Thanksgiving Feats Prep–A Mini Event!

Today, tomorrow, and Thursday I’ll be cooking both for our Thanksgiving and for some of my client’s holiday meals.  I’ll update here with picture, from fluffy potatoes to my apple-fig-chestnut cornbread stuffing, from the roasted orange cranberry stuffing the herb-and-wine brined, 100% pastured, local turkeys from Our Father’s Farm (including the 26 pounder–this bird is a monster!).

I’ve decided to make this a bit of an event, since so much is going into it. New posts will be put up as I do things, and will include photos, recipes, and cooking tips. So, check back often, comment and ask questions, let me know what your tips and trick are, and just have fun watching it come together!

Let’s get things started with what’s on the menu:

- 100% local, pastured, GMO & hormone free turkeys raised at Our Father’s Farm. The birds will be brined in vegetable stock, white wine, and herbs then roasted to perfection. One bird is 15 lbs, one is 26 lbs.

-Roasted cranberry & orange sauce. A twist on a traditional treat, this recipe is great either hot or cold.

-Tart apple, fig, and chestnut cornbread dressing. Locally-ground cornmeal, eggs, and milk make the cornbread, which is dried and mixed with local apples, chestnuts, and wine, as well as dried figs, cranberries, celery, pears, and more make this one of my all-time most requested recipes.

-Ciabatta rolls. Thadd’s whipping up his famous, and amazing, crusty ciabatta dinner rolls. Crispy on the outside, chewy and yummy on the inside.

-Green bean casserole. This isn’t your mom’s green bean casserole! Fresh bacon, mushrooms, green beans, whole local milk, cheese, homemade aioli, and topped with herbed Parmesan panko crumbs.

-Black truffle redskin potatoes. Fluffy potatoes with the rich flavors of rosemary, garlic, and black truffles.

-Roasted broccoli. Fresh broccoli, tossed with olive oil and kosher salt, then roasted to nutty perfection.

-Apple pie. Made from local Pippins from Vintage Virginia, with amazing, flaky crust, courtesy of Thadd.

 

Foodie Updates

I said I’d be doing more on preservation, and so I am. Sort of. The truth is, I haven’t had much time to do a lot of preservation this last few weeks. I did do this:

Roasted pumpkin seeds with garlic and chili powder, from a local, organic pumpkin. Unfortunately, these didn’t actually get “preserved,” per se, so much as they were gone by noon the next day. What can I say, they were yummy. This is what happened to the pumpkin (well, one of them–there were several):

It was stuffed with pumpkin-sausage qinoa “risotto,” and topped with a pastry “leaves.” I tried for a stem, but I am just not that great with pastry dough. That’s Thadd’s thing.

And that’s about the end of my preservation since the salted lemons. Business is keeping me…well, busy.  I have, however, done some cooking (obviously, since that’s what “business” typically means in my case). Since you’re here for the food, I thought I’d share:

I love this method of cooking a chicken. I start out roasting it in a “French” style.  Carrots, celery, onion, and a bit of butter (or, in this case) EVOO in the roasting pan gives flavor, while a hot oven and a lot of turning the chicken give a crispy, brown skin. Once it was all brown and yummy looking, and put the bird on top of a pile of my cornbread, chestnut, and apple stuffing (which also contains dried plums, though sometimes I use figs). It turned out beautifully.

Hopefully, I”ll have some time to preserve this week. There’ll definitely be broth making (bone, chicken, and vegetable), and probably some catch-up on staples like granola. I also need to “catch up” on my working out…it’s suffering mightily with all this cooking!

Related Articles

• How to Prepare Fresh Pumpkins for Baking (tjantunen.com)
• Healthy Pumpkin Recipes for Fall (brighthub.com)
• more pumpkin baking (cathweber.blogspot.com)
• Meatless Mondays: Pumpkin Risotto (food.change.org)

Food Photos!

I’d like to think you come here for my wit and food politics, but we all know you’re here for the food. Since I’ve been a bit light on food porn these last weeks, I’m going to throw a bunch at you today to catch up!

