Stock up at the farmers market!

Every third Saturday of the month is Ashby de la Zouch farmers market.  I love to go along and check out all the lovely stalls, sometimes I treat myself to a freshly cooked burger whilst browsing.  There’s a real mix of characters and I always ask questions of the stall holders as they have such a wealth of knowledge between them that they are willing to share.  Most of them stand out as being really passionate about what they do.  I buy from them and feel happy to know a little about the meat I’m buying.

There’s a man there who sells roosters.  I always make a beeline for him as rooster is a fantastic alternative to chicken.  Unfortunately in today’s society of egg farming and high output production there is often no place for the males.  The chicks are sexed at a very early age and the males are often destroyed as they are no use to the egg farmer and to keep them alive would cost as they need feeding.  Anyway that’s a debate I don’t want to get into here….

 The roosters that I buy lead a good life.  They sit around all day looking manly and keeping watch for danger, get up for a spot of dinner, maybe strut their stuff if they have the urge and then its bedtime!  The meat of the rooster tastes like chicken but much stronger if that makes sense.  The rooster doesn’t have to stress its body by using valuable energy and nutrients in the process of egg making each day which results in a wonderfully flavoursome meat.  The stock from these birds is a thick gel that smells divine and is so deep and rich that it lifts any dish that it is used in.  The rooster isn’t an expensive bird.  I find it cheaper than an equal sized organic chicken in the supermarket. 

 I also bought some wonderful rare breed beef.  I tend to buy a piece larger than I need so I can use the leftovers to make a meal for the next day.  I treated us to some fillet steak too but we haven’t eaten that yet as I’m saving it for a nice weekend meal with a ton of onion rings all smothered in a mushroom sauce… I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

 I bought a couple of nice pork joints, chops and tenderloins for the freezer and some good streaky belly and shoulder to make into sausages.  I shall be doing a sausage making entry shortly if anyone is interested?

Here’s just a selection of the meat I bought before I portioned it up for the freezer.

                                                                       

Another really good buy is the lamb pieces.  I get a decent sized pack of gorgeous free ranging lamb pieces for a couple of pounds.  I freeze them and use them for casseroles or curries.  The flavour is so different to what you get in the supermarket and probably works out cheaper!

I came away with a real haul and hopefully that’s the families meat supply sorted until the next market.  I also bought veg and ordered some oat groats as I like to mill them myself for porridge and muesli bars.

If you get the chance to visit a farmers market then I highly recommend it.  Its such a relaxed atmosphere and I’ve noticed that lots of people go with their families and treat it as an afternoon out.   No one seems to be in a rush and there’s always plenty of time to just browse and read the labels and information boards to find out more about where the products come from.  There’s always children running about and quite a few people bring their dogs.  I daren’t take my two boxer dogs as they are fed a raw meat diet and I have visions of them running around with sausages in their mouths being chased by angry stall holders in that Benny Hill style…. bless em!    

So here I am with a well stocked freezer full of locally grown, thoughtfully raised meat.  I feel good supporting the local community and feeding the family with ‘happy food’  Oh dear I’m sounding a bit Delia Smith now, well before she lost the plot and brought out her new book…. another entry for that one methinks! 

More left over beef ideas.

Ok I’m posting another left over beef meal because the first one has been really popular – its one of the most searched recipes on my site!

So this dish is my take on a cottage pie but its a very ‘rich’ meal because of the dark chocolate and cream that I add.  I use sweet potatoes as I love the sweetness but to keep costs down go half and half with white potatoes.

Recipe
Leftover beef joint
Tin of tomatoes (I add this to help bulk it out a bit but it works fine without it)
Large onion
Couple of squares of good dark chocolate
Two or three sweet potatoes and a couple of white potatoes
Few tablespoons of cream
Butter/milk for creaming potatoes
Seasoning

Steam the potatoes, remembering that sweet potatoes don’t take quite as long as white ones.

Fry the onions.

Whizz the beef around in the processor or chop it up with a knife.  Don’t go overboard with the chopping as its nice to have  chunks of meat in the dish.   Add the beef and the tomatoes to the onions with a little stock or water.  Heat it up but remember it doesn’t need to cook again.  At this stage you could add other things such as a stock cube, bit of gravy mix etc.  Add in the dark chocolate and let melt into the beef.

Mash the potatoes together.   I find it easier to mash sweet potatoes with a potato ricer otherwise they can seem a bit stringy.  Add the milk, butter and the cream.  

 Pop the mash onto the beef and cook in the oven for approx 30 mins.

You really don’t need to put in the chocolate and cream but it makes the dish so rich that it doesn’t seem like a leftovers meal at all!

 

I served it with Carrots batons finished off in the oven to concentrate the flavour and sprouts steamed until just cooked and then tossed into a hot cast iron pan with a bit of butter, it gives them more of a crunchy edge.

Here’s a picture of what the pie looks like inside.  

Sorry if the pictures are a bit messy, but its a week day meal for the family…  I bet Gordon Ramsay would wipe the dish before showing it! 😉

What to do with the left over beef joint?

The night before last we had a lovely piece of organic beef for tea. I cooked it raised on a rack of veggies to let the lovely juices run out.  I drained off the juices and added some fat back to the pan and squashed down the veggies.  I then made a delicious gravy by adding a bit of flour to thicken it and then slowly added some water from my steamed vegetables.  I then strained it to get rid of the veggies that had supported the beef.  I ended up with a gorgeous thick gravy and didn’t need to add anything but a little seasoning to it.  Perfect!

 The remaining steamed vegetable water was refrigerated overnight to go in yesterdays ‘breadcakes’  That just leaves me with the remaining beef from the joint…. so I made a spaghetti!

As its a leftover dish, the ingredients change every time but here’s what I used in last nights meal:

Leftover beef joint
One onion plus a couple of garlic cloves.
Tin of tomatoes.
One carrot, grated finely.
Mushrooms/celery from my dehydrated stock as I had no fresh.

Heat a solid bottomed pan (I always use cast iron pans) and gently fry the onions until they go a golden colour.  I make no apologies about my big onions in the picture… we love them!  Add the garlic at this point so it doesn’t burn.

Cut the beef joint into small pieces.  I find it easier to whizz it round a bit in the Magimix.  I leave some pieces of meat a bit on the large size, I just think it adds to the dish. 

Add the meat and tomatoes to the onions and garlic mix.

Next, pop in mushrooms, celery and carrots.  I had no fresh mushrooms or celery in so used the ones I had already dehydrated.  I often prefer the dehydrated ones as the flavour is so concentrated.

Season and add any extras you may think it needs for flavour.  I added some mixed herbs, basil, half a kallo cube, a little honey and a square of chocolate.  Add a little water if it looks dry.  I left it simmering for about an hour because hubby was late in from work.  It wont spoil, just add a little more water if needed.

I always add something sweet such as honey or a little chocolate to a savoury dish.  It really adds a depth of flavour to the dish.  And the chocolate seems to add a real richness.  Give it a try when you are next experimenting 🙂

I have to apologise for the blurry picture… its my hubbies fault.  I took one photo and was just lining up the dish in my viewfinder again so I had a couple of pictures to choose from when the dish dissapeared from the screen… hubby had knicked it!  He wouldn’t put it back as he said he was starving so I’m afraid we all have to make do with this picture.  I’ll not shout him in next time until I’ve finished lol!