Getting Some Morroccan Roots On

One of the fun parts of any CSA share (community supported agriculture) is the surprise of just which veggies and fruits are found in the box each week. We have tried all kinds of new tastes and found real excitement in exploring recipes to enjoy them. We received shares in both November and December from Ridgeland Harvest, our CSA, that were full of great root vegetables - turnips, rutabagas, beets, potatoes, carrots.

We don't often eat rutabagas and turnips so we wanted something tasty that could be a "keeper" recipe to return to annually when the bounty of root vegetables comes. We found a winter-satisfying recipe that really elevated them into something scrumptious - I know, I know, for some people root veggies are never described that way -
Morroccan Style Chicken with Root Vegetables from Epicurious.

Although it broke my 10-ingredient rule, we had everything the recipe called for on hand or a close substitute to keep it rocking. The roots used were rutabaga, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes.We had home canned tomatoes; chicken stock; currants and even cilantro hanging around. Biggest prep time was just peeling & cutting up the veggies - about 7 cups worth. That took as long as the quick cooking of the stew.  But with curry, cumin and cinnamon perfuming the root vegetables, it was worth every chop. This is indeed a root-recipe keeper!

CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

The seed catalogs are arriving. In the cold of winter, those of us who garden are thinking of what we want to plant in the warming days of spring.  January also brings the first notices from farms who have CSA's that its time to think of buying a share so they know how much to plant.

The basic premise of a CSA is that a household helps support the farm by buying a share in the harvest. The farm then provides a weekly or bi-weekly delivery of vegetables, herbs, fruits, eggs and sometimes meat throughout a sixteen to twenty week harvest season. By becoming a member, you agree to share in every farmer's risk - the harvest may be bountiful or poor depending on the weather, pests and other factors that affect yield.All the CSA's we know about provide organic produce at a fair price. Ridgeland Harvest has been our CSA since we came to town.

We support CSA's for a number of reasons. For us, knowing where our food comes from is important. Equally important is directly supporting nearby farm families who are caring for the land. We love to buy locally and organically. We appreciate the concept of investing now for a reward later. We have been treated fairly and respectfully in our relationships with our CSA farmers  both here and on the eastern side of the state.

We also love the crazy kismet of opening the box and seeing what we get to cook with for the week - we commit ourselves to using everything in our meals. We have discovered and come to love many vegetables we never tried before (rabid collard green fan!). With all the produce, we simply eat healthier - less meat and more cooking to the season. It is an great incentive to celebrate the bounty of the harvest that we have right here in Wisconsin.

Besides the newsletter from the farm that has great recipes, a couple of cookbooks have helped with tasty uses for the bounty - our favorite is Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Season Produce from the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. It is full of recipes for all the fruits and vegetables found in CSA boxes and farmer's markets.  We also rely on Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

We still stop by the farmer's market during the season. We like to browse, see friends, pick up a little extra here and there and support more farm families. But it's our CSA food that truly sustains us, challenges us and that we support our farmers by investing in.

Oats! Oats! Oats!

Mom made lots of oatmeal for us as kids. I can safely say I, um, hated it. The rolled oats were gluey and mushy and no amount of brown sugar and milk could make it tasty. As I pecked at the edges and learned to eat it without tasting, it quickly cooled and then the parent child face-off began - cajoling; stern orders; finally veiled threats to have it appear in the lunch soup if not eaten right now (some of my siblings insist this did indeed happen; seems apocryphal to me). I happily left that oatmeal past of my childhood behind.

As an adult, some friends came back from a trip to the UK with pinhead oatmeal and raved about the taste. They made me some. Holy smokies - that was oatmeal?!?!?! Dense; tasty, delightfully nutty and chewy. Yeah baby! It was the first time I thought about oats as a grain - a savory grain like rice or barley - rather than a sugary cereal or a penance from hell. Luckily, we didn't have to go across the ocean to buy it - we found pinhead and steel cut oats at natural food stores and co-ops.

We really hit the taste jackpot when we discovered  War Eagle Mill in Rogers AR, a waterwheel-powered stoneground mill that sources organic grains. Oh, man, oh man, those oats are worth every penny. Fresh, fresh, fresh. When we ran out and went back to store-bought, the difference was stunning. We are hooked on War Eagle (oh, plus they come in cool cloth bags and give us a recipe for bannock cakes - see below).

We also figured out a good way to make it easily and quickly on an electric stove: using an asparagas cooker (the tall, lean pot), cover 1/2 c.oats and a pinch or two of salt with a cup of water; put the cover on & turn on high. As soon as it begins to boil, turn off the heat and let it sit for 20-25 minutes. The residual heat from the burner keeps it cooking and the high sides of the cooker keep it from boiling over. Give it a quick stir and serve. When we decide oatmeal for breakfast, it makes us sing "O-o-o-oats!"

