Recipe

If you have not yet cooked on your woodstove, I suggest not going skiing, leaving it unattended, the first time you give it a try. Once you get a sense of how your wood stove will do, go skiing! You’ll return to a warm, earthy smelling home and a hot pot of stew for your cold tired bones.

You will need; 1 lb stew beef, 6 potatoes, 3 carrots/parsnips, 1 small celeriac, 1 large onion, a rutabaga, 2 cloves of garlic (or more) 1 C flour, a bit of olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and the better part of a bottle of red wine, you will have had a glass while you are prepping. I’ve tried all different wines; Merlot, Burgundy, Chianti….I use what I have on hand. And of course, you need a cast iron dutch oven with a lid.

Cut all veggies into 1” cubes, light your woodstove. Heat a dutch oven on your stove first, with a bit of olive oil. In a bowl, add salt and pepper to the flour and roll the stew meat around until covered. Add to hot pot. I like to cook the beef until it is really brown, turning toward black and quickly. Once it is all cooked, remove from heat, add a bit of the wine to mostly cover the meat. Add all the veggies and herbs, the remainder of the wine and if needed add some water to cover the stew. Place on hot woodstove with lid. Woodstove should be in the 450 range, but every stove is different. I have a small 100 year old Reginald…. You want the stew to lightly boil occasionally but to be just below boiling most of the day. I start this around noon on Sundays and by 6 or so we’re eating stew with a loaf of rosemary bread for dipping the wine broth. A last note, if I end up with some of the broth/gravy leftover, I save it and add it to my next batch.

Over the past few years, I have made this recipe with pie pumpkins. They are really adorable on a holiday table and yummy, but this year, the Farm being short on pumpkins due to the flood, I used the buttercup. It is still delicious and I love the look. Rather than day old bread I’ve used day old pesto pizza, I’ve replaced the rosemary and garlic with pesto and I’ve used cheddar cheese. The point being: be creative and open to substitution and let me know how it works out!

For this recipe you will need; 1 buttercup squash, yesterdays bread and mozzarella cheese, ½’’cubed, grated parmesan cheese, 1 C cream, salt (just a bit), garlic and rosemary. Baking dish to hold squash(es).

Preheat oven to 325.
Trim a nice buttercup squash, no bruising, so that it sits flat in your baking dish. Slice off the top, not too far down so that you don’t lose too much stuffing space. Remove seeds and pulp.

In the squash, layer bread and mozzarella cheese, and bit of parm, herbs and salt, another layer of bread and mozzarella cheese, herbs and salt and top with parmesan. Fill to just below the rim with cream. Fit the top on snuggly and bake about an hour. Cooking time depends on size of squash, so keep an eye on it. It will start to brown before the stuffing sets. Let it sit for a few minutes before removing the top.

This recipe goes well with pork tenderloin cooked with rosemary and olive oil or chops.

I’ve tried several corn chowder recipes of my own and others but I keep coming back to simpler is better with this old New England farm favorite.

You will need; 4 slices of bacon, (you can substitute bacon or ham ends for the 4 slices of bacon) 3 medium size potatoes, cut into 1/2” cubes, 4 C corn (I use frozen corn from summer), 1 medium onion and 1 sm celeriac, chopped, 2 C chicken broth, 2 C whole milk or cream and pepper, you probably don’t want salt due to the bacon.

Cook the bacon until crispy and fat has been melted. Take out all but a few tablespoons of fat, add chopped onion and celeriac, cook until tender. In a separate pot, cook potatoes and ½ the corn in the chicken stock until soft. Take out a few cups and whir in blender, add back to pot, add bacon mixture, remainder of the corn, and cream/milk and pepper to taste, cook a few minutes longer until heated through.