Braised Goat Chops

Last time I went to my favorite butcher, Blood Farm in Groton, MA, I saw these in the case and picked them up. I'm not an exotic food fanatic, but I am tired of chickenbeefchickenporkchicken, well I'm not really tired of beef. Cows are my favorite animals. Yes, I know about bacon, but I also know about oxtail, brisket, beef ribs and short ribs. I also know about goat. Very little before the other day, but I decided I had to learn. So picked up a package of goat shoulder chops and kept them in my freezer until I had a day to experiment. If I know one thing about meat it is that braising nearly always works when you have no clue, so that was my plan.

Braised Goat Chops:
2 chops
1 tsp garam masla
1/2 tsbp Chinese five spice powder
3-4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 small onion sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup kale
1 can diced tomatoes
salt
pepper

Pre-heat oven to 325. Heat a cast iron skillet on high. Season chops with garam masala, five spice powder, salt and pepper. Add to skillet browning on each side. Remove from skillet and set aside. Add carrots, onions an garlic to skillet. Cook 3-5 minutes on medium-high, careful not to burn the garlic. Add the can of diced tomatoes to skillet and cook 2-3 minutes. Add kale and chops to an oven-safe dish, pour contents of pan over the chops and bake on 325 for about 1 hour 30 minutes or until tender. Serve with cous cous.

Week 12: Final Spring CSA Week

This is the last week of the my Spring CSA share. Next week is the first week of summer shares. I was so happy to see tomatoes! Even though they are greenhouse-grown, they are leaps and bounds beyond whatever is in the grocery stores right now. This week also included kale, parsley, cilantro, 2 bags of spinach, two bags of lettuce and a bag of joi choi with nasturtiums. I originally had some tatsoi but I traded it for an extra bag of lettuce in the swap box.  One bag isn't enough for my family for a week!
We had our usual Taco Salad, so as of now, we're one bag of lettuce, one tomato down and the cilantro is gone. I'm thinking of spring rolls on Friday with the joi choi, carrots, and some shrimp. The kale is going to be in a chicken, kale and carrot soup. The spinach will be a dip or spanakopita. I'll still have enough extra to make a great salad and the parsley will probably end up in a compound butter.

I'm so glad we signed up for the spring share, and I'm looking forward to my third bountiful summer share.

Spring CSA Week 11

 

What a week! I was really surprised to find tomatoes and chives with flowers in my share. My son had to carry one bag of spinach because I should have brought two bags this week. We ended up with three bags of spinach, kale, tatsoi, nasturtiums, lettuce mix, carrots and a lovely bunch of oregano. No swaps this week for me, but I really had a hard time deciding between cherry tomatoes and a big, ripe whole tomato.

I've mostly been making things that I've made before as I tend to do when I am busy. I made a whopping bowl of spinach dip last week and will probably make another this week. I like spinach almost every way so it isn't hard to use up three bags. It looks like salad with the lettuce this week and I might have all the ingredients for a nice dressing. The tatsoi will be for an Asian dish one night and I am thinking about making a kale and feta pie. I feel like the carrots don't get attention but I can't make enough of them when we have a roast, so they are always great to have on hand. The oregano is enough for some herb butter, and then some, probably two batches for the freezer. The tomatoes and the chives might be components of a salad dressing or just part of a salad with edible flowers. If we're grilling, I might even throw the tomatoes on the grill.

Ragu alla Bolognese

Bolognese sauce is one of those sauces that surprise you. It is made of ingredients that most people probably wouldn't put in a pasta sauce on purpose. Over the years this has become one of my absolute favorite sauces because it can be made so easily from pantry staples and basic produce that most people keep on hand. I love that I was able use storage carrots from my CSA in this dish, which is a nice change from braises or salads.

Bolognese Sauce:
1.5 lbs ground veal
1/2 lb pancetta, cut into small cubes
2 large carrots, peeled
1 medium-large sweet onion
2 ribs celery
1 28 oz. can whole San Marzano tomatoes
1 cup red wine
1 cup milk
salt
pepper

1 lb pasta, cooked
Parmesan cheese

Brown pancetta over medium, high heat in stock pot, add ground veal and brown. In a food processor, process carrots, onion and celery. Add to browning veal and season with salt. When veal is totally cooked, begin to add the sauce from the San Marzano tomatoes, saving the whole tomatoes for the food processor. Process tomatoes and add to pot. Add red wine. Simmer 10-20 minutes. Add milk, simmer additional 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper at the end. You can always cook it down further if you have time, the times are just estimates. Serve over tagliatelle with Parmesan cheese. Makes enough sauce for about 1.5 lbs of pasta.

