Who’s Your Patty?

I follow Blake Shelton’s Liver (@blakes_liver) on twitter. I recommend following it if you aren’t easily offended. Hysterical. Anyway, that was the hashtag on one of its tweets yesterday. So, I couldn’t resist using it as the title. Sorry for the immature cheesiness…

I felt like making my own corned beef was a little too ambitious to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. But one of these days, I’ll make it. I’ve looked into it. Instead I made Irish lamb stew and Irish soda bread. It turned out wonderful. It would have been perfect for a windy, blustery day, typical for mid-March. Instead, today it was 76 degrees. I’m not complaining, though.

I’m counting this as my Dark Days meal. The lamb came from the Monroe Farm Market, but I can’t remember which farm. The stew had organic onions, carrots and celery in it. It also had a little bit of flour in it from Reed’s Mill Flours in Monroe County. It had some fresh parsely in it that wasn’t SOLE, and some white wine. The bread was made from the same local flour, a little bit of baking soda and salt, and milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, Virginia.

The hubs and I couldn’t find a recipe we really liked for the Irish stew, so we kinda “winged” it. And it was awesome. So, I figured I’d share it.

St. Patrick’s Day Irish Lamb Stew

1 lb lamb stew meat
3 medium potatoes, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs of celery, sliced
flour for dusting lamb
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tb fresh rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil
2 beef bouillon cubes

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven on medium heat. Pat the lamb dry with paper towels. Put about 1/2 cup of flour in a plate and season with salt and pepper. Place all the lamb meat in the flour and stir gently to coat. When the oil is hot, put the lamb in the dutch oven in a single layer. Brown the meat on all sides until a bit of a brown crust forms, 10 minutes or so. Add the wine and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen up the bits from the bottom. Add the vegetables, parsley and rosemary. Add enough water to cover and two bouillon cubes. Season with salt and pepper again. Bring to a boil. Place the lid tightly on the dutch oven and put in the middle rack of the oven. After 45 minutes, check the stew and stir. Bake another 15 to 20  minutes until meat is done and vegetables are tender.

Dark Days Challenge: Weeks 15 and 16

I mentioned here the last few times I posted that things at work have been nuts. I work for our state legislature, and we finished up the regular session last Saturday night in one very anti-climactic crescendo of a two-week stretch leading up to Saturday. I was working 12ish hour days the last two weeks, which is no way to thrive.

Now that things have settled down, I notice that daffodils are up and trees are blooming. When did that happen?!?

By my best guesstimate, I think this is week 16 of the Dark Days Challenge. My efforts were sporadic the past few weeks, although late last week, I was able to put together a fabulous dinner of homemade fettucini, meatballs and pesto.

This was a welcome meal after I’d been living on takeout and junkfood the past few days. The fettucini was made from flour from Reed’ss Mill Flours and an egg from Cozy Hollow Farm, both in Monroe County, West Virginia. The meatballs are made from venison Jeremy killed last fall, an egg, some panko breadcrumbs that weren’t SOLE, milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA, and some spices. The pesto was some that I froze last summer made from basil I grew, garlic my mom grew, walnuts, oil and parmesean that wasn’t SOLE.

This week, I continued with the pasta theme with some fettucini with bolognese sauce I had frozen from last fall. I’ve been clearing out the freezer and my larder like crazy these last few weeks, but that’s why it’s there… for when fresh produce isn’t available locally and when you need a quick meal.

The fettucini is from the same batch I used last week. The recipe is one that came with my pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. It makes quite a bit, and I freeze it in 2- or 3-serving portions. The pasta dough is actually easier to work with once it’s been frozen and thawed–it dries it out a bit. The bolognese sauce has ground pork from Sandy Creek Farms in Ravenswood, WV; ground venison killed by Jeremy; tomatoes from my local farmers market; onions, carrots and celery, organic and chopped finely; garlic grown by my mom; a non-SOLE can of tomato paste; and some red wine and spices. The salad is what I’m most excited about, however. It’s made up of radishes and microgreens from my backyard!!! Last fall, I planted arugula and mesclun mix under my cold frames. Like the past couple years, I kinda forgot about them throughout the winter, and I’m always surprised to see what has survived over the winter when I get ready to plant for the spring. The arugula was amazing. I dressed it with a simple cider vinegar and olive oil mix and some goat cheese on top. I cannot wait until my spring planting comes in.

