If you are feeling amorous this Valentine’s Day, consider an easy-to-prepare, romantic dinner for your lover, prepared at home for under $100. These are the recipes that I wrote for the Daily Connection and the cooking segment I shot will air on NBC in Washington D.C. at 3pm on Friday. Not in DC? That’s okay! I’ll post a link to the video as soon as it airs!
Fried Manchego Cheese Bites with Wildflower Honey Honey was believed to be the nectar of the goddess of love, Aphrodite and newly wed couples drank a honey-based cocktail each night for a month to get them “in the mood,” hence the word Honeymoon.
1/2 lb Manchego cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
vegetable oil, for frying
Wildflower honey, for dipping
1. Cut the manchego into bite-sized pieces. Don’t worry if they aren’t uniform in shape.
2. Dip the chunks first into egg, rolling the cheese all the way around and then into the breadcrumbs, making sure the cheese bite is completely covered with the crumbs. Put in the refrigerator to allow the cheese to get cold again.
3. Meanwhile, heat a small pot filled three-quarters of the way with vegetable oil over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer* reads 375º.
4. Carefully slip a few cheese bites at a time into the hot oil and fry until golden brown and gooey. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain briefly. Repeat until all your cheese bites are cooked.
5. Serve immediately with a bowl of honey for dipping.
*If you don’t already have one, deep-fry thermometers are inexpensive, available at any supermarket, and take the guesswork out of cooking temperatures.
Blanched Asparagus Spears with Saffron Mayonnaise Asparagus has a suggestive shape of its own. Serve it with a simple dipping mayo made using saffron, the stamen of a single crocus. The stamen is the male sex organ of the flower and the vibrant orange color comes from the pollen he uses to pollinate his neighbors.
Kosher salt
1/2 tsp saffron
1 T hot water
1 bunch asparagus
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
2. In a small bowl, place the saffron. Use a small ladle to take 1 T of the boiling water from the pot and pour it over the saffron. Allow to sit while you finish making the asparagus, making an orange-colored saffron tea.
2. Add enough salt to the boiling water to make it taste like the ocean. Start with 1/2 a cup, then taste the water. Add more salt if necessary. It seems like a lot, but it is the only seasoning the asparagus will get.
3. Clean the asparagus by snapping off the end and using a peeler to remove the skin about halfway up the stalk.
4. Drop all the asparagus into the hot water (you can do this in batches if your pot isn’t big enough) and blanch until the stalks turn bright green. Fish them out with a slotted spoon or tongs and drop into a big bowl of ice water to shock them. This step immediately stops the cooking and preserves the snap and the bright green color. Drain the cold asparagus on paper towels.
5. Finally, in a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise and the water from the saffron bowl. If a few fronds get into the mix, that’s okay, but you really just want the saffron tea water.
6. Dip the asparagus into the mayo and enjoy – and yes, double dipping is encouraged.
Oysters with Domestic Caviar and Ginger & Blood Orange Gelatin Oysters are a classic aphrodisiac for their particular mouthfeel. Paired here with domestic paddlefish roe (a $20 fine substitute for the “real thing”) which like oysters is high in zinc, which is said to raise testosterone levels in both men and women, stimulating the sex drive. The ginger in the gelatin is used in eastern medicine to warm the blood, which is obviously a euphemism for something!
For the Ginger & Blood Orange Gelatin:
2 cups freshly squeezed blood orange juice, strained (I used about a dozen oranges)
2 T grated ginger
6 sheets of leaf gelatin* or 2 T of unflavored gelatin powder
1. Heat the orange juice and the ginger to a boil, then turn off and let steep 10 minutes.
*If using sheet gelatin, soften the sheets in warm water until the are soft and pliable (a pastry chef friend of mine said “until they feel like a condom.”)
2. Add the gelatin to the hot oj, stir until completely dissolved and then strain (to remove the ginger and any gelatin bits that didn’t dissolve) into a 9 x 12″ baking pan. Place on a level shelf in the fridge for several hours, but preferably overnight.
3. Meanwhile, consider all the other juice and flavor combinations you can make (and control the sugar level of) now that you have the basics of making your own low-cal jiggly treats.
