Early June, Preserving

It was my intention to try to post more regularly. This was partly for any readers but also to help me keep track of my recipes. The thing that I forgot is that (writing) composition takes time and I don't tend to have too much free time. So, now that I've got a couple moments I will try to do some catch-up.

My mother got me a great book on preserving in small batches (with some nice recipes intermingled), called "Well Preserved." The past couple years Melissa and I have attempted to put up as much food from the farm as we could but we did not have any experience canning and have a small freezer. Needless to say, we have only gone so far with it. Since reading through my new book I have definitely made an effort to put away at least some of each preservable crop before they peter out. So far this year we have frozen and pickled asparagus and frozen and canned strawberries (as jam). I'm not so sure that I'll do the jam again -- it seems such a shame to see a peak strawberry get cooked into mush. I guess I'll make that call next season (perhaps strawberry jam during the Winter doldrums will change my mind). The strawberry picking was a blast -- the girls, Melissa and I picked 13 pounds. It was great to get out as a family, the price was right and it was fun to process them (and consume quite a bit too).





I look forward to trying out more of the techniques for preserving different crops as the season progresses. In the mean time, I have captured some of the notable meals from the last couple of weeks.

While asparagus was in season we pretty much ate it every day. The two primary techniques that I've been using depend on whether I intend to serve it hot or cold. If the asparagus is going to be hot (and the stalks are large enough), I steam in a hot fry pan with some oil for several minutes and then uncover to let them blacken. This approach works well with broader stalks but you have to keep the asparagus moving constantly. When they are being served cold I generally just do a quick blanch and then straight into a cold bath.

Before the end of asparagus season, we had the following meal:

• Sausage (Country Time Farm) with pan sauce (a coarse-grain mustard and balsamic reduction)
• Blanched, pan seared kale with crispy browned garlic
• Yukon gold potatoes
• Blackened asparagus

The next week we had a chicken dish, featuring some early beets that were super sweet. We also tend to eat a lot of mushrooms and tend to go with cremini -- they are pretty reasonably priced and offer much more flavor than buttons. The chicken preparation was inspired by Chicken Marsala, only using brandy, lemon and capers instead.

• Paillard of chicken (Eberly Poultry), dredged in flour, salt, basil and oregano
• Pan reduction of brandy (+ matches = flame), chicken stock, cremini mushrooms, lemon and capers to taste
• Boiled beet slices and blanched beet greens with balsamic vinegar and shallots
• Brown rice with chicken stock
  

This last week The Farm™ had its first baby arugula (at least the first that I noticed). This was clearly a cause for celebration. The following meal was inspired by a combination of Bacon and Endive/Frisee salad from "Well Preserved" and the prosciutto, baby arugula pizza served at Basta Pasta. This one turned out really well and there is a lot of potential for variations.

• Baby arugula with olive oil and lemon dressing
• lardons of bacon (yummy Hendrick's Farm bacon)
  
• hard boiled eggs
• grilled hearts of palm
• mini focaccia (Metropolitan Bakery)
• onion sliced lengthwise to root into a bloom and grilled in bacon grease
  

That's it for now. Bon appetit...

First Post / Alex's Graduation

I've been meaning to start tracking meals that I've prepared and food interests for a while now and finally found a little bit of time to do so. It has also helped that Melissa was able to take some photos -- my focus is elsewhere while things are hopping in the kitchen.

On Wednesday, Iris and I shopped for ingredients -- we tried to get as many ingredients from our favorite local farm, Willow Creek Orchards. It is a bit early in the season but asparagus is at its peak and there are a lot of root vegetables and spring greens.

In order to streamline preparation on Thursday I made a dinner salad based on a Fine Cooking recipe from June/July 2009 for "spinach and artichoke salad with couscous cakes and feta" to cover lunch and dinner. I was able to use local fresh spinach and supplemented the salad with chicken sausage from Hendrick's Dairy. I varied the recipe by using dried mint instead of fresh (I need the requisite green thumb for an herb garden) and using mature spinach. The end result was quite good and stretched for two meals (after doubling).


The graduation meal was:

• roasted yukon gold potatoes
• pan roasted asparagus (Cook's Illustrated March / April 2007)
• root vegetable (radish, turnip, carrot, cabbage) cole slaw (adapted from Fine Cooking June/July 2009)
• lump crab cakes (Fine Cooking June/July 2009)
• wasabi cucumber salad
• salsa fresca with pickled onion
• cocktail sauce
• cinnamon, brandied raisin, toasted walnut ice cream (Fine Cooking June/July 2009).

Overall the meal went without a hitch. Of note: wasabi powder does not do well as a primary flavor (nor does it present well), infusing cream with cinnamon stick does not work well -- I resorted to using ground cinnamon, handling a large quantity of custard is a bit tricky (better to do multiple smaller batches) and it leaves a lot of homeless egg whites.


With so much family in town we also did a special dinner the next night. My mother had some venison that I planned to roast. The intent was to truss two oblong roasts together until it was discovered that one of the packages was ground venison. In the end we managed to serve 12 with a 2.5 pound roast supplemented with some venison meatballs courtesy of my brother. I don't have any pictures but the meal was:

• mashed yukon gold
• sauted cremini and yellow onion
• pan roasted potatoes, onions and carrots
• slow roasted venison wrapped with Hendrick's Farm and Dairy bacon (I have no idea what cut or the age of the deer) -- Cook's Illustrated January / February 2008
  
• cold beet, asparagus salad with toasted sunflower seeds, feta and balsamic vinegar, olive oil and shallot reduction

The venison worked out well with the slow oven technique from the recipe and it did not taste gamy at all. Normally I would have made a pan gravy but we were serving a family member with Celiac disease so I played things safe. This recipe does not generate enough heat to properly cook vegetables with the drippings. While the roast stood I finished the vegetables with the bacon from the roast in a frying pan. The beet and asparagus salad worked very well although the beets really discolor the feta.

Sunday breakfast was rich corn cake (Fanny Farmer cookbook) muffins, fresh chunky Jonagold apple sauce and Hendrick's Farm bacon. Of note: the corn cakes dry out quickly. For lunch I did a variation on the asparagus and beet salad (but using greens instead of the root) and I got a photo: