Organic Cooking: Stew, French Style - Part 2

This dish comes from the the Carmargue, French cowboy country, and is traditionally made with bull's meat which is somewhat tough but extremely flavorful. In the US, we can only dream of the day when the palette of the people, even only a handful of people, will demand a search for meat based on flavor and utility rather than just going to the shop for MEAT. Imagine knowing instinctively that a good hearty stew requires bull's meat.... oh, well, out of la la land and back to earth. At The Farm Shop we cut our stew meat into large pieces of 2-2.5 oz but for this recipe our Kabobs work best since we cut them in nice 4oz pieces. All of our stew meat is cut from the chuck or the round rather than scrap meat for a more consistent end result. As I mentioned in my last blog, please, please search out good quality black olives. I am not sure what is really in those cans of "black olives" but they don't belong in this stew.

This stew is exquisite served over fresh pasta but is also great spooned over rice or potatoes.

Gardiane La Camargue (La Camargue's Beef Stew with Black Olives)

4.5lbs grass fed stewing beef
5 garlic cloves
2-3 medium onions, Cut into rounds
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds
1 bottle full-bodied red wine such as Cotes-du-Rhone
2 tbs olive oil
2 sprigs thyme or 1/2 ts dried
3 imported bay leaves
1 cup oil-cured black olives, preferably from Nyons
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. One day before serving, combine the meat, garlic, onions, carrots and wine in a large non reactive bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, stirring once or twice.
2. Three hours before cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator and let come to room temperature. Remove the meat from the marinade, drain well.
3. In a very large, heavy bottomed, non reactive casserole, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the meat and brown on all sides, working in several batches if necessary. Do not crowd the meat. Add the thyme, bay leaves and olives and season with salt and pepper. Pour the marinade ingredients over the meat. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and barely simmer, half covered, for 2 hours.
4. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Transfer the stew to a deep serving platter. Serve with rice, pasta or potatoes.
Serves 6

Organic Cooking: Stew, French Style

Once winter sets in for long haul I head to the bookshelf for Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking.  It stays with me until the first of my veggies come out of the garden and I tend to let the garden dictate my meals. I first learned of this treasury of savory dishes from Chef Michelle Cook during one of her memorable Slow Food dinners. Several of us had, as usual, gathered at the beautiful home of Halsey and Michelle Cook for a night of conviviality in the truest sense: a night filled with the best food, wine and conversation. As was often the case at the Cooks', Michelle brought out the pasta press and made fresh pasta to accompany the two stew recipes from Bistro Cooking.

The first stew is Estouffade Provencale. The wonderful thing about this stew is that is so easy to make. It takes two - three days but the time involved is minimal. The second recipe is Gardiane La Camargue (La Camargue's Beef Stew with Black Olives).

Both recipes utilize the technique of letting the ingredients "stew" in red wine overnight which tenderizes the beef and blends all the flavors of the veggies. These recipes were likely made using bull's beef which would be tough but very flavorful and so the overnight treatment would leave the flavor intact but the beef would still be melt in your mouth tender.

Definitely try Michelle's treatment of the stew by spooning over fresh pasta and served with a good, full bodied wine. Also, please, try to find some good black olives as the recipe just doesn't have the same taste when canned olives are used.

Estouffade Provencale

2.5 lbs grass fed stew beef(cut in large pieces)
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch rounds
1 celery rib, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 bottle, 3 cups, hearty red wine
1 bunch fresh thyme
3 imported Turkish bay leaves (available at The Farm Shop)
1 strip of orange zest, about 2 inches, chopped

1. Two days before serving the stew, combine all of the ingredients, except the orange zest, in a large enameled casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, bring the mixture to a simmer over low heat. Simmer gently, until the meat is very tender, 3-4 hours.
3. Allow the stew to cool down. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.
4. At serving time, reheat until the meat is heated through, 10-15 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. To serve, remove the bay leaves and the thyme, stir in orange zest.
Yield 8 servings when served over pasta


(Next post, Gardiane La Camargue)
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Lambs in March

This weekend was unusually crazy at our peaceful little farm. With 250 pastured hens, around 60 head of cattle and 100 Katahdin sheep you would think that peace was something we experience about as much as flying saucers and blue moons. Normally though, with all the hardworking hands around the farm things are fairly calm and peaceful. The culprits this weekend though all were under 10lbs and can run like the dickens!

Lambs!! Lambs!! And more lambs!! They are everywhere! In one weekend we had over eighteen babies born and most of those were triplets. 

Our theory is that since the drought hit things have been slightly askew. Last year the lambs came in singles, for the most part, but nature must be making up for lost time.  Over the years we've been homesteading, we've come to see how often nature runs in cycles like this.

One interesting fact about nature is that when there is some environmental deviation from the norm such as drought or famine, the reproductive systems of animal begin to shut down but just until things return to normal. Even in humans, when the body is deprived of proper nutrients the first system to be shut down is the reproductive system.

We saw the same effect on our fruit trees. Last year we had more pears than we have ever had in one season. I guess it's just Nature looking out for our well being.

Well, with this many lambs on the ground we will have plenty of grass fed lamb for sale in the store and at the farmer's markets we attend so I thought I would get your creative juices flowing with my favorite grass fed lamb chop recipes.

The most used lamb chop recipe in our home is very simple but oh, so good. Celtic or Hawaii salt and fresh ground pepper cooked on the grill topped with a good pat of butter. To spice things up a little I will bring out the wine, Turkish oregano and garlic and make up a dish that I always give to those new to eating lamb.

Grilled Lamb with Wine, Garlic and Honey

The honey does not sweeten the chops-it just helps them brown. For an authentic accompaniment, uncork a bottle of the pungent resin-flavored Greek wine called retsina, or simply opt for a favorite Sauvignon Blanc. Serve coffee ice cream and purchased baklava to complete the menu.

3/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs chopped fresh oregano
2 tb minced garlic
2 ts red wine vinegar
1/2 ts sea salt
1/2 ts ground black pepper
8 1- to 1 1/4-inch-thick grass fed loin lamb chops (about 2 1/2 pounds total), fat well trimmed
2 tablespoons honey

Mix first 7 ingredients in large glass baking dish. Arrange lamb chops in single layer in dish; turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, turning and basting often. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.) Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Transfer lamb to plate. Mix honey into marinade. Grill lamb to desired doneness, turning and basting with marinade often, about 10 minutes for medium-rare.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Transfer lamb to plate.