And Salad

I TRY to make (and cook from) a weekly menu that is usually (but not always) made (and shopped for) on Sunday. I enjoy the process of planning our family dinners for the week, and the time taken then (when I have it to spare) greatly simplifies meal preparation each evening (when I usually don't) -and it saves money shopping with a plan. This is my menu for this week, but of course, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" and when that happens, I make 'breakfast for dinner.'

Sunday: Puerco con Chili Verde, refried beans with flour tortillas, and salad

Monday: Pressure-cooked duck winglets, baguette (baked Sunday), butter-sauteed turnips, sugar snap peas, and salad

Tuesday: Pasta with pesto and Parmesan, fava beans with olive oil and garlic, baguette (baked Sunday), and salad

Wednesday: Rabbit with Mustard, roasted potatoes, gold beets, and salad

Thursday: Spinach Crepes, beef steak, sweet potatoes, and salad

Friday: Pizza and beer, and salad

When Spinach Bolts

Spinach is always included on lists of the top 5/10/100 healthiest foods and we always grow it in our garden. My computer tells me that it is 54 degrees in Snohomish, Washington -at midday mind you- only a few days past the summer equinox, and a week before the Fourth of July. Both of my daughters (loudly) wish they lived some place else, and are working towards achieving that goal, but my son absolutely loves the climate and weather of the Puget Sound area. On days like today, he declares it to be the PERFECT weather. Spinach loves it here, too, and June is peak spinach season in our garden. We have been eating LOTS of spinach in our salads, and I made Spinach with Thai Peanut Sauce (click here) the other night (which I LOVE!!). Sooner or later, even with cool temperatures, the spinach will bolt, signalling the end of its season, and that it's time for me to make creamed spinach and crepes. I made Spinach Crepes (click here) a few days ago and served them with chicken-fried cubed beef steaks and gravy made from the pan drippings. It was great. Spinach Crepes may not sound that inviting, but they really are fantastic. And if I freeze quantities of spinach now, we can also have them this winter. They make a great vegetarian meal when served with rice pilaf and a vegetable such as roasted beets or baked butternut squash, they can be made lactose-free by using soy or almond milk and omitting the cheese, and/or omnivorous when serving steak alongside. Making the crepe batter in the morning or the night before, allows me to walk in the door in the evening and rather effortlessly have dinner on the table within the hour. And I can't help but feel quite smug knowing I cooked a 32 cup bowl full of torn spinach, one of the healthiest foods, and my family ate it all by noon the next day. Sure, gravy made with steak pan drippings is on a completely different list of foods than spinach, but never mind that part -this is just the thing to do when spinach bolts.

Radishes and Roosters

"Farming is the worst way to make a living, and the best way to raise a family." -Farmer



The sheep are content with the abundance of grass available for grazing. The new ducklings were moved yesterday from a brooder (where they were making an impressive mess) to outside where they are pretty much terrified -though I expect they'll be more enthusiastic about their new home once they discover SWIMMING. Sadly, one of the little pigs died (she had been sick) and we are nervously keeping an eye on the remaining healthy one. The seven new little rabbits are growing and I have selected the four to keep for breeding, and hopefully our pea patch bunnies bred successfully and we will have more babies like this (click here). The hens are laying well and our rooster, Taj Mahal takes his job of guarding and bossing them all around very seriously. Yesterday, I heard a pip from the incubator (like I said, he's been doing his job well) and the chicks are due to hatch out in the next few days. Farm life is always filled with ups and downs, endings and beginnings -and lots of hard work.

I spent a delightful hour or two yesterday, spinning under the lilac after several hours spent in combat with weeds that appear these days to be on some sort of plant steroid. My spinning project is progressing very slowly, so I was pleased to make some progress with it. I have been knitting a bit but my fiber activites have taken a back seat these days to other activites (like weeding and working). The past five summers I was at the Farmers Market once a week selling yarn and bags (click here) -and spinning. This is the first year I'm not there and I miss my weekly spinning time and all the wonderful people.

