Delicious and Tender Pancakes

No, I absolutely did not eat this huge pile of pancakes!  I ate TWO piles.  Just kidding.  I ate two pancakes!

Yesterday, while perusing the farmers' market, I was handed a flyer about an upcoming pancake breakfast(scroll down to April 3) featuring local ingredients.  Driving home I couldn't stop thinking about pancakes for this morning's breakfast!

Royally delicious, light and tender, these babies were made with Brookford Farm's (Rollinsford, NH) stone ground, soft white, fall planted wheat berry pastry flour.  Oh...my...dog were they good!  Full disclosure on the localness of this morning's breakfast: the chicken sausage*, baking powder and brown sugar were not local.  Everything else = local sources!

*We have yet to find locally raised and produced chicken sausage, so those that you see in the picture are from the Smart Chicken line of organic meat products.  They were really tasty.

For the BEST pancakes ever, follow this recipe that I adapted from an old Laurel Robertson cookbook:

Sunday Dinner: grassfed pot roast!



Pot roast is not a dish you start cooking at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.  Allow yourself up to 4 hours for prepping and roasting time when scheming dinnertime!  Pictured here accompanying our succulent roast are Meadow's Mirth's deliciously sweet carrots, and Heron Pond Farm's red-skin potatoes and parsnips.



When it comes to everyday cooking, I often find myself torn between ‘the way my mother did it’ and ‘the way [xyz chef] does it’.  What’s the happy medium?  The way I do it!  It is perfectly reasonable and acceptable to take inspiration from both sources, or from numerous sources, to make a dish your own—that’s what cooking is all about (well, that, and “passion and sharp knives!” ;~)

I used a 3lb beef shoulder roast for this recipe (once cooked, enough for 4 people and a little leftover lunch), obtained from our freezer where we have many other cuts from a side of beef we purchased from a relative who raises only two cows a year here in NH.  Shoulder roasts are one of the best cuts for pot roasting, that is, braising in a dutch oven.  A top blade (aka ‘shoulder’) roast comes from above the shoulder blade; it is part of the ‘chuck’ which is the first 5 ribs in the forequarter.  It needs to be tied to fit in the pan, but that’s not a big deal (truth be told, any roast should be tied to maintain an even shape for cooking).
 
Seven blade roasts are another excellent option for braising, but they can be difficult to find.  This cut is also found in the shoulder blade area.  Lastly, a chuck-eye round is superb for pot roasting.  Chuck-eye roasts are basically rib-eye roasts, in that the cut is found in the center of those first 5 ribs.  Each of the cuts mentioned has very good meaty flavor, a fair amount of fat, and results in being a luxurious pot roast.

Recipe for the roast I made follows...

A Perfectly Local Valentine Dinner for Two!

All thanks to the diversity of foods at the recent Winter farmers' Market in Exeter this weekend!




Riverside Farm greens dressed in honey cider vinaigrette made with local cider vinegar, sunflower oil, honey, mustard (Reye's from Eastpoint, ME) and herbs from Herb Farmacy.  Apples from Hackleboro Orchards, cheese from Sandwich Creamery.

 

Valicenti Organics farro pasta tossed in their own red gravy, served with Me & Ollie's parisian baguette doctored up with fresh local butter and garlic.



Flourless chocolate torte made with fair trade/organic Green & Black's 72% cacao chocolate, minimal sugar (only 3 Tbsp in the entire recipe!), local eggs and butter, topped with honey sweetened, freshly whipped Brookford Farm cream and decorated with spots of raspberry glaze (from leftover homemade jam) and decorating candies.  Served with Sweet Baby Vineyard raspberry wine....

Ingredients in any of the above that were not selected from local sources:

Salad:
pistachios
sugar
cayenne pepper

Garlic Bread:
flour and yeast in bread
parsley

Torte:
chocolate
vanilla extract
decorating candies

Everything else entirely local!!

Moroccan Fish Stew, New Hampshire cod style

This dish was inspired by a NY Times piece.  With the exception of chickpeas and couscous, and a few spices, the dish can be prepared using NH-local ingredients.  And, it is "wicked delicious."  By far it is one of the most flavorful soups I have ever eaten...and I fancy myself a soup snob.
You'll need to have ample soup stock on hand.  Also have the harissa at your ready (see that recipe post).

Lip-smacking Harissa recipe

The inspiration for this version of harissa came from an article in the NY Times last year at this time.  I've posted the link to the original recipe at the bottom of this entry.

The first time I made this I used small, hot, red chiles that we got from Meadow’s Mirth and a handful of larger, less hot, chilies from Barker's Farm.  This time, with only a handful of Barker's chilies remaining in my pantry, I supplemented with 'new mexico' and 'chipotle' chilies from a small, local supermarket.