Finally, let me share the gist of the Bannock Cake recipe from War Eagle Mill with you. Oatier than pancakes but just as darn good.  
Mix together:
-1 egg
-pinch of sugar
-1/3 c. butter milk
Add:
-1 c. cooked steel cut oats
-1/2 c. flour of choice
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1T. oil
-pinch of cinnamon

Then cook in a lightly oiled skillet over medium low heat til bubbly, flip, cook a little longer and eat like pancakes. Extras can be kept for week in fridge or frozen and toastered when ready! This recipe makes about 7-8 little beauties.

Making Chicken Broth

My mom made her own broths for our many soups. I learned that from her and have been glad of it. I've tried canned and boxed broths and...meh. It took me awhile to get a tasty result - I had bouillon cubes at the ready to get that "chicken" taste when I first started cooking on my own. I learned to use organic chicken and with their profound flavor, I never used bouillon again. It was then I realized that factory-farmed birds had lost their true chicken taste.

I hear people say it takes too much time and work to make a broth. Maybe so. But it's mindful, meditative cooking of the best kind. It's a great weekend activity and the broth can be frozen and used in ensuing months. The prep time is pretty small and much book reading can be done while the pot simmers.

The broth-making always starts with organic ingredients. I am extracting everything I can in the making of it and the thought of added pesticides, hormones and chemicals simmering out is more than I can bear. All my broths are made in a big honkin' 3 gallon stock pot - plenty of room for the good stuff.

I put a whole chicken in the pot (with heart and gizzard - no liver) and throw in whole onions, carrots and celery; then cover with water; and toss in salt and a bouquet garni of thyme, parsley and bay leaf. After an hour, I remove the breast and leg meat (it is nicely poached and can be used for anything) and put the carcass back in the soup pot to simmer happily another 4 -5 hours. Then I drain the broth through cheesecloth and refrigerate. I discard all the mushy solids - they've done their work and made the broth rich.

The next day I skim the congealed fat off the top and pour the broth into 1 cup and 2 cup containers to freeze. The day after I pop them out like ice cubes into a freezer bag and use as needed in soups and recipes over the next few months.

It's satisfying and nothing tastes better!

Winter Farmer's Market

It's been over six weeks since our last winter delivery from Ridgeland Harvest, our CSA. We have a some carrots, beets and turnips left; a smattering of onions, one last bag of potatoes and beautiful garlic. The radishes and squash are long since eaten.  But more winter vegetables are still plentiful for us because of winter farmer's markets that linger into February.

What kind of food can you possibly find in the dark, cold days of mid-winter? Cabbage and onions, meats and eggs, root vegetables - and best of all - greens are still coming our way. We went down to Madison's market on Saturday and found sweet microgreens and frost-touched spinach, more squash and onions, a great cabbage and more of our new addiction - beauty heart radishes.

There were also potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, beets, rutabagas, delicate lettuce, sunflower oil and all the wonderful winter-keeping root vegetables that can sustain you and are marvelous in soups and stews.

Root vegetables like turnips and rutabagas have been a revelation to us over the last few years. The waxed roots at the stores were always a little disgusting. So never purchased, never eaten.  Now that we have access to these roots through our CSA and winter markets, we've embraced them and found their rich flavor and high vitamin content a welcome addition to our winter eating. I'll share a recipe or two over the coming weeks to motivate you - and hope you share your favorites with me!

Simple Pasta

True confession: we don't eat a ton of pasta (I know, I know, heinous crime and all that). Red sauce is ok; white sauce is too rich; pesto is a favorite back-up but even that gets old every time and olive oil, while tasty, is too one-note to use constantly.  But there is one pasta recipe we revisit often.

Found in my ubiquitous Fine Cooking magazine (and online here) this is a barely sauced number that gives me everything I like - an outrageously fun pasta shape, peas, leeks, a chance to play with different sausages; a place for home-made chicken broth and a bracing asiago finish. And my mantra of ten ingredients or less!

The cheese binds lightly with the broth to impart a light and almost floral sauce to the dish. The leeks and shallot lend a sweet carmelized taste that works with the peas to make you want to lick the pasta bowl out. We use a hint of butter for taste and olive oil to replace most of the rest suggested in the recipe.

The best recipes in my mind are those that offer a guiding set of foods but that are open to endless play. This is one of those. If you don't have campanelle pasta (trumpet shape), then shells or other open shapes that sweet little peas can nest in work just fine. Don't have peas? Then try another sweet veggie like carrots or rutabagas cut up small. Leeks not on hand? Then play with any allium hanging about the pantry.  Don't like italian sausage? Then try turkey sausage or brats cut up or substitute capers and have no meat at all. Add more meat, less meat, more peas, fewer leeks and you still come out with a simple and delicious dish.

