Steak House-Style Dinner for Two

Our grass-fed t-bone steaks well seasoned!

Grass-fed Broiled Perfection: Notice the Deep color of the fat!

Want to create a romantic dinner that is impressive but still easy to prepare? Consider a steak house-style dinner at home. I love a good steak and so does my boyfriend. I am lucky to have access to our own grass-fed steaks but they are becoming widely available in New York and have yet to make it into mainstream steak houses. You can make a grass-fed steak dinner for two for far less than a steak house and the flavors are more complex and interesting: perfect for a date night at home. A good grass-fed steak is like a good bottle of wine, it should tell a story and each farm will have a different flavor.

I like to generously season my steaks with salt and pepper and broil until they are medium rare.

The sides are just as important as the steak. My two favorites are french fries and creamed spinach but sauteed mushrooms, mashed potatoes and onion rings are other favorites. Not to mention the classic iceberg wedge with blue cheese dressing.

Hand cut french fries with creamed spinach.

Creamed Spinach

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cream
• 2-six oz bags of baby spinach, washed and roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• a pinch of nutmeg
• salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Clean and chop spinach roughly.
   
2. You want it to still retain some of the water.
3. In a pan melt butter and add garlic, then add spinach.
   
4. Sautee until fully wilted, add cream.
   
5. Cook until reduced by half.
   
6. Add nutmeg and season with salt to taste.

Homemade French Fries

Ingredients:

• 2-3 pounds of Idaho potatoes
• canola oil for frying
• salt to taste
• 
  
• Preparation:
  

1. Rinse and peel potatoes. Cut into French fries( I used a Madeline slicer) . Place in a container with cold water and some ice. Store for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days in refrigerator. Many say the longer it is in the water the better.
2. Bring hot oil to 325 degrees, drain French fries and get them as dry as you can and fry French fries until just golden about 6 minutes. You want them to be a blond color. Place on paper towels and reserve. Wait at least 15 minutes; you can also store them in the fridge up to a day.
3. When you are ready to serve re-heat oil to 350 degrees, and refry the fries until crispy. About 2-4 minutes. Enjoy!

Interview with Mike Baker, Beef Extension Specialist at Cornell University.

Mike Baker, Beef Extension Specialist at Cornell University.

I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Mike Baker of Cornell University regarding a grass-fed beef study he is conducting. This is the first year that Cornell has used grass finishing in a beef study and Mr. Baker admitted that he was learning a lot about the process and the ins and outs of rotational grazing. The purpose of the study is to measure weight gain and final carcass measurements in an effort to some how quantify grass finishing in New York State.

The study was instigated by a group of upstate farmers (Mr. Baker is himself a Beef Farmer) to explore how to best utilize the 3 million acres of unused pastureland in New York State. It will also serve as resource for grass-fed producers and will continue next year.

When asked what he felt was the solution to Upstate New York’s devastated agricultural sector he answered: “Use of the 3 million acres is going to have to be a patchwork of organic and conventional farmers working together.” This outlook is refreshing. We do need more farmers, processors, artisan butchers, creameries, marketplaces and local middlemen to help farmers bring their products to us. The more farmers we have in each community the better chance there is for us all to succeed. The more communities are invested in farming the better.

Next year the study will be more organized and will measure weight gain more intensely, monitor grass intake and the body condition score of the carcass after slaughter. Mike Baker also mentioned that other aspects need to be explored like breeding, age at slaughter and the amount of land needed. “The propose is to make our land useful but most importantly profitable.” Studies like this are essential to understanding what goes into grass finishing so that it can be an option for more producers in New York State. The quality and profitability of American grass-fed beef has a long way to go but it is with the help of dedicated academics, farmers, chefs and customers that we can create a world-class product on our pastures. I believe that grass-fed beef could become a big part of a solution for utilizing our land and our vicinity to New York City is going to play a major part in this grass-fed renewal.

The steers are set to go to slaughter in a few weeks so there will be a lot more info to talk about then. I would really like to get press coverage for this study, as it is so important for grass-fed farmers to have an academic basis for finishing their beef. If you are interested in this study please contact me at ullabear (at) yahoo.com or contact Cornell.

Related links

An article I wrote for Goodlifer about the grass-fed beef movement upstate A Quiet Grass-fed Revolution.

My flickr set about the trip

Thoughts on Thanksgiving on Heritage Radio!

I am pleased to announce that I am going to be a guest on Nicole Taylor's radio show Hot Grease today Nov. 2 2009 at 3:30 which is broadcast on Heritage Radio! We are going to be talking about Thanksgiving and grass-fed beef. Some of the recipes I will talk about can be found here.

Restaurant-Style Shortribs with Polenta and Fall Vegetables

This might seem like an oxymoron. Restaurant-style short ribs? Aren’t they a long affair? Braised all day by an attentive home cook? Yes, but there are a lot of hotshot chefs whose signature dish are insanely, amazing short ribs. This is my version of the classic. I always use grass-fed beef which I think is simply wonderful for braising. In fact, the flavors are so good they almost do not need all the fuss but there is nothing as good as red wine-braised beef!

Restaurant-Style Short Ribs

Ingredients:

• 6 pounds of short ribs
• Kosher salt and pepper to season ribs
• 1 tablespoon of canola oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 3 cups of red wine(I used Cabernet sauvignon)
• 3 cups of water or broth (if adding water add extra salt to the ribs when seasoning)
• 2 bay leaves
• A handful of thyme.

