Monthly Archives: June 2014

Linden Al Fresco

Posted on June 17, 2014 by AnnieRie

My favorite winery. A lazy, hazy Monday morning. The view, spectacular.

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There’s lots going on down in the vineyards, and the tasting room, and in the vines. Let’s start with the vines.

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The Chardonnay vines turn 30 this year. Original to the planting of the vineyard. Just outside the front entrance to the winery. There was a very informative article on the front page of the Washington Post food section last week, about the wine, the vines and the master of it all. Jim Law.

Jim also got a new building this year. There is a new barn you see as you drive up the steep entrance driveway.

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Built to use for maintenance and storage of all the equipment and machinery needed to tend the vineyards. Unofficially called the man cave by a few of us.

Other changes.

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Renovation of the second floor to include large windows to drink in the views. Front and back.

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The back ones, on the left, are harder to see around the trees. This newly renovated space will be used for those specialty events now held in the small addition off the tasting room.

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This room, used for meetings and library tastings, and other events is limited to ten people. The second floor will be a more open space, and we can’t wait to see what they will do up there.

Some other changes coming too. New doors and a new layout of the tasting counters will be coming soon.

All in all, it reflects that saying on their website. “Never content”. Always trying something new.

Monday we spent a lazy two hours there. Enjoying the view. Tasting the 2012 Chardonnay. Comparing the two versions of the vidal blanc and Riesling pairing. One sweet, one more acidic. We like the acidic one. Perfect for Asian foods.

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Some Firefly Farms goat cheese. Smoked salmon. Baguettes. Wine.

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Earthquake. The ash veined cheese from Everona. Lovely cheeses. And wine.

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With this as the view out the doors.

Believe me, it is worth the 90 mile trip from here. Just to sit and savor and enjoy one of the best wines made on the East Coast (and even beyond).

#hocofood

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To Honor Our Dads

Posted on June 15, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both of our dads loved to cook. I remember watching my father in law at the stove, frying up something special. And my dad, with his favorite foods. That he made the way he liked them.

Our dads are no longer with us. My FIL, 33 years ago. My dad, 11 years ago.

We still have memories. Pictures. Favorite moments.

Tonight we honored them by cooking things from their birthplaces, and using techniques they loved.

Like pan frying.

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These are baby bella mushrooms from PA. My husband’s home state. The hanger steak. Also from PA.

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I pan fried a hanger steak with red wine mushroom sauce.

I also made one of my dad’s specialties.

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Cole slaw. A simple one. Cabbage. Carrots. A simple slaw dressing (I cheated and mine was from a bottle). My dad made his own.

The food tonight came from Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative, in PA. And, Friends and Farms, mostly sourcing items from PA and MD these days.

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The salad. Baywater Greens. Strawberries from the community garden. Cheese from MD. A simple lemon vinaigrette.

The wine. Not local, but our dads were beer drinkers, and this steak begged for wine. My dad, Natty Boh. My FIL. Yuengling.

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For us, though, a toast using a ten year old cabernet reserve from California.

Here’s to memories. Here’s to dad.

#hocofood

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A Triple Play

Posted on June 13, 2014 by AnnieRie

Putting together the garden, the CSA and the Friends and Farms foods.

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Slow cooker short ribs with kale over polenta.

What came from where?

My garden:
Defrosted tomato sauce from last year’s harvest
Baby leeks
Scallions
Garlic Scapes

Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA:
Curly kale

Friends and Farms:
Short Ribs
Garlic (roasted first)
Polenta (from a long time ago)
Trickling Springs butter

First, I browned the short ribs.

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I like cutting them into individual portions and browning them in olive oil.

In the crockpot:

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All of that gorgeous kale. Three baby leeks. Two scallions. One pint of my basic tomato sauce made last September and frozen. Four cloves roasted garlic. Salt and pepper. The ribs were then placed on top with their pan sauces.

Cooked for eight hours on low. Falling apart ribs. Tangy kale.

I then made a quick polenta. 1 cup polenta whisked into three cups of water, that had 1/2 tablespoon of salt added. Whisk until creamy, then add two tablespoons unsalted butter.

Put the polenta on the plate. Cover in kale and short ribs. Open a good local red wine and you have a locavore meal.

#hocofood

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Berry, Berry Good

Posted on June 12, 2014 by AnnieRie

Both my food sources delivered strawberries today. There will be some creative cooking going on.

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Today Lancaster Farm Fresh began the fruit shares for those of us who opted for this add on. We got a jar of their incredibly rich “just apples” applesauce. Too bad we didn’t sign up for a meat share. They got boneless pork chops.

As for our chicken share:

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Breasts, thighs and legs. 4.5 pounds of chicken. I have been so impressed with what we get, as always.

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We get an email in the morning telling us what was selected. We do get advanced notice on Tuesdays, of the expected crop picking. But, it does change slightly.

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There were nine items in the half share today. I did swap the cilantro, as I grow it, for that lovely fennel. There will be fennel, orange and red onion salad soon. I am impressed with the size of the leaf lettuce, and the romaine.

