Maple, Sage and Black Pepper-Grilled Heritage Pork with Mushroom and Spring Onion Wild Rice Blend

Locally pastured, bone-in heritage pork loin chops are brined in a 5% sea salt solution with rubbed sage and cracked black pepper, then patted dry and grilled over an open wood fire.  Basted with a mixture of melted maple butter, raw apple cider vinegar, more sage, salt and pepper and finished to medium doneness.  Served with stock-simmered brown and wild rice with sautéed brown mushrooms and sliced spring onions..

Maple, Sage & Black Pepper-Grilled Pork w/Mushroom & Onion Wild Rice Blend

Ethically-produced pork is raised on open pasture, with plenty of fresh air and sunshine.  They are free to dig, root and run as they please. Unlike industrial pork confined in foul and fetid cages, these animals are clean and healthy, receiving no antibiotics, hormones, or artificial supplements over their entire lifetime.

Support your local farmers!

Wild Rice with Smoked Turkey, Lingonberries, Wild Onions and Fried Sage

A densely nutritious meal from the Boreal forest, true Northern wild rice is cooked in roasted fowl stock with fresh lingonberries, then tossed with torn pieces of pan-fried smoked turkey, wild onions, fresh sage and rosemary.  Drizzled with hot stock and pan drippings..

Wild Rice with Smoked Turkey, Lingonberries,Wild Onions and Fried Sage

1 wild rice (if the instructions on the package call for less than 1 hour of cooking, it probably isn’t true wild rice)
2-3/4 cups homemade fowl or vegetable stock, boiling
1/2 cup fresh lingonberries, stemmed, rinsed and picked over (substitute cranberries)
1 tablespoon rendered turkey or chicken fat
pinch of sea salt

1 smoked turkey leg, skinned, pulled and torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup wild onions (both green and white sections), trimmed and cut into to 1/8-inch thick slices
12 whole, fresh sage leaves, stemmed
1 heaping tablespoon fresh rosemary needles
2 tablespoons rendered turkey or chicken fat
freshly-cracked black pepper

Heat 1 tablespoon rendered turkey or chicken fat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.  Add wild rice and stir to coat.  Continue cooking and stirring for 5 minutes until each grain is coated and glossy.

Add 2-1/2 cups boiling stock and berries and stir to separate rice.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until just tender, about 1 hour.  Salt to taste.

Heat 1-1/2 tablespoons rendered turkey or chicken fat in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add turkey and onions and quickly sear.  Add sage and rosemary and cook until herbs are crisp, about 2-3 minutes.

To serve, combine rice and turkey in warm soup bowls.  Stir the reserved stock and pan drippings together and drizzle over the top.  Season with freshly-cracked black pepper.

The species of wild rice most commonly harvested is the annual Zizania palustris.  Native Americans and non-Indians harvest wild rice by canoeing into a stand of plants, and bending the ripe grain heads with wooden sticks called knockers, so as to thresh the seeds into the canoe.

The size of the knockers, as well as other details, are prescribed in state and tribal law.  By Minnesota statute, knockers must be at most 1 inch in diameter, 30 inches long, and one pound in weight.  The plants are not beaten with the knockers but require only a gentle brushing to dislodge the mature grain.  The Ojibwa people call this plant manoomin meaning “good berry”.   Some seeds fall to the muddy bottom and germinate later in the year.

Several Native American cultures, such as the Ojibwa, consider wild rice to be a sacred component in their culture.  The rice is harvested with a canoe: one person vans (or “knocks”) rice into the canoe with two small poles (called “knockers” or “flails”) while the other paddles slowly or uses a push pole.  For these groups, this harvest is an important cultural (and often economic) event. –Wikipedia

Rosemary, Garlic and Black Pepper-Grilled Lamb Chops

Local, pastured lamb is marinated overnight in olive oil, fresh rosemary, garlic and black pepper, then grilled to medium-rare over a smoky wood fire.  Served with crimini mushroom wild rice and grilled yellow tomatoes..

