Down on the Farm

It's a bit dusty around here...I'm sure that can't be because I haven't shown up in 9 months.  I wish I had a good excuse but I really don't.  Sure I've been busy with work, teaching Bible study and trying to keep up with family and friends, but that's exactly what I want this blog to be...how to cook at home, even when you don't think you have time.  With that in mind I've decided to wipe away the dust and try again, and there is no better time than NOW.

And speaking of now, Rob and I joined a CSA this summer.  We picked up our first basket today!  We'll be getting a box of veggies and a 1/2 dozen eggs every Wednesday.  This was a big part of our food budget for the next couple months so we have to use the food we get.  We all ready have something new to try!

And these eggs, I can't decide what I want to do with these eggs.  Do I want to simply fry them in a little butter, or make egg sandwiches, or scramble them, or a quiche.  There are so many options!  I love that they are mismatched, it feels like it goes against the norm.  I'm so used to buying eggs in a dozen at the grocery store where all the eggs are the same color and the same size.  I love the freedom the farmers have to just put 6 eggs in the carton and not worry about it.  I was so excited when I saw we had a blue egg.  Why?  Well I really don't know other than I have never had a blue egg before, and for some reason have wanted one.

Cooking with seasonal produce is a bit different for me.  I like to plan ahead, look through the cookbooks, think about what I want to eat or cook and then make a meal plan and grocery list to go with it.  But I can't do that when we are eating what we get from the farm.  I have to wait and see what's in the box and how much, and then make plans for it.  It's a great way to break out of habits and try something new.  I'm excited to get started!

Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week, I get to make breakfast, and not just a quick we're in a hurry breakfast either, the kind that might take some time, and might not be eaten till nearly lunch time.  We used to be huge scrambled eggs fans, almost every Saturday and sometimes on Sundays after church we would whip up a batch of scrambled eggs.  It all started because I failed at making omelets, I just can't seem to get the hang of it very well, and either the egg is a bit too runny, overcooked, or ripped in many places.  So, I started making scrambled eggs, with everything in them, and by everything I mean sausage, potatoes, peppers, mushrooms, cheese, and bacon.  We ate this for years, and still do occasionally, but now we have a different love on Saturday mornings.

bacon (or sausage)

cheese

and egg

sandwiches

With a glass of orange juice it's a wonderful way to start off the weekend.

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwiches
Ingredients:

• 2 bagels or english muffins
• 4 strips bacon
• 2 eggs
• thinly sliced cheese

Procedure:

1. Preheat the broiler to Hi.
2. Cut the english muffins or bagels in half and place on a cookie sheet, inside facing up.  Place in the broiler for about 5 minutes to toast the bread.
3. Heat a skillet over medium heat and cook the bacon until crispy
4. Drain off most of the grease from the bacon and fry the eggs, I usually whisk the eggs first and use egg fry rings as they fit on the sandwich better.  When the eggs are almost done cooking add a small amount of cheese to the top of each egg and allow to melt slightly.
5. Assemble the sandwich: Place 1/2 of a bagel or english muffin on a plate, top with bacon, a slice of cheese, and the egg.  Top with the other 1/2 of the bagel.

It's collard greens

Ah, collard greens.  I haven't made any in a while and it's time to remedy that.  Well, truth be told, I've been asked to make them.  It's not that I don't like them, it's more that it's ridiculously hot, and collards fixed this way feel more like a cool weather, need to warm up dish to me.  I love my leafy green vegetables, and now that I've learned how to cook collards I like them too.  I can't say it was love at first taste, I had to eat them when I was a child, and being the stubborn person I am this made me look for something I didn't like about them.  I've gotten a bit wiser now and learned that sometimes when I don't like a new food, or for that matter an old food, I probably need to try it prepared a different way.  Now if I could just learn to lose the stubbornness...I think it is better, but it still has a long way to go.