Speaking of spring planting, even though I was out until 4 am Saturday night (gasp!!!), Sunday was too beautiful of a day to spend it sleeping all day. I got outside and cleaned out my cold frames and planted spinach, arugula, mesclun and black seeded simpson. I also planted beets and carrots and put out onion sets. This week, the weather is in the 70s with little spurts of rain, so it shouldn’t take long to be harvesting my first planting of the year.

Last weekend, I also started my tomatos and peppers inside. I am growing my usual roma and jalepeno varieties, but I also picked up some new varieties from Seed Savers’ Exchange this year. I’m growing Little Blond Girl, which is a yellow cherry variety and Eva Purple Ball. I’m also growing Pineapple and Pink Ponderosa varieties that I had leftover from last year. I’m also growing

Albino Bullnose peppers, which are a brilliant whitish yellow blocky sweet pepper and Black Hungarian, a not-too-hot variety, in addition to the Sweet Chocolate seeds I had from last year.

Finally, last night, as I continue to clean out my freezer, I made thin crust pizza. When I make pizza dough, the recipe is too much for two people, so I usually freeze the other half. I had some fresh mozzarella frozen from the last time I made pizza also, and some sausage, and I used the rest of the pesto from the pasta with meatballs last week. It was heaven.

Dark Days Challenge Weeks 12 and 13: Breakfast!

I don’t know what happened to Week 11. Work has been cah-razy. I don’t remember if I cooked something and forgot to post it, or if I just didn’t cook a Dark Days meal at all. We’ll call it the “Lost Week” of the Dark Days Challenge.

And, I mentioned that work has been taking up all my time. Meaning no time for cooking in the evenings. Hell, I’m never home in time for dinner any more, let alone cooking it. Poor Jeremy. Luckily, I had a few casseroles and frozen meals already made up and ready to pop in the over. There are two more weeks of this, so he’s going to have to continue “bachin’ it”.

So, since I don’t cook at night anymore, I’ve been taking advantage of quiet lazy weekends, and spending time in the kitchen. And, breakfast hasn’t been getting neglected.

A couple weeks ago, I thawed the last of my pureed pumpkin to make my all-time favorite scone recipe. The hubs is kinda picky when it comes to breakfast on weekdays. Sure, he likes bacon, eggs, biscuits and all the fixin’s on the weekend, but on weekday mornings when time is short, I’ve had a hard time finding things he likes that don’t come from the freezer aisle. So, for breakfast the last few weeks, I’ve been baking something Sunday night to eat through the week. And, it’s paying off for me, too. I’m a person that is perfectly happy with a bowl of cereal or some cottage cheese, but having something that I can grab on my way out the door and eat on the way to work has been a lifesaver since I’ve been needing to be at work early the past couple weeks.

I heart scones because of their texture and because they aren’t too sweet. I just can’t get them to come out of the oven as pretty as they go in. But they sure are good with some jam on them.

This recipe is pretty simple. The flour is from Reeds Mill Flours in Monroe County, and sugar that was Florida Crystals organic pure cane demerara sugar. It also has baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger, all from my spice cabinet, all well past their expiration date and from far away. Also, it has butter that is Organic Valley Pasture Butter, pumpkin that was frozen from one I either grew/was gifted/bought at the farmer’s market last fall, half and half from Homestead Cremery in Wirtz, VA, and 1 egg from Cozy Hollow Farm via the Monroe Farm Market.

Since I had pureed pumpkin leftover, I made Pumpkin Buckwheat Pancakes on Sunday morning. It was wonderful–Sunday paper, breakfast in bed, and cappucino.

The last time I ordered flour from Reeds Mill Flours, the owner talked me into ordering some buckwheat also. I just don’t use it often. But this is a good way to work some in. The ingredients are pretty much the same as for the scones, except the buckwheat flour. The syrup is Private Selection 100% maple syrup from Kroger’s.

