Go Green for Thanksgiving

Monday, November 12, 2007

A chilly Sunday evening calls for some nice warm comfort food. So last night we tried the Ray’s seitan that I picked up at the Fair Food Farmstand. I made a seitan strogonoff from Nava Atlas’ Vegetarian Express. It was really tasty and, as promised, was on the table in thirty minutes. I was able to make it pretty quickly while the real star of the table was in the oven: Chard & Kale Gratin. The recipe is based on one in Deborah Madison’s cookbook called Local Flavors, which is a beautiful and thoughtful ode to the diversity of food sold at farmers markets. (This would make a lovely holiday gift for any aspiring locavore!)

Madison’s recipe uses Bright Lights Swiss Chard and crumbled feta. I used a mixture of Bright Lights and kale because I had both in the garden. I also substituted Hendricks Telford Tomme cheese because I was picking up a few things at the suburban mega-grocery store Hennings when I saw a woman from Hendricks offering samples. I’m a sucker for free cheese! Turns out that Hendricks is now going to be carried at Hennings.  Good stuff.  Anyhoo…the Tomme was great in the gratin. I may make this dish for Thanksgiving because it always elicits rave reviews and it’s nice to have some greens on the table with all the starchy side dishes.

Here’s the recipe:

Deborah Madison’s Chard Gratin
From:  Local Flavors

2 lb. chard (coarsely chopped), including half of the stems (chopped) [I often mix chard and kale]
4 T. butter
1 onion, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 c. fresh bread crumbs
1 garlic clove, minced
3 T. chopped parsley [lots of different herbs are good in this]
1 T. flour
1 c. milk or cream or a mixture of cream and stock
1 c. crumbled fresh goat cheese [or another cheese or your liking]

Melt 2 T. butter in skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and chard stems and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to brown.  Add greens, sprinkle with 1 t. salt, and cook until wilted and tender (less than 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 400 and lightly oil a 2 qt gratin dish. Melt 1 T. butter in small skillet and add bread crumbs, garlic and herbs. Cook, stirring, for one minute; scrape into bowl and return skillet to heat.

Melt 1 T. butter, stir in flour, then whisk in milk.  Simmer for 5 minutes, season w/ salt, and add to the greens. Add the cheese and season.

Pour into dish and cover with bread crumbs.  Bake until heated through and golden, about 25 minutes. Let settle for a few moments before serving.

Soup For You

If you have ever been to an Italian-American Thanksgiving, then you know that tortellini in chicken broth is a must before anything as American as a turkey.  While I love tortellini soup, I don’t think it has a place on a Thanksgiving-day table.  In true American spirit, I think food of all nationalities can have a place, but tortellini in chicken broth?  There is a bit too much poultry in having a chicken broth and then a turkey.  Also, does anyone need more starch on Thanksgiving? 

The root-vegetable soup below is adapted from Sally Schneider’s The Imrovisational Cook.  I’ve altered the specific vegetables, the amount of water, added beer, etc.  I also happened to add some left-over roasted cauliflower to the mix.  My favorite (and most needed) addition, though,  is the cheddar “croutons.”  For our Christmas party, I always make frico with Montasio cheese; what follows is just a variation.  My wife and I found them a necessary addition, as this is a soup with a muted flavor.

Root-Vegetable Soup with Cheddar Croutons

2 lbs. mixed root vegetables (celeraic, waxy potatoes, parsnips), diced into equal-size chunks
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 leek, washed, trimmed and cut into thick rings
2 bay leaves
2 tblsp. butter, olive oil or bacon fat
1 c. beer (preferably stout)
2 c. grated cheddar cheese (we used Oak Shade Horseradish Cheddar)
1 c. flat-leat parsley, roughly chopped
water
salt
pepper

Set the broiler on high and scatter the cheese over a piece of parchment paper or a silpat on a baking sheet.  Be sure to make a single, thin layer.  Place under the broil until the cheese has melted into itself and turned golden brown.  Remove and let cool while you make the soup. 

