by jackie | Sep 14, 2024 | Beef, Books, Bulls, Buying Beef Better, Cheese, Eating Local, Food, GRASSFED, Gratitude, Heritage Breed, Local Farmers, Meat, Recipes, Summer, Things We Love
Entertaining or Potlucking? Need a late summer dish for a lazy summer afternoon?
Just got the first Auburn Meadow Farm beef back from the processor, and wowza, did I miss it.  Rich, beefy, juicy, and so delicious, when a friend gifted me some beautiful jalapenos and home grown garlic, I knew I had to make armadillo eggs. Armadillo Eggs are a Texas variant of jalapeno poppers, and are usually pretty seasoned up with chiles, seasoned sausages, and bacon. But this beef doesn’t need all that help, and the flavor of the cheese, the jalapeno, the lime, garlic and cilantro is to me perfect for a warm late summer day, especially  when served alongside the cool buttermilk dressing and splashes of fresh lime.
As with all things Texas, my go-to inspiration is Lisa Fain of Homesick Texan books, blog, and now Substack. Her recipes are solid, I love her stories, and humble appreciation for the vast history of Texas life and food. Check her out, odds are your public library has a copy of one of her books too. Brief and to-the-point, let’s get straight to it…
Assembling Armadillo eggs
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded yellow cheddar cheese
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp cilantro chopped
- 1/8 tsp ground cumin
- 6 medium fresh jalapeños
- 4 pounds ground beef You can also use a combo of ground beef and pork sausage, chorizo would be nice
- 1 fresh lime You can use bottled if you don't have it, but fresh is appreciated
Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
Mix together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, cilantro, and cumin until well blended. Taste, add salt and adjust seasonings if needed.
Remove the stems from teh jalapeños and cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and then cut the sliced jalapeños in half, horizontally. Note to self: wear gloves and do not touch your face or you may be sorry!
Place about a teaspoon of the cream cheese filling in each jalapeño quarter. Take about 1/3 cup of the sausage, pat it into a 3-inch circle and place the stuffed jalapeño in the center of the sausage. Wrap the sausage around the stuffed jalapeño until it’s completely covered, and form into an egg shape.
Place meat-wrapped jalapeños on the sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sausage is cooked. For additional browning on top, you can place the sheet under the broiler for 2-5 minutes. (I like mine as juicy as possible, so I skip this step).Â
Sprinkle your eggs with lots of fresh lime juice and serve with buttermilk dressing, queso or salsa. I like juicy lime wedges on the side too.
When making this with supermarket beef, I might use a broiler pan wtih a rack to elevate the eggs from the surface of the pan. Supermarket beef won't be dry-aged, so will release more water, and shrink more, and you may get better results lifing the meat so the liquid can drain away.Â
Armadillo eggs are not worth the making if you don’t also have good buttermilk dressing. Here’s my fave, also Homesick Texan inspired, though lacking the heat. I don’t miss it, tobasco or hot sauce can be added at table for those who like it, and those who don’t will appreciate the cool, flavorful dressing on pretty much everything.
- 1/2 cup prepared mayonnaise I like Hellman's or Duke's. Homemade is nice too, if you're okay with raw eggs
- 1/2 cup thickened Greek yogurt Chobani whole milk Greek style is my favorite
- 1/2 cup buttermilk Marburger's is my go-to, but a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice in whole milk will work too. Allow it to set at room temp to thicken first
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together and let chill for an hour before serving.
Makes one generous cup. Keeps in the fridge for a week, but good luck with that 😀
Armadillo Eggs are an unexpected recipe for a party dish that’s unique, accommodates most non-vegan diets, and stays on the Real Food spectrum, if you’re trying to kick the processed foods. I pretty much guarantee if you’re doing a potluck, you will please most, and copy none.
