Late Bloomers Farm

Rendering Tallow

sophie — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:48:07 +0000

As you may have noticed, I let things go around here for awhile. It came down to eating locally or blogging about eating locally, and I picked eating. I may do a catch up post of some challenge meals, since I have the pictures or I may not. We’ll see how it goes.

One of the most exciting things I did this winter was to render my own tallow! It was easy and I made a healthy, delicious, high-heat cooking oil with my own two hands (and a crock pot).

In case you’re wondering, tallow is what you get when you melt down beef, lamb, or bison fat. Some call that fat suet. If you liked the analogies portion of your SATs: beef fat (suet) is to tallow as pig fat is to lard.

Like lard, tallow is a high-heat fat, which means you can deep fry with it. Since I won’t use Crisco or canola oil, I’ve been looking for a good substitute. (Funny/ironic, since tallow and lard were the originals and Crisco and canola are the substitutes!)

Since I didn’t know what I was doing, I went over to CheeseSlave‘s site where there’s there’s a ton of information, including this interesting fact from Sally Fallon Morell:

…the first recorded heart attack in America was in 1921 (Source: Local Forage). Just 10 years after Crisco (hydrogenated cottonseed oil) and 50 years after margarine (clarified vegetable fat) were introduced to the American people.

I wonder—why do government agencies make such a fanfare whenever they come up with a new rule, but barely a whisper when they’re proven wrong and it’s time to retract? (Off the top of my head, I’m thinking about their major faux pas with margarine vs. butter and the assault on eggs with that cholesterol fiasco).

Anyway…here’s the fat, still in its vacuum-sealed packages.

CheeseSlave said to grind it but I don’t have a grinder so I just cut it up into smaller pieces.

CheeseSlave gives instructions for a stove top method, an oven method, and a crock pot method.

I opted for the crock pot method. I had 3-1/2 lbs of fat and put that on low for 13 hours.

After that, I strained it through a mesh sieve, then a coffee filter.

I stored it in mason jars.

I read elsewhere that it will keep for about a month, three or more in the refrigerator—but I don’t know the actual time. As of now, it’s kept 3-1/2 months on my counter top.

I fried potatoes for french fries, sweet potatoes as chips, and celeriac as an experiment. All were fabulously delicious.

Celeriac Fries, sorced from Riverbank Farm via New Morning

French Fries, sourced from Maple Bank Farm

Sweet Potato Fries, sourced from Sport Hill Farm

Take special care in disposing of used fat. When dried, it has the consistency of crayons. I’ve been warned not to pour it down the drain, even with very hot water. I let the grease harden and scrape it into the garbage.

Next time, I’m going to try the oven method and way more than 3-1/2 pounds of fat!

Challenge Meal: Crown Roast of Lamb

sophie — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:46:16 +0000

For week #9 of the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, I made a crown roast of lamb to practice for Easter. As I’ve mentioned, we take turns with holidays and Easter is Mom’s (the vegetarian). If I can pull this off, we’re having this for Easter. If I can’t, we’re going with the old stand-by.

So, here I am, practicing for Easter. I made some roasted root vegetables to go with it, though I doubt I’ll be able to get those in the first week of April.

I followed a combination of directions from Steve (best butcher) and some online sources. I rubbed my herb and oil mix all over the 4-lb roast and set the roast, bones down, in about 1/2″ water in a roasting dish. I roasted it at 400°F for seven minutes then lowered the heat to 350° for 23 minutes. I flipped the roast onto a rack in the dish and let it go at 350° for another 10 minutes. As you can see, it’s medium rare.

Since I’m the only medium rare in a family of well dones, I’m going to need to let it go a bit longer on the big day.

Sources:

crown lamb, prepared by Steve at Butcher’s Best Market (lamb from Cabbage Hill Farm in Mount Kisco, NY). It came with cute little booties to put over the bones, but I thought that might be over-doing it.
garlic, thyme, oregano, and rosemary from here
sweet potato and onions from Sport Hill Farm
parsnips from manheim Farm, Whately, MA (via Holbrook Farm)
red wine: Woodridge Red from Miranda Vineyard (paired perfectly!)
olive oil, salt, pepper: not local

This was a surprisingly simple meal. Any ideas for accompaniments that will be available in the spring? Otherwise it’s going to be lamb and ramps.