There are less than a half dozen things on the list of foods I don't really like. Radishes, pretzels -and arugula is at the top of the list. I think it tastes like a cross between skunk and old tires. "Wow," said a friend of mine when I described my perception of it to her. "You really don't like arugula!" I can live without ever eating any arugula but it's really a shame to not like radishes since they are the first thing to come out of our garden every spring. I grudgingly tolerate a few token slices in a salad, but I don't happily bite into a whole radish fresh from the garden like my husband does. I hate the idea of growing produce I don't like to eat, so I have been looking for radishes prepared in a way I'll enjoy. Though I liked the radish salad from the Victory Garden Cookbook I made over the weekend by tossing sliced radishes with a simple vinaigrette, no one was really terribly keen on it (and its aroma by the next day was declared downright offensive by everyone).

But a couple night ago I prepared a bunch of radishes another way I saw suggested in The Victory Garden Cookbook. I tasted them -and immediately went and pulled and prepared a second batch so the rest of the family could have some too. Seriously, THIS is what to do with radishes: Pull a sizable bunch fresh from the garden, wash, tail and top and then chop them (quartered or eighths), and saute them in a bit of slightly browned butter (this part was really by accident but I think it was a rather happy coincidence and I will continue to allow the butter to brown a bit before adding the radishes) until they are browned a bit. They shrink down in size quite a lot, and cooking them takes the sharp bite out their flavor and the result reminds me of sauteed turnips. Tonight, along with preparing a huge bowl of spinach salad for dinner, I am going to roast a rooster a la Julia Child, and saute lots of radishes in a bit of browned butter -an early summer celebration.

Beef Meatballs with Grape Jelly and Chili Sauce

I was really put off by the idea of grape jelly and chili sauce mixed together. Somehow, I just wasn't convinced it was a very good idea. I've seen this recipe many times but until now, I've simply passed it by. Last week though, I was blatantly eavesdropping as one woman was giving the recipe to another and telling her how amazingly good and easy it is. I finally decided I should give it a try, and make it for my weekly meatball recipe. I am so glad I did; these two seemingly weird ingredients meld to make a delicious sauce for meatballs.



Beef Meatballs
Mix:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1 T. parsley, minced
1/4 c. milk
1 egg
1/2 t. each salt and Worcestershire Sauce
Mix, shape, and chill meatballs.



Brown in 2 T. vegetable oil in a hot skillet. Remove meatballs to crock-pot (or a plate if finishing this on the stove top).



Add a 12 oz. jar of chili sauce and a half pint of grape jelly to the skillet. Stir until the jelly is melted, the browned bits are stirred up, and the sauce comes to a simmer.



Add sauce to meatballs in crock pot (or add meatballs back to skillet and cook on the stove top 20-30 minutes to finish), and cook in slow cooker on high 2-4 hours.



I served these Saturday with homemade macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and sourdough bread and everyone gave them the thumbs up, "Yeah, they're really good."



The next day, Sunday was warm and heavenly, the first day of May -and in my mind the beginning of summer. My girls celebrated by lying on the shop roof and sunning themselves, and I celebrated by making a cherry-cola ham dinner. Our salad didn't come from the garden, but the truth is that the beginning of our growing season is the leanest of the fresh-from-the-garden eating season. Instead of a garden salad for lunch, I ate leftover meatballs with leftover mashed potatoes two days in a row, and I can only say that I"m so sorry I didn't make this recipe sooner.

Chicken Marbella

Chicken Marbella is one of those recipes, like the Bacardi Rum Bundt Cake, that though it has been around for ages, until relatively recently, I was completely unaware of it. In the 1970's Chicken Marbella was a popular party dish and the first main course to be offered at The Silver Palate food shop (before there was a cookbook, and all the rest that's now the legacy of Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins). I had never heard of this dish, until about five years ago, when my youngest daughter spent a week with a girlfriend and her family who'd moved to Oregon. I always want to know what foods people experience when they are on trips and adventures, but my obsession with home cooking means I am particularly interested in the foods my friends and family eat at other people's houses. When I asked her what her friend's mom had cooked for them, she was particularly impressed with what she described as 'this really good chicken-thing that had green olives and maybe prunes in it,' which is not what I was ever expecting to hear from a young teen. At first I thought maybe she was mistaken, but no, that is just what Chicken Marbella is, and it is really delicious.



Chicken Marbella
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Serves 4

Mix marinade:
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 T. dried oregano
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 t. salt
2 T. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. olive oil
1/3 c. pitted prunes, cut in half
1/4 c. green olives
2 T. capers with juice
2 bay leaves
Place 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (or an equivalent number of preferred pieces), in a glass dish or a large Ziploc bag. Pour marinade over and refrigerate overnight to several days.