My husband, Rob,  loves his collards, and so I try very hard to make them perfect for him.  The only problem is I'm a bit terrible at recipes and I tend to go with the fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants method when cooking, so what I do one time I may or may not be able to recreate at a later date.  That was part of the reason for starting this cooking blog, so I would be forced to document what I do.  I suppose it's semi-working.  I currently have about 6 recipes I'm trying to hold on to in my head so I can blog about them.  I keep meaning to write them down, but I think I'm going to have to invest in a kitchen notebook, so I can take notes while I cook.  Its just not working to run into the computer and type it up while I'm cooking, or even immediately after, and after a good nights sleep I start forgetting details.

I've cooked collards this way quite a few times now, and have a basic idea in my head of what goes into them.  There's the salt pork and/or ham hocks, salt, and pepper of course, but when I walked over to the spice rack I suddenly got very unsure of myself.  I grabbed the garlic powder, onion powder, and crushed red pepper, but was I missing something, I really didn't want to mess these up, I haven't made collards for Rob in quite some time, and I want him to love them as much as he always does, I don't want to offer a taste test and get an unsatisfactory result.  I stared at the spice rack for several minutes before I was certain that nothing else there was typical for the collards.  As I seasoned the greens it occurred to me what was missing - sugar!  Now don't laugh, I don't make sweet collards, that would just be odd.  

Collards have a tendency to be bitter, even after hours of cooking, which is more than a little disappointing.  I remember one year I was making the collards for a family Christmas dinner and after letting the collards slow cook in a crock pot all night I woke up to awful, bitter greens.  I was horrified, what was I going to do, it was 10am on Christmas morning, and the family would be gathering for Christmas dinner at 2pm.  There were no stores open and I had less than 4 hours to have the greens ready.  I ran to the computer and started frantically googling bitter collard greens.  Sugar was the recommendation I kept getting.  I figured the greens couldn't get much worse, and there was no way I was taking them like they were so I dumped in a bit of sugar, and left the greens to cook for another 15 - 20 min.  When I tasted them again nearly all the bitterness was gone.  Christmas was saved!  OK, that could be a bit of an exaggeration, I don't think anyones Christmas would have been ruined, but I'm certain there would have been at least one disappointed family member.  Since then, I always add a small amount of sugar at the beginning so I don't have to worry about bitterness.

I realize the cook time is going to seem excessively long, and I've successfully cooked the collards for less time, but the batches that were the best always cooked for longer.  It's difficult to overcook the greens in the slow cooker, but I still taste test frequently in the last couple hours to make sure.

From The Office:
Michael: That would have really really showed him up, wouldn't it, if I brought in some burritos, or colored greens, or some pad thai, love pad thai...
Stanley: It's collard greens.
Michael: What?
Stanley: It's collard greens.
Michael: Uh, that doesn't really make sense, you don't call them 'collard people.'  That's offensive.

Oh Michael, what will we do without you.

Slow Cooker Collard Greens

Ingredients:

• 1 salt pork and or 1 lb ham hocks
• 2 bunches collard greens
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt
• pepper
• 2 qt. water

Procedure:

1. Rinse the collards thoroughly to remove any dirt or sand caught in the leaves.
2. Layer 6 - 7 leaves at a time and remove the stem.  Roll the leaves into a tube and slice at 1 inch intervals. Repeat until all the leaves have been sliced.
3. Place the salt pork and/or ham hocks in the bottom of a slow cooker and put the sliced collards on top.
4. Add all the spices and season with salt and pepper.  Pour the water over the top and cover with the lid.
5. Cook on low for 12 - 16 hours.

Simplicity

This week I've rediscovered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  It would have never occurred to me to make one for lunch, except for our neighbors.  Sadly, they moved away this week, and in cleaning out the fridge ended up giving us some food, including 2 jars of preserves.  I'm not a huge fan of grape jelly anymore, I find it overly sweet, and struggle to eat more than a bite or 2 of it.  If I buy jelly at the store I buy strawberry jelly, and usually the cheap stuff.  Our neighbor has learned better though, and I ended up with a jar of red raspberry preserves.  It may still be store brand, but it is delicious.

