The kind folks at Marx Foods sent me some amazing black garlic to sample awhile back. There's something about garlic and smashed potatoes that makes me happy, so I thought to myself, "how about black garlic smashed taters?"
Black garlic is amazing. It's got a sweet, umami flavor that packs a lighter punch than conventional garlic. It is, in fact, conventional garlic, but it has been fermented at a high temperature for a month, resulting in softened, sweetened, and blackened cloves. Read all about it here: www.marxfoods.com/Fermented-Black-Garlic
Here's how to make the black garlic spuds:
* 3 pounds waxy potatoes, quartered and boiled until tender
* 2 cups half and half (Cedar Summit)
* 3 tbsp butter (Hope Creamery)
* 6 cloves black garlic mashed into bits
* 5 ounces Cedar Grove Cheddar Cheese
* salt and pepper
Directions:
Boil potatoes until tender. Drain the pot. Leave spuds in pot.
While that boils, smash up your black garlic.
In a saucepan, warm half and half and butter to a light simmer. When it gets to simmering, turn off the pot and pour it over the spuds. Mash together. Fold in cheese, garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
I served mine up with some baked Fischer Farms pork tenderloin and steamed green beans from the garden, which were hiding in the deep freeze.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash
Pasture's A Plenty usually offers good deals on country style pork ribs at the Co-op. The price is right, but with all that connective tissue, they need some time under some heat to get nice and tender. What with cider and butternut squash readily available this time of year from local sources, I threw together a local, seasonal dish in an afternoon consisting of cider, ribs, and butternut squash.
Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash (serves 3-4)
4-6 country style boneless pork ribs
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped roughly
12 oz. Cider
1 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 375.
Rub ribs with salt and pepper on both sides.
Brown ribs on all sides in hot oil in skillet. Add salt, pepper, water, garlic, and onion to pan.
Allow onions to caramelize until dark, but not burned.
Place ribs and onions in an oven casserole and set aside.
De-glaze skillet with 6 oz cider
Pour cider de-glazing mixture over the ribs and onions in the casserole.
Add remaining thyme, BBQ sauce, cider, and stock to the casserole pan. Stir.
Bake covered for 1 hour at 375.
Remove cover and bake for one more hour at 375.
Baste ribs 3-4 times with braising liquid from the pan while baking.
Serve with butternut squash recipe below.
Pour 2 tbsp. braising liquid over ribs and squash.
--------------------------------------------------
1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Cut squash down the middle lengthwise, scrape out seeds.
Rub cut surface with salt, pepper, oil, brown sugar.
Coat baking pan with butter or non-stick spray.
Bake upside-down in baking pan at 375 for 1.5 hours.
Scrape out the squash pulp, and mash until smooth.
Add more salt, pepper, brown sugar to taste.
Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash (serves 3-4)
4-6 country style boneless pork ribs
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped roughly
12 oz. Cider
1 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 375.
Rub ribs with salt and pepper on both sides.
Brown ribs on all sides in hot oil in skillet. Add salt, pepper, water, garlic, and onion to pan.
Allow onions to caramelize until dark, but not burned.
Place ribs and onions in an oven casserole and set aside.
De-glaze skillet with 6 oz cider
Pour cider de-glazing mixture over the ribs and onions in the casserole.
Add remaining thyme, BBQ sauce, cider, and stock to the casserole pan. Stir.
Bake covered for 1 hour at 375.
Remove cover and bake for one more hour at 375.
Baste ribs 3-4 times with braising liquid from the pan while baking.
Serve with butternut squash recipe below.
Pour 2 tbsp. braising liquid over ribs and squash.
--------------------------------------------------
1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Cut squash down the middle lengthwise, scrape out seeds.
Rub cut surface with salt, pepper, oil, brown sugar.
Coat baking pan with butter or non-stick spray.
Bake upside-down in baking pan at 375 for 1.5 hours.
Scrape out the squash pulp, and mash until smooth.
Add more salt, pepper, brown sugar to taste.
Shepherd's Way Farms -- Cheesemaking Classes
From Shepherd's Way:
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Want to make cheese at home? Curious about artisan cheese? Or, looking for a special outing for your group of friends? Choose from our one-day afternoon class, custom group classes at the farm, or classes tailored for your group and location.
