Winter wonder land

Looking out the window this morning, it is a picture wonderland, as Mr Frost came by last night! So this morning at 7Am, whishing the sun would come out and help with picture taking quality!!!!! off I went with my camera to catch the ice crystals as they formed and still forming as the fog continues to drape over us. It does make January a little more bearable as I walk through very crisp snow and still knee high! The garden is definitely asleep and waiting patiently, even a bluebird join me for a while.

Back inside, built a fire, taken a farm raised chicken (about 6 #) out of the freezer

and some root vegetables out of the "food locker".

Looking at the picture you can identify starting from the left, yukon gold potato, turnip, carrot, parsnip, rutabaga (called yellow turnip) onions, and celery root (called celeriac)

This particular dish is called "La Poule au Pot" meaning a "hen in a pot". Like the name suggest done originally with an old hen.

This will result into 5 different preparations:

• a) chicken broth - b) chicken/vegetables with white sauce - c) chicken salad- d) vegetables soup - e)cream of vegetable soup

Procedure:

Always start with cold water, because you want to draw the flavors of the chicken into the broth which will give you a very flavorful broth.

Place the chicken in a large pot,with a bouquet garni, cover by 3 inches with cold water. Bring it to a boil, lower to a simmer, cook for about 3 hours. Do not allow to boil, this will, not only toughen the meat but will result in a very cloudy broth.

After 3 hours of cooking, while you were reading or working on another project, remove the chicken from the broth, strain, reserve the broth for other applications (freezes well). Place the chicken back in the pot with: peeled and cut 3 # of vegetables, bouquet garni, enough water to just cover the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer cook for about 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove all the ingredients from the liquid (reserve) and proceed to make:

- a white sauce with part of the liquid to serve with the prime pieces of meat and some vegetables as pictured here.

- pick the rest of the meat off the bones and make a chicken salad

The rest of the vegetables can be divided in 1/2 and use

-one 1/2 for: a vegetable soup and the other for pureeing with some of the left over white sauce to give you a cream of vegetable soup.

You may flavors your soup(s) and sauce(s) with additional flavoring(s) like: mustard, lemon, paprika, curry, tomato sauce, ginger and more......

This might be a dish and style of cooking that you are not use to, but it is very healthy and if you like the traditional "chicken a la king" it is pretty much a version of it except presented differently. One could very easily turn it into a chicken a la king with additional pie crust then baked.

I think it is the perfect weather to get my sauerkraut out and get some friends around the table to enjoy a "Choucroute garnie a l'Alsacienne". Actually I will be giving a presentation, on February 6th, "All about Pork" at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, www.eagle-bluff.org near Lanesboro MN. First there is a class on butchering a whole pig, then I will talk about each cut, the best way to prepare them, afterward everyone will be served a traditional "Choucroute Garnie!"

What is a "Choucroute" first and foremost it is the French Culinary Term for sauerkraut and Garnie means garnish. The traditional ingredients are: smoked pork ribs or chops, sausage(s), ham, bacon, juniper berries and riesling wine. Then off course many versions there after, served with different mustard and a good Alsatian beer. All these ingredients can be found locally specially if you have a specialty butcher shop around, as well as German or Polish delicatessen.

If you were to find yourself in Paris, Alsace and Germany at this time they are on all the Brasserie Restaurant's menu. It is easy to do, just allow some time to assemble it and cook it all in a very large dutch oven. Serve it right out of the dutch oven or set it out in a very large platter. The reason I have said "with friends" because it's take a crowd to eat it all!!!!!!!!! and very conducive to friendship and conversation!!!! More so if you add some music!!!!!

"Bouquet Garni"

Used so much in all cooking as a seasoning not a flavoring! Very important in stew, soup sauces, braising, poaching. What is it?Literally means a "Garnished Bouquet" and we all know when it comes to flower what a bouquet is, a variety of flowers, color and scent. Well so is a "Bouquet Garni"! The classical way is to tie together within a 3 inches of celery rib or leek, 2 large sprig each of the following: Thyme, parsley(flat leaves), 2 Bay leaves, 12 peppercorns(tucked them within the rib), and from this you can accustom it to what ever application you desire. Like I sometime add a crushed clove of garlic or a slice of ginger. If I want more of an Asian seasoning a piece of lemon grass. If using dry ingredients one must use a piece of cheese cloth and work with 2 tsp dry thyme, 1 Tb dry Parsley, 2 bay leaves and 12 peppercorns tie together. May I suggest to make 24 or so of them and keep in a mason jar in the pantry so you always have them on hand and can adjust them to what ever application you want. A Tea ball also works well for one time use!

The reason I talk about this, is that I get a lot of question about it and it is very essential to the basic kitchen.

An answer to another question is what is the difference between: flavorings and seasonings

Flavorings: are ingredients that help you change or add a different flavors to what you are cooking per example: Basil, Pesto, Ginger, roasted garlic cilantro, a fair amount of garlic, onions and more.....

