Sabbath light

Our Sabbath, 18th Anniversary dinner,

complete with Rolled Rump Roast.

Rolled Rump Roast

Ok, so we have been at this grass-fed beef growing venture for some time now. We are still in the process of trying each cut of beef and learning just what makes them the tastiest. This weekend, we were planning a very special meal...Sabbath preparation and anniversary celebration kind of special...Dear and Loving Husband says plan something fine. So, I planned on lamb, because I thought we had some in the freezer. Dear and Loving Husband, after searching diligently, asks just where said lamb may be found. Uh-oh. That was veal I was thinking of. Ok, move to plan B. Break out one of those cuts we have not tried yet and make it fine. Enter Rolled Rump Roast. Now when it comes to roasts, I am not of the rare, succulent au jus loving kind. My mama would brown it and cook it to death with Lipton onion soup mix. Well, that has MSG, which we try to avoid (headaches and whatnot, you know...). Anyway, I did a little research in my cookbook collection and compared notes with a few sites online. I decided to branch out of familiarity and try something new, of my own design. It was SO good! I mean, lick your plate good if you don't have manners and it isn't a fine meal...but we do and it was, so I didn't, though I wanted to. Nonetheless, here you go...

Rolled Rump Roast (preferably from Providence Farm!) about 3.5 lbs.
1 Vidalia Onion, cut into eighths
1 head of garlic (from our garden!), peeled and each clove halved lengthwise
~1/3 cup sherry
~1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
~1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
~1 TBS kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water
1 TBS butter
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

The ~ means "about," because I don't measure. This is where I got to really put my LeCreuset French Oven to the test. Preheat your cookware over low heat, then add oil and butter and cover with the lid. Turn heat up to medium and NO higher. Rinse and pat dry the roast. Rub with pepper and salt and place in oil/butter to sear on all sides. Remove and set aside the roast. Place onion & garlic into the oil and cover. Allow to slightly brown, then place the roast on top of the onions. Pour liquids into bottom of french oven and cover. Let braise for a few hours, turning occasionally, until fork-tender and juices & onions have carmelized. Remove string netting and slice for serving. Pour pan juices over the meat before serving. Try not to lick your plate when you are done. At least use a roll to sop it up! ;-) Mmmmmm....Good, Providentially!

a few of my favorite things

These are things I love to use in the kitchen and hope to fill my daughters' hope chests with. Well equipped kitchen essentials.

best to cook in: cast iron, hands down
All-Clad stainless steel, a close second
favorite to serve in (and cook): Polish pottery and Le Creuset cast iron, no cheap imitations...ask me why?...You get what you pay for.
utensils: Whetstone Woodenware, silicone spatulas and All-Clad stainless steel spoons
dishes: Homer Laughlin's Fiestaware, all colors, and nearly any pattern of red transferware
handmade potholders (Ok, the girls make them for me so I think I'll have to hide a few for them later.)
lovely tea towels
cloth napkins and tablecloths

More to follow.

keeping the homefire burning

I am sorry to have disappointed everyone eagerly awaiting thanksgiving recipes. In the hustle & bustle of the season, that fell to the wayside as I have been tending the fire...filling love tanks. And since Nana hadn't been here in over two years, we decided to savor every bit of the three weeks we had her. So, I beg your forgiveness.

And speaking of fire...I came across a gem of a book. Hearthside Cooking by Nancy Carter Crump has had my attention of late in those brief moments of leisurely reading while nursing the baby. Having learned about the finer points of radiant heat (wishing for that four-oven Aga) and the joys of using cast iron and our woodstove, I thought it may be prudent and interesting to add open hearth to my growing repertoire. We are all about doing (some)things the old fashioned way around here. That just fits right in with our Slow Food concept of farming. The cover hints at recipes of traditional Southern, specifically Virginian, cuisine for hearthside cooking and modern interpretations thereof. What I did not expect is the wealth of historical context, thoroughly researched and presented in an enlightening manner. Before we moved to Providence Farm, I would say I'd like to live along Duke of Gloucester Street and have our whole family of interpreters in our Colonial attire, cooking at a grand hearth like the one at the Governor's Palace, with our Heritage breed animals and abundant kitchen garden and smokehouse, etc. (Aside: in these frigid hours, I am thankful to have a furnace that will kick on when the woodstove fire dies out around midnight!) Anyway, since our grill bit the dust on Christmas Day (literally, blew off the back porch just as we were cutting our steaks at the dinnertable), I've had a notion (actually my Dear and Loving Husband had it first & I concurred...before the grill bit the dust but doom was imminent) to design and build a hearth out back. That is a project that may not come to fruition in the very near term, but we do need to replace the grill before summer. What else for cooking all that fabulous, grass-fed beef growing in the back forty? I'm thinking a spit & andirons may be in order...I am reminiscing of Spiesbraten and Bratwurst. Thinking ahead to hot dogs and steaks. Why wait for warm weather? We need fire now!

