Chicken Stock..ready for soup season!

I had been keeping a couple chicken carcasses in the freezer the last few weeks - any time I do anything with chicken, I'll wrap and save the bones until I've got enough to make a batch of chicken stock. I supplement the bones with chicken hind quarters I buy from the deli counter at the grocery store. After the meat has cooked through, I'll strip it from the bones, keeping the meat and returning the bones to the pot to finish simmering. All-in-all, it's about a three or four hour process, but it's so incredibly worth it.
In the pot I've got my chickens, three heads of garlic chopped cross-wise, three yellow onions chopped into quarters, a handful of carrots and celery stalks, a couple bunches of parsley and thyme from the garden, whole black peppercorns, and kosher salt to bring out the flavor.
I brown my ingredients before covering them with water - it adds a little more flavor to the stock and lends a deep brown color. Homemade for sure! :)

Because I use a large pot designed for canning/jarring to make my stock, I end up with SEVERAL quarts for the freezer. The last time or two I've made it, though, I've taken the added step of simmering the stock after pouring it off of the other ingredients but before packing it up for the freezer. It seems to concentrate the flavor that much more...plus, it ensures I'll actually have room for all of it ;)
And not a minute too soon! After I finished this, I gathered up the leaves from the yard and burned them in my vegetable garden. I had used up everything in it for this year, so was ready to clear and prep it for a new season next year. And wouldn't you know it, only a few hours after the fire died out, we had our first snow of the season!

Barbacoa Beef Update

I haven’t posted anything since the Barbacoa Beef update a while back. In part because I was busy eating this beef with every freaking meal I made – it was delicious!

I used a rump roast instead of a brisket..I also cut back slightly on the amounts of cilantro and cloves called for in the recipe, in part because I wasn't sure I was going to be wild about those flavors, but also because my roast was smaller than called for in the recipe. Otherwise, I followed everything to the ‘T’ and it was moist, delicious, and falling apart tender. I shredded the beef and piled it onto buttered and browned tortillas with refried beans, homemade guacamole, caramelized onions, salsa, and cheese. Great flavor…lots of layers.

On another trip to the grocery store after making my beef, I found a couple other ingredients that I’ll try for next time, so stay tuned! ;)

New Recipe..cross your fingers! ;)

Getting my ducks in a row for trying a new recipe for this weekend: Barbacoa Beef
It's different from anything I've made, but similar to things I've tried and liked, so I thought I'd give it a shot!
I'm using a smaller rump roast than the brisket called for in the recipe, so we'll see how it goes...wish me luck :)
Barbacoa Beef

Plantings

An updated shot of the vegetable garden..including my new tomatoes from Seed Savers Exchange!

The broccoli is starting to grow like crazy..every day it's bigger and prettier!
The onions and garlic are also doing well, and I've harvested some of my lettuce already. Very tender..great flavor.

Tomato alley!
The two larger plants were given to me and have been in the ground for a couple weeks now. All the smaller plants (eight, to be exact) came from Seed Savers Exchange on a recent trip to Decorah. Lots of varieties, lots of colors :)

The last few days have also been busy planting around the house.
I bought several Korean boxwood at Home Depot a while back because they were good sized and marked down like crazy. I thought I could keep them alive for a while until after I had painted the trim and finished the front stoop.
..turns out I was wrong.

So, once we started planting a few, we had to plant A LOT. We planted the boxwood and that bushy willow you see in the corner here....then we went to my grandma's and dug hostas....then we went to the grocery store and bought a few more....then mom went to Wal-Mart and bought a few more!

Including this one - I think it's called Mouse Ears..it's supposed to stay small like this while spreading out.
I've already got about a dozen varieties of hosta in the ground..and I didn't know I wanted to plant anything just yet ;)

Veg

I had big plans for my vegetable garden this year, but not enough time (and not enough rainless, sunny days to work on it, either!) So, I'm gardening with the garden I have, not the garden I want...either way, it's working out well!
Across the top of the picture, I have several broccoli plants growing nicely - after having fresh broccoli last year, I decided I needed A LOT more of it this year! At the front I have several onions, garlic, two good-sized tomato plants, a couple varieties of lettuce, and some herbs. Not as much as I'd like...but certainly as much as I can handle right now :)
Check back for updates - it's changing every day!

