Living la vida…Local.

by Stepto
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Rochelle and I are fortunate enough to live not just in the Pacific Northwest, but also in one of the richest farming areas in the region. Our little town, Duvall, is situated in the Snoqualmie river valley.  It struck me, not to long ago, that being able to live in a place so beautiful might have other benefits once I realized how many farms there were around here. The local farms and farmer’s markets are fantastic and we’ve grown used to local fresh vegetables and fruit on the table. As I thought more about it, I realized there was more here than met the eye.

In short, I realized I was being a fucking idiot for buying my steak at Safeway.

About most things I’m a pinko commie liberal.  But while I agree that meat is murder, the truth is that it’s tasty, tasty murder.

So we popped for a freezer and switched to all local foods, from fish to meat to everything.  We just bought a half a cow from a local farm, and I got several fresh trout and an entire wild caught king salmon (25 pounder!).  The freezer?

photo

We’re set.

The white packages are basically my cow, who I named “Tasty” while it was alive. Tasty was a Red Angus who lived his life wandering around the river valley eating what he was meant to eat: grass.  It also means he was a normal sized Red Angus and half of him represented about 140 pounds of meat.  Having enjoyed some of Tasty, I’m mystified now why people advertise corn-fed meat. I never knew what I was missing. Now I know that all corn does is create a bland, fat-filled cut of beef.  One that’s really not in any way good for you unless you only eat 2 ounces of it.

I can’t say enough how much better natural grass-fed beef tastes.  The first night Rochelle and I had T-bones.  Granted it’s more difficult to cook grass-fed beef because it has practically no fat so it goes from steak to jerky in 30 seconds of overcooking. But the flavor of those steaks was amazing.  It’s lean and what fat exists is far healthier Omega 3 laced fat.

Plus, since it wasn’t a gargantua corn cow each T-Bone was about 8-10 ounces in size. To get that in a corn cow you have to have the T-Bone sliced by the micron. These were an inch thick. Enough for a filling meal but not so much that you are really overeating.

Total cost for Tasty? $3.50 a pound, and that included the cow, butchering, aging, wrapping and freezing.

I think everyone’s experienced how much better fresh local fruit and vegetables are over the mass produced big aggro stuff. I had no idea how much better local eggs, meat, and milk is for you, and how much better it tastes.

So if you’re lucky enough to live in a farming area, try investigating some local sources for meat. It tastes better, you support local small farms, and it’s better for you.

Oh and if you live near me and the zombie apocalypse happens, we’re probably the spot you want to apply for admission to.  Bring an essential skill or scotch please.

Living la vida…Local.

by Stepto
No Comments

Rochelle and I are fortunate enough to live not just in the Pacific Northwest, but also in one of the richest farming areas in the region. Our little town, Duvall, is situated in the Snoqualmie river valley.  It struck me, not to long ago, that being able to live in a place so beautiful might have other benefits once I realized how many farms there were around here. The local farms and farmer’s markets are fantastic and we’ve grown used to local fresh vegetables and fruit on the table. As I thought more about it, I realized there was more here than met the eye.

In short, I realized I was being a fucking idiot for buying my steak at Safeway.

About most things I’m a pinko commie liberal.  But while I agree that meat is murder, the truth is that it’s tasty, tasty murder.

So we popped for a freezer and switched to all local foods, from fish to meat to everything.  We just bought a half a cow from a local farm, and I got several fresh trout and an entire wild caught king salmon (25 pounder!).  The freezer?

photo

We’re set.

The white packages are basically my cow, who I named “Tasty” while it was alive. Tasty was a Red Angus who lived his life wandering around the river valley eating what he was meant to eat: grass.  It also means he was a normal sized Red Angus and half of him represented about 140 pounds of meat.  Having enjoyed some of Tasty, I’m mystified now why people advertise corn-fed meat. I never knew what I was missing. Now I know that all corn does is create a bland, fat-filled cut of beef.  One that’s really not in any way good for you unless you only eat 2 ounces of it.

I can’t say enough how much better natural grass-fed beef tastes.  The first night Rochelle and I had T-bones.  Granted it’s more difficult to cook grass-fed beef because it has practically no fat so it goes from steak to jerky in 30 seconds of overcooking. But the flavor of those steaks was amazing.  It’s lean and what fat exists is far healthier Omega 3 laced fat.

Plus, since it wasn’t a gargantua corn cow each T-Bone was about 8-10 ounces in size. To get that in a corn cow you have to have the T-Bone sliced by the micron. These were an inch thick. Enough for a filling meal but not so much that you are really overeating.

Total cost for Tasty? $3.50 a pound, and that included the cow, butchering, aging, wrapping and freezing.

I think everyone’s experienced how much better fresh local fruit and vegetables are over the mass produced big aggro stuff. I had no idea how much better local eggs, meat, and milk is for you, and how much better it tastes.

So if you’re lucky enough to live in a farming area, try investigating some local sources for meat. It tastes better, you support local small farms, and it’s better for you.

Oh and if you live near me and the zombie apocalypse happens, we’re probably the spot you want to apply for admission to.  Bring an essential skill or scotch please.

Recipe File: Fried Green Tomatillo

by Stepto
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I love making fried or stewed green tomatoes.  I grew up with them and have always had a huge love of their tangy, almost artichoke-like flavor.  Properly made fried green tomatoes are firm and the batter crunchy; tangy with a hint of salt in the batter.

