bco fresh

The Boulder Farmer’s Market closed today, and with it so does bcofresh, at least for the time being.

There’s a pleasing symmetry, as the first post was made on opening day, 4 April 2008. It said:

“The idea behind this blog is simple: choose a main ingredient from the Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning, decide how to cook a dish with it, and report on the results here. From BCO, fresh, every week.”

For the most part the goal was met, and it’s been an intresting project. Check back in the spring, who knows what might happen next?

I’ve joined a cowpooling venture: with six others I’m the proud owner of the meat from a grass-fed steer that was raised without antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones, or feed animal byproducts at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos in Southern Colorado. Butchered and wrapped my share is 52 lbs., which looks surprisingly smaller than I expected it to. A lot (25 lbs.) is hamburger and stew meat, but the rest is an interesting selection of familiar and not-so familiar cuts. This exercise in good taste has necessitated the purchase of a small chest freezer that is now also stocked with Wisdom’s chicken and quite a lot of peeled green chiles.

This sounds like a lot of beef, but according to the Humane Society the average American in 2007 consumed 222 lbs. of meat, of which 66 lbs. were beef. This is up from 144 lbs./44 lbs. in 1950, which is both surprising and disturbing.

I did this for both health and sustainability reasons, and my hope is to eat less, but better, meat than before. We shall see, but mindfulness is the first step.

Sources

Oswald Cattle Company

So much has been written about bottled water. The sheer volume of plastic or glass in the landfill. The absurdity of paying a premium for repackaged city water stored in mysterious plastics. Even more unsettling, just consider the carbon footprint involved in transporting a product like San Pellegrino water from Italy to the US. Water is heavy to begin with, add the glass and packaging, float it across the Atlantic then truck it to your local Costco; let’s just admit that there are hidden costs that really should restrain your initial glee at the unbelievable $10 case price.

Nonetheless, I, along with so many others, am addicted to agua con gas.

Strike back with The Penguin. This device makes carbonated water at home on a reasonable scale and at a very low cost. With filtered water (Brita or ilk) and the glass carafes most of the obvious health issues are covered, the price is right, and the end result delicious.

With last week’s bounty in hand here’s my recipe for green chile. It’s a sort of New Orleans take on the classic, and doubtless would be viewed with some suspicion by Southwestern traditionalists. I start with a roux, a red-brown roux to be exact, and keep the spicing simple in order to highlight the perfect flavor of those Hatch mediums. Of course you can use any other chile pepper, but at your peril.

Green Chile

1. 2 Tb oil
2. 2 Tb flour
3. 1 cup (about 8 oz by weight) Hatch medium chiles
4. 1 clove garlic, minced
5. 1/2 cup onion, chopped
6. 1 cup light chicken stock + 1 cup water
7. 1/4 tsp cumin
8. 1/4 tsp oregano
9. salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot on medium-hgh flame. Slowly add flour when hot, stirring constantly. The roux will turn smooth and start to color. You are aiming for a color a little lighter than peanut butter – watch carefully and toss in onion at this point to slow cooking. Turn down heat, add garlic, and cook for a minute more. Add the chiles and stock and stir well. Season initially then simmer for about 20 minutes, reducing only slightly. Correct seasonings. Serve with beans, eggs, tortillas, fried potatoes, etc.

A true Southerner would add a dash of Tabasco, but that is only because a true Southerner adds a dash of Tabasco to everything.

Add Heresy

Purists shudder, but this is really good with about a cup of tomato added. If you are feeling lazy use a can of Rotels, but be sure to peel and seed fresh tomatoes. Simmer a few minutes more, and use as above.

Sources

Hilltop Gardens, by way of my freezer

Green chile is a fall tradition, there’s still time to hit the road looking for chile stands. In the Denver area try Federal Blvd, about anywhere from Thornton south, just follow your nose. The less adventurous can consult Denver Green Chili, a great listing of chile stands in the Denver metro area. I’ve always been partial to Hatch Medium chiles, so I was happy to pick up one of the last half bushels of the season from Hilltop Gardens at Federal & 96th.

After selection, the chiles were roasted on the spot then sealed in a plastic bag. Chilies are generally peeled before use, about 30 minutes steaming in the bag leaves them in optimum peeling condition.  Apparently some purists freeze without peeling, but I prefer to get the hard work out of the way by peeling and portioning the harvest up front. As in all things, your mileage may vary, but it certainly saves time later.