Preparation:

1. Season ribs generously with salt and freshly cracked pepper(if you are not using beef broth add a lot of salt).
2. In a large Dutch oven brown short ribs at a medium heat for about half an hour, remove ribs and set aside.
3. Brown vegetables for another 30 minutes add wine and bring to a boil.
   
4. Put ribs into Dutch oven let marinate over night in fridge (I marinated them for only 6 hours).
5. Preheat oven to 325
6. When you are ready to cook add three cups of water or broth to Dutch oven (or a bit more to cover all ribs) bring to a boil on the stovetop.
7. Place in oven at 325 degrees and cook for 2 to 3 hours.
8. You can serve them without broiling them if you like them soft, I prefer broil them because it makes the fat crispy and delicious.
   
9. Broil for about 5 minutes.
10. Serve with pan juices; you might want to skim off fat.
11. Enjoy!

Thoughts on Autumn Harvest

Titus with Rouge Vif D'Etampes Pumpkins

Gardening in the cold mountains of the Catskill is a big challenge but if you learn to embrace the late spring and early fall frost you can get a lot of wonderful produce. Northern European fare excels up in our rocky soils---think Ireland or Norway. This summer we seem to have had the best luck with pumpkins, carrots, potatoes (even with a late blight), beats, corn, basil and lettuce.


We harvested everything from the garden two days ago because we were faced with our first real frost. We cut up all the lettuce plants, plucked the pumpkins from their long vines, pulled up the carrots and beats and put them all in the cellar. We will have a large amount of produce to eat well into the fall and early summer.

My mother is a wonderful gardener but she seems hell bent on growing tomatoes which either turns out alright or horrible. Unfortunately this year ‘horrible’ describes her ordeal with them. They were disseminated by blight but even before this they were thwarted by a rainy summer.

I have been trying to convince her to think of using a greenhouse to extend her season but it is a hard sell because it would be pretty costly. I was first introduced to greenhouse gardening in Iceland where I worked two summers on a vegetable farm in northern Iceland. Iceland benefits from having free geothermal heat and energy so they have been using greenhouses to grow produce for decades. The system is simple: you start plants in the green house and transfer them to a field in the summer.

The farm I worked on was only 30 miles from the arctic circle so you can imagine how important the greenhouse was at extending the growing season. What I found so interesting about the farm was that they did not seem to think it was ridiculous that they were growing local produce in a northern climate. They were using innovative techniques to produce food and it seemed perfectly natural---and it was. Sometimes I feel that we are so stuck in the idea of efficiency and producing the most food on the least amount of land that we lose sight of the fun that can go into growing food. Innovation and creativity are starting to happen here too and I look forward to seeing more green houses in our gardens!

Adirondack Beef Bourginon

My boyfriend and I went to the Adirondacks a week ago. There is a flickr set here.

It was lovely, rainy and because we were renting a rustic cabin we spent most of the weekend cooking on a wood stove. I have been intrigued by cooking on a wood stove for a long while because I felt that it would compliment grass-fed beef. Most chefs recommend that you cook grass-fed beef at a lower heat for less time and I have found that traditional dishes are an excellent way of preparing our beef. I was convinced that wood stoves and grass-fed beef would go very well together, and my hunch paid off with a lovely french stew! Because wood stoves give off a slow heat it was fun to cook on it, especially with a french classic like beef bouriginon!

Adirondack Beef Bourginon
this is a very rustic version of the classic

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 1/2 pound beef for stew
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 2 onions, quartered and separated
• 3 cups red wine(we used Gallo Burgundy and it turned out great!)
  
• lots of salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. In a heavy pot, place slices of bacon, cook until crisp but not hard.
   
2. Remove bacon and set aside.
   
3. Season beef with salt and pepper, add to bacon fat and brown, then add onions, then wine.
4. Slice cooked bacon up and add to pot.
5. Cook for two hours at low heat.

An Irish Breakfast and Summer's Last Hike

A fried egg, American bacon, Irish black and white pudding and a pan fried ripe tomato.

My dog Max is always up for a hike!

I have been meaning to do this blog post for a while(sorry). An Irish breakfast fry is something I have learned to love very dearly. I was introduced to good blood pudding by my boyfriend’s mother: it is Irish, spiced and extremely good. I wish Americans would start to really appreciate things like blood pudding because they can be fantastic. Irish Breakfast is very rich but it can be a great brunch especially after a nice hike. Which is what we did a Sunday a few weeks ago. Now, we are at full peak in the Catskills so if you are in the mood for a road trip now is the time(these pictures are from back when everything was green). What I like most about this breakfast is the fried tomato and blood pudding. So good!

It was recommended that Galtee black and white pudding is the best. You can pick up Irish products in Irish grocery stores; many are located in Sunnyside and all over long Island. What is your favorite breakfast fry?

Related Posts:
Happy St. Patty's Day! (with a link a Times article on Irish neighborhoods)
An Oatmeal Story in the Adirondacks (a real Irish breakfast is Oatmeal!)
All My Irish Recipes

Notes from the Agriculture 2.0 Conference

Our cows chewing on cud in the morning!
I have been ruminating myself after the Ag 2.0 Conference.

The Agriculture 2.0 conference was co- hosted by NewSeeds Advisors which was founded by Janine Yorio and Spin Farming that was founded by Roxanne Christensen. I was thoroughly impressed by both women; the conference was a testament to their intelligence and commitment to sustainable agriculture.

