At the same time, all the food ideas I had for my own kitchen or culinary events were pushed aside. And so I write this entry. This is my way of saying I’m giving a voice to my food fantasies. I want to share what’s on my mind (and my stomach’s mind too.) This may be less serious and more fun. All blogs need some balance. Here’s my go at it.

On my mind and in the freezer sit many ideas, including:

- head cheese (I recently facilitated the purchase of an entire pig from Afton Field Farm) Look for a series of posts on the making of head cheese. Yes, there will be gore but yes, it will be interesting.

- North Portland Supper Club. I posted about this recently and I’ve been reluctant to continue posting on this topic (see above worries.) But those concerns have passed and now I will write freely on my thoughts, hopes and future club meal ideas. The first supper club is in the coming weeks and I’m super excited about this food venture!

- Sundae Party. So I have a friend who has a friend. The friend of the friend either works for a major grocery store or works for an organization that works with a major grocery store. In any case, the major grocery store cannot (like many of its competitors) sell all of its products. Consequently, on Sundays a lot of the food must go. This definitely includes milk, cream and eggs. And so what better way to use these “aged” ingredients than make ice cream! I made 6 quarts last week and the goal is to make many more flavors over the next couple months. I will have to write more on this later (as there’s a lot to say.)

- Everything else. After buying the pig I also received 1/2 a lamb. The order for the lamb happened many months ago and it so happened that I received both around the same time. So now I have many pounds, many exciting cuts of meat in the freezer (not to mention the share of wild salmon.) So the freezer is full and now my imagination is exploding these days.

Now that I’ve finally said what I’ve been wanting to say on this issue, I am confident to fill this blog with food – culinary ideas, fulfilled food ventures, political rants and everything in between.

Related posts:

1. Head Cheese (part I)
2. Good-Bye Grocery Store (part 1)
3. Freezer Madness and the Long Winter Ahead

The foods of winter (I believe) are under-appreciated. On the one hand there are so many delicious root vegetables; and at the same time, you can only eat pureed foods but so much. It’s like the winter takes away our interest in chewing and all we want to do is swallow. We want warm liquid to throw down our throats. We want food to fill us up for longer swaths of time. If we can’t have sunlight or hours of heat throughout the day, please weather gods, grant us foods with zest. We need to remember the tastes of summer.

Well folks, summer is a ways off. We must embrace the hearty foods of winter. They grow for a reason. It is cold and thus we must sustain ourselves on different foods, cooked different ways. Maybe we eat more meat. We roast, braise, bake and broil. We fill the home with warmth from the oven before we devour the morsels of slowly cooked stews and soups.

This week’s menu reflects our approach to winter – slow-roasted meats, vegetable gratins and filling meals of seasonal produce. Here’s what I put together for the days ahead:

• Orecchiette with cauliflower and lacinato kale
• Spice-rubbed and slow roasted round steak with swiss chard and potato/horseradish/parmesan gratin
• Borscht with boiled potatoes
• Rosemary and garlic lamb chops with rice and glazed carrots
• Thai coconut curry and vegetables

(My) comments on meal choices:

1. The first dish is a favorite pasta recipe in our home. Orecchiette is a type of pasta and lacinato kale is the fancy way of saying dinosaur kale, which is called that because it looks like the scales of a dinosaur. The recipe is somewhat time consuming and prep time speeds by with a tag-team duo, but it makes a huge portion of food – plenty of leftovers for lunches during the week.

2. This winter I am exploring my interest in gratins. Ostensibly, a ‘gratin’ is a casserole. The difference I suppose is the cut of the vegetables. In a gratin you try to thinly slice the vegetables and layer them in a deep pan with cheese, cream and herbs. Unless you are lactose-intolerant and such a meal would make you sick, I highly recommend trying a recipe like this. Again, lots of leftovers. And you can also you serve a gratin with a side salad or a soup. Here, I want to use the gratin as a fancy side for a meat dish.

