Chicken x 4 and counting

Here we are, the fourth meal from one big farm chicken. (Well, more than four if you count leftovers!) Today, I boiled the carcass with herbs and vegetables to make a nice chicken stock, which I used to make Mushroom Orzotto. Recipe here. There's more stock, so tune in for Meal #5.

Check out the other meals here:

Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3

The chicken is from a CSA operation (community supported agriculture) near Saskatoon: Susan 343-7990.

I'm a fun-gal - MOREL AND FIDDLEHEAD ORZOTTO

Well, I am having fun in the kitchen! I just came into a heap of fresh-picked morels and fiddleheads from north-east Saskatchewan, and I wanted to cook them together in the same dish. This orzotto was delicious served with grilled porkshops and asparagus. (Orzotto is what I call a risotto-type dish made with pearl barley instead of rice - a very Saskatchewan substitution.)

Morel and Fiddlehead Orzotto

1 cup fiddleheads
3 tbsp butter
1 cup chopped fresh morels
3 green onions
4-5 cups vegetable stock
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil (or canola)
1 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Soak the fiddleheads in well salted water for 30 min. Drain. Rinse the fiddleheads several times to remove little flecks of brown husk. Melt 1 tbsp of butter and cook fiddleheads until wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Finely chop the green onions, white part only. Melt 1 tbsp butter. Cook morels and green onions until softened. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the stock to a simmer. In a heavy-bottomed pot, melt 1 tbsp butter with 1 tbsp olive oil. Sauté the diced onion and garlic until soft. Add the pearl barley, stirring, until all liquid is absorbed. Add the wine and cook until it has evaporated. Add one cup of vegetable stock, stir well, and cook until the liquid is almost absorbed. Add the remaining stock, one cup at a time, cooking and stirring until the barley is creamy and tender to the bite.

Stir in the fiddleheads, mushrooms, rosemary and cheese. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve with an extra sprinkling of cheese.

Gourmet shoots of spring - ASPARAGUS ORZOTTO

Italians make a rice dish called rizotto (riz is Italian for rice). I make the same type of dish with pearl barley so I call it orzotto (orzo is Italian for barley). This time of year, fresh young asparagus is abundant in the farmers' market, so don't be buying imported asparagus from the grocery store. This recipe serves two people as a main dish or 4-6 people as a side dish.

2 tbsp butter
2 fat green onions, sliced (about ¼ cup)
1 bunch asparagus, in 1-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
½ cup cooked ham, small dice
(I like to use the smoked pork from Emco Meats in Saskatoon)
1 ¼ cup pearl barley
¼ cup Madeira wine (optional - see note below)
1 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
5 cups hot chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
¼ cup parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Sauté the onions and asparagus until softened. Remove the vegetables with a spoon, leaving the remaining butter in the pot.

Turn up the heat to medium. Add the ham and pearl barley. Stir to coat with the butter. Add the Madeira wine. Cook until all the moisture is gone, stirring frequently to prevent sticking or burning. While doing this, stir in the salt and pepper.

When the barley is good and dry, add one cup of hot stock. Cook, bubbling and stirring, until the liquid is absorbed. Continue in this manner, adding one cup of stock and stirring until absorbed. With the last cup of stock, return the asparagus and onions to the pot. Bubble the mixture, stirring frequently, until the liquid has formed a creamy sauce. Take off the heat and stir in the cheese. Serve hot.

Note: Madeira is a sweet dessert wine. It’s very good served over an ice cube with a slice of lemon.

Newspaper - MUSHROOM ORZOTTO

This first appeared in the Saskatoon Star-Phoneix on 16 January 2006.

My husband gave me a cookbook for Christmas that’s heavy enough to be a door stop. It’s called The Silver Spoon, or in Italian, Il Cucchiaio d’Argento. It’s been the most popular cookbook in Italy for 50 years. With 2,000 recipes, it’s massive.My goal is to adapt it to Saskatchewan.