I am not a native to the world of finance but I am to the world of farming. It was fascinating to see the two worlds collide in such an exciting and seamless way.

Sustainability is becoming mainstream, customers are demanding it and it is becoming clear that it can make good economic sense as well---investors are now listening. I was struck by was the excitement and innovation that is happening in the sustainable farming movement. I really believe that it is through creating new systems, ones that are efficient, sustainable and most importantly, economically viable that we will see real change. Granted we need profound structural change in our food system and government subsidies need to revisited but in the mean time it is fantastic that we have capitalists and entrepreneurs willing to invest in solutions now.

Some standouts for me from the conference (in order of appearance not importance!) :

Tod Murphy from Vermont’s Farmer’s Diner. He talked about working with farmers and creating a business that was successful and practical. Love that his diner serves the farmers he buys products from.

Carol Kramer LeBlanc, from US Department of Agriculture where she serves as the director of Sustainable Development. Her talk was interesting because she outlined all the new programs available to farmers. Cannot wait to see the impact of these new programs in our rural communities!

Diana Endicott from Good Natured Farms a cooperative of 18 family farms in Kansas and Missouri. Very inspiring woman and organization. Great model for farmers getting together to save rural communities.

Craig Wichner who founded Vital Farmland, LP which invests in farmland and turns it into organic/sustainable farms. Would love to talk to him about all the farmland we have in upstate New York!

Pam Marrone, from Marrone Biopesticides an organic pesticide alternative manufacturer. Very impressed with her presentation, frankly a lot of the talk went over my head but from what I gathered she is a one-woman scientific powerhouse that has been creating patented biopesticides. Seems like there is a lot of exciting stuff that is and will be coming out of her company. Very cool.

Melina Shannon-DiPietro from Yale Sustainable Food Projects who spoke about the energy and commitment of today’s college student. Very inspiring and true, young people want to change the world with their minds and bodies. Cannot wait to see the energy these young people bring to farming and food in America!

Easy Beef Chili!

Beans or no beans in your chili? Chili for Northerners like me means beans but I have come to love Chile Con Carne with out beans and yet there is something to be said for a big soupy bowl of beans, tomatoes and beef. Just perfect for the cool weather we are having!

Easy Beef Chili!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground grass-fed beef
• 1 fifteen once can of hominy or red kidney beans
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican Oregano
• 1- 28 oz can pureed tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 onion, chopped
• Salt, cayenne and pepper to taste

Preparation: In a large saucepan or wide pot brown ground beef with onions in hot oil; then add garlic. Drain off excess fat. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Going to the Ag 2.0 Conference Tomorrow!

I will be attending the Ag 2.o Conference tomorrow put together by the New Seed Advisors. I am very much looking forward to hearing the lectures and meeting new people in this inspiring movement I am honored to be a part of.

The conference is being billed as "the starting point for the next stage of growth in sustainable agriculture – bringing together top-tier capital sources, business leaders and innovators."

Not sure where I fit into all this but I had such an inspiring time at Sterling College's Rural Heritage Institute where they invited me and Annie Connole to give a talk about Social Media in the New Food and Agrarian Movement that I want to keep up the grass-fed momentum!

I went out late in the day to check on the cows yesterday. They looked so good, so happy and so healthy. They are thriving on the land. I was also thinking about how farming in New York State has been devastated by consolidation and how this grass-fed resurgence might actually save our rural communities. We are rebuilding something lost, reclaiming the land and our communities. It is with optimism that I go to the Ag 2.0 conference tomorrow .

Related Links:
Rural Heritage Institute, Food Farms and Community Conference.

Notes from Sterling College's Rural Heritage Institute

And Summer Turns to Fall....

Let There Be Cake! And Let It Have Beer In It!

I was invited to a Scharffen Berger chocolate event a while back and was given a lot of their chocolate. The event was inspiring and what I liked most about their chocolate is that they are a company that seems passionate about good things, they even use grass-fed milk in their chocolate too! *

After perusing Bon Apetite Magazine I became captivated and a bit obsessed with a recipe for Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting. It looked amazing and I thought what a great way to use all the lovely chocolate I received!

I am not much of a baker and when I do bake my creations come out more sensual than refined. I think this is a lot like my cooking. I like things to taste good and I want them to be fun. My point is that if you are not detail orientated you can still bake and be successful.

I recommend this cake highly but I did find that there was too much frosting I would half the amount. It was also such a pleasure to work with the gorgeous chocolate not only that it tasted delicious.

Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting

My little sister taught me the trick of serving chocolate cakes cold with fresh flowers on them. Just gorgeous!

Beating the egg white creates a great texture in the cake: very surprising and lovely with a hint of stout. I recommend serving it with good quality tea or stout.

*I know a lot of bloggers do not do product reviews but I do when I feel that the company is doing something good. There is a lot to be done to change our food system and unfortunately our government has not been helping. Sustainable companies are creating new systems which I hope can inspire us to see that effective change is not only possible but delicious.

A Bike Ride Topped Off with Chinatown-Style Soy Sauce Poached Chicken

My boyfriend is very athletic. On one hand, dating an athlete is good because he eats a lot and I like to cook but sometimes I feel an obligation to actually DO fit things. In an effort to workout as a couple we have taken up biking which is great especially when you are like me and HATE to workout. Biking involves nature and discovery so I barely notice that I am working my butt off going up the fantastic hills we have in Delaware County.

