As tired old Winter is coming to a close, I find myself weary of the gray melting snow, the cold fog and deary cloudy days.  It's March!  So I occupy my thoughts with plans for my first big  camping trip of the season.  The first night out, of course I make a great big fire,  roast marshmellows and sit around with  friends talking, laughing and enjoying the great outdoors.

The next morning, I like to build up the fire again with the coals from the night before and prepare a one pot meal in my Dutch oven.  It is truely the "crock pot" of camping.  With careful planning and the right tools,  it is one of my favorites with the bonus of returning from your afternoon activity to a ready to eat meal.   There are many websites devoted to Dutch oven cookery and I encourage you to check them out.  Here are a few brief tips from yours truely!

First:  The hardware.  You will need a Dutch oven which is typically cast iron. Although they are making lighter weight aluminum versions, I have the heavy weight.  Basically its a footed pot with a tight sealing lid with a lip.  The pot has a heavy wire handle.  Remember when the pot is loaded it is going to be very heavy indeed!  You will also need to have a good heavy pair of leather gloves, a small shovel - mine is an old army shovel that folds up.  The gloves help you to handle the hot, heavy pot after its been in the fire.  The shovel is to put hot coals on the lid or to shovel a base of hot coals off to the side of the firecircle.  I also have a heavy metal hook to remove the lid from the pot.  I am uncertain where I found this, but it helps me lift the lid without getting ashes into the food.

Second: The software.  What to cook!?  Usually, I plan a stew of some sort.  Before going camping, I cut up onions, celery, and carrots (although in this picture we used early summer baby carrots which were left whole).  I put all that in a ziptop bag.  I trimmed and cut up a chuck roast and bagged in a seperate ziptop.  Ihave staples on had when I camp, like flour, garlic and Better then Boullion beef base.  I also might have a few tomatoes on hand. 

Third:  The method.  When I am ready to get the Dutch oven cooking, I first heat the pan, either over the gas campstove or over the fire.  I sprinkle alittle flour over the meat and brown the beef, then add the onions and celery.  (In the case of the baby carrots, I waited to add them until the meat was cooked and tender.  They were so beautiful and sweet I wanted to preserve their shape.)Once everything is browned and cooking, I add water or stock, a bay leaf, salt and pepper and the Better then Boullion, a clove of garlic and the tomatoes.  I cover the pot with its tight sealing lid and carry it to the campfire circle.  There I make sure I have  an even bed of coals to place the pot directly on.  Then I use my shovel to cover the lid with coals.  At this point, go for a walk, go fishing, take a bike ride.  It is important to have enough liquid in the pan so nothing will burn and to be back in 2-3 hours.  This might take some practice, so the first time you use the Dutch oven, I wouldn't leave for too long.  When you do come into camp, check on it so you can see at what rate it is cooking.  Once I made a pork roast with saurkraut, but got delayed in returning to camp.......it was well carmelized on the bottom!  Still edible but would have been better if we returned alittle earlier. 

There are many recipes to try and again, many websites that have cookbooks available.  As for me, I have found this method of cooking fun and easy.  Some chuckwagon "cookies" (cowboy speak for chef) are so good they can bake bread, cakes and cobblers.  Although stew was my featured recipe, I think my favorite is deep dish pizza.  That will be on the first campout menu.

As for cleanup, once the food is eaten, I usually build up a fire and turn the dutch oven upside down to clean the inside of the cast iron.  Then, using a dry stainless steel scrubby and tongs, wipe it clean.  When it cools off a bit, I spray some cooking oil.  And that's it!  Ready for the next campout meal!

  I recently had the opportunity to visit friends who are into duck and goose hunting. They live in the country and have built a hunting blind on their property near a corn field. They took me out to the blind without their guns, since they had, in the early morning hours, shot their limit for the day.

The late autumn sun, beaten by a day of misty grayness, retreated toward evening as we crossed a little creek which fed into a pond. The corn had been taken down by the farmer leaving stubble across the field. We walked gingerly on its edge to conceal our route. I nearly walked past the blind, it was so well hidden! They revealed their hiding place by pulling the top off the bunker. It was a 5' x 12' welded steel box dug into the ground, covered with a rolling roof camouflaged with corn stalks, grass and weeds. We climbed down into the blind and pulled the cover over us.

