Buffalo Steak, Asparagus, and Mashed Root Veggies.

Another sign that winter is finally coming to an end - the Winter Farmer's Market is coming to an end!  This week was the last week, and next week the first "regular" Farmer's Market starts up.  The greater Milwaukee area actually has a lot of farmer's markets, which is nice.  What's not so nice is that almost all of them are on Saturday mornings, and I don't have time to get to them all!

Most of the farmers that I met this winter are either going to be at the West Allis farmer's market, which is probably the biggest one in the area, or the South Shore Farmer's Market, which is right by my house.  My Buffalo farmers, however, are going to be at the Tosa Farmer's Market, which I don't think I'm going to be able to get to regularly.  It's annoying, because I've developed quite a fondness for buffalo.  The main thing I don't like about beef is the fatty bits.  According to my husband and Anthony Bourdain, the fatty bits are the best part, but I just can't deal with the chewy texture.  Buffalo has all the richness of beef while still being very lean.  It makes me happy.

I seasoned the buffalo with olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and minced chives.  I grilled the asparagus and mushrooms with butter, salt, and pepper, wrapped up in aluminum foil.  The potatoes are not potatoes (because I still don't have any!) but are turnips and parsnips, made just like mashed potatoes. 100% local, except for the asparagus. 

Easter Potatoes - sort of

Happy Easter Everyone!  Hope the Easter Bunny brought you real, solid chocolate bunnies, and not the crappy, hollow, waxy stuff!  My Easter Bunny told me that he only provides Jelly Beans - and that those are only for the dog!!

So, this year for Easter, my husband and I went to his family's house.  I'm always worried about how adventurous other people are going to be, not to mention the inherent panic of cooking for one's in-laws, but I asked to bring the potato(ish) dish.  Those are the exact words I asked my husband to use: "Potato-ish."

So, I brought a Root Vegetable Gratin, with WI cheeses.  It was good, but a little runny.  I wonder if maybe one of the cheeses wasn't good for melting?  Or perhaps one of the root vegetables gave off too much water.  I'm going to have to play with this one!

Regardless, I think it was a success.  No one asked "What is this?  This is clearly not potatoes!" after taking one bite.  And no one said "gross" after I told them what it was.  

100% local, with the exception of one sweet potato!

Root Vegetable Gratin

Serves 8-10; more if you have enough other food to feed an army!

• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter,  plus additional for dish
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 lb. parsnips, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch
    thick
• 1 lb. celery root, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick 
• 1 lb. turnips, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 8 oz. (or more) cheese, shredded.  I used a combination of Carr Valley Cheeses.
• 1 Tbs. minced fresh chives
• 3 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat an oven to 400°F. Butter a 3-quart baking dish.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg and heat just until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Arrange a layer of parsnips, slightly overlapping, in the prepared dish. Arrange a layer of sweet potatoes on top, then a layer of turnips, then a layer of celery root. Pour half of the cream mixture over the celery root, and sprinkle half of the cheese, thyme and parsley on top. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and lightly press the gratin down with a spatula. Continue baking until the vegetables are tender and the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes more. Let the gratin stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Morocco Meets Milwaukee (Chicken Tagine with WI Root Vegetables)

Sorry to be missing lately.  Jeff had a lot of gigs last week, and there's really no point in me cooking for myself.  I had a lot of bread and cheese dinners.

For my birthday this year, my mom got me a tagine, which is basically a North African casserole dish.  Traditionally, it would be cooked over an open fire, and I actually did try to use it on my grill, but it is too tall and the cover of the grill wouldn't close, so I used my oven instead.

I didn't make it to the farmer's market this Saturday, as I had to teach class at 10:00 am and I totally overslept - so my cupboards are rather bare... Seems like the perfect opportunity for a one pot, simple meal!  A little bit of Morocco, a little bit of Milwaukee, and a whole lot of yum!  I would not change a thing in this recipe.  It came out absolutely perfect, with the exception of a lot of water in the bottom of the tajine when it was done.  It didn't effect the flavor at all - in fact I'm sure all the steaming made the chicken even more tender, but it wasn't as pretty to serve.  I'm guessing that was from the vegetables I used, because the chicken was very moist.  I've never cooked with rutabaga or celery root before, so I'm not sure how much liquid they're supposed to give off...  This was also pretty sweet because of the honey, but in a good way.  If you wanted to add some spice, I think a hot madras curry powder would add a nice flavor as well.

