Cheryl Wixson's Kitchen

Interview with Kyle

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Another blog from a homesteading family

http://fleecenikfarm.blogspot.com/

inspirational!

Time to eat the cabbage

The pungent aroma of cabbages has greeted me the last few trips to the root cellar, so I knew it was time to check cabbages. Hauled the two totes upstairs for a look-see.

This was the second time I’ve thorougly inspected the green ones…they won’t be returning to the cellar. The mold that I battled before had returned, black, sooty, lots of leaves peeled off and put into rabbit food. By the time I was done, there were just 7 slender heads remaining…eating time! I’m cooking a lunch for fifty later in the week, looks like slaw will be on the menu. Note to myself: this was NOT a good storage variety of green cabbage. A quick check of the Johnny’s catalog revealed that my cabbage was probably a variety called “Tendersweet”. The description says, “exceptional flavor for taste-conscious consumers. Midsize flat, heads….widely adapted for spring, summer and early fall harvest.” My intent when I purchased these in early November was for winter-storage..next year I’ll check the variety before I stow in the root cellar. Storage No. 4, another seed sold by Johnny’s would have been more appropriate.

In contrast, the 25 pounds of red cabbage, only had a few leaves on each head that were showing signs of rot, and bits of white mold on the stem, which I removed. Perhaps they were the variety Johnny’s describes as ” Ruby Perfection”, fancy fall storage red, suitable for medium-term storage. The tag says Grren Ledge Farm, Parkman Maine, lot #444. Very impressive…thanks to the farmer, I’ll be chatting with them later.

Red or purple cabbage is a luxury. I love it raw, sliced thinly and slathered with a home-made blue cheese dressing. For lunch I made this variation of Thai cabbage slaw…not for the faint-hearted and those that don’t like spicy food!

THAI CABBAGE SLAW
Thai cabbage slaw is a tasty addition to any supper and is packed with
Vitamins C, K and A. One serving provides 4 grams of fiber!

4.5 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups grated red cabbage
1 cup dried cranberries

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (California limes, thank you Sharon!)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1.5 tablespoons fish sauce (available in Asian sections of supermarket)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon chili paste with garlic (available is Asian sections or Health food store)

Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Mix the vegetables together in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing. Just before serving, stir in the minced herbs and chopped peanuts.

Add just before serving:
3 tablespoons chopped dry roasted peanuts
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon minced fresh mint (didn’t have and used extra cilantro)

Makes 6 servings.

Nutritional analysis per serving: 76 calories, 3 grams protein, 9 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fat, 390 mg. sodium, 4 grams fiber.

In addition to Thai Cabbage Slaw, we enjoyed a Maine shrimp salad for lunch.

Maine shrimp can be tricky to cook…too long and they get mushy. Cook in rapidly boiling water for no more than 1 minute, drain and cool quickly in an iced-water bath. I sliced a tomato (Madison) and placed on top of alfalfa sprouts (grown on the counter in a bioset), mounded shrimp over and topped with home-made tartar sauce (mayo mixed with pickle relish and nasturium-seed capers).
Delicous!

PMM bottled carboys 2 and 3 of cider, 45 bottles went into the cellar.

Rabbits will be eating well this week…lots of cabbage.

Encores

As it turns out, we needed to go off the island yesterday to pick up corks and wires for the cider bottling project. A trip off island is usually an all-day event, so I try to plan for our supper meal in advance. Not pleasant returning to a cold fire and nothing to eat!

We have this system of cook once, eat twice (or more). Last week-end I had baked a pot of soldier beans (Horsepower Farm)with onions, an apple, dry mustard and maple syrup. One pound of dry beans gives us a good meal, with at least 2 pints for the freezer. I defrosted one jar of beans and a package of Cajun pork sausage.

We enjoyed a delicous lunch at Cleonice in Ellsworth…Rich and Cary Hanson’s restaurant…I had the fried smelts, perfectly seasoned and delicately crisp…Rich said they were from Washington county where the season had just started. The squash and onion soup hit the spot, although a crouton would have made it even better. Liked the sweet contrast of the squash with the 2 varieties of onions. Inspired me to try that at home soon, as I have both vegetables begging to be eaten.

After picking up our bottling supplies at Jon Edwards market and completing the other errands, we returned to the hill just in time for sunset. PMM pulled ashes
and laid the fire. I lit the oven and collected jars.

In addition to my jar of baked beans, I pulled from the refrigerator jars with baked apples, tomato and avocado salad, baked tomatoes and onions, creme anglaise sauce, apple catsup, bacon fat, maple syrup, and jersey cream.