Then, last sunday night, I made pumpkin quick bread for breakfast for the upcoing week, with the rest of the pureed pumpkin. It was delicious. So, this week, I made the same recipe with zucchini. The best thing about this bread is that it isn’t really that bad for you. Instead of oil, I substitute apple sauce that I canned last fall. Both the pumpkin and the zucchini were from my freezer from last year, and there’re spices, flour, eggs, sugar in it. This week, I threw in some of the black walnuts that I made the Hillbilly Blondies with.

So, even if dinner has been neglected, I have been cleaning out the freezer and my larder for breakfast the past couple weeks–and making the hubs something for breakfast that he seems to be liking that didn’t come from the grocery store freezer section. It’s a win-win if I’m counting.

Dark Days Challenge: Valentine Sweets

This year, the Dark Days Challenge is throwing in some extra challenges for fun. Some might think it too difficult on top of already coming up w/ a Dark Days meal, but personally, I love it. This week’s extra challenge was to make a Valentine’s Day sweet according to the Dark Days guidelines we all set for ourselves at the beginning of the challenge.

The first step was figuring out what to make. I have tons of frozen berries and canned fruit, so I could have made a fruit or berry pie or muffins or pastry easily, but I didn’t want this to be too easy, so I decided I would scratch anything with fruit or berries. Chocolate and cocoa are tricky ingredients for Dark Days since there is lots of uncertainty surrounding human rights issues and how these items are produced. So anything with chocolate or cocoa was out, too. This seriously limited my options, but that is part of the challenge.

I settled on blondies. Flour? check. Butter? Check. Organic unrefined sugar? Check.

I also happened to have bought some black walnuts from the Monroe Farm Market last month. Not because I had plans to make anything with them, but just because I love black walnuts. Or, I should say, I love to eat stuff with black walnuts in them. I quickly realized I don’t love all aspects of black walnuts. When I bought them, the Hubs laughed and said I had been taken on that purchase. He couldn’t believe I actually paid money for UNSHELLED black walnuts. He said last year was a banner year for them, and he could have collected the amount I bought (a half gallon) in under an hour when they were freshly fallen late last fall.

Sunday, I planned to make my blondies, so I went out to the garage, found some gloves (recommended by the Hubs), put down some newspaper on the floor, found a hammer and went to crackin’. Two hours later, I was halfway through the half gallon bag. And I had about a cup and a half of nut pieces. W.T.F. would be appropriate here…

So, there’s still a half a bag of black walnuts in my garage waiting to be shelled, and I ran out of time to make them on Sunday evening.

It was hard to find a recipe for blondies that didn’t call for some type of chips, either chocolate, white chocolate or butterscotch. I was afraid to use a recipe calling for them and just omit them since the recipes I found called for A LOT of them, like a cup and a half. I was afraid omitting that much of an ingredient would affect the baking and the finished product would be too dry. I found this recipe at Smitten Kitchen. The title alone, “Blondies, infinitely adaptable” put me at ease. And especially when I scrolled down and saw that a suggested adaptation would be adding bourbon. Sold!

Let me just say that when I mixed this up, I couldn’t help sneak a taste of the batter. And. It. Was. Scary. Like AMAZING. I swear, I never thought of combining black walnuts and bourbon, but it was genius. Smokey, oakey, deep and complex goodness. I was so excited to try the finished product.

But I think all the bourbon cooked out. You didn’t get much of the bourbon taste at all, much to my dissappointment. I am not giving up on this combination, and I need to figure out how to keep more of that flavor in these blondies. They were still pretty good though. Good enough for me to eat three of them last night when they came out of the oven.

Here is the recipe, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. I dubbed them “hillbilly” blondies because of the bourbon and black walnuts. I always imagine black walnuts are the “country cousin” of the more refined English walnuts…

“Hillbilly” Blondies

8 Tb (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar (I used turbinado)

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup black walnuts

1/4 cup bourbon

Butter an 8 x 8 pan. Prehead oven to 350. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg and then vanilla and bourbon. Add salt and baking powder and stir in flour. Pour into buttered pan and bake 25 minutes, or until set in the middle.