This is, for the most part, an easy task because so many traditional Italian recipes can be made with Saskatchewan ingredients. Pesto, for instance, is a popular pasta sauce. The primary ingredients are basil and garlic, which thrive in our hot dry summers. Opening the book at random, I come to Tomato and Mozzarella Packets. It calls for cherry tomatoes, basil and parsley (all grown here), mozzarella cheese (made by Saputo in Saskatoon), eggs, pancetta (bacon or ham will do) and pastry.

I should explain my motives: Since last spring, I have been eating almost nothing but Saskatchewan foods in my own home. It’s an experiment in local consumption that’s good for the economy, for the environment and for my health. My taste buds like it, too. In fact, I have adopted some habits of a traditional Italian cook. I shop at the farmers’ market, I buy foods that are fresh and in season, and I choose recipes that fit the ingredients on hand (rather than buying "imported" ingredients to fit the recipe).

The first thing I cooked out of The Silver Spoon was Mushroom Risotto, which I made for New Year’s Eve dinner with grilled steaks, coleslaw and, for dessert, cake with cherry sauce.
Risotto is a rice dish named for the Italian word for rice, riso. For risotto, the water is added one cup at a time, until the rice is plump and creamy, not dry and fluffy like boiled rice. The risotto section in The Silver Spoon is eleven pages long. Of course, white rice is not grown in Saskatchewan, but no matter, because I have discovered it is equally delicious made with pearl barley.

Which raises an important question: What do you call risotto made with barley instead of rice. Since the Italian word for barley is orzo, I’ve decided to call it orzotto. There you have it – the invention of a new Saskatchewan dish.

My pearl barley was purchased last summer from the Daybreak Farm near Estevan. As for the mushrooms, I used chanterelle I picked myself in the forest near La Ronge, which I sautéed lightly in butter and froze. (The Italian recipe calls for dried mushrooms; you might be able to get some at the Saskatchewan Made Store on 8th Street. Soak in water before cooking.) I also used my garden tomatoes (frozen), rosemary (dried), parsley (which is miraculously holding out in a vase of water in my fridge) and fresh sage (which is still green underneath the snow).

Mushroom Orzotto
1 cup sliced mushrooms, sautéed in butter
2 T butter
2 T olive or canola oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 sprig each rosemary, sage and parsley, chopped
4-5 tomatoes, chopped
salt and pepper
6-7 cups water or vegetable stock, boiling
2 cups pearl barley
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup Parmesan cheese


Melt the butter and oil in a stockpot. Sauté the garlic, onion and herbs until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the barley, stirring until the grains are shiny and little liquid remains in the pan. Add the wine and cook until evaporated. Add a cup of boiling water (or stock), stirring until it is absorbed. Continue to add water, one cup at a time, stirring until each one is absorbed before adding the next. As you get closer to done, the barley will need more stirring to ensure it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. When the barley is almost done, add the mushrooms. Stir in the parmesan cheese. The orzotto is ready when the barley is just tender to the bite. Sprinkle each serving with some cheese and perhaps some fresh parsley.

Week 17 - PINE MUSHROOM AND BARLEY RISOTTO

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week -- 10 August 2005

Breakfast -- Scrambled eggs with chopped tomato.
Lunch – Open-face cheese, tomato and basil (toasted).
Dinner – Pine mushroom and barley risotto. Fried fish. Raw kohlrabi.

PINE MUSHROOM AND BARLEY RISOTTO
I picked these mushrooms myself near La Ronge. They are a great delicacy in Japan where they are eaten by men for verility. (A young mine mushroom has the same shape as a certain male body part.) The pearl barley came from the organic mill at Daybreak Farm of Estevan.

Melt 2T butter is a saucepan. Sauté 1C sliced mushrooms. (I used pine mushrooms I picked near La Ronge, but any mushroom will do.) Remove the mushrooms and set aside.

Add 1C pearl barley and stir until the barley is coated in butter and starting to stick to the bottom of the pan. Pour in 1C warm broth. (I used homemade chicken stock). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed. Add 1/2 C white wine and cook until evaporated.

