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Braised Pork Belly with Glazed Radishes

Stokes Family Farm — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:50:44 GMT

BRAISED PORK BELLY WITH GLAZED RADISHES

SERVES 4

SPICE RUB:

1 tsp black peppercorns 1 1/2 tsp dill seeds 1 tsp toasted coriander seeds 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt 1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless pork belly

BRAISING LIQUID:

1 tbls extra-virgin olive oil 2 celery stalks chopped coursely 1 large yellow onion chopped coarsely 2 parsnips chopped coarsely 8 whole cloves 8 to 12 garlic cloves chopped 4 bay leaves 1 cup dry white wine 2 Cups chicken or vegetable stock

RADISHES:

1 1/2-pound radishes cut in halves 1/4 C. chicken stock, as needed 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3/4 teaspoon agave syrup Course salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spice rub (1 to 2 days in advance): Combine the peppercorns, coriander and dill seed and grind until course. Add the salt and grind quickly to mix.

Blot the pork well with paper towels and place it in a container with a lid. Pat the spice mixture all over the pork until it all sticks. Cover and place in a refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Brown the pork: Pat the surface of the pork dry with paper towels. Save any spices that fall off. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet or similar pan (4- to 5-quart) over medium-high heat. Add the pork, fatty side down and sear until the skin fat develops a brown crust, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate and pour off all the fat from the pan.

The aromatics: Return the pan to medium-high heat, add the onion, parsnip and celery, and sauté until the vegetables are softening and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves and cloves. Sauté for another minute or so.

The braising liquid: Add the white wine and bring to a simmer, and stir to release the fond from the bottom of the pan. Simmer until the wine reduces to two or three tablespoons, about 3 minutes. Add the stock and bring back to a simmer.

The braise: Return the pork, skin side up, to the pan. Add any spices that have fallen from the pork. Cover with foil or a secure lid, and slide into the center of the oven. Braise, basting every 45 minutes and make sure that the liquid isn't cooking too rapidly or evaporating, until the pork is thoroughly tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Reduce the heat 10 or 15 degrees if the liquid is simmering too vigorously. If the pan dries out, add about 1/4 cup water at a time as often as needed. Remove the pork from the oven and let it cool in its liquid.

The finish: When the pork is cool enough to handle, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Transfer the pork to a cutting board, and set the pan aside. Score the exposed fat in a cross-hatch patern, making shallow cuts about 1 inch apart, then cut the pork into 4 even portions.

Browning the pork: Strain the braising liquid into a large glass measuring cup, pressing down lightly on the vegetables to extract any liquid (don't press so hard as to mash the vegetables), and then discard the vegetables. With a large spoon, skim off the excess fat that floats on the surface of the strained liquid. Performing this step a day early will allow easier removal of the extra fat. Return the pork to the braising pan or another shallow baking dish. Pour the remaining braising liquid over the top of the pork reserving a quarter cup for the radishes. Slide the pork, uncovered, onto the middle oven rack until sizzling and browned and heated through, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, glaze the radishes: Trim the stalks and scrub the radishes. Choose a skillet just large enough to hold the radishes in a single layer (10-inch). Combine the radishes, butter, sugar and reserved 1/4 cup braising liquid in the skillet. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cover and simmer until the turnips are just tender when prodded with a small knife or thin skewer, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook, shaking and stirring, until the liquid has evaporated and the radishes have a golden sheen, another 5 minutes or so. If the pork is not ready, set aside in a warm place.

Serving: Serve the pork and radishes on warm plates. Taste the braising liquid for salt and pepper, adjust seasonings as necessary, and spoon a bit over each serving.

Special Holiday Pork Shares

Stokes Family Farm — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:22:43 GMT

!!!Get 'm while they last!!!

Sausage shares just in time for Christmas. These shares will average 10lbs and cost $50. Pickup is this coming Saturday, Dec. 10, from 9 to 11AM. I'll be serving samples of my Cheezy Sausage Balls along with a free copy of the recipe.

Availability is limited, so orders will be based on the time of your response e-mail... first come, first served.

Beef Shares, Lamb Shares, Canning Class, Heritage Pork Dinner

Stokes Family Farm — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:01:33 GMT

It's a crazy summer here at the farm between road construction turning off either the water or electricity on a daily basis or me staying up nights feeding baby pigs after a tough delivery. Despite everything we've got some delicious meats for you to choose from as well as a couple of special events.

Canning Class: this coming Saturday

This Saturday, August 6 at 10AM, we will be offering a free canning class at the farm. Ines Beltran from the Gwinnett County Extension Office will present. I've taken her class and it is excellent. The body of the class is a film from the UGA Department of Agriculture but Ines is a treasure of information for the first time or long time canner. The class will finish with a cold cut luncheon of my roast beef and Anthony Brown's roast chicken. I'll also be making a salad of heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers and basil from my garden. Please contact me if you would like to attend, and I'll let you know what you can bring to contribute to the meal. Essentially we'll need condiments and sandwich bread. There is no cost other than to contribute something tasty to the lunch.