To cook, lay chicken pieces in a baking dish with marinade -or use a baking glass dish to marinate the chicken, taking it out of the fridge an hour or so before baking. Pour over 1/4 c. white wine or dry sherry (this time I added 1/4 c. homemade rhubarb wine to the marinade instead of adding it here). Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 c. brown sugar and bake 350 degrees for about an hour.



I served some corn on the cob and edamames we froze last summer with this, as well as some roasted potatoes that I put in to cook alongside the baking chicken, for a very easy, very delicious, mostly-farm-raised family dinner.

Individual Chocolate Souffles

What did you have for Valentine's Day Dinner? If you are currently single, did you treat yourself or ignore the whole thing? Did you go out as a couple to a nice restaurant dinner, or simply have a special little something at home (it being a workday Monday and all), or did you go all out and make your special someone's (or your own) favorite dinner last night? Please comment and share what you had for dinner on Valentine's Day. I don't know about everyone else, but I love it when someone shares with me what they cook or eat for dinner -any day of the year. Last night, I made one of our favorite dinners: a broiled salmon fillet (luckily, there's still some salmon left in our freezer) seasoned with lemon-pepper and olive oil, pasta with defrosted pesto (made and froze last summer), a good bread, a green vegetable (I found more frozen edamames), and a simple green salad. He brought home a small bottle of champagne, and I made these delicious, though imperfect, chocolate souffles for dessert. They are surprisingly, rather easy to make.

Individual Chocolate Souffles

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

In small bowl, microwave 1 minute:

4 oz. Baker's Sweet Chocolate

3 T. strong espresso (I used decaffeinated)

Melt and stir until smooth.

Butter 4 individual dishes and place on a baking sheet (not necessary, but it makes them easier to handle)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a saucepan with a heavy bottom,

Melt: 2 T. butter

Add: 3 T. flour

Make a light roux and cook 1 minute

Add:

1 c. milk (I used almond milk)

Stirring constantly while it cooks, make a smooth sauce. Cook 2 minutes.

Separate 3 eggs.

To beaten yolks, add a bit of the cream sauce to lighten and add yolks to cream. Remove saucepan from the heat. Stir in:

1-2 t. vanilla

melted chocolate

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites and a pinch of salt till frothy. Gradually add 1/4 c. sugar and whip on high until they form stiff, shiny peaks. Fold into chocolate cream. Divide between 4 dishes, filling 3/4 full.

Reduce oven heat to 35o degrees and bake 14 minutes or until done. Serve immediately, with a dusting of powdered sugar, and/or with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

Secrets

"The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it." -James Beard

"One of the secrets of cooking is to learn to correct something if you can, and bear with it if you cannot." -Julia Child

"Here are my secrets for cooking without recipes. Know what you want to eat. Keep it simple. Enjoy yourself. Come to think of it, those are my secrets for having a good life, too." -Tod Davies

And the secret to cooking WITH recipes, is to read them all the way through to the end BEFORE beginning to cook. There are few things I find more nerve-wracking and hysteria-inducing than happily cooking along with a new recipe and discovering, when I'm three-quarters done at five-thirty PM with half a dozen famished persons expecting by six PM a satisfying home cooked meal, depressing phrases such as, "must be cooked over low heat for at least three to four hours more," or "leave refrigerated overnight." Or instructions to add towards the end of cooking some ingredient that is NOT in my kitchen (or available at the local grocery store) and "it is essential to the success of this dish and there is no acceptable substitute." In all these cases, it helps to remember Julia's secret. And if that doesn't help, remember waffles: with syrup and/or homemade jams, maybe some scrambled eggs (if the hens are producing) and bacon (if there is some in the freezer); or chocolate waffles with strawberries or other canned or frozen fruits, and if possible a bit of whipped cream or yogurt (or not); even if served simply with maple or brown sugar syrup, waffles for dinner is almost always cheering. Waffles can be made in half an hour for any number of people and most are quite pleased to be served waffles, with whatever you have to put on them, anytime of the day.