Challenge Meal: Beef Short Rib Ragù

sophie — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:53:14 +0000

I’m a little behind in my Dark Days Eat Local Challenge posts. It’s currently week 8, nearly 9, and my last post was week 5! Still, it’s local almost all the time here—easily 80-90% on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it’s come down to choosing between doing local vs. writing about local lately. Here’s to hoping I can wrestle the schedule monsters going forward.

For week #8 of the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, I made a beef short rib ragù. I loosely based my recipe on this recipe, with some local substitutions and a couple of additions. Also, this recipe serves the ribs, while I pull the meat from the bones and return it to the ragù. I served it over homemade fettuccine noodles.

This was my first time using beef from Apple Ridge Farm, a small farm in Ridgefield, CT. They were highly recommended by Jacqueline, the manager at Holbrook Farm, where they carry Apple Ridge beef. The beef was well-deserving of Jacqueline’s praise.

Food sources:

beef short ribs from Apple Ridge Farm
lard for searing made by Butcher’s Best Market from Cabbage Hill Farm pork
carrots and celeriac from Riverbank Farm
onions Holbrook Farm
bay leaves from a NY farm
garlic grown here
red wine, Twisted Red from Sunset Meadows Vineyards
turkey bone broth, homemade here from a Quattro Farm bird
roasted plum tomatoes from March Farm
hard red spring wheat flour from Wild Hive Farm
eggs from Greyledge Farm

Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.

Foraging: Winter Greens

sophie — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:51:41 +0000

Despite the backlog of challenge meals to post, I have to tell you about the best thing to happen since local wheat. This winter has just gotten easier for locavores. Holbrook Farm has extended their growing season into the winter using green houses and hoop houses. They are supplying greens. Fresh organic greens. In the winter.

Jacqueline at Holbrook's

Imagine that: I got genuine fresh Holbrook mustard greens, spinach, and cilantro in January.

They’ve enlisted Jacqueline to manage the place over the winter season.

They have lots of other greens and will have them all winter long. In addition to lots of fresh greens, Holbrook’s carries Stonewall Dairy raw milk, Arethusa pasteurized milk and cheeses, Apple Ridge Farm grass fed beef, and more. Lots more.

I’m particularly grateful since Hurricane Irene and Alfred the October Surprise claimed many of my stored veggies.

Holbrook’s winter hours are 9 AM to 5 PM from Monday to Friday and 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturday. They’re closed on Sundays.

Here’s a fast and happy sandwich with melted Arethusa Havarti cheese and Holbrook mustard greens sauteed with garlic and olive oil.

Challenge Meal: Christmas Pork Roast

sophie — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 01:44:38 +0000

In my family, we take turns with holidays. Mine is Thanksgiving. Christmas belongs to my sister (she has children).

Our tradition includes the seven fish on Christmas Eve and multiple courses of our favorites on Christmas Day. Those courses are: the antipasto of Italian cheeses and cold cut meats, the primo course of fresh ravioli and “red gravy” with meatballs, sausage, and pork bracciole, the segundo course which is always a pork roast with roasted root vegetables, and dolce (dessert) with homemade cookies, homemade cheese cake, and ice cream.

My sister isn’t into local food like I am but we began a new tradition last year where I bring all the local ingredients for the segundo course and she cooks it while I play sous chef.

With the flurry of kitchen activity, I forgot to take out the camera, but the neat thing about a tradition is that you can point to last year’s picture and it’s nearly identical.

Pork Roast with roasted root vegetables, applesauce and red wine

The pork was absolutely delicious—moist and succulent. Kudos to the folks at Cabbage Hill Farm and a special thanks to Steve, literally the best butcher.

