Gone fishing
Monday, March 31, 2008
I like to head down to the Italian Market sometimes and visit the fish mongers. Sometimes the fish look good and fresh, and sometimes they don’t. Whatever the case, it’s rare that the fish guys have a good sense of where exactly that fish came from...and chances are that it definitely isn’t local.
It is something of a sore point with me that we live so close to the Jersey shore and the waters of the Chesapeake, yet there’s no good mechanism in or around Philadelphia to find local fish. It’s simple to find locally grown produce and meat - farmers are proud of it and they advertise. Why that isn’t the case with locally grown/locally caught fish, I’ll never know.
But let it never be said we can’t take matters into our own hands, especially if you’ve got a husband who likes to fish!
For Philadelphians, fishing for your own food is problematic. I mean, the very idea of eating fish caught in the city limits parts of the Delaware or Schuylkill Rivers is unthinkable. Corporations routinely dump arsenic, untreated sewage, and all sorts of things into our waterways, and I’m on the water enough to know there are a plethora of dead bodies in both rivers. You can eat some of the fish caught in the river, but there’s a severe limit on what you can eat and how much of it you can eat.
The suburbs offer a better solution. In some cases, not much better. But at least you don’t have to worry too much about eating super contaminated three-eyed fish!
In Southeast Pennsylvania trout season started on March 29. Out here in Delaware County, there are a few good spots to fish trout. Saturday morning, my husband took his first fishing jaunt of the season and brought home a rainbow trout and a brown trout. My hero!
We did have a discussion, though, about whether or not you can call a trout caught just a few miles from the house but raised further away local. In this case, the trout that were stocked are from somewhere in Lancaster County and that means they’re probably within our 100 mile radius. But if the fish came from further away, I’m not sure if that would count. Thoughts on this?
After all my griping about not being able to find a reliable source for local fish, I was so happy to have these trout! You just can’t get any fresher than that. I pan-fried them in some butter I made last week, and served the fillets with some lightly cooked baby spinach from, I think, Green Meadow Farm and sauteed mushrooms from Mother Earth Mushrooms. It was fantastic, and I’m looking forward to more freshly caught trout this season!
Near Eastern Meatloaf (by way of Lancaster County)
Part 2 of my first order with the Meadow Run Farms buying club (see Tortilla Espanola for Part 1; see link at left under “meat” for information on the buying club) was ground beef and ground lamb for my favorite meatloaf. In fact, I joined the club practically on the basis of its having ground lamb because it can be hard to find, local or otherwise, in grocery stores.
The ground meat is packaged in flat pouches that make defrosting much faster than a brick-like package. I don’t know if that was intentional, but it works for me. What you’re looking at is a pound each of beef and lamb.
What makes this meatloaf “near eastern” is the kefte-like spice and other additions. I don’t measure when I make this, so amounts are approximate:
1/3C chopped parsley
1 small onion, minced (in this case it was 1/3 of a bermuda onion from Rineer Family Farms)
2 carrots, grated (on the big side of a box grater)
2T pomegranate molasses
1T Syrian kefte spice (a mixture that I buy at Kalustyan’s in NYC)
1/4C dried currants or zereshk (barberries, a Persian food that is slightly sour)
1t salt
(A handful of pinenuts is a nice addition, too.)
To this, you work the meats in with your hands. (If you want to check the seasoning before you bake the loaf, take a little and fry it in a pan for an approximation.)
Bake at 350 for about 1 hour 15 minutes. This meat yielded a nice juicey loaf (the carrots help with this, too) with a wonderful lamb flavor. Could you go 100% lamb? Absolutely. Enjoy!
With April come violets!
Friday, March 28, 2008
I’ve heard it said that April is the cruelest month here in Pennsylvania in terms of locally grown produce. But with April usually comes violets. Around my house we generally tend to start see them popping up around mid-April through the end of May. Most people don’t look at wild violets growing in the yard and think “Hey, I think I’ll eat those!” but foraging for wild violets is a sweet way to get in some early locally grown food.
Yeah, ‘sweet’. Get it? I make candied violets every Spring.
True, candied violets don’t taste like much except, well, sugar. But if you’re decorating a cake, they’re useful to have. Or they’re good just as a snack. And they last practically forever.
Here’s how you do it -
- First, go out into the yard or someone else’s yard or wherever violets are growing and pick a couple big handfuls. Whatever you do, make sure you pick them from places you know haven’t been treated with pesticides or herbicides or any other potentially dangerous chemicals.