4. When the gelatin has set, you have to get it out of the baking dish. If you have trouble getting the gelatin out, boil some water and fill a pan slightly larger than your gelatin pan with hot water. Carefully set the gelatin pan into the hot water for 30 seconds to melt the bottom, then turn out onto a cutting board. You can use a cookie cutter and cut out little hearts, or use a knife to cut small cubes.
5. Then, assemble the oysters. Figure on a dozen for two people. The oysters I used were $1.10 a piece. You can open them at home using an oyster knife, or ask the person at the seafood market to do it for you. For presentation, pour a pile of salt or crushed ice onto your serving plate. Arrange the oysters on top, and then decorate with some gelatin jewels and a small spoonful of caviar.
Habenero-spiked Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Figs and Bananas Everyone knows that most women like chocolate almost as much (maybe more?) than sex. The ancient Aztecs used a combination of chocolate and chile peppers to heat up their love and sex rituals. Here’s how to do it at home. Well, not it it. You know what I mean…
1 cup heavy cream
1 small habenero chile pepper, split
6 oz high quality dark chocolate, chips are fine, or cut into small pieces if you got a bar or chunk
Strawberries, figs (split in half) and bananas (cut into spears) for dipping
1. Bring the cream to a boil and drop in the habenero. Allow to steep to desired spiciness. I left mine in for 45 seconds. I like it hot.
2. Use a slotted spoon to remove and discard the pepper. Pour the cream over the chocolate bits and let stand 5 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
3. Dip the fruit and arrange on a plate or serve right to your lover. The idea is for the heat in the chocolate from the chile to raise your blood pressure and make you sweat a little.
Raspberry “Champagne” Cocktail Change a glass of inexpensive bubbly into a romantic Valentine’s treat by adding a simple squeeze of some raspberries.
1 bottle of inexpensive sparkling wine such as cava or prosecco (The bottle I used cost $8.99)
1 pint red raspberries
1. Pour two glasses of cold bubbly.
2. Squish a few between your fingers then drop into the glasses.
3. Refill as necessary.
Enjoy your Valentine’s Day! Make these aphrodisiacs at home for your lover. Turn on the seduction and remember, when you cook at home, you can wear anything you want!
Special thanks to Michael Claeys at The Daily Connection & NBC
My chef and good friend is a Saint’s fan and so therefore, I am a Saint’s fan. If you want to be even more adventurous, get some quail from your butcher and fry them whole, the same way outlined below. Its a totally primal eating experience and a great way to blow off some tension. No matter how bad your game gets, at least you aren’t that quail.
Step 1: Close all bedroom doors. If you have a door to your kitchen, close that too. Open any windows and turn on all fans in kitchen.
Step 2: Butcher your wings. Each whole wing comes in three parts: the wing tip, the forearm/two-bone part and the drumstick/one-bone part. Cut through the cartilage that connects these bones to each other. Your knife should cut right through the joint. If you find yourself sawing through bone, stop. You’re doing it wrong. Remove the wing tip first and throw that it a freezer bag for when you make stock. Then, hold the bone in your hand so that the “elbow” is on the cutting board. Slip your knife into the joint and cut straight down. Voila! You get a few wings in a package to practice with. Just pick out any rogue bone shards that occur.
Step 3: Heat a large pot with about 4″ of canola or vegetable oil to 375ºF – use a deep-fry thermometer. No need for fancy oils here. Just high heat tolerance necessary. Carefully slip each wing into the oil and fry until the wings are golden brown, about 20 minutes. You’ll notice the that your oil temp drops significantly when you add all the wings. That’s normal and contributes to the cooking time.
Step 4: Meanwhile, heat a few knobs of butter in a saucepan.
Step 5: Add some Frank’s hot sauce. There really is no good substitute here. Frank’s has that quintessential hot wing flavor.
Step 6: When your wings are golden, use a large slotted spoon to remove them to a bowl lined with paper towels. Let them drain for a minute, then move to a large mixing bowl.
Step 7: Drizzle with Frank’s mix and toss.
Step 8: Serve with proper garnish. In a food processor, combine a cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 pound of blue cheese and pulse to desired smooth/chunkiness.
From today’s winter market, a colorful blend of what’s in season. In January. In the northeast. This is crisp, clean and delicious. I might make the stir fry and put between a poached egg and an English muffin and call it brunch!