In a heavy-bottomed stock pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Add the leeks and garlic and saute until softened.  Add the root vegetables and cover with just enough water to cover.  Bring to a gentle boil until the root vegetables are cooked through (approximately thirty minutes, depending on the size of your cubes).  (Note:  You could also lightly brown the vegetables before adding the water; I think I might try that next time myself.)  Once the vegetables are cooked, either puree in a blender (in batches) and return to the pot.  Or, you could just use an immersion blender.  Add the beer and salt and pepper to taste; let it simmer, with an occasional stir, for an additional twenty minutes. 

Break the cooled, melted cheese into bite-size chunks.  Ladle the soup into warmed bowls or mugs, float a couple of the cheese “croutons,” and top with the chopped parsley. 

Hopefully, you’ll find it more Thanksgiving-like, too. 

Hendricks Farm Grass Stains

I knew my love affair with all things Hendricks Farms would eventually have to come to an end.  I recently bought a piece of Grass Stain cheese and it is probably my least favorite of locally produced cheeses.  My main beef is with the texture.  It’s just…wrong.

Someone told me that Grass Stains is really just Cow Pie blended with cracked black pepper and an herb blend on the rind.  And, despite my good experience with Cow Pie, I’ve heard lots of people say they were very disappointed with the texture.  Like Cow Pie, I thought perhaps being brought to room temp would transform the cheese.  Not so.  The cheese remained crumbly and dry…and almost chalky.

Emily, manager of the Fair Food Farmstand, mentioned in passing the other day that she wasn’t a fan because you lose the flavor of the milk.  I do think the herbed rind competes a bit with the cracked pepper inside, but I wasn’t terribly bothered by it.  If the texture had been better, I probably would have liked the peppery bite of the cheese.

That said, I could see this cheese having a place on a salad.  It naturally wants to crumble, so it makes sense to use it that way.  On a mild lettuce mix, the peppery cheese would likely be pretty good…and the texture would likely go unnoticed.

Cider! + A Roasted Tomato Sauce

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Yesterday, I picked up 2 half-gallons of Gold Rush Cider from North Star Orchard at the Rittenhouse Farmers Market.

If you are a cider connoisseur/se, you have a few days to contact them (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) to order cider for pick up before the end of the season the end of next week. I have one in the freezer and one in the fridge. 

I bought also some very nice cauliflower—they sell by the pound, not the head, so those of us who are cooking for one can buy a small head. I like that.

And, I bought the last of the tomatoes from another vendor at the market. I have been making delicious sauce to freeze from a recipe in Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells. Here’s what you do:

1. Heat oven to 425.
2. Wash and core tomatoes.
3. Halve them. Sprinkle with salt.
4. Place them cut side up in a baking roasting pan for 45-60 mins. (I put parchment paper in the bottom to keep the juices from welding the tomatoes to the pan.)
5. Cool a little, then puree to desired consistency. You’ll find that it’s a wonderful, slightly sweet very tomoto-ey sauce. Add milk, and I think it will make a terrific tomato soup.
Note: you don’t need to peel or seed them, nor do you need to use oil in the pan.

One for Me, One for You

We were invited to a friends’ house for dinner last night. My husband made the arrangements and forgot to ask what we should bring.  I feel naked showing up at someone’s home, especially for a meal, without something homemade to offer.  When he called back, we learned that the meal, dessert and wine were already taken care of.  I still couldn’t bring myself to show up without some food.  What to take?  I decided on a quick bread. They’re..uh, quick, they’re easy, they’re yummy and so versatile, doing duty as breakfast, as a snack, as a dessert or thrown in the freezer for the next time you need a hostess gift.  I’ve made pumpkin bread plenty of times so I decided to make up a recipe using the beautiful local sweet potato sitting on my counter.  The best part is that it makes two tasty loaves - one to keep at home and one to give away. What could be better? This would be a lovely hostess gift to take to Thanksgiving dinner if your host declines your request to make something.

