A Year of Eating Naturally

A Tale of a Duck

2012-08-04T09:34:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, while at BJ's, the girls and I spotted ducks in one of the coolers in the food section.

It was too difficult to resist.

Once home, I poured through recipes, trying to find one that seemed doable. My historical cookbooks did not have anything I could use so, on a whim, I turned to Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There I found Caneton Rôti (Roast Duckling), and thought it might work.

One thing the recipe called for was string with which to truss the duck, and it was something I didn't have. I did my best with dental floss (kitchen twine is on the shopping list), but after looking at this picture, days later, I saw that I did not truss the duck properly.

The duck did not cook completely, so I tossed it into the crock pot with the juices I had been diligently removing from the pan while it had been in the oven.

The next day, I picked the meat from the bones and used it to make duck Pad Thai, a favorite in the family, using the Super Simple Pad Thai recipe.

The carcass did not go to waste: the bones and the vegetables from the Caneton Rôti went back into the crock pot with some water, a trick I learned from this website. The next day I strained the lot and brought the resulting broth to a boil and pressure-canned it. Mrs Beeton would have been proud...

Even the liver et al did not go to waste: using the recipe from Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen, I made pâté which was wonderful on some freshly baked baguettes.

All in all, it was a great and delicious learning experience, and one which I would be eager to repeat, though with some proper twine...

January 2012

2012-01-07T18:15:00.001-05:00

A new year.

The year of eating naturally continues into a new year, but this blog will not except in a very sporadic manner.

The bread-making became a weekly venture to the Cumberland Farmers Market Association where I sold the nearly twenty or more loaves of bread baked the night before and the morning of. The cupboards, freezer and cellar have jars of pickles, applesauce, bread pudding, tomatoes, turnips and some squash, and the catalogue for the new Fedco Seed Catalogue is already well thumbed through.

I look forward to the new year and to continuing to making the bulk of our food.

May 2012 be a bountiful and wonderful year for all.

21 November 2011

2011-11-21T20:35:00.000-05:00

For dinner, I decided to try out the Green Elephant's recipe for Fried Brussels Sprouts and Wild Mushrooms. Since I didn't have wild mushrooms, I used the ones I had in the cabinet. What a delicious dish! I also cooked some jasmine rice to go with it, then discovered that Tim brought home some fresh salmon from the Brown Trading Company. Talk about a wonderful meal...

Baking day tomorrow...

20 November 2011

2011-11-21T20:24:00.000-05:00

Market day...again.

L L Bean was hopping. We sold out with time to spare before the end of the market. Success! What a fun day. We had fun talking with the vendors and customers.

Too exhausted to get milk. Went home and went to bed early...

20 November 2011

2011-11-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

Market day.

It went pretty well, though not as well as other Saturdays.

We have the specialty market at L L Bean tomorrow.

Did some baking and went to bed early...

18 November 2011

2011-11-21T20:15:00.000-05:00

Baking day. Got the bread baked for the market the next day so that I was in bed before midnight.

We had a lovely dinner with baguettes and Fromage Blanc as well as the wine sauerkraut. Yum. The sauerkraut came out very well. I'll make it again...

17 November 2011

2011-11-21T18:40:00.000-05:00

Pressure canning was not as successful as I hoped: out of nine jars, only one had a good seal.

Dinner tonight was pasta with Fromage Blanc and tuna.

I made sure the dough was ready for market day Saturday.

16 November 2011

2011-11-21T18:38:00.002-05:00

Market day! It went well! Better than last Wednesday to be sure--though Saturdays are still better.

The music was lovely. Jeff, a member of the market of many years, played with a fiddler (the same one who had been there last Wednesday--she is very good).

The baguettes sold out in a matter of minutes, it seemed.

Lunch ended up being backed in the wrong vehicle, so we were without. Fortunately, it was a pot-luck day at the market. I managed to pack most of what we were planning to bring. What a good lunch! Hard to choose between lobster soup (can't remember the actual name of the dish), potato and leek soup, two kinds of chili, and more.

What a fun market! I am glad to be a member...

Once home, I packed nine jars with bread pudding and got the pressure canner going. Unfortunately, as the batch was cooling down, I managed to knock the gauge or something, releasing some of the pressure prematurely. It created a mini explosion (slight exaggeration) inside the canner. I fear for the seals.

15 November 2011

2011-11-21T18:33:00.000-05:00

Baked two samples loaves of baguettes and brought one to the girls' class to try out. It was a rousing success. I will bake six of them along with six each of the rosemary bread, olive oil bread and cheddar cheese bread for the market when I get home.