As a post biking dinner I was craving Chinese and because we were upstate I could not run out to Chinatown or Grand Sichuan for my fix. I decided to make one of my faves: Soy Sauce Chicken which is basically a whole poached chicken gently marinated in ginger, garlic and soy sauce.

Sometimes I think I am part Chinese. I studied Chinese history in college and if it was not for my dyslexia I would have jumped head first into learning Chinese. I studied it but foreign languages have always been a challenge for me and vowel pronunciation in Chinese is so important that I found it doubly hard. Despite this, I will always have a profound respect for its culture and most importantly its food.

Chinese food when it is done well is creative, healthy and fantastic. I grew going to Chinatown with my grandparents, who despite becoming successful painters, never lost their habit of going to Chinatown. It had provided them with great food when they were struggling artists in post war New York and they never stopped going. Chinatown will always have my heart.

I have currently looking at apartments, neighborhoods--- even (gasp)Long Island with my boyfriend. It is a big step and part of me does not want to give up my Manhattan life. I am rooting for Queens because of Flushing, but nothing will replace the excitement of talking the A, C, or E a few stops down to Canal Street. But change is good especially when it involves someone who is handsome and kind. I started this blog as a way to chronicle the recipes and general inspiration I get from living in my favorite city. Part of me always knew that I would most likely settle down elsewhere. New York City is constantly inspiring me, challenging me, and making me a better cook.

This recipe exemplifies this. I love soy sauce chicken and one of my favorite places is Yummy Noodle that has some of the best casseroles and BBQ meat in Chinatown. They serve their Soy Sauce chicken with a fantastic scallion and ginger sauce. Which I tried to recreate!

China Town-Style Soy Sauce Poached Chicken with Ginger Scallion Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1-chicken(about 2 lbs)
• a splash of sherry
• a splash or two of soy sauce
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, grated

Preparation:

1. In a metal or glass bowl place cleaned chicken and add ingredients cover and marinate for a few hours in the fridge.
2. After it is marinated put it into a heavy pot with a cover, add water to cover the chicken and bring to a bowl cook for ten minutes, then reduce heat to low cook for another 30 minutes and turn off the pot and let sit covered for another 30 minutes.
3. Let cool, drizzle with sesame oil serve with a nice rice like jasmine or basmanti.

For Ginger Scallion Sauce

In a food processor process:

• 4 cloves garlic
• 2-one inch pieces of ginger
• 1 bunch of scallions(cleaned and roughly chopped)

Mix chicken stock with cornstarch:

• 1 cup of chicken stock
• with 2 teaspoons of corn starch mixed in

In a pan saute mixture in olive oil until soft and fragrant add chicken stock with cornstarch, dress with sesame oil and serve!

A Rainy Day Calls For Cod and Corn Chowder with Herb Garlic Toasts

I was waiting for another rainy day to post this recipe but alias we have been having the most fabulous days of late. Does it get any more perfect then the slightly cool, sun drenched days we have been having? The coolness would make this recipe acceptable too but there is something extremely special about a corn and cod chowder on a cold rainy summer night. I accompanied the chowder with garlic toasts that I made by slicing a big french bread and making a spread with minced garlic, fresh herbs from my garden, with butter AND olive oil and “baked” them on my sandwich press. They were great with the chowder and because the sandwich press needs little supervision you can keep making them while everyone eats.

Cod and Corn Chowder with Herb Garlic Toasts

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bacon, sliced
• 1 large onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 cups water(I used 1)
• 2 ears of corn, kernels cut off cob
• 4 small/medium potatoes, peeled and cut up
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound cod or haddock(I used frozen Icelandic)
• 1/2 cup cream
• 2-3 tablespoons roux(made with butter and flour)
  
• a handful of fresh herbs from the garden, roughly minced such as parsley, chives, sage and thyme

Preparation:

1. slice bacon and fry it in a dutch oven until browned.
2. dice onion and garlic and add to pot saute until translucent.
3. add chicken broth, water and all other ingredients except the corn and cod.
4. Cook for 30 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add corn and cod, cook for another 10 minutes, add cream, roux and fresh herbs.
5. Serves 4 enjoy!

My Potato Harvest!

Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold & Kerr's Pink

I was upstate for over a whole week. It was lovely, work related projects have had me downstate more then I would have liked this summer but it was nice to be upstate for a while, even though it was bittersweet because it is ALMOST officially the end of summer.

I was able to harvest my potatoes as well. The good news is that even though we got a bit of blight they came out gorgeous. This is my first experience growing potatoes so I am not really sure if we would have gotten more or less because of the blight. I know that the purple vikings did badly but all the other varieties did well. On a normal year, we could have harvested them a bit at a time insuring that they would have new potatoes for dinner each night but there is something very satisfying about knowing your WHOLE yield and the blight made it imperative to take them all up. Next year hopefully it will be better! The night after the harvest we boiled them and served them with butter. New potatoes are heaven on earth!

Related Blog Posts:
Planting the Potatoes
Potato Patch Progress

Delaware County Fair Walton, NY

I had the pleasure of going to the Delaware County fair yesterday. I am always struck by how authentic and seemingly uncorrupted it is. It is small, and because so many of the farmer’s camp out with their animals it gives you a glimpse into a bygone era when farming was a way of life that sustained rural communities. Today, it is clear that the farming families look forward to this rare time when they can interact with their neighbors: they shampoo their cows, cook chili in slow cookers, and greet the community with pride.

