Every summer it feels like anyone who grows zucchini is desperately trying to off load it on someone else. Here in the pacific northwest, zucchini seems to explode between July and September. What better way to celebrate the bounty of the season than with a summery stuffed zucchini soup!

I came home from the farmers market with a beautiful zucchini that I couldn’t wait to make my favorite stuffed zucchini soup right away!

This soup bursts with a rich hearty broth, tons of zucchini, and deliciously seasoned beef. This is the best one pot meal for busy back to school days, laid back weekends, and chill hosting parties. I suggest sprinkling gobs of Parmesan cheese on top for the perfect spoonful of stuffed zucchini soup. Mmmm! It’s the best type of comfort food!

Unlike most soups, this summer soup is baked. There’s no need to slave over a hot stove this summer! The slow roasting of the soup does wonders to the zucchini. They aren’t mushy, and they still retain a little bite similar to carrots. Baking soup is a revelation! It helps keep a very steady temperature and is as easy as it gets! You throw it together, call it good, and reap the rewards an hour later.

Here are a few tips you can keep in mind when making this soup:

1. Use 80% fat content in your beef. If it’s 90% the ground beef almost feels dry.
2. The amount of zucchini is very relative depending on what you have and your preference. I usually use two small zucchinis or one medium sized zucchini
3. The flavor of the soup will vary depending on the type of spaghetti sauce you use. I love using Arrabiata spaghetti sauce for a little spicy kick. However, any spaghetti sauce that includes garlic and herbs is delightful!

For the full recipe, check out my post on The Best Summer Stuffed Zucchini Soup!

Blueberry French Yogurt Cake With Ginger Wine Soak

And now we come to dessert! This was an exciting find. At my local farmers market there is a winery that makes syrups from their wines. It lends a very unique flavor profile. Think traditional syrup flavors but with a lingering acidic note from the wine. I have made their syrups into sodas before which is perfect, but I wanted this ingredient to shine in an unexpected way. My current life phase in the kitchen is limited to fast, simple, and recipes need to be easily pausable in case my little boy crawls off with a spatula or heads towards the dog water bowl! Enter the easiest cake in existence! No Measure French Yogurt Cake!

I am in LOVE with the traditional French method of no measure cakes. By measuring all the ingredients with a yogurt cup container, the clean up is very minimal. This means you need a spatula, mixing bowl, yogurt cup, and a cake pan!

French yogurt cake is super easy and highly rewarding to make! I can even make it holding my little boy while he tries to taste everything within reach! My little baby chef is definitely on his way to baking with me before he can walk. 😀

This is the recipe I followed. However, keep reading if you want to know how to add your own berry spin on this classic French cake! You can get the recipe here.

Ginger Wine Syrup

This month I discovered a ginger wine syrup at the farmers market. It’s got a pleasantly strong, aromatic ginger profile with a light remembrance of wine. I thought it would be the perfect soak for a cake! Since blueberries are currently in season, they were the perfect pairing for my French yogurt cake.

Whole Milk Yogurt Is Best

It’s actually quite difficult to find whole milk yogurt cups in the United States that aren’t Greek yogurt. Apparently we seem to prefer low-fat. Low-fat yogurt doesn’t work quite as well for baking cakes because it doesn’t contain quite enough fat content. Greek yogurt tends to be drier because it doesn’t contain as much liquid as normal whole milk yogurt. This cake does taste quite delicious with Greek yogurt. The cake crumb made with Greek yogurt is a little denser and reminiscent of muffins.

So, if you can find whole milk yogurt, do it! I have even saved a yogurt cup, bought a bigger tub of plain whole milk yogurt, and just used it as a measuring cup for this recipe.

Dust Your Cake Pans With Turbinado Sugar…Thank Me Later!

To make this cake extra special, I opted to coat the cake pan in turbinado sugar vs flour. This is not a sweet cake, so coating the cake pan in turbinado sugar adds a crunchy surprising texture and a little more sweetness.

Two Tricks You Need For Bright Blueberries!

Blueberries chemically react when you bake with them. I am no scientist, but when there is more of an alkaline base in your batter, it tends to turn bright blueberries to a greenish gray. Since the leavening agent in this cake is baking powder, the batter isn’t fully alkaline. However, I didn’t want to take any chances. The perfect hack to keep blueberries blue is to toss your blueberries in a tablespoon of lemon juice and coat them in flour. Flour helps the berries not sink to the bottom of the cake. Lemon juice introduces acid to the batter. This helps the blueberries keep their bright purple color!

The Most Versatile Cake Ever!

This cake is soo addictive. I have made it multiple times for various occasions. It’s perfect paired with tea or coffee, sharing with friends, or as an after dinner treat at the end of a long day. I LOVE this cake! Mix it up and add chocolate chip cookies, try different berry combinations, or even make it with apricots or peaches. I can’t wait to make this cake again soon! But I need to wait and finish up the cake I already have!