I was eager to try it, so I bought some sandwich bread, and decided to have a PBJ for lunch.  Except I suppose I can't really call it a PBJ.  I didn't use peanut butter.  I think I may have become a bit uppity in the nut butter arena, and now prefer almond butter, and not just any almond butter, but freshly ground almond butter.  I don't have any freshly ground almond butter in the house right now, I've been trying to be good and spend less at the grocery store, so I haven't bought any in months.  I do however have some Trader Joe's almond butter.  It's almost as good as the freshly ground kind.

I snagged a fresh peach from the fruit bowl to go with my sandwich and enjoyed a simple lunch that I haven't had in ages.

I enjoyed it so much in fact that I've made it 2 days in a row, and plan to eat it again tomorrow.

Now all I need is a swing set to run to when I finish eating.

New and Improved

I was walking through the produce section of the grocery store the other day when I happened across angelcots.  Angelcots?  I had never heard of this fruit before, and at first thought perhaps it was something foreign that had found it's way to my small town.  I snatched up a 1 lb package and headed off to finish my shopping.  Once I got home I got in touch with my good friend, Google, and learned that an angelcot is actually a hybridized Iranian and Moroccan apricot.  I was a bit disappointed, but I do enjoy a good apricot, so it can't be to bad.

Side note: Whenever I think of hybridizing fruit, I picture a sterile science lab with weird chemicals and people dressed in white lab coats, possibly with protective gear on.  I have no idea where this image came from, but it always pops into my head, and causes me to look at the fruit a little weird.  I'm all for science and technology just not so much when my food is the subject.

I love to be lazy on Sundays, so I wasn't really planning to cook today, there are leftovers in the fridge for dinner, and some whole grain pancakes that I planned to reheat for lunch.  When I walked into the kitchen the package of angelcots was sitting on the counter looking lonely, and I needed to hurry up and eat them or I would be throwing them away in the next day or 2.  I thought about just slicing them and serving them with the pancakes, but there were a few to many for just the 2 of us.  Then it hit me, we're having pancakes why not make some fresh fruit syrup to serve with them.

It didn't take much time or effort and the syrup was ready in the time it took to reheat the pancakes in the oven.  I simply sliced the angelcots, and added them to a saucepan with some water, chopped pecans and brown sugar, and simmered it until the juices had thickened a bit.  Why I haven't made my own syrups in the past I don't know, it was so simple and tasted so good, that I think I will have to turn this into a habit.

Warm Apricot and Pecan Syrup

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh apricots, thickly sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 2 - 4 tbsp brown sugar

Procedure
Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down and gently simmer uncovered until the mixture is thickened some.  Adjust the amount of sugar to your taste.  I prefer a more subtle sweetness but just add more if you like.  The apricots will break down a fair amount, and the syrup will be the consistency of real maple syrup.

Serve over your favorite pancake, waffle, or french toast.

Not what I originally planned...

Today I came up with a great plan for dinner, I was even planning ahead...just not near enough.  I woke up in the mood for pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw on homemade kaiser rolls.  Unfortunately the pulled pork recipe I've used in the past and wanted to use again says to marinate the pork overnight and the kaiser rolls call for creating a preferment that ferments overnight, so I sadly had to give up that dinner for today.  But another day, when I have time to prep everything correctly I will make it.  Unfortunately by the time I realized that dinner simply wasn't going to happen I had already thawed the 4.5lb pork tenderloin I found in the freezer, so now I was committed to pork tenderloin for dinner.

