Deer Rammers Pie (I promise that isn't as weird as it sounds)

Another slow news week on the farming front. Though we do have an excellent reason.

CHRISTMAS, of course :)

This year's tree, pre cutting.
As you can see, we're big Charlie Brown fans.

This year's Christmas highlights included:

A ukelele,

a hatchet,

and this masterpiece. 

Also this delicious use for leftover mashed potatoes.
 It featured many of the goodies that are included
in this week's share.

The share will include carrots, potatoes, kohlrabi, sweet mama winter squash, cabbage, rutabaga, and dry beans.

The kohlrabi has (like everything in the share) been in storage since November. The outside looks a bit shriveled, but the inside is still good enough to enjoy raw with a sprinkle of salt and lime juice.

Sweet mama squash is the first of the real keeper squash to show up in the shares this winter. This one doesn't reach its most delicious until it has been in storage for a few months. Which means now. Sweet mama is dense and sweet, a good squash to cube and cook in a soup, stew, or casserole. 

The dry beans are finally making an appearance this week! Most members will receive marfax, which are a baking bean. You don't need to bake them, but the beans have the familiar flavor of baking type beans. I like to cook them on the stove (after soaking) with a maple syrup and chopped carrots. They have the sweetness of baked beans without the fuss. If you have a bit of bacon to brown in the pan before you cook them (and then crumble on top when the beans are done) so much the better.

Now it's time to explain the title of the post. You know shepherds pie, made with lamb? The recipe for this week is basically a shepherds pie, except that it is made with venison. Normally that would be called a hunters pie or simply a shepherds pie by people who don't feel the need to rename a recipe just because they changed the type of meat in it (those people are crazy). However, our freezer is full of venison that we accidentally hunted, with our van, which is a Dodge Ram. So this pie is a deer rammers pie. And now you know.

Of course, you can use whatever meat you'd like to in this recipe. Just be sure to rename it accordingly. 

Deer Rammers Pie

• About 3 cups leftover mashed potatoes (we always put cream cheese in our mashed potatoes--you should try it)
• olive oil
• 1 pound ground venison or other meat of your choosing
• 1 onion, diced
• Two cups root vegetables such as carrots, rutabaga, or kohlrabi, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a little bit of olive oil in a cast iron skillet (or other over proof skillet) over low/medium heat.

Add the onion, ground meat, and root vegetables. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is just browned. 

Don't eat it yet. It gets better.

Add salt, pepper and flour and stir well. Stir in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the milk and flour have taken on a creamy consistancy. You won't see a lot of liquid in the pan, but it should look deliciously oozy throughout. If it doesn't, stir in another tablespoon or so of milk.

Remove the skillet from the heat and spread the still cold mashed potatoes over the top of the meat, like you're frosting a layer cake.

Bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes. Broil for an additional five minutes (or so--always watch closely when you are broiling to avoid burning) for a golden brown crust.

Merry Christmas Brownies...with Beets

Hey Look, it's May!

Just kidding, I know it's December. It's usually way snowier than this in May.

We do have some baby spring greens going into the shares this week though, so I think I can be forgiven for my confusion over the season :)

The greens are microgreens. They are similar to sprouts, but more mature. Also, they're grown on a substrate (like soil, in this case we used a fiber grow mat and fertilized them with liquid kelp) and harvested. They do not include the roots like sprouts do. You may have noticed some photos of them scroll by you on our Facebook page earlier this week.

Here they are again.

Microgreens are new for us, we've been experimenting with them this year and, though we definitely have some greens to give to our members, we still have several questions to answer. For example, we aren't sure at all how much greens we'll end up with when we harvest them tomorrow, which is why some members will be taking home fresh rosemary with their share on Tuesday instead of microgreens.

In addition to the microgreens or rosemary, members will receive the following: Rutabaga, Onions, Carrots, Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Cabbage, Leeks and Beets.

And, I'm re-sharing one of our favorite Christmas cookie recipes. I originally posted this way back in 2010, but Scott said it's too good not to re-post for winter share members. Hope you like it!

Beet Brownies

The baking time will vary for these brownies. It seems to depend on the moisture content of the beets. The most important thing is not to over bake them. They go from perfect to burnt in a flash. So start checking at 25 minutes and check every five minutes or so until they are done.

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Butter and flour a 9x13 inch pan

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 - 3 medium beets
• 1 cup walnut halves (optional)
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)

This is how your diced beets should look.

1. Dice the beets very small. They should be about the size of chocolate chips. I don't peel mine, but you can if you prefer. Do it by hand because a food processor makes the beets too juicy and changes the texture of the brownies. 
2. Combine the butter, honey, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a saucepan large enough to contain all of the ingredients. Place it over low heat.
3. Stir occasionally until the butter has melted and it looks like chocolate sauce.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.
5. Incorporate the eggs, one at a time.
6. Add the flour. Stir just until the ingredients are combined.
7. Fold in the diced beets, and the walnuts and chocolate if using
8. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake at 350 F for 25 (or more - see header) minutes.
9. The brownies are done when the surface is golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out with crumbs stuck to it, rather than wet with batter.