Eat Locals

Make & Can Your Own Cranberry Sauce for Holiday Gifting

It’s amazing to me that some people actually prefer canned cranberry sauce to homemade.  I suspect much of the claimed preference for it is irony from the same folks who order PBR in a craft brewery, but it’s not all that: my own sister-in-law truly wants a log of the canned stuff on the Thanksgiving table.  Once a dish gets on that table, it becomes part of the family tradition. Whether or not anyone likes it or even actually eats it, it’s just got to be on that table until the end of time.  Woe be unto the host who decides to stop making great-grandma's black-cherry-jello-with-canned-black-cherries-in-it just because great-grandma was the only one who ate it and she's been dead fifteen years and now it just sits there looking sad and gets thrown into the compost heap every Sunday-after-Thanksgiving.  But I'm not bitter.  
 
You can't change tradition, but you can add new ones: our Thanksgiving table contains BOTH my own homemade sauce and the canned stuff my mother-in-law probably switched to sometime in the 1950s.

Why she or anyone ever switched is inexplicable to me, because there can be no comparison between grainy red Jello in the shape of a can and real cranberries cooked from fresh.  And there’s no excuse, either: of all the traditional dishes on the table, cranberry sauce is hands-down the easiest and quickest.  Prep time is about three minutes, and the sauce can be made days ahead so all you have to do on Turkey Day is put it into a serving bowl.  But switch they did, and in large numbers.  Ocean Spray sells 72 million cans of the stuff every autumn, a can for 2 out of 3 households.

So let’s see what we can do about switching them back: let’s gift them homemade cranberry sauce.  If you give it to them as a beautifully-presented handmade gift, they’ll probably at least try it, right?

So: easiness?  How easy is this:  You put cranberries in a pot with sugar and some spices, bring it to a boil, lower to a simmer, and let it cook ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Yes, that’s the entire process.

Cranberry Sauce
makes ~10 pints
6 pounds cranberries (if you can't find bulk berries, 8 12-oz bags equals 6 pounds.)
4 cups orange juice
8 cups sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t nutmeg

Place all ingredients into a large pot, bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries pop -- about ten minutes.

What we’re going to do takes it one step further: we’re going to, er, can the sauce.  Go ahead, laugh, but OUR sauce isn’t going to slither out of the canning jar in a gelatinous sliceable mass.  And it isn’t going to contain high fructose corn syrup, either.

Canning instructions:

1. Fill your canning kettle with 7" of water, place canning rack into the kettle, and bring to a boil on your highest-heat burner turned on high.  Leave it on the boil.
2. Sanitize 10 pint jars (I usually just run them through the dishwasher.)
3. Keep the jars hot by pouring a little water into each, setting them into a 13x9 pan with an inch of water in it, and sticking the whole thing into a warm (170 - 200 degree) oven.  
4. Working with one jar at a time, pour water out of jar, then ladle the hot cranberry sauce into the jar, pushing cranberries down gently into the liquid so they aren't sticking up and adding extra liquid if necessary to cover them.  Leave 1/2" of space between the top of the liquid and the rim of the jar.  A canning funnel (a funnel with a wide bottom) is very helpful to prevent spillage.
5. Wipe the rim with a damp cloth, place a lid on it, and screw on the ring just until you feel resistance.  You don't want the rings on tight -- they're only there to keep the lids in place while the batch processes, and tightening them can prevent a seal from forming.
6.  As you fill the jars, set them into the kettle on the rack.  You'll need a pair of tongs for this; canning tongs are extremely helpful in grasping the jars securely.
7.  Repeat until you've filled the kettle.  Cover, and when the pot returns to a boil, start timing.  After five minutes at the boil, remove the jars and allow to cool on a cookie rack.  You should hear the lids pop as the seals form, and when you look at the lids they'll appear very slightly pushed-in.  Any jar that doesn't form a seal should be refrigerated and used within a few weeks. 
8. Allow to cool 24 hours before removing the rings, wiping the jars and lids clean with a damp cloth, and labeling. 

Best. Chicken. Salad. Ever.

This is my new favorite chicken salad recipe. The vinegary pickled vegetables provide a counterpoint to the typical mayo-heavy chicken salad. 

Best Chicken Salad Ever

(adapted from a recipe by Mary Klonowski for Bon Appetit)

2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (approximately 2-3 breasts) (See Perfect Poached Chicken Every Time)

1 cup drained giardiniera (I used this recipe, but a jarred version works fine if you want chicken salad in less than two days!) chopped fine (about 1/4" dice).  If you're concerned about salt intake, you may want to rinse the giardiniera briefly before continuing.

