Pan Fried Bison Liver
With spring onions, sage and bone marrow demi-glace..
See this post for more info and another recipe
Soak peeled, deveined and sliced bison liver overnight in fresh milk in a non-reactive container.
Fry sliced green onions and fresh sage in clarified butter with a little olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a side dish and keep warm.
Lightly coat slices of liver in finely milled unbleached flour seasoned with salt, smoked black pepper and paprika and sear quickly on both sides in the same pan that the onions were cooked in, using additional butter as needed. The liver should be golden brown on the outside, but no more than medium rare on the inside. Transfer to a side dish and keep warm.
Melt finely diced bone marrow in the same pan. Add beef stock and reduce quickly until thick and shiny.
Return liver to the pan and heat through. Serve topped with fried onions and season with additional S&P to taste.
Grass-fed Bison from Thunder Heart provides nutrient dense, low fat, low cholesterol meat with as many Omega-3s per serving as salmon, and three to six times the amount of omega-3s as grain fed animals.
It contains the highest-known levels of the fat-blocker and anti-carcinogen, CLA (conjugated linolaic acid). Research on CLA is showing evidence that CLA has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders.
It also has high concentrations of selenium, a natural trace element that acts as a mood elevator. The original “happy meal”. In research conducted by Dr. Martin Marchello at the Carrington Research Extension Center, grass fed Bison was determined to contain as much as four times more selenium than grain fed Bison.
Grass-fed Bison contains four times the amount of vitamin E found in grain fed beef. It is also a rich source of the vitamin beta-carotene, a vital antioxidant which reduces the risk of cancer by preventing cell degeneration.
Show Me the Whey pt. 1
(Please also see Show Me the Whey part 2)
I use whey for all sort of things here and am often asked both how to make it and what to do with the leftover solids. Here’s a really easy demo..
You’ll need a strainer, clean cloth, bowl or jar and a tub of plain yoghurt. Be sure to use plain, cultured whole milk yoghurt without gelatin.
Line the strainer with the cloth, pour in the yoghurt and fold the towel over to keep it clean. Let it sit on the counter overnight. That’s it!
In the morning, you will have collected approximately 12 ounces of clear, greenish looking whey. Pour the whey into a jar, cover tightly and refrigerate. It will keep up to 6 months.
The leftover solids (roughly 18 ounces) are variously referred to as strained yoghurt, yoghurt cheese, labneh or dahi. By any name, it is similar in taste and texture to cream cheese, which is how I typically use it.
It’s great plain, with fruit, or with herbs and spices. I’ve added Lebanese Za’atar (sumac berries, toasted sesame and sea salt) to half, and fresh oregano, basil and garlic to the other half. The cheese will keep up to 1 month in the fridge.
What’s In Your Sandwich?
I hope its not that “fat-free mayo” in the easy squeeze bottle! Take a look at the actual ingredients from one of the major brands on supermarket shelves from coast to coast..
WATER, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SUGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, VINEGAR, SOYBEAN OIL, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, CELLULOSE GEL, NATURAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, EGG, YOLKS, XANTHAN GUM, MUSTARD FLOUR, LACTIC, CELLULOSE GUM, PHOSPHORIC ACID, VITAMIN E ACETATE, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, DRIED GARLIC, DRIED ONIONS, SPICE, YELLOW 6, BETA CAROTENE, BLUE 1, WITH POTASSIUM SORBATE AND CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA AS PRESERVATIVES.
Make your own real mayonnaise! It is delicious, inexpensive, healthy and and easy to make..
Adapted from a recipe by Sally Fallon
Makes 1 1/2 cups
1 whole farm-fresh egg at room temperature
1 farm-fresh egg yolk at room temperature
1 teaspoon homemade mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 1 med. lemon)
1 tablespoon whey
3/4 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or expeller pressed sunflower oil (not canola)
generous pinch of sea salt
“Homemade mayonnaise imparts valuable enzymes, particularly lipase… The addition of whey will help your mayonnaise last longer, adds enzymes and increases nutrient content…”
In your food processor, place egg, egg yolk, mustard, salt, whey and lemon juice and process until well blended, about 30 seconds. With the motor running, add oil in a very slow, thin stream. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Allow to sit at room temperature for 7 hours before transferring to refrigerator. The mayonnaise will thicken as it stands.