3. A couple months ago we purchased 1/2 a lamb from Afton Field farm. A lot of the meat we received took the from of lamb chops. Lucky for us, I discovered a simple and AMAZING recipe for the chops. Hands-down, this is one of the best meals I make time and time again. Until the chops have disappeared, you can expect to see this recipe return.

4. Now that I have figured out how to make a decent curry dish, I can’t help but have this on the menu every other week. It always makes a ton of food and I LOVE coconut milk. I could easily drink coconut milk all day. One day I’ll have to find other uses for the stuff, since I can’t seem to leave this recipe behind.

Again, another week of super delicious food.

All this and more for less than $100!

Related posts:

1. The Last Dance with Kale (weekly menu 27)
2. Walking the Talk (weekly menu 16)
3. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)

Busy. Busy. Busy.

Well, next week we will have the briefest of breaks in this holiday whirlwind. By the time we get home from this long weekend, there’s only a handful of days before the next big blowout on the 31st. As you can imagine, all of this hub-bub throws off the meal planning train. In fact, this month has been a real challenge for me because of all the activity. I suppose its good to acknowledge that solid meal planning requires a stable life, day to day at least.

That said, the three meals I know we’ll prepare next week are looking mighty tasty! Here’s what I’ve put together for next week’s 3 days of guaranteed cooking and eating time.

• Butternut squash risotto (Check out this post on making the risotto.)
• Lamb Moussaka
• Winter vegetable soup

It should be a good week for us and an equally good week for all of you. Enjoy the long weekend. Drink you drinks, eat the delicious food and love your family. That’s what the holidays are all about.

Related posts:

1. Sorry for the Delay (weekly menu 17)
2. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)
3. Bring Me the Meat! (weekly menu 13)

That said, I have enjoyed eating more vegetarian meals. Every so often I read another study on meat consumption and climate change. Sadly I don’t have a link to this particularly reading, but I remember a study that found eating meat 3 times a week was sustainable (given the meat was raised Joel Salatin-style.) And so I want to eat meat by this number. As a meat eater I think its very reasonable to consume animals 3 times a week – it provides a good balance for the weekly menus. Though for some reason unbeknownst to me, we have eaten meat less than 3 times a week lately, more like once or twice.

Things are gonna’ change around here! Well, actually, at least this coming week they will. It so happens that we are leaving Portland to visit my family in VA for a week. Not knowing what we’ll consumer there, I want to enjoy some of that luscious lamb we purchased from Afton Field farm. I suppose, whether or not we eat meat in VA, I want to enjoy some of the good stuff we have now.

And so, without further ado, next week’s menu (starting tomorrow):

• Lamb chops with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy
• Cuisines of the World potluck – Morocco
• Butternut squash soup with ginger and roasted cauliflower
• Lamb (shepherd’s) pie with sauteed kale

Okay. Let me explain why there appears to be so few meals this week. Unlike our normal lives, this week we actually have lots of plans! (yay for socializing) Three of our nights we’ll be eating out and on Sunday we will host the next Cuisines of the World potluck. I am really excited about it because I picked the country, and we are going to Morocco! I’m thinking spices galore, slowly stewed meats and lentils, maybe some mint tea and savory pastries. Although I have no idea what others are bringing, I can share my intentions with you. Again, using one of our Afton farm meats, I will brine and roast a chicken rubbed in Moroccan spices. As you might expect, I will post pictures and comments on the evening later next week. It shall be a glorious feast!

Overall I think it will be an awesome week. Ending with a Hanukah party and a week-long vacation with my folks. I’m sure everyone has lots of exciting plans for the holiday season. Lucky for us, we are getting an early start this year.

But don’t you worry, Good Man Eats will continue to write, write, write.

Related posts:

1. Where have all the simple meals gone? (weekly menu 12)
2. Freezer Madness and the Long Winter Ahead
3. Kale, how I love thee (weekly menu 5)

For most people a simple meal is one they don’t make – they eat out. For others, a simple meal might be cooking from a box or can. For me, ‘simple’ is defined by the list of ingredients, the required prep work and the time needed to make the meal. By the end of every week I want to plan a simple meal – minimal prep work and little time used. And yet, come Friday when I post my menu I see that this goal of mine is again, disregarded. In my attempt to write an easy menu for next week’s pre-Thanksgiving meals, I may have failed myself all (again.) That’s the bad news. The good news is that we will be eating some more fabulous dinners. Maybe this is a win-win paradox?!