The bonus. Those radish greens, which are edible and quite tasty, albeit a bit peppery.

The CSA pickup was this afternoon. This morning I also got our Friends and Farms basket.

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OK, I was brave and took the mussels, even though I don’t eat them. My husband was thrilled with them. They are gone already. Tonight’s dinner. White wine. Mussels. Butter. Shallots. Garlic scapes. A teaspoon of flour. Classic mussel dish. Served with the baguette from The Breadery.

The rest of this week’s protein and dairy. Short ribs and Ewe crème cheese. We also got baby bok choy, zucchini, baby bellas, broccoli, asparagus, spring mix, and those strawberries.

There will be stir fry on the menu this week. And, lots of salads.

Tomorrow night, slow cooked short ribs over greens.

For the Saturday night movie at the Wine Bin. Mushroom pate. The rest of the baguette. Chicken salad. Strawberry salsa.

Having fun with the fresh foods.

#hocofood

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Farm Fresh Feasts

Posted on June 10, 2014 by AnnieRie

A great name that sums up my way of cooking. And, the name of the blog of one of my CSA “internet buddies”. We connected on line while commenting on CSA links at In Her Chucks. A blog that is inactive at this time. But, we still read each other’s blog, and make great foods using each other’s recipes. Trust me. She has the most amazing pizza page.

Kirsten stopped at Larriland a few days back, to pick up strawberries. Based on my recommendation of the place. And she made strawberry salsa. Really! I need to make this salsa. It looks like just what we need around here. More homemade salsa.

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Today I got about a quart out at the community gardens. I worked my garden and picked a bit from a released garden, at the suggestion of our managers, to not let good fruit go to waste. Today was Food Bank day and we harvested and donated 35 pounds of food to Howard County. I was picking kale and chard and chives.

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After that, I remembered we needed to pick those very ripe berries from the abandoned plot. Along with pulling out lots of weeds while up there. Now, I have almost enough to make that salsa.

As for farm fresh feasts, here is what you can make from those lovely fresh strawberries.

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Salad with goat cheese and balsamic glaze.

Farm fresh feasts. The best way to eat.

#hocofood

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The Harvest Report

Posted on June 9, 2014 by AnnieRie

My first year keeping track of what I have harvested.

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I am now keeping a notebook logging in the veggies and herbs that I harvest from my gardens.

The winner so far:

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Scallions. Fifty four of them to date. Thinning out those onions has given me more green onions than I can quickly use. But, that’s a good thing. I use them all the time. The onions in the garden benefit from the thinning.

I also have a dozen spears of asparagus from my forage site. Less than other years, so far. Still, a little bit of asparagus will brighten up many dishes.

17 ounces of greens. Chard and kale, mostly. The row cover makes all the difference.

A dozen garlic scapes from my back yard. And a handful of spring garlic. Add some herbs for garnish. Like thyme, basil and dill.

All in all, not a bad haul for the first month.

Here’s to a very productive gardening season.

#hocofood

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Sunday Night Tidbits

Posted on June 8, 2014 by AnnieRie

Us and Them. No, the answer is WE.

At our planning meeting for Howard County Conservancy events for 2015, we discussed the addition of the Belmont site to the Conservancy venues. Trying to remember to say “WE” instead of “US or “THEM”.

It has been interesting to observe the expansion of what my favorite non-profit organization manages and offers.

Like this event Tuesday night at Belmont.

JUN 10 – Tuesday 6pm Saving the Places We Love: Belmont, Howard County and Beyond: Come out for an evening with Ned Tillman, award winning local author of The Chesapeake Watershed. Ned will lead a 40 minute walk around the estate followed by a presentation on his latest book: Saving the Places we Love: Paths to Environmental Stewardship. Walk begins at 6 pm at The Carriage House followed by the presentation and book signing. Rain or Shine! FREE.

If you have never been to Belmont, it really is a treasure and worth a visit.

That brings me to a request of fellow countians. Please consider joining our cadre of volunteers. We now have so many cool opportunities to make a difference in a child’s or a family’s or a fellow adult countian’s life.

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I just feel as if I drop all cares from my shoulders when I drive up that driveway and enter that quiet lovely farmland.

I like leading field trips. I like heading up events. Heck, this summer I am leading geocaching, and an ESOL hike, and a food preservation class.

I don’t think they collectively fall into the same box, so to speak.

Anyway, if you can’t make Ned’s event Tuesday, you could join us on a history geocaching scavenger hunt on Saturday. I have all sorts of surprises in store for the participants.

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Saturday 10 am at our Mt Pleasant site.

Pre-register if you want to be guaranteed one of the loaner GPS units.

#hocoblogs

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Springtime Recipe Inspiration

Posted on June 7, 2014 by AnnieRie

I haven’t done a recipe round up in a while. With the explosion of late spring vegetables, I think I should gather together all my links to the dishes, desserts, salads, suggestions, etc. that I continue to mention in my CSA posts.

