Chickens.

What turns a vegetable garden into a farm? Chickens.

My friends over at the Surf Club thought the landlord was selling the house, so with 3 month as our deadline we decided to get a couple of egg playing chickens for the summer. (This was back in July.) We had to go 25 miles inland to get them from a sweet old lady who raised them as a hobby in her old age.

Things we didn't think about at the time. 1) How to construct an adequate suitable coop for the hens. 2) Change in environment. 3) Amount they poop.

None of the hens laid for the first month, except the little red bantam who became broody. (Then it was months before the Buff Orpington and the Maran began laying.) She wasn't socializing well with the bigger hens so I got her an assorted bantam cochin hatching eggs and allowed her to go through with her cycle. Within a couple weeks she became a proud mother of four assorted. One of them turned out to be a rooster, then dinner. But the rest are still around. They havn't laid yet but the Little Red Mama's started laying again.




The Americanas (Shanti Clara and Lady Gray), Buff Orpington (Buffy), and the Black Cuckoo Maran's (Aunt Jemima) are all laying now. We get 4-5 eggs a day 5-7days a week and we expect the little hens will start laying soon.



The two small light ones in the back are Little Red Mama's, three dark brown ones are Aunt Jemima's (they should be a chocolate brown, but I didn't get the hen from a reputable breeder), light brown in front is Buffy's, the funny shaped long pale green one in the back is Lady Gray's first egg, and the other two are Shanti's.

The Coop 3.0. It took several trys, but they seem to be liking their new housing.

Quick Berry Pie

Its really hard to live a "sustainable" lifestyle and eat completely seasonally. One of the things that's hard to go without are berries. During the summer time I try to eat my fill of fresh berries, but the during the wintertime I indulge myself in frozen berries. To clear my conscious I will try to only buys berries grown in the States, and from farms close by.

One of my favorite things to make with frozen berries (usually not fresh) is make a mixed berry pie. With premade pie shells in the fridge, I can whip up a batch before I leave the house. This one's for my friend Sarah. She's a Texas girl and makes the best pies I've ever had, and I've decided to make a pie for her (in her pie pan.) Here's a quick easy recipe. I decided to vary up the recipe for the winter by making a crumble top crust.

Recipe:

Filling:
4 1/2 cup mixed frozen berries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tbs corn starch
1 tbs lemon juice

Crumble topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup flour

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F
2. Mix all the ingredients for the filling. Tossing the berries and letting the powders coat them evenly. Allow the mixture to thaw out ~15 to 30 minutes before filling. (When I'm in a rush I'll throw it in the microwave to defrost for a few minutes.) Set aside while prepping the topping.
3. Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar and cinnamon. Toss in the oats and mix in the flour without over churning the mixture. Set aside while the filling is defrosting.
4. Prepare a pie dish by rubbing butter into it, lay out your pie pastry (maybe one day I'll make my own, but I don't like to have to deal with flour.)
5. Fill the pastry with your filling. Evenly. As the berries cook the juices will fill in. I try to leave my berries as whole as possible. Dot the top with the crumble filling. Cover lightly with foil.
6. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes, remove foil and bake for additional 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Allow the pie to cool completely before cutting.

Wine Wednesday

Margaritta Monday, Taco Tuesday, Wine Wednesday...

I was planning on going to Wine Vault & Bistro for San Diego Restaurant Week but I couldn't get a reservation for tonight. Dinner plans were a bunk, but luckily a friend of mine (T) gave me two Omaha top sirloin steaks earlier today. *SWEET* I've also been on a mission to eat up what I've got. Coming up with meals is always a fun challenge for me.

I started by opening up a bottle of Tuttobene, toscana rosso igt '06 and started seasoning the steaks. I gave them a good dry rub of salt, herbs, garlic, and crushed peppers and let them marinade in olive oil.

I started chopping an onion and looked around the kitchen for ingredients. I found a big jar of neglected arborio rice, a few cans of beef stock, a surprising crisp bunch of asparagus, block of Parmesan, and a couple sprigs of rosemary. Tonight I was making risotto. *Yumm* I love making risotto. Soon I had the whole house filled with warmth from the savory broth boiling on the back burner and onions browning. (Today was a cold day in San Diego, the high was 60 F.)

T Chan's taught me the way to make perfect risotto was by adding one cup of simmering broth to the rice at a time. Slowly and carefully watching the bouncing pebbles of rice absorb the broth. Stirring frequently. I began mine with a healthy splash of red wine turning the rice red then began adding the broth. As the dish became creamer I started browing the steaks and sauteed the asparagus. My timing was perfect. The risotto finished as the steaks rest. I stirred in the asparagus and shaved parmesan, sliced the steaks and dish was done.

It was perfect.

With the wine and savory meal. I needed something sweet to finish off the meal. I managed to throw together a quick something out of greek yogurt, 1minute warm fig "compote", and a nice thick balsamic. Sweet, but rich and mellow to finish off the meal.

