Happy New Year! Why not make 2017 the year you change your shopping habits, or eating habits, and support your local farmer’s market?
Even in the dreary days of winter, the market is still a vibrant place to visit. Fresh produce is available, along with meat, dairy and bread. There are still plenty of options for meal planning.
Stewing, braising and baking are the go-to methods of food preparation at this time of year. With a bit of planning, it’s quite simple to have a week’s worth of meals prepped and ready to go, with market ingredients at the centre.
A hearty soup can be a fast and easy dinner. Redl’s Beef or Rockweld chicken offer bones for broth. Simply place the bones in a pot, cover with water and bring to a quick boil. Reduce the heat so the pot simmers gently for several hours. You can add a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (Walter and Lisa over at the rainbow tent sell this) to help draw the nutrients from the bones. Strain the bones and keep all that lovely broth. You can roast the bones first for a deeper coloured stock.
Once you have your homemade stock, you can make all kinds of wonderful soups. Or if you prefer, simply drink the broth. Bone broth is a “thing” right now and contains two important amino acids — proline and glycine — in addition to minerals and collagen. Glycine supports detoxification and helps the body synthesize collagen. It aids in wound healing and supports the release of growth hormones. Proline tightens and builds cell structures, strengthening them. A strong collagen structure heals leaky guts, reduces the appearance of cellulite and improves the strength of skin and vein walls according to paleoleap.com.
Personally, I prefer to add onions, carrots, celery and barley, and eat it with a spoon.
Another easy way to get the bones is to purchase bone-in meats, cook them for your meal and save the bones — then you are getting two meals for the price of one. How about braised short ribs? Or chicken thighs? Braising is nothing more than cooking large pieces of browned meat in a small amount of liquid over a longer period of time. Wine and beer make great braising liquids and the market is a great place to find both.
Macaroni and cheese is another great make-ahead dish. I quite often make a big pot of cheese sauce and freeze it in smaller containers so it’s ready when I need it. A blend of cheeses makes the best cheese sauce, and the goudas from Golden Ears can add some exciting flavour to the sauce. Serve up a dish of macaroni and cheese with a loaf of crusty bread from Gesundheit or focaccia from A Bread Affair, and dinner is ready.
Casseroles are easy to make ahead and freeze, too. Use some of the cheese sauce to make a potato and onion casserole. Take two cups of the cheese sauce and thin it with another cup of milk. Grease a 9x11 baking dish, cover the bottom with a layer of thinly sliced potatoes, season with salt and pepper. Next, place a layer of thinly slice onions on top, followed by some chopped kale. Pour half the cheese sauce over. Repeat the layers, finishing with the rest of the cheese sauce. At this point, the dish can be frozen. Bake the casserole, covered, at 350 F for an hour or so. Remove the cover and continue baking until the top is nice and brown. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. You can also add thinly sliced ham or chicken to this.
Karen Curtis is the Lemonade Lady (www.kicslemonade.ca and kicslemonade.blogspot.ca) at the Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam farmers markets. Her column runs monthly.
RECIPE: BRAISED RIBS
I’ll leave you with one of my favourite childhood recipes.
SHORT RIBS A LA BISTRO
6 large, meaty short ribs
14 oz. tomato sauce
½ cup water
½ cup dry red wine (I would recommend a good red — after all, if it isn’t good enough to drink, why would you cook with it?)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp basil
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp flour
In a Dutch oven, brown ribs well on all sides. Add tomato sauce, water, wine, onion, salt, basil and bay leaf. Simmer, covered, until meat is tender, at least 90 minutes. Remove meat from sauce, place on platter, cover and keep warm. Remove bay leaf and skim fat from sauce. Blend flour with ¼ cup cold water, stir into sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Spoon some sauce over meat, pouring the rest into a sauce boat to pass at the table. Sprinkle ribs with parsley. Serve with buttered egg noodles, a green salad and bread.