Peeling a half bushel is nothing to an aficionado, but it’s a daunting task if you do it only once or twice a year. I recommend using a sharp knife to scrape off the charred skin, then cut off the stem end but leave the chile whole. Chiles freeze well in any size Ziploc bag, but for maximum flexibility I put about half in 8 oz. portions in quart bags and the remaining half with 4 oz. portions in sandwich-sized bags. For best results use freezer bags and squeeze out any excess air before sealing.

Sources

Hilltop Gardens

I clipped an interesting recipe from the NYT a few weeks ago: Pasta with Turkish-Style Lamb, Eggplant, and Yogurt Sauce, and as luck would have it Red Wagon Organic Farm brought irresistable japanese eggplants to market. The recipe called for greek yogurt; hmmm, there’s ground lamb in the freezer and a new tub of Fage 0% – let’s cook. I executed the recipe with a few riffs that reduced the brown butter sauce and incorporated a little more yogurt, the results were outstanding. Aleppo pepper is worth seeking out – Penzeys carries it and describes it as “an ancho-like flavor with a little more heat and tartness.” Perfect here, and at home wherever you would use classic red pepper flakes.

Sources

Red Wagon Organic Farm

Boulder chefs Hosea Rosenberg (executive chef, Jax) and Melissa Harrison (sou chef, Centro) will compete against 17 hopefuls on the 5th season of Top Chef. This show is a guilty pleasure, and once again it looks like the talent is deep enough to make up for the silly challenges and bombastic hosting. It’s worth noting that both chefs are part of Dave Query’s empire, good luck to them.

Read more in this Daily Camera article.

Beef carpaccio is the classic dish of paper-thin slices of raw beef, invented at Harry’s Bar in Venice in the 1950’s and originally garnished with a white mayonnaise-based sauce. See the original recipe here. Variations on this theme are ubiquitous, and modern versions of the dish are often garnished with shaved parmesan cheese, olive oil, diced red onion, and capers.

You’ll find “carpaccios” of everything under the sun on modern menus, from fish to spam. However, this name is quite appropriate for a dish made with red beets and white goat’s cheese, because the name was inspired the similarity in palette to the brilliant reds and whites used by Vittore Carpaccio, a famous Venetian painter.

Here’s a beet carpaccio that uses gorgeous beets from Pachamama Organic Farm and Haystack Mountain’s incomparable goat’s cheese.

Beet Carpaccio

1. one bunch red beets
2. Haystack Mountain goat’s cheese
3. 1/3 cup hazelnuts, shelled and papery skins removed, roughly chopped
4. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel beets, rub with olive oil and wrap tightly in foil. Roast 1 hour until tender and allow to cool.

Slice beets paper-thin, using your mandoline of choice or your best knife. Spread out over serving plate,  dot with goat’s cheese bits and chopped hazelnuts, then drizzle with good olive oil.

The most difficult part of this dish is removing the skins from raw hazelnuts. The most obvious way is to roast the nuts about 15 minutes at 350 degrees, allow to cool, then remove the skins by hand. Others swear by blanching, about 5 minutes (some recommend the addition of baking soda!), then drain, refresh with cold water, and peel.

Sources

Pachamama Organic Farm

Haystack Mountain

With mandolines it’s true that less is more. Classic french examples weigh a ton, cost a mint, and are perfectly capable of removing entire body parts if misused. Most working chefs favor an inexpensive alternative, the japanese Benriner (pictured left, in the queasy green color), and I use mine weekly.

Another strong contender is the all-stainless steel model made by the venerable German firm Rösle (pictured right).

What is not apparent from the picture is that the Benriner also comes with additional blades that allow it to be set up to quickly cut uniform strips for julienne and brunoise.

I find that the Rösle is easier to adjust accurately for slicing but agree with Rulhman that if you have only one tool it should be the Benriner, since the Rösle does not have julienne blades.

For wimps, hand guards are included or available with either model.

Sources

Amazon.com carries both mandolines.

Another southern preparation, here using Munson Farms corn of course.

Fried Corn

1. 4 ears corn
2. 2 tablespoons butter
3. salt and black pepper

Slice the corn lengthwise from the cob into a bowl, then scrape the cob with the edge of the knife to catch any remaining liquid. Sauté the corn in butter, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and lots of black pepper.

Like any true southern dish this was classically prepared with bacon drippings, caveat emptor.

Sources

Munson Farms