I just returned from Newfoundland. If you remember last year after my trip I had a rant about the storage of cooked chicken (48 hours+ in the oven, just sitting there). Well this year was no better but I won't bore you with the details. Lets just say I don't do leftovers in NFLD.....
I will rant briefly about the pointless murder of cows and pigs as cooked by my grandmother. She put in 2 small beef roasts to cook for supper (served around 5 pm) in a 425 degree oven at around 10 am. Yup, you heard me, 10 am. Luckily we had already decided to get chinese food for supper (I won't talk about the quality of that but greasy and over cooked is the best way to describe it) so we weren't required to gnaw our way through what could only be described as shoe leather. Why, oh why would anyone do that to a poor piece of meat?! What did that poor cow ever do to my grandmother to deserve such a sad ending?! And this explains why Newfies like gravy on EVERYTHING - it's the only way to get it down!
My Uncle, who is eligible for sainthood, and we aren't even catholic, did buy me some bologna, also known as Newfie steak. I like a piece fried up with my toast for breakfast. Yup, breakfast of champions! He also shared some of his river trout with us. He caught over 400 this year! Here he's frying them up but he does mine on the bbq and they are delicious.
While I'm at it, lets talk vegetables. And potatoes don't count. While there is nothing wrong with potatoes, a person can not live on them alone! They have limited nutritional value and no one should be eating them every single day. I'm currently carrying a lump of mashed potatoes right around my mid-section. As soon as I landed home, first thing I did was have a salad!On the reverse side, this morning I headed to the market. It was packed and that alone renewed my spirits and my faith in the ability for humankind to carry one without sucking the health care system dry. I got some beautiful fresh string beans, salad greens and basil. I stocked up on corn which I'll clean and roast on the bbq tonight. Then I'll take the leftovers and remove them from the cob and freeze it. I just had some from last summer done up like this and it was perfect! I will always keep roasted corn niblets in my freezer from now on. They just taste better.
I also got some blueberries. I think I'm going to make some muffins out of them. And have them on my oatmeal for the next few mornings. I always have frozen ones in the house but it's nice to support the local farmers and buy then in season. I can always freeze any extra. I'll share the muffin and/or scone recipe if they turn out well. I'm going to try substituting yogurt for the buttermilk called for in both recipes. I'll let you know if it works or not!
I also got an amazing deal on zucchini. 3 large, huge ones for $1! I'm going to cook most of it and freeze it. I'll share the recipes as I do them. First one I'm doing for sure is what I call Zucchini Au Gratin but healthy. I layer in thinly sliced zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and cheese (mozza or parm or both) until the casserole dish is filled. I use a low dish like a lasagna pan or quiche pan. Just bake it up and freeze it. Defrost and warm and you have farm fresh right in the middle of winter! I also have some ground pork and feta - I may do a greek inspired casserole or stuffed zucchini. I'll post the recipes when I have success but it will be soon as I like to get things out of the garden and cooked up quickly. It's just a good rule of thumb to ensure freshness!
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