Monthly Archives: April 2014

You know, I almost forgot to post about the goodies we got in this week’s Friends and Farms basket Thursday. That would be a result of having so many activities going on, and not getting around to it.

I did get the big picture up there the other night, but that wide angle shot doesn’t do it justice.

Some highlights.

There were pork chops and chicken legs in the basket. The legs, along with a couple of chicken breasts from a previous basket, are happily marinating in a buttermilk brine. Soon to become oven roasted buttermilk chicken. They need another day though. The pork chops will make it in the oven early next week.

Turkey sausage. A favorite to keep around for when I make lasagna, or tomato sauce. It went in the freezer for a while. If I dig around in the basement freezer I will find some peeled tomatoes to make a sauce.

The rosemary was a nice touch. It will get used, just don’t know where yet. Love the apple cider. Perfect for use in the pork chop department. Or, straight up with lunch. The black cherry yogurt keeps disappearing at breakfast. With some granola mixed in.

Those hydroponic tomatoes from Hummingbird Farms. One with dinner tonight, over the greens (not pictured above). This week we got a Breadery baguette. Already almost gone. There was garlic bread with pasta last night. Green beans. Will be served with the pork chops, or maybe the chicken. Who knows?

Eggs. A few breakfast dishes. Some egg salad maybe. The grapefruit. In a salad or two. I like that refreshing hit from the citrus in salads. The portabellas. Definitely will be made later this week with a couple of Boarmans’ crab cakes spread over them.

As for the mother of all Napa cabbages I have ever encountered, I have no idea at the moment. I usually do a slaw, but this one would feed our zip code.

Parsnips. I love them. An underappreciated vegetable. Thinking of a riff on colcannon using some greens, parsnips and a few potatoes that are left.

I really enjoy this challenge. I feel I have wandered onto the set of Chopped, on Food Network.

And, next week. Looks even better.

I just need to stop going out. We seem to be doing that often this month.

#hocofood

These were some kind of catfish.

Carolina Classics Catfish. Delivered in this week’s Friends and Farms basket. Two lovely 10 ounce filets. Perfect for pan frying and serving with those grits also in the basket. Red grits, as a matter of fact. I loosely followed the recipe for the grits on the highlighted web site, but did a little substitution.

As for the basket this week, it was clearly a Southern thing.

Sweet potatoes. Turnip greens. Catfish. Grits. What can I say?

Some of the usual stuff was in the basket. The dozen eggs. The bread. Apples.

Along With some green peppers. An eye of round roast. Carrots. Spinach. Frozen squash and corn. I have been loving the corn in soups and with black beans for a savory dish.

Oh, and a killer pepper jack cheese. An “in your face” cheese. Also pictured was a special sitting in their office. Rhubarb strawberry jam. We bought a jar, to have on toast.

As for tonight’s dinner. It consisted of catfish and grits.

The catfish. Pan fried in grapeseed oil. With a dusting of paprika, garlic powder, pepper and oregano. No, I didn’t measure it. I was heavy on the garlic and the paprika. A sweet paprika.

The grits. A slight modification of the recipe on the Plated website linked above. I did use the 1/2 cup of grits, and the two cup liquid mix. I used a couple of ounces of tomato paste and some chicken base in the mix, as called for. I used the spinach from the basket.

I did not have smoked paprika so used sweet paprika with two drops of liquid smoke.

You have to try this red grits recipe if you can get your hands on good grits. This was one awesome grits dish.

My suggestion, though, is to increase the salt and pepper a bit. They were just a touch too bland.

As for the catfish, use equal amounts (1 tbsp. each) of sweet paprika and of garlic powder. Use a very healthy pinch of pepper. A touch of oregano. I sort of played around with the recipe on the Plated site, but knew I wanted pepper to be more assertive. And much more garlic.

This was good stuff. We will be ordering these catfish from the Friends and Farms website, as we really were impressed with how great they are.

#hocofood