Seasonings: are ingredients that you add at the beginning of cooking to give strength to your dish without changing its overall flavors per example: salt, pepper, a little of: lemon juice, garlic, onion, vinegar, mustard. At the end of cooking they also help you adjust the seasonings, and you do that a lot in recipes.

Good lesson learn today I hope.

Tell your friends to join us on the blog!!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy cooking

Starting the "5th Season"

Yes the time has arrive when the holiday foods have gone and now I am finding myself reaching into my: root cellar, freezer and pantry that's the "5th season". Every passed season I put food up for this coming months, so I am ready and here is an example:

Asian Yellow Split Pea Soup

Soak 2 C of split pea(pantry) in 4 C water for about 1hour, after sorting out the foreign pieces just as you would do with any dry beans.

Take one onion (root cellar) dice and saute in a little oil, add 4 cloves of garlic (root cellar), minced (I used roasted garlic I had in the freezer) - Drain split pea and add them to the pan with 1 Qt of chicken broth (freezer)salt and pepper to season and 1 tsp (more or less) of Indian curry (pantry) - This is where it does get interesting as the flavor will depend on the type of curry you use, they are so many - Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer and cook until tender (45 minutes) - add 1/2 # of chopped frozen spinach(freezer), in my case I used frozen stinging nettle, as I put so much up in the spring and fall (they cost nothing as they are wild, healthy and delicious!!!!). You might have to add more liquid, like water, at this point if you prefer your soup to be thinner! For a twist the next day I added 1 can of Coconut milk (pantry). We like our soup on the spicy side, so experiment and find your own balance in the flavors. Quick and easy!

Bon Appetit and have fun!!!

I used the "Thai Red Curry Seasoning" from my favorite spice shop and here is the link TheSpiceHouse.com

Bread is on my mind!!

So again it is simple!! First get that scale out of the bathroom give it a clean wipe!!!!!

Yes we are going to use weight as it is the most efficient way to succeed your bread. Why? because using a measuring cup is not always reliable as we all measure differently and get frustrated when it does come out!!!!! Sounds familiar? and we are making 4 loaves of bread, as why go through all these trouble just for one!

I use our local Bread Flour from Great River Mills (unbleached and organic), good water from the well, if not, know where you water is from! Yeast? buy it from a reliable source as I do not trust those little packages in the stores. That being said here we go, and right away this the way we did it on the farm back in Brittany! Take 5# of good bread flour -3& 1/2 # of warm water! Oh! and water weight and measure the same!!!! so this means 7 C of water and then 2 oz of yeast which is about 4 Tbs.

Mix it all together and let it rise to double the size. Oh! about 1 hour or so depending on how warm it is where you set it. It likes to be warm so with the weather we are having I set it near heat register covered with plastic wrap and a towel. The plastic wrap works like a proofing machine meaning it keeps the moisture high and warm in the bowl.

Shape it into loaves, line bowls with a towel, sprinkle generously with flour, invert the loaves seam side down , let rise to almost double about 45 minutes , preheat the oven at 450, invert the loaves onto a baking sheet or baking stone sprinkle with cornmeal , bake for 1 hour until crisp and golden brown.

your reward is to slice into it while it is warm!!!!!! Top it off with the apple sauce!!!!!

Bon Appetit

PS: you can cut the recipe in 1/2!!!!!!

Desperate wild Turkeys!!!!!

It is so cold I do not blame them and what is better than my leftover breadcrumbs and cookie crumbs! So with that in mind I am off to the kitchen to make some apple sauce with the beautiful apples I have had in storage since October at average temperature of 33 in my "food locker" as my children have named it over the holidays! It is so simple, but one need an old fashion food mill. So here we go: wash 3 different apple variety cut them all up into 1/4 . no!no!no! do not peel or core!!!! remember it is easy! Place in a large pot with 1 C of water and turn the heat on medium so no scorching!! cook until apple are very soft 30/40 minutes or so

Now pass through the food mill and all done poor into mason jar seal well and boil the jar for 25 minutes,remove from water, OOPS be careful! let dry and label.

Or easier put in freezer containers or ziplock bags OOPS after it has cooled first!

Oh so yummy with my morning oatmeal!!!!

Let's get cooking!!!!!

Wow it is sunday January 3rd and tomorrow reality? so I am starting this conversation about taking the fear out of cooking, making simpler and definitely local! So what do I do? I got some spinach, grown locally in a hoop house, 2 eggs from Organic Valley, some left over roasted root veggies, from Harmony Valley, put it all in a cast iron pan with some butter, sprinkle with our local grated ewe cheese and baked it until the aromas where so tempting!!!! made coffee, put some music on, got the sunday paper and voila brunch was ready!!!!

Oh I forgot the fire, in the fireplace off course!!!

A bientot and Bon Appetit

Right away this is my first attempt at this!!!!! The blogging thing I mean!!!!!!!!