Above: You all know we eat from local sources as much as possible, and I just found a new source for amazing chicken: Davis Creek Farms. Their 100% pastured, free-range, better-than-organic chickens are slaughtered on the farm by the family, and they’re delicious. The bird above came trussed just as you see it–ready for roasting. His prices, which was about $3.40/lb for whole birds, are totally worth it for the flavor and the good farming practices. The carcass will, of course, go into stock later this week.  Below: These freshly-dug potatoes and carrots were roasted with Herbs de Provence for a wonderful side dish. Fresh potatoes have a richness that store-bought just can’t match, because store-bought potatoes are stored in warehouses just above freezing. These temperatures change the starches in the potatoes, rendering them less creamy and muting the flavor. The baby carrots tasted like carrots, not like sugar. Yum! The leftovers will be mixed with beets and beet greens in a homemade chicken stock base for a wonderful soup. The carrot tops will be used in pesto (thanks to the farm for this idea!).

Below: Falafel is hard to come by in this area, and we’ve been craving it. I finally had time to whip up a batch a few days ago:

Below: Summer brings cold fare to the table, in part because I tend to lose my appetite in the heat. For lunches, I’ve really gotten into savory smoothies, which are essentially gazpacho every day! They’re healthy, full of vitamins and fiber, and fill me up while cooling me down. I side them with some protein (usually an egg, cheese, and/or nuts), and it’s a light, filling lunch that is also full of what I need to keep up my active lifestyle.

Now that market season is here and our CSA has started, we’re looking forward to a lot of produce and a lot of new recipes. We’ll also be doing, as usual, a lot of preservation via canning, freezing, and drying. All this means lots of new pics, so if you’re just here for the food porn, you’ve got something to look forward to. If you’re here for the politics, don’t worry, that’s coming, too!

Umami

I am a bit in love with miso. It adds this incredible depth of flavor, sometimes known as “umami”, and when paired with mushrooms it’s absolutely amazing. Above, I’ve roasted chicken in a miso-based sauce, with lots of shitakes. The roasted brussel sprouts are zested with lemon, a fresh, nutty compliment to the chicken pasta dish.

Frugal and Foodie

Thanksgiving is over, and it’s time to hop back on the frugal food wagon! As many of you know, there are now four adults to feed in the house. We share our gorgeous, huge new home with another  couple that we’ve known for years, and are keeping the budget down by also sharing food. Here’s the next two week’s dinners (some of it in pictures).

November 30th – December 6th

Monday: Venison Sausage and green lentil soup, with homemade bread. One of our favorite soups for winter meets my brother’s venison stash. We were given some ridiculous amount of venison this year (which is fantastic, since we love the stuff), including these fantastic sausages. They were tender and spicy, giving a deep, warm flavor to the soup. As I’ve mentioned before, lentils are a great source of lean protein, are high in fiber, and a very frugal-but-satisfying dinner. We used homemade stock for the broth, and then paired the soup with some of UC’s homemade ciabatta bread. The total cost for the four of us was less than $2.00. If we’d had to buy the sausage, it would have been about $4-5 total.

Tuesday- Creole catfish, with apple & onion hash, mixed vegetables, and salad. This is a bit of a splurge meal. I love apple & onion hash, and since we have apples coming out our ears, this was the perfect time to make this great side dish.

Wednesday-Thai Salmon patties and hot-and-sour sauce, with miso-peanut noodles (whole-wheat), and a veggie. Canned salmon is another great source of tasty, lean protein at a good price, and mixed with TVP it’s an even better price. I’ll whip up some miso-peanut sauce (with a touch of lime), and grab a veggie out of the freezer to round things out.

Thursday- Mexican pinto beans and brown rice. I’ll be using some of our (huge) store of dried beans for these. Coupled with the brown rice this is a great, spicy dinner with lots of vitamins, protein, and fiber. There will be a salad on the side for  more greens.