- Wash the violets very gently. You can soak the flowers in cold water for a little while or gently swish them in water, as you prefer. Before you start candying the violets, though, you need to make sure the violets are completely dry...so be sure you give them enough time to air dry.
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
- Make egg wash using egg whites from two room temperature eggs with a pinch of water. Whisk the egg white/water mixture until it’s just very lightly a little frothy.
- Crush a half cup of granulated sugar with a mortar and pestle. It doesn’t have to be like powder, but it should be smaller granules
- Grab a small paint brush and a violet. Dip the brush into the egg white and very gently but thoroughly coat the violet flower on all sides. This works best if you hold the violet by the stem.
- Spoon sugar very gently over the violet to coat it on all sides.
- Lay the violet on a cookie sheet and very gently remove the stem.
- Dry them in your 200 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let them cool completely, and then store in an air tight container.
smoked cheddar with hot peppers
Monday, March 24, 2008
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty picky about cheddars. This cheddar, which I picked up at the Highland Orchards stand at the Fitler Square market on Saturday, is definitely not the super-sharp cheddar that is my favorite, but it’s very tasty. The combination of smoky flavor and hot-pepper sharpness is quite a good alternative to standard cheddar.
Tortilla Espanola
Sunday, March 23, 2008
I picked up my first purchase through the Meadow Run Farm buying club last Tuesday night, and I have been an omelet making machine since.
Bu this is my first attempt at a Spanish staple, the tortilla espanola. There are 3 main ingredients, and all I realized 1) that I had all 3 in the fridge, and 2) I’d procured them locally. (Excellent news! a good meal and a blog entry!) 
The eggs of many beige-brown hues were part of my Meadow Run order (the meats to be blogged about in due course), and the potatoes and bermuda onion were from Rineer Family Farms from the Fitler Sq. Saturday market.
Look how yellow it is—you’d think I’d added saffron. Amazing yolks in these eggs.
Even more beef stew!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Beef stew must be catching! After seeing Allison’s beef stew, and Emily’s homage to beef stew, well, I hauled out the three pounds of beef cubes from Natural Acres that I’ve been hoarding.
My stew differs from Allison’s and Emily’s in that it contains beer. I’m convinced that everything is better with the addition of beer! And as I like to support local farmers, I also like to support local breweries - I used a bottle of stout from Yards Brewery.
Also local: onions from Landisdale Farm, carrots from Tuscarora Coop, rosemary from Overbrook Herb Farm, flour from Daisy, homemade lamb stock from some bones from Jamison Farm, and garlic.
2 Tbsp. oil of your choice
3 lb. beef cubes/stew meat
2 c. chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tsp. chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp sun-dried tomato paste
2 Tbsp flour
1 bottle of stout
14 oz beef or lamb stock
1 lb of carrots, cut into chunksHeat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season beef with salt and pepper and brown beef [maybe 6 minutes is all you need]. Remove from pot and add onions, garlic, and herbs to the Dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper; reduce heat to medium and saute about 4 or 5 minutes. Add in paste and flour, stir for a minute. Add beer; stir for a few minutes and scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
Add stock and beef; bring to a simmer. Partially cover the Dutch oven, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 45 minutes. If the stew gets too thick, you can cut it with red wine. Add carrots and simmer another 45 minutes. Again, you can continue to cut the stew with red wine or more beer if it gets too thick or boils down too much.. Season with salt and pepper and eat up!
This stew is guaranteed to warm you up! It sounds like we’re in for a few more cold days before Spring officially is sprung, so now might be a good time to try it out!
Two 75% Local Dinners
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Two mostly local dishes we’ve had recently:
The above is a version of Potato and Pea Curry (see http://farmtophilly.com/index.php/site/comments/local_note_about_potato_and_pea_curry/ for the recipe), with local broccoli, local spuds, local onions, and local corn. As usual, the spices were not local, and nor was the tomato paste.
”
This one had local potatoes with local onions, a local portabello mushroom burger with local ketchup and a homemade bun (from non-local ingredients), and non-local walnut and local beet salad (made from beets we dehydrated last fall).
Ode to Buttermilk
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I tend to think of the seasons affecting my diet strictly in terms of what local foods are available, but, really, the relationship is more subtle than that. The seasons also prompt me to want to certain foods: a crisp fall morning makes me reach for a commensurately crisp, tart apple; the first warm days of spring have me looking for baby lettuces and asparagus; an oppressive summer day is alleviated by an heirloom tomato salad. In the winter, I crave pureed and mashed root vegetable, meat stews, and freshly baked bread. About fifteen minutes after slipping the dough into the oven, I can start to smell the baking, which soon permeates our small home. Suddenly, gas-heated, forced air doesn’t seem so stale, and cold, dry hands will be soon be warmed by a steaming chunk - who can wait to slice?