We waited in the quiet of early evening to watch the geese fly into their field. For awhile, we talked about what was new, but then everyone grew very still as we listened hard. Off in the distant sky, was a HUGE flock of geese flying toward us. They were honking as they flew. We listened. They were flying in from the northeast. The hooking grew louder. Then SHOTS rang out from neighboring hunters in other fields. The geese flew on toward us. As they flew overhead, the honking grew louder still. My heart thumped along seemingly with the beat of their great wings. They flew on past our field, to another field for their evening roost. In a way, I was glad that we didn't shoot them. It was beautiful to watch.

Later, after we had returned from the field, I helped them dress out the geese they shot. The meat was carefully removed and set to soak in a briny solution of salt and water. Then it was frozen. When the season is over, all the frozen meat will be taken to the local butcher and made into long smoky sticks of summer sausage. It is tasty and lean.

This family has been able to supplement their food with a very local source. Whether it is hunting, as my friends do, growing a small vegetable garden, buying cheese from a local dairy, or eggs from a hobby farmer, getting as close to the source of the food is always better. Helping our children to understand where our food comes from is so important. The egg, after all, comes from a chicken not a carton.

I do believe that there must be a balance between locally grown food and a greater source of food. It is only in our luxury that we are able to go back to the small local farmers raising our food. Otherwise the fact remains that 1% of the population grows the food for all the world. More on this in future blogs.

For this blog, I just want to encourage a connectivity between the source of our food and us. So visit a dairy to see how cheese is made. Talk to a baker to learn how she bakes bread. Buy your noodles from an Amish woman at the farmers market. Or learn about hunting. All of these exercises remind us of where our food comes from. In the short term, you may, as I experienced, see or hear something beautiful. In the long term, you may better understand our part in the web of life.

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My dear friends (they are really more like family to me) have 3 great kids! Well today they called to tell me they have H1N1 or Swine Flu! Not good. So I started a pot of chicken soup. For some reason, chicken soup is just what we need when we are feeling under the weather. A soup made with wholesome, fresh ingredients warms you up from the inside.

It's really quite simple!

Take a fresh, or defrosted whole chicken, wash it and put into a large stock pot. (Make sure you have checked the cavities for liver, gizzard, neck and heart. I don't mind the innards cooked into the soup, although some might say the liver leaves a bitter taste.)

Peel a medium onion, 2 carrots, and wash 3 celery stalks. Put these into the pot.

Cover the bird and veggies with water.

Add a couple of bay leaves, a couple sprigs of parsley, and a couple cloves of garlic-for medicinal purposes!

My family loves the flavor of parsley root so we have a supply on hand. Throw one into the pot along with a whole tomato.

Add a little salt and pepper. We correct the seasoning at the end of cooking.

Now bring everything up to a simmer. When it starts to boil, turn it down to medium-low heat and continue to cook until the meat begins to separate from the bones.

Then I carefully remove the chicken from the pot to a plate or a 13 x 9 pan works well. (I cannot stress enough the need to be careful when removing the bird from the pot!) Let the bird cool. Once I can handle the chicken without being burned, I peel away and discard the skin, bones and other bits that don't belong in soup. I cut up the meat into bite sized pieces.

While the soup is cooking, I peel and chop a large onion, 2-3 carrots, and 3 ribs of celery. This mixture, called the mirepoix, is the aromatic foundation of most stocks, soups and sauces. In a separate pan, I sweat the mirepoix until it is translucent and tender, but not mushy. It may seem strange to do this all over again. And in truth, you don't have to. The broth, as it is, is a fantastic version of consumme and can be eaten without any additional vegetables. The reason I add additional vegetables is to boost flavor and provide texture to the soup. And although consumme maybe just the ticket for someone recovering from the flu, many are ready for a hearty vegetable laden broth laced with chunks of chicken and ribbons of egg noodles.