Rochto and I just recently went local for all our food.  We bought a half a cow from a local farm, etc (I’ll post on that later). A good friend of ours hooked us up with a huge box of local produce.  Squash, herbs, spinach, broccoli, and some of the largest tomatillo I have ever seen. These were medium tomato sized. I’ve only ever used tomatillo in my restaurant cooking days for making a cream verde enchilada sauce. So I knew that they are extremely sour, the skin tends to be a bit thicker, and that I’d never seen one used in anything but a salsa or sauce. So I thought, I wonder if anyone’s tried to fry them? 

Come to find out several people had.  I combined several recipes then added one special touch at the end that I think really made the dish perfect. This recipe, by the way, works fine for green tomatoes but I would leave off the last step since they are far less tangy and I think don’t need a strong sugar flavor to offset it.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh tomatillo, tennis ball size if you can get them, bigger than a golf ball if not.
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Garlic Tabasco sauce
2 cups flour
1 shaker Cajun Choice Creole Seasoning
4 tablespoons light oil (for frying)
1 shaker full of Sugar in the Raw 

One thing about tomatillo is that they look like small tomatoes in a paper like husk.  When you remove the husk they are covered in a very sticky, hard to remove substance.  So, you have to get rid of the stems and husks and wash them to remove the sticky. Depending on the size of the tomatillo try and cut them 1/4 inches thick.

In a separate dish combine the milk, egg, lemon, and Tabasco.  Drop the slices of tomatillo into the mixture to soak for 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a skillet, or if you want you can use a deep fryer. Try to use a neutral oil. In my opinion there’s enough flavor assertion here in all the ingredients that the oil shouldn’t impart any clear influence.  An Enova or vegetable oil is fine. Having said that, with what we’re loading up here if you want to use an incredibly thick olive oil go for it if that’s your style.

Dredge each tomatillo slice in the flour until completely covered in dried flour.  Set aside.  Over the plate of breaded tomatillo shake *heavily* the shaker of Creole seasoning.  Flip the slices then shake again.  Each side should now be completely reddish colored from the paprika and cayenne in the seasoning.

Now, fry!  Be very careful.  The first couple I did rendered mushy pretty fast.  You want the batter to brown but the slices to retain some bit of firmness.  I found deep frying worked better than pan frying.  When deep frying do roughly 90-120 seconds depending on the oil and temperature. Pan frying means you have to flip them to get even coverage and that resulted in overcooking without the batter firming up.

Once all the slices are fried place them on paper towels to soak up any excess oil and lightly pat dry.

And now for the last step, the step I think you might want to skip if you are doing regular fried green tomatoes and not tomatillo.  The tomatillo are *super* tangy.  So a bit of sweet to counteract the spice and salt of the batter is the right move.  You have two choices.  You can drizzle honey over the slices and run the risk of interfering with the crispiness of the batter, or dust both sides with a brown unrefined sugar like sugar in the raw.

The resultant slices are outstanding.  You get the tart, artichoke flavor of the tomatillo, some bite and salt from the creole seasoning, and the delicious sweetness overall from the sugar/honey.  I hope this turns out as good for you as it did for us.

Enjoy!

Recipe File: Baby Spinach Salad and Hot Bacon Dressing

by Stepto
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I made this a while ago and jotted the notes down on my iPhone then forgot about it.  Hooray for randomly opening the notes app to make a note of something and seeing it!

This is a very simple recipe that creates a nice side salad, or even a meal if you want to top it with some grilled chicken breast. I prefer to use baby spinach simply because I like the smaller leaves and you don’t have to spend a lot of time washing or pulling the veins off.  However the recipe works the same for normal spinach.

Lastly, this recipe uses Garlic Chives instead of normal onion chives for a light garlic flavor without having to manage a more potent garlic bulb or minced garlic. 

Ingredients:

1 bag baby spinach, washed and dried
2 slices thick cut bacon (any type, but the thick cut part is important)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons sliced Garlic Chives
3 teaspoons white vinegar
4-5 large mushrooms, sliced
1 large egg
a pinch of sea salt

Hard boil the egg via your preferred method.  While it’s boiling, combine the mushrooms and spinach into a large bowl and toss lightly to spread the mushrooms around.

Now the best part!  Cook the bacon on medium to low heat in a small frying pan until the bacon is crisp. Make it crispier than you would normally make bacon for use by itself so that the fat renders. This will take longer than normal bacon because we’re using thick cut bacon, but the benefit to using thicker slices is that more fat will render into oil to comprise the base of our dressing.  You have to manage the heat here because we don’t want the oil to brown and spatter. It’s time consuming, but important.

Once the bacon is nice and crisp, remove it and dice it up.  Then add the bacon back to the oil along with the vinegar, sugar, Garlic Chives, and the pinch of salt. Bring the mixture to a boil/simmer for just a few minutes.  While that’s going, slice up that boiled egg crossways into big chunks.

Portion out the spinach to your liking, topping it with diced boiled egg. Lastly, add the dressing to taste while it’s hot.  You can alternatively leave the spinach in the big bowl and add the dressing and egg, tossing until the leaves are lightly coated and serve it that way.

You should end up with a nice, sweet/tangy/bacony dressing with just a hint of garlic.

Enjoy!