Being a limited baker (both in skill and interest), I set out to improve my skill and deepen my reserve. Thankfully, each of the three recipes I attempted was a success - not always a gaurantee when it comes to baking. More importantly, in my third year of Farm to City’s Winter Harvest, I have finally discovered buttermilk. I suppose I eschewed it in the past because I perceived it as having limited use and spoiling quickly. Thankfully, I was wrong.
In the first, instance, I made English muffins, straight out of the The Bread Bakers Apprentice. (An indispensable guide that has made me a much better baker than I was.) Here, the buttermilk’s acidity melded with the salt and sugar of the dough, tasting like something between a savory muffin and a bread. The second was buttermilk biscuits from the King Arthur Flour website, a perfect accompaniment to poached eggs and cottage bacon from Meadow Run Farm and sautéed spinach from Winter Harvest. Here, the buttermilk was the defining ingredient: it’s creamy sharpness the most important factor. The third was scones from the Metropolitan Bakery Cookbook, using half white flour and half spelt flour from the Fair Food Farmstand and butter and maple sugar also from Winter Harvest. Although much sweeter than the previous uses, the buttermilk was equally fantastic.
With Spring rapidly approaching, I may be losing the urge to bake such breads, but next November, I suspect the cold weather will prompt me again.
Mushroom Chinese Dumplings
We bought these beatiful oyster mushrooms (with a couple of trumpets) at Weaver’s Way Coop last week.
We had some tenants many years ago from China, and they taught us how to make dumplings. I was terrible at the rolling out of the dough into circles, so we long ago switched to bought dumpling wrappers, but even so, it’s a wonderful, cheap treat.
For the filling, you can use pork (as we were taught), or veggies (as we use now, since we are now vegetarians). Yan Heng and Qing were vague about amounts, so I will be, too!
Jiaozi (Gyoza) or Chinese Dumplings
Some mushrooms, oil, onion, ginger, soy sauce, an egg, some kind of greens (bok choy, kale, etc.) - dice, mix them all together, and then fill the wrappers.
I’m afraid you’ll have to bear with the drawings I made in my cookbook for the next bit:
#1 Pinch top of wrapper together and push in from one side
#2 After pinching closed one flap, mash the other flap into the side of the dumpling. Then repeat for the other side.
#3 The finished dumpling should be kind of like this (the little marks are pinch lines):
To cook them, boil up a bunch of water in a big pot, and put them in, many at a time (my recipe says 30, but I probably usually do half that at a time). After the water boils again, add a cup or so of cold water. Wait for it to boil, and add another cup of cold water. When it boils again, take one out and test it. This is all particularly important if your dumplings have raw pork in them, but it gets the veggie ones cooked nicely, too.
A couple of hints:
--The more dumplings you wrap, the easier it gets. When I started, the wrapping was the most overwhelming part, and now I’ve done it so often I think of it as the watch-TV-and-wrap-dumplings cozy part of the process.
--For the vegetarian version, I usually throw in some reconstituted TSP (textured soy protein) or okara (what remain after we make soy milk) to bind the mixture and give it a meaty texture.
Finally, I just wanted to note that dumplings in a restaurant cost about $1 per dumpling. Half a pound of ground pork or a few mushrooms plus the rest of the very cheap mixture make about 60 dumplings. We freeze the leftover ones (when there are any--think of it--as many dumplings as you want!) and M takes them for lunches.
A Cure for What Ails Us
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Like everyone else in the area (it seems), our family was hit with the flu bug last week. I need to make something mild and soothing that didn’t require much effort. After staring into the freezer for far too long, I settled on a nice cream of zucchini soup. The bonus was getting to use six cups of my shredded zukes from last summer’s garden. Let’s face it: it’s time to start whittling away the freezer stash. The result was fresh, soft and soothing.
Zucchini Soup
Saute one onion, one shallot and some minced garlic in a mixture of butter and olive oil until very soft. Add 6 c. shredded zucchini, sprinkle with some flour, and add about 4. cups water or broth. Season with salt and pepper and some herbs (I t. of oregano and 1 t. of thyme plus a couple of bay leaves will do.) Simmer for 30 minutes or until very soft. Add a little milk or cream at this point and bring it to temperature. I used my immersion blender to partially puree the soup. Serve with shaved parmesan.
