Productive (FAST) weekend!

In between helping the neighbor roof his house, hauling rock with my parents, and all of the other fun stuff going on, I decided I needed to make 'fall' happen. It's been way too hot lately, and I needed fall weather and fall food. So, on a recent trip to Trader Joe's, I bought a BUNCH of arborio rice, a packet of pancetta, and a little wedge of Parmesan to make risotto. Roasted carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower along with onions, white wine, and homemade chicken stock.
Tastes like fall, AND the cooler weather rolled in almost immediately! :)

Yesterday afternoon was spent at my sister's house in Ankeny. She is expecting a baby girl midway through January and is crafting and decorating enough for twins! :)
She and I had talked about a mural of some kind for the nursery - she found an artsy little tree online and decided that's what she would like for me to do. So, my lady friend and I made the trip to Ankeny, mapped out a tree over most of the wall, and painted it for her while she made little flowers out of felt and pretty fabrics downstairs away from the paint smell. We hung all sorts of embellishments on the wall even after this picture, but this gives you the best view.
Didn't turn out too bad, did it? :)

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!

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!

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