Friday: Shape-It-Up Meatloaf with whipped sweet potatoes and a vegetable. My most-requested recipe, currently, is this meatloaf. Low in fat and calories, high in flavor and nutrition. Made with lean meat, oats, TVP, spinach, black beans, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spices, this meatloaf has converted even the most hard-core meat eaters! This looks better baked, and tastes better than it looks period; but:

Saturday-Salmon, mushroom, and vegetable polenta. We love creamy polenta in the winter. It’s hearty, and when you toss in loads of vegetables, canned salmon, and some smoked black sea salt it’s also tasty and healthy. We’ll be using some of the wild mushrooms we collected this year:

Sunday-Venison Chili with cheddar & sour cream cornbread. My special chili gets a twist with venison (thanks, Dan!). Pinto, white, and black beans (soaked and cooked) will make this stew fun and flavorful.

December 7th – 13th

Monday-Salmon and blue cheese pasta. We’ll be making homemade, whole-wheat pasta if all goes well, then topping it with salmon and vegetables in light blue-cheese, parmesan, and lemon sauce. It’ll look like this, but with the addition of salmon:

 

Tuesday-Spanish braised chicken thighs with brown rice and salad. This one-pot meal is reminiscent of paella! Deep, rich Spanish flavors, lots of chicken and vegetables, all cooked with brown rice in a wonderful sauce.

Wednesday-Sweet & Sour Tofu. Our favorite tofu from Twin Oaks Commune will sit amid peppers, broccoli, and other vegetables in this Asian dish.

Thursday-Venison Roast with root vegetables and salad. The leftover root vegetables will be used to make the stew you’ll see later on in the menu.

Friday-Whole wheat pizza night. UC is making whole-wheat crust, our friend Adam is making the sauce, and we’ll all top our pizzas with our favorites. Mine will be light on the cheese, heavy on the roasted broccoli, onions, and TVP. UC’s will be heavy on the cheese and pepperoni.

Saturday- Roasted root vegetable stew. This is another great winter soup. Roasted root vegetables are pureed into a creamy soup, served topped with parmesan cheese and olive oil:

Sunday-Kufta on pita, with the fixin’s and cucumber salad. This Middle Eastern vegetarian dish combines lentils and bulgar for a complete, lean protein:

Right now, we’re spending about $100/week to feed 4 adults.

What’s your meal plan this week?

Thanksgiving Bounty

One of the dishes for my Ready-To-Go meals mentioned in the post below is Roasted Cranberries. I saw this recipe in Saveur magazine courtesy of Peg at The Frenchman’s, who pointed it out to me when I was in one day. It sounded great, and so it went on the menu. I changed up the recipe a bit, but it’s generally the same one you’ll find here, just sans the jalepeno (the folks who ordered the meals are not ones for a lot of heat).

Also, please excuse the crappy pics. Still using the webcam, but the other camera (I am told) is on it’s way!

Above: Cranberries mixed with fresh orange peels, sugar, and spices, then put on a parchment-covered baking sheet to go into the oven. Below: The finished product, post Port addition and refrigeration time.

The verdict: This recipe is a definite winner. It’s got a wide range of complex flavors that both remind you of childhood, and remind you that you’ve grown up. It’s tart, tangy, sweet, and will hit you in those little ticklish spots right at the back of your mouth. It’s great, and I definitely plan on making it again.

If all goes well, I may try to post some of my Fig and Chestnut stuffing pictures tomorrow. We’ll see if I have time. If not, have a wonderful holiday!

Weekly Frugal

This week is a bit odd in terms of frugal groceries. The market was rained out on Satuday, so we went to Miller’s Farm Market, a “stationary” market. The variety isn’t, of course, as good; but, we do love their products.

We spent $65 there on grociers, including organic whole milk and yogurts. We also picked up some fresh shitakes! The grocery store bill was $37.15. So, we’re under budget.

This week’s menus are also a bit odd because we are incredibly busy. Here goes:

Dinners

-Tonight. Roasted turkey, served with acorn squash, mashed potatoes, and edamame. This is an unuasual dinner for us in that it has starch in it, but we needed to use up some potatoes before they went bad. They’re local and have stored great, but it’s been warm and muggy (and we don’t have the cold storage set up in the apartment yet). To save heating the place up, and to be just generally better on energy, the roast is being done in the spare room in the roaster. The acorn squash will get cut into quarters and tossed in about an hour before the bird is done. UC will make the potatoes, and the edamame will be boiled & seasoned with smoked salt and butter. I realize it’s not a very inventive meal, but it’s tasty and will provide serious leftovers. After dinner, the meat will be stripped, and the carcass set to simmer, along with some sweated onion and spices, on our Kitchen Day this week.

