The early bird catches the spinach
I have a fundamental problem with getting up and out of the house by 7:00 on a Saturday morning. But last week it ensured me a bag full of fresh tender spinach from Primrose Community Farm and it’s sweet, green, fresh flavor is enough to tempt me again tomorrow. Who knows if there will actually be any spinach but that’s part of the fun of cooking seasonally. My dressing on this salad is far from local but then my intent is to do the best I can…every little bit helps. It’s a mix of olive oil, dijon mustard, rice vinegar, and yuzu dressing (it came from World Market). I added sweet naval oranges and green onions. The first salad of the season and it was a big hit.
I’ll append a list tomorrow of what I find at the market. Cristie commented in last week’s post that she was looking forward to watercress…what are you looking forward to?
It was a head down, hurry-up and get home before I freeze kind of morning at the farmers’ market. Geez…it was painfully windy and cold…snowflakes were sighted! I was back home by 8:00…very little chit-chat going on but I certainly do appreciate the farmers and producers for bringing their tasty products for us to buy. I bought:
- Breakfast sauage, bacon, and pork tenderloin from Eric at Jordandal Farm
- Fresh spinach and tender chives from Primrose Community Farm
- Baguette and pain au chocolat from Madison Sourdough
- Eggs from Dreamfarm
- Raw milk cheddar from Brunkow
- Muester from Edelweiss Creamery
- Maple corn and little sausages from Sunnyhill Acres
- Raspberry kolachi from some lovely new bakers…but I don’t remember their names
Did you go to a market? What did you get?
Get thee to the farmers’ market and a how to for pan sauce
That’s right my fellow Madisonians and Middletonians…today marks the start of the blessed farmeres’ market season. So if you’re reading this on Saturday as you drink a cup of coffee and ponder what to do with your day, get up and go…they’re selling until 1:00 so you’ve got time.
I was at the Westside Community Market this morning, at around 7:00. I forgot my camera but I can tell you what I bought:
- Brats, breakfast sausage, pork chops, and bacon from my good friends at Jordandal Farm
- Salsify, beets, spinach, scallions, and cippolini onions from Primrose Community Farm
- Eggs and goat cheese from Diana at Dreamfarm
- A 6 year aged cheddar and an Avondale Truckle from Brunkow
- Pain au chocolat from Madison Sourdough
- Maple popcorn and little sausages from Geoff King from Sunnyhill Acres
- Cinnamon roll from Stella’s Bakery
- Milk and cream from Blue Marble
- Sourcream and strawberry yogurt from Sugar River
Next week I’ll remember my camera and I’ll have photos to share. In the meantime, I’m still working on pan sauces and to that end I roasted a chicken yesterday and served it alongside some lentils with a pan sauce…it was fabulous.
How to make a pan sauce
- Roast chicken on a bed of onion, carrot, celery, garlic, rosemary, sage, and parsley.
- In a small saucepan simmer the chicken neck, gizzard, wing tip, and heart in water.
- In a sauté pan cook shallots in butter over a low flame for 15 minutes with lid on, 15 minutes with the lid off.
- Soak dry porcinis in a bowl with some of the hot stock you are making with the chicken parts.
- Add some cognac or wine to the shallots.
- Add the drained porcinis to the shallots.
- Remove the chicken from the oven. Place the chicken on a plate. Deglaze the roasting pan with some of the stock.
- Strain the deglazed pan juices into the sauté pan. Stir and adjust heat to reduce.
- Add more stock as needed to the sauté pan. Adjust seasoning.
My favorite snack this week was Madison Sour Dough baquette with excellent butter and sea salt plus radishes with butter and salt….mmmm so good and perfect with a glass of vin rouge.
That cruet and small bottle are full of excellent olive oil and pistachio oil from Vom Fass on University (same strip-mall as Penzeys) but I’ll write more about them next week.
The beef
It’s rainy and cold around here right now. T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruelest month and he certainly hit the nail on the head. Funny how weather like this in Paris didn’t even phase me but here it sure does get me down. That and the fact that my fearless minivan, hauler of trees, compost, groceries, and kids, has broken down and been at the shop since last Thursday. I’m torn between wanting to stop sinking money into repairs and get something new, fuel efficient, and small and wanting it to pull through so I can do some bondo work on its rust spots this summer…perhaps even give it a snazzy, arty, creative paint job. We’ll see how this saga ends up soon enough. Until then I’ve been driving Dave’s car and logging a lot of drive time as I drop Dave and the boys off and then pick them up again later in the day.
Braised short ribs are perfect for when your life becomes unreasonably hectic and stressful. Begin the day before you want to eat them. In a deep, large dutch oven brown each piece. Add 1/2 bottle of red wine, 1 onion peeled and quartered, 5 garlic cloves, bashed but not peeled, and a can of whole roma tomatoes. If the liquid amount is low feel free to add water. Also add salt and pepper and a bay leaf or two. Cover the pot and stick it in the refrigerator. On the day you want to eat them you should preheat the oven to 325F about 3 hours before you want to serve them. While the oven is preheating put the pot on a burner and heat up the contents then pop the ribs into the oven. 3 hours later they’ll come out of the oven looking like little succulent pot roast. There is nothing that well-marbled, braised, grass-fed, locally-raised beef won’t cure…well maybe there is… but it sure does fix me up after a bad day.
Enjoy those ribs with some nice smashed potatoes, a nice pool of reduced braising juices lapping at their base, and a delicious pile of haricot verte to contrast. Don’t forget the wine.
Beef was raised by and purchased from Eric and Carrie Johnson at Jordandal Farm.
