Month: December 2010

December 9, 2010

One of the nice things about not having turkey on Thanksgiving is that venturing into that realm of flavors mere weeks afterwards doesn’t seem crazy on account of everyone is sick to death of turkey this and turkey that and leftover sandwiches. Quail taste much better than turkey, and if there’s a way of having leftovers I have yet to figure it out. A four-pack is just enough to make a meal for us, and the only thing left is tiny, tiny bones that I throw in the stock pot on their own to make a little bit for adding to greens or sauce, or mixed in with other bones for a larger volume. They’re fiendishly tasty little birds.

December 7, 2010

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. It’s mostly been turning the last of the harvest into value-added staples that will last into the winter: quarts of stock in the chest freezer, a gallon of fermenting cabbage and carrots, bread, and some pretty great carrot-ginger soup made with a beef-goat-smoked pig leg phở that is not the worst thing I’ve ever made. (There are four more quarts of the stock frozen for future debauchery). One of my projects is not quite ready, though it will be by tomorrow, and with any luck it will be as good as I hope.

December 6, 2010

I accidentally found another use for my now all-purpose bread recipe; besides baking loaves of various shapes and sizes (including the little rolls for Thanksgiving) it turns out that it makes perfect pitas as well. Now I’ve cooked bread dough in the skillet (and on the grill) before, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes because it hadn’t fully risen. This time it was intentional, but I was thinking more in terms of the fluffy naan sort of things I’ve made before, where I cooked flat rounds of dough in butter until they got charred and puffy. But I was in for a pleasant surprise.

December 4, 2010

This post is sort of a response to El‘s comment on the last one. If you’re not familiar with her blog, and you garden, you should be. She’s got an impressive four-season setup in a harsher climate than here, and is self-sufficient in most things. It was a tough summer in the garden; the heat came so early and was so punishing that lots of things got stunted and my timing was thrown off. Among…

December 3, 2010

The ground here is approaching frozen, so tomorrow I’m going out to dig up all the potatoes and most of the carrots before they become inaccessible. The parsnips stay buried, and they are our special treat in march when the soil softens. On the one hand, it’s sad, because apart from some greens it means that there’s no more home-grown food for a while. On the other hand, it’s kind of exciting, because now I can indulge in buying vegetables, and allow myself to include some that were not grown in the immediate vicinity. It’s like my vegetable vacation, and I figure that since I buy almost none from April to December (and what I do buy during that time is local, always) then I can justify such luxuries.

December 1, 2010

A blog is a useful thing for documenting daily matters, among which surely food. But it’s not quite ideal for the sort of ongoing, evolving festival of frugality that comprises the majority of our meals. So this post is a truncated attempt to show how it is that certain leftovers, strategically deployed, can make for a richer repertoire of weeknight dinners with no extra work whatsoever.

December 1, 2010

This month’s Chronogram piece profiles a remarkable woman and her inspiring battle against hunger on several fronts. I was particularly taken with her passionate motivation to serve restaurant-quality food to those who cannot afford even to cook at home, and her astonishing gift for reaching out and collaborating with anybody in the community who can help her extend her mission into new areas. If you’re looking for some charities as you make your year-end plans,…