Beverage-wise, making all-beef Armadillo Eggs as I have here, a crisp, lighter white wine, or pilsner, or lime or lemonade would be my go-to. Mojitos or margaritas are always welcome, the key is light, bright, not too sweet. And, if you’re from Pittsburgh area and would like some Auburn Meadow Farm ground beef for yourself, find the details here.
by jackie | May 7, 2022 | Beef, Change, Freezer, Meat, Pantry, Recipes, Uncategorized, Unprocessed, Whole Grains
Wild California Rice. Have you tried it? It’s obviously not local to Pennsylvania, but it is a sustainable, healthful, and tasty addition to your year-round pantry. It’s perfect for stretching meats or mushrooms, stuffing poultry, making cabbage rolls, stuffing squash, tomatoes, or peppers, and adding to substantance tol cold salads and soups.
Wild rice is actually not a true rice, but is instead an aquatic grain. It is an extremely important food in Native American traditions, where the ritual of harvest, drying and hulling is an important cultural touchstone to old ways. Nutritionally it is a powerhouse, near quinoa in protein content. It is not certified organic, but no pesticides or herbicides are necessary, and the water used is carefully managed to conserve and reuse before allowing it to drain back to the source.
This California wild rice is a more production-oriented product than the wild indigenous product. It is farmed from similar grains as the truly wild rice, but is instead intensively managed making it more productive and reasonably priced. The flavor is hard to describe, being somewhat floral, nutty, and smoky at once. The texture when properly cooked is toothy and substantial; and a 1/4 – 1/2 Â cup portion is really filling. Â It really is a different ingredient entirely from regular rice – a direct substitution would certainly work, but might not be exactly what you had in mind.
Wild rice takes longer than more common white rices; about 45 – 55 minutes. Cooked rice also freezes well, so packets of precooked rice or other whole cooked grains like farro, spelts, or rye berry is a handy ingredient to have at the ready in your freezer. I really had no recipe in mind, just wanted to spend some time getting to know the rice, so I cooked the entire pound bag, even though I was cooking just for myself. I mean, if I am going to boil a grain for almost an hour, I want to make that hour count, right?
From my pound of dry rice, I got about 14 loosely measured cups of cooked rice, of which I scooped approximate two cup portions into zip lock freezer bags, squeezed the air out as completely as possible, flattening and sealing the packages. I lay them flat on a plate and freeze, then the packages once frozen will stack neatly upright and fill as little freezer space as possible.
So, now I have seven 2 cup portions of frozen rice, ready to quickly steam as a side or toss into soups and recipes. Your milaege may vary. What are we gonna make? When cooking Rancho Gordo products, I always return to their Rancho Gordo Recipes for inspiration. Steve Sando rubs elbows with some diverse and interesting food people, and the recipes and ideas always give me if not specifics, direction.
The linked recipe for stuffing caught my attention. Of course I did not make it exactly, since my rice was already cooked, and I didn’t really have all the ingredients, but I was close. And just because it is called stuffing, doesn’t mean it wasn’t good in a bowl, by itself, as a main dish. I did stuff a roasted squash for lunch, brushed first with Swad coriander chutney, garnished with a plop of thick whole milk yogurt,  it was a bright spot in a dark, dreary, rainy day.
The recipe makes about six cups, and I only used one, so once again, I have cooked for both now and later, and when summer squash and chickens arrive, I am so ready with a frozen quart ready and waiting. By the way, freezing grains has very little effect on their quality, particularly if you cook them a tiny bit al dente. Mushy overcooked grains will not magically improve in the freezer.
Okay, here we go, to the printable recipe:
- 4 cups cooked wild California Rice
- 1/2 - 2 tsp Mexican Oregano
- 1 pound lean ground beef, pork, elk, venison, or bison
- 1 can green chilis
- 1/2 large red onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped and lightly toasted pecans
- 2 Tbs fresh orange zest
Sauté meat in heavy large skillet over medium heat until cooked through, breaking up with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. If your skillet has excess grease or liquid, drain the beef, and remove excess from pan.Â
Add chiles and onions to the meat. Continue to sauté over medium heat until onions are soft, about 10-15 minutes, adding a bit of liquid if necessary to keep beef from becoming dry.Â
Add the cooked wild rice (frozen is okay), sauté gently until heated through, again taking care to keep it moist, not wet. Stir in the pecans and orange zest. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Can be prepared a day ahead. Cover and refrigerate once cool. If you'd like to serve as a side dish, re-warm covered in 350°F. oven for 20 minutes.) Transfer to bowl and serve.Â
If using as poultry stuffing, cool completely and fill bird.Â
When I purchase a bag of wild rice, I cook the entire pound, which I then portion a loose two cups into ziplock pint bags for the freezer. Cooked slightly al dente, the rice is a really handy ingredient to have ready for fast meals and saved cooking time, as wild rice takes about an hour.