Mushroom, Kale and Winter Vegetable Stir Fry
2 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 T minced garlic
1 T minced ginger
1 T red chili flakes (optional)
2 cups sliced assorted mushrooms
1 large carrot, shredded
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets
4 cups kale, cleaned, de-veined and sliced into wide ribbons
1/2 cup water
2 – 3 T soy sauce
2 – 3 T sesame oil
1/2 cup chopped cashews
Steamed Wild Rice (Optional)
In a large sauté pan, or wok if you have one, heat the olive oil and add the onion, garlic, ginger and chili flakes. Cook over medium heat until ingredients begin to soften and become aromatic. Add in the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have given up most of their water, are soft and shrunken and beginning to brown. Add the carrot, broccoli florets, kale ribbons and sprinkle with the water. Cover the cooking pan and steam 2 minutes. Remove the cover, turn up the heat to high and stir constantly until all the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat and drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Serve topped with chopped cashews with steamed wild rice.
2 comments to Mushroom, Kale and Winter Vegetable Stir Fry
teevoz, your observation about mellow kale is right on the mark. In fact, kale gets better with cold weather which sweetens it. One of the benefits of the winter farmers markets is experiencing the best of what is considered the “off season” for markets, hearty greens and delicious roots – and which in the early spring will include asparagus and pea shoots that are often past their season before the summer markets begin.
My husband and I were at that farmer’s market today and we sampled this dish – it was totally delicious! The kale was mellower than I expected, and the whole thing was really good. I love the idea of pairing this with a poached egg!
I made this today at the first of a few winter farmer’s markets. The brussel sprout dude sold out and I even had some converts and kids singing the praises of the sprout! I had a dude tell me he was going to cook a version of this for his vegetarian date. I think I talked him in to making a quiche for the nice lady. Hope it works out, Mister!
Bacon and Brussel Sprout Hash serves 4
4 slices bacon, sliced crosswise into 1/8″ bits
2 T minced shallot
1 cup potatoes, cut in small dice
2 cups brussel sprouts, cut into quarters
2 T grated parmesan cheese
Put the bacon slices into a sauté pan large enough to hold all the remaining ingredients. Place over low heat and cook the bacon, low and slow, rendering the fat and crisping the bacon. When the bacon is cooked, remove from the pan with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towel and reserve. Add the shallots to the bacon fat and cook over low until translucent. Turn the heat up to medium, add the potatoes and brussel sprouts and sauté until both are tender. Add the reserved bacon and the parmesan cheese. Toss and serve. To make a meal, serve with a poached egg and toast.
Yum, yum, yum. I want it right now. It sounds like upscale childhood. My mother kept a bowl of bacon grease on the stove to be used to cook almost everything. And Ken and I have grown to love Brussels sprouts, mostly roasted. I just roasted some with potatoes this past week. Thanks.
Have you been invited to a potluck holiday gathering? Here is a crowd pleaser. Can’t find sorghum? Just use dark molasses, honey or maple syrup instead. The final flavor will vary but will be equally delicious.
Tangy Sorghum Baked Beans
1 pound dry beans
(go wild in the Goya isle, I’ve had success with all the varieties I’ve tried. I personally prefer larger beans like cannelini but little ones work too, just adjust your cooking times accordingly.)
6 slices bacon
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup sorghum
1/4 cup Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 T Worchesershire sauce
2 T whole grain mustard
1 T Sriracha hot sauce
1 1/2 T salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dry garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp hot smoked pimentone
1/2 cup onion, diced
On the day before you want to eat the beans (or several days before, but the day before you want to cook the beans) place them in a colander and rinse them under cold water, sifting through carefully to make sure that all that’s in there are beans, not rocks or diamonds. Place the beans in a large pot, bowl, or other container and cover by four inches with fresh water. Allow to sit at room temperature, uncovered, overnight.
The next day, you’ll see your beans have expanded, but they are still raw. Pour off the soaking water, give the beans another quick rinse and set aside. Fill a large pot with plenty of water and and bring to a rolling boil. When the water is rapidly boiling, add the beans, wait until the water returns to a boil, and reduce the heat so that the water is just simmering. Don’t cover the beans. If you do, all those gases that some people find unpleasant will be trapped in the pot and absorbed into the beans, and then you. Leaving the cover off allows the gases to escape pre-digestion.
Boiling time depends greatly on you bean choice, and how low a simmer you use. My rule is to simmer for 30 minutes, and eat a bean. If they aren’t done, and they never are at this point, I set the timer and eat a bean at 15 minute intervals until they are tender to the tooth. If they get mushy or explode, you’ve gone too far. Finish the recipe, but next time, don’t cook so long. This simmer is the only softening process the beans will undergo, so make sure you get them to the texture you like before taking them off the heat.
While the beans are cooking, start your bacon rendering in a sautée pan over VERY low heat. The key to rendering fat is “low and slow” thus the fat has a chance to melt away leaving behind crisp bacon slices, as opposed to making the fat itself crispy. Yuck. Flip the slices over every few minutes to cook evenly.
While that all is going on, combine all the remaining ingredients except the onion in a large mixing bowl.
When the bacon is rendered and crisp, remove it from the pan and drain it on paper towels. Add the diced onion to the bacon fat and turn up the heat. Cook the onion just a minute or two, then dump the contents of the sautée pan into the mixing bowl, yes, bacon fat and all, and chop the drained bacon into small pieces and add that to the bowl as well.
When the beans are cooked to your liking, drain them and add them to the mixing bowl. Give a good stir to fully coat all the beans in sauce, but be gentle and break as few beans as possible. Pour the contents into a 13×9 glass baking dish and bake uncovered at 350° for 1 hour, stirring once halfway through.
I wish I could give you a link to their website, but as of yet, it doesn’t reflect the current issue. But! The new magazine is on newsstands and on store shelves. Pick it up to see yours truly. The article is titled “Honor Roll” page 56 I think. My dish is the lead photo. Thanks a million to you for making this happen. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
2 comments to The Vegetarian Times is on Newsstands!
I’m not exactly what you would call a fan of football, but I do use its seasonal appearance and disruption of regular programming to cook (and eat) some themed food. Here is a step-by-step recipe for Buffalo-style hot wings. The only only photo missing is for step 1.
Step 1: Close all bedroom doors. If you have a door to your kitchen, close that too. Open any windows and turn on all fans in kitchen.
Step 2: Butcher your wings. Each whole wing comes in three parts: the wing tip, the forearm/two-bone part and the drumstick/one-bone part. Cut through the cartilage that connects these bones to each other. Your knife should cut right through the joint. If you find yourself sawing through bone, stop. You’re doing it wrong. Remove the wing tip first and throw that it a freezer bag for when you make stock. Then, hold the bone in your hand so that the “elbow” is on the cutting board. Slip your knife into the joint and cut straight down. Voila! You get a few wings in a package to practice with. Just pick out any rogue bone shards that occur.
Step 3: Heat a large pot with about 4″ of canola or vegetable oil to 375ºF – use a deep-fry thermometer. No need for fancy oils here. Just high heat tolerance necessary. Carefully slip each wing into the oil and fry until the wings are golden brown, about 20 minutes. You’ll notice the that your oil temp drops significantly when you add all the wings. That’s normal and contributes to the cooking time.
Step 4: Meanwhile, heat a few knobs of butter in a saucepan.
Step 5: Add some Frank’s hot sauce. There really is no good substitute here. Frank’s has that quintessential hot wing flavor.
Step 6: When your wings are golden, use a large slotted spoon to remove them to a bowl lined with paper towels. Let them drain for a minute, then move to a large mixing bowl.
Long story: When my aunt was injured in South Carolina in 1938, my mother and grandmother went down to take care of her until she could be moved. While at the boarding house there, my mother picked up a chicken frying secret which she used until my dad had his first heart attack (i.e. this is not a low cholesterol cooking tip) They fried chicken in part bacon fat. Delicious. After we went low cholesterol, Mom used to “hold” the chicken in a hot oven after it was fried, which made it crispy. Actually, I guess she used to dredge the chicken in flour with a little salt and pepper as well. Thought you might like a Grandma Helen story…
I have fallen in love with cooking greens. The beef and the sweet potatoes? Those are kind of easy to be successful with. But greens… There is a window between fibrous and grey mush that you have to hit just right to make them sing. In a nutshell, greens cook really quick, so get everybody else pretty close to done, then fire up the greens pot. ‘Tis the season for beautiful greens at your farmers market, or in your backyard if you are (1) lucky enough to have one and (2) wise enough to sprinkle some seeds in the early summer.