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ c Greek yogurt (I used 0%fat, which worked fine)

1/4 cup (lightly packed) chopped fresh basil

Mix all ingredients together well.  You'll notice this recipe doesn't call for any salt -- giardiniera is salty, so definitely taste before adding additional seasoning. 

   

Long-Simmered Roma Beans with Ham Hock

At Montgomery Farmers' Market this past weekend I bought a quart each of yellow and green Roma beans (also known as Italian green beans, Romano, or flat beans) from White Oak Valley Farm and a ham hock from TS Farms.  This is one of my favorite after-market dishes.  I've made it nearly every week since the Romas started coming in.  It's simple and while the cooking time is long, the prep is quick. 

Long-Simmered Roma Beans with Ham Hock

2 quarts Roma beans (I love it when I can use yellow and green -- they look pretty together.)
1 t olive oil
1 c finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ham hock
1/4 t cayenne (optional)
1/4 t salt plus more to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Snap the stem end of the bean off.  The other end you can leave -- it's the end with the little curl on it like this (I forgot to photograph a raw bean, so this one had already been cooked):

Then snap each bean into pieces about 2" long.

In an 8-quart pot, heat oil and saute onions and garlic until the onion is translucent.   Add the beans, the ham hock, 1/4 t cayenne, and 1/4 t salt.  (Don't oversalt at this point -- the pork hock contains some salt, too, which will be released into the broth as the beans cook.) I usually start the onions and garlic, then once they're cooked I turn off the heat and just snap the beans right into the pot.

Fill with water to barely cover the beans (if the ham hock is sticking out, no worries -- just turn it over a couple of times during the cooking process), bring to a boil, lower to a gentle simmer (you want to see the smallest amount of bubbling you can manage while still seeing some bubbling), and let simmer for 3 hours -- yes, THREE HOURS -- adding additional water as needed to keep the beans barely covered.

Amazingly Roma beans won't turn mush with this length of cooking.  They just become very tender. 

Once the meat has pulled away from the bone, remove the hock from the water, pull the meat from the bones, and shred the meat, removing any fat or gristle.

Return the shredded meat to the pot to continue cooking.  Taste and add fresh ground black pepper plus additional salt if needed.  Serve beans in their 'pot liquor' -- the broth.  I like to serve it with a salad and good bread to mop up the broth for a rustic light (and very cheap) dinner.

Green Bean Delivery: a Review

Recently I was contacted by Green Bean Delivery, a local service offering delivery of fresh produce and prepared foods to your doorstep, asking if I would review their service.  Full disclosure: Green Bean provided a one-time free delivery of one of their bins of produce and prepared foods. 

Green Bean Delivery operates in Cincinnati and multiple surrounding cities with a mission of making healthy and sustainably grown local food affordable, accessible, and convenient.  The concept is simple: for each delivery, a customer goes online to make any changes to that week's default order, adding extra items as they choose.  The orders are packed into insulated bins and delivered the customer's doorstep, allowing busy people and those with limited access to fresh produce and high-quality prepared foods to access these items.  The company was a 2007 startup in Indianapolis and has spread to Cincinnati, Louisville, and Columbus. 

Green Bean set up a default single-time produce order for me and asked me to log in to customize it.  Then they selected several of their prepared-foods vendors' products and added them on.  

There was initially some confusion over when the bin would be delivered.  The interface asked me to choose a week, and on July 7^th I chose the week of July 16^th to give me time to go in and customize the produce bin ahead of time.  But on July 9^th, I got an email saying my bin would be delivered July 11^th.  I emailed back to point out that on the form I’d indicated I wanted the bin the following week, and that I hadn’t had time to customize my bin yet.  They fixed it and all was well. I suspect the confusion was caused by the fact I was not a new regular customer (who I'm sure generally want their bins to start right away) but was receiving a single special order, so it may not hold true for new customers in general, but I found the process a little confusing.  

The default order for July contained limited local (which their website defines as from Indiana, Kentucky, or Ohio) produce -- cabbage, bell peppers, summer squash, and cucumbers.  As locally-produced food is my primary interest and I placed my order when local produce season was in full swing, I would have loved to see a default order that focused on local, seasonal items rather than on produce that was being sourced from further away.  

By customizing the bin, I switched out the non-local items the default bin contained to instead choose local sweet corn, new potatoes, bibb lettuce, and kale, but it would have been nice if these were in the default bin.  I would also have liked to see more locally sourced produce among their offerings -- the farmers' markets had a lot more than just cabbage, peppers, squash, cucumbers, corn, potatoes, bibb lettuce, and kale in mid-July.