Inside Artisan Cheesemaking – January 17 OR February 7
Spend an afternoon at Shepherd's Way Farms award-winning sheep dairy covering cheesemaking basics and techniques, learning some steps hands-on, and sampling and discussing cheese. We will cover information about several cheeses and walk through steps of a typical cheesemake. Includes a demonstration make of ricotta cheese and the final steps of fresh cheese. By the end of the day, you will have a good foundation for building your home cheesemaking skills -- for beginners or for those just wanting to know more. And you will get to take cheese home! (Portions of the class will take place in the cheesemaking facility and require some extended standing. Adults only, please!)
$65 Registration & prepayment required Limit 15 people1 Day Afternoon Class January 17, Sunday 1pm-4 pm (one day class)
1 Day Afternoon Class February 7, Sunday 1pm-4pm (one day class)
(Preregister by email farmfriends@earthlink.net, we'll email you details so you can complete registration online or by mail.)
Shepherd's Way Farms, 8626 160th Street East, Nerstrand, MN 55053(just outside Northfield, 1 hour south of Minneapolis/St.Paul)
Questions? Email them at farmfriends@earthlink.net or call 507-663-9040.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Free Films on Food and Agriculture
It's pretty cold outside. How about catching a free film?
7:00 PM TONIGHT at the U of M Bell Museum of Natural History Auditorium, the classic food film, Big Night, will be playing as part of the Films on Food and Agriculture series by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University of Minnesota
"Two immigrant brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) run a small trattoria serving the finest of Italian regional cooking. Unfortunately, it’s 1950s New Jersey, and customers expect singing waiters to deliver heaping mounds of spaghetti and meatballs. Can their “big night” with a star guest save the day?"
The film series continues in the winter, on the FIRST Thursdays:
HomeGrown
Thursday, February 4
The Dervaes family grows over 6,000 pounds of produce on one
city lot in Pasadena, CA. Relying mainly on their own words, this
documentary provides a portrait of how they moved from conventional
homeowners to cultivating their own urban “homestead.”
The Gleaners and I
Thursday, March 4
Follow Agnes Varda, grande dame of the French New Wave, on this
“wandering-road documentary” that explores those who insist on
finding a use for that which society casts off, whether out of necessity
or activism.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Thursday, April 1
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer who transforms his
farm amidst economic crisis and the difficulties of being different in
rural America. Brilliantly constructed from a lifetime of documentary
footage, this funny and haunting film heralds the renewal of the
Peterson family farm as a bastion of creative agriculture and one
of the U.S.ʼs largest CSA farms.
Julie and Julia
Thursday, May 6
Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is writer Julia Powell in
Nora Ephron's vivid and compelling story. Julia Child discovers her
gift for French cooking and writes the classic Mastering the Art of
French Cooking. Julia Powell resolves to make all 524 recipes in the
book in a year, and to blog about it. Both women achieve selfrealization
with passion, fearlessness and butter.
Sponsored and organized by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University
of Minnesota www.AgriFoodUMN.net
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Global Studies, Institute for Advanced
Studies, Bell Museum of Natural History, and Departments of History, Geography and Sociology.
The Bell Museum will remain open until 9pm on Thursday evenings, and the
new exhibit “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” will be up until May 9, 2010).
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
7:00 PM TONIGHT at the U of M Bell Museum of Natural History Auditorium, the classic food film, Big Night, will be playing as part of the Films on Food and Agriculture series by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University of Minnesota
"Two immigrant brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) run a small trattoria serving the finest of Italian regional cooking. Unfortunately, it’s 1950s New Jersey, and customers expect singing waiters to deliver heaping mounds of spaghetti and meatballs. Can their “big night” with a star guest save the day?"
The film series continues in the winter, on the FIRST Thursdays:
HomeGrown
Thursday, February 4
The Dervaes family grows over 6,000 pounds of produce on one
city lot in Pasadena, CA. Relying mainly on their own words, this
documentary provides a portrait of how they moved from conventional
homeowners to cultivating their own urban “homestead.”
