10 posts tagged “food”

The idea of a grass-based farm has intrigued me ever since reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. A large portion of the book covers Pollan's experience at Joe Salatin's Polyface Farm in Virginia. I knew moving to Minnesota would place me in the center of farm country, and a quick Google search led me to Hidden Stream Farm, another grass-based farm. This weekend at the Rochester Farmer's Market I purchased a whole chicken as well as a pound of bacon from Hidden Stream. The resulting meals were delicious.

 What Salatin is doing is beyond organic. Instead he follows Nature's template, which according to the farm's website means "Mimicking natural patterns on a commercial domestic scale [to insure] moral and ethical boundaries to human cleverness."  What this basically means is a natural cycle is used for feeding the cows, chickens, pigs and rabbits at Polyface. The cows eat grass from the pasture, the chickens are sent in after to eat the remaining grass as well as larvae and flies from the cow patties. This sanitizes the pasture far more efficiently than a pesticide while at the same time the chicken droppings fertilize the next growth of grass. The entire farm operates on this principle, nothing is wasted. Every animal benefits another.

Hidden Stream Farm follows many of the same practices, calling themselves "proud producers of happy, healthy chicken, beef, and pork." They too are a family-owned farm practicing sustainable, grass-based farming. Their meats are drug and hormone free.

This Saturday we went to the Rochester Downtown Farmer's Market, not knowing what to expect. Our experiences with the market in Lexington, led us to believe that attendance by farmers would be low this early in the season. Many of the more popular fruits and vegetables aren't naturally available this time of year. As expected a lot of farms were selling flowers and seedlings, but we were happily surprised by the number of stalls. There were lots of turnips, cabbages and greens. And meats.

I spotted the Hidden Stream stall immediately and knew I wanted to at least purchase one of their chickens. At $2.99 a pound, a farm-raised chicken far outcosts a industrial chicken. The weekly ad from a local grocery is advertising whole chickens at ¢.69 a pound. I'll just say you get what you pay for, and that price is being subsidized by our national health and environment, and leave at that. Food costs are another post entirely.

In addition to the chicken we bought a pound of bacon. The next morning we cooked a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. We cooked the bacon by placing it on a cooling rack over a baking sheet in the oven. If you haven't cooked bacon this way I recommend it. This bacon was the best bacon I've ever eaten, and it tasted like no other bacon has. The flavor was rich, slightly buttery, and very much "porky." I've bought high-end organic bacon before, and even that doesn't compare. This was bacon as bacon should be.

The next evening I prepared a classic roasted chicken. I made a rub of fresh rosemary and thyme, salt and garlic. The herbs were also purchased at the farmer's market. I rubbed the skin with butter and salt, and the flesh beneath the skin with the herb rub. The chicken wasn't as much a departure from store-bought chicken as the bacon was, but there was a difference. The meat was definitely leaner due to the grass diet, versus corn, and it tasted cleaner in a way that I can't really explain.

Grass-fed meats aren't affordable for everyone, especially as our dollar buys less and less. However if you get the opportunity to buy or eat grass-fed meat do so without hesitation. Your palate and your conscience will be pleased.

I've finished two books since my last update. Ann Patchett's Run and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Run

Ann Patchett

The premise of Run is simple. One evening the former white mayor of Boston is leaving a political rally with hs two adopted black sons in tow. As one son steps of the curb into the path of an oncoming car, another woman, Tennessee Moser, pushes the boy out of the way, while she herself is hit by the car. The woman is taken to the hospital while the Mayor (Patchett refers to him as only Doyle) and his sons are left in custody of Tennessee's daughter, Kenya, who was also at the rally.


The rest of the book takes place in the hours that evening and the following morning weaving together the two families in secret and wonderful ways.

This is a story of family most of all. Their secrets, their desires, their closeness are all captured here, skillfully so.

The book reads like a fairytale and in fact resolves like one, a little to neatly, but Patchett is a wonderful writer, and as such I didn't mind her fairytale at all. Rather I was transfixed by it.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan

The muse struck yesterday morning in the kitchen and I whipped up a very fine egg sandwich. The ingredients are simple -- Chorizo sausage, one egg, beer cheese* and toast -- but in combination are divine.

Chorizo, Egg, and Beer Cheese Sandwich

I formed the Chorizo into a patty and pan fried it. Then I fried an egg, over easy. I spread beer cheese on both slices of toast and assembled.

Enjoy at your own risk.

*Beer Cheese for those of you who don't know is cold pack cheddar with beer and spices added so that it becomes more of a spread. I never encountered it until we moved to Kentucky.

What are the 10 foods you must have in your refrigerator and/or your kitchen cabinet? 
Submitted by Carol.