Dotted sections of my corn-bread pan with bacon fat, and slipped it in the oven to melt. Mixed up the batter with:

1 cup Maine cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Whisk together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In 2-cup measure, pour some maple syrup, add cream and milk to make one cup. Add some melted bacon fat and one egg. Whisk together. Then add to the dry ingredients, stirring just to mix. Spoon into prepared, hot pan and bake in 400 degree oven.

Meanwhile, the beans, baked apples, baked tomatoes all went into casserole dishes in the oven. Fry sausage patties on top of the stove. Serve everything when corn bread is done.

Our very satisfying supper was one of many jars of leftovers, or more properly called encores. Things so good, I want to bring them back again and again. Eating is a combination of new ideas and encores!

My Maine version of Coquille St. Jacques

One of the challenges of eating a local, seasonal, organic diet is to keep the inventory moving. I have a tendency to get very excited and buy copious amounts of product, only to have them get lost in the depths of my freezers. Like Maine scallops. The season is now in full swing, and I’m so tempted to stop at one of the trucks selling alongside the road to get some fresh scallops, but… before that can happen, we must enjoy last season’s bounty.

For supper last night, we lit the oven (another cold night) to roast some potato cubes and garlic cloves in olive oil. While the potatoes were roasting, PMM removed the muscle from each scallop. I defrosted a small package of Hen of the Woods mushrooms (frozen from 2 – 13 pounds mushrooms foraged in the fall). Scallops, mushrooms, and about one cup of cheese sauce (leftover from the night we made pasta) were folded together. Spooned into a casserole dotted with butter, I sprinkled bread crumbs on the top and dotted with a bit more butter. Into the oven along with the potatoes. Steamed chopped bok choi seasoned with butter and some fresh-squeezed Meyers lemon (thanks to my Aunt Sharon who shipped me 2 boxes from her trees in California) and a salad made from tomato cubes (Madison greenhouse) , red onion, feta (Sunset Acres Farm), and avocado (a luxury, I know) completed our repast. For dessert, we enjoyed a bowl of Gifford’s ice cream in front of the fire.

PMM spent a bit of time washing bottles to prepare for bottling our sparkling cider this week-end. We sampled some of each batch…It won’t be ready to drink for a few more months, I’ll keep us posted.

A New Discovery: Winter Hill Farm yogurt

Our local dairy has not had their usual abundance of milk this month, thus , “gasp”, there’s been no yogurt! On a trip to the Royal River Health Food store in Freeport early this week, I picked up a jar of yogurt produced by Winter Hill Farm, 35 Hill Road, Freeport. Their label says registered Randall Cattle…new to me. Yogurt was delicous, and we enjoyed it for breakfast on canned peaches (Five Star Nursery), topped with granola made by friend Heather from Aroostook county rolled oats. Great way to get the day moving!

The weather has been cold and our house is drafty, so any opportunity to light the oven is good. For lunch, I layered some roasted onions in the bottom of a casserole, sliced fresh tomatoes on top, (another purchase from Royal River, these tomatoes grown in the Madison greenhouses), dotted pesto and sprinkled with grated cheddar cheese (Sonnetal Dairy, arookstook county), baked until bubbly. My friend Robin had given me a bunch of fresh-dug carrots (she keeps her beds under piles of hay and dug some last week during January thaw), which were lightly steamed and nice and sweet. Thank you Robin! For dessert, I sliced up the remaining Grimes Golden apples, tossed them with a bit of maple syrup and baked until soft. We enjoyed them with a creme anglaise sauce…really no more than a custard. I read once that a jar of custard in the frig is oh so handy..and yes it is. Custard on cake, custard on blueberries, custard on peaches….

Cooked up 5 pounds of cranberries from the freezer and canned 6 quarts of cranberry juice. Finished my seed order from Johnny’s and Kitchen Garden Seeds.

For supper, browned 2 rabbit legs in a bit of bacon fat, covered with Veggie Tomato sauce and baked, served over pasta PMM had made the day before. We do live well!

House warm and bellies full, I whipped PMM at our evening game of cribbage!

My Aunt Paula’s Herb Garden

http://fayettewoman.com/delectable-herb-recipes.html

Canned Goods Inventory

9 (16) 1/2 gallons apple juice
5 (8) quarts ruby juice
7 (8) quarts tomato/ veggie/ bloody mary
10 (13) quarts peaches
10 (16) pints applesauce
10 (12) quarts bean salad
6 (6) pints apple ketchup
8 (13) cups crannbery ketchup
7 (10) pints pickle relish
7 (8) pints peach chutney
1 (2008) qt. plum chutney
7 (8) quarts veggie tom sauce
5 (6) pints tom puree
7 (9) pints Puttanesca sauce
3 (8) pints cooked tom salsa
4 (8) cups peach salsa
4 (6) cups BBQ sauce
9 (10) pints B & B pickles
8 (8) pints mustard pickles
3 (3) cups cornichon pickles
1 (2) quart dill spears
20 (30) cups jams & jellies

Total jars put up: 202
jars left on 2/2/10 : 150

Need to keep eating!

