The ladies of Mindsalt (Tarah and Ashley) were greeted with a lovely Valentine’s Day surprise this morning. A beautiful bouquet of flowers in a vase made from a recycled wine bottle. Nothing says “I Love You” like creatively repurposed items that may otherwise end up in the landfill. I like to think this bottle of wine was shared by two star-crossed lovers over a candle-lit dinner and was followed by a walk on the beach whilst gazing into a star-filled sky. Also, lots of R. Kelley. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A couple of weeks ago, Seed Capital Kentucky and Grasshoppers Distribution hosted the 2nd annual viewing party for TEDx Manhattan: Changing the Way We Eat. The event was held at the Louisville Free Public Library and it was a a day of education and collaboration on how we can change our local food economies.

In somewhat related news, I (Tarah) started a personal blog called What I Gather. The blog will be filled with healthy recipes and information on health and wellness. I wrote on my blog about the many things I learned at the TEDx conference and instead of repeating everything I had to say (and it was a lot), you can read about it using the links below:

TEDx Comes to Louisville – Part 1 - antibiotic use in chickens and chicken feed

TEDx Comes to Louisville – Part 2 - the treatment of farmers who work for the major poultry producers

TEDx Comes to Louisville – Part 3 - food labels and their meaning (or lack thereof)

Happy Weekend.

This calendar came to us straight from Brooklyn. It is clean, simple and quite entertaining. Visit BubbleCalendar.com to get one for yourself and see if you can restrain yourself from popping all of the bubbles in the first week.

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Mindsalt recently completed a new website for Foxhollow Farm, a grass-fed beef and produce farm in Crestwood, Kentucky. We have lots of good reasons for wanting to work with Foxhollow – they’re good, friendly people, who focus on doing good for the planet and their animals, as well as being open-minded entrepreneurs – but my personal motivation is more selfish. I want their steaks. I like the rich flavor of grass-fed beef, and having personally met the herd, I can tell you they’re some happy cows, which also makes me feel good.

As you might imagine, I was pretty excited when Sarah from Foxhollow greeted the mindsalt crew with a shopping bag full of beef recently. (A little work in trade can be a good thing!) And so I now present to you those same steaks, as prepared recently for a Revlett-Herrera dinner – Foxhollow Farms grass-fed strip steak, with a mushroom and red wine sauce, served with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus in a shallot-butter sauce. Mmmmmm. Also, not as complicated as it sounds. Dig in!

Steak with Red Wine & Mushroom Sauce

• As many strip steaks or ribeyes as you can afford (Foxhollow Farms is our beef of choice, of course)
• 1 c. sliced mushrooms (crimini or white buttons are fine)
• 2/3 c. red wine
• 2 tbsp. chopped shallots
• 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp.c chopped tarragon
• 1/4 c. beef stock
• 1-2 pats butter
• Kosher salt
• Crushed black pepper
• Vegetable oil
• Olive oil

1. Preheat the broiler. You want it hot as hell.
2. Salt and pepper the steaks to taste. Nothing else necessary.
3. Put a dry pan over high heat. When it’s hot toss in the mushrooms and don’t move them. You want them to brown on one side before you start tossing them around the pan.
4. When the mushrooms have browned and are releasing their liquid, turn heat to medium-high and add a little olive oil, the shallots, garlic, and salt and pepper. Cook and stir for a couple minutes.
5. Add the red wine, beef broth, and tarragon. Let simmer and reduce till it’s thickened. Add a pat or two of butter, turn off the heat, stir it all up, and cover.
6. Drizzle veg oil lightly over the steaks, then throw under the broiler. Let cook on both sides till just before your desired doneness is reached. Let steaks rest 5-10 minutes to finish cooking. I prefer crispy edges and a pink middle, which takes 5-10 minutes per side depending upon thickness (these were massive, and took a full 10).
7. Serve with red wine sauce. Mashed potatoes makes a great accompaniment.