#locavore
All the storms the past several days have got the veggies on a rampage!
I’ll have jalapenos out the wazoo soon …
Bells are the shy bois of the pepper patch, but even they are starting to perk up …
I’ve learned never to get too excited at lush leaf growth with squashes, I’ve had monster squash plants that never put out a single squash. But if they produce, I have my eye on “zoodles” topped with DIY mushroom bolognese and venison meatballs …..
Even the strawberries are starting to look like actual strawberries!
Had a gap between meetings so I went and picked up my raw milk for the week. One gallon will make my supershakes (2 scoops whey protein, milk, yogurt, and blueberries) and the other will be transformed into a simple farmer cheese that I can crumble up atop my salads for the next week or two.
First order of business is dump the milk into a pot and let it rise to room temperature. It’ll be several hours before I can start the rest of the process.
Post link
12 more hours and it’ll be time to let it cool, probably right after I get back from the farmers’ market tomorrow. Then let t cool; strain out all the “stuff” so I have clear chicken and beef bone broth; skim off the fat; then can it and put it in the pantry for long term use.
Post link
Meanwhile the fermented Vidalia is quietly burbling on the heating pad. It’ll stay there till Tue-Wed then into the fridge.
On another note, I see that the CSA has corn available! ~quickly googles for a fermented corn relish recipe~ I do enjoy when “X season” arrives (corn, blackberries, cauliflower, whatever). Not only does it kick my culinary creativity into high gear, but only having a particular food available at certain seasons “feels right.” As it should: that’s how humans lived until roughly the post-WWII era, and how most of the world lives to this day. Being able to walk into a supermarket any day of the year and purchase any produce you want is a deeply unnatural state of things. (I may have to pen something on the subject …)
Post link
Time to put Otis back to work again. Latest concoction: sourdough pizza.
Mix 100g of Otis, a dash of salt, and 375g of warm water together ….
In goes 500g of flour. I used up the last of my sprouted grain whole wheat flour and only managed 450g, hopefully that won’t fuck things up. Still waiting for the 25# bag from the local grain co-op to drop …
Let it sit for 30 minutes. Then a bunch of “stretch and folds,” x4, 30 minutes apart. The slight shortfall in flour amount doesn’t seem to have caused any issues, even with the first stretch and fold sequence the dough feels properly rubbery and stretchy …
3 more stretch and folds to go. After that, I have to let it sit for 12 hours before shaping it into a boule. I may have to shorten that a bit and stay up a bit late tonight to get that part done and get it into the fridge to proof.
In the meantime, it’s time to feed the hard workin’ boi! 50g each of flour (had to defrost an old bag of All Purpose flour in the freezer to feed him) and 50g of water. Mix well. Smelln’ good, Otis! Since he’s almost filled up the jar, my plan is to let him sit and percolate for an hour, then scoop out 2 100g blobs, ziploc them, vacuum seal them, and freeze them. In the future I can then grab one from the freezer, let it come to room temperature for about 8 hours, and use it.
Excellent score from the farmers’ market this morning. A big-ass shiitake, plus bacon supplies were down to only one pack and I simply can’t have that kind of negativity in my freezer. The poor farmer at the market who I bought the “bag o’ bones” from last weekend lost all of her chickens to a raccoon attack this past week. Every single one. “The one day I forgot to put the dogs out on guard, and they all died because I messed up.” Having lost a few of my own over the years to raccoons, I can imagine how much she’s hurting right now. You think Nature is “benign and loving”? Fuck that hippie-ass New Age bullshit; talk to a farmer, and get an education about what Nature is reallylike.
Post link
