That's some good fowl

Starting on Thursday we will be getting chicken from Tim Young at Nature's Harmony in Elberton. Tim was a very successful entrepreneur who pretty much left the grid to start a totally sustainable future in farming for he and his wife... and all of us. It's people like Tim who are really changing the way we appreciate foods and farms.

He is raising Poulet Rouge, the Cadillac of all chickens and also a very delectable Cornish Cross which is a pretty regular chicken but it is fantastic eating when raised in the way Tim farms.

Tim also raises pigs (Duroc, Berkshire and Ossabaws), cattle, ducks, etc.

Truly inspiring.

http://www.naturesharmonyfarm.com/

SPRING ONSLAUGHT

and that means dandelion greens, morels, fiddleheads, strawberries, ramps... yum time.

protein match

I am trying to consolidate my head and explain on paper why we match flavors to certain foods.  I am starting with lamb... any ideas on how to flesh this out into an interesting graph?

protein match

lamb

mint

rosemary

tomatoes

garlic

root vegetables

fava beans

olives

polenta

yogurt

roasted red peppers

dijon

goat cheese

couscous

Ramp soup

ramp soup with ramp cream


2 tbls unsalted butter

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 leek, cleaned and diced

2 cup chopped ramps (mostly whites, reserve some greens for cream)

1 rib celery, diced

2 cups russet potato, peeled and diced

bouquet of thyme, parsley and bay

4 cups light chicken stock or water

1cup heavy cream

salt, to taste


1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the butter foams and pops a bit add the onion, leek, ramps and celery. Sweat down the vegetables for about fifteen minutes to develop flavor but not too much color. You are pulling out all those beautiful sugars in the alliums (onions), but not trying to go for caramelization.

2. Add the potato and the water or stock. Add the bouquet and a pinch of salt for good measure. Cover pot and bring to a boil. When the soup boils then simmer it back down and continue cooking until the potatoes are tender. Add the cream and cook for five minutes.

3. Carefully puree soup in a blender in batches and then pass the soup through the finest chinois or strainer you have. If you just have a colander go buy a chinois… they come in handy.


Ramp cream


1 cup ramp green leaves

1 cup heavy cream


1.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil and blanche the ramp leaves for 10 seconds. Remove the ramp greens from the water and shock in ice water. Then puree to smooth and reserve.
2.

Whip the cream and then fold the ramp puree into it. Season.

It's RAMP TIME: Ramp Scrambled Eggs

I am not sure why scrambled eggs are so important to our family but they are. My grandmother, Kitto, used to make the best soft scrambled eggs. No real secrets just butter, a touch of cream and a spatula to slowly stir and break up the curds that form.
People just tend to zap the eggs into submission over high heat but I want reverence paid to that little orb, mostly the eggs I am cooking, which come from Jan's Hope Springs Farm down the road.

So here's a recipe. It's for two people.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 ramps, finely chopped
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon heavy cream
pinch sea salt
a few grinds of black pepper
2 tablespoons grated ricotta salata

Place a medium non-stick frypan over medium low heat. Add the butter and when the butter bubbles and froths add the ramps. Cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the ramps are cooking crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Add the cream, salt and pepper. Stir.
Add to the ramps in the frypan. Let set for about twenty seconds and then gently break up the curds with a spatula, cooking for about three minutes just until the eggs are set like a custard. Finish with the cheese and serve immediately.
Yum Yum.

Robert-Denogent

So I got out of the cooking for the clientele tonight to cook for the family. Mary and i shared a bottle of this Pouilly Fuisse which I've had before in a different vintage.
This wine was fantastic. Full like a Puligny or a Meursault, great quality for money. Ripe and luscious but not over the top. Exactly what I think of when I want a BIG white burgundy. Kermit Lynch is the importer and it would retail for around $45. great juice.