Beef and Lamb Shares

At the moment I have shares of grass-fed beef available as well as lamb. Of course I charge by the hanging weight of the animal in accordance with state law, but you can estimate to have paid between $8 and $8.50 per pound for all the meats going into your freezer. Final weights of beef quarters are currently averaging about 40 pounds, and lamb halves about 10lbs of meat to go into your freezer.

Heritage Pork Dinner

Tim's Rib Joint in Dacula has generously offered to stay open Sunday August 14 to cook one of my new Ossobaw Island Hogs and sell sampler plates. It will be a full meal with sides included. These little pigs have run feral on Ossobaw Island near Savannah, since the Spanish dropped them off about 400 years ago. They are renowned for their flavor, and I'll be tasting the pork along with you for the first time. I can't wait. I'll forward specifics about time and cost as soon as Tim gets them to me.
Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions, would like to place an order, or would like to register for an event. Anthony Stokes, stokesfarm@bellsouth.net

What We Provide

Stokes Family Farm — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:56:00 GMT

Stokes Family Farm provides the local community with locally grown, naturally raised foods. For some of our customers, it's a matter of health. For others, it's about caring for the environment or the well-being of the animals they eventually eat. For everyone, it's an opportunity to grow as an individual and become part of a community.

Our primary products are grass-fed and finished beef and pastured pork. Our pasture land is very limited and soon much of it will become part of a new road, so more and more we depend on a neighbor across the county line in Walton County to provide our beef. Suburban sprawl has not hit him as badly as it has us here in Gwinnett County. I envy his 400+ acres of rolling hills with grass up to his knees. The cattle are Angus-based and live in their family groups until the day they go to slaughter.

Production here at the Gwinnett farm is shifting progressively to heritage pork and vegetables. Our hogs live in pastures and wood lots of one to three acres. In the summer, they graze the green grasses and in the winter they fatten on acorns and hickory nuts. Our pigs enjoy life as they are meant to, and the pork is naturally delicious with more flavor and texture than factory farm pork.

We garden in about 40 raised beds that have been double-dug and enriched with manure from our livestock. Production is limited, but we often have produce when others have lost theirs to flooding or other bad weather. In the winter, we cover many of the beds with solar pods, so we can grow fresh veggies despite the cold.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Anthony Stokes

Beef Tagine with Dried Plums

Stokes Family Farm — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:01:00 GMT

Beef Tagine with Dried Plums

For years I've held that traditional cultures understand natural meats far better than we do. Mexico quickly grills marinated beef for fajitas. China stir fries steak in a flash. And Morocco slowly roasts its tagine over a charcoal fire. I recently enjoyed a meal at the Imperial Fez restaurant in Atlanta and fell in love with their traditional Marrakech dishes, slow cooked in small, portable ovens called tagine. The beef was so tender it fell apart. I created this recipe to work in a western kitchen but to retain the sweet and spicy flavors of Morocco.

Ingredients:

· 2lbs lean Grass-fed beef (this can be stew meat, round or sirloin steak, ie round or rump roast) cut into 1 inch cubes.

· 1 tsp. Kosher salt or to your taste

· ½ tsp black pepper

· 1 ½ tsp. Ras el Hanout (or Garam Masala spice mix available at most grocery stores or Indian stores)

· 1 ½ tsp. ground Cumin

· 2 ½ tsp. ground Cinnamon

· 2 tsp. ground Ginger

· 1 ½ tsp. ground sweet paprika

· 1 tsp. ground Turmeric

· 2 cloves of garlic, minced

· Olive oil

· 1 roughly chopped onion

· 1 15 oz. can of drained chickpeas

· 1 15 oz. can chopped tomatoes (Fire roasted tomatoes from Muir Glen add a hint of the charcoal used to make traditional Tagines)

· 2 cups water

· 1 medium sweet potato cut into 1inch chunks

· 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped

· 1 2 chopped, dried plums

Garnish

Blend the ingredients for the Garnish up to 1 day in advance to allow the flavors to develop. Keep chilled in the refrigerator until time to serve.

· a small bunch of chopped, fresh mint (about 6 stems)

· a small bunch of chopped, fresh cilantro (about 12 stems)

· 1 cup of Greek yogurt

Bread

Any Middle Eastern flat bread such as pita or naan can be heated and served with this dish.

Cooking Directions

Marinate the meat in salt, pepper, spices and garlic for 2 hours to overnight.

Pre-heat a large, oven-safe, lidded pot/dutch oven over a medium heat for about 2 minutes

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Add meat and spice mixture and allow to brown slightly

Add onions, chickpeas, water, dried plums and tomatoes

Bring stew to a gently simmer on the stove top

Cover with the lid and transfer the pot to a 250 degree oven for 3 hours

1 ½ hours into the cooking process, add the sweet potato and red bell pepper and return to the oven for another 1 ½ hours

Serve the Tagine over couscous or rice, topped with a big dollop of the yogurt sauce. Also serve the warmed flat bread.

Eco-Lamb Normandy (with lamb, pork or meadow veal)

Stokes Family Farm — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:20:00 GMT

Many years ago I spent a few days with a friend at her parents' home in Paris. We had a wonderful time strolling along the Seine, eating pan au chocolat from the corner bakery and listening to Ives Montand records. Yes, I'm old enough to remember listening to records without them being retro-tech. Her mom claimed to be "a terrible cook for a French woman", because she only knew one good recipe... Veal Normandy. After the meal I told her she never needed to cook anything else for me if she'd just keep cooking that. It was heavenly. Of course with my American disregard for tradition, I tried the recipe with many other meats besides veal. I discovered I loved it with lamb.

