Cornish Hens

Stuffed full of thyme and rosemary and then coated in some red southern seasoning powder from Reid's Fine Foods. We shoved the two little hens in the oven at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, flipped them, then 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Made gravy with the juices from the hens after the first 25 minutes, the guts chopped up, flour, and a little water.

Gravy

Cornish Hen #1

Cornish Hen #2

2012 Annual Memorial Day Weekend Pig Roast

We had a smaller gathering than some past years, but definitely had a full house and lot's of fun. On Friday we went to the Peach Stand, a local custom butcher shop (/ice cream parlor/gas station/local food champion) to pick up our all naturally fed heritage hog, which they had butchered and butterflied for us. The guest of honor was named prudence and loaded into her custom-made sarcophagus, and we held a proper wake for her.

Prudence, pictured with Frank McCollum (Sergeant at Arms and Libations) and Gerald Talley (Master Chief Cook)

Prudence patiently awaited the wee hours of the morning, when we prepared her for the cooking. I'm using the royal "we" here, as I conveniently overslept until just moments after she had started cooking.

The above is about 4 hours into it, and The Master Chief Cook is mopping on some of the secret sauce.

Oddly enough, there was high demand, from 1 person anyway, for the pig's feet this year:

There was even a new libation created named Patrick's Famous Dirty Pickle Gin Martini...

Patrick's Famous Dirty Pickle Gin Martini

Here are some of the crew that helped with various aspects of the event. The pig roasted in a custom-made stone cooker lined with fire bricks and with grates set well above the heat source. The cooker is directly behind the gazebo in the picture below, even though you can't see it - the lake is to the left of this picture, so the gazebo is right on the end of the peninsula. We used oak wood and pecan shells for the heat source and flavor. The secret sauce that is basted on is vinegar based, but that's all I can divulge.

Stars & Stripes, Gadsden Flag (first USMC flag, Revolutionary War), The Saltire (Scottish Flag), and The Bonnie Blue (CSA flag).

We're humbled by all the veterans and young man and women who put it all on the line so that we could enjoy these freedoms.

Baked Chard Stems, Asparagus, & Shrooms

A leafy red chard plant started growing in the carrot patch (I have no idea how it got there), and not having ever prepared chard before I made up a little dish with what I had available and it turned out really tasty. It would be great as an appetizer - its filling and rich even in small doses.

Recipe:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Separate chard stems from leafs (mixed leafs with other greens for a salad that was pretty good too) and trim chard stems into 2 - 3 inch lengths
• Boil chard stems in salt water for 5-ish minutes
• Drain and place chard stems in baking dish
• Mix in Asparagus also in 2 - 3 inch lengths in the baking dish (it was popping up in the garden, so I had to do something with it)
• Add in mushrooms (not necessary, but there was a can there and it seemed logical at the time)
• drizzle olive oil (or butter)
• Then cover the whole thing with Parmesan Cheese. I tried it another time with a mix of Colby Jack and Parmesan, and that was good too
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is brown

Garden is planted!

It might have been a little early, but I had an appointment cancel on me this morning so I rolled up my sleeves and got everything planted. If we have a cold snap, I'm going to cover the garden in dead leaves and hope that the frost doesn't kill any baby plants, but we'll see how this method works.

Garden #1: Upper Garden nearest the Fody's front door

1. Carrots - lots of carrots
2. Banana Peppers
3. Hot Portugal Peppers
4. Parsley
5. Cilantro 
6. Basil

Garden #2: Upper Garden nearest our side door

1. Asparagus - Year 2
2. Mixed Greens - Year 2 (may need to supplement with some new plants, but waiting to see how well the old ones do after cutting them back last weekend)
3. Red Onions
4. Green Onions

Garden #3: Lower Garden, nearest the Fodys - this one has never previously had squash, so I'm hoping it might keep the vine borers at bay

1. Cucumbers
2. Yellow Squash
3. White Squash
4. Zucchini

Garden #4: Lower Garden, middle of the yard - I saw vine borer grubs in the dirt today! and there have been no squash in this garden for at least the last 2 years!

1. Purple Prudens Tomatoes
2. Grape Tomatoes
3. Purple Tomatillos
4. Pink Mini Corn

Bosky Acres Farm with Heidi Billotto

Heidi Billotto has been teaching cooking classes and reviewing restaurants longer than I've been in Charlotte. Both Dee Dee and I have been to several and had a blast, but I've really focused on her "On The Farm" classes and they are really great. They have the side benefit of getting me my "farm fix" so I don't go out and foolishly buy a farm and change careers... for now.

This past weekend she presented at Bosky Acres Farm, whose head farmer and our host was the curiously-named Michelle Lamb. Also, Josh, the official Snoofaldafter from Common Market, paired some wine to go with our meals. They were all really great.

Michelle started off with the full tour. She's had something like 50 or 70 kids (goat babies, not grade schoolers) in recent weeks, all but a few of which will be sold off. You can see in the pics below we got to do everything from play with the kids to milk one of the does.

THEN, we started cooking in the cheese making area. Michelle demonstrated how to make a batch of cheese and Heidi cooked, while Josh imbibed us.

Mushroom cap stuffed with goat cheese and parsley, and some other stuff that escapes my memory.

Spinach and goat cheese stuffed pasta, smothered in cream sauce & more goat cheese:

Salad topped with chicken, and you guessed it, goat cheese:

Our fearless leader caught off guard:

Apples and nuts smothered in caramel with ... goat cheese (this was really good, and I don't like sweets, so that's saying something):

I brought wine (Barbera Asti, spelling?)and cheese home, but my wife didn't like the cheese (or any goat cheese, in general, apparently) and thought the wine from the next town over in Italy (Alba) is much better. Always the critic! ;-)

Garden Prep Done

Way behind schedule this year, but got the raised garden boxes tilled, chopped down dead plants and a few overgrown mixed greens. Ready to plant next week.

We're doing a few things different this year:

1. Lakeside Garden Boxes - no squash, cukes, or other gourds will be in the Upper Garden Boxes this year. We're going to give it a rest this year and plant these in the boxes down by the lake (which haven't had gourds in two years) to try to combat the vine borers that destroy our crop each year.
2. We're planting a LOT more carrots this year - they were great last year, all 6 of them ;-).
3. We're planting a lot more mixed greens this year - I also have a bunch in my office in a planter. Need to eat more leafy stuff.
4. Tomatoes and tomatillos are getting moved down to the lake as well. We're going to replace that area with some herbs and more mixed greens. We had 0 tomatoes last year, and only a handful of tomatillos. I don't know what we did wrong last year.
5. Corn - we definitely are going to plant pink corn again this year. It actually doesn't taste bad, but my 1st Grade teacher mom and the kids really liked it.

Café Montè Bistro @ Philips Place

Café Montè was great. My wife and I first met on February 26th 2005 at a complete dive bar named Jeff's Bucket Shop, which is located down an alley and underneath a restaurant in the basement level of a building - great place, but we chose to celebrate our anniversary of this meeting at a place she had been trying out for lunch with some friends, Café Montè.

I don't have any pictures, but the food was absolutely wonderful. She ordered the Trout Amandine, and ate half of it and saved the rest. I had the Beef Short Rib Bourguionne, which was sitting in a bowl in a cradle of mashed potatoes and tiny little onions - this is one of those places where you leave remembering how good mash potatoes can really be.

The only disspointment was their crème brûlée, which obviously did not have a freshly done "brûlée", but the top layer was also thin and hardly crunchy at all. It may have been the worst crème brûlée I've had. BUT, the desert was a stark contrast from the otherwise excellent meal!