Butcher shop

My grandma's Italian sausage recipe all mixed up and ready to be broken down into one-pound packages and frozen for later use. I would share the ingredients, but then I'd have to kill you.
I've used this in pizzas most often, but it's also great in lasanga and stuffed pastas. Last night's dinner (and today's lunch) was this sausage, onion and garlic, pesto, a little leftover garden tomato sauce from the freezer, and cream all cooked together until the flavors blend. Add a little spaghetti and you're in business!

Food Post: NOT tomatoes and pasta!

Stir fry! ...I think?
I've never really made any Asian food, so I just kind of went with whatever sounded good. Ground beef, carrots, red peppers, red cabbage, bok choi, broccoli, leeks, onions, garlic, water chesnuts, and soy sauce. Pretty healthy AND I got to try some of the vegetables from my farm box that I hadn't had a use for!

Pasta Party

So, I’ve written a good bit about all the tomatoes I’ve been given, grown, or otherwise acquired. Today’s post is another “what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-all-of-these-tomatoes” post.

A bread knife makes cutting tomatoes easier...and cleaner - no tomato squirt.

I saw a variation of this that was simpler, tried it, liked it, and tweaked it to become this recipe. It’s super fast, really satisfying, and tweakable to no end, so feel free to play around with it.

It starts with tomatoes – I cut my garden Roma tomatoes into halves or quarters depending on their size and set them I aside.

I then prepped the rest of what I thought I’d try in this batch: Onion, garlic, chard, kale, pesto, Parmesan cheese, and a good olive oil. I say good olive oil because it’s the sauce for the pasta, so it should be something you like the flavor of. Although butter would probably work well enough, too.

Tomato, onion, garlic, kale, chard, and spaghetti. Nom.

Anyway, sauté the onion in your olive oil for a bit adding a pinch of pepper. I didn’t add salt to the sauce because the cheese is salty enough and I knew I would want a lot of cheese J

After the onions have started turning clear, add the chopped tomatoes and a spoonful of pesto – mine came from a batch I made a while back and stored in the freezer. (Basil, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper, sun dried tomato, toasted cashews/walnuts/pine nuts, Parmesan, olive oil) I also added some chopped Swiss chard and kale – this was the new addition to the recipe this time..just because I had some in the fridge that needed used.

After a couple minutes when the tomatoes have started to soften and lose their skins, add the garlic and cook the mixture for another minute or so. If the tomatoes are tender enough for you, pull the skillet off the heat and add a handful of Parmesan. You could also deglaze the bottom of the pan with some white wine before taking it off the heat and adding the cheese..that’s really good, too.

Drain your pasta (I used spaghetti because I had it on hand..Fettuccine would also work well) saving some of the salted pasta water to loosen the sauce. Pour your pasta into the sauce pan and cook together until everything is coated and cooked through. If you’re like me, you’ll probably want more cheese J

Kale and chard are both super nutritious..and the fresh tomatoes are packed with all kinds of goodness, too.

Like I said, this can be added to and subtracted from to no end. It’s a really good, quick lunch or dinner and is a great way to use up your garden tomatoes.

Oh…one other quick note.. The President was in town this morning J  

The Man has quite the entourage. DOZENS of cars..lots of Secret Service.

A couple local kids, President Obama, his tank/bus, and the Marion County Courthouse.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, everywhere..

Remember my bowl of tomatoes? Quintuple that..this is my life.

With many of the tomatoes from the picture above, I hulled them, roasted them with garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar, and ran them through the food processor for sauces. I've got a couple quarts in the freezer. This is in addition to the multiple bags of tomatoes and peppers I cut up and froze for use in chili later in the year.

Another batch...holy crap.
See the "split" tomato in the front? I learned today that's due to inconsistent watering. The drought has been terrible for crops this year..especially those that need so much water. 

Roasted tomato Caprese salad. Tomato off the vine, basil out of the yard :)

Tomato sauce base from the puree in the freezer, basil and oregano from the yard, onions and garlic from my farm box.
I didn't make the wine or the pasta...I feel like such a failure ;)

Farm Box Soup

Did I tell you I signed up for a CSA membership?