I want to talk for a moment about carrot greens, the unsung hero of the garden. I didn’t think you could eat carrot greens. I’m not sure why. Its just that nobody does and so I assumed I couldn’t. A life lesson. Just because no one does, don’t assume you shouldn’t. Like leave a perfectly lucrative desk job to become a chef. That’s just crazy talk!
We consulted Harold McGee and while you don’t want to make a whole pot of just carrot greens, they add a nice spiciness to this recipe, or quiche or raw in salad. Just be judicious with how much you use… they might be poisonous in trace amounts. But we lived to tell the tale! Click here for the corresponding article.
Start here:
Roasted Filet of Beef (You could use any roasted cut of anything you like)
Some grapeseed oil (or vegetable or canola)
1 filet of beef, tied (ask your butcher to do this for you)
generous amounts of kosher salt and pepper
a few cloves of garlic
a quartered shallot
Heat oven to 350º.
On the stovetop, heat an oven-proof pan (I used a cast iron skillet) with enough grapeseed oil to coat the bottom to sizzling hot. Sprinkle your beef liberally with salt and pepper. Add to the hot pan and sear on the outside all the way around. Toss in the the garlic cloves and shallot and put in the oven. Roast until the internal temperature of the beef reaches 140º.
MEANWHILE:
Sweet Potato Cubes Cube one sweet potato for each person eating dinner. Small cubes, 1/2″ is good. Toss with some oil, salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Put in oven with the meat.
THEN MAKE THE GREENS:
Braised Greens with Apples and Bacon 3 slices of bacon, cut into 1/4″ pieces
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup peeled, diced apple
1 large bunch of greens cleaned, stems removed if tough and chopped (Use kale, collards, beet, chard or a mix to make about 8 cups)
1 cup apple cider
2 T Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar
Tabasco Sauce (optional)
Put the chopped bacon in a large heavy bottomed pot and heat over medium-low. Slowly cook the bacon to render out the fat. When the bacon is crisp, remove it to a paper towel and reserve. Add the onion to the pot and turn up the heat to medium. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally until translucent. Add the apples and stir to coat in the cooking fat. Add the green and toss, then add the cider and vinegar. Cover and cook until the greens are tender. The time will vary based on your greens. The best way to tell if they are done is to taste one. When the greens are tender, remove the cover and turn up the heat. Stir constantly until most of the liquid evaporates. Add back in the reserved bacon and stir to combine. Serve immediately with a few dashes of Tabasco Sauce.
Tabasco Sauce (optional)
Put the chopped bacon in a large heavy bottomed pot and heat over medium-low. Slowly cook the bacon to render out the fat. When the bacon is crisp, remove it to a paper towel and reserve. Add the onion to the pot and turn up the heat to medium. Cook the onion, stirring occasionally until translucent. Add the apples and stir to coat in the cooking fat. Add the green and toss, then add the cider and vinegar. Cover and cook until the greens are tender. The time will vary based on your greens. The best way to tell if they are done is to taste one. When the greens are tender, remove the cover and turn up the heat. Stir constantly until most of the liquid evaporates. Add back in the reserved bacon and stir to combine.
THEN MAKE THE GRAVY (Optional, but highly recommended)
When the meat is done, remove it to a plate and tent with aluminum foil. Pull the garlic and shallot bits out of the roasting pan. Add some red wine and reduce by half over high heat. Then add some stock, veg, beef, I used chicken, whatever. Let’s say 1 cup. Reduce again until it just starts to get a little syrupy. Toss in a few little bits of butter and shake the pan until the butter melts and the gravy takes on the consistency of… well, gravy. In french this is known as “monté au beurre.” Yes, there is a word for it.
Serve everybody all together and enjoy your harvest season meal.