For me, the fair is bittersweet. Granted, it is wonderful that farming families can share their best animals but when can they express their troubles? There are so few public avenues for farmers to share their struggles and because of this disconnect corporate agriculture has benefited, profited and grown. NPR did an enlightening piece on how powerful middlemen have in effect created a milk cartel. The desperately low milk prices that are forcing thousands of dairies across the country to close---have been engineered by a monopoly that discourages family farming. These 13 minutes really tell the story well… wish this could be told in every town and at every fair. We go to the fair for rural culture---a culture and heritage that is lost if family farms can not farm.

Grass-fed Kielbasa with Sweet and Sour Cabbage

Grass-fed Kielbasa, sweet and sour cabbage and oven roasted russet wedges.

As a kid I never went on vacation with my parent's because they were tied to the responsibilities of the farm but I was lucky enough to visit Iceland with my grandparent's somewhat regularly. When my grandfather passed away I went with my grandmother and we would share many an afternoon shopping, talking and cooking. She was an excellent cook, and cooked with an effortless efficiency that always showcased ingredients without any fuss. One of her favorites, which would also become mine, was sweet and sour cabbage. It is as good with dinner as it is with lunch and I love how well it compliments sausage. What I love most about this combination is that it makes traditionally heavy ingredients fresh, fulfilling and surprisingly light.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 head small red cabbage(about 1-1.5lbs)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut cabbage in half. Slice very, very thinly.
2. In a dutch oven melt butter.
3. Sautee cabbage for 5 minutes.
4. Add sugar, then vinegar simmer at a very low heat for 40 minutes.
5. Season and enjoy!
   

Cow Faces

Cows are so expressive and they are endlessly curious. Lovely creatures, really. Man has lived with cattle for thousands of years----I count myself lucky because my family still does.

Pasta with Pesto and Fresh Peas

The basil in my garden is reaching its zenith and is starting to flower. This is time to harvest the plant but what to do with a large bunch of basil? I say make pesto and use it all week, start out with a lovely pesto pasta with fresh peas, add some potatoes and mayo to the leftovers for lunch or serve the pesto as an appetizer over oven toasted french bread--I also love adding it to salad dressing--- the possibilities are endless! You can also just pulse the basil and oil together and freeze the basil for later use!

Pasta with Pesto and Fresh Peas
Ingredients:

• 1 box of rotini pasta
• 1 cup pesto
• 2 cups fresh peas (put peas into a bowl with boiling water for ten minutes to partially cook them)

For pesto makes 5 cups:
in food processor put

• 3 cloves garlic
• 5 cups packed basil leaves
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup toasted walnut halves or 3/4 cups toasted pine nuts
• salt to taste

Grilled Cornish Hens!

This is simple but so rewarding! I would almost tell you to run to your grill right now to make this dish. What I love most about it is that it provides you with two meals: a perfectly grilled bird for two and a soup for the next day. Granted it is pretty hot in the city but in the much cooler Catskills a soup is always welcome for lunch. I love to serve these over rice, so if you make a bit more you can throw the rice into a broth made with the back bones and giblets, not to mention all the wonderful summer vegetables available----carrots and zucchini anyone?

Grilled Cornish Hens

Ingredients:

This recipe is so simple. All you need is

• 1 Cornish hen(serves two)
  
• 1 lemon
• Lots of kosher salt(about a teaspoon)
• freshly cracked black pepper
• and a handful of fresh herbs such as parsley, sage, basil and thyme

Preparation

1. Using a heavy knife or kitchen sears cut the bird into fourths removing the back and any obvious back rib bones. DO not throw away! you can make a stock with them!
2. season the bird with salt and pepper add lemon juice and herbs.
3. prepare the grill. I like to get it really hot and then put it down to low. You do not want the fire so hot that the fat from the skin burns ---the secret is a slow heat.
4. Place the pieces skin side down for 5 minutes, close lid.
5. Flip for another 10- 15 minutes, close lid.
6. then flip again for another 5 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Short Bread Cookies with Red Currant Glaze

I won a Land O' Lakes cookie cookbook over at Kate's blog Warm Olives and I decided to make something seasonal with all the lovely red currents we have available now on the farm. This recipe was originally for lime shortbread cookies but I tweaked it so that it was a red current cookie, and yes, the color was that fantastic in person!

Short Bread Cookies with Red Currant Glaze

For cookies:
Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 sticks butter
• a pinch of salt
• a splash of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. using a mixer cream butter, add sugar then flour. then salt and vanilla.
2. create roll ---wrap in plastic wrap, place in freezer for 20 minutes.
3. cut roll into 1/4 inch thick cookies, place on cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes or until the edges are golden.
4. Let cool completely.

For glaze:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• about a tablespoon of red current pulp
• teaspoon of lime juice

1. crush a handful of red currents with strainer.
   
2. Make glaze by whisking pulp and lime juice into sugar.
   
3. place on cookies, serve!

The Art of Finishing A Grass-fed Steer

Some of our steers on a rainy July day.

For those of us in the grass-fed movement there is a lot of experimentation/innovation that goes into raising animals on grass. This is the most true when it comes to finishing a grass-fed steer.

What does finishing entail, you ask? Well, when a steer (which is a castrated bull) reaches its matured height they start to gain weight, this is when they add fat. The hope is the fat is gained consistently so that marbling can occur. With a grass-fed steer the weight gain is not as easy to control, so you have to make sure that there is plenty of grass for them to eat while they gain weight. We are lucky we have great grass and lots of acreage.

