By Sarah Johnson
The Land Correspondent
— What do you get when you take a Midwestern boy, turn him into a famous East Coast chef, and then return him to his homeland and give him free rein?
You get chef Daniel Orr, a Bloomington, Ind., native who thought working in a kitchen was “a lot more fun than getting your eyes sliced open while detasseling corn.”
Orr eventually started his restaurant called FARMbloomington and has produced an artful (yet playful) cookbook called FARMfood, a visual feast that extols the benefits of eating locally produced foods.
An entire chapter smack dab in the middle of the book is devoted to gardening as it relates to his cooking and vision: edible flowers, composting, deer repellent, butterflies, weeds and hummingbirds.
He even includes a recipe for cattail pollen muffins, which has to be the weirdest recipe I’ve seen in a mainstream cookbook. And there’s a section on wild game that’s informative as well as hilarious. (“Young groundhogs are tender and mild in flavor, but older ones should be soaked in milk or brined.”)
Try a recipe from FARMfood and see what you think.
The warm, bright colors of three kinds of peppers will certainly perk up your breakfast table, but don’t limit yourself — Two-Sausage Gravy works just as well for a stick-to-your-ribs lunch or dinner entrée. There’s nothing fancy about this recipe; it’s just plain good cookin’. Using locally produced sausage and vegetables makes it even better.
Two-Sausage Gravy With Sweet Peppers, Onions and Thyme
Folks served: 4-6
Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Add the onion, peppers, garlic and thyme. Cook until just tender. Remove sausage mixture with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan. Stir in the butter until melted. Add flour and stir until smooth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until light brown. Gradually whisk in milk and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in cooked sausage. Reduce heat and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. If gravy becomes too thick, stir in a little more milk. Add the kielbasa and stir to coat. Serve over biscuits.
Return to the flavors of summer with Lefty’s Favorite Cucumber Salad. The not-so-secret ingredient: thinly sliced fennel bulb, easily available in most supermarkets. A dash of hot sauce complements the creamy sweet-and-sour flavors.
Lefty’s Favorite Cucumber Salad
Folks served: 4
Toss the cucumbers, onion and fennel together and chill. Mix the remaining ingredients for the dressing and season to taste. Mix three-quarters of the dressing with the vegetables. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer vegetables to serving bowl or individual plates. Drizzle with remaining dressing, and top with fresh-ground pepper, additional lemon zest, and fennel sprigs.
My family loves tacos, any way, shape or form. Tacos are the go-to food in my household, period. I was pretty sure they would like this recipe, and maybe even find the taco “shells” made of napa lettuce intriguing. I was right: All four of us gave enthusiastic “yums-up”, and we’ll be making this simple but satisfying meal-in-a-pocket again. (Caveat: This being January in Minnesota, I did not grill my tenderloins but simply roasted them for about 45 minutes in a 325 F oven.)
Napa Tacos
Folks served: 4-6
Clean the tenderloins of any silverskin or excess fat and place in a large Ziploc bag. Combine the remaining ingredients and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Pour the marinade over the pork and refrigerate until needed, at least one hour. Char tenderloins on grill and cook to medium. Remove from fire and allow to rest at least 10 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve on a warm platter.
Place other ingredients in bowls on the table and let everyone make the “tacos” using the cabbage leaves as their taco shells.
Orr reveals a few great restaurant secrets, including how to save time by parcooking your risotto and then simply reheating it with your favorite additions at mealtime. Two caveats: Make sure you undercook the rice a bit; and cool it quickly to stop the cooking.
Restaurant Risotto
Folks served: 4-6
In a heavy-bottomed pot, sweat onions in olive oil until they are translucent, but not colored, over medium heat. Next add Arborio rice and toast (the most important step on making risotto, toasting the rice allows the starch to release slowly). Stir, with a wooden spoon, so all the rice gets toasted. Add the white wine and a little salt and pepper, and cook until wine is absorbed, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from sticking.
Add 3 cups of chicken stock or enough until it just covers the rice. Let the rice completely absorb the liquid, stirring often as the rice cooks. Add 3 cups more chicken stock or until it just covers the rice. When the rice has absorbed the liquid, spread out on a cookie tray and let cool. Refrigerate until needed.
Reheat the risotto with a little stock or water to thin it out. Add your favorite combination of flavorings at this point: parmesan cheese, parsley, goat cheese, black pepper, lemon zest, wild mushrooms, baby spinach, asparagus, shallots, chives, green peas, sun-dried tomatoes, black olives … You probably get the point.
Check out the Indiana University Press website at www.iupress.indiana.edu to obtain a copy of “FARMfood.”