I'm going to try to give you the recipe, but it was thrown together as it came to me so its only an estimate.

Steak

Salt the steaks to taste, and make the marinade.

Equal parts of dried (1tsp each) or fresh (2 tsp each) rosemary, parsley, and basil. Crushed red pepper to taste, and 1 clove of mince garlic per 5oz steak. Add equal amount of olive oil to the mix and rub the steaks leaving it to marinade.

Brown the steaks on a hot skillet for 3-5 minutes each. I like mine cooked rare. As it rests it will cook a little more.

Indian Fusion Pork Chops

I don't know what's gotten into me these days, but I've been craving savory spiced foods. Last night I made variation of a middle eastern dish, traditionally stewed lamb with dried apricots and other dried fruits. I used chicken and instead of apricots I had dried persimmons and cranberries left over from thanksgiving. Severed over a bed of steamed brown rice it was delicious.

Today all I had in the fridge was pork chops, yogurt, old bread (refrigerated) and frozen peas. Luckily, I also had turnip greens from the garden. I was craving stuffing so I knew exactly what to do with the bread. But I wasn't sure what to do with the yogurt. I couldn't decide if I wanted to have a traditional breaded and fried pork chop dinner with stuffing and stewed southern turnip greens or something savory with lots of flavor.

I decided to go with an Indian theme (so I could use the yogurt.) I ended up making a tikki masala pork chops browned on the stove top and finished in the oven, sauteed turnip greens with onion and garlic, and a tomatoe based korma stuffing. Overall I say it was a success.

Tikki Masala Pork Chops

4 Pork Chops
1 c Greek Yogurt
1/4c Vegetable Oil
1 tbs Curry Powder
1 tsp Chipotle Powder
1 tsp Mustard Seed
Salt and Pepper

- Mix all the ingredients and marinade the chops for at least 1 hour.
- Heat 2 tbs of oil in a heavy skillet and brown the chops on each side for 3-5 minutes before flipping.
- Top them with left over marinade and throw them in a 375 preheated oven covered for 20 minutes.

Korma

3 c Diced bread cubes
1.5 c Chicken stock
1 tbs Tomato Paste
1/4c Melted Butter or Ghee
1/4c Yogurt
1 Egg
1 tsp Cumin Seed
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
1/2tsp Ground Ginger
1 c Frozen Peas

- Dry out the bread cubes in the oven at 425 for 5 minutes with the oven ajar. Mix all the other ingredients together.
- Toss everything together and bake in the oven covered for 15 minutes. Then take off the cover off and bake for another 5 minutes.

Sauteed Turnip Greens

5 c Chopped Turnip Greens
1 Medium onion, sliced
4 Garlic cloves, minced
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

- Heat a tbsp of oil and add the onions. Brown it, add the garlic. Stir once to coat evenly and salt. When the oil gets hot add the chopped greens one handful at a time and toss with oil. Wait 1-2 minutes inbetween before tossing in more. You're trying to flash fry the greens without burning the onion and garlic.

A New Year

I spent all weekend working in my garden and cooking. It was wonderful. So much has happened since summer. The sustainable project has expanded to egg laying hens and meat rabbits. Getting those projects started was no easy task, nor an easy chore. They consume a lot of time, start up costs and care, but is it worth it? I say, "Heck yes!"

Chickens have just as much personality as a dog or a cat. They don't like to be petted or play fetch but my girls all love me as much as I love them. (Or its the trail of bread crumbs I leave for them whenever they are out.) I currently have a black cuckoo maran, buff orphington, a brown and gray easter egger, and five assorted bantam cochins. Unfortunately only the maran and buff are laying at the moment.

The first batch of fryers are about 6 weeks at this point. The buck is a California with an extremely high libido. The breeding doe is a New Zealand and the other doe is her daughter with a New Zealand sire (whom we ate). The hybrids from the California and New Zealand seem to grow bigger and faster. They are pretty cute, but they'll all end up in a pot.

The winter garden of 2010 is booming after the week straight of showers we've had the warm weather that followed.




I also cooked a lunch for the Jew who came back from birth right. Marinated Pork chops on top of fresh sautee greens with a black cherry sauce, accompanied by brown rice and chantrelle mushrooms.

Zucchini Zucchini Zucchini

One of the first things to produce in my garden this year was the Zucchini. The weather's been extremely mild in San Diego (I'm talking average 70-73F every day for the last two three months). The tomatoes are growing wild but not ripening and the corn just grows taller and taller every day. But all the summer squash EXPLODED. We get a foot long cocozelle every day, a white lebonese bush marrow squash at least once a week (when we had a few hot days the plant produced one a week), one crooked neck yellow squash a day, one straight neck yellow squash a day, Zucchini every other day, grey zucchini once or twice a week, and a baseball sized white patty squash daily. a LOT of summer squash!

