February 2009 Archives

We had a very exciting week at Farmer's Daughter making our first ever batch of marmalade.  The marmalade is a mix of meyer lemons, pink grapefruit, and sweet and sour kumquats, all organic and from L'Hoste Citrus Farm in Plaquemines Parrish, South Louisiana.  Theirs is the best citrus in the whole world as far as I am concerned.  I am just totally smitten with the resulting marmalade, which is not such good news for me.   Marmalade is  the most difficult of all fruit preserves to make when made in the hand-crafted manner.  First we cut all the citrus by hand.  For the grapefruit and the meyer lemons, we peel the fruit, julienne the peel, and supreme the citrus.  Then we tied all the membranes left over from supreming in a piece of cheesecloth and threw them in the pot with the citrus.  After cooking the citrus for about 30 minutes, I squeeze the cheesecloth of membranes to extract the their pectin, which I then add to the pot of marmalade with sugar and cook it to the gel point, that magical point where the marmalade will firm up to a semi-solid state when it cools. 
I cook the marmalade (and all of my fruit preserves) in very small batches - yielding only 6 or 7 eight ounce jars.   This  and the fact that I use a  traditional French copper kettle jamming pot, which has a very wide rim,  helps the liquid to quickly evaporate and the flavor and color of the preserves to remain fresh and vibrant.


We made only a very small amount.  Only 20 jars of marmalade and another 20 of honeyed-vanilla kumquats so get them while they last. 

Chapel Hill Creamery Quark Cheesecake with Farmer's Daughter Lowcountry Pumpkin Chip  Preserves.


 
Having fun with our guests while Elaine spreads baguettes with pastured pork rillettes and Farmer's Daughter spiced muscadines.  I am serving field pea cakes with Farmer's Daughter tomato conserve.



I was very sad not to make it for this event, but on Sunday, Sam Suchoff and Damon Lapas of the BBQ Joint hosted a Choucroute Garni (French for "dressed sauerkraut") dinner at 3 cups with Farmer's Daughter sauerkraut and their sausages.  YUM!

You'll can lick the spoon.  AND, you'll never miss the lack of butter or cream.  Seriously! Don't worry, there's no soy margarine or anything "imitation."   Just delicious virgin coconut oil.  See my recent post on Grist.org.

Most of us think that we have to wait until spring for wild greens to pop up, but that isn't necessarily the case.  Here in North Carolina, you'll likely find wild dandelion greens growing right out your front door.  I love their bracing bitterness raw in salads - particularly with a poached egg and chewy chunks of artisanal bacon.  However, this is the dish that I choose to introduce them to the newcomer.  Doused with good olive oil, garlic, chili flake and lemon zest, and baked until slightly charred and crispy on a delicately sourdough crust, no one can resist them. I usually wait until people start eating to tell them that these delicious greens are what they have passed over many times as weeds in their own backyards.  Dandelion greens are a natural entry into the world of foraging.  Easy to identify, easy  to prepare, and  ubiquitous.  Keep  your eyes peeled.