I was blessed recently with the opportunity to join my husband in Tokyo for a business trip he was on.  I've been to Tokyo before and I think my favorite section is Kappabashi Dori in the Asakusa district.  It's the restaurant supply district, but they have no problems selling to an individual, even an individual who can't say more than Hello and Thank You.  The 2 stores I was practically dragging my husband and his work friend to were Kamata and Union Square.  Both are amazing knife shops.  It sounds a bit creepy to say but I'm developing a love for kitchen knives.  I saw several chefs knives I wanted, but I all ready have 2 and with no job I had to say no.  The pairing knives were a different story though.  I didn't own a good one.  The only one I had was the one that came in a knife set we received as a wedding present.  I wasn't exactly kind to this set of knives and in the 7 years I've owned them have never once sharpened them.  I thought that was something left to professionals.  I've been reeducated and have now attempted sharpening my own knives 1 time.  I did fairly well and plan to do it whenever needed from here on out.  The other problem with my pairing knife is that it's a German style knife and I have a strong preference for Japanese style knives.  They are lighter and feel less bulky in my hand.  I have weak wrists from my horrible typing habits and the lighter Japanese knifes don't bother my wrists as badly.

Why the diatribe on kitchen knives?  Well this pork tenderloin had a plethora of fat and silver skin to trim off, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to break out one of the new pairing knives and give it a test run.  I decided to use the smaller of the 2, and it was absolutely stunning.  Sadly, I can't say the same for my knife skills.  I keep working on it, but it feels like it's slow progress, it just isn't easy to break myself of the poor habits I've had for so long.

I almost feel sorry for the poor pork tenderloin, it rather looks like I was hacking at it.  Perhaps next time I should just ask the butcher to clean it up for me.

I was trying not to remove too much meat although there was a funny dangly part on one corner that I ended up cutting off.  It had a lot of fat and silver skin in it and by the time I removed most of that the portion of meat was rather mangled looking.  I think I did better than the last time I cleaned up a pork tenderloin, usually I give up on removing all of the silver skin, today I managed to get it all.


This is a rather large pork tenderloin especially since there are only 2 of us, so I cut it in half.  We'll still end up eating a lot of pork over the next couple of days since I can't refreeze it, but as least I can flavor it differently.

To season the pork tenderloin I decided to open it up to get flavor in the middle of it.  To do this position the knife parallel to the long side and about a third of the way from one side.  Cut down into the pork until you've cut about 2/3 of the way through.  Stop and turn the knife so the blade is parallel to the counter, now cut across the short side of the pork until you're about a 1/3 of the way from the opposite side.  Open up the pork tenderloin.  Hopefully, that isn't too difficult, but if it sounds too daunting then just butterfly the tenderloin.  At this point I folded the tenderloin back to it's normal shape.  I meant to roll it up, I don't know why I didn't, perhaps my brain was taking a break while I was working.  The pork loin would have looked better after cooking if I had rolled it up, but it still tasted great, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

My regular old toothpicks were nowhere to be found today, so I had to use some red "party stick" toothpicks.  They aren't any different than regular toothpicks except they are colored, and the color usually bleeds into the food.  And I can say from experience that it is rather disturbing to see random blue spots in a piece of chicken or pork when eating it.  The red ones didn't seem to bleed color either that or no one noticed it, including me.

I decided to use blackening seasoning because I bought a new one recently.  My husband and I were in Hilton Head and ate at a restaurant called Roastfish and Cornbread.  The food was phenominal!  We were lucky enough to meet the chef, Vincent David Young, and have him sign a cookbook for us.  He was sweet, and humble, and inspiring.  He makes all of his own spice mixtures so I really couldn't help but buy the season salt and blackening seasoning.  If you are in Hilton Head or even just close to Hilton Head you should enjoy a meal at Roastfish and Cornbread.  They have a wonderful vegetarian menu for the non-seafood lovers in the group - wait, why is everyone staring at me?  The blackening is called Burnin' Down South Blackening Seasoning, but I haven't found a way to buy it except direct from the restaurant, so use your favorite or use just black pepper.

