food Archives : Cast Iron Forest to Skillet

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11/26/2023 return of cilantro

A ramekin of pozole, a pile of refried beans, and half a turkey enchilada with green sauce on a white plate edged with black lines and squares. — Leftover turkey enchiladas with salsa verde (tomatillos mostly from farm share but a few from the garden). The turkey is from Paula’s uncle. Refried beans (“red beans” from the farm share. Pozole made from Rancho Gordo hominy from our Bean Club membership days and is topped with garden cilantro. Paula has vowed we will not let it take over and shade our other things again unlike in spring.

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11/23/2023 peaceful thanksgiving!

The described meal, plated on white and black plate with a wine glass of champagne. — The Chef and Chef Paula made a lovely Thanksgiving dinner they considered simple but they were actually having a good time in the kitchen all afternoon. I kept out of the way and napped with cats on the couch. The turkey was raised by Paula’s uncle. The dumplings are cream cheese and onion pierogis. The Brussels sprouts are from the farm share and caramelized in crabapple syrup (jelly that didn’t jell).

$The champagne bottle (dark green glass) with the Chef’s hand designed reusable vinyl label. The vintage area is pink with darker pink letters saying “CHC Brewing”. Handwritten notes specify “Cran + Crab Champagne, batch 3, 10.3% alcohol”. The logo is CHC with the first C reversed for symmetry. The letters are red with ornate, almost fractal, curlicues around them in a slate dark gray background.$

Our sparkly beverage was 2021 vintage neighbor crabapples with added cranberry, bottled in 2022.

I’m holding a wineglass of sparkling beverage up to the 1970s shell chandelier that came with the house. The backlighting shows off the abundant bubbles in the bubbly. — Cheers everyone!

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11/22/2023 shakshuka dinner

Shakshuka and couscous next to a bowl of salad — Shakshuka is a Mediterranean/North African dish that uses a lot of bell peppers in the tomato sauce. We had frozen slices of bell peppers from the last harvest this year before first frost. Yum!

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11/21/2023 crabapple syrup

Four pieces of crispy fried chicken thighs arranged symmetrically on a four part round waffles. Cheese cauliflower on the side. — Technically there is no garden produce in this picture but we drizzled the crabapple syrup/jelly on it and WOW was it a delicious combination.

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10/30/2023 basil units

The Chef wields a pesto-laden giant whisk above the food safe five gallon bucket. — The pesto settled overnight and needed the giant whisk.

Three stacks of several plastic clear containers of pesto, totalling 11 containers. — The pesto settled overnight and needed the giant whisk.

2023-10-282023-10-28

10/28/2023 dinner

Refried beans with chunks of feta cheese, a pile of Mexican rice, and a corn tortilla loaded with pork, avocado, lettuce, onions
, cilantro, and the flavorful pepper hot sauce. — Paula made refried beans with bolas maycoba beans from last year as well as some Rancho Gordo beans of some variety. The Chef made a pepper hot sauce from all the ripe Chimayó chile peppers in the garden plus everything pepper leftover in the freezer, including farm share jalapeños, two year old poblanos from the garden, and assorted mystery peppers.

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10/23/2023 dinner

Smoky Rice and beans with sautéed greens and a bright red cherry tomato on top in a stoneware bowl — Cajun beans and rice containing very late season garden okra.

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10/08/2023 garden onion and basil

A deep dish pizza, a salad, and an empty plate ready for dinner. — In the deep dish pizza.

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10/05/2023 three chef meal

Credit for fancy salad to Paula. The Chef made the bacon cheese chicken rounds and sautéed veggies. All of us and our guest rolled out potato gnocchi. The potato gnocchi is topped with pesto made with garden basil. the sunflowers are the ones from the garden from two days ago.

Our guest brought this exquisite chocolate flourless cake topped with chocolate ganache. Paula added the edible flower of Texas mallow. (It tastes… like a plant haha.). The cake was DIVINE.

Our guest brought this exquisite chocolate flourless cake topped with chocolate ganache. Paula added the edible flower of Texas mallow. (It tastes… like a plant haha.). The cake was DIVINE.

2023-10-042023-10-05

10/04/2023 big rain! Big max!

eight foot long plus sunflower branches arch over wet concrete, weighted down by bunches of wet yellow flowers. — We got a very sudden storm, with over two inches of rain.

A bouquet of small sunflowers foregrounds a gray table with a noodle veggie soup and a plate with three rows of handmade sushi. — We accidentally broke off a sunflower stem while putting the trash and recycling bins back behind them. The trimmed off flowers looked lovely with the dinner! Thanks Paula for trimming them to save them!

A tidy bouquet of small yellow sunflowers is framed by two decorative gourds, vaguely pumpkin shaped but with greenish stripes and a bumpy surface. — Paula added the fun pumpkins from last week’s farm share after the Chef rearranged the flowers a bit.