The Gleaners and I
Thursday, March 4
Follow Agnes Varda, grande dame of the French New Wave, on this
“wandering-road documentary” that explores those who insist on
finding a use for that which society casts off, whether out of necessity
or activism.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Thursday, April 1
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer who transforms his
farm amidst economic crisis and the difficulties of being different in
rural America. Brilliantly constructed from a lifetime of documentary
footage, this funny and haunting film heralds the renewal of the
Peterson family farm as a bastion of creative agriculture and one
of the U.S.ʼs largest CSA farms.
Julie and Julia
Thursday, May 6
Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is writer Julia Powell in
Nora Ephron's vivid and compelling story. Julia Child discovers her
gift for French cooking and writes the classic Mastering the Art of
French Cooking. Julia Powell resolves to make all 524 recipes in the
book in a year, and to blog about it. Both women achieve selfrealization
with passion, fearlessness and butter.
Sponsored and organized by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University
of Minnesota www.AgriFoodUMN.net
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Global Studies, Institute for Advanced
Studies, Bell Museum of Natural History, and Departments of History, Geography and Sociology.
The Bell Museum will remain open until 9pm on Thursday evenings, and the
new exhibit “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” will be up until May 9, 2010).
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Shepherd's Way Cheese Sampling This Weekend
This Saturday, Shepherd's Way Farm will be at the Eastside Co-op in Northeast Minneapolis from 10:30 am until 12:30 pm sampling cheese.
Following their appearance at Eastside Co-op, they will be at the Birchwood Cafe sampling cheese and signing people up for their cheese CSA.
More info about their cheese CSA from Steven Read:
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Following their appearance at Eastside Co-op, they will be at the Birchwood Cafe sampling cheese and signing people up for their cheese CSA.
More info about their cheese CSA from Steven Read:
What is a CSA?
A CSA is a relationship of mutual support and commitment between local farmers and community members who pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover the production costs of the farm. In turn, members receive a regular share of the harvest during the local growing season. From Shepherd’s Way, members will receive a monthly cheese share made up of an assortment, usually 4-6 pieces of the following cheeses totaling one and a half pounds:
Big Woods Blue is a full-flavored blue cheese that blends the creaminess of sheep milk with an open texture and spicy, complex flavor. One of the best blue cheeses made in America, it has finished top in its class twice at the American Cheese Society and has appeared many times in national gourmet magazines.
Friesago is a semi-hard sheep milk cheese with a piquant, slightly nutty flavor. It is hand dipped in black wax for aging and also has won several awards and been featured in national publications. This cheese has been unavailable the last two years and we are very excited to offer be able to offer it again.
Shepherd’s Hope is a fresh light cheese available in two versions, original and Garlic and Herb. Extremely versatile, the Shepherd’s Hope is a great table cheese, great cooking cheese and also a multiple award winner.
Hidden Falls is a blend of sheep milk and organic grass fed cow milk from our friends Dave and Florence at Cedar Summit Farm. Similar to a brie with a great buttery note and wonderful creamy texture. Because of limited production, it has not been widely available in retail markets, but will be available first to our CSA members.
There will also be some months when some of our limited editions, such as Jodi’s Shepherd’s Truffles (fresh vanilla cheese rolled in chocolate), the Adobo Cheese Spread and other cheeses will also be included.
Cheese Pick-up
Cheese Shares will be delivered the third week of each month
Shares could be picked up at Mill City Farmers Market - May through October - Mpls.
Indoor Farmers Market - November through April - Mpls.
Just Food - Year round - Northfield - Thursday afternoon, 4:00-7:00 pm and Saturday, 10:00 am until 1:00 pm
Lucia's Wine Bar on Thursday from 3-6 pm - Uptown, Minneapolis
In Saint Paul, pick up will be at the Golden Fig on Grand Avenue on Tuesday, 3-6 pm
Additional pick up points will be added depending on member growth.
Cost:
A one year membership will cost $320.00 and a six month membership will cost $180.00. Members who belong to another CSA will receive a $10 discount. The first pick up will be next month, August 15th, which corresponds to Eat Local Month.
Contact Steven Read at 612-306-4210 with questions.