Because I think it's going to sound a bit odd of a combination, I chose mangoes and avocados because I happened to see a recipe titled Mango and Avocado Salad in the Cooks Illustrated Summer Entertaining book I was searching for coleslaw recipes in earlier.  I forgot to look at their recipe but I thought the combination sounded intriguing enough to try.  I love sweet/spicy combinations so I imagined this would pair perfectly with the spicy pork.  I've fallen in love with avocados in the last couple months and look for opportunities to use them.  It can be difficult to find a good avocado where I'm at, with a lot of them being mushy and flavorless, or nowhere near ripe enough.  Thankfully, today's batch were great - just the right texture and with a wonderful flavor.  I haven't eaten mangoes much in the past, they are usually in the exotic section of the produce and cost a lot, but after today I think I'll have to spend money on them a bit more often.

If you haven't tried Chinese black rice, then this is a perfect opportunity to do so.  It's a bit more difficult to find, but health food stores usually carry it, possibly under the name forbidden rice.  It's almost like eating a risotto without the effort of cooking a risotto.  I cook mine with quite a bit of butter to give it a nice creamy texture.  It takes a long time to cook, the instructions don't say it, but I think I usually cook mine for about an hour - perfect timing to go with the pork, they can cook at the same time.

I think this may be one of those recipes that ends up on my short list - the list that I turn to when I want something relatively easy, and I'm lacking in the ideas department.  I didn't expect to like it so very much when it was coming together, but the sweet, spicy, fruity, and buttery flavors all melded wonderfully.  I think I was a bit worried about the mango and avocado pairing, but there was no reason to be, it works amazingly well.

Spiced Pork with Mango and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

• pork tenderloin
• 6 tbsp pureed chipotles in adobo
• Blackening Seasoning (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 3 avocados
• 4 mangoes
• olive oil
• 1 - 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter

Procedure
For the Pork:

1. Trim fat and silver skin off of pork tenderloin.
2. Open up pork tenderloin by cutting L shape into it.
3. Season inside with blackening seasoning (or just pepper), and salt.  Then spread a thin coat of the pureed chipotles.
4. Fold the tenderloin back to it's normal shape and secure with toothpicks.
5. Season all sides with blackening seasoning and salt, and spread a layer of pureed chipotles on the outside.  Place in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
6. Dice 1 mango into 1 inch cubes
7. Take out of the fridge and allow to come to room temperature, 45 - 60 min.(this is so the pork cooks evenly and isn't overcooked on the outside and raw on the inside).  Preheat the oven to 350F
8. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in an ovenproof skillet large enough to hold the pork tenderloin.
9. Brown the tenderloin for 2 - 3 min. per side - just long enough to give it a good crust and color.
10. Transfer the entire skillet to the oven and cook until an instant read thermometer shows an internal temperature of 160F. about 1 hour.
11. Remove the pork from the oven and transfer to a plate.  Cover with aluminum foil and allow to rest for 10 - 15 min.
12. Using the skillet the pork cooked in, melt 1 tbsp of butter over medium heat and stir in the diced mango and cook until the juice thickens.

For the Mango and Avocado Salad

1. Cut the avocados and 3 of the mangoes into a 1 inch dice
2. Combine the fruit in a bowl and add lime juice, olive oil, brown sugar, salt, and pepper.  Adjust the seasonings to taste.
3. refrigerate until ready to use.  The longer it stands together the better the flavor.

Spring Cleaning...

It happens to all of us, or well that's what I'm telling myself anyway.  The grocery store is having a sale or you plan a dinner that just doesn't happen, then before you know it the freezer will barely close, and there is no telling what is hiding in there.  In the interest of not allowing it to get any worse I decided to implement spring cleaning on the kitchen.  The pantry could definitely benefit from some cleaning out as well.

