Monday Recap: The Deep Freeze

We were fortunate last week to come through the latest Snowpocalypse with only about six inches of the powdery white stuff. We couldn’t escape the blast of Arctic air that followed behind it though that sent temperatures plummeting to record levels for mid February. The thermometer hit -4°F Thursday morning, with the wind chill even colder. The greenhouse looked like an icehouse with the icicles hanging down. Inside it was a “balmy” 16°F. Another system came through on Saturday, and we got a little bit of freezing rain before it warmed up and turned to just rain. Most of the bad stuff went south of us.

greenhouse with icicles hanging down

greenhouse with icicles hanging down

The cold and snowy weather had me craving comfort food. Since it’s my turn to cook, I whipped up a comforting meal of meatloaf, Garlicky Mashed Potatoes and some Derby green beans from the freezer. I made the mashed potatoes from a mix of our yellow-fleshed Yukon Gold and French Fingerling potatoes. For the garlic, I baked one head each of Russian Red and Lorz Italian so I could do some taste testing. After being in storage for over six months, both of these varieties are still in good shape. Despite the fact that Russian Red is a rocambole type with a great taste raw, I thought Lorz Italian (an artichoke type) tasted better after baking.

Lorz Italian(L) and Russian Red(R) garlic for roasting

Lorz Italian(L) and Russian Red(R) garlic for roasting

They both flavored up the mashed potatoes nicely, and my wife and I both enjoyed them and the green beans I cooked up to go with them. The meatloaf was a nice treat too, with some of our homemade catsup and mustard in it along with the local grass-fed beef. I like to form the meat into individual mini-loaves that bake up quicker than a big loaf, and make portion control a snap.

meal with Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

meal with Garlicky Mashed Potatoes

Another meal had me whipping up a batch of red pepper aioli to go with some salmon burgers. At the end of the season last year I pickled some of the ripe Topepo Rosso peppers. I made a sweet brine, and added the quartered peppers along with a few cloves of garlic and one or two of the hot Piccante Calabrese peppers to add a little zip.

pickled peppers

pickled peppers

I love these pickled peppers, and added them to mayo to make the aioli. I baked up a Beauregard sweet potato to go with the salmon burgers, which I served up on one of my Dark Rye Potato Buns. As you can see by the below photo, it was a big sweet potato and half of it made a large serving.

Beauregard sweet potato with aioli-topped salmon burger

Beauregard sweet potato with aioli-topped salmon burger

The only fresh harvest of the week was some parsley from the greenhouse. I dug out the snow by the greenhouse door so I could get in, then picked enough flat leaf parsley to make a bouquet. I used the parsley in some soup I made from the last of our leftover Thanksgiving turkey and broth. It also went in another dish I’ll talk about next.

flat leaf parsley

flat leaf parsley

Friday I used one of our neck pumpkins to make a batch of Butternut Lasagna Rolls. The recipe calls for butternut squash puree, but we have several of the Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck squash left in storage so I decided to use that instead for the puree. I cut the squash into pieces, baked it until tender, then scooped out the flesh and used the immersion blender on it. The squash in the below photo weighed a little over five pounds, and I got right at two pounds of puree from it after processing. I only needed one pound of it for the recipe, so I froze the rest.

Penn. Dutch Crookneck Squash

Penn. Dutch Crookneck Squash

The lasagna rolls are stuffed with a mix of cooked spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheeses, and a little chopped parsley. The spinach was some of our 2014 crop that I blanched and froze for later use. The squash puree is mixed with some sauteed onions and garlic, and goes on the bottom of the pan and the top of the lasagna rolls before baking. My wife and I both agreed this was a tasty and lightened up version of a classic dish. You can find the recipe on Skinnytaste.

Butternut Lasagna Rolls

Butternut Lasagna Rolls

My wife and I also found time to make two batches of soap last week. We make one pound (oil weight) batches anymore, using our homemade PVC pipe molds. That gives us five round bars after we cut them. We love to experiment, and this time we made one soap using 100% coconut oil. That turned out a lovely shade of white that almost matched the snow outside! The other soap was a variation on our French Green Clay recipe, this time using lemongrass and rosemary essential oils plus a bit of finely ground rosemary leaf. There should be no trouble telling the two soaps apart in the below photo!

100% coconut oil soap(L) and French Green Clay soap(R)

100% coconut oil soap(L) and French Green Clay soap(R)

I’ll close with a photo of our two cats, Puddin and Ace, who apparently fell asleep yesterday while reading about silk painting. Oh well, at least they weren’t trading catnip futures on the computer!

Puddin and Ace doing what they do best

Puddin and Ace doing what they do best

That’s a look at what’s been happening here. To see what others are harvesting and cooking up, visit Daphne’s Dandelions where Daphne hosts Harvest Mondays. I’ll be back soon with more from Happy Acres!

 

 

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11 Responses to Monday Recap: The Deep Freeze

  1. Norma Chang says:

    Is there any difference in taste and texture between Penn. Dutch Crookneck Squash and butternut squash?
    Love all your comfort meals.

    • Dave says:

      Hi Norma, the texture of the two is the same. The taste is a little different though I can’t say I prefer one over the other. The crookneck (aka neck pumpkin) is bigger and an ancestor of the butternuts. It seems to perform a bit better here in our hot and humid summers.

  2. Michelle says:

    Your kitties look so sweet snuggled up together. That would never happen here, my three guys never touch unless it’s to take a swipe at one another. It looks like you’ve got lots of good stuff left in your stores, but I imagine the fresh parsley was a treat.

  3. Margaret says:

    We are in a deep freeze as well, also record-breaking…our schools are open today, but those north of us have closed down due to the cold. I love the idea for using the squash in lasagna – I’ve bookmarked the recipe. Hopefully I can actually grow some squash to use in it this year!

  4. Mark Willis says:

    I’m impressed by your connoisseurship of garlic! This is not a skill that is widespread, I believe – I mean the tasting of it, rather than the growing. I really enjoy reading what people write about their food, especially that which they grow themselves, so your post today has provided me with a feast of entertainment! The lasagne rolls look particularly attractive.

  5. mac says:

    The parsley bouquet and soaps are beautiful! Your dishes make me hungry, I haven’t eaten meatloaf and salmon burger in years.

  6. Barbie says:

    That pasta dish looks sinful. I would love it, but I fear I would be the only one in the house to truly enjoy it.

  7. Daphne says:

    That lasagna dish looks so delicious. It sounds like a really good way to use up the squash. I hope things warm up a bit for you. This winter has been way too cold.

  8. Susie says:

    Mmmm .. lasagna looks SO good! I realize the garlic looks a bit different, but do you keep it in separate bins to know which is which? I’ve always grown Red Russian here, but I’ve added Music this past fall – it will be the first time I’ve had two varieties. I worry that I lack the organizational skills to keep them apart. 🙂

  9. More snow! It never ceases to amaze me here in hot Australia that people actually get snow!

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