Before I assemble the final soup, I like to skim off the golden fat that should have accumulated on the surface of the stock. I use a ladle and try to sink the lip of the ladle just below the surface of the fat until the ladle fills with it. Its really important to remove as much of the fat as you can, especially since recovering tummies can be upset greatly by heavy, oily fats. You can skim it off the top or remove it after it has been refrigerated. The fat will become a solid disk at the top of your stock pot. Just remove this and you will have a mostly fat-free soup.

Having removed as much of the fat as possible, I now strain the soup into the pot with the tender mirepoix and the cut up chunks of chicken. The only thing left to do is the noodles. Make sure that you have enough broth and that the broth is boiling before you add the noodles. The key here is to know that the noodles will absorb the broth. If you add too many, you won't have a lot of liquid and liquids are a good thing for someone recovering from the flu. I used mini bowties, called farfallini, for the kids this time. It adds a little extra fun to their soup. Anything that gets them smiling again is a good thing!

One final note, make sure you take a spoon and taste the soup. Now is the time to adjust the seasonings and add base to the soup. I always keep “Better then Bouillon” made by Superior Touch on hand to fortify my soups, stocks and sauces. And it really is better then bouillon cubes which are mostly sodium. This chicken base has depth of meaty flavor that is quite good. I usually put in a tablespoon or two to give the soup alittle more depth to finish it off.

I called Amy, really she's more of a sister, to find out how everyone was doing and to coordinate the “exchange” of soup. After all, they didn't want to spread the germ. The little ones had slept all day and were resting. When I dropped off the pot of soup, Amy came out to the patio where I had left the it. It was so strange not being able to give her the usual hug or see the kids rushing out to tell me about their latest excitement. I felt very sad and even a little worried.

Not a half an hour later my phone rings and there's Amy telling me the soup was almost gone!  Her son, a strapping young man of 15 ate 3 bowls, his sister 9 ate 2 bowls and the youngest was finishing off her first bowl. A good start for a speedy recovery! Get well soon, Cody, Camie and Cora!

Has anyone ever asked you to think of your fondest food memory?  I once surveyed my family and friends by asking them to think of a memory involving food.  After a few weeks, we got together and each of them related their story to me. 

The results were amazing!  What came up were not only crystal clear images, but emotions!  Sometimes the person telling me their story, suddenly and unexpectedly had a rush of tears.  Very powerful!

What is it that makes these memories so powerful?  Perhaps it is the mingling of memory and the sensual.  We experience our food memories tied to certain smells, textures, tastes, sounds and sights. I think that may be why these memories can be so very vivid. 

Here's one of my own food memories! 

My family had a VW Camper van we affectionately called "Bessie".  We had all kinds of adventures in Bessie, but one of my fondest was the time we were camping along the Mississippi River.  We woke up to a gray, rainy day, the kind that "dampens" the spirit of the most resolute camper.  Everyone was rather grouchy and slow to wake up. 

My Dad always had a cheerful disposition, especially in the morning.  Even though the van was very cramped, he managed to get out his electric frying pan, his cutting board and an unsliced loaf of crusty italian bread. There was a distinctive crunchy sound of his serrated knife slicing through the bread.  When he had sliced the entire loaf, he filled the bottom of the pan with a pool of corn oil.  We watched through sleepy eyes  as the shimmering oil heated up. Before we knew it, he was frying up the great, thick slices of bread. Sizzling and popping, the bread fried! The aroma filled the tiny camper with a heady, yeasty smell.  He checked each slice before turning to reveal the golden underside.  When the slices were a uniform shade of crispy brown, he drained them on a paper plate. 

We could hardly wait to reach for our piece of bread.  When sufficiently cool, we gingerly took a slice and blew on it until we could dare a bite.  The atmosphere was silent except for the crunching of crispy deliciousness.  After we each had a slice of the warm, oily bread, our dispositions lightened.  Our regular morning chatter
resumed.  And the once gray and rainy day, seemed bright and full of possiblilities.