Spring CSA Week 7

 Herbs are never a bad thing. I was so happy when I opened my box this week to find cilantro, chives, and basil. I even traded my joi choi for more cilantro. We go through cilantro pretty fast these days. Tonight, we're having taco salad again and I was thinking about making more chimichurri sauce for a mixed grill dinner that we're having on Wednesday. It makes a great marinade, too. I'm hoping to use the basil in a sauce, possibly for eggplant on Thursday. It looks like I have plenty of carrots and greens for salads and braising. The cucumber always goes great in salad but it isn't bad for dressings and appetizers, either. I'll probably end up freezing the chives for another day and I'm not sure if the what the greens are in the share, they look like arugula, but they might be from a root vegetable or a mustard green.

Osso Bucco with Saffron Risotto

Braising. It's probably one of the most flavorful ways to cook any kind of meat. The flavors are always deep and complex. This was my first time using beef shanks, it isn't easy to less common cuts of meat in this area. One of my goals has been to avoid getting into a chicken-groundbeef-porkchop rut, so I've been branching out between this year and last. The carrots were some monsters from my weekly share, everything else was just pantry staples.

Osso Bucco:
4-6 beef shanks
1 tbsp lard or oil
salt
pepper
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, halved, and sliced
4 large carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
 1 can stewed tomatoes
1 cup red wine
chicken broth

Preheat oven to 325. In a pan with fat or oil, brown meat 4-5 minutes, each side over high heat until brown and seared, working in batches, so as to not over-crowd the pan. Transfer to lidded roasting pan (you could use a crock pot, too) and in the same pan. Cook chopped vegetables with salt and pepper about 5-6 minutes. Add vegetables to roasting pan with meat and tomatoes and de-glaze skillet with wine, add to meat and vegetables. Add enough chicken broth to ensure the meat is 2/3 covered. Cook at least 3 hours or until tender on 325.

Saffron Risotto:
1 cup arborio rice
2 tbsp butter
3 cups water or chicken stock
1 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp heavy cream
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp saffron powder or threads

Cook rice with butter over medium heat until translucent. Add liquid 1 cup at a time, stirring almost constantly. When most liquid is absorbed add cheese and adjust seasonings. Add saffron and heavy cream, tasting and adjusting seasonings if necessary. Remove from heat and serve.

Big Mouth Beef, Carrot, and Potato Stew

The potatoes and carrots in this dish are storage crops from our CSA and I really just wanted to make something to use them up before they began turning back into plants with leaves again. I bought the beef already cut up, labeled as stew meat, at Costco so I decided to keep everything else roughly the same size. Soup bones are getting harder to find and my storage space is pretty limited for freezing broth. I do make my own broth! Really! But... I also keep a lot of chicken stock in my pantry. Some people, like the three people who are going to read this, may wonder why I use chicken stock instead of beef. There are several issues with beef stock, and what is legally allowed to be called beef stock. You can find a good introduction here. I just fill up my pot with what I need to use up and go from there.

Big Mouth Beef, Carrot and Potato Stew:
Lard or rendered saved fat of your choice (Yes, you can use olive oil, too)
2-3 lbs stew meat
carrots, peeled and cut in half (10-20 small-medium carrots)
potatoes, quartered (8-12 small-medium)
onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4-6 cups chicken stock or broth
2-3 pieces Parmesan rinds
salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar

Brown meat with fat in pot. After meat is browned, add carrots, onions, rinds, broth and garlic. Cook over medium heat until carrots are slightly softened, add potatoes, cook until potatoes are done, seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. I usually use about 2 tbsp. balsamic, I like that it adds a bit of acid to the dish.

Pasta e Fagioli

Wednesdays are pretty hectic for me, and I had to do some grocery shopping to compliment my upcoming Italian-themed Easter menu. I still need to go back to the store, at least twice. I was looking for some Italian items that our store didn't have, and in the midst of my grocery store wandering, I decided to make pasta e fagioli for dinner tonight. I had never made it before but it is a quick, meatless meal if you are looking for one. It is the perfect pantry meal and I'm out of homemade vegetable broth, plus the canned tomatoes are too precious. However, the carrots from my CSA are in this dish!

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot  finely chopped
1 rib celery finely chopped
1 small-medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1c datalini
2 bay leaves
2-3 sprigs fresh herbs (I used rosemary and thyme but I bet basil and oregano would be good, too)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart broth (I used Pacific Vegetable, feel free to use anything you like)
1 16 oz. can tomato sauce (you could use cooked down canned tomatoes, run through a food mill)
2-3 pieces of Parmesan rind
salt
pepper
olive oil

In a pot, heat olive oil, add carrots, celery and onion, cooking on medium until onion is translucent stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add broth, tomato sauce, herbs and Parmesan rind, bringing to a boil for about 4-5 minutes. Add datalini. Reduce heat when datalini is about half way to al dente and add beans and bring to a boil again, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes. You can use water to thin it, but I purposely wanted mine thick. Shut off burner, adjust seasonings and allow to cool. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Personally, I could have done without the carrot, or  used grated carrot and maybe added in a 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan at the end.