This recipe, like most French recipes, is based on locally sourced ingredients, in this case foods from Normandy. Normandy is known for its milk products like creme fraiche as well as veal. If you don't already know, a cow gives milk only after she has had a calf and most dairy calves go into veal. A bit south of Normandy you'll find the Loire Valley and the village of Sancerre which makes some of the most famous Sauvingnon Blanc wines in the world. As near neighbors, Sancerre wines quickly find their way into Normandy's cuisine. Our Eco-lamb Normandy will make ample use of creme fraiche (or sour cream), butter, and Sauvignon Blanc wine.

Test Kitchen Notes:

To test this recipe I used arm and chuck steaks. They were a bit tough, so in the future I'll use those in a slow braising recipe such as the Lancashire Hotpot I'll be blogging next week. Instead I would suggest using loin chops or rib chops in this recipe. I would also consider adapting this recipe to use with a loin roast to be seared on the stove top and finished in the oven. To get a better understanding of our meat I bought conventional lamb from Australia to cook at the same time in a separate skillet. I found the conventional meat to be very fatty with a very mild flavor. I don't think I could have identified at as lamb in a blind test. Our Eco-lamb, in contrast, was very lean and had more intense flavors as if it were pre-seasoned with the wild herbs the sheep were grazing. The fat was also a bit more yellow than the conventional lamb which suggests a higher level of anti-oxidants in the meat. In addition the meat of our Eco-Lamb was also a darker pink than the grocery store meat. Immediately when I put the steaks in the skillet the conventional chops began to smoke and continued to do so even though I lowered the temperature. The final dishes were quite different. The sauce with my Eco-Lamb was a light blond as it should have been, and it allowed the herbal character of the Eco-lamb to come thru. The sauce for the conventional lamb was dark brown and although it tasted generally OK, there was a slightly acrid/burned taste on the finish. It certainly was not a bad dish, but there was nothing characteristic of the lamb or the wine in the final product. It could have passed for a pork chop in a brown sauce.

Wine:

The wine I used in the recipe was a Pomelo Sauvignon Blanc from Mason Cellars in California. It was light and crisp with distinct grapefruit aroma, and cost about $13. It was delicious with the meal, but if I were not drinking the wine I would have used a less expensive, Sauvignon Blanc, because the grapefruit aroma is lost in the sauce. I recommend the little four packs of wine with twist tops. They are the perfect size for cooking and stay fresh for 2 or 3 years. If you prefer not to cook with wine, apple juice makes an excellent substitute, although the final sauce will be a bit sweeter.

Non-alcohol Opportunity:

A sparking apple juice would be delicious along side this dish, in particular because it also supports the theme of Normandy. In addition to dairy, Normandy is an important apple producing region.

Eco-Lamb Normandy

4 rib or loin chops

1/2 cup Sancerre wine ( a New Zealand or California Sauvignon Blanc is a good substitute and apple juice can be substituted as a non-alcoholic option)

4T creme fraiche or sour cream (I use the light sour cream)

1 T butter per chop (in this case a total of 4T)

1/2 tsp thyme (1 1/2 tsp if using fresh thyme)

white pepper

salt

Defrost the chops

Season the chops with salt

Heat a heavy non-stick skillet for two or three minutes over a medium flame/electric

Lower heat slightly and add the butter to the skillet

As soon as the butter stops foaming add the chops. (I always put a weight on my chops to get an even crust)

Cook the chops on the first side for two to three minutes. Once they have a perfect crust turn them over.

Cook the chops on the second side for one or two minutes until you just start to see pink juices coming thru the top crust.

Turn the chops once quickly to cook those pink juices

Remove the chops to a warm plate and cover with a foil tent to rest about 10 minutes

Add the wine to the skillet and raise the temperature a bit until it simmers vigorously

Add the thyme to the liquid

Reduce the wine by half (I often reduce it further because I like a thicker sauce)

Remove the skillet from the heat

Add the creme fraiche/sour cream

Season the sauce with salt and white pepper

Plate the chops and top with the warm sauce.

Serve with parsley potatoes and green peas. (or you can serve the chops with any vegetables you like)

Happy Grazing!

Lancashire Hotpot (with lamb or beef)

Stokes Family Farm — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:17:00 GMT

Nothing warms the chill of cold weather like a good hearty stew. Put it in a slow oven in the morning and savor it's hearty flavor after work. Industrial workers during Britain's Victorian era knew this all to well and created the Lancashire Hotpot for the family to tuck into at the end of the day. According to the Two Fat Ladies this stew was traditionally made with the long boned chops from sheep in the Pennine mountains, but today you can use any cut of lamb or even beef. I've omitted the usual tails and lamb kidneys from this dish, but I say use them if you've got them. Another festive touch is to put a dozen fresh oysters under the top layer of potatoes. Essentially there were as many different ways to cook this dish as there were women trying to balance family and work. Enjoy!