Starting tomorrow and following through till Tuesday, here is what I put together:

• Coconut curry squash soup
• Baked lamb shanks with mashed sweet potatoes
• Pasta with tomato cream sauce and steamed broccoli
• Fennel risotto with dried chili and ricotta

My desire for simplicity originated with Mark Bittman, and he is still a guiding force in my food-focused thinking. I recommend his modern bible, How to Cook Everything to anyone new to the kitchen. When I think about simple foods I think about Bittman. The soup recipe I’ll use this week comes from Bittman, specifically an article he published this week on 101 simple holiday meals. It’s almost mechanical how easily he creates easy to prepare meals. I didn’t take the time to read through the list, but I imagine if you are interested it would be a good site to bookmark for future use.

The lamb and risotto come from another favorite chef of mine, Jamie Oliver. He’s another celebrity chef hailing from Britain and eager to spread the gospel of healthy eating. I won’t go into great detail here, but if you come across any of his cookbooks or his website, I highly recommend reading about him, his philosophy and the numerous recipe ideas he creates. I would say he is a step up from Bittman, at least when I compare their recipes. Oliver is especially honed in on fresh, seasonal and sustainably-raised ingredients. No matter who you choose, both gentleman are excellent starting points for novice home cooks.

The grand irony of the week is Thanksgiving. For the first time in my life I will not be going home (to Virginia) for the holiday. The trip is too costly and too short in length to make sense. And so, an almost dream-come-true scenario is born this week. I will be cooking and hosting our Thanksgiving meal. One day I hope this will be one of the traditions we take on as a household; a day when my East coast family travels West for the celebratory turkey day.

I digress. The irony of the holiday is my strong desire to cook as simply as possible, something I rarely do on a daily basis. I will write more on this later next week, as I want to share the menu I planned and discuss the tasty possibilities of single-ingredient dishes. Until next Thursday though, it looks like I’ll continue to complicate my kitchen plans!

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving Menu
2. Between the Holidays (weekly menu 14)
3. The Recipe vs. Spontaneity (weekly menu 11)

Although not aesthetically pleasing, freezing is a simple process for the preserving novice.

Since the purchase of a stand-up freezer, the opportunity for mass food preservation reigns. For the last several months I have slowly stocked up on random items. This week I compiled a list of all the current packages, including content and quantity. Between the big freezer and the one atop our refrigerator we have the following foods:

• 1/3 of a gallon bag filled with dried figs (foraged this summer and fall)
• 6 quart bags filled half-way with partially cooked chanterelles and their juices, (foraged this fall)
• 2 gallon bags of blueberries (purchased in August)
• 3 gallon bags of blackberries (foraged this summer)
• 6 quart bags of roasted red bell peppers (read this for the story)
• 6 quart bags of sliced peaches (bought in August)
• 2 gallon bags of ratatouille (here’s the recipe)
• 1 gallon of fresh corn soup (rather ironic to have froze this) (here’s the recipe)
• 5 quart bags of corn kernels (purchased in August)
• 4 chicken carcasses

This list does not include this month’s meat order from Afton Field Farm. On Thursday I will pick up the following:

• 1/2 a lamb, half of which is being shared with a friend; the total weight for our household will be about 20 pounds.
• 2 whole chickens
• 1 pound of chicken feet
• 3 dozen eggs
• 1 pound of ground beef

It’s important for me to explain why I ordered so much meat. The farm does not raise enough lamb to sell individual cuts. Since lamb is my favorite animal to eat, I wanted to have some for the rest of the winter. Like produce, animals are seasonal. Unless the farm raises large numbers of different animals and has the freezer space for all the cuts, certain species are available during certain times of the year. For example, lamb is mostly slaughtered in the spring and fall. Chickens are slaughtered in the early summer through late fall. I think cows are slaughtered year round as they are able to gain weight through the winter time. As you might expect, I think it’s important to consider the seasonality of meat, since animals do not naturally graze year round (at least in this part of America.)