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Beer Braised Cabbage & Bratwurst
It was one of those October days when heading to the market just wasn't appealing. Slush was falling from the sky.
With a recent Oktoberfest party behind us, we had some bratwurst in the freezer, some leftover cabbage, a few beers, and some potatoes and onions rolling around. "These ingredients make perfect sense," thought I. Thus, a beer braised bratwurst and cabbage dinner was born.
A seasonal, comforting, savory dish was great on a cold rainy night. With cabbage, potato, and onion in season, and locally sourced bratwurst already in the freezer, I didn't have to leave the house to make this dish.
Beer Braised Cabbage & Bratwurst
1 pound of bratwurst
3 medium red potatoes
1 medium onion
1 small head of cabbage
1 tablespoon oil
About 2 12 oz cans/bottles o' beer
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
Whole grain horseradish mustard.
In skillet, cook brats until browned; remove.
While that's browing, cut potatoes into chunks, slice onions 1/2 inch thick, dice cabbage into 1 inch pieces or so.
Deglaze brat skillet with beer.
Place browned brats, deglazing mixture, and cabbage in shallow 3 1/2 quart casserole.
In same skillet, add the oil and cook potatoes and onions until lightly browned, stirring.
Pour this mixture over the brats and cabbage.
Deglaze skillet with more beer.
Add caraway to the deglazing mixture; heat to boiling.
Pour over mixture in casserole.
Cover and bake at 375ºF. for 1 1/2 hours. Makes 4 servings.
Serve with whole grain horseradish mustard.
With a recent Oktoberfest party behind us, we had some bratwurst in the freezer, some leftover cabbage, a few beers, and some potatoes and onions rolling around. "These ingredients make perfect sense," thought I. Thus, a beer braised bratwurst and cabbage dinner was born.
A seasonal, comforting, savory dish was great on a cold rainy night. With cabbage, potato, and onion in season, and locally sourced bratwurst already in the freezer, I didn't have to leave the house to make this dish.
Beer Braised Cabbage & Bratwurst
1 pound of bratwurst
3 medium red potatoes
1 medium onion
1 small head of cabbage
1 tablespoon oil
About 2 12 oz cans/bottles o' beer
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
Whole grain horseradish mustard.
In skillet, cook brats until browned; remove.
While that's browing, cut potatoes into chunks, slice onions 1/2 inch thick, dice cabbage into 1 inch pieces or so.
Deglaze brat skillet with beer.
Place browned brats, deglazing mixture, and cabbage in shallow 3 1/2 quart casserole.
In same skillet, add the oil and cook potatoes and onions until lightly browned, stirring.
Pour this mixture over the brats and cabbage.
Deglaze skillet with more beer.
Add caraway to the deglazing mixture; heat to boiling.
Pour over mixture in casserole.
Cover and bake at 375ºF. for 1 1/2 hours. Makes 4 servings.
Serve with whole grain horseradish mustard.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Shepherd's Way Farms 15th Anniversary
Help celebrate Shepherd's Way Farms 15th Anniversary tomorrow, on October 24th, at an open house at the farm from 1-5pm.
Everyone is invited to come and sample great cheese and sausage, tour the cheesemaking facilities and the milking parlor and enjoy a moment in the country.
Wanna wish them a happy anniversary, but can't make the trip?
They will be at Southwest High in Minneapolis TONIGHT sampling and selling before a screening of the film, Fresh. Doors are at 6pm, film starts at 7pm. Suggested donation of $10 at the door
Southwest High School
3414 West 47th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55410
Shepherd's Way Farms
8626 160th Street East
Nerstrand, MN 55053-2309
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
Everyone is invited to come and sample great cheese and sausage, tour the cheesemaking facilities and the milking parlor and enjoy a moment in the country.
Wanna wish them a happy anniversary, but can't make the trip?
They will be at Southwest High in Minneapolis TONIGHT sampling and selling before a screening of the film, Fresh. Doors are at 6pm, film starts at 7pm. Suggested donation of $10 at the door
Southwest High School
3414 West 47th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55410
Shepherd's Way Farms
8626 160th Street East
Nerstrand, MN 55053-2309
[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]
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