The butter was Organic Valley Pasture Butter. The sugar was Mate Factor Organic Mascavo sugar. The egg was from Cozy Hollow Farm and the black walnuts were from Indian Creek Farm, both via the Monroe Farm Market. The vanilla was the real deal, not the stuff you can get at the grocery store for 99 cents. (BTW, I highly recommend investing the money and buying the real deal. Don’t waste your time or money on the artificial stuff). The bourbon was Jim Beam. The distillery is 219 miles from my house, happily, so it’s within my Dark Days rules.

If you ever happen to be passing through northern Kentucky, I highly recommend stopping at one of the bourbon distilleries. Travelling along the Bluegrass Parkway is a lovely trip in itself, but stopping at a distillery is the cherry on top. Two summers ago, I attened a national conference in Louisville for work, and let me tell ya, Kentucky is PROUD of their bourbon. There was a bourbon tasting one evening, and at ever other social event scheduled in conjunction with the conference bourbon was the featured drink. I enjoyed myself so much (and developed a new appreciation for bourbon) that I took my mom back last summer. We toured Woodford Reserve Distillery, and I’ll never forget the smell of the bourbon aging in their barrelhouses. If I could bottle that smell, I’d wear it as perfume.

Dark Days Challenge Week 10: Italian Sausages with Red Onion Gravy

Who doesn’t love sausages?

Especially when they’re from a local farm that sells meat pasture-raised pigs. It’s hard to tell they’re sausages in this picture because of the creamy, tangy red onion gravy hiding them. Mama like these.

I made the potatoes and the Hubs made the sausages. The potatoes are from Preston County, and have a little bit of olive oil, kosher salt and dried thyme on them. The sausages are from Sandy Creek Farm in Ravenswood, WV. The onions weren’t local, but were organic. The gravy was made from a little bit of flour from Reeds Mill Flours in Monroe County, the sausage grease, of course, and some turkey stock from my Thanksgiving Tom, which came from Almost Heaven Farm in Monroe County.

Dinner was that easy. And this recipe’s a keeper.

Dark Days Challenge Week 9: 11th-hour breakfast and dinner

I was super-busy at work last week. The last few weeks of February and the first few weeks of March are the busiest of the year at my job. If last week was any indication of how things will go from here on out, it’s going to be a long couple months.

All week, I just didn’t have time to put a proper dinner on the table. But Sunday rolled around and I had all day long to do absolutely nothing. And it was delicious! I stayed in my PJs until noon and read the Sunday paper and drank coffee and watched tv with the Hubs.

I knew I was running out of time for making a Dark Days meal, so I made an effort to put something together for breakfast on Sunday morning. I made tomato gravy, which is something I make from time to time, and I used it for a Dark Days meal last year.

But this time, to make sure it was truly SOLE, I “tried” to make my own biscuits. I hate to admit it, but I usually serve the frozen Pilsbury Grands since they are exponentially better than mine. But I recently read that they have some obscene amount of trans fat in them. So I’m not buying anymore.

My biscuits weren’t too bad for covering with gravy. But they weren’t pretty, and they didn’t really rise that much. I know my lack of biscuit making prowess is an embarrassment to West Virginia women across the state, but I’m gonna get it eventually. That and gnocchi. And homemade cheese. Three things that I just can’t make. I think I need a new recipe. The one I use out of my Betty Crocker Bridal Edition is too wet, once mixed up.

If you’ve never had tomato gravy, don’t delay any longer. It. Is. The. Bomb. Here is the link to the recipe when I used it as a Dark Days meal last year. For the gravy, I used bacon from Sandy Creek Farm in Ravenswood, WV, flour from Reeds Mill Flours in Monroe County, tomatoes that I canned last summer that were bought from Crihfield Farms in Jackson County, and milk from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA. It also had some sugar in it that was Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar. The biscuits had flour, milk, baking powder, and shortening in them. The shortening was just plain ol’ Crisco.

When dinner time rolled around, since it was Sunday, we made fettucini alfredo. I like to do something a little decadent and hearty when we make dinner on the weekends. It’s the weekend afterall. Time to enjoy your meals and be a little more leisurely than through the week.