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Like my garlic scape pesto. Here in the middle of the very fleeting garlic scape season. The simplest version combines a cup of scapes (cut in small pieces), a half cup freshly processed Parmesan, a half cup toasted pine nuts, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

Put fresh Parmesan cut in chunks into food processor. Pulverize. Add scapes, mix. Add pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle oil in until you get the creaminess you want.

As for other things to do with scapes, grill them. Lightly oil them. Put on a really hot grill and keep turning them so they don’t burn. Season with salt and pepper before serving. They melt in your mouth.

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Asparagus. Like the wild ones growing in my yard. They will turn green when you move the mulch. I like a simple dry grill method. Put in a basket. Dry grill for a few minutes. Just before taking them off the grill, brush olive oil on them and light salt and pepper them. Once on the table, shave Parmesan on them.

I also blanch them, then cut in small pieces. Make a simple egg/milk/herb/S&P mix and put into large non stick oven proof pan, lightly oiled. Once it begins to set up, dump the blanched asparagus on top, pick any grated cheese and put it on top and finish in the oven on 350 degrees.

I also put those blanched pieces mixed with any pasta, and a healthy spoonful of any pesto on top. Finish again with cheese.

Am I in a Parmesan rut or what?

Let’s move to strawberries and rhubarb.

Already wrote about that barbecue sauce.

I’ve made sweet desserts like crisps and crumbles, but can’t find all the recipes for them. The Food Network one was used at least once.

Kale. Chard. Greens. Nothing really fancy but lots of inspiration out there.

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Kale chips are fun. Mess around with your favorite spices.

Also, that night I made one of my famous frittatas. Anything with that egg mixture, can be one light fresh seasonal awesome feast.

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I suppose what I am saying here is this. Whatever is the freshest stuff you can find. Bring it home. Lightly treat it. Lots of olive oil, a little salt and pepper. My addiction to parmigiano reggiano.

Whatever.

It’s not yet corn, squash, zucchini or pepper season. Be patient and enjoy what has just been picked.

#hocofood

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Fresh Food Overload

Posted on June 5, 2014 by AnnieRie

As in too many sources of what came into the house today.

Friends and Farms. Lancaster Farm Fresh. Foraged asparagus. Harvested spring garlic and garlic scapes.

Is it any wonder I get overwhelmed. At least I didn’t pick veggies at Larriland today.

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Scapes and spring garlic. Let’s start with the back yard. I have 18 plants out there. Two, I found to be waterlogged and a loss. Four I harvested today. They were too small to become heads of garlic. Hence, spring garlic. With a couple of scapes in the mix.

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Asparagus. A couple more spears of my wild asparagus. There are two more ready to be harvested in a day or two. Not bad, but this year much less than previous years.

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Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative CSA. This is week three of the spring/summer CSA. I have a half share. Today eight items plus my weekly chicken share.

We got:

Salanova lettuce
Kale
Garlic Scapes
Frisee
Strawberries
Scallions
Red leaf lettuce
Yellow chard

A whole chicken this week. A Freedom Ranger heritage chicken.

The chard already made it into tonight’s frittata.

As for Friends and Farms.

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This week was my eggs and yogurt week in the rotation. Proteins included chicken breast and a pork chop (destined to become an Asian element of a stir fry).

Green cabbage and carrots. There will be cole slaw.

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That’s because we had a pork butt a few weeks back that is happily becoming pulled pork compliments of 100 days.

The rest of the basket included Asian greens, broccoli, scallions, hydroponic tomatoes, strawberries, and sweet potatoes.

I like getting small amounts of varied vegetables.

This method of shopping has been interesting, and a challenge to boot. Some days the large amount of greens is intimidating but it’s good for us.

#hocofood

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Strawberry Fields

Posted on June 3, 2014 by AnnieRie

I can’t resist Larriland for strawberries.

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This year the fields are south of the main farm. The price went up. $2.75 and $2.25, up 16 cents from last year. We only picked 14 pounds this year. Well. at least so far this year. I might go out again later this month.

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Here’s to the first strawberry margarita of the season. One part Triple Sec. Two parts tequila. Six parts strawberry syrup, made using pure cane sugar to taste, and a couple of limes squeezed in. A handful of crushed ice. Blend. Enjoy with the salsa from the Ellicott City Market.

The rest of that juice.

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Poured in ice cube trays. Resting in the freezer as we speak. These cubes go into many things. Once they have frozen, I put them in a container in the freezer. Pop one in a glass of iced tea, or lemonade. Or make a sangria. Or, melt one to make a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette. I am just finishing up last year’s stash.

The best berries.

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Washed, stemmed, dusted with sugar. Frozen until solid. Packed away to come out in cold months. Defrost and make your own strawberry yogurt.

And, it figures. Saturday we saw we are getting strawberries from Friends and Farms. Today, our Lancaster Farm Fresh newsletter predicts strawberries, too.

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There can never be too many strawberries.

#hocofood

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