Aside from the limitation of getting lamb, I am also sharing the order with a friend. Buying 40 pounds of lamb is a bit extreme, even for us. The other portions of the order are part of our monthly needs. In other words, the lamb is a long-term investment and the chicken, eggs and beef are short-term.

With all of this frozen meat, produce and cooked meals, this morning I had a revelation. In my mind, food preservation, be it canning, freezing, drying, curing, etc, is a means eating different foods when they are no longer in season. Therefore, it makes sense to eat all of these things during winter and early spring; and then the cycle begins again. Adding up the total quantity of frozen foods (excluding meat) there is a total of 32 bags. If, starting the first week of December, we ate one bag a week, we would have enough items to last 4 months! Clearly we could not sustain ourselves from December to March, but we can include some wonderful flavors in the mix. This calculation is even off a bit because I know we will be out of town at various times. I suppose I’d rather over estimate than under.

After making this calculations, I am excited to add a new element to our meal planning. Starting in December I can add a new variable to the process. Once this begins I will try to post once a week on the use of these different frozen foods.

For a geek like me this rather exciting!

Related posts:

1. Filling up the freezer
2. Grocery-free Living
3. Food Fantasies

From a political and economic perspective, the local food movement is also about sustainability and local food economies. As an economy of scale, the food movement could be regional or within a neighborhood in a city. The vegetable grower at the farmer’s market is an excellent example. You go to the market and you meet the person or family that planted the seed, that watered the plant and harvested the crop for sale at the market. There are no “middle men,” processing facilities or delivery trucks from the other side of the country. There is the consumer and the producer, standing eye to eye and creating a very real monetary exchange.

To move beyond the farmer’s market, the local food movement also invigorates people to learn foraging methods. In this way, instead of an economy we return to the ‘old ways’ of food procurement: hunting and gathering. At this point in time I do not think one is better than the other – foraging and farmer’s markets. Both are opportunities to reestablish a sense of self in a place, again both urban or rural.

For this week’s menu I want to participate in both means of local food production. Tomorrow we will return to the woods to hunt mushrooms; and Sunday we will return to the market to buy produce. To assist me with this strictly local meal plan, I went to the library and found the perfect book: The Pacific Northwest by Jean Galton and published by Williams-Sonoma. Of the seven meals I planned, 4 are from this cookbook and the other 3 I put together. Next week’s menu is the following (asterisks are next to recipes from the book):

• lamb chops with parsnip puree and roasted broccoli
• poached chicken with delicata squash and chanterelle mushrooms
• red lentil soup with walla walla marmalade *
• chicken, blue cheese and arugula salad *
• polenta with mushrooms and hazelnuts *
• macaroni and cheese with onions and kale with buttered bread crumbs *
• potato and fennel gratin with roasted broccoli *

I have to admit, I am really really excited about these meals. The recipes are fairly easy and the ingredient list is not that bad – everything can be purchased at the farmer’s market. This ‘project’ got me thinking about regional meals, and if any of my readers live in other parts of the country, maybe you could share some meals you have made that reflect your sense of place.

Related posts:

1. The Urban Farming Revolution
2. Does eating seasonally equal eating “American?” (weekly menu 6)
3. The 100-Mile Diet vs. World Hunger (part 3)

I did not get photos of everything, though now I wish I had. The potatoes took 3 forms: mashed, boiled with a parsley cream sauce (our dish) and covered in caramel (the winter land equivalent of the caramel-covered apple.) We also had some pickled vegetables, roasted meats and some open-faced sandwiches – a real smorgasbord!

Fermented foods are excellent for healthy digestion. Think Scandinavian kimchi.

Here in America some of us are just learning how to pickle and/or can vegetables. Of course there are folks older than me that have been doing this for years, as it was passed down to them from their parents and so on. Back in the day before refrigeration, people relied on curing meat with salt and canning vegetables in a salt brine; when vinegar is added the pickling process begins. It’s interesting to consider how pickling has taken form in cuisines around the world.