But this wasn’t any fettucini alfredo, it was “True Fettucini Alfredo” from my Spendid Table How to Eat Supper cookbook. It was so good. The Hubs clocked us. Once the plates were put on the table, they were clean in 7 minutes. I’m not even kidding.

As we were eating, I realized, I could count this as a Dark Days meal, too. The pasta is homemade from flour from Reeds Mill Flours, with an egg from Cozy Hollow Farm in Monroe County. The sauce was so simple. It was a few tablespoons of butter that was Organic Valley Pasture Butter, half and half from Homestead Creamery and a little bit of shredded parmesean cheese. I can’t remember what brand it was, but it was an artisan label. It was so creamy with a little saltiness from the cheese. It was probably the best fettucini alfredo I’ve ever had. That’s not saying much though. The ubiquitous restaurant menu offering is always a little subpar. Although, the Hubs said it was the best because “it was made with love.” Har har har.

Dark Days Challenge One-Pot Challenge: Borscht

Here’s a disclaimer: I’ve never made borscht before. Nor, have I ever eaten borscht before tonight. But, what I made was actually pretty good.

Somehow, I stumbled on this show one day. It’s been called the Russian “Jersey Shore.” Sometimes reality tv can be so delicious and addicting. And then, I decided I needed to try to make borscht.

Borscht is a stew with beets as the star ingredient. For the record, I don’t like beets that well. But, after my curiosity was piqued, I had to soldier on and make it. According to wikipedia, it grew from the scraps of cellared and winter vegetables. One of the reasons I love it now. The people who made it were feeding their families something very delicious from something that would otherwise be thrown out. Its common not just in Russian, but throughout Eastern Europe, with each country putting its own spin on the recipe.

I found a basic recipe. Since I’ve never made it or had it before, I figured it was best to stay simple. And this one was crazy-easy.

Classic Russian Borscht

1 cup cabbage, chopped
2 cups potatoes, diced
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
3 Tb butter
salt and pepper
2 quarts venison stock
1 1/2 cups pureed tomatoes
1/2 cup of juice from canned beets
1 cups of pickled beets, chopped roughly
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
dill and sour cream for serving

In a large pot, melt butter and lightly saute cabbage, potatoes, carrots and onions until vegetables begin to get tender, approximately 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add stock, tomatoes and beet juice. Adjust seasoning. Cover and simmer over low heat until vegetables are soft, approximately 15-20 minutes. Add the chopped beets and vinegar. Taste for seasoning. Simmer a few more minutes. Remove from heat. Serve immediately and garnish with a dollup of sour cream and sprinkle with dried dill.

I added a Tb of butter/flour roux at the end to give it just a little body. It would have been great with a big hunk of crusty rustic bread. And, for someone who isn’t crazy about beets, it was actually pretty good. The beet flavor wasn’t overpowering. It was hearty and slightly tart from the vinegar and pickled beets. That worked really well since the stock was so rich. I would definitely make it again.

The cabbage and carrots were organic, but not local. The potatoes, were from Preston County, WV. The tomatoes were what I canned last summer, bought from Crihfield Farms at the Capitol Market. The venison stock was from bones from a deer Jeremy killed this fall. Someone canned the beets and gave them to us, although neither Jeremy or me can remember who it was. The sour cream was natural sour cream from Kroger.
The recipe called for beef stock, but in addition to the recipe itself, making venison stock was an experiment, too. A few months ago, I read about making stock by roasting venison bones on Susy’s blog. I am CONSTANTLY telling the Hubs that I want to figure out how to throw away less of the deer he kills in the fall. Seems like such a waste to throw away the rest of the deer after you cut out the hams and tenderloin. He brought home the hams, and after we cut the bones away and put the meat in the freezer, I threw the ham bones in a baking pan with some water and salt and pepper. I roasted it for about an hour at 300 degrees. Then, I put them in the freezer for about 3 weeks, although this isn’t necessary. I just didn’t have time to do anything with them then. So, last night, I got them out and put them in my crockpot for 24 hours. With a BUNCH  of seasonings. I was afraid the stock would taste like deer meat, so I went heavy on the seasoning. But when it was done, it was mellow and surprisingly rich. Venison is so lean, but I was shocked how much fat came out in this stock. A lot. But fat is flavor, so I rolled with it. The crockpot is my favorite way to make stock since you can keep the temperature steady so easily and there’s no need to really check it so often if its in the crockpot. I heard on Martha Stewart Radio on Sirius recently that the low setting on a crockpot is actually around 180 degrees, and high is around 300. So, when I make stock in the crockpot, I put some bones and water or maybe a splash of white wine on low for 24 hours with some seasonings. If the liquid is getting low, I add more water. The only problem is, my crockpot only makes about 2 quarts of stock when you put a bunch of bones in it. My mom bought a big countertop roaster this fall for Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking of trying a batch in it so I can get more.

