Chicken Chili for a Crowd (~16pp)

My last Tamworth chicken made this chili oh-so-worth it.  Next up: Riverslea Farm chickens!  Space is still available for our Tortilla Soup and Stock kitchen session.  Reserve today: gimmetheknife@gmail.com

I dunno, is it really only about the chili?

Noooo.

But an awesome chili certainly helps pop those garnishes!

You can easily halve this recipe.

Here's the slow food version ('fast food' version follows):

Caldo Verde (Kale Soup!) with Baer's Best 'Calypso' Beans

Baer's Best 'calypso' beans and New Root Farm's chorizo meet local potatoes, cabbage and kale.  Homemade chicken jus is, of course, what makes this whole thing worth it.  And the bread, we can't forget the bread (Beach Pea's, naturally).  Try saying "Beach Pea and Baer's Beans" five times fast. 

This recipe was adapted from The Book of New England Cookery.  I used a rich, dark, flavorful chicken stock ("jus") instead of beef stock, and added cabbage as well as kale.  I also changed up my quantities on a couple of other ingredients, namely the potatoes.  We love potatoes.  I also topped our bowls with shaved parmesan.  We love parmesan.

Earth Day Local Food Celebration...Grecian Style!



Parsley, thyme sprigs, peppercorn, bay leaf, a few cloves and a garlic clove or two nicely round out almost any stock. This lamb stock became the base for one of the bechamel sauces (I made 3 versions of moussaka for this occasion, detailed a little more in a caption below).

Baer's Best Peregion Beans and Rice - Delicious!

A simple yet hearty bowl of rice and beans. It's what's for dinner.

Quick-soak a cup of beans: cover in water, bring to a boil, remove from heat immediately and let sit for two hours.  Drain, set aside.  Don't add salt to this water.

Saute 1 lg onion, chopped, in olive oil until softened.  Add 1-2 cloves pressed garlic and 1 tsp oregano, cook until fragrant.  Add 3 cups chicken stock (or veggie stock or water) and 1-1/2 cups long grain rice.  Stir, bring to low boil, then turn heat to low and simmer according to rice package directions.*

When rice is just about cooked, but still creamy and wet, mix in beans.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld.  Serve as is or over any variety of greens, either cooked or raw.  I used Olivia's (Maine) sweet pea shoots.  Crumbled goat cheese would be divine, but I used chunks of Sandwich Creamery's Caerphilly cheese--a briney cheese very similar to feta, only more dense and less salty.  Was so wicked good!  Yum!

*A much better way to cook rice is just like you would pasta: in a pot with lots of boiling water, salted and with a twirl of olive oil, until just tender when tested.  Drain in a fine mesh strainer and immediately return to pot.  Lay a clean tea towel over pot before replacing cover.  This will absorb the steam and keep your rice fluffy.

December FM: pinks, greens & golds!



We bought 5lbs of fresh shrimp, heads intact and caught that morning, for, if I remember right, $8 total.  Peeled, we ended up with a robust 2lbs of succulent meat.  (Our local grocer(s) sell the same peeled product, frozen, for $7.99 per lb, so we got one pound free).




However, I also made stock with the heads and shells, using a little leftover sugar pumpkin, leeks, onion, celery (all of which came from local farms), parsley (the very last from my garden) and a couple bay leaves.




Yield: just over a gallon (one more jar was left out of the picture) of crystal clear*, intoxicating shrimp stock to be used for a special bisque for our New Year's Eve party.  I'll serve it in small sippers, garnished with some of those delectable shrimp (which, yes, are now in the freezer, but that's no problem at all).
*The key to producing a consomme style stock is to avoid boiling it.  Skim off impurities after initially coming to a near boil, then just let it barely simmer.  I used all the heads and shells from the 5lbs of shrimp, and ~4 qts of cold water, and simmered for an hour.

 This market's take home list:

Animal Kingdom
fresh cod
fresh shrimp
fresh scallops (our first scallops since...last winter?)
various heritage and traditional breed pork products
fresh chicken, whole and legs
2 dozen eggs
quark (traditional, old style cottage cheese)
camembert cheese
2 kinds of goat cheese

Plant Kingdom
arugula (really beautifully done by Garen...)
beans (dried, 6 kinds: Bumblebee, Peregion, Black Coco, Jacob's Cattle, Soldier, and "heirloom soup")
beets
broccoli
buttercup squash
butternut squash
carrots
garlic
garlic scape pesto
kale
leeks
onions
potatoes (4 kinds)
shallots
spinach
sweet potato!!! (Farmer Dave's)
and...
turnip (small, white "tokyo"--perfect for braising)

Phew!  That was a lot of luggin'!  Good thing the hubby joined me!

Dried Bean Score!

Our local winter farmers' market, nearing its end, included a highly rare item this past weekend: locally grown and dried "new crop" beans!

Lookee my treasure:

These beautiful seeds were grown by farmer Charley Baer of Baer's Best Beans, a chemist by day who recently purchased Lover's Brook Farm in Berwick/So Berwick, ME.  Lover's Brook is a working farm under conservation easement.  Situated on nearly 90 acres, Lover's Brook Farm and Charley Baer promise to be a really good thing in terms of fresh, dried beans for our region.  Charley is no stranger to bean crops, either.  He's been growing beans (one of the last farmers to grow heirloom varieties in this region!) for more than 25 years.  Sooooooo I am all over these babies for some upcoming chili and burrito concoctions, not to mention various rice-combo experiments.  Heck, I'm even contemplating creating some cool summer salad recipes at this point!  Need I mention that a bag or two or three was purchased with a mother and friend in mind?