Steve of Butcher's Best Market, Newtown, CT

Sources (this year’s)

pork roast from Butcher’s Best Market (from a Berkshire pig from Cabbage Hill Farm in Mount Kisco, NY)
white potatoes from Maple Bank Farm
sweet potatoes and onions from Sport Hill Farm
carrots from Riverbank Farm
garlic, thyme, parsley, rosemary from my own garden
apple sauce made from Macouns we picked this Fall at Averill Farm

The wine was a Cabernet Franc from Sharpe Hill Vineyard (a family favorite and another tradition).

My contribution to dessert included vanilla, raspberry, and campfire ice cream from Ferris Acres Creamery.

~~~

This is my week #5 meal for the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge.

Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.

Challenge Meal: Turkey Bone Vegetable Soup

sophie — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:16:29 +0000

For week #4 of the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, I made turkey bone vegetable soup.

Over the past year, I’ve learned about the nutritional value of bone broths, with their chondroitin, glucosamine, and collagen. So I made a stock from the remains of my Thanksgiving turkey. The stock can be used for a soup base, for braising vegetables, or just about any other recipe that would be happy with a poultry-based stock.

I put the bones in my big stock pot, filled the water to the rivets and added salt and two tablespoons of vinegar. They say to let the bones simmer for up to 72 hours. This time, I made it to 46. I strained out the bones and skimmed off the fat and was left with a luxurious stock.

I cut up some fresh vegetables and simmered them in the stock until they were fork tender to make the soup.

You just can’t beat the flavor from a home made bone broth. Seriously.

Sources

turkey from Quattro Game Farm
carrots and celeriac from Riverbank Farm
parsnips from Migliorelli Farm
onions from Holbrook Farm
potatoes from Sport Hill Farm
spinach from Fort Hill Farm
garlic, parsley from my own garden
vinegar, salt: not local

Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.

Challenge Meal: Pulled Pork Sliders

sophie — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:03:40 +0000

For week #3 of the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge, I made pulled pork sliders on biscuits.

I never heard of a picnic roast before, so I thought I’d get one and try it out. A picnic roast is also called a shoulder roast. Typically, they’d have some skin on and a shank. I suppose technically mine was a pork shoulder arm roast.

Since I don’t have a smoker, I found an alternative cooking method: this crock pot pulled pork recipe. I followed it, for the most part, using about half as much pepper, substituting maple syrup for the sugars, and adding some minced garlic.

It spent about nine hours on low in the crock pot which worked out well. The meat was juicy and tender and easily fell apart.

If I were to do it again, I’d leave out the cumin and peppercorn pepper altogether and use more cayenne, more syrup, and way more garlic.

I didn’t make the barbeque sauce described at the end of that recipe, opting for just the drippings, separated from the fat. Kind of like an au jus.

I splurged and used some of the Red Fife wheat I saved for the biscuits, following this biscuit recipe, except with more salt, a little more butter, and a quarter of the milk.

All in all, a tasty little slider. I’m looking forward to trying this again with a different rub.

Sources:

pork picnic roast from Laurel Ridge Farm
maple syrup from McLaughlin Vineyards
Cayenne peppers (crushed), thyme, and garlic from my garden
cumin, chili powder, black pepper paprika, salt: not local
Red Fife wheat from Curtis Eck near Kent, CT
hard spring wheat from Wild Hive
butter from Smyth’s Trinity Farm
baking powder and salt: not local

Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.

Popcorn redux

sophie — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:54:14 +0000

A while back, I posted about how to make microwave popcorn in a paper bag using local popcorn (or any other popcorn, if you must). I said to add oil to the kernels, but I just discovered that you don’t need oil at all. Just put the kernels into a lunch bag, seal it up with tape, and pop for about 1.5 minutes (in my microwave).

Now, regular readers of this blog (both of you) know that I don’t shy away from fats—in fact, I embrace them—but today I’m telling you that you don’t need the fat to pop the kernels. Save it for the butter and use lots of it!