Home. Baking went well. While the dough rose, I prepared several batches of bread pudding--six in all in casseroles of varying sizes. The plan will be to pressure can them tomorrow after the market.

Unfortunately, the bread pudding in one of the containers bubbled over and it took more than an hour to scrub the oven before I could resume baking the loaves needed for the market.

In bed by midnight with the loaves baked and car mostly packed.

14 November 2011

2011-11-21T18:29:00.000-05:00

I spent some of the day preparing the dough for the farmers market. Count down of Wednesdays--only two left before just doing Saturdays into the Spring (or however long they last).

12 November 2011

2011-11-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

Market day!

It was a good day--nearly as successful as the last Saturday. I even had some repeat customers, and came home with only four loaves and six bags of popcorn. I look forward to the next market day...

We had roast chicken I cooked the day before in the slow cooker, as well as some of the bread left over from the market.

11 November 2011

2011-11-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

Market day tomorrow.

I started baking early with the aim to be in bed before 12 AM.

I baked Rosemary Bread, Olive Oil Bread and Cheddar Cheese Bread as well as 10 batches of herbed popcorn. The baking was done, the car mostly packed and most things labeled and printed before 10 PM.

10 November 2011

2011-11-12T21:26:00.000-05:00

Since the milk in the fridge was suspect, I decided to turn it into cheese. I first made a half batch of Fromage Blanc then took the plunge and started a batch of cheddar cheese.

The cheddar cheese recipe was pretty simple, but I realized pretty quickly that the raw milk I was using was behaving differently from the pasteurized milk described in the recipe (something I should have thought of sooner). Despite that, the process, though time consuming, went very well. By 10 PM, the last turning was complete. I would not have to do another turning until 12 hours later, then every 12 hours for three more days. I look forward to the final product...

9 November 2011

2011-11-12T21:10:00.000-05:00

Market day.

Feeling a bit fried (me, not the girls), we went to the market. More of the Cumberland Farmers Winter Market vendors were there, as well as different musicians: a fiddler who is a member of the market and had a guest fiddler playing with him.

It was a fun day, but not as successful as Saturday.

Once home, I made egg pasta with the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment. The batch came out rather well as it was closer to the classic pasta consistency. Getting the right balance of pliability and stiffness will take some practice...

Early to bed. Exhausted. No baking for a little while...

8 November 2011

2011-11-12T17:44:00.001-05:00

The day before market day.

After the girls' class, voting, and installing the part for the fridge when Tim got home (the fridge purred to life, thank goodness), I began baking, and did not finish until 2 AM. I had the car mostly packed, the bread labeled and a list complied the the next morning before heading to bed.

7 November 2011

2011-11-12T17:41:00.000-05:00

The fridge decided it'd be great fun (an opinion not shared by all) to have a fire . Fortunately, one of the employees at the local appliance shop assured us he could order the part which could be in the next day. That left us with a fridge we could only open in short bursts until then.

I whisked out the bowl containing the Olive Oil Bread dough and baked it for the family. It was an instant success and two of the four loaves disappeared within a very short time. I'd be baking some the next day to bring with me to the market Wednesday.

6 November 2011

2011-11-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

I realized that I had not done part two of the wine sauerkraut--namely add the wine. The kraut already began to have that kraut-y smell, which made me look forward to when it'd be officially done.

Since the farmers market was approaching, I thought I'd try a new recipe as a possible bread to sell. I chose Olive Oil Bread, as it sounded simple, yet sophisticated. Next, the family turned their attention to apples and applesauce.

With Tim and the girls armed with peelers and I with a knife (Tim joined in later), we managed to get through two whole bags which weighed over thirty pounds. From that, I was able to make eight quarts of apple sauce. We only have four bags left to go of the over 100 pounds of apples we bought from Wallingford's Orchard.

5 Noverber 2011

2011-11-06T11:10:00.002-05:00

Market Day!

After doing the last minute packing (the loaves and lunch), the girls and I headed off for Falmouth. We stopped off at Hannford first for gloves and napkins, then arrived at Allen, Sterling, and Lothrop on 191 Route One in Falmouth, Maine more than an hour early.

We got to meet one of the employees of Allen, Sterling, and Lothrop who showed us the market's location, a lovely greenhouse, told us we were welcome to use one of the nursery's carts to transfer our things inside, and assured us that the other vendors would be along soon. That was welcome news as I wasn't sure where I should set up my booth.

The band arrived first: The Newts. Kandy and Tom were quite nice; they set up their equipment in a corner of the greenhouse.