Lancashire Hotpot

4 sirloin or blade chops (any less tender cut of lamb can be substituted)

flour

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Black pepper to taste (I like a lot)

1 Tablespoon lard ( or olive oil if you must)

2 Cups of lamb stock (or good, unsalted, canned chicken broth)

4 medium onions sliced (or leeks)

4 carrots sliced (or parsnips)

3 to 4 medium potatoes sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 teaspoon sugar

pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (unless you are using a crock pot)
Salt and dredge chops in flour
Heat the skillet over medium heat and melt the lard in it
Fry the chops until they have a nice, brown crust
Arrange chops in a two quart casserole (what the Brits call a hotpot) and add the kidneys and tails if you have them
Sautee the onions in the leftover drippings from the lamb until they just begin to brown
Arrange the onion and uncooked carrots throughout the hotpot, filling all empty spaces
Whisk the cornstarch into the cold stock and bring it to a simmer over a medium high flame/electric
Season the hot stock with the remaining salt, sugar and plenty of black pepper. The stock should be a little too salty because the other ingredients in the stew have not been seasoned.
Add the seasoned stock to the hot pot
Cover the stew with a layer of sliced potatoes
Bake covered 350 degrees for two hours removing the lid for the last ten minutes to brown the potatoes. This dish can also be cooked all day in a crock pot set on low, but I would recommend covering the bottom of the pot with the meat and placing the vegetables all on top to keep them from over cooking.

This dish is often served along side pickled red cabbage or beets and is classically served with a hearty English ale. In a pinch Guinness will do.

Lamb Rogan Josh (alt. beef)

Stokes Family Farm — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:37:00 GMT

For a couple of years now I've been falling in love with Indian food. The heady aromas and intense spices make a great change from the simpler flavors of western cookery. I especially love Rogan Josh from the Kashmiri region of northern India. The spices are earthy and complex but not very hot at all. Of course you can add as much chile as you like when you make it.

I hope no one is too offended when I say this dish work equally well with beef as it does with lamb. I do realize that eating cow would not be popular in India, but often it is more accessible for us than lamb.

If you would like to try this recipe, but don't want to go out and spend a fortune on spices, let me know. I can put together packs of spices to make a single recipe for $5. If you do want to buy all the spices, I recommend Patel's Market on Church Street in Decatur. They have everything you could need to make delicious Indian food at rock bottom prices.

Ingredients

5 Tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
7 whole black peppercorns
3 whole black cardamom pods
5 whole green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 finely chopped onion
1 leg of lamb with bone in, cut into very small pieces (about 1/2 inch is good)
6 whole, peeled cloves of garlic
1 piece of fresh ginger (about 3/4 inch) cut into 3 or 4 chunks
water
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon red chile powder
2 teaspoons ground fennel seed
1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
2 fresh tomatoes blended into a loose sauce
3 Tablespoons plain yogurt
Kosher salt
Boiling water as needed
1 handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Measure all of your ingredients and arrange them on a counter left to right, first to last. This dish can go very quickly and you may burn ingredients if you don't do this.

Pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees.

Heat the ghee in a large oven safe pan over medium heat and add all whole spices. They should cook about 1 minute or until they become fragrant.

Add the chopped onion and cook them for 8 to 10 minutes until they become translucent. Add the lamb (or beef) and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until they are no longer raw on the outside.

In a blender/food processor blend the garlic, ginger and a splash of water to a fine puree. Pour it into the lamb mixture and stir well. Reduce the heat and cook 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture looks a bit dry stirring frequently.

Add the ground spices as well as the tomato puree, yogurt and salt to taste. Cover and cook the mixture for about 10 minutes until fairly dry.

Add boiling water to nearly cover the lamb and transfer to a 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours until the lamb is very tender. Test the meat and let it cook longer if it is not tender enough.

I love to serve this dish with chunks of oven roasted potatoes I've tossed in ghee, turmeric and a touch of kosher salt. Naan bread is always welcome with this meal.

Introducing Eco-Lamb

Stokes Family Farm — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:26:33 GMT

Lamb tastes great but is rarely seen on the American table. To fill this void Stokes Family Farm now offers a very special, new Eco-lamb to inspire foodies to try new recipes and indulge in an avant guard, locally grown speciality.

There was a time when lamb was popular across much of America, but after WWII it was thrown out of the nation's kitchens. Millions of sheep were fed to the soldiers during that war with no regard to the quality. The sheep were often old and in poor condition. To compound the problem they were prepared by inexperienced army cooks. The resulting meals kept soldiers on their feet but were a chore to choke down. Once home the soldiers insisted their wives never put sheep of any kind on the table again, so lamb disappeared from the American table. Stokes Family Farm hopes to correct the damage done by WWII and restore delicious meat to the tables of our customers.

Stokes Family Farm's lamb comes from Brian Cash in North Georgia. I say North Georgia because these sheep move around. Brian has created a business of clearing overgrown land with his flock of sheep who quietly replace chain saws, mowers and tractors. Rather than burning up fossil fuels and polluting the air, Brian's sheep convert the calories of kudzu and privet into delicious lamb. To emphasize the Earth friendly work these sheep do, we've chosen the name Eco-lamb.

