Overlook Farm

The other day I left the kitchen and walked over to Farmer Bankhead’s stand, where he was unloading bushels of corn. The variety, he shared, was called “Incredible.” Back to the kitchen, I went to make “Incredible Corn Bisque.”

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons EVOO
2 cups onions
1/2 cup carrot
1/2 cup celery
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeno
7 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream

Combine butter & EVOO in large pot - heat gently.  Add onions, carrot and celery - sweat 8-10 minutes.  Add red pepper & jalapeno - cook slowly for an additional 13-15 minutes. Add corn, thyme and cayenne. Add stock. Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes - stirring from time to time.  Add heavy cream - simmer for 15-20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  The Corn Bisque may be pureed in blender/food processor.

Summertime in the Overlook Farm Bee Yards is a magical time and there is some BIG TIME BUZZING going on!  I have very little control over Mother Nature’s weather patterns or the ability of nearby flowers to produce nectar - however, as a savvy Beekeeper, I can easily augment the amount of space for my colonies to store honey…  We have established five strong colonies, with no swarming tendencies…  and, most importantly - honey production is in full swing…  SWEET! 

Now - I must answer some very important questions:  1: When do I harvest the honey crop?  2: How much honey do I “steal”?  3: Can I and/or should I leave the honey supers on for the winter?  4: What do I do with “unripened” honey in the supers?  5: What do I do with the spent supers after extraction?

In some areas, the BIG nectar flow is over by mid-summer, with nothing significant beyond that.  In other areas, there can be a CONTINUOUS nectar flow throughout most of the season.  Also, at times a BIG nectar flow occurs in the early summer, followed by another BIG nectar flow late in the season.  Honey from the early flow is usually lighter in color and milder in flavor.  The chance to separate the two harvest opportunities and extract a “varietal” honey is wicked good and most desirable!!

More questions arise:  6: Is this the end of the nectar flow?  7:  Are there any additional flow to come?  8:  How long until Winter begins?  9:  How much honey will the colony need to make it through the Winter?

When it comes to harvesting the honey crop, my philosophy is to ONLY harvest surplus honey.  It takes time, energy, and resources to turn nectar into honey (one teaspoon of honey requires bees to visit around 60,000 flowers!).  A good Beekeeper must leave an adequate supply of honey on/in the hives to provide for the bees’ winter needs.  Rule #1: Do NOT take honey until you are sure that the colony does not need it for the upcoming winter.

Stay tuned for additional updates from the Overlook Farm Bee Yards…

Next.  Fall management and preparation for Winter 2010 & 2011.  The first season is approaching its end and my bees are due to enjoy a restful winter…

Chef Grandinetti’s Peking Style Laquered Amish Chicken
featuring Honey Hoisin Lime Sauce

- marinated, air dried, roasted, & flash fried to acheive CRISPY deliciousness…

Marinade: 
3 cups Rice Wine Vinegar, 1 cup Soy Sauce, 1 cup Molasses, & 1 cup Honey.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Delightful Zen Spice Mixture: 
Star Anise, Cloves, Fennel, Cinnamon, Sichuan Peppercorns, and Kosher Salt.

Honey Hoisin Lime Sauce:
Heat 4 Tbsp. Grape-seed Oil - add 1 cup minced Shallots, .5 cup mince Garlic, and .2 cup mind Ginger.  Saute.  Add 2 cups Hoisin Sauce, .5 cup Honey, 1 cup Fresh Lime, and Salt and Pepper.  Transfer to blender - rip!  Slowly add .5 cup Grape-seed Oil to emulsify.  Reserve.

Preparation: 
Bring 2 gallons of water to a rolling boil over medium high heat.  Season the Amish Chicken with Delightful Zen Spice Mixture.  “Dip” Amish Chicken into boiling water twice - for 4 seconds.  Next, “dip” Amish Chicken into boiling marinade three times – for 6 seconds.  Transfer to vessel and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.

Again, season the Amish Chicken with Delightful Zen Spice Mixture.  Roast in 300 oven for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and prepare Deep Fat Fryer.  Cook Amish Chicken in 375 Deep Fat Fryer for 12-14 minutes.  Remove & drain on paper towel/rack.  Season with Delightful Zen Spice Mixture.

Garnish with chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

FIDDLEHEAD FERNS
Fiddleheads are harvested while the young fronds are still tightly coiled. The term fiddlehead is generally used in reference to the ostrich fern, although the bracken fern is also foraged. Fiddleheads from the ostrich fern grow in moist, humid areas – along riverbanks, fertile slopes and in rich-soiled valleys and fields.  The bracken fern enjoys open, sunny places, woods, old pastures, and burned-over areas.  West Coast specimens are green with brown or reddish streaks, while the East Coast variety is an unblemished emerald green with more tightly wound fronds.  Fiddleheads taste a bit like asparagus, but without such a mucilaginous texture. This wild edible has a definite earthy taste; some describe hints of artichoke, turnip or even a faint fishy flavor. They must be cleaned in multiple changes of cold water, then dried. Most chefs then blanch them in boiling salted water followed by a shock in ice water to retain the vibrant green color. 

MORELS
Yellow, white, or black, the highly prized specimens from the genus Morchella have an oval to conical cap with a honeycomb-like ribbing and hollow stem. All fresh morels boast a nutty magnificence.  Cooking suggestions: The deeply pitted ridges of a morel beg for a cream sauce.  The characteristic hollow stem makes the morel ideal for stuffing whole – as long as you carefully remove the sand and grit and any lurking insects from those collected in the wild.

