Healing Soup and Warming Stew

Farm animals Sugar Snap and Borchie warming by the fire. Barn cats Monday and Grrrl Cat have been brought into warmer climes as well and have settled into a hibernation-like state.

Record breaking temperatures, and yet we are still going to receive delicious greens this week and beyond. I am so happy that D&D decided to take this challenge on, starting a few years ago. Thank you for the amazing produce!

Onions, carrots, kale, garlic and local chicken - This week a family member came down with a cold, so I quickly cooked up chicken soup - studies show that it isn't just an old wive's tale that chicken soup helps heal the body. Since I still had kale from a couple weeks ago, I added kale in at the end to add additional nutrients to the pot - yum!

Onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, daikon radish, kohlrabi, turnip, celeriac, garlic, kale and local beef - this cold weather had us craving comfort foods - rich, warm, yummy stew is what did the trick. I had both stewing meat and short ribs so first I browned the meat and removed from pot. Added onions and carrots to pot and got them going for a bit. When they were starting to get a bit soft, added garlic and after a minute sprinkled in a couple tablespoons of flour and mixed it all up with the veggies and kept the mixture moving in the pot (doing this "cooks" the flour so it will thicken the stew but not give it a raw flour taste). Next I added about half a bottle of red wine and de-glazed the pot. Added some tomato paste and tomatoes that had been frozen during the summer. Added beef stock, added meat back in and let that simmer for about an hour. Meanwhile, I chopped up all the other veggies and added them to the pot and simmered it all for about another hour and a half. It was delicious and made enough for a few meals.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, celeriac - made "mixed mash" - cut everything up - I don't even peel the potatoes or sweet potatoes - boiled until all were tender and then mashed as normal. Depending on what it is going with, garlic and/or thyme/rosemary can be added to the pot too.