I have no photos this week whatsoever so as usual just sub a horse.
I won’t be at the Charlotte Regional Farmers’ Market on 11/26 but I’ll be there tomorrow with a few of these: arugula, radishes, broccoli, parsley & mint, and a lot of kale, chard, and Carola, German Butterball and Peppermint potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat berries.
SPECIALS: Ground Beef – Buy 5, Get 1 FREE.
I’ll have our grass fed, grass finished Angus beef in these cuts: Ribeyes, NY strips, filets, sirloins, ground beef, stew beef, philly steak, cube steak, oso bucco short ribs, brisket, soup bones, liver, eye of round roasts, bone-in chuck roasts, sirloin tip roasts.
Lots of bologna, pastrami, corned beef & hot dogs for quick and easy dinners on Wednesday night!
We were making our list for Thanksgiving dinner and my sister says, there aren’t many vegetables on here. I was like VEGETABLES!? I GOT VEGETABLES 365! Thanksgiving is for being thankful that you had them all year and now it’s time to celebrate by eating all the delicious Thanksgiving foods 🙂 that we only have one day a year. At our house that’s homemade mac & cheese…my mom’s stuffing…brined + herb marinated turkey with wine & herb gravy. Oh I’ll have my swiss chard too, but I’ll take that au gratin, with gruyere. And my sweet potatoes – in the form of pies. Homemade cranberry sauce! Is it Thursday yet???
Most of it I grew, some of it my friends grew, and a few things came from the store – I mean we’re not ACTUAL pilgrims here. So I have 3 recipes to share! The first one is of course Sweet Potato Pie. This is the very best recipe of all the ones I have tried and everyone loves it. It’s also really good made with coconut oil and coconut milk instead of dairy. So:
1 lb sweet potato, baked until very soft and caramelized. I bake a 1 lb potato (or 4) (or two 2 lb potatoes because double batches are easiest) (I need a whole pie for myself) the day before, at 450 for an hour, then turn off the oven and leave them in another hour +. Make the pies the next day.
Take off the peel and beat the sweet potato with 1/2 c softened butter til smooth. Add 1/2 c sugar, 1 shot of Southern Comfort in the bottom of a half-cup measure then fill with milk so 1/2 c liquid total, 2 eggs, dash cloves, 1/2 t nutmeg, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t vanilla. Beat til smooth. Pour into crust OR greased pie dish to make a crustless pie and bake at 350 for about an hour until a knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Enjoy with fresh whipped cream!
Now, Chard Gratin. Another Thanksgiving exclusive here – hello creamy cheesy greens! We usually only make half of this recipe (2 lbs chard, etc and bake in a glass loaf pan). You need 4 lbs chard, 3 Tb butter, small onion peeled and minced, 3 garlic cloves peeled and minced, 1 t salt, few turns fresh ground pepper, 1/4 t nutmeg, 2 T flour, 2 1/4 c milk, 5 oz Gruyere, shredded and divided.
Oven at 400. Wash chard, remove stems – save about 1/3 of the stems. Fill a large pot 3/4 with water and boil. Prepare and ice-water bath in a large bowl. Add chard to boiling water and blanch for 2-3 minutes, it will turn bright green. Transfer immediately to ice bath. Drain chard into a colander lined with a thin kitchen towel (like a flour sack towel). Gather the edges of the cloth and wring out as much water as you can, and you’ll have a firm ball of chard – put that on a cutting board and cut into 1″ sections lengthwise and then crosswise.
Dice reserved stems and cook with butter, onions, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg over med heat 5 min. Add flour and cook 1 min, reduce to med-low and add milk, mixing well. Cook until thickened and bubbling – stir frequently. Add 3 oz gruyere. Stir until melted then turn off heat and add the chard. Pour into 1 1/2 qt dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake 15-20 min.
And the last one is Martha Stewart’s Cranberry Maple Jelly – a texture similar to the canned jelly, but homemade from real cranberries and maple syrup – so worth the extra effort. We usually make half the recipe and make it the day before. We save the cranberry mixture that is left after straining the jelly and use it in cocktails, or add it to glasses of champagne, or as a spread for leftover turkey sammys or as topping for stuff. Delish.
I watches. Then I naps 🙂
See you tomorrow!