Having their online interface default to locally-grown items would also help educate people on what's in season locally.  They note in their online descriptions which items are local, but to me it felt as if there was an education component lacking.  If the default setting were the locally-produced items, it would encourage people to at least think about using those items while still allowing the haters out there to choose bell peppers instead of kale.  I suspect a lot of people think of Green Bean Delivery as similar to a CSA -- I know I did -- and it's really not focused as much on sourcing local produce as I'd assumed.  

The prepared-foods items they selected for me were intriguing.  Some vendors -- Fab Ferments, for example -- I'm familiar with, but I'd never tried their Cosmic Curry Sauerkraut.  (Delicious, as is most everything I've tried from this terrific artisan fermented foods maker.)  Others were new to me but also very good -- the Frog Ranch Hot and Spicy Pickles were fantastic, crisp and garlicky, and the Five Star Foodies Artichoke Burgers was something I'd seen around but never tried because while I like artichokes and I like veggie burgers, "artichoke burgers" just never sounded appealing.  But they turned out to be much better than I expected -- I'd definitely try them again.  Green Bean also included Sweet William's Bakery breads, Dean Farm chicken breasts, Seven Hills coffee, Carfagna's vodka pasta sauce (the only thing I haven't gotten around to trying yet, as it's been too hot for pasta), Grateful Grahams Cinnamon Raisin Graham Cracker Bites (get thee behind me, Satan!  These are like crack!), Carriage House Farm honey, Hartzler Family Dairy milk and butter, and Blue Jacket Dairy chevre. All were uniformly excellent products and delivered in excellent condition with perishables well-chilled. Likewise the produce I received was well-packed and fresh and arrived in excellent condition.

Giardiniera

Giardiniera

1 c green bell peppers in 1/2" dice
1 c red bell peppers in 1/2" dice
1 c fresh jalapenos or other hot pepper (I like to use one of every hot pepper I can find that day) sliced thin
1/2 c celery in 1/2" slices
1/2 c carrot in 1/4" slices
1/2 c onion, chopped
1 c fresh cauliflower florets in 3/4" pieces
1/2 c salt
water to cover  
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 
1 T dried oregano
1 t red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c green olives, sliced in half
1 c white vinegar
1 c olive oil

Place into a bowl the green and red peppers, jalapenos, celery, carrots, onion, and cauliflower.  Stir in salt and fill with enough cold water to cover.  Cover and refrigerate overnight, stirring occasionally.

The next day, drain the salty water and rinse the vegetables.  Do not skip rinsing -- this will be extremely salty otherwise.  In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients and pour over vegetable mixture.  Cover and refrigerate at least two days, stirring occasionally.  Keeps two weeks or more in the fridge. 

Perfect Poached Chicken Every Time

Hands-on prep time: 2 minutes
Total time: a little over an hour

I used to overcook boneless skinless chicken breasts all the time.  I was so concerned about undercooking them that time after time I'd end up drying them out.  Even using a thermometer didn't seem to help.  I was so consistent at it that if I was planning on making a recipe using cooked chicken, I'd either roast up a whole bird the day before or if I was short on time, resort to buying a roasted bird. 

Then I discovered this nifty trick.  It's not ready-to-use in minutes like a traditional poach or saute, but the hands-on time is about 2 minutes and I can now produce perfectly cooked chicken every time.  It's completely foolproof.  If you can boil water, you can make perfect chicken.   

Choose a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid that is large enough to allow 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts to lay flat on the bottom without overlapping and deep enough to contain enough liquid to cover the chicken breasts by 2".  I use a deep 4 qt saucepan:

Fill with chicken stock to about 3" -- it'll take about two quarts of stock.

Trim your chicken well of any fat -- poaching with this method won't render the fat off like sauteeing in a very hot pan would.

Bring stock to a full rolling boil and with a pair of tongs slide the chicken breasts into the boiling stock, moving them around slightly as you set them on the bottom of the pan to prevent them from sticking.  Don't put in any more breasts than will fit on the bottom of the pan.  You don't want any overlap, and they shouldn't be crowded.  Return to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and remove from heat.  Allow to sit until the pot has cooled just to the point you can place both palms flat on the sides of the pot for a second (the liquid inside will still be a food safe 140+ degrees).  This will take about an hour or so.  Et Voila!  Your chicken breasts are perfectly poached and ready to be diced for chicken salad or casseroles, sliced for sandwiches or salads, whatever.  Remove breasts from stock.  Look how perfectly cooked they are -- if you click on the photo to get to the larger version, you'll be able to see the meat is still juicy:

Use or wrap and refrigerate immediately. 