Maple Sweet Potato Quick Bread

Mix together dry ingredients:

2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c. brown sugar

In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients:

2 c. sweet potato puree (pumpkin or squash would work just as well)
1/2 c. maple syrup
2 T. flax seed meal mixed with 6 T. water*
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. canola oil
2 eggs

Topping:

1/3 c. oats mixed with 1 T. brown sugar

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until just combined. Stir in 2 c. chopped walnuts.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Sprinkle top of each loaf with the topping. 

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

*This is the basic way to make a flax seed egg replacer:  mix 1 T. ground flax seeds with 3 T. water and let sit for a couple of minutes.  In this recipe, I used the equivalent of two eggs made from this mixture plus two of the real things. You could use four eggs instead or use all flax seed egg replacer using the above formula to equal four eggs.  You could also make this vegan by substituting soy milk or water for the cow’s milk.

The sweet potato, maple syrup, whole wheat flour, eggs and milk were local.

 

Dark Days and Turkey Day: the loaf and the sweet, sweet potatoes

Last night’s Dark Days challenge meal (my third for this week!  The other two: a tomato omelet and a grilled cheese sandwich and ‘kitchen sink’ soup) coincides with FTP’s own Turkey Day challenge (Farm to Philly writers and their favorite Thanksgiving meal recipes) - how serendipitous!  The Dark Days meal is meat loaf, cabbage gremolata, and cranberry glazed sweet potatoes.  It was delicious - a meal full of bright flavors!  And I’m happy to say that there are enough leftovers for a couple of lunches throughout the week, which is always fantastic!  The meatloaf, a blend of local ground beef and turkey, was about as close to totally local as you can get - local garlic, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, parsley, my homemade, local catsup, bread crumbs from local bread, and local eggs and milk.  The only things not local: olive oil, salt, pepper, and soy sauce.  I was especially excited with the meatloaf, because this is the first opportunity I’ve had to use the catsup I made.  It’s yummy and ended up having a really great consistency.

The cabbage gremolata finally used up the cabbage from my CSA share that’s been hibernating on my counter for weeks!  Aside from the lemon juice and lemon rind from two lemons in it, it’s entirely local - cabbage, butter, shallots, garlic.  It was a really excellent way to use cabbage, and a new favorite side dish for my very picky husband. And last but not least, the cranberry glazed sweet potatoes - and the Turkey Day portion of the meal!  I will confess to you that I do all the cooking for Thanksgiving for a very specific reason: I refuse to be in the vicinity of mashed sweet potatoes with melted marshmallow topping.  I think that particular dish is one of the most vile things on the planet.  Strangely, I think a lot of typical Thanksgiving fare is pretty grotesque - I also can’t abide the infamous green bean casserole with the canned cream soup and crispy onions on top…and I think I’ve expressed my hatred of canned cranberry gel before.  I know people love this stuff, but I just don’t get it.  Hey, different strokes and all that, right? So anyway, as a replacement for the dreaded sweet potato/marshmallow concoction I always offer up cranberry glazed sweet potatoes.  The cranberries offer a wonderful sweetness and the sweet potatoes are delicious!

2 large sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (I use a mandoline to ensure uniformity) 1 c. water 4 Tbsp. melted butter 2 Tbsp. bourbon salt and pepper 3/4 c. cranberries 1/3 c. brown sugar a pinch of both cinnamon and cayenne Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a large baking dish and arrange the potato slices in concentric circles, overlapping the slices slightly.  Pour 1/2 c. water over the potatoes and bake for 40 minutes (cover the dish with foil). Increase the temp to 425 degrees at the end of the baking period. Mix the melted butter and bourbon; pour over the potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Continue baking 25 minutes.  Baste midway through. Combine cranberries, 1/2 c. water, and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil over med-high heat until cranberries start to pop, about 10 minutes.  Drain the cranberries, reserving the liquid.  Stir cayenne and cinnamon into the liquid and drizzle it over the sweet potatoes.  Bake an additional 20 minutes.  During the last five minutes of baking, spread cranberries over top of the potatoes.

The brown sugar, bourbon, salt and pepper, cayenne and cinnamon are not local.  However, I think this would be just as good using local maple sugar in place of the brown sugar, and Sailor Jerry’s rum in place of the bourbon.

