Grasshoppers Pickup Number 16

This week's pickup consisted of:

• 1 small bunch parsley
• 1 large head Napa cabbage
• 1 small head Bibb lettuce
• 2 smallish winter squash
• 2 large and 1 tiny sweet potatoes
• Ginger root
• 1 head garlic
• 2 lamb ribs
• 1 lb. ground lamb

I also ordered a few add-on items for Christmas time:

• 1 free-range chicken
• 1 lb. bacon
• 2 lbs. coarse grits
• 1 dozen eggs

The parsley, garlic, chicken, and part of the bacon are destined for my Christmas Dinner entree: Coq au Vin. I've not yet decided on a full menu for the dinner.

The cabbage was a g-dsend. I may have mentioned that I've been accumulating my CSA meat in the freezer. I had decided that I would make an Irish Boiled Dinner this weekend with a rather large beef roast. I was going to buy a head of cabbage at Meijer this Saturday, but now I have a fresh, local head of Napa cabbage that will work out perfectly.

The lettuce will be added to a bag of salad that I made earlier this week.

I'm feeling pressured by winter squash! I have 4 small winter squash now and no firm plans for putting them to use. This is going to require some research. Roasted squash is good but I'm not a huge fan of sweet-tasting side dishes. It's like, if you add mass quantities of butter and brown sugar to a dish, it does not belong on the dinner plate. I could roast it, halved, as a dessert, but I rarely have room for dessert. And besides, I also got sweet potatoes!

I happen to have a spare pie shell in my fridge, so at least one of the sweet potatoes will be going into a pie. I'm cool with a roast sweet potato as a side dish with butter and pepper.

The ginger root would be great in a curry or a stir fry. With all the other cooking I'll be doing I don't know that I'll have room for another main dish. I'll have to research side dishes that use lots of ginger.

The lamb ribs have to be oven barbecued. I'm not sure what to do with a pound of ground lamb. I would definitely want to choose a dish that allows the lamb's own flavor to be prominent. So... more research.

The grits and eggs and part of the bacon will be used in some delicious Big Brunches over my Christmas vacation. I also have 8 or 9 eggs bought at Meijer that I need to use. Baking? Pound cake? I'm not sure.

Thoughts on Christmas Dinner

In recent years, I've made Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners designed to be served and eaten as maybe a half dozen dishes and side-dishes crowded onto one platter. This Christmas, I'm going to take a different approach. I intend for the meal to be a leisurely stroll through a number of courses, each of which will consist of a fairly small portion.

I've not decided on a menu, but I have decided that the entree will be Coq au Vin. I've ordered a free-range chicken and some locally produced bacon from my CSA.

As for the other courses, I'm thinking along the lines of salad, appetizer, soup, lagnappe, and desert. If everything works out, this will be much more enjoyable that the "one-plate" holiday meals I've known from tradition.

Cornbread -- (Not Corn Cake)

I used to have a recipe for cornbread that I clipped from the back of a package of coarse-ground cornmeal. I've lost it! I know my old recipe called for bacon grease melted in a cast iron skillet and some bacon grease added to the batter. Some day I'll re-find or re-create that recipe. In the meantime, here's a pretty decent recipe. Note the lack of sugar. I have a major gripe against cornbread recipes that call for massive amounts of sugar. I'm not in grade school any more!

Ingredients

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal (course-grind, if available)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1 T. bacon grease, melted (optional)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 T. peanut oil

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Cut up butter into about 6 equal-sized pieces. Place in a Pyrex bowl or measuring cup, cover loosely with wax paper, and heat in a microwave until melted.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder.
4. In a smaller mixing bowl combine egg, buttermilk, and melted butter and bacon grease. Add to the dry ingredients.
5. Add peanut oil to an 8" x 8" pan and place in the oven for 2 minutes.
6. Remove pan from oven and tilt to ensure the bottom has been evenly coated with oil.
7. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cornbread comes out dry.

Yield: 4 large servings

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A note regarding storage: I frequently make cornbread to be part of a recipe that involves spooning a soup- or broth-like mixture to be spooned on top (Beans and Cornbread, Greens and Cornbread, Chili and Cornbread). If that's the case, I store the cornbread uncovered inside a cool oven. I sometimes cut up the cornbread and set the pieces on their side. This would tend to dry out the cornbread, but since it's going to be covered in broth, that's not an issue. I mainly want to avoid mold that would occur more rapidly in a sealed environment.

Shrimp and Grits

By popular demand, here is my recipe for Shrimp and Grits. It's a lot of work, folks, but the finished product is delectable. And it's an excellent dish to bring to a potluck if you want to knock the socks off some folk.

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Ingredients

Grits

• 1 cup uncooked grits (not instant grits)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• salt and pepper, to taste

Shrimp & Gravy

• 1 T butter
• 4 slices smoked bacon
• 1 lb medium shrimp, uncooked, shelled
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup celery, chopped
• 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup + 1/4 cup chicken stock, cooled
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• dash Tabasco
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Grits

1. In a 3-quart saucepan combine the grits, garlic, stock and whipping cream.
2. Over medium heat, bring to a low boil.
3. Reduce heat to low and simmer stirring frequently, until grits are creamy - about 10 minute.
4. Whisk in the Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to lowest setting (or remove from fire if preparing for potluck).

 Shrimp & Gravy

1. In a large skillet, melt 1 T butter.
2. Sauté bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove from pan, leaving grease.
3. Sauté shrimp about 2 minutes per side. Remove from pan.
4. Add onions, celery, and green pepper. Sauté until tender.
5. Combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup chicken stock (cool or room temperature). Mix well and set aside.
6. Increase heat to high. Add white wine and cook until evaporated.
7. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining chicken stock, tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer 3 minutes.
8. Add salt, pepper, and Tabasco. Stir.
9. Add cornstarch/stock mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
10. If serving immediately, return shrimp to gravy and simmer 2 minutes. Spoon gravy over warm grits.

My Ceramic-Top Stove

A couple of years ago, I decided to replace my decrepit electric stove with a new model. I had completely wrecked my old stove by boiling 5-gallon batches of beer on it. The weight and reflected heat turned the wiring into carbon. Two of the 4 burners had quit working. It was definitely time to treat myself to an upgrade.

I decided to go with a Samsung with a ceramic top. I liked the idea of being able to clean the stove top thoroughly and not have to deal with the headache of boil-overs that drip down underneath the burners and are impossible to clean. I didn't know much about ceramic top stoves, but the reviews seemed positive so I made the leap.

Overall, I do like my new stove. Except for one component that went bad almost immediately (and was replaced under warranty) it has been very dependable. Upon reading the instruction manual, however, I learned that I would not be able to use my canning pot or my cast iron cookware. The canning pot was unacceptable because it would extend beyond the area of the heating element. My cast iron cookware could not be used because it does not have a flat bottom. This wasn't a disaster since I do have a fine set of stainless steel cookware to use.

There is one thing I do miss about using my cast iron dutch oven. When I made Coq Au Vin or Chicken Marengo, it was great to be able to brown the chicken and onions on top of the stove then add liquid, cover, and bake in the oven. I thought about that today as I was considering what to make for dinner this Saturday. I believe I'll be getting a chicken in my CSA basket this evening, and I already have some bacon in the freezer. I realized it had been a long time since I'd made Coq Au Vin, so here was a good opportunity. I guess I could do all of the cooking on top of the stove, but it's not quite the same.

So... maybe I'll see if Amazon has some flat-bottomed cast iron cookware.