Eco-lamb is delicious and versatile ranging from mild and juicy to full bodied and herbaceous. It will provide a host of different flavors and textures to delight your palate. I love lamb but have been limited to the few cuts of awfully fatty meat available at the grocery stores. Like you I've got a lot to learn, I'm embarking on a project to cook and blog an entire Eco-lamb one cut at a time. I hope to provide you with insights into cooking the wonderful array of cuts from shanks to chops and roasts. I hope my mistakes and successes will inspire you to rediscover this ancient and delicious food.

Happy Grazing,

Anthony

Sugarloaf Parkway Is Not As Sweet As It Sounds

Stokes Family Farm — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:16:00 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Stokes Family Farm has entered into a new phase as progress turns our pastures into asphalt. From the shade of a towering birch tree I can hear the distant music of bulldozers as Sugarloaf Parkway comes ever closer. The county has purchased all the land right up to the edge of our farm, so I guess we are the final obstacle as the new road rushes to merge with GA 316. Unfortunately negotiations are going very slowly. I can't go into much detail at this point but will let everyone know when the situation is resolved.

The engineers have told us they will be taking or disrupting about 5 of our 21 acres. It is an enormous loss to an already small farm and our beloved pond will disappear into history. Additionally we will be coping with a giant embankment blocking the rising sun until nearly noon much of the year, because that dandy new road will tower above our birch trees. On a positive note the engineers have assured me that all runoff will be diverted into retention ponds to keep our remaining soil clean and unpolluted.

The good news is that Stokes Family Farm will continue to provide delicious and healthful grass fed beef and pastured pork to our customers. The bulk of the herd will be in Monroe at my business partners farm. I confess his grass is much better than ours, and it just makes better tasting beef anyway. We'll keep a few cattle, pigs and chickens at the current farm for visitors to experience and learn about. The garden is unfortunately closed for the foreseeable future as a result of a knee injury I had recently in England. I'll share more information about the changes at Stokes Family Farm as I'm able.

Best regards,

Anthony Stokes

Learn about food from wartime Britain

Stokes Family Farm — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:10:00 GMT

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I'm finally back from vacationing in London. The trip was spectacular filled with theater, museums, dining out, etc., but it also broadened my awareness of the relationship we all share with food. The Imperial War Museum graphically demonstrated British families surviving on the occasional egg, an occasional serving of meat, a crust of bread and loads of home grown vegetables. Britain imported the bulk of its food prior to the war, but in a massive effort the island nation returned to agriculture and self-sufficiency. As my trip unfolded a theme emerged: how the Brits fed themselves during WWII can help guide us today as we suffer from economic hardship, diseases related to obesity and a dependence on foreign oil.

Prior to WWII many Britons suffered from too few calories and too few of the basic vitamins and minerals needed for good health. At the onset of the war, the government created a Ministry of Food to teach people how to produce food for themselves as well as to get the basic nutrients they needed for good health. Chicken coops, rabbit hutches and allotment gardens became the norm across Britain. Despite German U boats destroying thousands of food bearing ships, Britons became the healthiest they had ever been or would be in the decades since.

Across Britain millions of acres of land were put into vegetable production thru an allotment program. Each participating family got a nice large garden space where they grew cabbages, potatoes, leeks and lots more. Many people joined pig clubs to turn their kitchen scraps into pork and desperately needed cooking fat. Everyone helped with the work of raising the pig and when slaughter time came around everyone got their fair share.

Today we fight more wars than I can count. There is the war on obesity, the war on diabetes, on cancer, on a failing economy, and on nations and groups in the Middle East. A diet based on home grown, local and natural foods could go a long way toward slimming America and controlling the health problems that go with it. If people can learn to grow part of their own food, it can save them money and help stabilize their checkbooks. And of course, reducing our dependence on imported oil could help stabilize the environment and keep money out of the hands of terrorist groups.

Locally grown foods can be difficult to find, however, if you ask the produce manager at your favorite store to carry local fruits and vegetables when possible, they will quickly arrive on your grocery store shelf. Read labels and choose citrus from Florida rather than far away California and Mexico. Visit a local farmer’s market and buy the freshest foods from the people who grew them with love and commitment. It’s not really that hard to step onto the path toward better health, a better economy and a slightly safer world. Take up the challenge.

Wilted Spring Salad

Stokes Family Farm — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:37:00 GMT

Right now salad greens are king of our garden. The green oak leaf lettuces in particular look like little emerald crowns. I'm eating salads almost every day with either a simple Italian dressing, or if I'm including spicy greens like radicchio or dandelion, I like to wilt the greens with a warm bacon or pork belly dressing.

Wilted Spring Salad

3/4 pound spicy salad greens (should include dandelion, radicchio or spicy mustard greens)

2 or 3 slices of bacon or pork belly

up to 1/3 cup olive oil

3 to 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 clove crushed garlic or 4 spring onions washed and roughly chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry a few strips of bacon or pork belly in a deep pot like you cook pasta in. When it is crispy remove the meat and pour the fat into a measuring cup. Add just enough olive oil to reach 1/3 of a cup and then add 3 to 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Sauté a clove of crushed garlic or spring onions in the residual fat in the pot. Add the oil and vinegar mixture back to the pot. Reheat the mixture just until it begins to bubble and remove from the heat. Add spicy salad mixture to the pot. Cover tightly and shake the pot to coat the greens and let them wilt a bit. In 30 or 40 seconds uncover your salad and add salt and black pepper to taste. Toss and serve with the bacon/pork belly crumbled over the top.