Growing up all I knew about was pickles, and I had no idea how they were made. Later in life I learned about sauerkraut, but again I had no idea what it was or how it was made. As I’ve gotten into food preservation I have learned some of these skills and pieces of knowledge. One other thing to say about fermented foods is their nutritional effects. Fermented foods aid digestion and help prevent disease. Though the flavor is often acquired over time, we Americans have our own set of palate-pickiness, i.e. beer, pickles and cheese – things we take for granted but in other parts of the world these are unheard of.  By the way, an excellent resource on fermented foods is a book by a guy named Sandor Ellix Katz, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods. I should also mention that the hostess of the potluck shared some pickled green beans she made. The beans were crunchy and spicy, an excellent side to the heavy meal.

Another classic dish prepared by one of the guests was Smørrebrød (an open faced sandwich.) The open faced sandwich is very common in the Scandinavian countries, especially during lunch. The Smørrebrød prepared for Sunday was impressive in presentation and had the strange combination I could only expect from a Danish meal.

Layers of color, texture and hearty flavor.

As far as I remember the layers were as follows: rye bread, cream cheese, sliced radish, smoked salmon (?), sliced cucumber and baby shrimp. The combination of flavors is out of my normal range, but when dining in a new culture you have to be open to such quirkiness. Maybe a foreigner would be equally taken aback by a bun, a slice of tomato, lettuce, onion, mayo and a patty of ground beef. Who knows? Though I suppose with a world filled with McDonalds, the hamburger experience is less exciting than the Smørrebrød.

Moving onto the meat options, there were two to choose. The hostess made both dishes and again, it was delicious.

I have no idea what these are called, nor do I really know what was in them. But they were definitely tasty.

I’ll admit the presentation isn’t ‘perfect,’ but sometimes a homemade meal doesn’t have to look like its from a fancy restaurant. What matters is the taste and in this case, the authenticity of the dish. I know that the woman behind the dish dug up an old recipe book from the library that reeked of Scandinavian cuisine. One thing that was striking about this experience was the expected familiarity of the meal. The hostess is from a Danish background and when she chose the theme of the meal she was hoping to have a seasonal flare to the meal. Many of us were able to contribute that flare, but more surprising was that the food was not too special for her. That is to say that she grew up eating this way.

Our idea of comfort food is taken from the immigrants of Northern and Eastern Europe. The cold climate brought them (and now us) potatoes, meat, dairy, pickled foods and the infamous casserole! Sadly there were no casserole dishes…maybe next time.

Roasted pork with backyard prunes and foraged apples.

Even though I did not have this dish, as I do not eat pork, it looked awesome and (I hear) tasted fabulous. The prunes were taken from her backyard and she found the apples while riding her bike in the neighborhood. Seeing this dish here reminds me of the season before us – winter.

Don’t get me wrong, I love fall and I hope to enjoy it some more. But the colder weather makes me want to braise and roast and fill the home with stovetop smells.

All in all it was a great evening. We also brought some aquavit which is a Scandinavian liquor made with potato and caraway seed. Between the aquavit, beer, the hearty meal and a group of friends sitting around a candle-lit table, the potluck was a grand success. I look forward to the next installment – stay tuned for our next culinary travels!

Related posts:

1. Cuisines of the World potluck – Vietnam
2. Cuisines of the World Potluck – Portugal
3. Cuisines of the World Potluck – Morocco

Braised lamb shanks with tomatoes and fresh herbs with sauteed kale and creamy polenta

Last night I made lamb for dinner and it was really, really good. Yes, it took many hours to make and yes, I know that time is money and convenience rules the kingdom of America; but imagine eating like this once a week! Even once a month is pretty darn good. The actual cost of the ingredients is roughly equal to what this would cost for one person in a fine dining establishment, but last night there were four portions. We also had a tasty red wine and some vanilla pudding for dessert.

