Tag: Food

Longing for Summer

We escaped the clutches of the January 2019 Polar Vortex and were blessed within days to experience over 50º weather. No, we didn’t fly to a southern state, it all happened right here in the Midwest. Those couple of days of sunshine and warmth had me longing for fresh food. Perhaps something from the garden: freshly pulled carrots or a warm ripe tomato. Or maybe a few fresh morels gathered from just beyond the edge of the yard.

But it is still February in Central Illinois. Gathering any of those things fresh fom the earth is still a few months away. We do what we can in the meantime. There is a container of fresh alfalfa sprouts growing on the counter, ready to add to a sandwich or salad. That crisp, fresh crunch is a welcome blast of nutrients.

A basement grow station is providing fresh basil, rosemary and cilantro in addition to the starts of tomatoes, peppers and onions that will populate the garden in a few short months. On days when it warms up just enough, say to 30º or so, it’s ok to open the cold frame and pick a salad of baby lettuces and spinach.

The next best thing is to forage in the freezer or pantry for preserved items. The freezer is full of tomato sauce, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic bulbils, strawberries and peaches. We even have some Elderberries waiting to be processed into syrup. The pantry holds rows of home canned tomato juice, pickles, jellies, jams, pie fillings, hot pepper sauce, relishes and our special Bloody Mary Mix.

So until the sun warms the soil enough to garden, we will feast on these things and dream of summer to come.

What summer food do you miss most?

Instapot Peasant Stew

Last Sunday, I was hungry for Boeuf Bourguignon.

What is this fancy French sounding dish? It is a beef stew in red wine made somewhat famous by Julia Child. The stew is simmered for 3-4 hours in the oven, developing deep rich flavor.

Before I go further, I must make a disclaimer. For those of you following our adventures at Five Feline Farm, you know we have significantly reduced our consumption of red meat. However, when we do choose to eat beef, we go all out on something high quality, delicious and special.

Back to the Boeuf Bourguignon.

It was already 4:30 PM and not wanting to wait until 8:00PM to eat, there were two choices: make something different or find a short cut.

I made up an Instapot shortcut.

Since I wasn’t following a recipe, I also decided call my version Peasant Stew.

Peasant Stew

1 pound beef, cut into 1 inch cubes (use any cut that has some fat marbled throughout, I happened to have a couple of strip steaks in the freezer)

1 cup dry red wine

1/4 cup minced onion

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

2 cups beef stock

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp tomato paste

3 large carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch slices

2 Tbsp flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound buttom mushrooms, quartered

6 Tbsp butter, divided

2 tsp neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed

Heat oil in Instapot using the brown/saute setting. Add beef in single layer and brown all sides. Work in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pot. Remove beef and set aside. Add onion and garlic, saute for 2 minutes or until fragrant and beginning to turn transluscent. Add flour, stirring for about 1 minute until browned. Add red wine and continue cooking for 3 minutes to release alcohol. Add tomato paste, carrots and browned beef to pot and then beef stock. Make sure the stock just covers the beef and carrots, using more or less than 2 cups as necessary. Add bay leaf.

Attach cover and set steam vent to closed. Use stew setting or manual with high pressure for 35 minutes.

While stew is cooking, melt 2 Tblsp butter in skillet and saute mushrooms until browned. Work in batches to avoid crowding if needed.

After pressure has released, remove and discard bay leaf. Remove beef and carrots, then set pot to brown/saute to boil broth. Once reduced by half, add remaining butter by tablespoons until sauce is silky. Stir in beef, carrots and mushrooms and stir to coat.

This is best served with a crusty bread and green salad.

Bon Appetit!

For more recipes like this, check out Simply Delicious, a memoir of cooking.

Kitchen Experiments

Do you ever find yourself in a cooking rut, making the same boring meals over and over?

When that happens, we do kitchen experiments here at Five Feline Farm. No, not the mad scientist kind where you blend chemicals while cackling wildly.

