Yay! New Grill!

Over the 4th of July Weekend, Jeff went out and got us a new grill.  It wasn't the grill that I wanted (click here!), but it fit a little better into our budget.

 I was very impressed at Jeff's ability to go out, purchase a new grill, tear down the old grill, and assemble the new grill in just a few hours.  Putting things together in our house tends to be an adventure, and usually ends with me angry and yelling.  I guess I am the problem.  Solution: no more me putting things together!!

So, time to try out the new grill, while still trying to get rid of the garden/dairy excess...

I've been visiting the Menomonee Falls farmer's market on Wednesdays.  It's close to my work, and, in theory, I should be able to store whatever I buy in the fridge at work for a few hours after I buy it.  I say in theory, because one time someone stole my eggs.  Seriously.  Someone stole a dozen, raw eggs.  There was some suggestion that someone took them on mistake, thinking that they were their eggs, but frankly I don't believe that for a minute.  ("Oh, sorry.  I thought I brought a dozen raw eggs for lunch.  Must have remembered incorrectly.  My mistake!")  I made a big stink about it, and threatened to anyone who would listen that I was going to leave a dozen eggs in my car for a week and then put them in the fridge, and it hasn't happened again, so I guess I'm okay.

Anyway, at the Menomonee Falls Farmer's Market, there's a woman who sells goat meat.  I had goat meat on my honeymoon in Jamaica, but not since.  From what I remember, it was pretty good... although I think it mostly tasted like curry.  I know that it's a tougher meat, so when I bought the goat chops it was my intention to braise them.  But, it is the middle of summer, and I do have a new grill, so why not give that a try.  My solution for making it tender?

A marinade.  But not just any marinade: a dairy marinade.  Because I learned on Food Network (see, I'm not just wasting my whole Sunday.  I'm LEARNING) that dairy marinades activate enzymes in meat that break down proteins, and they don't contain the acid in traditional marinades that can cause your meat to be mushy and gross. (Have you ever soaked your tequila lime chicken in the tequila lime marinade for too long?)

Most dairy marinade recipes call  for yogurt, but I found a few that call for milk or buttermilk, which leads me to believe that it isn't the bacteria in the  yogurt that is important.  This is what I came up with:

Sour Cream Marinated Goat Chops with Wilted Bitter Lettuce:

4-6 small goat chops (L)

For the Marinade:

• 1 cup sour cream (L)
• 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled (L)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp garlic skapes, minced (L)
• 2 small green onions, including tender green parts, minced (L*)
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano, minced (L*)
• 1 tsp fresh tarragon, minced (L*)
• 1/2 tsp fresh thyme, minced (L*)
• 1/2 tsp fresh mint, minced (L*)

Combine all ingredients, and spread generously over the goat chops.  Allow to sit, refrigerated, for a few hours.  I did this before going to work, and they sat all day (about 11 hours).

Grill goat chops over medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes per side, depending on thickness and desired doneness.  Ours were medium, and they were delicious!  The meat was not gamy at all, and the sour cream made them a little tangy in a good way.  The only thing I would have done differently was cook more!  The chops were tiny and had a lot of bones, so you didn't get a lot of meat.  The husband and I easily could have eaten 4 chops a piece (he probably could have eaten 6), and they marinade could have covered that many.

Wilted bitter lettuce:

• 1 large bunch bitter lettuce, washed well (L*)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced (L)
• 1 tbsp garlic scapes (L)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a hot frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, and saute until lightly golden.  Turn heat to low and add lettuce.  Add vinegar, salt, and pepper, and stir until lettuce is wilted.

The first bite of this was surprisingly good.  The second bite was okay, and the third bite was barely palatable.  It was just too bitter, and the bitterness overwhelmed all of the other flavors.  I read online that bitter lettuce can be used in the same way as any other bitter green (like kale or spinach), but obviously that was not the case here.  We threw most of this away, and supplemented our dinner with popcorn.  I will keep trying, though.  There's got to be a recipe out there for me!

Spinach Pasta

As promised yesterday, we will be using up some of the ridiculous surplus in my garden.  I feel bad being upset but an excess of produce, as only two months ago I was struggling to find anything green to eat at all and was extolling the virtues of dandelions as a food source.  I feel ungrateful to my garden for all it's providing, but at the same time I've got nothing to do with it and it's going bad.  Note to self, less lettuce next year!

I'm looking for ways to prepare bitter lettuce - especially ways to prepare it that can be frozen and eaten later on.  I'm not having crazy amounts of success, but I'm looking and I'm sure I'll find something.  Until then, I'm going to move forward with the things I do know what to do with.  It is my goal to have a freezer packed to the brim at the end of fall, and to have real food to eat all winter long.  Hopefully I can also do some canning, which I have no experience with, because I'm sure the freezer isn't big enough to fit a Wisconsin winter's worth of meals...

Massive pile of spinach.  This ended up being
eight cups of leaves total.

I'm starting off with what I know.  At least, then, I know that won't go to waste.

I looked at a lot of recipes for spinach pasta in the process of creating this one.  Most of them had you start with a package of frozen spinach.   The ones that included fresh spinach had you blanching it and then squeezing out and throwing away all the water.  That water is where all the nutrients go, so I didn't want to lose it.  In the below recipe, I'm basically steaming the spinach to get it soft and to get the water out of it, and then incorporating the water back into the dough.  If you want to try this using frozen spinach, it looks like you want about a 10 oz bag.  You'll also probably need another egg or 2, because you're not going to have the cooking water.

Spinach Pasta

Spinach wilting in the pot

• 4 cups lightly packed fresh spinach leaves (L*)
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 cups flour (L)
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs (L)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• additional water if necessary

 Pour water into a large pot with spinach, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until spinach is well wilted.  Remove spinach and thoroughly squeeze out all the water.  I started with 1/4 cup of water, and ended with just over 1/2 a cup.  Reserve water!  Once the spinach is all squeezed out, you should have a ball about the size of a Jumbo size egg.

Two large eggs of spinach

Combine spinach, one cup flour, and salt in a food processor, and process until spinach is well broken down and combined with the flour - about 3 minutes.  I did this originally with just the spinach, and I found that it I got better results when I added a little bit of the flour as well.

Transfer spinach/flour mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  Add remaining flour, and eggs, and mix on low speed.  Once the flour, eggs, and spinach are well combined (the mixture should look like wet cornmeal or sand), drizzle in the oil.  Then, slowly add the spinach cooking water, allowing the dough to mix in between additions.  Once the dough starts to stick together, stop adding water and allow to mix until all the dough sticks together.  If you need to add more water to get this to happen, do so.

Once the dough is in one big ball, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until well combined.  Allow to rest for about 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap, before rolling out depending on your pasta maker's instructions.

Pasta can be frozen easily, by allowing it to dry (please see my picture: pasta drying racks are for wimps!) for about 10 minutes, and then placing into a freezer bag with as little air as possible.

My pasta drying rack is cookie cooling racks, balanced on top of
boxes of cereal.

 I haven't actually eaten any of this pasta yet.  Notes on how good it is when I try some!