Farm fresh veggies

Valerie — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:05:11 +0000

It’s amazing how used we get to unripe, not so fresh vegetables. Especially during the ‘off-season’ vegetables just aren’t that great. And the old-fashioned produce stores seem to have disappeared.

Last summer, in Colorado, I went to a farmer’s market. Everything was fresh and wonderful. It was a Sunday morning and I couldn’t have been happier with the quality of all the foods that were for sale there. Not just the veggies, but also meats, breads, pasta. It was all amazing.

We do have farmer’s markets (or at least something like that) in Amsterdam. However those markets either aren’t in my neighborhood, or are on weekdays. Which is when I’m at the office and unable to go there.

When we moved to our new home, I was researching the area a bit. Since we’re the last urban street and behind us there’s either industry and the airport (a little ways back though!) or farmland. I read about a ‘care farm’ not even 5 minutes away from the house. Now this ‘care farm’ as they call it, is really a produce farm. It’s run by a foundation that helps people with social/emotional or mental difficulties. A team of social workers/farmers guides the people who need some special care while they take care of the produce they grow. Everything they grow is fully certified organic and seasonal. They exchange some of their veggies for meat from a nearby organic farm.

They have a farm store. There they sell the produce they grew and some extra’s. They sell the meat they’d exchanged (which is, like everything, subject to availability). On Saturdays an organic baker brings some bread, which they sell as well. They import a few things they can’t really grow themselves, all organic.

I’d been meaning to check out the farm store. Last Sunday I finally did. And I wasn’t disappointed.

The vegetables were all so fresh and ripe. Even though there isn’t that much in season, they still had a nice selection and everything looked and felt good. Ripe and fresh. L actually mentioned we should eat the veggies quickly, because they were at their prime right when we bought them. I agreed, however, there’s no way I’ll cook up a weeks supply of veggies in one night. They deserve better. And since they’re so fresh, they’ll still be tasty in a couple of days.

I can’t believe it took me so long to finally visit the farm store. Yummmm, fresh veggies! I love it!

Chicken and mushroom pie

Valerie — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 22:05:50 +0000

My car is very very blue again. Or that’s what L said after we left the carwash. I hadn’t decided what to make for dinner yet when we drove by the grocery store. I asked L whether we should go in. We both sincerely hate Saturday afternoon shopping, so we decided against it as I quickly figured out what I still had left in the fridge. I knew there were mushrooms that desperately needed to be eaten, some heavy cream that neared it’s best-by date and some biscuit dough mix I’d made a couple weeks ago and saved. The biscuit mix is awesome, it’s like having a box of bisquick on hand without all the additives.

I proposed making a chicken and mushroom pie, with biscuit dough as pie crust. L agreed, so we stopped at AH-to-go (tiny tiny little rail station grocery store that has basics but nothing more) to pick up a chicken breast and a tiny bottle of wine.

The pie was a recipe I’d never made before. Actually, I didn’t even have a recipe, but I figured it’d work and be tasty. so why not. I ended up just making it up as I went along and ended up with a fabulous dish which I’m sure we’ll make many times over! It’s got a perfect blend of flavors, without anything overpowering. And best of all, except for the chicken and mushrooms, you’ll usually have the ingredients anyway!

Chicken and mushroom pie (could serve 4, did serve 2)

1 large chicken breast

1 box of mushrooms, any kind

bacon bits (not too many, but enough to give off flavor)

1 clove of garlic (it really doesn’t need more, or it’ll overpower the subtle flavors!)

butter

all purpose flour

heavy cream

white wine

dried herbs to your taste (I used rosemary, thyme, sage and parsley)

fresh ground pepper

biscuit mix (bisquick or home-made)

milk

grated cheese (optional)

Fry the bacon bits, add a little olive oil to get them going, if needed. Cube chicken and sprinkle herbs and fresh ground pepper over the cubes liberally. As soon as the bacon is crispy (and has released enough fat to cook chicken in) add the chicken. Cut the mushrooms into quarters and add to the pan. Cook for a couple of minutes and transfer the mixture to a deep pie pan. Don’t worry about leftover bits of herb or bacon and grease!
In the same (now empty) pan melt some butter and press the clove of garlic into the pan. As soon as the butter has melted add flour and stir until it’s completely incorporated. Cook the mixture a couple of minute until it browns a slight bit. This’ll make sure it won’t taste flour-y. Change your wooden spoon for a whisk and pour a liberal amount of heavy cream into the pan – wile whisking ferociously. Whisk until the cream is incorporated and there are no lumps in the sauce. Add white wine and repeat, more cream is an option too, just add liquids until your sauce has a nice thickness. Make sure you do add some wine though, that really adds flavor (and the alcohol will boil out, so don’t worry about serving it to kids…)
Put the mushroom/chicken mixture back in the pan with the sauce and stir so that everything is covered with sauce. In the meantime prepare the biscuit dough. I added grated cheese to the mix and poured milk in and mixed it until it was a little softer than you would for making biscuits, but still thick enough to spread like a crust.

Put the chicken/ mushroom/ sauce mix back into the pie pan, scoop the biscuit mix on top and spread it out evenly. Don’t worry if the dish isn’t fully covered. Bake in a pre-heated oven (just under 200 celsius) until the biscuit crust is nice and brown.

Love through the stomach... » Mushrooms

Farm fresh veggies

Chicken and mushroom pie