St Patrick's Day Menu

March 17^th 2012

To Start

 Lamb and Pork Pâté

With Sequatchie Cove Farm lamb and pork liver  and Link 41 back bacon

Brown Soda Bread

    With Sonrisa Farms whole rye flour and Sequatchie Cove Farm buttermilk

Served with Sequatchie Cove’s  Cumberland and Grutli cheeses,

 Fall Creek Farms cauliflower and broccoli, and William’s Island Farm baby carrots

 Latkes

With Fall Creek farm russet potatoes, served with last summer’s sweet pepper relish

......

Fall Creek Farm Potato and Leek Soup

With William’s Island beet greens and Circle S Farm rutabaga

The Feast

Sequatchie Cove Farm Corned Beef Brisket

With Sautéed Fall Creek Farm nappa cabbage, 

William’s Island Farm baby carrots and handmade red sauerkraut

Colcannon

With Fall Creek Farm potatoes and William’s Island Farm kale and collards

Belly, Bangers, and Beans

With brined Sequatchie Cove Farm pork belly and Link 41 sausages, 

baked in Chattanooga Brewing Company’s black ale

Fresh Green Salad

With Circle S Farm lettuces and herbs, Sequatchie Cove Farm spinach, 

and William’s Island Farm carrots

To Finish

Porter Cake

With Chattanooga Brewing Company’s stout, 

and Louisiana Satsumas from last fall

Featuring (and Many Thanks to)….

All beautiful and colorful wine and water glasses are made by Prentice Hicks and donated for use during this dinner.  They can be taken home to drink from and brighten your every day.  They are 2nds and specially priced.  Please ask for prices

Cute and pretty tea cups that held your tortellini, a few plates, small bud vases, and some serving bowls are made by Anderson Bailey, and are also donated for use during this dinner. They are the elegant, mostly white pieces.  They too can be taken home.  Please ask for prices.

Of course this dinner would have been nothing but empty plates and stomachs without our dedicated and hardworking farmers and food artisans- William’s Island Farm, Sequatchie Cove Farm and Creamery, Circle S Farm, Sonrisa Farms,  and Fall Creek Farm were all extremely important in the making of this dinner.  They are all at Main Street Farmer’s Market- along with many other farms producing equally delicious produce and meat.

Thanks to our gracious hosts Justin and Kelly for opening the doors of their beautiful home and letting us enjoy it for the evening.

 And last, but decidedly not least- Many thanks to all of you- the  supporters of local farmers and craftspeople.  You choose to make this community better and more alive every day.  I look forward to seeing you all at the Main Street Farmers Market throughout the season-which never ends!

Yesterday

 First day of spring felt a whole lot like summer.  But I'll take it.  As long as it keeps it up......

Slim Pickins

Tuesday nights are rough. They're the last night before market.  We find ourselves scraping the bottom of the produce drawer, plucking out wilted nappa leaves and the small, scorned, but suddenly valuable radishes.   But beans and rice make those meager offerings go a long way, and last summer's relishes sure don't hurt.  And thanks to Anderson Bailey, we can still eat in style, even if it is small bowlfuls.

Tuesday Night Beans and Rice

for 2 folks, with leftovers for tacos or salad

it's always best to plan ahead for these, because dried beans are so much cheaper.  Soak 'em the night before, or cook a ton and freeze them.

• 2 cups dried beans (black or red are favorites around here), soaked overnight
• Water to cover beans
• 1 1/2 cup rice, white or brown (brown takes longer)
• 3 cups water, and salt to taste
• Various and sundry toppings, whatever you've got, chopped into sprinkle-able pieces and placed into small bowls
• Hot sauce or vinegar for drizzle 

Cook the beans til soft, with a few cumin seeds and garlic cloves, about 40 minutes to 1 hour.  Add salt to taste when the beans are almost done.  Adding it too early can make the skins tough, but you want to give them a little time to become salted.  

Brown rice takes about 40 minutes, while white only takes 15.  Bring rice and 3 cups water to a boil with a little salt.  Turn down to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook til the water has been absorbed, restraining yourself from frequent peeking.

Prepare your toppings during all of this.  Lettuce is always nice, or any kind of Raw and Crunchy.  Nappa cabbage is wonderful this time of year, super sweet and crunchy.  Grated cheese, of course, is wonderful, as well as sour cream.  Relishes and pickles are important to have on hand at all times, so focus on putting those up this coming summer (if you didn't do that last summer).   Fermented veggies like kraut or kimchee are always welcome.

This time we had: thinly sliced nappa, chopped cilantro, cabbage relish from last fall, pepper and onion relish, and Cumberland cheese (grate it on the small holes and it makes it seem like you have more).

To serve, I like to do a layer of rice, then the cheese to make sure it gets melted, then beans, plus everything else, and a drizzle of balsamic vingear and hot sauce.  Then I mix it all up and eat it. 

Rocketing Toward Spring Tacos

Well, we might not be there yet, but it's close.  Not much has changed at the market, except for a few flowers on the bok choy, but the mocking bird clan outside my window has been telling me, in several bird-languages

(and a few cell phone rings), that change is in the air.

What better day than Market Day, when you arrive home with bounty, to make veggie tacos? 

 A teeny bowl of teeny Tant Hill radishes give the perfect crunch and bite, and of course you need some Sequatchie Cove cheeses.

Turnips, rutabaga, and kale.  Add some cumin seed to that and you're practically in Mexico.

trout lily

life's not always about food