Continue adding broth, one cup at a time, until the liquid is absorbed and the barley is creamy and just tender to the bite. Season with salt and pepper. Return the mushrooms to the barley before serving.

Newspaper - July - TABOULEH SALAD

Published in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 18 July 2005

We may be far from the Mediterranean Sea, but we’re not that far from the Mediterranean diet. Many of the foods that form the diet in Mediterranean countries like France, Greece, Spain and Morocco are also grown right here in Saskatchewan.
Consider the tomato. It was cultivated in South America by the Aztecs and taken to Europe by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Lentils are a staple food in Mediterranean countries like Egypt and France. In fact, they are now eating lentils from Saskatchewan, which has become one of the largest producers in the world.
I began exploring the Mediterranean connection more than a decade ago when I asked my mom to grow some basil in her garden on the farm. To me, basil is the essential summer herb. It goes perfectly with tomatoes and lentils and many other Mediterranean dishes. If I could have only one fresh herb, it would be basil.

I had grown it in pots on a sunny balcony, but I had no idea if it would survive on the dry windy prairie. Well, it thrived. That row of basil grew so tall I picked it into black garbage bags and gave some to all my friends. So here’s my point – eating Saskatchewan foods does not mean a meat-and-potatoes-and-coleslaw diet. Saskatchewan foods lend themselves to many culinary traditions from around the world.

This is good news, because for one full year I have pledged to serve Saskatchewan foods almost exclusively at my own dinner table. I began in mid-April, and I’m happy to report that I am eating better and healthier than ever. I am searching out new sources of food, reading labels in the grocery store and getting to know some farmers. I am even the happy recipient of gifts of food. Not long ago, my neighbor Andrea presented me with a container of frozen apple butter from her own tree. It went straight into a fruit cobbler.

Recently, I hosted my bookclub. We always have a potluck meal and since we had just read "Tender is the Night", a novel set in the south of France, I decreed that the dinner theme would be Mediterranean foods made with Saskatchewan ingredients. Before long, there was an email in my inbox: "Help! What on earth do you mean? Examples please." So I listed off some foods that we have in common – grains and lentils, tomatoes and herbs, cheese and chicken, pasta and bread, etc, etc.

My friends are real troopers. They came with excellent dishes that were – or could be – made with Saskatchewan ingredients. We had: arugula salad, lentils with fresh herbs, Lebanese tabouleh salad, French gratin of cauliflower, Greek spanikopita and Italian margarita pizza (tomatoes, basil and cheese).

Just the other night, we had our friend Ian and his mom for a nice dinner on the patio. I found a pasta recipe in a cookbook by the godmother of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan. It called for red, yellow and green peppers, ground veal and fresh pasta. I bought greenhouse peppers from the farmers’ market, made pasta with fresh farm eggs, and substituted ground moose for the veal.

The moose came from Jeff, an avid hunter. When he heard that I was eating Saskatchewan foods, he showed up on our doorstep with 30 pounds of frozen moose. Gotta love friends like that!

Tabouleh Salad
This is the national salad of Lebanon, pronounced ta-BOO-lee. I made it with pearl barley from the Daybreak Farm at Estevan, farmers’ market tomatoes and fresh greens from my own garden.

1 cup pearl barley
1 bunch green onions
2 bunches parsley
2 bunches mint
4 tomatoes
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
Juice of 2-3 lemons
salt and pepper

Soak the barley in plenty of water until it is chewable but not too soft, a few hours. It should double in size to about 2 cups. Drain. Finely chop the herbs and onions. Cut the tomatoes in bite-sized pieces. Mix everything together and enjoy.

Week 8 - BARLEY RISOTTO

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week - June 10.

Breakfast – Yogurt and raspberries (thawed).
Lunch – Lentil salad.
Dinner – BBQ pork chops, barley and mushroom risotto, berry crisp.