My husband and I both remember our mother's making brown sugar syrup during our childhood. My husband says his mother simply boiled brown sugar and water, mine added corn syrup and maple flavoring. It is less expensive than buying real maple syrup, which my youngest loves (I don't remember my mother ever buying real maple syrup), but not necessarily cheaper than commercial syrups. It is though, a whole lot easier to make, than bundling a handful of kids into a car before breakfast in the morning, when you realize you are out of syrup just after announcing you will make them waffles (or pancakes) and they are all happily chanting, "Waffles, waffles, waffles" (or "Pancakes, pancakes, pancakes") riot-mob-style.

Brown Sugar Syrup
In a small saucepan over high heat bring to a boil:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. water

Remove from heat. Add:
1/2 c. corn syrup
1/2 t. Mapleine, imitation maple flavoring
1/2 c. real maple syrup (optional, or instead of corn syrup and Mapleine)

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

What's for Dinner Tonight?

NOT Smart Duck for the coyote's (or racoon's) dinner, at least! I know this is a terrible photo -it's painfully obvious by now that I'm not much of a photographer- but it shows her roosting for the night, safe on top of the shop roof when I was locking up the chickens last night. Daily answering the question, 'What's for dinner?' is what all home cooks (and coyotes and racoons) do, day after day. I personally almost always enjoy the challenge, and pondering the myriad of possibilities. What's everyone feeling like? What's in the freezer and cupboard? What haven't we had for awhile? What about this new recipe?



I've been on a bit of a Vietnamese food streak, started Friday night, when we went out to eat at the Vietnamese restaurant, Green Leaf (very good, I highly recommend it). Saturday, we made a Lobster Bisque and Crab Cakes (the seafood was a very much appreciated gift, and yes, the bisque was heavenly). Sunday we had the Vietnamese Chicken Curry and Rice that I posted, and Monday I made Venison with Peanuts, adapted from the Vietnamese cookbook, KOTO (I checked this out from the library and totally fell in love with it), with sticky rice and a simple salad. Thanks go to my youngest brother, Wayne for his expert hunting skills and sharing his venison with us.



Last night, I had planned to make an Asian-style Duck and Rice Soup, but decided to veer away from Vietnamese foods, and instead made duck cooked in red wine in the crock-pot, Coq au vin style. I put dried shiitake mushrooms, chopped carrots, sliced garlic, shallots, seasonings and the duck in the crock-pot and then poured over several odds and ends of red wine -a homemade grape-blueberry I'd just bottled but wasn't very impressed with, the last bit from a bottle we drank the night before (I was impressed with it), and several frozen portions I had saved in the freezer. I often pour that last half cup of wine left in the bottle into a container and freeze it. I stock several of these to pull out when I want just a bit of wine for cooking and don't want to buy a bottle. And a bit of wine is often just what I want to add to something.



I cooked the duck on high all day in the crock-pot, turning it several times, since I hadn't marinated it in the wine overnight, as I really should have done for this, until it was falling off the bone. I removed the duck to a plate, removed all the bones and shredded the meat. Meanwhile, I made a roux, added the wine broth to thicken it all, and returned the sauce and the meat to the crock-pot and turned the heat to low until dinner and served it over pasta. Tonight? I can't decide. Caesar Salad and duck cooked in red wine in a sandwich roll comes to mind. Or maybe Vietnamese-style fried rice.

What's for Dinner?

It may sound incredibly odd (or pathetically lame), but for me, many of the most interesting conversations I have with anyone are about what they cook and eat at home. Not necessarily the Wow! things, but I find the everyday grind things interesting too, as well as what their mom made when the cupboard was bare, the first things they learned to cook, and what they cook for their families now. Last night, I made hash with chopped blue potatoes and red onions fried up with some diced leftover meats. Fry or boil an egg and plop it on top (or on the side), with or without ketchup, and that's dinner. Not fancy, but filling, inexpensive, quick and easy farm food for when it's cold outside.

For tonight, I put some pork country ribs in my crock-pot, added a leftover tablespoon of garlic butter from the French Onion Soup we made a couple nights back, and some homemade BBQ sauce that takes about two minutes to mix up. The ribs will cook all day (while I'm painting my bedroom, among other things), I'll buy some rolls and shred the meat for sandwiches, make a coleslaw, and Ta-Dah -dinner. If you read this, please comment. I really would love to know for tonight, yesterday or tomorrow -What's for dinner?