What are your food memories?  We would love to hear them!  Share them here!

It seems I waited all winter, then spring, and into summer for the first ripe tomatoes.  And when they finally ripened in the August sun, the summer slipped away too quickly and the tomato season was gone. 

This year, I planted 10 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes.  Located on the southern end of my house, planted against  the stone foundation, my plants grew big and healthy.  It was not a great year for tomatoes.  A wet, cold Spring followed by a cool, dry Summer.  I think I was lucky though.  The tomatoes loved the warm southern exposure and managed to produce fruits of all shapes and color.

A meaty pink oxheart shaped variety, German Strawberry, felt heavy in my hand and when sliced, had very few seeds. It was a perfect tomato for making sauce.  Black Krim, a tomato said to have originated near the Caspian Sea,  had a rich, deep tomatoey flavor with a balance of acidic notes.   The flesh was greenish, brown-black  when  fully ripe.  The large  yellow-pink varigation of color in the Old German variety made beautiful bruschetta! 

Bruschetta is one of the last truely seasonal dishes.  Even though we can purchase vine ripened tomatoes in the supermarket year round, it cannot compare to homegrown tomatoes and freshly picked basil.  I prepared some Bruschetta for friends a few weeks ago.  My first guests arrived and began to dig into the appetizers I had prepared.  They must have been hungry because before I knew it all the toasts were GONE!  I kept hearing yummy sounds coming from those gathered around the bowl of  Bruschetta.  I made some more toasts!

Although the season is nearly passed, I offer to you, my Bruschetta recipe.  You may have to wait through the seasons to give it a proper try, but it is WORTH the wait and will keep you dreaming of sunny summer days yet to come.

Home-grown Italian Prune Plums!  My two trees were loaded this year with the sweet purple orbs.  It was a crisp late-September day when I decided it was time to pick them from the heavily laden branches. All the time I am picking, I think of my Dad.  

 My father and I planted these trees 9 years ago.  He showed me how to prune the branches in the February cold  while the trees were still dormant.  It has become my early Spring ritual.  Last year, when the trees produced their first crop I said a little prayer of thanks to my Dad for all he had taught me!

What a bumper crop it was!  My friend and I picked and picked, bushel after bushel loading every bowl, basket and box I had available.  Then we cleaned and pitted them turning them into every conceivable form of plummy goodness.  Plum jam, dried plums, frozen plums and juices.  I gave many away to my neighbors and friends, even people just passing by. 

Although this year's crop is not as prolific as last year, I still had more then I could use and have found that sharing them with others is a gift to myself.  That's something I learned from my Dad.

My Mom makes the most delicious and simple plum cake (you can use slices of tart apple instead).

Susanna's Delicious Plum Cake
Preheat the oven 400  F
Grease a 9" x 13" x 2"pan 

Dough
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
   1/4 cup  granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
   1/2 teaspoon salt
   1/4 cup butter or margarine
        1 egg
  1/4 cup milk
        1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2# of Italian Prune Plums halved and pitted (or  1 1/2# tart apples cored, peeled and sliced)

Topping
   1/4 cup granulated sugar
       1 teaspoon cinnamon
 

Wash plums and drain.  For easier slicing, cut each plum in half.  It should measure about 4 1/2 cups (3 cups if apples). 

Dough

Into medium bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  With a fork or pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In a small bowl, mix wet ingredients- egg, milk, and vanilla.  Beat with a fork until thoroughly mixed.  Add to dry ingredients and beat with a spoon for one minute.  The batter will be quite stiff.

Using a spatula or rubber scraper spread batter evenly over prepared pan. 

Arrange plum  (or apple) slices, skin side down over the batter to cover completely.  Make even parallel rows for a uniform coverage.

Topping

Mix in a small  bowl  topping ingredients and sprinkle evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 35 minutes  at 400 F until fruit is tender and pastry is golden.

Cool  10 minutes in the pan and then cut into rectangles.

Serve with ice cream or a doll0p of whipped cream.


My mom loves to serve this warm with a steamy cup of strong coffee.  Delicious!

Enjoy!