Market report: Clark Park Farmer’s Market

Saturday, November 10, 2007

After reading Naomi’s excellent Clark Park market reports, I finally broke down and went myself.  I was especially excited because of all the good things I’ve heard about Margerum’s dried beans, one of the few vendors in the area who grows dried beans.  But before I could get to the Margerum’s booth, I was stopped dead in my tracks by these fantastic, practically day-glo golden beets being sold by Pennypack Farm.  I had to have them!  I bought a bunch of the beets, as well as two columns of gorgeous brussels sprouts, and a bit of cheese.

At Margerum’s I felt like I had hit the jackpot.  I bought White Northern beans, orange lentils, yellow split peas, black beans, pinto beans, mung beans, and a small pack of dried pears.  Those should last me for a good long while, and I’m so excited to have them!

As we were walking back down the aisle of vendors, the guy from Slow Rise Bakery pulled up.  He opened up his car door and a huge waft of fresh bread poured out.  It was amazing!  We picked up a loaf of jalapeno cheddar bread.

And as we were about to leave, I could not resist buying a couple bags of handmade noodles and a dozen eggs from the Amish vendor on the end of the row.

For being late in the season, there were a good number of vendors - aside from the four I mentioned, there were probably about four or five other stands.  I really like Clark Park market a lot more than others I’ve been to because of the variety of available things - in addition to lots of amazing produce and more apples than you can shake a stick at, there was meat, breads, cheese, and eggs.  It was pretty great, and I can see that it will be a farmer’s market I will regularly attend.  It’s also one of the few markets that, I think, stays open all year round.

Clark Park Farmer’s Market
43rd and Baltimore
Saturdays 10-1p
Thursdays 3-7p [but only through Thanksgiving]

 

Early November at Headhouse Square

Thursday, November 08, 2007

I finally made it over to the Headhouse Market last Sunday after nearly a month away.  I was amazed at how much gorgeous food was there now that we’re into November.  I got there just before noon which was perfect.  It wasn’t too crowded, there was still plenty of food left and there was lots of happy energy filling the block.  I spent $19.70 and got what felt like ton of food.  The haul included a bunch of beets, several additional loose beets, a dozen eggs, two gorgeous and tasty tomatoes (at $1.25 a piece they seemed like a bargain for this time of year), two asian pears, a big bunch of Swiss Chard, a bag of pea sprouts and a very bright orange squash. 

In addition to buying my groceries, I spent some time chatting with Jennie who was working at the Weaver’s Way farm table and I taught a woman an easy way to roast a squash (slice in half, scoop out seeds, put cut sides down on baking sheet lined with foil or parchment and bake until fork tender) while we were waiting in line to pay for our goods.  It was a good visit to Headhouse on all fronts. 

Turkey Day challenge: bourbon cranberry sauce

My husband really likes canned cranberry sauce.  He won’t eat any cranberry related concoction unless it has tin can grooves in it and the expiration date is visible.  Growing up, we always had the canned stuff, too.  But the second I had fresh cranberry sauce I gave up the ways of the pre-packaged cranberry gel.  My husband, well…I’m still trying to drag him kicking and screaming to the light.

Last year for Thanksgiving I made a cranberry sauce I was sure he would love: bourbon cranberry sauce.  In the end, my husband refused to even try my cranberry sauce, but I made a convert out of his father.  Go figure.

The sauce is easy to make and stores really well, either canned in a water bath or in the fridge for a few days:

1 lb. cranberries
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 c. bourbon

Mix the cranberries, cinnamon, and sugar together and bake, covered in foil, for one hour at 350 degrees.  Remove from oven and give it all a good stir; pour in the bourbon.  Refrigerate overnight and serve chilled.

The Fair Food Farmstand has both white and red heirloom cranberry varieties from Paradise Hill Farm this week.  I can vouch for both of these - they are absolutely delicious, and the bourbon gives the sauce a little bit of zing.  It’s still the tiniest bit alcoholic, though, so be sure not to operate any heavy machinery after Thanksgiving dinner!

Turkey Day Challenge: Forget the Mashed Potatoes!

