winter comfort food
by janna wardle

The second in a series of articles focusing on cooking with seasonal, locally-grown foods.

The hardest thing about planning a winter menu using locally grown, organic ingredients is, well, it's winter. You know the song that says ‘Peaches in the summer / Apples in the fall’? It’s no coincidence that it doesn’t mention winter. Nothing grows in the winter. You can see my dilemma.

In a perfect world, we all would have planted perfect organic gardens this summer and we would have canned our organic peas and tomatoes. We would have made wonderful jars of summer preserves. Winter would just be a great opportunity to open up our perfectly canned food, and make perfect meals in our perfect kitchens.

I respect the people who do that. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them, and chances are, neither are you. Thankfully, we don’t have to be perfect. Using some local ingredients is better than using none—so I learned at a November conference for women chefs that focused on organic food and sustainable agriculture. Many of the conference speakers emphasized that, though we may not be able to eat completely organic food just yet, every step we make in that direction is beneficial. For example, you could make this menu with conventional beef ribs from the supermarket. But if we choose to make it with local, organically-fed bison, that is a good and significant decision. And we should be proud of that, instead of worrying that every single item on the menu isn’t local or organic. So this isn’t a religiously local menu, but there are some local ingredients, and everything can be found in an organic form, even the chocolate.

This month, though there is no produce growing, I am going to highlight two locally-produced ingredients. One is Carolina Bison, twenty minutes outside of Asheville. Their bison are organically raised on grass, and are given no hormones or antibiotics. The other is Spinning Spider Creamery, a family-owned producer of gourmet goat cheese.

Maybe next year, I’ll start that organic garden. Maybe I’ll can all my own produce, and be a perfect organic Martha Stewart. But that’s next year.

Menu serves 6 people

Braised Short Ribs of Bison
1 cup flour
6 lb. short ribs of bison
10 shallots trimmed, halved if large
4 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
8 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 cups beef stock (can substitute chicken or veg. stock.)
2 cups red wine
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Boil wine and stock in a heavy saucepan until reduced to about 1 cup.

While liquid is reducing, pat ribs dry and cut crosswise into 1-rib pieces.

Combine the salt, pepper, and flour. Dredge the ribs in the seasoned flour.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Brown ribs well on all sides, working in batches. Transfer browned ribs to bowl.
Reduce heat to moderate and brown shallots well in fat remaining in pot, stirring. Transfer with a slotted spoon to another bowl.
Stir reduced wine and stock into juices in pot, along with the mustard. Add ribs and simmer, covered, 1 ¾ hours.
Gently stir in shallots and tomatoes and continue to simmer, covered, without stirring, until meat is very tender, about 40 minutes.

Carefully transfer ribs, shallots, and tomatoes to a platter and skim off any fat from cooking liquid. Bring liquid to a boil, and reduce to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and pour over ribs.

Butternut Squash Risotto
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ½ inch pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups (approximately) of organic vegetable or chicken broth
2 cups Arborio rice
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400. Place squash on large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast until tender and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes.

In a large, heavy saucepan, bring stock to simmer. Reduce heat to very low. Cover and keep warm.

In another large saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-low heat. Add rice. Stir. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring, about 2 minutes. Add ½ cup hot stock. Simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Continue to add stock in ½ cup increments, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more. Stir frequently. This will take about 25 minutes. When the rice is creamy, add the roasted squash, cream, and parmesan cheese. Stir well and season to taste. Serve warm.

Lemon-Pepper Green Beans with Chevre
I recommend using Spinning Spider Creamery goat cheese for this recipe. 1 lb. Green beans, rinsed and ends sliced off
Juice of ½ of a lemon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper, or to taste
1 clove of garlic, minced
½ cup goat cheese
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. When boiling, add the green beans. Boil for 3 minutes, then strain into a colander and immediately immerse all of the beans in icy water for a minute or two. This is called blanching, and will keep the beans crisp and maintain their beautiful green color.

Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and garlic. Saute garlic for a minute, and then add the green beans, pepper, and lemon zest. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and remove from heat. Season to taste with salt and any additional pepper.
Sprinkle goat cheese over the beans and serve warm.

Earl-Grey Infused Truffles
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
2 Earl Grey teabags
1/3 cup heavy cream
In a small saucepot, steep the teabags in the cream, over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. The cream should turn coffee-colored. Squeeze out the teabags and then discard.
Fill a medium saucepot ¼ full with water. Place it over low heat. Carefully wipe out a metal bowl, making sure there is no moisture at all in it. Place it over the water on the saucepot. You have just made what professional chefs refer to as a “double boiler.” This is how you will melt the chocolate. Chocolate is very delicate, so be careful with it. Do not let it get too hot, and do not let any steam or water get in. This will cause the chocolate to “seize up” which is a bad thing.

Pour half of the chocolate chips into the metal bowl, along with the cream. Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The cream will lubricate the chocolate and keep it from seizing up very easily, but you should still be gentle with it. When the chocolate is starting to melt, you may even want to pull the bowl off the heat and stir for a minute or two. It may have enough heat in it to melt itself.
When the chocolate and cream mixture is melted, pour it into a shallow baking dish and place it in the freezer. Let it firm up for a few minutes. Place a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. When chocolate mixture is firm but not hard, remove it from the freezer. With a spoon, scoop out a small ball and roll with your hands. Roll into balls that are about ½ inch in diameter. This is a very messy process, but worth it. Scoop and roll until all of the chocolate mixture is used up. Place the balls back in the freezer.
Melt the remaining chocolate in a double boiler. Be extra careful this time because without the cream, the chocolate is especially delicate. When the chocolate is melted, remove the balls from the freezer. With a fork, drop them into the melted chocolate and coat. Remove with the fork, and place on the wax paper.
You can also roll them in chopped nuts immediately after removing from the melted chocolate.

Allow to firm up in the refrigerator, and serve. These keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks to a month.

 

Janna Wardle is a culinary student at A-B Tech, and works at the Albemarle Inn, a four-diamond bed and breakfast. She lives in Asheville with her husband.