SHIITAKE
Shii is a type of oak tree in Japan. Take means mushroom.  …a succulent, woody-tasting, medium-firm mushroom. A cold-weather shiitake strain called “snowcap” often has beautiful cracked patterns on its caps, due to the slower growth in the spring and autumn. This is a highly prized grade of shiitake (Donko) in Japan; meaty and succulent, it’s positioned as a choice mushroom at farmers’ markets.  Cooking suggestions: Shiitakes exude a rich, full-bodied, earthy pungency that shines in Asian dishes. Shiitakes are chewy and firm enough to handle longer cooking times, so they work well in a stew, soup or braise. Reconstituted shiitakes will have a more concentrated flavor and aroma than their fresh counterpart (an ounce of dried shiitakes is about equivalent to half a pound of fresh).

CHANTERELLE
Chefs adore chanterelles… Ranging in color from golden yellow to bright orange and bearing a rustic fluted cap, they are a natural beauty. The medium-firm texture and thick, tapering stem of the fruit bodies give you something substantial to work with.  Cooking suggestions: Chanterelles and eggs are a lovely marriage. Tear the mushrooms, and then work them into omelets, scrambled eggs or frittatas. Chanterelles star as a simple side sautéed in butter or olive oil with garlic, parsley, and shallots. 

BLACK TRUMPET
Also known as “horn of plenty” and “trumpet of death,” the black trumpet is characterized by a long, hollow stem that flares into a fluted shape resembling the instrument whose name it bears.  Black trumpets are not always black, appearing in other dark hues such as blue, gray and brown.  Cooking suggestions: Because they are so dark – consider a dish with a contrasting color, such as a squash soup or pasta with spinach. 

CHICKEN OF THE WOODS
Chicken of the Woods, so named because its thick, fibrous white flesh resembles the texture of chicken meat, is a delightful specimen to behold in the wild .  With a smooth, wavy surface and knobby edges, this mushroom looks quite like a misshaped hand-fan. One variety of Chicken of the Woods sports a bright orange top and yellow bottom; another, a pale orange tip and cream-colored bottom.  Cooking suggestions: Shred the dense flesh and use like poultry.  This mushroom is best eaten fresh when it’s very young and tender. 

OYSTER
With its fan-shaped, slightly convex cap with a shallow depression at the center and barely any stalk, this mushroom does, indeed, resemble an oyster shell. Found in clumps on logs, stumps, and rotting wood, the velvety-smooth oyster comes in many shades – from pearly white to pale gray to dingy yellow. …“sweeter than a shiitake and more fragrant.”  Cooking suggestions: Oysters are versatile and ideal for adding delicate mushroom flavor to soups and sauces. Creamed oysters partner nicely with potatoes for a golden-crusted gratin or with egg noodles in a mushroom stroganoff heavy on the sour cream and scented with fresh dill. Be careful not to overcook oyster mushrooms because they have high water content; in addition, the yellow oysters will lose their color after prolonged cooking. They should be cooked “hot and fast”.

Teff - the seed of an annual grass that originated in Ethiopia between 4000 and 1000 BCE.; African bread: injera; rich in iron - think long distance runners…  The smallest grain in the world, 100 grains = size of kernal of wheat.  Nutritional powerhouse!  Toast the raw grains in a dry pan for added depth of flavor. 

Farro - very trendy at the moment; also known as emmer wheat; an ancient relative of wheat; imported from Italy and partially pearled, some of the bran has been removed, speeding up the cooking time.  Unlike many grains, cooked farro does not become hard when refrigerated - makes a great salad.  Farro releases a creamy starch when cooked in liquid - makes a great risotto.

Quinoa - reds, browns, pinks & black - “keen-wah”; was a staple of the Incas.  Super Grain - containing more protein than any other grain.  Crunchy and nutty, cooks like rice, fast cooking, expanding to four times its original size.  Always rinse the grain to remove the bitter saponin coating -produced to deter birds and insects.
 
Amaranth - a traditional food in Africa; a staple of the Incas & Aztecs, is second to only quinoa for protein content among grains.  With a “popping” texture similar to caviar.  Often dry-roasted before being cooked: use 1 1/2 cups of water per cup of amaranth. 

Explore a wide range of additional whole grains: Brown Rice, Frikeh, Kamut, Millet, Spelt, Triticale, Bulgur, Oats, Barley,  & Buckwheat

Soulful Harvest - cooking in cadence with Mother Nature is an exciting, honest-to-goodness, full access pass to a culinary excursion like no other. Journey inside the workings of a busy, professional “farm to table” kitchen operation; experience a creative collection of recipes & reflections from Chef Timothy Grandinetti’s seasonal diary, a one-of-a-kind treasure that documents 365 delicious & memorable days on Overlook Farm. A return to cooking! ...surrounded by colleagues & gourmands, American farmers & gardners, hunters & conservationists, honey bees & ladybugs, foragers & gatherers, and all manner of farm beasts - great & small. 

Spring - allows us to experience the enchantment of planting, allows us to understand the connection and celebrate the commitment - the cycles of nature, the circles that have no beginning or end…  With the Crow Moon behind us, we revel in the beauty of the Pink Moon and patiently await the coming of May’s Flower Moon…

“To take what there is, and use it, without waiting forever in vain for the preconceived, - to dig deep into the actual and get something out of that - this is doubtless is the right way to live.”
- Henry James

On any given day, an afternoon drive in the country, on many, many roads throughout the US, will reveal old barns collapsing in on themselves; old farm equipment sitting idle, rusting in the fields.  The vista is a melancholy reminder of “days gone by”.  Behold: the plight of the American Farmer! My reflections are inspired by this and many additional circumstances; including the writings, essays, and art forms of Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Marcel Proust, Rachel Carson, Vandana Shiva, and others.

“The farmers are the founders of civilization. Let us never forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man.  When tillage begins, other arts follow.” - Unknown