Barley Risotto
Risotto is an Italian dish made with short-grained Arborio rice. Luckily, it can be made just as well with Saskatchewan pearl barley. The cooking method is important – hot liquid is added gradually so the grains absorb maximum liquid and become soft and creamy.

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup dried Saskatchewan mushrooms, soaked in water
small ionion, chopped
2 tsp fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary and chives)
salt and pepper
1 cup pearl barley
4 cups chicken stock or water, simmering
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a pot on low heat. Drain the mushrooms, adding the liquid to the chicken stock. Sauté the mushrooms. Remove with a spoon and reserve. Sauté the onion and herbs, adding salt and pepper. When the onion is soft, turn up the heat. Add the barley and cook, stirring, until the butter is absorbed and the barley is starting to stick to the pot.

Add one cup of simmering chicken stock. Stir briefly. Cook until the liquid is absorbed. Add another cup of liquid. Continue this process until the barley is creamy and tender enough to eat, 30-40 minutes. You should not stray too far from the stove or risk burning the barley on the bottom of the pot. If you need more liquid, add water.

Stir in the mushrooms and parmesan cheese. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Sources: barley from Daybreak Scheresky Mill, mushrooms from the Saskatchewan Made Marketplace; herbs from the farmers' market, homemade chicken stock.

Source - Daybreak-Scheresky Mill

Ray and Marianne Aspinall are doing something quite unique on their farm south of Estevan. They have an old stone mill where they grind all sorts of grains into wonderful organic flours.

The Aspinalls have been farming organically since the 1980s, but they wanted to get more value for their products. Even at premium organic rates, farmers get the short end of the stick (or the price tag) when they truck raw food off their farm to be processed somewhere else.

A few years ago, the Aspinalls made a deal with retired farmer Alvin Scheresky. For four decades, Scheresky ran a successful organic food business from his farm, shipping his grains to health food stores across the country. But he wanted to retire. The Aspinalls bought his mill and his customer list and revived the business. They also bought Alvin’s seed varieties, some of which date back to Europe and were brought to Canada with the settlers.

In respect to Alvin, and in recognition of his brand appeal, they added his name to that of their farm, to create the Daybreak-Scheresky Mill. Now, the Aspinalls are cleaning and milling organic grains for mail order and for sale in health food stores. They grow many of their own grains (including wheat, millet and buckwheat) and they also purchase from other local organic farmers.

I visited the Scheresky farm in May and left with 10kg bags of whole wheat flour, rolled oats and pearl barley. You can reach the Aspinalls at (306) 927-2695, or see their entire product list at www.daybreakschereskymill.com.

Week 3 - FOUR GRAIN SOUP

Saskatchewan Menu of the Week - April 30.

Breakfast - Two scrambled eggs and toast with honey.
Lunch - Yogurt, apple and cheddar cheese.
Dinner - Four Grain Soup with crusty buns.

Saskatchewan Four Grain Soup
This is a superb soup for a cool day. My recipe doesn't call for meat, but you can add cooked sausage or shredded beef to make a heartier soup. Conversely, if you want a vegetarian soup, replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock or water.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
2 tbsp canola oil
1 spt dried thyme
1/3 cup wheat seeds
1/3 cup lentils
1/3 cup wild rice
1/3 cup pearl barley
1 can tomatoes (I used 12 roma tomatoes from my freezer, thawed)
6 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Sauté the onions and carrots in canola oil until softened. Add the crumbled thyme. Stir in the wheat, lentils, wild rice and barley, coating the grains in oil. Turn up the heat to medium high and cook, stirring frequently, until the moisture is absorbed and the grains begin to stick to the pot.

Add the tomatoes and stir to incorporate. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the grains are soft, about 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sources: Wheat from my family farm; wild rice from La Ronge; pearl barley from Daybreak Scheresky Mill; lentils from Cerredwin Farm; carrots from the Sakatoon Farmers' Market; my own garden thyme and tomatoes; homemade chicken stock.