To turn my Wilted Spring Salad into a complete meal, I add a gently boiled egg and a chunk of crusty french bread. But I am very picky about my boiled eggs. I personally keep my fresh eggs at room temperature if they have never been washed or refrigerated. After about a week they boil and peel very nicely. Eggs take about a month to be ready to boil and peel properly if they have been washed and refrigerated. I said I'm picky about my eggs, and I'll prove it by saying I've got to have a 6 minute egg for my salads. The white is done, and the yolk is solid but still moist. Sliced in half, they top a salad fit for any royal.

Eggs-hausted

Stokes Family Farm — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:48:00 GMT

Well it seems to be over! It's been a trial, but I think it's over. Out of 30 eggs put into the incubator I've got 10.5 live chicks. I'll explain the .5 in a bit. 1 out of 3 is a really low hatch rate compared to when I've done it in the past, but then I've not hatched eggs in an incubator for about 10 years. I've autopsied the duds and found many fully formed chicks that should have hatched as well as several partially developed embryos. The manual says it could be my incubator was too hot or too cold. It also says there may have been too little oxygen or humidity. Clearly I've got a learning curve to get thru.

While examining the contents of the eggs, I found one chick still alive but clearly unable to break free of the shell. It hadn't even pecked a tiny hole in the shell. It's the ".5" I mentioned before. I removed the shell and don't think I broke any blood vessels, but I've never helped a chick during hatching that survived. It's still in the incubator drying off. If it makes it, I'll name it Point Five.

The most interesting aspect of this hatch has been watching my partner, George, deal with it. He's a theater and film professor and doesn't cope well with anything that might die, and chicks are notorious for their mortality rate around hatch time. The experience has forced him to confront his issues with my career as a farmer. He told me it boils down to the immediacy of life and death for a farmer. I'm very used to it, but most civilized people rarely face it. He's been painfully indifferent during the 21 days of incubation, but he's really taken to these new chicks. I even promised that these chicks could be pets rather than livestock....or at least working pets. I'm never allowed to cook any of these guys for dinner, and as tame as they will be, I'm sure they have a great future ahead of them as farm ambassadors.

So I've gotten thru the month of confining the hens to control the genetics, as well as the 3 weeks of monitoring and turning eggs, and we have survived the hatch. I'm eggs-hausted. I think I'll go take a nap in my reclining chair with a couple of chicks sleeping on my belly.

18 Hours Till Hatching and Counting

Stokes Family Farm — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:28:00 GMT

The hatch has begun! It is about 18 hours until the chicken eggs in my incubator are due to hatch, but I can already hear the little guys peeping. There are a few tiny cracks in the shells, and I can't wait to see what happens by morning.

Eggs-periment

Stokes Family Farm — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:41:00 GMT

Today is day 15 since my eggs went into the incubator. You may remember from my earlier blog, "It's Time For Chicks", I'm trying to create my own super race of Easter Egg laying chickens. No...I'm not creating Frankenchicken. I'll leave that to the genetic engineers and other such deviants. I'm just using natural breeding methods to increase my production of blue and green eggs.

On day 13 (of a total of 21) I noticed a half degree rise in temperature which was to be expected. As chicks develop inside the eggs they begin to generate body heat, so you have to adjust the temperature in the incubator. On day 14 the temperature shot up to 104 degrees, and I panicked! Did my eggs have the flu or something?! They seemed to be running a fever. As soon as I noticed I turned the heat down and opened the incubator to cool it back to the correct 100 degree temperature. It has left me nervous and a little over protective, so I'm checking the temperature several times a day now.

After the egg fever, I decided to see what was going on inside the shells. Using a special flashlight to see the interior of the eggs I took a peak. The dozen blue/green shells showed nothing. These fancy colored egg shells are simply impossible to see thru. Of the 17 hybrid brown eggs 12 were mostly dark inside. Chicks were clearing developing in those eggs. The other five had nothing but yolk and white within. I guess the rooster wasn't doing his job right on those hens.

So the eggs-periment continues with a count down of 6 days. The temperature looks good, and I'm hoping the over heating didn't do too much damage. I'll continue turning the eggs twice a day, and soon I'll open the air holes for when the chicks start to breath inside their ovoid homes. I'll also have to add more water to raise the humidity and keep the chick-in-eggs from getting thirsty. Day 20, Monday, will be the next milestone when the chicks start to peep from inside their shells. If that happens we'll have chicks on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed. This could be a fiasco.

Easter Egg Pasta Salad

Stokes Family Farm — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 02:34:00 GMT

Easter Egg Pasta Salad

If you've never cooked with radishes this recipe will surprise you. Radishes, greens and eggs are plentiful at most farmer's markets in the spring. And your kids will love eating radishes when they pretend to be hunting for Easter Eggs in a field of greens.