I did purchase a chicken at the farmer's market two weeks ago - my first non-Farmer Jones chicken in almost three years.  It made me sad, but the guy selling it looked like Spike from Top Chef Season 4/Top Chef All Stars, so that helped a little.  It would have helped more if he looked like Spike from Buffy, but a girl can only ask for so much!

This was 100% local... if you don't count the spices!  The celery root takes a lot longer than everything to cook, so I started that cooking and then did everything else.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with WI Root Vegetables

• 1 medium rutabaga (local)
• 2 small celery root bulbs (local)
• 3 cloves garlic (local)
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• 1 (3 lb) chicken, cut into serving pieces (local)
• 1 onion, halved and then thinly sliced (local)
• 3 tbsp (ish) honey (local)

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and cut celery root into about 1/2 inch pieces.  Mince 1 garlic clove and combine with 1/8 cup olive oil.  Coat celery root with garlic/oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Place into bottom of tangine.  Cover, and cook in oven for 40 minutes.

While celery root is cooking, peel and cut rutabaga into about 1/2 inch pieces.  Mince 2nd garlic clove and combine with 1/8 cup olive oil.  Coat rutabaga with garlic/oil and season with salt and pepper.

Combine spices, salt and pepper to taste, and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a large bowl.  Add chicken pieces and turn to coat.  In a large skillet over medium high heat, brown chicken in multiple batches (don't crowd the chicken), and set aside.  If you have any seasoned oil left in your bowl, add that into your skillet (if not, you may need to add a little more oil) and cook onions and final clove of garlic until the onions are just starting to soften.  Add honey to onions.

After the celery root has cooked for 40 minutes, add the rutabaga to the tagine and cook for 10 more minutes.  Then, add the chicken , and top with the onions.  Return tagine to oven and cook for an additional 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Total cooking time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

You certainly could serve this with couscous.  I did not serve it with anything, and it was enough and quite delicious.

Turkey Wing As Big As My Head, and a Recap of the Week

One full week down!  I'm feeling pretty successful.  I cheated a little, but I feel okay about it, and I tried some new things.  Dinner last night was grilled turkey wings.  Nothing fancy... I can't say that I can tell the difference between a local turkey wing and a store bought one specifically, except the ones from the farmer's market were huge!  No real recipe, I just seasoned them with salt, onion powder, and garlic powder and grilled them up!  The side dish was pretty impressive, though:

Grilled Winter Vegetables

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices (this was not local, but I have several in my pantry and I need to eat them up before they go bad.)
• 2 medium turnips, ends chopped off and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• Mixed mushrooms, ends cut off and washed (I was my mushrooms.  Some people think that's bad.  Do what you want.)
• 1Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
• 1 large clove minced garlic
• Kosher Salt
• Smoked Paprika
• Cayenne Pepper
• Olive Oil

Place sweet potatoes in a small pot and cover with cold water.  Bring to a boil and cook until they just start to soften.  The point here is just to get them started cooking, since they need a lot less time than the rest of your vegetables on the grill.  Once they're slightly softer, drain the water and transfer the potato slices to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, onion, garlic, salt, paprika, and pepper.  I used just a sprinkle of both the paprika and pepper, but if you want these spicier you could certainly add more.  Slowly, whisk in olive oil to combine.

Mix turnips, potatoes, and mushrooms in a large bowl.  Pour olive oil mixture over the vegetables and stir to coat them.  Grill on medium high heat until mushrooms and sweet potatoes are cooked through and turnips are crispy.

I actually thought this preparation of  turnips (which I have also never had before this week) was much better than the apple preparation from Wednesday.  The crispness and slight spiciness paired well with the smoother sweet potatoes. And I love mushrooms regardless.  I also only lost TWO turnip slices to the grill - which is really good for me.  I love grilling vegetables, but really suck at keeping them on top of the grill as opposed to down below the heating elements.  I need one of these or something to that effect.

Overall, though, I feel this was a successful first week.  Here is my recap:

Things I used that weren't local, but that I already had in my house (so I don't think they should count against me...):

• Olive Oil
• Brandy
• Wine
• Tomato Paste
• Flour
• Spices
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Fresh Ginger
• Boxed pasta
• Raspberry Blush Vinegar
• Dijon Mustard

Things I had to buy that were not grown locally:

• Shallots (from my local co-op)
• Garlic (from my local co-op)
• Apples
• Lemon
• Shrimp

Things I tried, that I have never eaten before, and would not have eaten had it not been for this challege:

• Herring
• Turnips
• Elk ring bologna

The first list looks pretty reasonable to me.  There are things that I simply cannot get in WI, and that I know I can't live without.  I'm sure I can get the second list down a lot as soon as things start growing again... and the third list is only going to continue to grow!