I think the real luxury behind the meal was that we had this during the week. This is the one exception I sympathize with regarding this meal. Another person might be shocked to see this as a Wednesday night meal; it is more likely to prepare an elaborate meal over the weekend. It would still require many hours, but that time would be borrowed from the precious weekend clock. In this case, I do have the time and I wanted to make a special meal for our neighbors, who have been kind enough to give us wild salmon they catch on their weekend fishing trips.

As you may remember, I mentioned making this dish on last Friday’s post “Kale, how I love thee.” I had 2 packages of lamb shanks from our last meat pickup and I knew I wanted to do something special with these shanks. The recipe I found came from Epicurious – an excellent site for finding simple and elaborate meals. This particular dish is called ‘lamb shanks with tomatoes and fresh herbs’ and you can click here for the recipe. I chose this dish for a number of reasons. The most important of which was cost. Looking at recipes for shanks, I look for rave reviews and the ingredient list. I always try to do recipes that maximize the ingredients in my cupboard or fridge (this is a key rule to successful meal planning!) For this dish we already had chicken stock (remember the feet), tomatoes (from the in-law’s garden), fresh thyme and rosemary from our backyard, and the shanks from Afton Field Farm. The side dishes – kale (from our garden) and polenta (had in the cupboard) – were a given.

A bunch of kale picked fresh from the backyard.

Again, I admit that this meal was time consuming to make but the result was really worth the effort. Because I was so excited about this dish, I want to share with you the process of eating like royalty.

Firstly, braising is a cooking technique which requires the meat to be first browned and then cooked at a low heat for a long time with a liquid. Before searing the meat, I washed each shank, patted them dry with some paper towels, and prepared a rub consisting of salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, fennel seeds and coriander. Once the rub was mixed together, I worked the spices all over each shank as best I could. Then, according to the recipe, the shanks rested for 30 minutes.

As the shanks rested, I began to prep for the braising. I chopped carrots, celery and leek (I had one to substitute for onion.) I chopped up some more thyme and tomatoes, measured out the stock and wine, and peeled some lemon rind too. All this chopping was not so bad, I always enjoy practicing my knife skills. The first unexpected obstacle was actually the searing the meat. After 30 minutes of resting, I took out my biggest pot (6 quart) and let the incredibly slow electric burner heat it up. Then I added some olive oil and placed the shanks in the pot. The goal is to brown all the sides of each shank. Because the shape of the shank is not straight on all sides, you must be willing to let some parts be a little less brown than others. In the recipe it said this should take about 12 minutes, in my reality this took 30. Once the shanks are browned they are removed from the pot and laid to rest (again) on a plate or cutting board or bowl.

In the pot I put the carrots, leek and celery and let them cook until soft, then added some chopped garlic for 1 minute. Next went the lemon strips, bay leaves and more thyme. Then the wine was poured in and the deglazing began. Deglazing refers to the process of scraping up any burnt bits on the bottom of the pot. The liquid loosens the debris and you are able to add more flavor to the braising liquid. This is an important step in the process, often requiring wine or water or stock.

Once this begins boiling, I added the tomatoes and chicken broth. Then, with all of these flavors brewing in the pot, I added the shanks. Again, given their size, it was a bit tricky to make them all fit. But I did and it looked great.

Let the braising begin!

Over the next hour and a half the shanks were in the oven with the lid on the pot. Every 30 minutes I would take them out and move them around, placing different sides in the liquid. After 90 minutes the pot goes back on the stovetop and boils until the liquid is reduced. Now the recipe says to boil for an additional 30 minutes but the liquid in my pot took way longer. The boiling lasted at least an hour. While the kitchen filled with wonderful smells, I warmed up the polenta and cooked the kale. Before the plating the food looked and smelled amazing!

Finally the lamb is ready!

By now the lamb is falling off the bone, the sauce is rich and creamy with vegetables and other infused flavors. It was a meal worth the work. I recommend making this on a Sunday or Saturday when you have the time; maybe on a cold night or for a special dinner. Dee-lish-us!

Related posts:

1. Risotto is worth the effort, trust me
2. Simple, healthy and delicious
3. Chicken Stock