-Tuesday. Leftovers for UC. I’m out for the evening.

-Wednesday. Spicy apricot-marinated chicken, roasted with peaches, green peppers, and onions. I froze the chicken in a red-pepper and apricot marinade (meal-sized portions) several weeks ago when apricots were in. I’ll bake it on a bed of fresh, local, heirloom-varity apricots, green peppers, and onions and serve over rice.

-Thursday. Heirlom tomato gazpacho & veggie quiche. Served with homemade ciabatta, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. We bought a good amount of tomatoes especially for this soup, which I am patterning after a soup we had at Revolutionary Soup a few weeks ago (hi MJ & Dave!).  I think I’ve got the recipe I want, and if it goes well I’ll post it here. And, I might make up a huge batch to freeze! The quiche will be with the farm fresh eggs, leftover veggies, and some cheese in one of UC’s whole wheat crusts. Thank goodness one of us can bake!

-Friday. Turkey Pot Pie. You had to know this was coming. We’ll use part of the leftover meat to make the pot pie, along with some fun veggies: edamame, roasted corn, onion, cauliflower, edamame. The rest of the meat will be frozen for future use in soup with the stock.

Breakfasts:

-Wheat berry and pearl barley porridge. I made this last night in crock pot, and woke up to a lovely, homey smell this morning. 2 cups each wheat berry and pearl barey, 4 cups apple juice, 4 cups water. Cook on low. You can add dried fruit, as well, but UC prefers his added in the morning with milk, molasses or honey, and butter.

-Oatmeal wheat pancakes with scrambled eggs. UC made this new pancake recipe for Sunday’s breakfast, and we have two left. The eggs and a cup of yogurt should round it out nicely.

-Eggs and toast. Farm fresh eggs and homemade toast. Breakfast of champions.

Snacks:

Peaches, fruit-and-yogurt parfaits, granola, chips & salsa, pretzels, cheese, smoothies.

The actual money spent on food we’ll eat this week was closer to $70, with the rest going for stock up items. The turkey and chicken were both already in the freezer, and we had everything but the apple juice for the porridge.

How’re you eating well and staying frugal this week?

No Clever Title, Just a Lot of Mushrooms

Chanetrelle season is here, and I went out scouring some local woods last week. UC and I collected about 3/4 lb of cynnabar chanetrelles one day. They’re small, so this is actually pretty good. The following day, I went out and garnered 3 lbs. of “common chanetrelles,” which are considered some of the best edibles anywhere.

Above: Three pounds of common and cynnabar chanetrelles (2.75 lbs or so was the common, which is far larger and has better flavor, but isn’t nearly as vibrant). Below: The largest common chanetrelle I found on this hunt.

Above: The perfect chanetrelle trumpet. The shape is gorgeous, and the color was a yolk-yellow. I did find two white mushrooms that were even bigger that I am fairly sure were a white variety of chanetrelle, but since I couldn’t 100% positively ID them because they’re only briefly mentioned in one of our two books, they were tossed instead of eaten. Below: Cynnabar chanetrelles, rinsed and trimmed.

So, what did we do with all of these lovely mushrooms? Well, some were quick-cooked and frozen. The rest were used for dinner the following night. Above: Heritage varieties of turnips and beets, ready for trimming. Below: Blue potatoes. I love these for their creamy texture, and also for the vibrant color that sticks with them through baking (though not so much through boiling). All of these are from local farms.

The beets, turnips, potatoes, and some local onions  were laid into a bed (pictured above) for the chicken, which is pictured below. The chicken (pasture raised, organic, from Double H farms) was rubbed with Amish butter, then sprinkled with paprika, hickory sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and rosemary. Mushrooms were laid in the bottom bed, and arranged on top.