Dark Days Challenge Week 8: Roasted Chicken and Shallots

I was so hungry last night that I started eating before I remembered to take a picture for my Dark Days post.

So here’s a picture of my half-eaten dinner. But I did pretty it up a bit with Instagram effects.

I made Roasted Chicken with Shallots from Martha Stewart Living. I made this recipe a long time ago when the Hubs and I lived in the townhouse we rented when first got married before we bought our house. I don’t know why that detail sticks out to me, but it does. I wasn’t crazy about that townhouse at the time. It was TINY. And everything in it was dated. The oven was so old. But looking back on it now, it was a very happy time in our lives. The landlord let me paint the whole place as long as the colors I chose weren’t obnoxious, and I fixed the place up quite a bit. And, we’d just gotten married, so I had lots of wedding gifts to “set up house” with. That was a lot of fun.

I remember this recipe being crazy good when I made it before. I believe I made it when my sister- and brother-in-law came over for dinner one evening. They used to live near us in a slightly larger rented townhouse before they had children and we’ve take turns making dinner for the four of us.

But, I guess that’s the thing about really good food. The memories it can trigger always are so vivid.

I made this roasted chicken with chicken legs and thighs from Almost Heaven Farm that I bought at the Monroe Farm Market. The Shallots weren’t local, but they were Melissa’s brand organic. The butter was pasture butter by Organic Valley. I made mashed potatoes with the chicken. The potatoes were from the half bushel I bought earlier in the winter from a farmer I know from Preston County, WV. I used a bit of pasture butter in them with some half and half from Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA, and the secret ingredient to my mashed potatoes: a tbsp of sour cream, which was Kroger Brand Natural Sour Cream.

Yesterday was pick-up day for Monroe Farm Market orders. I stopped by the pick-up location on my way home from work to get my order. I always enjoy talking to the people who help with the pick-up. There is a super-nice guy that is a volunteer from here in town that has an amazing mind for detail. He couldn’t remember my first name, but he remembered where I was from and where I worked just from snipets of converstation over the past six months since I’ve been picking up my orders at that location. And they haven’t had a pick up since before Christmas. Also, two ladies who are farmers were helping put together the orders. One was a beef farmer and the other a produce farmer. At any rate, the lady who checked outr up before me inadvertantly grabbed the butternut squash I ordered that was on the counter as my order was being assembled. As they were completing my order, we realized that the lady ahead of me must’ve grabbed the squash with her stuff. I wasn’t too phased by it though, no big deal. They refunded the cost of the squash off my order and I was on my way. However, this morning, just as I was leaving for work, there was a knock at my front door. It was the lady who grows the produce with my butternut squash. The lady who paid ahead of me must’ve brought it back, and before heading back to their farms this morning, they brought it by my house. I thought that was so nice! It shows you what kind of people farmers really are.

Dark Days Challenge Week 7: Asian Fusion

This is one of those really good dinners when you don’t exactly follow the recipe and you just sorta wing it, and it is surprisingly delicious. Probably better than if I would have actually followed the recipe.

Said recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Simply In Season. Here’s how I changed it up:

Asian Fusion Venison Broccoli Pasta (serves 2)
1/4 cup of water
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp of sugar (I used Florida Crystals Pure Cane Sugar)
about 1 inch of ginger root, minced
a few shakes of red pepper flakes
1 tsp of cornstarch

Mix together in a bowl and set aside.

About 1 pound of venison tenderloin sliced.
1 Tb canola oil


Tenderize and salt and pepper both sides of tenderloin. Heat oil in a wok and saute venison until its browned, 4 or 5 minutes. Remove from heat.


