Cheryl Wixson's Kitchen

January thaw inspires seed order

The week-end weather is looking rather nasty, heavy, wet snow and temperatures below zero. Here on the coast we have a gale warning for high winds and heavy seas.

After the dog walk this morning, I fixed myself a super breakfast: French toast, made with stale buckwheat bread (last week’s bread with aroostook county grain), Quill’s end jersey milk and fresh eggs, maine maple syrup, apple juice, and a ham slice. Delightful! Speaking of apple juice, this fall we foraged over 13 bushels of apples from the Barbour Farm orchard and pressed them into cider. I canned 18 half-gallon jars of juice to enjoy this winter, and we put some into sparkling cider. The carboys are bubbling away in PMM’s office and we are saving our old bottles. More on this project later.

After my breakfast, I spoke with Kyle, about the Maine Local 20 and food security. It really got my engines moving!

The weather for the past 3 days has been so balmy, I want to grow something in the greenhouse! Ordering my seeds was the answer. Just got Amy Goldman’s book on the “Heirloom Tomato”, and after reading about paste tomatoes, put together an order for several varieties of seeds, plus 3 books.
we didn’t have any where enough tomatoes last year to put into sauce, and Amy speaks so eloquently about varieties like Amish Paste, Hungarian Italian, Doucet’s Plum producer and Goldman’s Italian American…I had to have them. Don’t know how well they will grow here in our rocky soil, but I’m going to try. I got extra seeds…thought I might share them with some of my farming friends …share the seeds and share the wealth!

My trip to the root cellar this morning to replenish the maple syrup jar smelled a bit funny…like onions going a bit soft. I hauled up a tote of leeks, the little ones I grew in containers last summer. they’ll need some sorting and processing. The seasonal diet is a lot about sorting and processing….we check over our stores, sort the good from the rotting, sending some to the rabbits (or pigs or chickens), chop, cook and freeze. Some of my best culinary creations have been a product of what to do with these gifts of processed veggies…..perhaps a leek tart? We’ll see.

Because my husband is in Florida taking care of his Dad, meals have been pretty casual for the past few days. Last night I enjoyed a bowl of carrot chowder, from a quart jar in the freezer. I’ll share the recipe with you below. It calls for canned tomatoes…which got me on the quest for more tomatoes this next year.

CARROT CHOWDER
Carrot Chowder is very adaptable to lots of different
vegetables. Wheat berries or bulgur can be substituted
for the ground beef for a vegetarian version, and for a vegan version
substitute pureed tofu for the heavy cream . This recipe makes a
large batch, so plan on freezing some for
another meal. Serve with crusty bread and applesauce.

1 pound ground beef
4 cups tomato sauce
2.5 cups shredded carrots
2 cups scrubbed and cubed potatoes
.5 cup chopped turnip, celery or celeriac
.5 cup chopped onion
.5 cup chopped green peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced (or more to taste)
1.5 cups water
Sea salt and fresh pepper
Celery salt
1.5 cups heavy cream or 10 ounces soft tofu, pureed in blender with a bit of olive oil

In a heavy soup pot, brown the meat in oil over a medium flame. Drain off the excess fat. Add the garlic and onion and cook until they just start to soften. Add the remaining vegetables, tomato sauce and water and cook until the potatoes are fork tender. Slowly stir in the heavy cream. Season the soup to taste with sea salt, fresh pepper and celery salt. The soup may be garnished with grated cheese and a crouton. Makes 12 servings.

Nutritional analysis per serving (cream version): 253 calories, 10 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 18 grams fat (0 grams trans fat), 486 mg. sodium, 3 grams fiber.

Nutritional analysis per serving (tofu version): 162 calories, 10 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fat (0 grams trans fat), 486 mg. sodium, 3 grams fiber.

I’ve shared this recipe with lots of folks, and it is popular with schools too. Freezes great.
Enjpy!

CAN MAINE FEED ITSELF?

As a foodie, I’ve always been intrigued with the notion of an ideal food system, a local food system, that includes products fished, foraged, or grown right here in my back yard…or let’s just say the Blue Hill peninsula. When my work for the Maine Organic Farmers became focused on an organic marketing strategy, the broader question came to mind: Can Maine feed itself? I often use the analogy that Maine produces enough calories each year to feed its 1.3 million residents. But those calories are primarily in the form of french fries and potato chips. Can we do it another way?

The short answer, of course, is yes. Generations of Maine people, including Native Americans, and my family, have provided daily nutritous diets. Can this translate to today?

So this is the start of a journey…an exciting culinary journey, as my family attempts to live off our land and sea, and that of our neighbors around us. Food is very important to us…the focal point, some might say, of our lives. I’ll let you know how we do, what we eat, where it comes from, success and disasters. and what about those things we don’t have here in Maine. Well, we’re making a list of things we really don’t want to live without. The list will probably change…we’ll learn to adapt….coffee, chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla…these are luxuries…but on the list. I’m trying to keep it to just twenty items. We’ll see.

This morning I enjoyed a glass of ruby juice, canned this summer from rhubarb, Quill’s End Farm fabulously fresh fried egg and a toasted “English muffin” (homemade oatmeal hamburg roll made from Aroostook county rolled oats and hard white spring ground flour) spread with last summer’s blackberry jam. Not a bad start to the day. The dogs and I walked the cove in search of ducks just at high tide and returned to the hill. the woodbox needs filling and there is work to be done.