With a bright salad of greens and shaved radishes lightly dressed with olive oil and rice wine vinegar, a satisfying meal is the result. Simple.

Winter Cooking Wonder

Mississippi River slough on Goose Island, La Crosse WI

As the snow falls and the temperature plummets, we both find great comfort in the foods we cook in winter.  Stews and soups, an occasional bold run out to the grill (a Big Green Egg - a gift from my brother and mother); citrus and salad greens as we can. We have a fridge and pantry full of root vegetables - beets, rutabagas, carrots, turnips, potatoes and some lovely fresh Beauty Heart and Black Spanish radishes that make our salads sing.

Our minds turn to meat quite often now - the lamb from our farmer Carol in Amherst; the pork roasts and tenderloins from an Argyle  farm family; tiny, tasty tenderloins from our farming friends in Ettrick and rural Clintonville; chickens from our CSA farm near Viroqua; the Mississippi flathead catfish from a local fishmonger - perhaps because the deep cold calls us to eat more protein to keep warm. It's all packed away in the freezer for us to make our way through during the long cold days.

There are long rituals of making these meals in the cold weather - not the fast stir fry or quick toss of vegetables of the spring and summer. This is the long simmering; the slow braising; the baking and the stewing to develop the deep complex flavors that pique our interest and palettes. We come back from a ski or a snowshoe or a shovel or a bracing, skating hike on the sidewalks and find the warmth of these slow meals cooked in the winter dark to be a wonder in themselves.

When is a Salmon NOT a Salmon - Take Action

If you care about whole foods, local foods and supporting sustainable food sources, please consider taking action and signing this petition from the Center for Food Safety. Genetically engineered salmon is coming closer to a reality that won't ultimately benefit any citizen - only the corporate "person" that will profit tremendously while introducing a highly controversial "food" into our food chain. Un-zen.

Image: 'Brown bear and salmon'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/22254273@N05/2149526252 Found on flickrcc.net

Changing the Food System

Here are 13 Resolutions on Changing the Food System in 2013 found in the Huffington Post (thanks to our Viroqua Co-op - we love you guys!).  I love this - and we can all do so much of this - eat  real food and veggies; make meals; eat meals together; prevent waste; support farmers and food workers and more.

These are common sense and bring food back from corporate control and back to consumer's control. We can do this. Join us!

Image: 'fractales naturelles / natural fractales'  http://www.flickr.com/photos/47757737@N00/2877551607 Found on flickrcc.net

New Year's Cassoulet

For almost ten years now, we've been making cassoulet for New Year's Day. It takes awhile to put it together so I always need about three days off to get it prepped. The run up to New Year's Day affords me the time and leisure to make this savory peasant stew. Nothing is overwhelming in the preparation but it has many parts - duck legs to confit (or buy already prepared); lamb and bean stew to make a day ahead; chicken broth to make; bread to put out to grow stale for crumbs.

I discovered the pleasures of this stew in the January 2002 issue of Fine Cooking  in an article written by Chef Jean-Pierre Moulle (online at their website  for the short version). Now the pages of that article and it's recipe are crinkled, spotted and thin. I start looking at it in October and thinking about where I will find my ingredients. That article is with me all the time over those months running up to January.

Each year, we play with the contents - changing a thing or two: growing the shell beans in the garden; looking for local artisan sausage to include; using our home-baked bread for the crumbs; skipping the pancetta and using the dark applewood flavor of a chunk of Nueske's bacon. The next year we do it entirely differently. Cassoulet isn't fussy.

It's meaty and plain and rich and delicious. It is always a party dish - friends have joined us for years - there are seldom many left-overs. It is mindful cooking in the deepest way I know. It starts the new year. The pleasure of good food, good wine and good friends warms us in the winter.

What's this Buddha Cooking Stuff?

Many years ago, this wonderful Buddha came into my life when my amazing partner and I got together.  As luck would have it, at one of our houses, there was just the right space for it. The Buddha ended up on a low shelf behind the stove - he watched us as we cooked and we watched him.  As we both grew in confidence in our cooking and food experiments, it seemed that it was under the watchful gaze of our Buddha. We  stepped up our game and we laughed and said "We are cooking to Buddha!"

I've been thinking about blogging about food and cooking for a long time. From childhood, planting, harvesting and using fresh food and the work of canning, freezing, and transforming food from scratch -and sometimes not so much - has been a journey that I have had great pleasure to be on. I was influenced by my mother, my aunts, my friends and my partner. I have supported local food makers and farmers and thought lots about food - how we get it, what we do with it and why it holds such an interesting place in our lives. All roads lead me here.

A new year begins and so do I. This blog will look back on how I grew into a foodie; reflect on our society and food; and feature thoughts on food, cooking and the wonder of making.  I'll share a recipe or two along the way.  Welcome to this corner of my life.