Each unconventional farmer is a pioneer, because each environment creates new challenges—he or she has to be a steward but also an inventor. We are creating a new system one steer at a time. Cool, no?

The Farm at the End of the Day

The Farm at the End of the Day in Pictures: The cows in the nursery, chickens looking for evening grubs and the lambs in for the night, the last is one of our rams who sired most of this years lambs.

We are at the height of summer and the light lasts well into the early evening. The cow “nursery” is at its peak, we have dozens of calves and they frolic around with their tails curled up in pure joy. The cows keep a watchful eye over them, and work together to protect them from danger. Unfortunately, our sheep are not as successful at protecting their young from predators and we have to house them inside at night. I think this is a large reason whyAmerican's are beef eaters not lamb eaters. Even in my home town of Warwick (only an hour from NYC) where we first farmed, coyotes, coy-dogs and even packs of dogs were too common and we lost many a sheep.

We tried many methods of protection against prey: donkeys, Italian guard dogs and even lamas who all lived year round with the sheep. Donkeys live up to their stereotype, they are stubborn , bordering on meanness. The idea behind the donkeys was that they would not run in formation and when a coyote attacked instead of running like a sheep they were supposed to stop in their tracks and kick. The hope is that they would scare the coyotes off because they acted differently or that they would prevent the sheep from running away, this worked a bit but coyotes are smart and quickly became wise to the donkeys.

We had the most success with the guard dogs, who hailed from the Bruzi Mountains of Italy and were called Marammas; they were big, independent and beautiful. It was my job to feed them every day, and I cannot tell you how special they were. They have a wildness to them that is hard to put into words and their instincts are so powerful that they just protected sheep. For centuries they were used in Italy to ward off wolves and bears. They are powerful, if not dangerous dogs. Some dogs did better with the sheep than others. However, when a dogs’ instincts, training and socialization aligned they were the best defense against coyotes. They were watchful, protective but decidingly wild and were prone to roaming. As more McMansions were built on fields bordering our farm, the dogs became a stressful liability. On our Catskill farm we no longer have meramma’s mostly because of their wandering (which is as strong an instinct as their instinct to protect sheep). Instead we have a large Great Pyrenees who protects the farmstead, and has saved many a cat from bold coyotes but he has no instinct for protecting sheep. Instead, the sheep are taken in at night but we still lose some to prey. This is one of the reason’s I have become a grass-fed beef advocate, cows are made for America, I just would like to see a change in how we raise them.

Blueberry Pancakes with Olive Oil

Ok, folks I have a confession to make. I love to use Aunt Jemima's self rising flour in pancakes. My mother would not be impressed but pancakes made with self rising flour do taste really good. I recently was drooling over waffles over at Saveur.com and they recommend Aunt Jemima's flour so it can not be THAT bad. I like to use olive oil not canola in this recipe but I use my non-fancy olive oil. Do you have a fancy bottle and then a big tin? I find having two grades of olive oil in my house really saves me a lot of money!

Blueberry Pancakes with Olive Oil

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Aunt Jemima's Self-Rising Flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh blueberry's
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup regular olive oil(do not use extra virgin)
• 2-3 tablespoons of butter to fry pancakes

Preparation: Mix flour, sugar, milk, beaten eggs, sugar and olive oil, mix but not too much add blueberry's. melt some of the butter on a heavy skillet at a low medium heat. Cook three at a time, enjoy! Serves four people!

Potato Patch Progress

3 of my 10 potato rows, lookin' real good!

My potatoes are outshining everything in the garden. I would like to think that I have finally inherited my mother’s green thumb, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that it has been an incredibly wet summer. An Irish summer almost, the showers have made my plants look gorgeous, and ironically it is the Irish Kerr’s Pink that are doing best. They are all flowering now, which means we could harvest some of them for small baby potatoes but I am going to wait for bigger potatoes.

Potato Flowers

Some of you might notice that potatoes plants and flowers look a lot like tomato plants. The flowers are white, not yellow, but goodness they do look similar. They are after all in the same nightshade family, interesting no?

Indian-Style Potatoes with Okra

My potatoes are doing really well. I will post on them soon, they have started to flower which means that we can harvest them soon for baby potatoes but I think I am going to wait till fall so that we have bigger potatoes that will last us longer over the winter.

I had the pleasure of shopping at the Union Square market the other day and noticed that there was a lot of new potatoes and okra available so I thought I would share one of my favorite dishes.

Indian-Style Potatoes with Okra

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound okra, cut into three pieces each
  
• 1 pound waxy potatoes, like red or white
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 one inch pieces of ginger, grated
• 1 onion sliced
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• canola oil to fry okra, and to stir fry potatoes

Preparation:

1. Bring a big pot of water to boil to cook potatoes(you can also microwave them).
   
2. heat oil in deep fryer for okra, fry the okra in batches for about 5 minutes, drain on paper towels.
3. Boil potatoes, until al dente about 90 % done.
4. In a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons canola oil, saute garlic, ginger then onion and spices, add potatoes and okra. Season with salt. Serve enjoy!

Chili Con Carne For Tacos!

When I was a kid, my parents were extremely strict about prepared food in the house. One prepared food that made it through the gate however, were those taco dinner packets which I always adored. It was not until I graduated from college that I felt the need to recreate beef tacos but when I did it became clear that certain things do taste better when you make them yourself. This does not mean I do not hold nostalgic memories of taco night, where we cut up lettuce, tomatoes, olives and onions, it is just now I can make them without the help of a packet.