Carrot Curry with Mustard Greens, Brown Rice and Raisin Chutney
Ginger, coriander, fenugreek, dill and orange peel are just some of the flavors in this wildly delicious vegetarian dish..
Adapted from Nourishing Traditions
Melt butter in a little olive oil in a heavy pan. Open a few cardamom pods and add the seeds along with the brown rice and sauté until the rice is glazed and fragrant. Add filtered water and/or stock to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until done, about 50 minutes.
Melt butter in a little olive oil in a heavy pan. Sauté mustard seeds, cumin, corriander, turmeric, fenugreek, dill and cayenne until fragrant. Add a small chopped onion and cook until soft.
Add carrots and cook a few minutes more. Add iltered water and/or stock, freshly grated ginger and orange rind and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add in toasted cashews.
Continue to cook until carrots are nearly done. Thicken sauce with a little dissolved arrowroot, add chiffonade of mustard greens and simmer another minute or two.
Serve over brown rice and garnish with raisin chutney.
Rating ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Lacto-fermented Raisin Chutney
When I read the recipe for raisin chutney in Sally Fallon‘s Nourishing Traditions, I knew that it would be wholesome and nutritious, but I was a little doubtful about how good it would taste. Boy, was I wrong!
Star anise, ginger, coriander, fresh cilantro, plump raisins.. this stuff is seriously delicious!
1 1/2 cups organic raisins, soaked in warm filtered water for 1 hour
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
10 black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 tablespoon anise seeds
1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons whey
1/2 cup filtered water
Place garlic and cilantro in food processor and pulse a few times. Drain raisins and add to food processor along with peppercorns, red pepper flakes, seeds and ginger. Pulse a few times until the mixture becomes a coarse paste. Transfer to a pint-sized, wide-mouth mason jar and press down lightly with a wooden pounder or a meat hammer. Mix salt and whey with water and pour into jar. You may need to poke a few holes in the chutney to allow liquid to percolate through. Add more water if necessary to cover the chutney. The top of the chutney should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and keep at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to refrigerator. The chutney should be eaten with 2 months.
Te’s Chicken
Known to her family and friends as Te, Alphonsine Davalis was born in the small farming hamlet of Trois Veveres, France. She lived a fascinating life, moving to Paris as a young teenager, later fleeing the Nazi regime, establishing a chicken farm in Connecticut and coming up with the idea of producing a small, plump bird hailed by gourmets around the world.
Mrs. Makowsky, having grown up on a farm, drove the back roads of New England in search of land. She settled on nearly 200 acres in northeastern Connecticut, which her husband named Idle Wild Farm. The couple began raising and selling African guinea hens.
In October 1949, their flock was lost when a fire roared through the couple’s chicken houses. Although production was halted, the Makowskys promised their customers that they would soon continue with deliveries.
The Makowskys began cross-breeding the Cornish game cocks with various chickens and game birds, including a White Plymouth Rock hen and a Malayn fighting cock, to develop the Rock Cornish game hen — a succulent bird with all-white meat, large enough for a single serving.
Using methods and flavors described by Sally Fallon and Judy Rodgers, here, then is Te’s chicken, roasted with herbs and served with a smashed grape demi glace and tarragon stuffing.
Rinse birds thoroughly inside and out and pat completely dry. Insert fresh herbs of your choice into the pockets between the skin and breast, then season liberally with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Cover loosely and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Place bird(s) in the skillet, breast side up. It should sizzle. Roast birds for 15 minutes, remove from oven, flip breast side down and roast another 10 minutes. Flip one more time and roast another 5 minutes to crisp the skin. Transfer to cutting board to rest.
Deglaze the skillet with white wine then scrape up all the brown bits. Add a little stock and reduce until sauce just coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Add halved seedless black grapes and simmer 5 minutes. Smash the grapes with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon. Finish with a spoonful of demi glace.
Split birds and serve with tarragon bread stuffing and smashed grape demi glace.
Rating ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ -
