Category Archives: recipes

CSA, farms, locavore, recipes

2013 CSA – Week 1

As foretold, the first week of my 2013 Sport Hill Farm CSA was greens, greens, greens. Nature thinks it’s high time we ate greens after the winter.

csa2013_01_01

  • 1 head of Oak leaf lettuce
  • 1 head of red Romaine lettuce
  • 1 head of Napa cabbage
  • 1 bunch of heirloom Spigarello
  • 1 bunch of dandelion greens
  • 1 bunch of bok choy

Spigarello is a green in the kale and broccoli family from the Puglia region of southern Italy. I sautéed mine with garlic and olive oil (surprised?). It has the texture of kale but a more mild taste like broccoli.

Dandelion greens are super healthy and super bitter, so you need to blanch them in boiling water for a couple of minutes before using them in a recipe. Then they are just fine!

My farmer is so cool that she gives us recipes for CSA items!

For the dandelion greens, she shared this this dandelion tart recipe from the NY Times. I made it without the pie shell (the gratin version), used Arethusa Farm Dairy heavy cream instead of milk, Sankow’s Beaver Brook‘s Pleasant Son cheese and Sport Hill Farm eggs. This is crazy delicious.

dandelion_tart

For the Napa cabbage, Patti gave us her Nana’s Slaw Recipe:

  • 1/2 cup Mayo
  • 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 olive oil
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • salt & pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a mason jar. Cover, shake and pour over chopped green cabbage or Napa cabbage.

The dressing is excellent and I don’t see why it can’t be used with other greens that are not cabbages. It made a nice companion for the tart (which I did as a gratin).

csa2013_01_02

 

farms, locavore, recipes

Crown Lamb Roast

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While everyone else is posting pictures of fabulous Memorial Day barbecues and parades, I give you Easter!

My family celebrated Easter late this year (no, not this late!) so that we could all be together at the table. They usually let me have one course of local fare if I’m not hosting (and I only host Thanksgiving).

Since it was such a hit last year, I made a crown lamb roast again, this time from Saugatuck Craft Butchery. This American Dorsett lamb was raised and processed by Meiller Farms in Pine Plains, NY.

Paul did a fabulous job Frenching the racks and preparing the crown.

Paul SCB

I rubbed it down with some olive oil and pressed in an herb mix of rosemary (from a potted Gilbertie’s I kept alive from last year on my windowsill), garlic (from Sport Hill Farm, dehydrated into slices and ground into powder), thyme (also (from Sport Hill Farm), and salt. I wrapped the bones in foil to protect them from burning.

Cooking method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast bones down on a roasting pan for half the time (allow 8-10 minutes per pound), then turn it over to”right side up” for the second half until the internal temp is 130 degrees. Let it sit, covered with foil for 15-20 minutes. Voila:

lets_eat

Seriously delicious and tender.

[Apologies that the pictures were taken with a phone and not a camera.]

farmer's markets, farms, locavore, recipes, Slow Food

Local St. Paddy’s

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While I know that real Irish people (in Ireland) don’t eat corned beef, I have these culinary adventures on my list and today seemed like the right day to make my As-Local-As-It-Could-Be Reuben Sandwich.

rueben

The corned beef began as a brisket from Eagle Wood Farms. I followed Alton Brown’s recipe for corning, except instead of his spice list from faraway places, I got a pre-made mix of faraway spices from Penzey’s in Norwalk. I added salt and potassium nitrate (yes), not local. I brined it for 10 days, turning it every morning and evening. I cooked it with:

corned_beef

The sauerkraut began as cabbage from Sport Hill Farm, fermented per Sandor Katz‘s instructions. This would have been a great entry in the Westport Market’s cabbage contest, but there wasn’t enough time for the fermentation. It’s been fermenting for several weeks now. This is not my first attempt, but it is my first attempt that worked!

fermenting_sauerkraut

I made the rye bread following Martha Stewart’s recipe (mostly).

  • bread flour – red hard spring wheat from Wild Hive
  • rye flour from Wild Hive
  • honey from Swords and Plowshares
  • butter from Smyth’s Trinity Farm
  • yeast and salt: not local. I didn’t use caraway seeds.

Color me delightfully surprised when the loaf really did “tip out” of the loaf pan!

rye_bread

The Swiss cheese is Cry Baby from Arethusa Farm Dairy. (Thank you, Lisa from New Morning! I owe you big time.)

The dressing. Sigh. Should it be Thousand Island or Russian? What constitutes an authentic recipe of either? Here’s what I made:

dressing

Served with a dill pickle, fermented right here. Original cucumbers from Daffodil Hill Growers.

And that’s my sandwich. I hope you had a happy St. Paddy’s Day!

 

challenge, locavore, putting by, recipes

Chocolate Chili

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I really like this chili recipe! It’s a great winter meal and the flavors are incredible. I like that it’s so easily adaptable to local sources and it’s perfect for using up the foods I put by for the winter. (I really do need an upright freezer!) It’s also an easy and fun recipe to change up a bit each time, based on my mood and what’s on hand.

This time, I swapped out the jalapenos for a poblano pepper and added a bell pepper and swapped out the maple syrup for honey. I left out the beans. Last week, I got chipotle bacon at the farmer’s market and that worked out excellently in this dish.

Sources:

I wasn’t in the mood to bake the corn bread, so I just had corn instead. I really do prefer having my corn in the winter! It seems like there’s so much of it and I take it for granted in the summer, but nothing brings back the bounty of summer like hot buttered corn in January!

This is not a “challenge meal.” For the first time since I became a locavore, I’m not participating in a Dark Days Eat Local Challenge. The regular challenge isn’t running this year (though there is a small group from another region doing their own thing). I will still be eating locally throughout the dark days but actually, finding local food in the winter no longer the challenge it once was. I am lucky to have many nearby farms and farmers markets that go through the winter. Meat and dairy are easy to come by in these parts. And I collected and put by enough veggies and those “ancillary items” you need to make soups, stews, one pot slow-and-low meals (like tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs). The challenge remains cooking from scratch while living and working in the 21st century!

I did come across the Pantry Challenge, which is about using what you have before you go out and buy more stuff. I like the idea of using up the things I put by and clearing out the freezer to make space for the new season. Truth be told, I still have a lot of food from last year in there. (Cut me some slack—it’s a chest freezer and I have to empty it out to find anything! It’s not like I haven’t been pining for an upright freezer for like forever.) Since I found this challenge a bit late and it isn’t exactly what I’m looking to achieve, I’ll be doing my own little “use up my stuff” challenge.

In fact, the corn, tomatoes, and poblano pepper I used in tonight’s chili are from my 2011 collection!