2 comments to Roasted Filet of Beef, Braised Greens and Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes
I have a Halloween story for you. Read the whole whole post, as its intertwined funny and natural; weird and supernatural. To start, apparently I have some verbal tics. On film today I learned that I start pretty much every sentence with “so, ok” and I discovered this in my first real live video shoot. I’ve learned that I am a big ham and love being on camera and that paradoxically, I get kind of tongue tied, let my sentences trail off and am really good at the teaching part, not so much at the look-straight-into-the-camera part.
Everything started out well and fine, except that my super enthusiastic kitchen assistant was a no-show and as of 8pm, I haven’t heard from him. This being the day after Halloween, I am equal parts annoyed, totally understanding and hmmm… I hope he’s okay. I’ll let you know how that all works out.
Meanwhile, we had big plans to shoot 5 solid videos.
We planned and we wrote stuff out, the order that things would be made and presented. I had a small script and what turns out to be a haunted knife.
Allow me to digress.
On September 19, I did a cooking demo at a farmer’s market upstate and Mark went to work catering, prepping lunch for one President & Mrs. Obama who would be in town for the UN General Assembly. He expected to be working late into the evening, so when I jumped in my car at 1pm I was surprised to have a voicemail from Mark, saying something benign like “Hey, give me a call.” I figured he was done early and watching football with his sister, as per the plan. I called back and when he answered, he immediately said “Everything is fine.”
We haven’t been married that long, but we both know well enough that this “fine” is not the same as, say, “Hey, what’s up.”
Turns out he was in the emergency room, having severed the tendon that connects the palm to the thumb.
Flash forward to last night. It was Halloween and we ventured into the Village and went to a wine tasting hosted by Craig McManus, a medium and wine store owner, at The Astor Center. After a powerpoint tour of the ghosts of Cape May and New York, and the very room we were in (punctuated by a hearty wine tasting) he walked to our table and asked, “Who is Mark?”
“You have a very strong female with you, an H…. an H… does that sound familiar?”
Mark nods.
“She is showing me that the side of her body didn’t work, that… that it was… it didn’t work…”
He nods again.
“She is telling me that you need to get your career together. Your professional life…” He laughs. “She’s telling me that she’s got the use of her foot back and she’s going to use it if you don’t pull it together.”
Truth: Mark’s grandmother’s name was Helen and she had a debilitating and heartbreaking stroke a few years before she passed away.
Then Craig turns to me and says “She says that you need to be writing more.”
Now, I am spiritual and scientific in varying degrees, depending on the day and the time of the month, but at that moment, you could have knocked me over with a feather. We’ve gone through the ‘what if’ scenarios and the most logical conclusion is that Grandmama Helen was talking to us. The weirdest part of this is that today, a day after, Mark told me that somehow while Craig was describing her body being broken in some way, he actually looked like her. Not in a way that he could describe – he didn’t change form, but somehow, he looked like Helen.
(I should editorially divulge that as I write this, alone in my living room, I am having the distinct sense of someone standing just beside me.)
So… where was I…
The video shoot, right. So I roped in my dear and super talented friends and we set up to shoot 5 solid new videos for this site. And we begin to roll.
Its super fun, I’m a ham. We come to some thematic conclusions like I am urban and farmer, but not an urban farmer and all of the film is going and I’m yapping away, cleaning an artichoke and ..
Turns out Mark was using the same knife when he cut the thumb that remains in a cast.
Happy Halloween and this knife and me and Mark and Helen and whoever else wants to make an appearence should get together. Meanwhile, I think this baby is getting framed and hung safely on the wall.
OK, if she is standing beside you, that is great. I know she would be an admirer of both your writing and your cooking. She was a great cook, herself. My father maintained that in 50-some years of marriage, he could only remember 3 bad meals. But sometimes at the table he would say “Maybe this is the fourth…” Just for a joke.
Mark and I just returned from Farm Camp, a weekend near the Adirondack Mountains in New York, spent with other people from the culinary world, hosted by the wonderful Jen and Mike, owners of Flying Pigs Farm. Mary Cleaver, owner of Cleaver Company and The Green Table, a pioneer in the sustainability world and also the most inspiring boss I’ve ever had, sent a number of her staff up to meet the producers of the food we sell every night at the restaurant and at every catered event.
There are few specific times in my life that I can look to and know that was a time I was profoundly moved or changed. Farm Camp is now on that list. I went up expecting a tourist’s perspective of where our food comes from (due mostly to my own juvenile excitement) and instead was met with farmers, cheese makers, dairy men and women, maple sugar producers, not to mention the other “campers” and I got to see into the soul of food in the most spiritual way.