New CSA: North Star
Friday, March 07, 2008
Everyone is scrambling right now to choose the right CSA program. It’s really cool that there are so many to choose from, and I’m pleased to say that we can throw another into the mix: North Star Orchards now has a produce CSA!
Lisa from North Star tells us “Our Fruit Share CSA(now entering its fifth year) has been very successful…people just love it! So we’ve been increasing the memberships for that every year....Last year, we started diversifying our farm more by planting vegetables. Naturally, CSA seemed the way to go with them, so we’ve started offering a Veggie Share this year as well, with a full range of veggies and two different share size options.”
The pick up locations for North Star’s produce CSA are Eagle, Havertown, Cochranville, and Philadelphia (Head House Square). The share will run for 22 weeks beginning June 2. A full share is $700; half shares are available for $450.
Something I’ve not seen from any other CSA is North Star’s “Special Recipe Week”, where share owners will be provided with the ingredients and recipe - like tomato sauce during the height of tomato season. That’s kind of a cool idea.
Obviously, CSA programs are a great way for farmers to ensure they get a fair price for their work, but consumers make out, too - simple from the perspective of freshness and variety. Lisa says,
We like doing CSA because the produce is basically pre-sold. This allows us to grow more heritage, heirloom, and sensitive (ie. can’t hold up well at market) varieties that people cannot get at regular market outlets. We also know that the produce will be spoken for, even if it’s a rainy day…whereas at the regular farmers’ market, many folks won’t come to shop and a lot of produce gets wasted.
Staying connected with customers is very important to us. Although we don’t get to necessarily see our CSA members because they pick up their shares at various sites, we do keep in contact with them by sending out a weekly email which details what’s in the share, what’s unusual about it, and how to use it….as well as including various articles about farm goings-on. We often ask for feedback about various varieties or ask for recipes, etc. To us, this connection with the people who are eating our fruit and veggies is very important…and makes the hard work in spring and summer so worthwhile!
I’ve long been a fan of North Star’s fruit - I’m sure the quality of their vegetables is outstanding, as well! But if you’re interested, act quickly - shares are limited this year.
Farm to City CSA announcement
Thursday, March 06, 2008
For anyone considering joining either Lancaster Farm Fresh or Red Earth Farm CSAs for the season, an announcement:
2008 LANCASTER FARM FRESH CSA MEMBERSHIP
This Saturday March 8, at noon, our web site will accept applications for shares in the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA, 2008 season.
You can apply for this CSA anytime after noon March 8. You will be able to pay by PayPal, or you can send a check to the address given at the bottom of the application form.
Go to: http://farmtocity.org, click on Community Supported Agriculture, then on Lancaster Farm Fresh. The application form link will appear on the left panel of the web page entitled Lancaster Farm Fresh.
We can accept approximately 200 members for this CSA. We will accept members up to this limit in the order applications are received, provided we also receive payment within a week after the application date for those paying by check.
2008 RED EARTH FARM CSA MEMBERSHIP
In a week or so we will open our website for membership in the Red Earth Farm CSA. The exact date and time of the opening will be posted soon on this CSAs web page:
http://farmtocity.org, click on Community Supported Agriculture, then on Red Earth Farm. A message at the top of the page entitled Red Earth Farm will be updated occasionally. When the application period begins, the application form link will appear on the left panel of the web page.
The same rule applies for accepting members based on time and date of application and payment within a week. We can accept 30 or fewer members to the Red Earth Farm CSA. Last year 50 shares sold in about 6 hours after we opened the web site.
Grass Fed Beef Stew
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Although it’s balmy today, over the weekend it was cold. Sundays I try to make a pot of something for eating and freezing, so on Saturday I went to the farmers’ market at Fitler Square and bought some beautiful, grass-fed eye round from Rineer Family Farms. Plus, very nice potatoes and red onions from them, too. (I find it so hard to find a good red onion even at the greengrocer, do you? They always look like someone’s been bowling with them.) From one of the vegetable stands (which name I forget—sorry!), I bought carrots and parsley. The other stew components were mushrooms (local), red wine, and such. Plus asparagus (I really needed something green) and bread from Sarcone’s. Good stuff, Maynard.
Dark Days: Pork chops, no applesauce
Saturday, March 01, 2008
I really haven’t been doing a lot of cooking lately. My husband and I have seemingly been passing the plague back and forth, and no one wants to cook when your nose is running or your throat is scratchy. I did manage to eek out one meal this week, and it was pretty much all locally grown with the exception of salt and pepper and pre-made garlic marinade.