Well, I did.

For those who haven’t heard of it, a CSA is Community Supported Agriculture and basically gets me my percentage of all the crops harvested from a local, organic family farm! I’ve read a lot about them, and known people here in town who have bought shares before, but never been in a position to do it, myself. Not having a kitchen will do that..

Ahh..the good old days. Er..

I took the plunge this summer, and have been very happy with it so far! I only ever really know what I’m going to get on the day I go pick up my box full of goodies..the farmers send out an email to everyone letting them know what will be in the box, new developments around the farm, how they’re doing at the market, etc. It’s a really cool way to stay in touch with what’s happening around you, AND the farmer gets a much larger chunk of your food dollar than they would if you bought the same produce from the grocery store.

It’s also way fresher (picked right before it goes into the box), local (less fossil fuel to transport AND it helps you develop higher tolerance to local allergens..a big selling point for me because I really suffer through the fall allergy season) and chemical free (never a bad thing).

http://www.bluegatefarmfresh.com/

The cost of a big box of goodness once a week throughout the growing season was $460 – kind of a big chunk of change to drop all at once, but it’s not that much more expensive than buying the same foods from the grocery store over the same time period.

Plus, it’s delivered to the bookstore near my house (http://thenextchapterbooks.wordpress.com/) so I don’t have to drive across town..I can pick it up on my walk home from work! It also forces to me try new things..otherwise I waste food and money, neither of which I want to afford to do right now.

Anyway – I got my ‘farm box’ on Tuesday and took it home to see what I had to work with.

Two different kinds of summer squash, snap peas, Swiss chard, new potatoes, hard-neck garlic, lettuce, beets, squash blossoms, assorted herbs, and a few other things. You can purchase an egg option, extended herb option, honey, or goat cheese through the program..I went with the base share this year.

Another cool thing: I haven’t been exposed to a lot of the things that come in this box. I’m learning so much, and experimenting with new things all the time! Up until yesterday, I had never eaten or cooked with a summer squash before..I decided I like them a lot!

Anyway, as I said, I had no idea what I would do with some of these things so I decided I’d make something up: Farm Box Soup..or CSA Soup, which rolls off the tongue nicely.

I large-diced the new potatoes, squash, and a few carrots I had in the fridge and spread them out on a big sheet pan. Didn’t even peel anything..very colorful..very hippie-healthy. Olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast these at about 375F until they get to be fork tender..kind of al dente, I suppose.

In the meantime, I started warming a quart of store bought chicken stock that I mixed with a little homemade chicken stock I had in the freezer. I plopped a few cloves of farm garlic into the stock to infuse a little more flavor..and let that come to a slow boil. The homemade stock used all kinds of herbs and you could really smell them all at this point.

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-stock-recipe/index.html - I never follow the recipe completely. She uses way more chicken than I do..because she makes millions of dollars. Also, what the hell is a parsnip going to add? Cost.)

I pulled the roasted vegetables out of the oven and scooped them into the stock to soak up all that flavor. I also mounded some chard and leftover fresh spinach into the pot and stirred that in to wilt.

At this point, I also pulled out a couple old parmesan cheese rinds from the freezer. I keep the rind to use for sauces or soups because there’s a ton of flavor left in them. I salted and peppered a bit and let everything simmer away.

About this time, I minced up some green onion for a little more flavor and pulled some pesto (that I made with the basil from last week’s farm box) out of the freezer and dropped those into the pot.

Cubed up some homemade bread from earlier in the week..use the leftover olive oil on the roasted vegetable sheet pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Parmesan and toast in the oven. Homemade croutons are better than anything else you’ll ever eat. Ever.

After all of this, I still wasn’t totally sure it would be any good. Like I said, I’d never had a summer squash, and I’m still pretty new to chard. I had tasted things along the way to make sure I wasn’t going to screw up a huge pot of vegetables and I felt OK about things..but whoa.

Anything with chicken soaked croutons, though..right?

This stuff is good!