Feast Preparations

Yesterday, Daddy did some grocery shopping and I ordered the Pepper Jack Cheese from September Farm for the Spinach Madeline. Today's work may include making cranberry sauce (done this morning), roasting pumpkins and butternut squash, cracking pecans. Tomorrow is a day out for the family, so more shopping errands. Friday is tidy up, once-over-lightly, before Nana arrives on Saturday. Sunday is worship and fellowship, so the preparations will resume on Monday.

Farmstead Fresh Holiday

I was working on the menu for our Thanksgiving Feast and realized that we are really having a made-from-scratch, grown by us or friends dinner! Not everything we are having has been raised on Providence Farm, but a goodly portion is. And some things come to us from other special farming friends. Over the next few days, I will try to post photos and recipes as we prepare for the monumental Providence Farm Thanksgiving Feast. In the meantime, you can drool over the menu and get ideas for your own Feast. And, of course, all these dishes are from scratch...some recipes from dear friends...new and old holiday traditions for our family. No premade, processed gobbledy gook here!

Fresh Turkey from Full Quiver Farm (thank you, Scott & Alison Wilson)

Cornbread Dressing with Andouille (thank you, Margaret Doskey)

Sweet Potato~Apple Casserole (thank you, Julie Heverin)

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce (thank you, Susan Post)

Spinach Madeline (thank you, Amber Prigge)

Creamed Silver Queen Corn (thanks Nana)

Butternut Bisque (thank you Sara Hemmeke)

Pumpkin Pie

Pecan Pie

Rolls & Biscuits

and of course, iced tea

That is the plan so far. It is, naturally, subject to last minute insertions, alterations or substitutions. But that is the least we'll do...Providentially.

So, what did WE grow? Sweet potatoes, pumpkin and pecans. Organic, Naturally. Good, Providentially. And the other farms with ingredients we can be thankful for?

Full Quiver Farm, September Farm, Adams Acres.

Heirloom Recipes

As I was making cornbread last week with fresh corn and Aunt Barbara's recipe, I planned to take a picture of it to post with the recipe. Alas, we ate it too quickly. But, I will share the recipe nonetheless, as soup season is upon us and what goes better with soup than fresh cornbread? (Well, maybe a boule or biscuits fresh from the oven...a later post to be sure!) Anyway, that got me thinking about heirloom recipes. You know, the ones that are passed down from generation to generation. Or, maybe the ones coveted because they are not shared (like Aunt Zelma's Coconut Cake). The ones that when you make them, you are transported to another time and place by just the scent (like Memal's Black Walnut Cookies). Family treasures that last longer than the people. If you have one of those, share it here in the comments!

Aunt Barbara's Cornbread (with my notes in parenthesis)

1 cup self-rising cornmeal (white, preferably Patrick Henry or Dixie Lily)
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
2 eggs (fresh from Providence Farm, of course!)
8 oz. sour cream (Breakstone's is the only one I've found that is really all natural)
1 small can creamed corn (or freshly creamed off of a few cobs)

Mix well with a wooden spoon. Pour into a well-seasoned, hot, cast iron skillet. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden...not brown. Serve immediately with hot soup that has simmered on the woodstove while the winds have whipped the leaves off the trees. If your family is the size of mine, you'll need to double it.

Please share your treasured recipes. Don't let future generations wonder just how Aunt So-and-So did that fabulous thing you do so well. Don't let your famed dish be missed more than you. Let the recipes live beyond you, and you will be remembered in the making and the feasting.
It is bound to be good, Providentially!