Winter is going by quickly and it's amazing that we'll be signing papers with 2015 dates in just a couple days.  I guess with the every-other-week schedule I've been forgetting to write about things going on around here.
 

 Freedom Ranger Chickens

 This week's chickens are "freedom ranger chickens." The Freedom Ranger is a heritage chicken that is noted for it's slower growth, smaller size, and richer meat flavor. For anyone who came on the Farm Tour, these were the chickens served at lunch. In my opinion, they have superior flavor to the standard cornish cross chicken. The packaging will not say Freedom Ranger on it. By USDA rules, we can't specify a breed on the package without having a federally registered procedure for proving the "label claim" to be true and having third-party audits to satisfy that the claim is true. In short, we want to sell you a chicken that costs less than your mortgage payment, so please just write on the package "Freedom Ranger" yourself if you care to keep it separate from other chickens in your freezer.

Broccoli...womp womp

This week we were so excited to get some broccoli that one of our growers has been saving under row-cover for months. We were so thrilled that it survived the heavy freezes in early November, and recovered nicely. When I saw it a few weeks ago it was looking nice and the mild weather the last couple weeks would seem to be gentle on it.

And right before Christmas it looked nice. Then we had a warm weather. I'm only sharing this with you because of the irony of it. Between last Monday and yesterday afternoon, the broccoli developed some form of mold and rot on the heads. It appears that the warm weather last week and over the weekend created excessive moisture under the row cover. With the row cover laying against the heads of the broccoli, the area of contact couldn't breath and was wet. It actually rotted and formed mold on the heads due to it being too warm! How is that saying? Damned if I do, damned if I don't? Just another Fresh Forking day around here.

So in place of broccoli we will add a quart of chopped, frozen tomatoes to this week's bag. These are great too stew with the green beans and garlic or simply stew them in the bottom of your roasting pan with the chicken, some onions, and some carrots. Put the tomatoes through the food mill afterwards and reduce down a little more. Serve this tomato sauce over your chicken.

Pierogi Party

 Each year for Christmas Eve my family does a traditional Polish wigilia and has a meatless dinner with kraut, pierogies, fried fish, and many vegetarian sides.  For the last five years or so my grandmother hasn't felt like making the pierogies anymore, so Allyson and I took over.  For the first couple years, we did OK.  They tasted fine, but the shape was off. But now we've gotten it down a little better.

A Dutch Stamppot (or "Mash Pot") is a great cold weather meal: mashed potatoes with other root veggies (and sometimes sauerkraut), often served alongside sausage or braised meat. 

Ingredients

2 #s peeled and cubed potatoes

2 cups peeled and cubed squash (acorn, pumpkin or butternut)

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 

2 carrots, scrubbed and roughly chopped

2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped like carrots

1 large rutabaga, peeled and chopped 

1 large leek, washed and finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cups washed and roughly chopped Kale or other green (cabbage, collards, chard) 

4 tbsps butter 

1 tsb salt and 1/2 tsp pepper

Parsley, 1 bunch washed and chopped

1 # sausage (kielbasa would be best, but green onion brats or italian sausage would also work) 

Place all the chopped veggies (potatoes-onions) in a large stock pot, and add water to barely cover.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 25min depending on the size of your veggies. 

Meanwhile, cook your sausage in a skillet on the stove top until no longer pink inside. Remove from heat, slice and keep warm.

When vegetables are tender, remove from heat. Add in butter, salt and pepper. Mash (should still be rough and lumpy), and stir in parsley. 

Serve the stamppot topped with the sliced sausage and a great beer. 

 With short days and cold temperatures ahead, nothing smells more comforting than a warm and crusty pot pie. Great recipe to make with leftover roasted chicken and all the root veggies in your kitchen these days. 

Use your favorite pastry dough recipe and punch out 8 rounds using a juice glass, and arrange over top of warm filling and bake. Or, make a potato topping: spread left over mashed potatoes on a baking sheet and place in the fridge. Once chilled, use the same technique as above-- stamp out 8 rounds using the glass and set on top of the filling.  

Ingredients

2-3 cups cooked chicken, chopped into small pieces

2 cups chicken stock

1 tbsp butter

1 large onion, finely chopped 

2 carrots, scrubbed and cut into half-coins

2 parsnips, scrubbed and cut like carrots

1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped into a small dice

1/2 bunch kale, center rib removed, washed and cut into ribbons

1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper

4 tbsps unsalted butter

1/3 cup flour

1.5 cups whole milk

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 cup sherry 

3/4 cup frozen green beans, thawed

1/2 bunch parsley, minced

Set oven to 400 and heat up chicken stock in a small saucepan. In another larger pan or dutch oven, add in the 1 tbsp of butter over medium high, and add in onion and cook till almost translucent. Add in root vegetables and saute 10 minutes, season with salt and pepper. Remove veggies to a bowl and mix with chicken pieces. 

In the large pan, heat up the 4 tbsp of butter over medium. Once it's stopped foaming, dust in the flour and whisk, and toast. This is called a roux, and will help your pot pie filling stay thick rather than soupy. Cook for about a minute or so, then add in warmed up stock, the milk and the dried thyme. Simmer until the sauce thickens, for another minute or so. Stir in the sherry, and then add in all the vegetables (including the thawed green beans and parsley) and chicken pieces. 

See note at top about pastry, but here is where you assemble the pies with the dough. Either put filling into small ramekins and top with their own pie round, or spread filling into a larger baking dish and cover with a dough/potato top. 

Slide into oven and bake 30 min for one big pie or 20 for individuals, or until golden brown on top.