This recipe is perfect for tacos, nachos and tostada salads. To make tacos: you can grill corn tortillas, fry them in olive oil or you can warm flour tortillas. I love to fry flour tortillas in a cast iron skillet for a tostada salad and top it with salad and fixings with this chili. The options are endless!

Chili Con Carne

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground grass-fed beef
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup beef broth (optional)
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder or chili powder
  
• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican Oregano
• 1-14 oz can diced or pureed tomatoes or 3 fresh tomatoes diced
  
• Salt, cayenne and pepper to taste

Preparation : Brown meat in large heavy pot at a medium high heat, drain excess fat if desired. Add onions and garlic sauté until soft about ten minutes, reduce heat add tomatoes and spices. Salt and pepper to taste, if you like your chili hot add cayenne pepper but be careful!

Grilling Between Rain Showers and the Best Turkey Burgers Ever!

Possibly the best thing about frequent and intermittent showers are rainbows. It might make grilling difficult but there is nothing as beautiful as a rainbow. This rainy whether has been challenging for our farmers too. My father has been battling against rain to get the haying done but I think the rain will make our second cutting in August that much better. Nothing makes the end of a long day out on the fields more rewarding then something simple but delicious. Grilling also gives one the opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous Catskill evenings.

For the fourth we BBQ'd. The menu included turkey burgers, chickpea salad with feta, traditional potato salad and corn on the cob. So perfect.

Spicy Turkey Burgers
makes 10 burgers which feeds about 6 people

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon Ancho Chili Rub or a Cajun Spice seasoning
• 1 egg

Preparation: in a large bowl mix ingredients together using your hands and form 10 burgers. grill on a medium heat until well done.

My Ancho Chili Rub

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder or chili powder
• 1 tablespoon red chili pepper flakes(less if you do not like it spicy)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

Preparation: Mix together, place in glass jar, use whenever you want a spicy kick!

Notes From Sterling College's Rural Heritage Institute, Part I

Beautiful Sterling College

It has taken me a while to get to blogging about the amazing time I had up in Vermont’s Northeastern Kingdom and at Sterling College’s Rural Heritage Institute. Truth be told the whole experience was extremely inspiring, life changing even. I feel like I left a bit of myself in Vermont; it is a truly special place. The conference was a meeting of the minds, and I left it hopeful for a future where people are thinking, eating and talking more about real food. The two main themes from the conference were raising awareness about sustainable food systems through education, and also the unique and supportive community that Northern Vermont has become: one that fosters instead of hurts small farmers, a community where good food is savored and support is given to those who raise it.

They have created an agricultural system from the ground up and it has become a Mecca for young farmers who are farming differently, and excelling at it. I like that organic and grass-fed farms are good for the environment, I like that they treat the animal better, but what I like best is that farmers can make a living. I have seen too many farms closed and sold because farming is not life-sustaining. It was inspirational to see farms doing well in a time when family farms are an endangered species. They have created a dynamic and thriving system that works.
We need some of that magic in Upstate New York.

What Makes the Northeastern Kingdom Unique? A Community Committed to Creating Smart Solutions

It comes down to community support of farmers but also services and infrastructure that help farmers process their animals, buy specialized feed, and sell their products. There have been big interests at work systemically closing small processing plants, markets and other avenues that connect customers with producers. In Vermont the community is a force by opening restaurants and markets that help, not hurt, farmers. This is all happening in the Northeastern Kingdom of Vermont. Inspiring ,isn’t?

What makes Vermont’s Northeastern Kingdom so remarkable is that non-commodity farms are excelling to the delight and benefit of the region. Andrew Meyer, The president of Vermont Soy, spoke to us about how the region was hoping to become the Sonoma Valley of excellent artisanal American food. Andrew admitted that his product costs more than other products, but emphasized that it was benefiting the community and the health of his customers. Until our public policy makes things fairer for small farmers, we can’t expect them to be competitive in the price arena. In the meantime, small entrepreneurs and farmers need to create niche products to survive.

I have wrestled with the issue of cost on my blog. I know that grass-fed meats can be cost-prohibitive, and for many of my readers unattainable. If you are one of those people, I hope to ease your pain a bit. When you can support local farmers, do it. Better yet, plant a few tomatoes, get a chicken or two, and maybe even learn to can. Be inspired, not guilty: cook more, savor your food, sit down to dinner, have your kids or partner help you cook, learn more and ask more of your public officials. I know many of you are already doing this because money is tight. The less prepared food you buy the better, because thinking about where your food comes from is essential. I feel a collective awakening in America about food. It is exciting, and I know that change is coming. Believe me, there are farmers waiting to feed us when the playing field is made fairer.

Clark Wolf author of American Cheeses, founder and president of Clark Wolf Company, a New York-based food and restaurant consulting firm gave a funny and exciting talk.

When Clark Wolf pointed out how Americans spend as much money on food as Europeans, I was not surprised. People speak of how low food prices have become, but this is not totally true. We are inundated by ads and messages that make us feel as if we cannot cook, that prepared food will bring smiles to our children’s faces and make our lives easier. If you go to any supermarket, prepared food is expensive, and there are large interests making a pretty penny by intimidating us into buying products we could easily make ourselves. The same is true of chain restaurants who feed us terrible quality food at extremely high prices.