The first vendor to arrive was Kay Fowler of Springbrook Farm who very kindly took us under her wing and helped us find a location to set up. Next came Craig Hachey of Hog Stomp Barbeque, who began filling the greenhouse with tantalizing smells of pulled pork and brisket, and Kathy Shaw of Valley View Farm. The band began playing (very good), and the market was open!

What a fun time! The girls helped prepare samples and greeted customers, and we managed to sell 15 of the 20 loaves we brought as well as six of the 10 bags of popcorn. The Newts made the entire experience seem festive.

By the time we packed up the car to come home, then unpacked it again, we were exhausted.

Best yet: I was invited to join the Wednesday Cumberland Farmers Market at the Allen, Sterling and Lothrop location, so we will be back on Wednesdays 10 AM to 1 PM until December, and Saturdays 10 AM to 1 PM for the rest of the season.

How exciting! I'll try to remember to pack a camera next time....

4 November 2011

2011-11-06T10:19:00.000-05:00

Since passing the inspections for my food processor's license in April and one for mobile vending in October, I decided to finally take the plunge and start selling at farmers' markets. My application for my DBA, Bluestocking Breads, was approved at the Cumberland Farmers Market's winter location at Allen, Sterling and Lothrop in Falmouth, Maine.

After picking up milk from a local farm, I spent much of the day baking and making batches of popcorn. The final tally: 22 loaves of rosemary bread (one for home and one to serve as a sample loaf) and 12 bags of herbed popcorn (10 for sale and two for samples).

I got the bread baked, the popcorn popped and mixed, labels applied, and the car packed before 11 PM. I wondered if I would be able to get any sleep...

4 November 2011

2011-11-03T22:29:00.001-04:00

Since there was a little more than a gallon left of milk, I made a batch of mozzarella. It came out very well and went well with fresh loaves of rosemary bread.

I started on the cabbages that await in the cellar and managed to get through all of the ones in the garden basket--all five pound's worth.

Using the Wine Sauerkraut recipe from Sharon Astyk's Independence Days, I made a batch of sauerkraut. I had to cut the recipe in half since 10 pounds were called for and I processed only five (so far). The Cuisinart worked a treat cutting the cabbage into smaller pieces. The only tricky part was finding a plate large enough to cover the cabbage and weight it down while it ferments. Thank goodness the pantry is nice and cool so that the sauerkraut can ferment in below 70 degrees F temperature. The next step comes tomorrow--adding the wine....

3 November 2011

2011-11-03T21:38:00.000-04:00

Since the applesauce was such a hit, the girls and I stopped by the orchard and got six more bags of utility apples. I even got a bag of Cortlands so that Tim could bake us some more pies...

Dinners

2011-10-31T23:16:00.000-04:00

Well, since we're in Maine, lobster's obligatory.

Pasta another night. An adaptation Spaghetti Alla Carbonara from 365 Ways to Cook Pasta by Marie Simmons. Since I didn't have bacon, I used tuna, added peas and used the eggs from the farm down the road. It came out pretty well...

22 October 2011

2011-10-31T22:22:00.000-04:00

A date! Tim and I went on one for the first time in quite a while. Our meal? Sushi! 'Nuff said.

Applesauce!

2011-10-31T22:09:00.000-04:00

The girls and I went to a homeschooling event at a local orchard where we and one other family were the only ones there. We had a blast, got a tractor ride to some choice and older Macintosh apple trees as well as feeding sheep grain pellets, eating fresh apple donuts and drinking fresh apple cider. Along with the free bags into which we could stuff eight apples, we went home with a large bag of apples we filled with apples and paid for. My intention: make applesauce. And, if I have any apples left over, make a pie or can them.

For the applesauce, I used the recipe from the Rodale publication Preserving Summer's Bounty.

The first batch I made filled only one jar with some left over for dessert, so I decided to just peel apples until I reached the bottom of the bag and count how many batches of 13 (what was specified in the recipe) I had left. Since I had four, I quadrupled the recipe.

Because I didn't have a food mill, I peeled the apples with Tim's help, cored them and cut them up into sections then threw them into the pot with the rest of the ingredients. What a wonderful recipe! The ingredients were lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to taste. No sugar at all.

Thank goodness, the seals took! Now I have eight jars of lovely applesauce with enough left over for desert with ten apples ready for whatever.

28 October 2011

2011-10-28T09:21:00.000-04:00

When struggling to add something new to the HTML, I realized that the followers I had I managed to delete.

What a way to treat one's friends!

I must devote some hours today to updating this blog... So many apples and cabbages and turnips and so little time...