Bring the stock back to a boil, then strain (I use a cheesecloth) and freeze for the next time you use this method.  You can reuse the stock nearly indefinitely, adding more as needed to replace what's been lost to evaporation during boiling -- it just keeps getting chickenier -- but be aware of salt levels becoming concentrated.  I taste mine every so often, and once it's gotten to the point I don't want my cooking liquid any saltier, I add only unsalted stock or water to replace evaporation losses.  

2012 Eat Local CORV Guide now available

The CORV 2012 Eat Local Food Directory was released today, April 18th, 2012 in the City Beat - the Green Issue. Pick up yours at your favorite City Beat vendor. I got mine at Park + Vine. This year's guide is the 5th annual. Congratulations and thank you to the CORV Local Food Initiative. The directory represents vision and hard work and is an incredible resource for eaters and growers in this region.

2012 OEFFA Conference

2012 Conference Information
Feb 18 and 19th Granville. OH

Free Ag Conference Sponsership for Ohio Women

Women Farm Sponsoring a Registration to 5 Upcoming Farmer Conferences!

Ohio women producing food for local markets, or aspiring to do so, who have not yet had an opportunity to attend a conference listed below are invited to apply for our sponsorship of their fee registration!
An applicant must be a woman who resides in Ohio, is at least 18 years of age at the time of application, is willing to meet up at the conference (briefly or as much as you wish) with the owners of Women Farm, and is willing to be interviewed after the conference by Women Farm for publication on our web site.
Women Farm service partners, women farmers whose essays and interviews have already been invited or published by Women Farm are ineligible to apply.
Conference sponsorship opportunities, the application process and deadlines, and award announcement dates are listed below.
ACRES USA
December 8-10, 2011, Columbus OH
http://www.acresusa.com/events/11conf/about.htm
Apply on or before 5 pm Monday, November 21, 2011
Women farmers with 5+ years experience growing food for local markets are especially urged to apply.
Registration award announced by 5 pm Wednesday, November 23rd
Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association (OPGMA)
January 16-18, 2012, Sandusky OH
http://www.opgma.org/?q=congress
Apply on or before 5 pm Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Women farmers with 3+ years experience growing food for local markets are especially urged to apply.
Registration award announced by 5 pm Friday, December 16th
Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA)
February 18-20, 2012, Granville, OH
http://www.oeffa.org/events.php
Apply on or before 5 pm Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Women aspiring to farm and up to 3 years experience growing food for local markets are especially urged to apply.
Registration award announced by 5 pm Friday, January 13th
Ohio State University (OSU) Small Farm Conference
March 9-10, 2012, Wilmington, OH
http://clinton.osu.edu/events/2012-small-farm-conference-and-trade-show
Apply on or before 5 pm Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Women aspiring to farm and up to 2 years experience growing food for local markets are especially urged to apply.
Registration award announced by 5 pm Friday, February 10th
Ohio State University (OSU) Small Farm Conference
March 31, 2012, Massillon, OH
http://clinton.osu.edu/events/2012-small-farm-conference-and-trade-showhttp://clinton.osu.edu/events/2012-small-farm-conference-and-trade-show
Apply on or before 5 pm, Monday, February 27, 2012
Women aspiring to farm and up to 2 years experience growing food for local markets are especially urged to apply.
Registration award announced by 5 pm Wednesday, February 29th
Apply Now!

1. Go to our survey page. Complete Join Us and/or Log In and take the short survey Represent Ohio Women Farmers. (Skip this step if you have already completed this survey.)
2. E-mail management@womenfarm.com or send by regular mail to Women Farm, P.O. 954, Worthington, OH 43085-0954 the following information.
   • Full Name
   • Confirm that you are an Ohio resident, 18 years or older
   • Confirm that you are able to arrange for travel, and if required, for food and lodging, if you are awarded a fee sponsorship
   • State the conference or conferences for which you would like to be considered, including specific dates you are able to attend, and confirm that you have never attended the conference(s).
   • Confirm that if you are awarded a fee sponsorship by Women Farm you are willing to meet Women Farm owners at the conference and to be interviewed by Women Farm for publication on its web site
   • State the number of years, if any, that you have grown food for local markets
   • Regarding each conference for which you wish to be considered, write a short paragraph about why you want to attend this conference at this time.