Claire's a community supported restaurant

If you go to your local Friday’s or Red Lobster you are not getting good food and you are definitely not getting a good deal. Nor is your community. In Hardwick, VT they have a charming restaurant called Claire’s, which is a community-supported enterprise that nourishes the earth and the community. Claire’s has made a commitment to spending 79 percent of every dollar on local ingredients. I had the pleasure of eating there for my birthday, and I got a perfectly cooked Maine lobster with a glorious ramp pesto finish that was served with a burnt butter basil sauce, roasted potatoes and the most fantastic sautéed spinach. It was possibly the best lobster I have had and definitely the best restaurant meal I have eaten. And get this, it was reasonable!

When food representatives talk about how sustainable foods cannot feed the masses they are right, but not in the way they want us to believe. Their argument is that industrial food is more efficient, and because of this, cheaper. This is not true; their food is cheaper because of subsidies, free federally- funded irrigation, and corporate policies that have promoted consolidation. The system is rigged to make it easier for corporate Ag to feed us. Why have the big packers bought and then closed small slaughter plants? This is not because it is efficient, but because they know that fewer plants benefit their industrial system, not one where local farmers can process their animals close to home and sell to markets and their neighbors. In fact, small farms are more efficient. Vermont is proving this to be true, and I cannot say enough good things about the region and what they can teach America about a vibrant rural economy that creates amazing food!

More to come on the farmers, chefs and most importantly the food of Vermont's Northeastern kingdom!

Tips On Grilling Grass-fed Meats!

Spring Lake Farm's Lamb Loin Chops On The Grill

Now that it is grill season, it is time to talk a bit about the special attention that needs to be paid to grass-fed meats. I have not been doing that much grilling this June because of the non-stop rain but I wanted to share some of my thoughts now that it is officially summer.

On grass-fed lamb:
I have found that grass-fed lamb is not that different from store bought lamb, and in all honesty a lot of lamb in the supermarkets is grass-fed because lamb is not a commodity like chicken, pork or beef in America. I love to grill lamb shoulders: absolutely delicious, their fat gets crispy, and there is beautifully charred marrow in the bones.
Spring Lake Lamb with Dill and Paprika Rub

My favorite spice rub for lamb is:

• 1 teaspoon dill (or a tablespoon of fresh dill)
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• A dash or two of garlic powder
• And two dashes of soy sauce...

Another great flavor combo for grilled lamb is fresh rosemary, olive oil, sliced garlic and lots of salt and pepper. (Remember to heavily salt grilled meats because grilling meat decreases saltiness).

On Grass-fed Beef:
Many chefs and cooks do not recommends marinating grass-fed steaks because it can make them tougher, they recommend instead using rubs and grilling them over a medium heat until rare. Basically you want to cook the steaks at a lower temperature for a shorter time. I have had an amazing grass-fed steak at Back Forty where they grilled the steak until medium rare, and served an herb sauce on the side which included cilantro and parsley (I think the Colombians serve steak this way). This is a great way to introduce guests to grass-fed beef because they can experience the grass-fed flavors, but also see how fantastic flavors tastes along with the robust leanness of the steak. I am a big fan of bold flavors; my father thinks all you need for a steak is freshly cracked pepper and salt. He likes to taste his meat and he is proud of it and he is right, but that does not mean that steak rubs cannot bring a steak to another level. Not only that, a lot of grass-fed steaks are not up to the quality that one would like, and rubs are a wonderful way to make a steak fantastic.* In the winter you might feel inclined to cook the steaks French style, with a delicate sauce, but in summer you can ease up and rubs are a great way of kicking up the flavor with little effort.

When I was developing recipes for the grass-fed party, I became enamored with the combinations of ancho chilies and beef, especially on marbled steaks like rib eye or cowboy steaks. Montreal Steak rubs are popular too, and were influenced by Jewish immigrants who spiced their meats with pepper, mustard and caraway seeds; a bit like pastrami but on a steak, the secret is lots of pepper. It is easy to make a rub, and if you leave it in a jar it can be stored up to 6 months. I recommended making a few rubs, I love to experiment, and they do not last long because I use them on potatoes, Spanish rice, baked chicken thighs with crispy skin and even fish. My spicy ancho chili rub is excellent on fish with lime, and can be used for fish tacos.

My Ancho Chili Rub

• 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder or chili powder
• 1 tablespoon red chili pepper flakes(less if you do not like it spicy)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
  
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder

Preparation: Mix together, place in glass jar, use whenever you want a spicy kick!

A note on price. Spices are expensive, I am lucky enough to live in New York where you can find thousands of excellent spices inexpensively. Go to any Chinese, Indian or Mexican market and you can get quality spices for very little. My bi-annual spice runs, are always accompanied with a meal in the neighborhood, which is another source for inspiration! For those of you in small towns, there are more and more ethnic markets opening up that cater to immigrants I recommend going and stocking up on spices, condiments and herbs.

*I mentioned before that consistency in grass-fed production is still an issue that all producers are trying to prefect. For this reason, stews and slow cooked grass-fed beef recipes are always excellent, but grilling can really bring out the faults in a producer's methods. Even with this said when a grass-fed steak is done well, it will tell a story like no other and tastes far superior to its grain fed counterpart. You can taste the herbs, the grass, and you get an intense beef flavor like no other. Look no further then Argentina where grass-fed beef, and especially the grilled kind, has become an art form. I have high hopes for American grass-fed beef. In fact ,there are more and more producers meeting and sharing meat and methods all in the hopes of making grass-fed American beef first class.

What are your grilling tips? Please share!