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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

I watched a 60 Minutes segment on food flavoring. When talking about “natural flavorings,” Morely Safer made a comment about beaver butt glands. This reminded me of an article I’d recently read out on the Intertubes talking about this “natural flavoring” from a beaver’s anal gland called Castoreum, so I went looking for it (the article, not the flavoring). I couldn’t find that article, but did find this from Bruce Bradley:

Beaver Anal Glands: This bitter, very smelly, orange-brown substance is also known as castoreum. In nature it’s combined with the beaver’s urine and used to mark its territory. In the processed food world it’s commonly used in both food and beverages, typically as vanilla or raspberry flavoring. Watch out though, you won’t find it on the ingredient list since processed food manufacturers can legally call it “natural flavoring.”

Wikipedia concurs:

In the United States, Castoreum has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a food additive, often referenced simply as a “natural flavoring” in the product’s list of ingredients. It is commonly used in both food and beverages, especially as vanilla and raspberry flavoring.

I’m not squeamish about rennet or bone marrow, yet for some reason, this really does bother me. Today is the day I vow to make my own vanilla extract from scratch.

As for that 60 Minutes segment, it deserves a post of its own. The gist was that there are food flavoring companies that manufacture flavors to emulate and exceed flavors in nature using chemicals and other “natural” ingredients. It only adds to the argument that the industrial food system is a fraud. The only upside is that if Soylent Green does come to pass, at least it will taste good. Here, check it out:

Enjoy!