Two bunches of baby Easter Egg Radishes (use more if you like) Wash the radishes well,

remove any yellow leaves and cut off the small roots, but leave

4 cups of greens (kale, dandelion, mustard, broccoli or whatever you like) washed and chopped

2 cloves of garlic crushed (I use at least 4)

1/2 pound of cooked, short pasta

1/2 pound bacon or pork belly fried, dried and crumbled (Optional)

3 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried mustard

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

4 slightly soft boiled (6 minute) eggs sliced in half from top to bottom

What you'll need

Pasta pot

large, deep skillet with a lid

digital thermometer

medium sauce pan with a lid

Cook ½ pound of pasta according to the manufacturers instructions in your large pasta pot. When the pasta is done, toss it with just enough olive oil to coat. Taste, adjust for salt and set aside.

Cook the bacon in a skillet until crispy. Put bacon on paper towels or a rack to dry. Toss radishes with their greens into the bacon fat and stir for 1 minute. Reserve them with the bacon to top your salad. Drain fat from the skillet and add garlic with just enough olive oil to prevent the garlic burning. 1 or 2 tablespoons. Cook the garlic until it is translucent and add the dried mustard. Add washed and chopped greens, green onions and rice wine vinegar to the skillet and cover. Steam just until tender. Taste, adjust for salt and set aside.

Place eggs into a small saucepan. Cover eggs with water by about ½ inch. Place saucepan over medium high heat. When the water comes to a boil remove it from the heat and allow to rest for 6 minutes. Drain water off and replace with cold tap water. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, and then peel the eggs. The boiled eggs should then be sliced lengthwise from the small to the large end with a very sharp knife.

Combine the pasta with the vegetable mixture and toss. Top with crumbled bacon and the whole radishes. Serve eggs, cut side up, on a mound of the pasta salad and drizzle each one with 1/8 teaspoon of olive oil. The eggs should be a bit soft in the center of the yolk. I like to garnish with a grind of black pepper.

Serves three people.

Cook’s Note: very fresh eggs do not peel easily. I like my eggs to be at least a month old for boiling. You can use fresher eggs, but the results may look a bit tatte

Mongolian Beef

Stokes Family Farm — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Mongolian Beef

This recipe highlights two of springs best products: Spring Beef andScallions.

Ingredients:

2 lb lean steak or roast (top round, sirloin, round steak, etc.)

1/2 cup cornstarch

4 t. organic canola or peanut oil

1 t. grated ginger (I prefer more)

2 T chopped garlic

1 cup soy sauce (Eden Selected Shoyu is my favorite)

1 cup water

1 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar)

4 T. rice wine

½ tsp. red pepper flakes (add more if you like hot)

1 large onion (sliced)

4 green onions (sliced)

Extra oil for the wok

Cooking Instructions: 

1: Heat 4 teaspoons of oil in awok. Add the garlic and ginger, and stir fry for a few seconds (about 10 to 15). Add soy sauce, rice wine and water. Add brown sugar and stir into the sauceuntil dissolved. Add the red pepper flakes. Bring the sauce to a boil and boilfor 2-3 minutes and then remove from heat. 

2: Slice the flank steak on the biasinto ¼” thick slices. This is easier to do if the meat is still slightlyfrozen, but then let it finish defrosting. Coat the steak in cornstarchand let let it rest for 10 about minutes before frying. 

3: Heat a cup of oil in your wok overmedium heat. Fry small batches of the meat for a minute or so until all meat iscooked

4: Drain the fried meat on papertowels. Drain most of the oil from the wok expect about a tablespoon. Add allonions to the wok and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add your steak back to the wokand pour in the sauce. Cook until the dish begins to bubble.

Serve with sticky rice.

Serves 4 people

Time For Baby Chicks

Stokes Family Farm — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:38:00 GMT

Chickens are oddly resilient creatures. Like man's best friend they teamed up with humans a few thousand years ago to build a bond that has lasted even into the internet age. You'll find chicken chat groups all over the internet. On-line articles describe fem-avores taking charge of their family's food by keeping a few laying hens to their backyards. Joel Salatin has inspired many people to only want eggs from chickens who can experience their own chickeness, running around freely and chasing grasshoppers.

All this attention reflects a deep and enduring connection to these popular yard birds. That connection runs from a love of fuzzy baby chicks to the desire to have your own, yard fresh eggs. Those eggs provide one of nature's most perfect foods but also the next generation of laying hens. There are many ways to acquire that next generation. Some hens will hatch a few eggs naturally. Hatcheries will mail very high quality, day old chicks anywhere. And then there is trial by incubator.

A few weeks ago I bought a Hova-bator brand incubator which looks something like a squat styrofoam ice chest with a couple of plexi-glass windows in the top. A wire floor inside suspends fertile hatching eggs above warm water, and a small heater keeps everything at 100 degrees. I open the Hova-bator twice a day and turn the eggs from side to side like a mother hen naturally would. Unlike the mother hen, I marked an X on one side and an O on the other side of each egg to help me remember what I'm doing. My guess is that a mother hen who sits on a nest for 21 days with only short trips for food, water and poopage can devote all her thoughts to remembering which eggs she has or has not turned, but I need a little help from some pencil marks. On April 6, 2010 I hope to have a fine clutch of new baby chicks with my unique combination of genetics.