Country Time Farm pork chops spent some time in a garlic marinade and then baked. Mother Earth cremini mushrooms were sauteed in some of the butter I made and Tuscarora Coop yellow carrots were sliced up and boiled. And finally, I barely cooked some of the spinach that I picked up from Fair Food Farmstand.
And people say eating seasonally in the Winter is hard! It was delicious!
Beef Stew to Soothe
As I was getting ready to head out into the cold winter air a few mornings ago, a noise from outside forced me to pause in the middle of what I was doing. Songbirds. Since the Winter Solstice in December, the shift of the daylight hours has been growing more perceptible each week, but to me there is no surer sign that spring is coming than the return of the songbird’s twitter outside my window or the sigh of a mourning dove as I walk to catch my train.
In Reading Terminal Market, the Chilean grapes, nectarines, peaches and plums are piled high in seductive, if stony, pyramids. Their presence is a reminder that just as the spring thaw has yet to reach Philadelphia, it must be high summer in some other part of the world. As tempting as they are, I know that their beauty is only skin deep and I pass them over with few exceptions, reminding myself that spring strawberries are but a few months away. Bracing myself against the lingering winter chill, my walk home makes me feel decidedly less optimistic that I will find signs of the new season around the corner. Until I can wholeheartedly announce the arrival of Spring and her flowers, lettuces, and eventual asparagus, I will content myself and warm my kitchen with cold weather fare. Banishing the chill that seeps in at the edges of the poorly-sealed windows in our West Philly rental is this recipe for beef stew. Originally printed in Maxim “a mindless, but funny magazine for mindless, but funny, guys” and gradually tweaked and adapted by my father, this stew is remarkably good. The recipe dictates to braise the beef and roast the vegetables separately from one another, a vital cue that allows the vegetables to retain their textural integrity and even concentrates their flavor. Served over egg noodles, it is enough to satisfy if not the eternal longing for spring, than at least the more momentary longing for supper.
Rod Teel’s “Pot of Gold” Beef Stew
Adapted from Maxim magazine
This recipe is somewhat time and labor intensive so it’s not ideally suited to a weeknight supper. It does reheat beautifully however, so make a batch over the weekend and you’ll be able to enjoy more than a few weeknight suppers from it.3 Tb. Canola or olive oil
1 cup flour
2 ½ cups beef chuck, cubed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small shallot or red onion, finely chopped
2 cups dry red wine
2 cups good beef stock
1 handful parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper
spice rub (mix 1 teaspoon each granulated garlic, paprika, cayenne, salt, oregano, thyme, you will have some leftover)2 cups carrots, cubed
1 cup parsnips, cubed
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
3 large potatoes, cubed
1 ½ cups onions, diced
1 cup onion, large wedges
3 slices bacon, small dice
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
2 Tb. Butter
1 Lb. cremini or button mushrooms, quartered
¼ cup heavy cream
2 Tb. Flour1. Preheat oven to 325º.
2. Heat oil in a Dutch Oven over moderate heat. Season 1 cup of flour with salt, pepper and 1 Tb. of spice rub. Season beef with salt, pepper, and spice rub. Dredge beef cubes in seasoned flour and brown on all sides in hot oil. Be careful not to overcrowd the oil or the meat will steam. Work in batches removing meat to a plate. When all meat is browned, add minced garlic, shallot and cook for a minute. Add meat back and pour over stock, wine, parsley and bay leaf. Cover and bake for two hours.
3. Once beef is in the oven, combine carrots, parsnip, potatoes, onion wedges and garlic chunks in a shallow roasting pan or baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper and spice rub and drizzle over a tablespoon of olive oil. Mix and spread out. Roast alongside the meat, uncovered, for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until tender. Remove when tender if beef is not yet finished.
4. Sauté bacon in a dry skillet until fat is rendered. Remove and set aside. Sauté diced onions in bacon fat until soft. Mix in tomato paste and bacon and cook, stirring for a minute.
5. Half-an-hour before the beef is due to be finished, stir in the bacon mixture, re-cover and roast for the remaining time.
6. Melt 1 Tb. butter in a large skillet (same one as the bacon is fine), and sauté the mushrooms over medium heat, seasoning them with salt and pepper until browned. Remove from skillet and set aside.
7. Add other Tb. butter to skillet and melt, sprinkling 2 Tb. flour over to make a light roux. Cook flour in butter, stirring, until it has turned a light caramel color. Add cream and ¾ liquid from the beef pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, to make a thickened sauce.
8. Mix sauce, beef, roasted vegetables, and mushrooms into Dutch Oven to combine. Serve with egg noodles and additional fresh parsley, if you like.