Okay, maybe you shouldn’t really forget the mashed potatoes this Thanksgiving since they are awfully good.  But a nice supplement to the “mashed vegetables alongside the turkey” category would be mashed turnips with roasted garlic.  Mild turnips, such as the white Hakurei, are best for those who aren’t huge turnip fans.  If you enjoy their spicy, somewhat bitter taste, opt for a variety such as Scarlet Queen.  Turnip season is in full swing and many varieties are available around the city’s various farmers markets.  These lovelies came from Weavers Way Farm. 

TURNIPS AND ROASTED GARLIC MASH

2 bunches of mild turnips (Hakurei variety works well)
1 large head of garlic
2 T. butter
generous pinches of salt and pepper
fresh chives to garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Place whole head of garlic, unpeeled, on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Roast garlic in oven for 30 minutes or until very squishy.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.

While garlic is roasting, bring a large pot of salted water up to a boil.  Wash turnips well, trimming off tops and roots.  Cut into 1 inch pieces and boil until tender, about 20 minutes depending on the variety.  Drain off water and allow to sit for five minutes.  Turnips will release more water as they cool.  Drain additional water off and use either a potato masher or an electric mixer to begin mashing up the turnips. 

Cut a half inch off the top of the roasted head of garlic, exposing the cloves inside.  With your hand, squeeze out all the garlic pulp into the turnips.  Add butter and salt and pepper before continuing to mash turnips to the desired consistency.  If turnips appear to be releasing more water after being mashed, drain it off and add more salt if necessary.

Serve immediately with a few snips of fresh garlic chives.  If desired, serve cooked turnip tops along side turnip mash.  To cook turnip tops, simple wash and roughly chop.  Heat olive oil or butter in a skillet and add turnips when hot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Turnip greens are fairly bitter.

CSA Weekly Report: Blooming Glen Farm

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Sniff, sniff.

Well, here it is.  The last Blooming Glen Farm pickup of the season:

I just don’t understand how it could be over.  What am I going to do without all of this super-tasty, local, fresh, healthy produce in my kitchen every week?  I’ve totally taken this season for granted.  I don’t even think about how to use the produce anymore.  When I get home, I preserve (usually freeze) whatever I won’t be able to use within the next week or two and the rest gets incorporated into meals with barely a second thought.

Well that was on the good weeks anyway.  There may have been an occasion or two…  or maybe several, when something were deposited half-rotten to the compost bin because I couldn’t use it in time.  But actually, that brings me to an excellent point.

The quantity of produce for the price of a share has been unbelievable.  It would be interesting to see an actual price-per-pound, though just a quick glance at the photo album could assure anyone that $780 for 24 weeks of produce is a great deal.  I split my share each week with my sister.  There are four adults and one child between the two homes, and we were able to stuff ourselves with fresh veggies and fruits every day, and still have enough left over for freezing and canning.  It’s hard to imagine, but we’ll still be enjoying this season’s bounty throughout the winter.

Not to mention the fact that the variety of produce was unbeatable and everything was grown naturally and sustainably.  By people I know.  Oh, and did I mention that we enjoyed fresh flowers more than half those weeks?

Belonging to a CSA definitely requires a bit of extra time and energy, as does any new method or way of doing something.  Once that habit is formed though, it really does become second nature. This was my second season at Blooming Glen and already I’ve learned and changed and incorporated so much!  Things like…

How to cook daikon, watermelon, French breakfast, black and regular radishes.

That Swiss Chard on a sandwich is quite tasty.

That yes, children actually can get sick of pick-your-owns;

and yes, so too can parents.

The differences between a sunshine, blue hubbard, delicata, bon bon and butternut winter squash.

That freezing string beans and summer squash is ridiculously easy,

but freezing sweet peppers is sinfully easy.

Trish’s secrets to keep flowers producing in the garden and looking beautiful in the vase.

That beets and carrots keep quite a while as long as you remove the greens.

That chopping it up nice and fine and adding it to macaroni recipes is an easy way to get kale into my son’s diet.

That there are perhaps a bazillion different varieties of cherry tomatoes.

