Summer is the best time to hang outside and eat. One place we love is The Bistro Box in Sheffield, MA. They are known for their tasty sandwiches and delectable seasonal sides like spring fries with wild ramp pesto, balsamic mushrooms and monterey chèvre. Pictured below is their Roadside Rueben, featuring our Crimson Kraut. Something I might have to replicate for lunch one of these days..
It's that time of year, the days are shorter, you have to force yourself out of the house to socialize, but it's important, and rewarding!
Below I share a recipe for a Choucroute Garni, an Alsatian recipe a friend prepared for us a few weeks ago. Choucroute Garni is composed of various meats and potatoes simmered together on a bed of Sauerkraut. It's absolutely delicious, especially with Riesling and friends around a big table.
Choucroute Garni
Ingredients
- 3 pounds of sauerkraut, washed
- 3 cups chicken stock
- Big chunk of salt pork, soaked in water to remove excess salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 3-pound piece smoked pork loin (not ready-to-eat)
- 12 frankfurters, 6 knockwurst, or other hearty sausages
- 1 pre-cooked Polish kielbasa
- 12 potatoes
- Mustard
Method
Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Put washed sauerkraut in a stockpot with chicken stock. If you like, use beer or white wine for part of the liquid. Add a big chunk of soaked salt pork, garlic cloves, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Put frankfurters or knockwurst and kielbasa in with the sauerkraut for the last 20 minutes to heat through.
Roast smoked pork loin the oven about 25 minutes per pound, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 170ºF. Boil potatoes in their jackets separately, then peel.
When it comes time to assemble the dish, drain the sauerkraut and mound it in the center of a big platter. Slice the pork loin and arrange around the sauerkraut. Garnish with sliced kielbasa and salt pork, whole frankfurters or knockwurst, and peeled potatoes. Serve with hot mustard, such as a Düsseldorf or German-type mustard, or French Dijon.
Yield
6 servings
Recipe credit James Beard Foundation
Market season is upon us! That means farmers market, craft fairs, all sorts of events! We’ll be at a handful of farmers markets this summer and also some one-off events. Read on to see what's happening this month...
The past week we started the Tuesday Market in Northampton which we’ll be attending every-other week (April 26th-on)
This weekend we will be Sampling and selling at the New England Veg Fest. That's Sunday, May 1st from 11-5pm. The event is at the DCU center in Worcester and it will be featuring 100% vegan food. There will be all sorts of food samplings, demos, speakers, as well as full-menu offerings from restaurants and bakeries.
Mothers day weekend The Great Barrington Farmers Market opens! Located in downtown Great Barrington and featuring 25+ vendors selling spring vegetables and fruits, seedlings, maple syrup, honey, breads, grains, and of course facto-fermented vegetables and tempeh! That same weekend we will also be in Hudson, May 7th and 8th, at the inaugural spring iteration of Basilica Farm & Flea full of independent makers, collectors and farmers! Thats a full weekend of good food and craft!
Saturday, May 21st we will be in NY state again at the Hudson Valley Hullabaloo The event is 10-6pm and will host a range of artisans from crafts, to collectors to food producers. Also, the Hullabaloo will be teaming up with Radio Woodstock 10.01 Craft Brew Boogaloo featuring 75 craft breweries pouring 150 kinds of brew, local farm-to-table food, live music, games and more! The craft Brew Boogaloo runs 1pm-6pm, and both events are separate, however, Boogaloo admission allows for entry into the Hullabaloo. Got it? Hope to see you there!
Sun Moon Farm at the Farm Share Fair
Last week we attended the 3rd annual Farm Share Fair at the Cambridge College in Boston. The idea of the fair is to invite local farmers and producers to show off what their CSA share consists of. For those not familiar, a CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and the way it typically works is you purchase a share a the onset of the growing season and as vegetables come into season, the farmer puts together a melange of produce and you pick up your share weekly or biweekly at the farm.
There are so many different types of CSA's. Some shares are vegetables only, while others can be more of a meat, or grain based share. Some CSA's have add in's for staples like beans, breads, even lacto-fermented vegetables! While Hosta Hill doesn't have a CSA type share option (though we were asked and have had the idea!) our products we were welcomed among the farmers along with other producers like EH Chocolatier, Del Sur Natural Empenadas, Boston Organics, Mei Mei, and Solar City to name a few.
This is the season to sign up for a CSA if you want one! Do you get a CSA share or do you prefer to shop at the farmers market-or both? These days we have so many options for locally grown vegetables and other locally produced foods it amazes me.
Some local CSA's that might still be accepting members are Abode Farm (New Lebanon, NY) Red Fire Farm (Granby, MA) Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA (Amherst, MA) to name a few...
Looking for something interesting to do this weekend? Bard College at Simon's Rock is putting on its 3rd annual ThinkFOOD Conference April 9th from 10:00am to 3:00pm in the Kellogg Music Center. This years theme is Berkshire Foodways, and will look inward at Berkshire County to define the "what, how and where" of food in our region
We are excited to be part of a panel titled "Grown/Made in the Berkshires" and we'll debate "what is Berkshire food?" Panelists include Alana Chernila (author of The Homemade Pantry, The Homemade Kitchen, and her blog, Eating from the Ground Up), Richard Bourdon (owner of Berkshire Mountain Bakery, and featured in Michael Pollan's documentary series, Cooked.) And yours truly, Maddie Elling (co-creator and maker at Hosta Hill)
The day will also include a locally sourced lunch, and poster presentation from Bard college students in the "Foodways" course and a second panel, "Feeding the Berkshires" which will answer the question: "What networks have been established to distribute food produced in the Berkshires"
The event will surely inspire reflection upon the food scene of the Berkshires. Help us spread the word and we hope to see you there!