Happy Ground Hog’s Day!

February 2 marks the half-way point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, a day known as Candlemas Day. In the early Christain church, Candlemas Day was a festival in which the candles for the remainder of the year were blessed. In our ancestor’s time, it was also the day for taking stock of supplies. On February 2, one should have:

1/2 hay, 1/2 wood, 1/2 food remaining.

A good time for inventory! Off to the root cellar and freezers!

January thaw inspires seed order

The week-end weather is looking rather nasty, heavy, wet snow and temperatures below zero. Here on the coast we have a gale warning for high winds and heavy seas.

After the dog walk this morning, I fixed myself a super breakfast: French toast, made with stale buckwheat bread (last week’s bread with aroostook county grain), Quill’s end jersey milk and fresh eggs, maine maple syrup, apple juice, and a ham slice. Delightful! Speaking of apple juice, this fall we foraged over 13 bushels of apples from the Barbour Farm orchard and pressed them into cider. I canned 18 half-gallon jars of juice to enjoy this winter, and we put some into sparkling cider. The carboys are bubbling away in PMM’s office and we are saving our old bottles. More on this project later.

After my breakfast, I spoke with Kyle, about the Maine Local 20 and food security. It really got my engines moving!

The weather for the past 3 days has been so balmy, I want to grow something in the greenhouse! Ordering my seeds was the answer. Just got Amy Goldman’s book on the “Heirloom Tomato”, and after reading about paste tomatoes, put together an order for several varieties of seeds, plus 3 books.
we didn’t have any where enough tomatoes last year to put into sauce, and Amy speaks so eloquently about varieties like Amish Paste, Hungarian Italian, Doucet’s Plum producer and Goldman’s Italian American…I had to have them. Don’t know how well they will grow here in our rocky soil, but I’m going to try. I got extra seeds…thought I might share them with some of my farming friends …share the seeds and share the wealth!

My trip to the root cellar this morning to replenish the maple syrup jar smelled a bit funny…like onions going a bit soft. I hauled up a tote of leeks, the little ones I grew in containers last summer. they’ll need some sorting and processing. The seasonal diet is a lot about sorting and processing….we check over our stores, sort the good from the rotting, sending some to the rabbits (or pigs or chickens), chop, cook and freeze. Some of my best culinary creations have been a product of what to do with these gifts of processed veggies…..perhaps a leek tart? We’ll see.

Because my husband is in Florida taking care of his Dad, meals have been pretty casual for the past few days. Last night I enjoyed a bowl of carrot chowder, from a quart jar in the freezer. I’ll share the recipe with you below. It calls for canned tomatoes…which got me on the quest for more tomatoes this next year.

CARROT CHOWDER
Carrot Chowder is very adaptable to lots of different
vegetables. Wheat berries or bulgur can be substituted
for the ground beef for a vegetarian version, and for a vegan version
substitute pureed tofu for the heavy cream . This recipe makes a
large batch, so plan on freezing some for
another meal. Serve with crusty bread and applesauce.

1 pound ground beef
4 cups tomato sauce
2.5 cups shredded carrots
2 cups scrubbed and cubed potatoes
.5 cup chopped turnip, celery or celeriac
.5 cup chopped onion
.5 cup chopped green peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
1.5 cups water
Sea salt and fresh pepper
Celery salt
1.5 cups heavy cream or 10 ounces soft tofu, pureed in blender with a bit of olive oil

In a heavy soup pot, brown the meat in oil over a medium flame. Drain off the excess fat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until they just start to soften. Add the remaining vegetables, tomato sauce and water and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Slowly stir in the heavy cream. Season the soup to taste with sea salt, fresh pepper and celery salt. The soup may be garnished with grated cheese and a crouton. Makes 12 servings.

Nutritional analysis per serving (cream version): 253 calories, 10 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 18 grams fat (0 grams trans fat), 486 mg. sodium, 3 grams fiber.

Nutritional analysis per serving (tofu version): 162 calories, 10 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fat (0 grams trans fat), 486 mg. sodium, 3 grams fiber.

I’ve shared this recipe with lots of folks, and it is popular with schools too. Freezes great.
Enjpy!