*Also, about the orange zest - whenever I have good oranges, I always scrub the outside and zest the orange before peeling, saving the zest in a freezer container for later recipes. If you don’t have it, you could substitute chopped apple, parsley, lemon zest, raisins or cranberries for a fresh bit of bright flavor; it's a flexible recipe overall.Â
by jackie | Dec 21, 2020 | A Bigger Table, Care of the Soul, Change, COVID, Eating Local, Food, Giving Economy, Gratitude, Local Farmers, Meat, Pantry, Things We Love
I have been thinking, even harder than usual, about the affordability of well raised food for those who need it most, the marginalized and low income. And today finds a whole new group of hard working people struggling to put food on the table. Some of us are prospering more than usual, or are maintaining normal, while others are completely devastated.
Honestly? I wish I could simply gift away every single bite of what I raise. This is in fact, a mission driven farm, as much as anything, and the mission is to build a Giving community. Stories and news features of people waiting in lines for food is seriously killing me.Â
At Auburn Meadow Farm, I have always wanted healthful food to be available to the marginalized segments of society. The single parents struggling to access and afford nutrient dense food, those financially struggling because of illness who need clean food more than ever but cannot afford it, or are too ill to even think about cooking. Our seniors, who are seeing their pennies pinched by increased fuel, isolation, Â and increased cost of food. So many instances of people in newfound levels of need.Â
It is crystal clear that generations will starve waiting for the Powers That Be to create workable programs all Americans will agree upon. What is inspiring me at the moment is those people who are just sitting down, having an idea, and going out, face to face, and doing it.
Person to person, eyeball to eyeball. Simple solutions.  Why not us? So, here’s what I’m thinking. A direct, person to person, extension of understanding, solidarity, and hope.Â
How it works:
- Priority is on seniors, those struggling due to health issues, single moms struggling to feed their kids, and our seniors.Â
- All meats donated are USDA processed, top quality goods – no cast offs.Â
- Update:  Square gift cards are apparently a bad approach for this. Sorry if I confused you, but I’ve gotta go outside and tend the beasts, so stay tuned. I will create a Venmo or other simpler account for this purpose.  If you have already donated, no worries, I  kept track and will forward the money to the new account.  Redeem it with the code BIGGERTABLE, and those funds will be used to gift Auburn Meadow Farm meat to those struggling from economic hardships brought on by COVID.
- Auburn Meadow Farm will make the most of your dollars by filling the need according to a discounted price scale.Â
- Accountability and transparency – this is a simple idea, finding its legs. A donations newsletter seems to be the most effective way to communicate our progress, though obviously I do not wish to violate anyone’s privacy.
I would love also to donate meat to an organization capable of turning the meats into cooked meals, easier for those lacking kitchen facilities and time, as a collaborative project. Â If you are that organization, reach out.Â
- The first meat will be ready to distribute in January, but funds now to pay for butcher and distribution fees will help kick this off faster, and enable us to go further. We have plenty of pork coming in January, and with enough help, we can be filling pantries by the end of the month.Â
- And, if your food bank or church is in need, and you are able to accomodate frozen meat safely, that is an avenue we can pursue as well. If you know of someone or something, let me know.
I hope you love this idea as much as I do, and if you would like to work with me to help solidify it into a regular thing, let’s talk!  We need kind and helping hearts on the ground and I can’t think of a better goal for 2021.Â
Â
by jackie | Nov 25, 2020 | Beef, Change, Eating Local, Every Single Morsel, Food, Meat, Recipes, Tough Cuts
Some cuts of beef just are never going to be Ruth’s Chris caliber. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t good, they are just something else.