And wicked nutritious. It’s so different from the chips and salsa dinners with an M&M dessert I had eaten the previous days..

The difference food like this makes is really amazing. I don’t get to sleep as much as I’d like, but I don’t feel tired when I eat this way. There’s so much good stuff in this soup it makes me feel...good!

Anyway..highly recommended made-up soup here. Exact proportions should be decided on-the-fly..that way you can’t blame me if it doesn’t turn out right J Give it a go!

Goat Cheese, etc.

In getting my backyard vegetable garden together, I knew I wanted to mulch the area between the rows with something to keep the weeds down, but also something that would give me something to stand on so I wasn’t wallowing in the mud back there. I’ve seen lots of people do crushed stone or mulch, but I was hesitant to do that because 1. A lot of work, 2. A lot of money, 3. Seems like a pain to undo if I don’t want a garden in the future..or if my seedlings crap out and I’m stuck with nothing this year.

So I started contacting some of our local farmers looking for straw. Our area is really lucky to have a pretty vibrant artisan farm population. Many of these farms are operated by families and are either organic or at least less reliant on chemicals than the larger agribusiness operations. One such farmer is my friend Lois. Lois raises goats, feeds and milks each of them by hand, and turns their milk into nationally recognized, award-winning cheeses that she sells to restaurants and vendors around the country. It’s hard work, but she loves it..and the cheese is ridiculously good.

Anyway, Lois hooked me up with a few (too many) bales of oat straw which will work for my mulch and hopefully not drop a bunch of seed into the plots. As much as I’d like to sew my own oats…I’d actually rather not.

Greeeeeen Acres!

While I was there, I bought a couple ounces of chevre from her and planned to make a recipe I’d seen a year or more ago that I’ve always wanted to try: goat cheese and caramelized onion pizza.

I was not disappointed.

I had a leftover hunk of pizza dough in the freezer from earlier in the week, so I rolled that out after my onions had browned and become super tender and sweet. I added a little garlic, salt, and pepper to the onions for more flavor. I spread a basic béchamel (butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, parmesan) over the crust, spread my onions over that, and crumbled the goat cheese over top of everything. I baked it at 420F until the toppings were melted and slightly brown and the crust sounded hollow when tapped.

The picture is a little blurry because I was in a hurry to eat the rest :)

So freaking good. My white sauce probably could’ve used more flavor, but otherwise this was way good. I thought later about adding a few leaves of thyme to the mix for next time. And there will be a next time! (If nothing else, I'll make the onions again. While the pizza baked, I was standing over the pan eating them by the spoonful. They were like candy!)

Last night was unproductive on the home front as I was called out to meet with a local guy about a fundraising project we’re working on. But I did have time to make a big batch of fettuccine for dinner (and lunch and dinner and lunch and dinner) with some asparagus I picked up at the grocery store. Not a bad day!

The pasta needed more Parmesan...but that's always the case :)

Chicken Update

Oh my God, you guys..

This chicken was the best f-ing chicken I’ve ever had. No exaggeration.

I had stored her in the freezer after buying her because I didn’t know when I’d have time to make a full-on chicken dinner. I pulled it out and stuck it in the fridge to defrost Friday..and it didn’t thaw. At all. So, I made my brine and figured I’d let her thaw in the brine. When she’s ready, I’ll roast. Fast forward two days…

Chicken taking a brine bath.

The brine solution was really simple. I sautéed a chopped white onion in a pot with a few carrots and whole peppercorns – the heat makes the pepper flavor a little more intense. Once the onions and carrots had a chance to brown just a bit, add a clove or two of garlic and heat. I then added maybe ½ a cup of dry white wine to deglaze the bottom of the pot and add more flavor.

I let the wine cook down a bit until it was more concentrated in color and flavor, then I added ¼ cup of sugar, and maybe 1/3 – ½ cup of salt and a bay leaf. Pour in a few cups of water – just enough that it will cover (or mostly cover) the chicken when you put the chicken in the pot. Boil this mixture until the sugar and salt have dissolved and the flavors have been distributed throughout the solution. Let cool to room temperature, add your chicken to the pot, and cover. Let the chicken soak in this solution for a couple hours, overnight, or for two days because you’re painting baseboard in the garage and shopping for kitchen cabinets.

