Populations in urban areas have lost touch with their roots. Not necessarily ethnic or cultural, but the understanding of where food comes from and how it arrives at the market. The locavore movement encourages individuals to use locally raised and produced ingredients and this movement has been gaining momentum while aligning itself with the modern day “green” practices while supporting local farms, businesses, and industries. If you know what you are looking for, foraging can produce tasty snacks, salads, side dishes, and main courses for any cook.
Before going out on your foraging adventure, it is important to study what items are edible and which are not. Many cities offer community education courses regarding foraging and there are several books and websites available on the topic; I recommend ecosalon.com/foraging-for-food and foraging.com. Beginners should stick to easily identified items and avoid mushrooms altogether and all foraged items should be washed before eating raw or cooking.
Ingredients:
1 chicken, deboned
1lb leeks cleaned and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 pints vegetarian or chicken stock or water
1/2 cup long grain rice
One teaspoon brown sugar
Salt and pepper
bay leaf, parsley, thyme
1/4 lb chopped bacon
Fry up the bacon in a large saucepan and add the chicken once the bacon is about half done. Continue stiring until the chicken is about half done (7 minutes). Add broth/water and cover. Add three-quarters of the leeks, (green as well as white sections), herbs (tied together in a bundle), salt and pepper and return to the boil. Simmer gently for 2-3 hours, adding more water if necessary. Add the rice and the remaining leeks and simmer for another 30 minutes. Check for flavor and serve with a little chopped parsley. Serves 6/8 people.
Ingredients:
1/4 lb lean bacon
6 to 8 small, young onions
two cups chopped button mushrooms Ingredients for the meat:
3lb stewing steak
4 tablespoons oil
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons flour
1 bottle of fruity young claret (Burgundy or Beaujolais)
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Bunch of fresh herbs
Cutup and cook the bacon in a frying pan until it is lightly brown. Add the onions and cook uncovered for roughly ten minutes. Then add the mushrooms, stir, cover and cook gently for a further ten minutes.
Cut the stewing steak into cubes roughly 1½” square. Add the beef to the bacon, onions and mushrooms and begin to brown the cubes of meat. Add the garlic and sprinkle the flour over the meat. Stir from time to time.
Add wine, light seasoning and herbs. Cover and simmer for 3 hours or until the meat is tender. Serve with boiled potatoes sprinkled with chopped parsley or mashed potatoes.
Final weekend approached us very quickly and we cooked up several dishes. All unique and very tasty. People were surprised at the variety of ingredients we used. This recipe is the first of four recipes we did this past weekend. I will post each recipe separately.
Oxtail Soup
Oxtail dishes are found across cultures. From Northern Europe, across the British Isles, Ottoman Empire, Mediterranean, Arabic, and Far Eastern cultures have all used oxtail in a variety of dishes. Some dishes were primarily delicacies, but secondarily offered homeopathic cures to various ailments including back and hip pain.
The Chinese added shredded cabbage mushrooms, and carrots, among other vegetables to provide a heart stew. Arabic and Mediterranean cultures added tomatoes and chickpeas, while European cultures, including Italy even added wine or brandy to the dish during the post-Restoration period.
Oxtails were once inexpensive, but with their increased use in many cuisines, the price of oxtails has become expensive. Asian grocery stores offer oxtails at about a third of the cost of main stream grocery stores.
Oxtail Soup, made at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival 10/02/11
This is a favorite among my male friends as oxtails, when cooked properly, can take on a prime rib flavor and texture. This particular dish, was cooked over an open fire in a cast iron Dutch oven.
Ingredients:
3 lbs of oxtails
1 lbs of beef shoulder soup bones.
2 lbs red potatoes, thinly sliced
3 parsnips, peeled and shredded
1 lbs of leeks, cut into rings
3 sprigs of rosemary
1/4 cup of butter or oil
2 lbs carrots, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small can of tomato paste (optional)
Kosher or sea salt
Black pepper
Begin preparing the dish by adding the beef shoulder bones in a large pot with enough water to cover the bones and add 1 tsp of sea or kosher salt. Bring items to a boil for a half an hour. Remove and dispose of the bones and reserve the broth.
Heat oil or melt butter in a different soup pot. Once heated, add the oxtails to brown and slowly add the leeks and garlic; continuing to cook. Once browned, add enough of the new broth to cover the cover the oxtails by an additional 3 inches, water may be added to increase the amount of liquid. At this moment, one may add optional tomato paste. Let cook for 1 hour and stir occasionally. After an hour, remove the soup bones, but leave in the oxtails. Begin adding the potatoes, carrots and rosemary. Cook for an additional 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
This dish is very rich and if one’s constitution prefers a less rich version, one may choose to put the soup in a cooler and remove the excess fat from the top before reheating. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
During Love and Romance weekend, we did another recipe – Coq Au Vin and Spanish Spiced Onions. Now some would argue the two dishes would not work well together, but we found a happy compromise. Instead of traditional wine, we used a mead that is sold at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, not far from our stage. The taste was lighter than most Coq Au Vin recipes.
Now, Coq au Vin is traditionally made with rooster but those are difficult to come by in the 21st century, so we used chicken. This dish has been simplified for our use and modern palates, but I am sure that you will like it.
COQ AU VIN Ingredients:
2 lbs. of chicken breasts, cut up to one each pieces.
6 cups of mead or sweet wine
1/2 lb bacon, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of chives, minced
1/2 cup thyme
1/4 cup of rosemary
1 tsp of orange zest
salt and pepper to taste
Begin by cooking the bacon on medium heat. Once the fat has rendered and the bacon has begun to cook, add the chicken to brown and add the garlic. Once the chicken is thoroughly browned, add the mead and the herbs to the dish, holding off on the salt and pepper until the end. Cover the dish and stir occassionally (every 5 – 7 minutes) until the chicken is done and pull off of the heat.
SPANISH SPICED ONIONS Ingredients: 3 lbs. of onions, sliced
4 Tbsp of butter
4 Tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of thyme
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of fresh ground pepper
Heat the oil and butter together and add the spices and herbs. Keep stiring and slowly add the onions. Stir continuously until the onions are thoroughly sweated and are translucent. They should not be crisp.
Scoop the Coq au Vin onto the plate and surround with the Spanish Spiced Onions. Serves 2-4.