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Lay lamb chops in a glass dish and cover with fresh rosemary, garlic, black pepper and olive oil.  Cover and refrigerate 24 hours, turning once.  Allow to come to room temperature before grilling over a hot, smoky wood fire until just medium rare.  Transfer to a cutting board and allow to stand 5 minutes before serving (they will continue to cook a little). Lightly oil tomatoes and grill until the first split appears.

To prepare wild rice, soak dried crimini mushrooms in hot chicken or vegetable stock for 30 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to a side dish to drain and use the soaking liquid to cook the rice until just tender, about 45-60 minutes.  Melt butter over medium-high heat until shimmering, then sauté until golden brown. Stir into rice and serve hot.

Pan-Roasted Quail with Wild Rice Stuffing and Blackberry Jus Lie

Semi-boneless quail seasoned with sea salt and smoked pepper and stuffed with wild rice, pecans, scallions and porcini mushrooms.  Served with blackberry jus lié.

I wish the plate presentation were better, but I was scrambling like mad before losing the light.  Oh, well..

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Pan-Roasted Quail with Wild Rice Stuffing and Blackberry Jus Lie

Serves two

For the Rice

1 cup wild rice
chicken stock instead of water, in the quantity specified on the rice package
2 whole porcini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 chopped pecans
1 clove garlic, minced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
sea salt and black pepper

Cook the rice and set aside to cool.  Sauté mushrooms, pecans, garlic, scallions and sage until the pecans are golden brown then stir into the cooled rice.  Add 1/4 cup of chicken stock and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.

For the Quail

4 semi-boneless quail
2 tablespoons pastured butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon poivron rouge
sea salt and smoked blacked pepper

Rinse and pat dry the quail.  Tuck the wing tips.  Use a teaspoon or your fingers to stuff in as much rice as the bird will comfortably hold.

Transfer the birds to a skillet.  Mix together the melted butter and paprika and use that to paint the birds with.  Place in a 375 degree oven until golden brown and the juices run clear, about 18 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil.

For the Jus Lié

2 pieces uncured, applewood-smoked bacon, diced
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup blackberries
2 oz port
2 tablespoons glace de poulet
2 tablespoons filtered water

Sauté bacon and shallots in a tablespoon of the drippings from the pan that the quail was roasted in.  Once the bacon is crisp, de-glaze the pan with port and add the blackberries.  Stir and cook until the berries begin to break apart, then add demi-glace and water.  Cook until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, then strain or not, as you see fit.

To Serve

Split quail in half lengthwise and spoon sauce over the top.  Serve immediately.

Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops with Mint Peas and Wild Rice

Local, pastured lamb loin chops with rosemary garlic demi-glace, fresh peas with fried shallots and mint, and mushroom wild rice.

C’est si bon!

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Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops with Mint Peas and Wild Rice

lamb loin chops from premiumlamb.com via greenling.com

Marinate lamb chops in olive oil, chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, freshly-ground pepper and a three-fingered pinch of coarse sea salt for 4 or more hours (refrigerated).  Allow to come up to room temperature before cooking.

Rinse and prepare true wild rice according to package directions, about 1 hour.  Add sautéed wild mushrooms, a teaspoon of pastured butter and salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.

Lightly steam fresh peas until about 2/3 done, then transfer to a skillet with pastured butter and chopped shallots. Fry until browned, then season with chopped fresh mint, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Keep warm.

Quickly sear lamb chops in a very hot skillet with butter and a little of the marinade until well browned but still rare.  Transfer to a side plate.

De-glaze the pan with burgundy then scrape up all the brown bits with the side of a wooden spoon.  Add a little brown stock, reduce and finish with demi-glace and fresh rosemary.

Set the rare lamb chops in the pan with the demi-glace until warmed through, about 2-3 minutes.

To serve, heap wild rice in the center of a dinner plate and arrange lamb chops around the perimeter.  Spoon demi-glace over the top, then spoon peas in between the chops and garnish with additional mint and parsley.

This post is part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays

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