The mystery food ingredient kind of experiment. No, not the “wonder what this fuzzy stuff in the back of the fridge is?” kind either.

We do the kind of experiment where random ingredients are combined to make a meal. Like the TV show “Chopped” but without the time limit and pressure. And, sadly without the possibility of a cash prize.

One recent round had the following ingredient list:

Canned Pumpkin

Cheddar Cheese Soup

Quick Cooking Barley

A Blood Orange

Sprig of Fresh Rosemary

Yes, that is the actual randomly selected list of ingredients awaiting me (Julia) when I arrived home from work. This was going to take a few minutes of brain time to come up with something for supper. But this is how I learn to be creative with cooking.

The rules are simple: use each of the mystery ingredients at least once in the meal. Any other items from freezer, refrigerator or pantry can be used.

Here’s the menu I devised:

Green salad with blood orange sections, a chunk of blue cheese and an oil and vinegar dressing

Pumpkin ravioli with a mushroom rosemary cream sauce

Cheddar barley focaccia

How did it turn out?

I was mostly concerned about the cheese soup and how to make that palatable. I’m not even sure how a can of cheddar cheese soup ended up in the pantry. It worked out fairly well, adding texture, moisture and flavor to the focaccia. The ravioli filling needed something to mellow out the intensity of the pumpkin and the focaccia was best hot from the oven. The mushroom rosemary cream sauce was really good.

This will not make it into the grand repertoire of meals. But it does inspire me to make more flavored homemade pastas. It also helped use up a few random ingredients and step away from another boring weeknight meal.

If you want to learn more about how I cook and meals designed to use up leftovers, pick up a copy of my book Simply Delicious, available in digital and print formats in our Mercantile or on Amazon.

As a special bonus, email your receipt to simplydelicious@fivefelinefarm.com and get a free photo ebook download.

Don’t forget to follow all the happenings here at the Farm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

A Twist on Eggs Benedict

Wondering what to do with the last of your Thanksgiving leftovers? Tired of just reheating the same old thing? Try a twist on Eggs Benedict.

It’s that time of year again. The Thanksgiving leftovers never seem to end. If you are looking for something new, read on. Below is an excerpt from the inaugural book of Five Feline Farm Press: Simply Delicious by Julia Miller.

One year I stood in front of the refrigerator door. My mission: find something different to eat after 2 days of re-heated Thanksgiving leftovers. Frankly I just couldn’t stomach even one more plate of my favorite noodles. I shifted from one foot to the other. Thinking, wishing for something else in the refrigerator. Close the fridge and head to the pantry. Nope. Nothing there sets off the salivary glands. Back to the fridge.

After a relentless loop of trips between the fridge and the pantry, I started dragging out all the leftover containers. I might as well clean out the fridge while I’m at it. A corner of dressing, a few slices of ham, a scoop of mashed potatoes start my synapses firing. I wonder if that dressing could be cut with a round cookie cutter? What about a riff on Eggs Benedict? The following recipe was born.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Benedict

Serves 4

2 cups leftover sage dressing

2 cups mashed potatoes

4 pieces of turkey or ham

4 eggs

1/2 cup hollandaise sauce

Cut leftover dressing into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Toast in a 425º oven until warmed through and lightly browned. Meanwhile, pat out mashed potatoes into a half inch layer and cut with biscuit cutter. Coat both sides of potato cakes with cornmeal and fry in a blend of olive oil and butter. Add ham or turkey slices to the pan while cooking the potato cakes to warm the meat. For each “leftover Benedict” layer a slice of meat and a potato cake on each of the dressing rounds. Top with a poached or scrambled egg and hollandaise sauce.

There are many more recipes in Simply Delicious plus stories about how the food at Five Feline Farm is created. Simply Delicious is available in both print and digital formats at Amazon.com or in our online Mercantile. You can also see more food creations on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.