And that Tom knows every single one of them.

That my family simply cannot not eat an entire head of cabbage before it goes bad.

That watermelon looks just as good in yellow as it does in pink.

What to do with celeriac.

The mystery and romance that is an heirloom tomato.

That simply is the best way to prepare fresh vegetables.

That soccer moms, DINKs, single parents, singletons, yuppies, hippies, teachers, administrators, entrepreneurs, Women Builders, EMTs, corporate CEOs, nonprofit workers and retirees all belong to my CSA.

That green tomatoes are great in stir fries, relishes and salads.

That my sister and I are so literal at times.

How to put up tomatoes.

That greens like turnip, beet and collards are really, really tasty and can be used in everything.

That my son can be bought not only with sweet potatoes, but also sunshine winter squash.

That there are some pretty adorable cows in Perkasie.

The differences between scallions, onions, sweet onions, garlic, garlic scapes, leeks and shallots.

That no matter how hard I try, I will probably never like radicchio.

That stir fries and scramblers are a CSA member’s best friends.

To not peel root vegetables if you can help it.

There is nothing on this planet that tastes better than a just-picked ripe tomato.

Surely, there are more.  Perhaps I’ll add to this list as the winter months creep in, our preserved CSA food supply dwindles and we can barely remember the feel of humidity on our skin as we pick quarts string beans, strawberries and basil.

Sigh.  Missing you oh-so-terribly already, Blooming Glen!

Would you like to get melodramatic over produce, too?  Find a CSA farm near you at Local Harvest!

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm (last for 2007)

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Last share of the season! Here’s what we got:

Double order of sweet potatoes (stockpiling for Thanksgiving)
Lacinato kale
Cauliflower
Parsnips
Turnips (roasting parsnips and turnips are good this time of year)

The butternut squash is from last week’s Winter Harvest order. My guy loved the butternut squash risotto that I had made last week, so I’ll probably be making it again this week.

This is my 2nd year having a Red Earth Farm share, and I plan on resubscribing next year. They have consistently good produce, well handled, with lots of variety. That I can choose my share from week to week is a nice bonus as well. They have been getting better and better with knowing what crops work—this year had fewer substitutions than the last. My only complaint this time around is that the site hosts have not been easy to work with—but I think that’s a very minor point, as the communications with the farmers themselves have been wonderful. I look forward to being a Red Earth Farm member next year!

I vote for eggs

Some of the other people participating in the Dark Days Challenge raise their own chickens.  My mother, whose morning chore every day growing up on the farm was feeding the chickens (a chore she detested), would laugh derisively at me for saying this, but I’m a little envious.  While I have no particular fascination for chickens, I do so love the idea of having fresh eggs.  I live in a highly zoned neighborhood, and the township would freak if I tried to have my own little flock of chickens.  It’s annoying, but then I read stories like this and think maybe it’s all for the best.

With fresh eggs available from Meadow Run Farm (this is a mix of their brown and blue eggs), I can’t get too freaked out about not having access to a couple of hens in the backyard.  I know people who say they can’t tell the difference between store bought, factory farmed eggs and fresh, pasture raised eggs, but those people are crazy.  The difference is huge.  The eggs taste completely different and the yolk usually looks pretty different, as well, having everything to do with what the chickens eat.

Last year my husband and I went on a vacation to Greece and Turkey.  While on the island of Rhodes, we had breakfast that included the most amazing eggs.  The yolk was practically dayglo orange, and just fantastic.  We briefly considered moving to Rhodes just so we could have those eggs every morning.  Meadow Run Farm eggs do stop us from giving up our glam lives and becoming Greek citizens.

All this talk of eggs, just to get to my Dark Days dinner for this evening (my second this week)!  On election day (after voting, of course), I made a delicious omelet of Meadow Run Farm eggs, local cream, a red onion from the CSA carmelized in local butter, a chopped tomato from my garden (I still have a pile of tomatoes on my back porch!), and some raw milk cheddar from Green Meadow Farms.  The only things not local: salt and pepper.

