Blue Hill Yogurt + recipes [classic article]

There is a whole new category of food out there! The gourmet, family chefs behind NYC’s Blue Hill (which I hope to experience someday!) have created a line of savory veggie yogurts! I was very glad to be hosted to experience Blue Hill Yogurt, available in stores like Whole Foods in certain areas. I tried them in a few flavors; they come in beet, parsnip, sweet potato, butternut squash, tomato, parsnip. Each carton has suggestions for use, but I created the recipes below on my own. I was able to lighten up recipes that used to have lots of heavy cream and/or sour cream. I also tried making savory or much less sweet versions of sweet recipes and that was very successful. It’s great to have different flavor profiles – I get tired of seeing the same salad with Craisins and sweet dressing on restaurant menus.

I am addicted to the Arabic salted yogurt drink Ayran, so these products were an extension of that concept.

This is what they say about their family dairy:

“Blue Hill was a working dairy from the 1860s through the 1960s. Three decades later, we refurbished the farm and brought the dairy back to life. The story of Blue Hill Farm is in many ways the story of the Blue Hill restaurants: sustaining the iconic landscape of the Northeast in pursuit of great flavor. And now Blue Hill Yogurt is a natural extension of the same idea: supporting farms that raise dairy cows in the best possible way and using their well-pastured grass-fed milk; sourcing delicious, local vegetables from neighbors in the region; and preserving a dairy tradition that connects our family, Blue Hill, and the Northeast. This is what it means to ‘know thy farmer’.”

 

This salad is so much better made the night before, you wouldn’t believe it! It’s also bachelor-simple.

Carrot Salad with Carrot Yogurt: This is a lighter, more veggie-forward version than the carrot salads you might have at Thanksgiving or at meat and 3’s.

Take 2 bags of shredded carrots – a tad pricier, but your time is worth money.

In a large mixing bowl, add the carrots

1 cup of Blue Hill Carrot Yogurt

2/3 of the yogurt container of mayo

1 Tbs. honey

a handful of shredded coconut

a handful of golden raisins

a few twists of black or white pepper

a few shakes of ground cinnamon

a capful of vanilla extract

Toss until well mixed, let sit overnight in fridge.

 

Mediterranean-style Salad

Dressing:

3 Tbs. Blue Hill Tomato Yogurt

½ teas. honey (I used Saguarro honey from Arizona)

1 pinch sea salt (I used hand-harvested salt from Iceland)

½ teas. olive oil (I used fresh olive oil from Queen Creek, Arizona)

On bed of greens of choice, add sliced onions, black olives, hearts of palm or cucumbers, feta or other goat cheese

 

Beet Salad with Beet- Mustard Dressing

Dressing:

2 Tbs. Blue Hill Beet Yogurt

1 teas. sharp European-style mustard (I used mustard from Finland)

Pinch of sea salt (I used hand-harvested salt from Iceland

Mix well.

 

Roast fresh beets in oven for about 1 hour. Let cool, peel.

Scatter greens of choice on plate, place beets, walnuts, noisettes of feta or goat cheese

Butternut Squash Pudding

Split a butternut squash in half, roast in 400 degree oven for about 1.5 hours, or until fork goes in easily

Scoop out squash from skin into large bowl

In a separate bowl, whip 2 whole eggs, then add 2 Tbs. heavy cream, 3 Tbs. Blue Hill Butternut Squash Yogurt,  1 teas. of your favorite seasoning salt (I like Crazy Jane’s), 1 tbs. unsalted butter

Add liquids to squash

Add 4-5 oz. shredded sharp white cheddar cheese (I mixed Artisan Cabot with Seriously Sharp (formerly Hunter’s Sharp) Cabot but reserve some cheese to top dish

Mix well, add to baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 300 oven, approx. 15 minutes, then a couple of minutes under broil, or until cheese is melted. Sometimes, I do “break” sauces in order to get them melty! If that happens to you, blot with a paper towel or two. Nobody will know.