Now, I was already pretty far down this path. I grew up raising chickens and honeybees with my family and I get the living of the land thing. But my experience was in my own backyard to provide food for my family and our family friends. The people that I met this weekend are producing food for the population of New York City, Boston and Montreal. There was conversation regarding accessibility to “boutique” farming and when you go to the Farmers Market and a chicken costs $25, yes, the issues of accessibility arise. What I can tell you from my experience is that no farmer is living a posh lifestyle. We were up on day two and at a milk bottling plant at 7am. The farmer had been there since 1am. Another dairy farmer reported that he expected his farm to lose $400,000 this year because of the crashing price of milk. When asked what we could do back in our restaurants and on our blogs he said “Get people to pass up the energy drinks and have a glass of milk instead.”
I documented this experience in pictures and some of them will bring you very close to where your food comes from. If you are not interested in an up close glimpse into the local food systems and where your food comes from, including the slaughter of a chicken and the castration of a boar, I’d encourage you to navigate away now. However, I took these pictures with absolute respect for the dignity of the farmers, the land and the animals. I will never waste another bit of chicken, or pork or beef for that matter ever again and I think that is a good lesson to walk away with, in addition to seeing the beauty of the land and your local food system.
*Clicking on any of the links will open the farm pages in a new window, so you won’t have to navigate back to this page.
Welcome to the Flying Pigs Farm…
…where all the animals are happy.
Chickens are raised for meat…
…and eggs. That’s Krupa.
This is a male piglet.
If left intact, they become violent and aggressive, tearing through electrified fences to kill other males.
Every morning the milk is bottled, beginning at 1am. Not any easy lifestyle, but absolutely delicious.
This is a Mapleland Farms Sugarhouse. New York is the #2 producer of maple syrup which is only produced in the Northeast of North America.
These are vials of maple syrup illustrating the wide range of colors the trees can produce. I’m fond of the light syrups myself but most people prefer the dark amber.
…Now is your last chance to click away…
Then it was time to process chickens at Garden of Spices farm. I took a moment with some young oxen while waiting for my turn.
See the green on her back? They’ve got one stud in with the ladies and he has a green crayon secured to his chest to keep track of who has mated.
These are wheels of goat cheese in the cave.
And this is the cheese maker turning the curds.
Next we went Eagle Bridge Custom Meats, soon to be a brand new USDA slaughter facility. This is a big deal because not enough of these exist in the Northeast and are booked a year in advance, thus forcing local producers to ship their animals far away for slaughter, negating much of the effort put in to eating local in terms of a carbon footprint for shipping. A USDA inspector must be on-site to oversee all slaughter operations and hopefully Eagle Bridge will be getting their very own, interestingly a man trained as a veterinarian.
Temple Grandin’s approach was used in planning the kill floor and an animal behavioral specialist is on staff.
The aging room.
Then things start to look familiar again.
The leftovers are sent to the rendering plant to make pet food.
We returned to the farm and ate cheese from Nettle Meadow, where all 250 goats have names and treated as individuals.
I left there transformed.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for coming on that voyage with me. Let me leave you with a few points to think about. For one thing, I love animals and I hope that comes through. I also love to eat meat, pork and chicken in particular. By raising rare breeds of pigs, Flying Pigs is perpetuating a bloodline that would have long gone extinct were it not for us omnivores, so in a way, vegetarianism is bad for pigs. So is factory farming. I’m not a vegetarian and have no plans on becoming one. However, this opportunity and a few before it have led me to choose only happily raised animals by farmers who also really love them. I’m looking forward to hearing your comments.
teevoz, your observation about mellow kale is right on the mark. In fact, kale gets better with cold weather which sweetens it. One of the benefits of the winter farmers markets is experiencing the best of what is considered the “off season” for markets, hearty greens and delicious roots – and which in the early spring will include asparagus and pea shoots that are often past their season before the summer markets begin.
My husband and I were at that farmer’s market today and we sampled this dish – it was totally delicious! The kale was mellower than I expected, and the whole thing was really good. I love the idea of pairing this with a poached egg!