We had some nice, farm meals this weekend. Sure, we had some meat. Friday night I made hamburgers on the George Foreman grill.
Then Nate left Saturday morning and it's been all vegetables, all the time.
Saturday night I took some yellow squash, cooked it a few minutes in the microwave to "blanched" consistency, and then layered it in an 8x8 pan with sauteed leeks in butter, mixed with breadcrumbs. On each layer, I ground on some fresh parmesan and black pepper and snipped some basil (from my pot) over.
While I assembled the squash casserole, I roasted some golden beets (a gourmet variety Sammy grows for the restaurants) with some nice little carrots, garlic (fresh from the farm...very very potent!) and some thyme I snipped from my pot.
I pulled the beets out, put the squash in, and let that cook for about 30 minutes. When the beets had cooled enough to handle, I slipped the skins off them. I also boiled up some new All Blue potatoes (another gourmet item for the restaurants) in some very salty water.
Taylor really enjoyed the blue potatoes. We all did...I'd forgotten how good just plain, boiled potatoes mashed and buttered can be. The squash casserole had potential, but I think it needed more moisture and to be cooked down a little more. The squash was still a bit too crisp. My goal was for the squash to be just about mushy and then to contrast with the crunchy parmesan/leek/breadcrumb layer on top. I'd like to do that without boiling the squash, draining and then squeezing, as so many southern squash casserole recipes call for.
Yesterday we had another wonderful farm meal. I made potato-leek soup, even using chicken stock I'd made Saturday from my collection of frozen carcasses (from farm chickens). That made up for the fact that we had to use store-bought potatoes. They just haven't totally come in at the farm yet. We also had a side of steamed broccoli and little carrots and some organic sourdough bread from the grocery store.
Every single time we have potato soup, we wonder why we don't have it more often. This was the first time I'd made one that was not the creamy variety. It was absolutely sensational!
I brought 8 cups of stock to a boil. Added a pound of chopped potatoes and a pound of chopped leeks and some salt. Let that simmer for 30 minutes until the potatoes got done. Turned it off, put in the "boat motor" (immersion blender) and whizzed it up nicely. Then I dumped in some parsley (from the farm) and a tablespoon of butter.
I did a lot of reading this weekend. I had to suspend my reading of Jimmy Carter's book The Hornet's Nest. I discovered I had two other books in my stack that are due back first and they are not renewable...others are waiting for them. So I'll review those other two tomorrow. They are The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer and Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship that Save Two POWs in Vietnam by James Hirsch.
We received 1/2 inch of rain on Sunday during church. Presumably, it's going to rain off and on all week. If that really happens...hear the skepticism in my voice?...it will be good for the ground and our psyches. But the Salkehatchie people might not be so happy.
6:53:28 AM 
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