A disappointing, tough, lean Delmonico makes a damn fine Chicken Fried Steak, or pepper steak. Ditching the supermarket has made me step up and learn a few things, and now I see how truly cheated we have been.
I kid you not, a well raised chicken fried steak is ten times better than an easy supermarket commodity-raised wet-aged steak. Regaining those food skills is well worth the effort, and honestly? Not even all that hard.
Restaurant style Orange Beef is an amazing treat, involving steps for dredging, frying, and otherwise giving your beef strips an amazing, crispy, tender texture, coated in rich, sticky, delicious orange-flavored sauce.Â
This quickie is not that.  It has the flavors, but not the oil, the deep fried stickiness, the deep fry smell or fussy steps. It also doesn’t have that ethereal texture, or glaze, but being so  quick, easy, delicious, healthy, and tasty, it’s exactly what a weeknight needs. Pleasing and satisfying fuel for mind and body, and a non-burger way to honor  and enjoy the more complex parts of the animal.Â
I struggle a little with the sourcing of the frozen veggies, the Bird’s Eye I used are Conagra, which is… Conagra. But we live in the world we live in, and one battle at a time.
Makes about four servings
- 1/2 – 1 pound of some type of everyday beef steak; flank, round, sirloin tip steak, something chewier and not-too-fancy, thinly sliced across the grain and cut into 2-by-1/2-inch stripsÂ
- 1 teaspoon baking sodaÂ
- 3 tablespoons orange juice
- 3 tablespoons soy sauceÂ
- 3 tablespoons white vinegarÂ
- 2 tablespoons sake or white wine
- 2 tablespoons sugarÂ
- 2 teaspoons cornstarchÂ
- 2 tsp cooking oil (I use lard or olive)
Rub the beef strips in the baking soda, and refrigerate, approx 30 minutes.Â
Mix together the orange juice, soy sauce, vinegar, wine, sugar and cornstarch.Â
Rinse the beef strips well, pat dry on paper towels. Heat the cooking oil in a skillet, add beef strips and brown, about 4 minutes, turning to brown all sides. Remove to a plate.Â
Add the package of frozen stir fry veggies to the hot skillet, with 2 tablespoons water, and cover.Â
Simmer for about 8 – 10 minutes to allow larger pieces to cook through, then remove lid.Â
Allow the water to simmer away, then add the soy mixture to the skillet and simmer until thickened and nicely coating the veggies.Â
Return the beef strips to the mix, combine well, and serve warm, alongside rice.
Sustainably and attainably delicious, twenty minutes or less.Â
by jackie | Aug 17, 2020 | Beef, Eating Local, Meat, Recipes
So tender, a little tangy, with a very gentle spice, this is one of the laziest meals ever, and everyone loves it! I didn’t even bother to thaw my quart of stock, and used pork stock because it’s what I had, and still delicous.Â
Ingredients:
- 3 – 4 pund bone in beef chuck, arm, or English roast
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1 tsp coarse black pepper
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 jar pepperoncini
- 1 pint of stock – beef, pork, chicken or veg is fine
- 4 tbs butter
Instructions:
Combine black pepper, salt, and granulated garlic. Rub generously into the roast.Â
Place roast in crock pot, pour over the jar of pepperoncini with it’s juice and the quart of stock, top with the pats of butter, cover and cook on low for eight hours or so.Â
Remove the beef from the slow cooker, remove any fat or collagen, shred and return to the juice.Â
Serve as au jus sandwiches on sausage rolls topped with pepperoncini and your favorite fixings (including generous slather of butter on the bun), top salads with beef shreds and pepperoncini, or as a meat course wtih rice, mashed potatoes or cauliflower, polenta, or your favorite sides. Â
If you have leftover juice, do not throw it away! Freeze it for another dish calling for beef stock later – that little tang will make some fantastic fall soup!