Tonight, I found some orange roughy in the farthest corner of the freezer, no surprise there, I do not like fish.  I'm certain I bought it at some point to cook for my husband, who loves it, but then couldn't convince myself to actually cook it.  I suppose I figured I would psyche myself up to cook it another day and stuffed it in the freezer.  Today was the day, no more excuses!  Since I've only cooked fish about 3 times in my life, I didn't really have any recipes in mind.  I searched the pantry and happened to see a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, perfect I thought, that will help to hide the fishiness of the fish.  There was a can of stewed tomatoes next to the chipotles so I grabbed that as well.

I suppose I should take a break for a moment to say that I frequently make up recipes on the spot, without any idea if they will turn out.  I've certainly made some...ahem...interesting combinations in the past, but I've also ended up with some dishes that have turned into favorites.  I wasn't in the mood to go find a cookbook or recipe tonight, so I did what I do best in those situations, stared into the panty until something caught my eye.  I've learned that this method of cooking has actually made me a better cook.  I evaluate how the flavors mix together more than if I just blindly follow a recipe.  I've also become a bit bad at following recipes.  I am frequently teased about not bothering to read instructions on the computer or probably anywhere else.  Recipes are no different, I may read the ingredient list and skim the directions and just go make my own version of whatever it is I'm making.  I find I get more flustered and don't enjoy cooking near as much if I feel like I'm bound to a recipe.  Yet I still love cookbooks - a good cookbook is more than a list of recipes so there is always something to learn.

Lets see where was I...

Ah yes, making dinner, and I needed a vegetable.  I found some sliced yellow squash in the freezer, they were from a CSA we participated in last year.  We had so many that there was no way the 2 of us could eat them all, so I ended up slicing and freezing the overstock.  There are still more left, so we'll get to enjoy the rest another day.

From here it was just a matter of putting it all together.  Different ideas were swimming around in my head - mixing the tomatoes and squash, or making a tomato sauce for the fish, or possibly leaving out the tomatoes as I wasn't too sure how the flavors would combine.  In the end I mixed the squash and tomatoes and allowed the juice to thicken into a sauce.  I pureed the chipotle peppers and used them to season the fish and to spice up the tomato squash mixture.  If I had planned my time a bit better I would have cooked some brown rice to go with it, but since it was close to 8 all ready I opted for cous cous since it only takes 5 minutes.

I can't say I'm a fish convert, but I did manage to eat half of my piece, which is a huge improvement over the 1 or 2 bites I usually take.  I loved the seasoning on the fish, just not the fishiness.   I'll have to try a different type of fish next time, I'm sure there is one out there I will like.  The vegetables were delicious, and I'm sad that there aren't any left over for lunch tomorrow.

Spiced Orange Roughy with Tomatoes and Squash
Serves 2

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp pureed chipotles in adobo sauce
• 4 tbsp butter
• olive oil
• 2 filets orange roughy
• 1 or 2 yellow summer squash
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp parsley

Procedure

1. Salt and pepper the fish on both sides.  Using a basting brush spread a thin coat of pureed chipotles in adobo on both sides of the fish.
2. Slice the squash to 1/4 of an inch thickness.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt 2 tbsp of the butter.
4. Heat a second skillet over medium heat for the squash.  Melt the remaining 2 tbsp of butter and add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
5. Cook the fish until opaque in the center, about 2.5 minutes per side.
6. Add the squash to the second skillet.  Add 1 - 2 tbsp of pureed chipotles in adobo to the squash and season with salt and pepper.  Sautee the squash until tender, but not over-cooked.
7. When the fish is cooked, remove it to a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.   Add the stewed tomatoes with their liquid to the skillet used to cook the fish, and bring to a simmer.  
8. Pour the squash in with the tomatoes and stir to combine.  Season with the basil and parsley.  Allow the sauce to thicken for 1 - 2 minutes.  If you like more heat add more of the pureed chipotles.

Serve over rice or cous cous.