Monday night, I pulled the chicken out of its brine to make sure it wasn’t still freaking frozen. Not only was it not frozen, but the little bird smelled awesome! Always a good sign. A note here: don’t be discouraged or freaked out when your brine smells awful as you’re making it. It smells better when it’s not cooking, and it will make your bird taste great.

Pat the skin dry with a paper towel, drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper the chicken inside and out. I then roasted the little gal at 375F for just under an hour – the skin was crispy and brown, and the juices at the leg joint ran clear when pierced with a knife.

In the activity of preparing the chicken, I had totally forgotten to make anything else to go with it. You know..to balance the meal. Vegetables and shit.



Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Then I remembered I had more wine. Problem solved!

Neighbors

On a sad note, our neighbor across the street isn’t doing very well.

He’s 83 years old, and has been in poor health for a year or more. Being the tight-knit bunch that we are, the neighborhood has taken shifts watching after him, making sure he’s alright, has groceries, etc. A couple weeks ago his 89 year old sister – who is, incidentally, the cutest old woman in the history of the world – moved in to help take care of him.

Some member of my family is over there at least once a day, at which point we’re usually told stories of growing up on the farm, working on the lines at John Deere, raising children, and random Italian family traditions which I LOVE. A few nights back, Lucille (his sister) invited us over for a family treat: polenta topped with parmesan cheese and marinara sauce. As we ate, Lucille told us about her father and how he would serve the polenta on a large linen-covered board in the center of the table. With a cloth napkin draped over his arm, he would serve his guests like a waiter in a fine restaurant, and they would all drink homemade wine and have a merry old time.

To return the favor (and to stock their refrigerator with leftovers for when they got hungry) I thought I would make stuffed shells.

I started with a pound Graziano Brothers Italian sausage (a Central Iowa delicacy), a third of an onion, a large teaspoon of fresh garlic, dried oregano, and red pepper flakes – well salted and peppered, browned, and drained. In a large bowl, I combined the sausage mixture with two pieces of bread-worth of fresh bread crumbs, a large beaten egg, and equal parts Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheeses – just enough so the mixture holds together well enough to fill the shells.

Boil half a pound of large/jumbo shell pasta in a large pot of salted water for 6-8 minutes – until softened but not ready to eat... they’ll finish cooking in the oven later. Drain and set aside to cool.

In a separate pot, combine two tablespoons of butter and three tablespoons of flour over medium-high heat. Wisk together and cook for two minutes to get rid of the floury taste. Gradually pour in a cup or two of warm milk or cream. Add a pinch of nutmeg, salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper flakes if you like, and wisk occasionally to insure there are no lumps. The mixture will thicken to coat the back of a spoon, but add more milk if you feel it becomes too thick. After the sauce has had the opportunity to thicken, take it off the heat and add more grated Parmesan.

The best way to know if the end product is going to be any good is to taste the different components throughout the process. If the components are good, the result will be good too…unless it’s like that episode of “Friends” with the meat trifle..

The other component is marinara sauce. We happened to have homemade sauce in the freezer, but store bought will work just fine. If you’ve got an afternoon, make your own sauce and use it in this recipe, but no one will blame you if you don’t want to make your own marinara.

Spoon a ladle-full of the marinara into the bottom of a buttered 9x13” baking dish..enough to cover the bottom – this will keep the shells from sticking and will help finish cooking the pasta in the oven. Take a large tablespoon and fill each shell with the meat mixture. You can then fill in the gaps between the filled shells with remaining marinara and white sauce, making sure to cover the exposed portions of shells with sauce of some kind…otherwise the pasta dries out in the oven and can be kind of crunchy in spots.

Once you’ve drizzled your sauce over the shells, grate more cheese over top (including mozzarella this time), salt, pepper, oregano, and bake at 375 degrees until melty and bubbly.

Then, take the meal across the street to your neighbor and share it. I don’t care who you are, but this stuff if rich, filling, and awesome. If you don’t know your neighbors, invite friends over and make your own traditions! Mangia, mangia! J