Winter Farmers' Market

We had a very successful trip to the farmers' market Saturday.

• Ground lamb and lamb shanks from Pinn Oaks farm
• Blue and Settlers' Swiss cheese from Decator Dairy
• A Bronze Ranger chicken from Dominion Farms
• Carrots from Springdale Farms (our CSA)
• Eggs
• Celeriac

I asked the guy we bought the celeriac from if he ever grew okra.  He said he doesn't because okra really thrives on heat and poor soil "neither of which we have in Wisconsin."  Too bad.  We like okra.  Fortunately is is always available at the Indian (subcontinental, not reservation) grocery store we go to.

The market is at the Domes on 27th street.  It used to be in the lobby but it now is in the green house next to the Tropical dome.  It's a better location:  more space and much better flow.

Squash

We get a lot of squash from our CSA.  I bet we get 4 to 5 every week once they come into season.  That's not a problem, though.  We like squash, and they are very simple to cook, and fast if you use your microwave.

Here's the recipe that I use almost all the time:

1. Cut squash in half and remove the seeds.
2. Place squash in roasting dish, cut side down.
3. Place in microwave and nuke it for about ten minutes.
4. Poke it with a knife to see if it's done, giving it a couple more minutes if necessary.
5. Fluff the flesh with a fork and add butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

That's it.  Very simple and quick.

Pickled Eggs

I like pickled eggs.  I'm not crazy about them, but I do like them

I made a batch yesterday, 7/20/2014.  They are very easy to make and "recipe" is probably too strong a word.

Steep pickling spices in white vinegar for about 10 minutes on a slow simmer.  Peel hard boiled eggs.  Cool both and cover eggs with vinegar and let sit for at least a week.

We add cooked beets and habanero peppers as well.  You need more peppers than you would think because the acetic acid breaks down the oil molecules.   The beets give them a great color and a bit of sweetness.

I am sure everyone is familiar with Penzy's Spices.  It's a Milwaukee company and the Penzy's parents started a spice store in Wauwatosa, The Spice House, in 1957.  It's still open and we were there this past weekend to get salt and lamb seasoning.  They have other kids who also have a sice store on Third Street downtown.

Bacon

For about a year I have been making bacon a different way than I used to.  In a cast iron pan I'll put a little water, enough to just cover the bacon (that's not a lot), then simmer the meat until wth water boils off, about ten minutes.  They fry it like normal.

The bacon nds up plump and chewy as opposed to crispy.

I think I like it better, but I'm not sure.

Try it and give me some feedback.

Polenta

We don't make polenta all that often, maybe once a month, maybe less.  It's easy to make, but it's time consuming and you have to stir it every couple of minutes.

I can't recall if I've ever made grits, but I don't think it is quite so needy.  Maybe it is.

A good thing about polenta is that 1 cup of cornmeal makes a lot, enough for several meals for the two of us.  It re-heats very nicely in the microwave or you can make it into little patties as fry it up in some olive oil or (even better!) ghee.

Here's my recipe.  It's probably the same as everyone else's:

1. Boil 6 cups of water.  I use an evasee pan, but a standard sauce pan would work almost as well.  You can use 5 cups if you want a thicker product and you can always add more water while cooking if it gets too thick.
2. Slowly stir in 1 cup of corn meal
3. Simmer 45 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to get the stuff off the bottom and sides
4. When done, stir in some cheese (we usually use Romano.  Parmesan is good, too - see Rule #6!)) or butter.
5. Serve

First CSA Box of the Season

We had an email from our CSA, Springdale Farm, about a month ago telling us that because of the lousy spring we've had, our first box won't be available until about the third week of June.  That's not all that late, but we always are looking forward to the first box of the year with eager anticipation.

Today I got an email from them saying that they have lots of lettuce & spinach available, and will make the first delivery this Friday!  Apparently the spring wasn't as bad on the farm as they thought it would be.

Saturday also marks the start of the first Farmers' Market of the season in Wauwatosa.

It's a great time of year to cook.

Here is a good article on Wisconsin Spirits in NYC in today's New York Times.  "Little Wisco!"

I was discussing cookware with my niece, specifically, what pots and pans are the most useful?.  Like everyone else, I have my favorites.  But I wanted to see if the ones I think I use the most are the ones that I actually do.

I began keeping track of each pot, pan, skillet, or baking dish that I used, March 8th through May 1st, 2014 (104 data points)  I did not record utensils like knives, whisks, strainers, colanders, etc.  Nor did I log work bowls or serving platter, only things that I cooked something in, with the exception of our food processor.

The results matched my expectations fairly well:

Item	Usage		Manufacturer	Comments
12" cast iron fry pan	17%	18	Lodge	Great pan all around, but heavy
2.5 qt sauce pan	13%	14	Calphalon	Our go-to sauce pan
Jelly roll pan	13%	14	Various	Mostly for roasting vegetables
13" non stick fry pan	12%	12	T-fal	Cook's Illustrated's top non-stick
10" non stick fry pan	6%	6	Claphalon	Mainly for frying eggs
5 qt enamal Dutch oven	6%	6	Le Crueset	The workhorse Dutchie
4 qt sauce pan	5%	5	Cuisenart	Great for steaming vegetables, too
Baking dish	4%	4	Le Crueset	Finishing steaks in oven, baking potatoes, etc
7.5qt enamal Dutch oven	4%	4	Le Crueset	A must have, but not as much as the 5 qt
10" cast iron fry pan	4%	4	Unknown
1 qt sauce pan	3%	3	Falk copper
10" non stick skillet	2%	2	Calphalon	Good for pilaf
Broiler pan	2%	2
6" fry pan	2%	2	Calphalon
2.5qt Evasée pan	2%	2		Great for polenta and other things requiring a lot of stirring
Tea kettle	1%	1
8 qt stock pot	1%	1	Calphalon
2 cup sauce pan	1%	1	Calphalon
Food processor	1%	1	Cuisenart
10 * 14 baking dish	1%	1
8" fry pan	1%	1	Falk copper
	100%	104

I am surprised that I do not use my small, 1 quart sauce pans more.  And I have two of them, a stainless clad aluminum made by All Clad and a stainless clad copper by Falk (the Belgian company, not the Milwaukee gear people.)

I know, this should be a graph, but my cut and paste is not happening.