4 oz of fresh linguini
2 cups of fresh broccoli florets
2 tsp of sesame oil


Bring some water to a boil in a big pot. Add broccoli florets and pasta. Boil until pasta floats to the top (about 3 minutes) and drain well. Add sesame oil to hot pasta. Add pasta to to wok with soy sauce mixture. Reheat until sauce thickens and serve immediately. Garnish with sesame seeds if you like.

I’m making this again. Very soon. I wondered how it would be with steamed rice. But then it wouldn’t be Asian fusion, I guess…

This was my Dark Days offering for the week. The main components of the dish: pasta, venison, and broccoli were all SOLE, in addition to sugar and garlic in the sauce.

I usually keep a few batches of frozen pasta dough on hand, but I was out, so I made this pasta tonight. It’s much easier to work with when its frozen, actually. I think the freezing process must dry it out a bit, because when it’s really fresh like tonight it tears to easily when you’re rolling it out, and it’s very delicate. I used flour from Reeds Mill Flours and eggs from Cozy Hollow Farm, both in Monroe County, WV. The color of the pasta was absolutely beautiful using some of those super-yellow yolks from pasture-raised chickens.

The venison was the last package from the ones Jeremy killed in 2010, so we really needed to eat it sooner rather than later. The garlic is some of what my mom grew last summer. The broccoli wasn’t local, but it was organic. I haven’t been able to get any local broccoli. The sugar was organic Florida Crystals Pure Cane sugar.

I am always on the lookout for recipes that call for venison. While you can substitute it for beef in most recipes, the taste is slightly different than conventional beef. Although, I am noticing the taste of venison less and less, though, as we mostly eat grass-fed beef now. There are several recipes in Simply In Season that call for venison specifically. I especially love the recipe for venison meatballs in that cookbook, which I have a link to on the recipe index on this blog. Venison is so lean and high in iron and other essential nutrients, so I love to cook with it. That, and it’s generally free for us in a sense, because Jeremy is a hunter. This was a really healthy dinner, according to my LoseIt! app, at 504 calories per serving.

Dark Days Challenge Week 6: Pork Spare Ribs

Tonight I made pork spare ribs and baked potatoes for dinner and it was wonderful!

I’ve never made pork spare ribs before. But that’s the nice thing about eating locally and seaonally. You eat what’s available. And what was available, meat-wise, at the Monroe Market was pork spare ribs. On special. And I love a bargain. Even at the farmers market.

I’m no pork expert, but I’m learning. Spare ribs are different from ribs that you get at a BBQ joint. Those are baby back ribs. Spare ribs are from lower on the pig’s rib cage and on the belly side, near where bacon comes from, hence the higher fat content. Baby back ribs are from higher in the rib cage and on the back, as the name indicates. Both need very different cooking techniques. I wasn’t aware of this when I bought them, and I imagined your typical BBQ rib joint kinda meal when I bought them. But I “bing-ed” (as opposed to “googled”, not that I overate…) a recipe for spare ribs and found a handful that had ingredients that I had on hand sourced SOLE. We picked one by Michael Symon, and it was awesome. I, well, Jeremy and I, made them the same way we make beef short ribs, by searing them off first, then putting them in the oven for a couple hours on a slow braise. They were falling off the bone delicious.

I made them with a baked potato from Preston County and we called it done. The ribs were from Little Brown Cow Farm via the Monroe Farm Market. The ribs had a variety of spices on them with onions, which were from Spangler’s Greenhouse, also via the Monroe Farm Market, and the ONLY non-SOLE thing in them that wasn’t part of my exceptions were 2 Tb of tomato paste. I have some tomatoes canned, which I probably could have used in place of those, but it was just easier to open a can from my pantry that has been there who know’s how long. I don’t keep tomato paste stocked, but I must’ve bought it for something and not needed it a while back. It’s been there since at least last summer. The potatoes had Kroger-brand natural sour cream and Organic Valley Pasture butter on them.

I notice that several of the pork items are still on “special” on the Monroe Farm Market website, so who knows what I’ll order this month. I might learn a new dish–again.