On a vaguely related note, I recently got into a discussion with someone regarding eggs from vegetarian chickens.  My friend maintained that these would be great eggs, coming from a farm that claims to pasture their chickens (this is store bought eggs, I might add).  I say the eggs couldn’t possibly come from pastured chickens because no farm could pasture their chickens yet keep them from eating grubs and other bugs…unless maybe the chickens are pastured in a very artificial way.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Local note about Potato and Pea Curry

I forgot to mention what local stuff we use in the Aloo Matar curry (“Nobody Nose You Like I Nose You” entry), and why it’s such a good winter dish. 

Here’s the three ingredients we use from nearby—the onions from our neighborhood once-a-week Amish farmstand, the peas from ones we picked and shelled at a conventional pick-your-own farm in NJ, and the potatoes from our CSA farmshare.  We usually have spuds at the of the CSA season, because it’s something that will keep as we’re madly eating up what won’t.  Onions also keep for a bit, of course, and we’ve frozen and dried onions for curries throughout the winter.  Finally, while the dish does have the word “pea” in the title, we’ve used broccoli, lima beans, kale, and any other number of substitutes when local peas aren’t available.

What’s left is the oil, rice, and tom paste, which are organic but not local; and the spices, which are neither.  I’ll keep looking for replacements (either home-made or otherwise)!

Nobody Nose You Like I Nose You

I had sinus surgery 10 days ago.  It went well—it always does—but I lost my sense of smell.  This may seem like a no-brainer, but in fact, in recent years the packing they have to put in your nose at the end of the surgery has gotten so minimal that I usually quickly recover my sense of smell.  I think perhaps the surgery was more extensive, or happened to cover more of the sense of smell territory (how does that work?).

But whatever the reason, I found that the lovely cool autumn air came through my nose scent-free.  A couple of days after the surgery, I noticed that the spray bottle containing one part vinegar to four parts water (plus a little lemon juice) that we use for cleaning everything, from sinks to countertops to apples, was low.  However, we heard that there was some use of animals in the filtering process of making white distilled vinegar, so I thought, why not use apple cider vinegar which I knew did not use animals?

I poured a bunch of apple cider vinegar into the spray bottle, and merrily cleaned our kitchen countertops.  Once I even put my nose close to the counter top to see if I could smell if it was too strong.  But only the faintest whiff of vinegar came to me, so I cleaned everything.  When M came home, she practically choked on the fumes!

How does this relate to food?  Well, the day after my surgery my father told me he would cook me whenever I wanted for dinner, and there was really no question.  My favorite dish in the whole wide world is my father’s potato and pea curry with home-made chapatis on the side.  The funny thing was I couldn’t smell the dish at all, which made it fascinating to have the textures and the heat of the curry in my mouth.  Also, usually when my nose is stuffed up and I can’t smell I’m not hungry, either, but now I was stuffing my face with the potato and pea curry.  I’ve put the recipe below, in case anyone else turns out to love it as much as I do.

I know this is a long entry, but the slow and gentle increase over the week in my ability to smell and taste what I was eating has been like the pleasure of the autumn trees changing.  You notice that little Japanese maple starting to glow red, and then another tree, and then another, but it seems like they’ll never all go, and then one day you look out your window and there are fireworks.

P.S. “Nobody nose you like I nose you” is what my brother wrote on a card for me for my first sinus surgery in 1988 when I was 14!

Potato & Pea Curry (the Indian name is Aloo Matar)
3 TB veg oil
1 med onion, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne (Dad uses less)
1 tsp ginger (grated or sliced)
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cardomom
pinch of ground clove
2 TB tom paste (4 TBs=1/2 can)
1/2 cup boiling water (just reserve it from spud water, below)
3 med potatoes, quartered, cooked
1 1/2 cup frozen peas
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup yogurt (opt.)
Fry onion in veg oil ‘til transparent.  Add all spices, med fire, 2 min.  Put in tom paste and spud water.  Stir in spuds, peas, salt.  (If using white basmati rice, put it on now for 14 min.)  Leave spuds on LOW, 15 minutes until rice is done.  Mix in yogurt or leave it out if you’d rather.