I unfortunately don’t have a good picture of the finished product because it got too dark in the house to get a decent shot; but, trust me when I say it was really, really tasty. The remainder of the chicken is being used tonight for chicken fajitas, along with fresh local bell peppers. Dessert will be a layered parfait of Greek yogurt and fresh, local heritage peaches that just came into season. They’re so full of flavor!

Below, for those that haven’t visited us yet, is a picture of one wall of our kitchen. To the left is a salvaged farm window, which we use to write out our weekly menu, grocery lists, notes to each other, and anything else food or kitchen related that strikes our fancy. It’s also where I leave UC 2-dimensional flowers once in a while, as you can see here (he brings me real wildflowers a lot, so these are often representations of what he’s given to me). The plaque above it is an Aztec calendar, which makes far more sense in a kitchen once you’ve seen me de-bone a chicken and smash the bones for stock, I guess. The little white door you see is a built-in ironing board! I’ve mentioned we have a historic apartment, and this is one of those odd little quirks. We use it as a cooling rack. In the midst of the various utensils (including my favorite cleaver) you see a garlic braid UC finished a couple weeks back. Stellar, isn’t it? Below that is his family bread mixing bowl, which is sitting on my great grandmother’s cupboard.

Some day soon, I’ll post more kitchen pics. We have, I think, made the most of our space and are quite proud of how it’s turned out. We’re comfortable in the kitchen we’ve created together, and it says a lot about who we are.

Fresh, Fresh, Fresh

It’s been a while since I’ve posted dinner pictures, in large part because I’ve been gone a lot these last few weeks. This isn’t the most artistic of my photos, but it’s worth posting for the flavors anyway:

I prefer to roast fish in parchment, but I was out, and foil works almost as well. Underneath all the toppings is a nice slab of salmon; but, what you see here are fresh-harvested mushrooms from our hike earlier in the day, onion, bay leaf, white wine, butter, and lemon. This technique for cooking fish is pretty much fool-proof. The fish turns out moist and flavorful every single time.

This is the complete dinner: the fish dish from above, served with beer-battered eggplant and fingerling gold & baby blue potatoes, both from a local farm. I roasted the potatoes with Herbs de Provence and smoked sea salt, and the earthy scents blended with the mushroom-tomato fish as well as the tastes did. It was fantastic!

Roasted Root Vegetable Stew

As a side dish the other evening, UC and I had roasted root veggies. I decided to use the leftovers to make a hearty stew.  This is the best way to do this and make the most of the veggies, but you can always make the roasted roots especially for the stew. It was perfect, and gorgeous. The lovely color comes largely from the beet and beet tops.

This is a budget-friendly, seasonal meal that really fills you up. There’s no real “set” recipe, as it depends what roots are on hand, but below are the basics. If made with vegetable stock, it’s completely vegetarian-friendly, too!

Roasted Root Vegetable Stew Recipe

-Root veggies, cleaned but not peeled. Ideally, you’ll want to include some beets for color. Top them, clean and chop the tops. I stay away from using a lot of potatoes, instead opting for more rutabaga, turnips, parsnips, onions, beets, carrots, and fennel root (this last is expensive, so it depends on my budget). Be creative!

-For additional flavor and color, I like to add roasted red peppers. Not necessary, but nice.

- Chunk roots to about 1/2 inch. Toss to coat in olive oil, salt, and Herbs de Provence. Spread in a baking dish, one layer deep. Bake at 350F for about an hour, until roots are tender, turning once to caramelize.

-In large stockpot, sweat half a zesty onion in some olive oil. Add about 2 quarts of stock of your choice (chicken and vegetable are my favorites), as well as beet tops, some rosemary, salt, thyme, savory, garlic/garlic powder, and pepper. Boil for about 30 minute, then add 2/3 of root vegetables (reserve other third).

-Puree everything in the stockpot with emulsion blender. Make as chunky or creamy as you like.

-Add rest of root veggies, and allow to simmer for another 20 or so minutes before serving. Adjust seasonings.

This is even better, as with many soups, on day two. Condiment ideas: dallop of sour cream, grated cheese, parsley, chives, croutons. Enjoy with fresh bread, a salad, or corn muffins! Also good with quiche.