My favorite squash recipe is Zucchini cake, but I don't think I can make a thousand cakes with all our zucchini. I pickled a bunch last week, but we still are over flowing with squash. Thankfully tomorrow I'm having some friends coming over for dinner. I'm really bad with pre planning meals days before, but when I looked at my giant stock of summer squash I knew I had to do something with it. The goal's to create a three course meal with summer squash as my main.

I'm going to start with a goat cheese tart topped with herbs, thinly sliced zucchini and yellow squash circles and black olives. Drizzled with balsamic.

For the entree, I'd like to make a summer squash timbale, very similar to Giada's eggplant timbale. But I'll be using ground lamb and fava beans grown in the winter instead of beef and peas. For the sides I'll make a fresh heirloom tomato salad, fresh corn and cucumber salad with sweet peppers, mint zucchini pickles, and a green bean salad with homemade goat feta and lemon zest.

For dessert, I've asked Alex to make his famous zucchini bread.

I'm every excited to see how everything turns out tomorrow.

UPDATE:

The dinner went fabulously, but not without hiccups. I couldn't make the timbale with the beautiful thick slices of grilled squash. Apparently when a white lebonese bone marrow squash gets to the size of a large eggplant its got a LOT more tough seeds in it. I took a beautiful perfectly cylindrical cocozelle and sliced it width wise into perfect rings and layered the cake pan with it overlapping the edges. I filled it with my pasta mixture and arranged a layer of squash over the top and baked it. It came out beautifully.

I tossed the heirloom tomatoes with fresh mint; the fresh corn with sweet corbaci peppers, grilled chopped squash, and onions in white wine vinegar; and tossed the green beans in lemon juice, zest, and almond slivers. Amazing.

Goat Tart

Bake a pastry shell as instructed on the box.
Spread it with a stick of cherve (8oz soft white goat cheese) mixed with equal part cream cheese and 2 tbsp of sage.
Layer it with thin ring slices (3mm) of yellow sqash
Sprinkle kalamata olives on top.
A dash of nutmeg

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.

When its all done drizzle it with a thick balsamic and serve.

Squash Timbale.

1lb lamb
1 cup of diced red onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
zest nutmeg
2 cup diced tomato (you can use diced cans, but I don't like to use the juices)
1 cup of grated cheese
1/2 cup of corsely chopped parsley.
4 cup of cooked pasta

Saute the onion

Mystery K

There is a girl I fell in love with. She girl is absolutely perfect. Beautiful. Smart. Mysterious. Funny. And she is a foodie! I havn't met a girl who appreciated food like me. With her I've been cooking the most beautiful meals: fig pizza with danish blue and pruscitto, squash blossom/heirloom tomato/ basil pizza, and this wonderful lasagna.

Mystery K said she didn't like lasagna, but I had her eating tofu and raw cabbage which she said she hated. (Never got her to eat mustard, though.) So I made her a lasagna that she'd love. She loves meat so I decided to go with something special, lamb. Filled with summer flavors and products from the garden.

I was trying to make goat feta for a potluck this weekend and the cheese didn't cut well. I had to strain it and make it into farmer's cheese. It had such a great texture similar to ricotta I decided to use it in the lasagna. I started with the cheese and mixed it in with sautéed yellow squash from the garden. Mixed it with sage to make it savory, but added lemon zest, mesquite honey and nutmeg to sweeten it a bit.

I went with the basic meat lasagna technique by sautéing red onion then adding ground lamb with a bit of pork (for the fat). When the meat started cooking I added garlic, cumin, and cinnamon. After a few minutes I added diced tomatos, a can of tomato sauce, a good handful of italian parsley, lemon juice, and a dash of salt.

The result was amazing. It was so savory and rustic yet bright and light. A wonderful blend of flavor. I usually don't handle dessert, but for her I went the extra mile. I followed the dinner with a beer float made with vanilla ice cream, chocolate stout from Alpine Brewery, and a slash of orange liquor.

Rustic Lasagna

25oz fresh goat cheese (I think if you mix goat cherve with ricotta it'll do the trick)

1.5 cup of diced yellow squash

4 tbsp of a strong flavored honey (mesquite or sage)

3 tbsp fresh saged

1 large egg

1 large red onion

1lb ground meat

.3lb ground pork

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayanne

2 tsp whole cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

4 garlic cloves

2 cups of diced tomatoes

1 6-8oz of tomato sauce

1 cup of fresh chopped italian parsley

juice of half a lemon.

I layered the whole thing. A thin layer of cheese mixture on the bottom. With a layer of meat. Followed by cheese. Meat. Then on the top I poured all the juice from the meat mixture on top of the top layer of pasta.

Bake 375 for 60 minutes. Mine made a 14x8 pan of lasagna for 8 servings.