I’m still sourcing my popping corn from Maple Bank Farm. It’s a fabulously dense popcorn and if you have a penchant for caramel corn, this is the kind of popcorn you want. (Hint: Get the caramel sauce from Peace Tree Desserts at Sport Hill Farm.)

Challenge Meal: Spaghetti Squash Latkes

sophie — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:30:06 +0000

While making Spaghetti Squash Alfredo, I noticed the texture of the spaghetti squash wasn’t unlike grated potatoes and thought perhaps latkes would be an experiment worth pursuing.

My dish was loosely based on this latke recipe.

Truthfully, it wasn’t wonderful. Two eggs were way too much for half a spaghetti squash so I had to add more flour—quite a bit more. Still, that wasn’t what made it unremarkable. I’m convinced latkes need to be potatoes. There’s something about that potato flavor that’s completely missing with spaghetti squash. It wasn’t bad—just not really good.

Even with spaghetti squash, I still prefer sour cream to apple sauce (or cranberry sauce). However. the experiment wasn’t a total loss. I discovered that sour cream and cranberry sauce go remarkably well together.

Sources;

spaghetti squash: Sport Hill Farm
onions from Holbrook Farm
eggs: Greyledge Farm
flour from Wild Hive
sour cream: Hudson Valley Fresh
Applesauce made from assorted apples from Maple Bank Farm,Waldingfield Farm, and Rogers Orchards (leftover from Thanksgiving)
Whole-Berry Cranberry Sauce (leftover from Thanksgiving) made from cranberries brought by a friend from a farm stand in Cape Cod, MA, maple syrup from McLaughlin Vineyards, apple cider from Lyman Orchards. Cinnamon stick: not local
oil: not local

Note: These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, beginning December 11, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.

Challenge Meal: Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

sophie — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:34:38 +0000

It’s been over a week since Thanksgiving and my refrigerator is still packed. Most of it’s not leftovers from the meal, but more of the extra things I bought just in case. Just in case something didn’t work out and I’d need a do-over. Just in case I needed options. Just in case I underestimated appetites (ha!).

Surveying my stores, I clearly overdid dairy. I also still have a respectable squash collection. And I had some mushrooms about to enter the use-it-or-lose-it zone. So, there you have it, my first meal for the 2011-2012 Dark Days Eat Local Challenge is Spaghetti Squash Alfredo with cultivated wild mushrooms.

I decided to go with the microwave method of cooking the squash instead of the longer methods of baking or boiling. I cut the squash in half lengthwise, placed it in a baking dish with about a half of an inch of water, and covered it with plastic wrap. I microwaved it for about 10 minutes in total. I used a fork to liberate the squash strands that resemble spaghetti, hence the name.

I made the sauce using this Alfredo sauce recipe. I used Pleasant Valley cheese from Sankow’s Beaver Brook, an aged sheep’s milk cheese, which has a flavor similar to Pecorino Romano. It’s not exactly Parmigiano-Reggiano, but it’s a relatively minor taste adjustment to keep the meal local.

I pan sautéed the mushrooms following Julia Child’s Champignons sautés au beurre recipe. This is my first time using mushrooms in this dish. Initially, I was thinking they’d make a great side dish. At the last moment, I threw caution to the wind, and added them on top.

Spaghetti squash doesn’t have much flavor of it’s own, so the richness of the Alfredo sauce really brought it to life. It did have a nice mild crunch which is something you don’t usually get with fettuccine. The mushrooms made the flavors interesting, in a good way.

Sources:

spaghetti squash: Sport Hill Farm
butter and heavy cream: Smyth’s Trinity Farm
egg: Greyledge Farm
Pleasant Valley cheese: Sankow’s Beaver Brook
macrolepiota rachodes mushrooms (shaggy parasol): Holbrook Farm, where John is growing these wild mushrooms in a hoop house.

For dessert, black raspberry ice cream with whipped cream because I still had a lot of heavy cream (and ice cream) and I wanted to play with my new ~~toy~~ gadget.

What a cool thing! Easy to use and fast too. I was really impressed with this gadget. (No, I’m not affiliated with them!)

Sources

ice cream: Ferris Acres Creamery
heavy cream: Smyth’s Trinity Farm
confectioner’s sugar and vanilla: not local

These challenge posts will be recapped with the other Mid-Atlantic region participants every two weeks, beginning December 11, over at Not Dabbling In Normal by Emily of Tanglewood Farm.