1. Stonyfield Organic Yogurts
2. All-Natural Peanut Butter
3. V8 Spicy
   
4. Bananas
5. Copenhagen Blend Coffee Beans
6. Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
   
7. Beer (Currently Bell's Oberon)
8. Barilla PLUS Angel Hair Pasta
9. Delallo Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce
10. Lean Cuisine Fiesta Chicken frozen entree

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that these are staples of my diet right now. These are the foods that get me through the week, serving as breakfasts and lunches primarily, but sometimes dinner. We love to cook, but decided in the interest of free time on weeknights to keep things simple. We've added daily exercise to our evenings and we need the extra time provided by quick and easy cooking to do it.  We do our big meal cooking on the weekends. Usually hitting up the Fresh Market Top Chef Style, buying what looks good and making a meal out of it.

Stone Doughnut

There are two new items on my food radar that I can't help raving about.

Last night Sadie and I tried the fare at the new Woodland Grill, chef Jonathan Lundy's latest venture, and left very satisfied. Per Lundy's style the dishes were standard menu fare with a Southern or Kentucky twist, but the real winner was dessert. The dessert menu is limited, but all of the choices looked fabulous. One stood out though: Refried Spalding's Doughnuts with Jonathan's Vanilla bean ice cream.

First things first: a Spalding's doughnut is perhaps one of the finest creations on Earth to begin with. They are not your typical doughnut, especially if you're familiar with the Krispy Kreme style. Rather a Spalding's doughnut is a misshapen lump  of dough, deep-fried in soybean oil. They are crispy like a fritter and two of them will send you into a euphoric sugar high for hours.

So the dessert starts there. The doughnuts are then refried, and sliced in half bagel-style. A dollop of the handmade ice cream is placed on top and the entire thing is drizzled in caramel sauce. Yes, it's probably a few days worth of calories, but so worth it.

I also had my first Toddy coffee today.  In 1964 Todd Simpson developed a method of cold-brewing coffee, that is now commonly referred to as the Toddy method. This method strips the coffee of a lot of the bitterness and acidity of traditional brewing methods. What you end up with is a concentrated coffee that hot or cold water is added to when ready to drink. I'm having my second iced Toddy as I write this, and can vouch that it is a very mild, but full-flavored coffee. A very pleasant drink.

What is your favorite greasy spoon?
Submitted by S@ngarang.

Louie's Cafe

Louie's Cafe near LSU's campus in Baton Rouge is the definition of a greasy spoon. Louie's is Baton Rouge's oldest restaurant for a reason: purely great food. So old school it doesn't have a website, the best Louie's link I could find is this review from Mr. Breakfast.

What are your favorite weird food combinations?

Blackraspberry

Submitted by Dulce.

I invented this one morning last week after having a blueberry-guacamole
omelet at Alfalfa last weekend. (I guess that omelet sort of qualifies as a weird food combo itself.)

First fry an egg over easy, the runny yoke really adds to this dish. Just after you've flipped the egg, toast some bread and smear with black raspberry jelly. I prefer Smuckers Simply Fruit. Put the egg on the jellied toast and enjoy.

The service was incredibly slow, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Last night Sadie and I celebrated our eighth anniversary with dinner at Holly Hill Inn. The evening was one of the most perfect I have ever experienced. We talked for hours by candlelight over great food and great wine.

We enjoyed five courses of amazing food accompanied by a "Wine Flight" of three glasses each. My favorite part of the meal was my entree, the Bluegrass Poussin, which was a roasted breast and crawfish-stuffed thigh served with cornbread dressing and crawfish butter sauce.

Even better than he food though, was the quality and pacing of the service. Our waiter wasn't pushy and in fact hardly seemed present at all. At no point did I feel rushed to finish one course to prepare for the next. At typical restaurants, and this doesn't apply to chains only, it is unlikely you've finshed the appetizer before the next course is brought out. Last night we were given ample time to enjoy each course and the accompanying wine. Only after we hadn't touched our food for awhile did Jon, our server, appear to ask if he could remove our plates.

We had a reservation for eight and didn't leave the restaurant until after ten-thirty, but we left sated, slightly tipsy, and overwhelmingly satisfied.

If you could open a restaurant, any kind you want, what would it look like and what's on the menu?
Submitted by A is for Amy.

While not exactly a restaurant, Sadie and I do intend to buy an old farmhouse on the outskirts of some hip, metropolitan city yet to be determined which will serve as a bed and breakfast and the headquarters of my independent publishing venture. Sadie may also run a bakery out of the place once she's tired of doing the science thing.

And I'm talking a cool B&B. No frilly lace or wallpaper in a cat motif. Sort of the indie-rocker's B&B.

The best thing about a B&B is the all important second B: breakfast. We've already started collecting recipes. There'll be tons of bacon and eggs, of course, but we'll be vegan friendly as well. I tend to think of the menu at Alfalfa here in Lexington when I think of our menu. Oh, and I cannot neglect to mention Blueberry Stuffed French Toast. To. Die. For.

An aside: The upcoming episode of Top Chef on Bravo pits the chefs against each other as two teams who have to take a dead space, convert it into a restaurant, design a menu and serve it to guests. If you liked this QOTD you'll probably dig it.