My laying flock for the last couple of years has been made up of Production Reds which are a high egg producing hybrid, but I also have a few Americaunas which lay blue and green eggs. For this year's hatch I've bred an Ameraucana rooster to several Production Red hens. From my reading I've learned that the first generation after such a cross always lays the beautifully colored eggs, but I'm hoping for a higher rate of production. Each generation after that I'll alternate between an Americauna and high production roosters to maintain the cross. I'm also going to do some crossing with Marans chickens which naturally lay a dark mahogany egg in the hope of developing a dark olive colored egg.

It's all part of fun on the farm with the goal of not only providing the most nutritious eggs possible but also of offering the most beautiful eggs around. My hope is that by next year, most of my dozens of eggs will include brown, green, blue, mahogany, and olive eggs. Then, as I collect them in my basket, it will feel like Easter egg hunting 365 days a year!

To find out where to buy Stokes Family Farm eggs go to the Dacula Farmer's Market Facebook page by clicking Facebook

Why Not Get More Chickens?

Stokes Family Farm — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:00:00 GMT

All my life I've loved chickens. I can remember setting traps to try and catch my grandfather's nearly wild game hens, just so I could hold them. My favorite approach was to prop a wooden crate up on a stick attached to a long string. I'd put feed on the ground underneath the trap to draw the yard birds in. Then I hunkered down behind a big yellow bell bush waiting to yank the string when a careless hen followed my trail of cracked corn into the snare. It never worked. Those old style game hens had avoided capture by hawks, raccoons, possums and bobcats. No 6 year old boy with a wooden box had a chance.

My chickens today are very different to those my grandfather kept. They are very well domesticated and come when I call them. Generally I can scoop one up before it realizes why I put feed on the ground. Of course they are much easier prey for local coyotes and raccoons, so I have to work much harder to keep them alive. I doubt my grandpa would approve of such friendly chickens. But I do love chickens and want them to come running when I call. I love the rich, golden yolked eggs you can't get at a grocery store. I love to watch the roosters lie to the hens, saying, "I've got food here" to keep them within easy breeding reach. And I love to watch a mother hen fuss over a bunch of fuzzy little biddies as they learn to search for their own supper.

Everyone else seems to love our eggs as much as me. Our eggs come in various shades of brown, tan, olive and blue, just like those grown by Martha Stewart. I could easily sell twenty dozen a day if I had them, but I don't. I'm repeatedly asked, "Why don't you keep more chickens?" Well there's more to it than just getting more chickens. Chickens are very destructive. They eat any vegetable you don't fence them away from. They dig holes in the yard to take dust baths. And of course they poop everywhere, so the more birds I keep, the bigger the mess. But the real reason I don't keep more birds is for their own happiness. Oddly enough, chickens can only remember about 25 other chicken faces. When number 26 shows up, they have to re-establish their pecking order thru a sometimes bloody battle. Those hens in chicken houses with thousands of other birds, literally never meet a friendly face. They live in a continuous state of fight or flight.

I do keep more than 25 chickens, but they break out into their own groups and have plenty of space to form natural societies. One group of my birds runs straight for the pig yard every morning, where thy spend the day looking for spilled feed and bugs. Others head to the woods and still others set up sentry by the garden gate, making a mad dash for it every time somebody goes thru. I guess I could fence in a field where all the birds had to stay and buy a few hundred more chickens besides, but then I'd be on that slippery slope toward a conventional egg factory. That just doesn't fit into my idea of healthy, sustainable food. And frankly, my insurance won't cover therapy for 100s of hens to keep them all sane.

Meadow Veal

Stokes Family Farm — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:35:00 GMT

I've had a request to post a veal recipe, but veal is a bit of a sticky wicket for farmers. It is a necessary by-product of the dairy industry or an overstocked pasture, but it seems to have gotten a bad rap because of the people who try to achieve the perfect white of an anemic and sickly calf. I absolutely agree that animals should have an excellent quality of life, but like other farmer's I have always understood the need for slaughtering the occasional "milk beef" or "meadow veal". Yet there is simply no need to torment the calf.

For us meadow veal is only a special order item for folks who request it. Our calves live in the pasture with their family groups and nibble grass or anything else they like. Of course they get lots of milk from their moms. The meat is a deep rose color, very tender and succulent. Its unique character results from the combination of rich milk and a varied diet of grasses and wild herbs. It works well in traditional veal recipes as well as normal beef recipes as long as you keep the seasonings mild.

Many years ago I was visiting a friend in Paris. Her mom was a fairly poor cook but had one specialty that always pleased guests, Veal Normandy. It's a simple dish but will impress the snootiest of your foodie friends.

Meadow Veal Normandy

Ingredients:

Any meadow veal steak

Butter

Wine (Sancerre is traditional, but a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is always a good choice.)

1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt & white pepper to taste

Pan fry any meadow veal steak in butter. Deglaze the skillet with a splash of Sancerre or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Reduce the wine by 2/3. Add a bit of sour cream or creme fraiche to the skillet and remove instantly from heat. Season with thyme, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the veal. This dish is especially good with oven roasted new potatoes and asparagus.