Cabbage (or Any Vegetable) Gratin Ratio Recipe

Vegetables covered in creamy cheesy sauce with a crispy crust? Yes please! A gratin is a surefire way to please your family with vegetables. When you make the dish yourself, you can adjust the recipe to your family's taste and health preferences. And though a gratin recipe seems complicated at first, after making one a few times you'll find the process simple.

Potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli all cook down nicely in a gratin. Start the recipe by chopping these to size - slice potatoes and cabbage or chunk cauliflower and broccoli into bite sized pieces. Arrange them in a glass or ceramic baking dish. Stir in some shredded cheddar, swiss, or roquefort for a cheesy version.

Make a roux by melting butter or oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add an amount of flour equal to 1/3 more than the fat and cook until the flour is slightly browned and smells cooked. Slowly pour in warm milk (to make a bechamel sauce) or stock (for a veloute sauce) and heat just below simmer until thickened.

Season with salt, pepper, and spices as you desire. A hint of nutmeg pairs nicely with a milk based sauce. Herbs or spicy peppers are delightful in a stock based sauce.

Pour the sauce over the vegetables, stirring gently to cover.

Top with shredded cheese, bread crumbs, panko, or crushed potato chips. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-60 minutes (depending on depth of the gratin) until bubbling in the center and brown on top.

Pictured is a shallow cabbage gratin I made recently to pair with homemade sausages. Try it as a twist on traditional cabbage preparations for St. Patrick's day dinner or as a way to dress up a vegetable side dish with any meal.

Vegetable Gratin in Ratio Form

roux and sauce ratio from the book Ratio by Michael Ruhlman

A gratin can take on many forms based on the ingredients you have on hand and the outcome you desire. The ratios below are approximate. Adjust according to how thick you want the sauce and how saucy you want the finished gratin.

For the roux: 3 parts flour to 2 parts fat (butter or oil)

For the thickened sauce: 1 part roux to 10 parts liquid (stock or milk)

For the gratin: 6 parts chopped vegetables to 3 parts thickened sauce (milk-based bechamel or stock-based veloute) to 1 part cheese

[amd-recipeseo-recipe:1] Talk to me about the recipes on this blog - do you like the ratio recipe, the first listed? For the second recipe, I skipped the printable version in favor of a Google Recipe View friendly version. Do you miss the print function?

Friday Five: New CSA Concepts in Central Ohio

Fruit and vegetable Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares have been available for years here in Columbus and many of us have partaken of their local produce goodness. Today I want to highlight several new twists on the classic CSA. Follow the links in each post for registration and more details. 1) Mockingbird Meadows Honey and Herb Farm is offering a Healthy Herbs CSA from June through February. From their website: "Designed to mirror the traditional vegetable CSA, our farm share program is meant to provide you with the basics of a healthy lifestyle through the use of our herbal helpers. Along with your share of fresh cut and dried healing herbs, handmade herbal health aides, seasonal tonic teas, fresh herbal foods and our raw honey we include 2 custom-made tinctures, 2 herbal consultations (not to exceed 2 hours), 2 reservations to our Farm Open House and 10% off product purchases. Each share will be a $300 investment for the year. Pick-ups will be once a month at various farmer's markets to be named soon. Please email Dawn form more information- dcombs@mockingbirdmeadows.com. Deadline for registration is May 31, 2011"

2) Frijolito Farm is selling farm gift cards. The idea is that farmer Wayne Shingler will accept investors now for early farm costs. Investors are given gift certificates loaded with credit equal to the amount of the investment plus 10% and can be exchanged for free range eggs, chicken meat, fruits, vegetables or anything else Frijolito sells. On December 1, any remaining balance can be redeemed for cash. This is micro-financing at its most local!

3) Based on their success in the fall, Blues Creek Meats in the North Market is expanding the meat CSA program. You choose the type of meat (beef, lamb, or beef/lamb/pork/goat/veal combo) and pick up once a month. The deadline for the spring CSA sign-ups just passed, though you might be able to call or go in person and see if any shares remain. Sign up now for summer-fall shares.

4) Green B.E.A.N. delivery just began offering their services in central Ohio. They make available a variety of CSA fruit and vegetable basket sizes plus customized additional options, all delivered to your doorstep. I was most intrigued by this concept when I heard a farmer recommending it, saying Green B.E.A.N. is providing the infrastructure to deliver his organic grains fresh to consumers. Green B.E.A.N. is offering me a trial basket over the next month so that I can write a full review soon.

5) Sunny Meadows Farms is offering a unique co-operative CSA. Full and half shares will include vegetables from their greenhouses and fresh cut flowers, fruit, herbs, fresh baked bread, canned goods, homemade soap, cheese, eggs, meats from a variety of local all-natural farms. This eclectic CSA would be great for someone who wants to explore the great variety of sustainable farms in central Ohio.

Do you have more CSA news to share? Please comment!

If you are ready to move beyond the CSA and grow your own, be sure to download my free Grow Your Garden ebook.

Friday Five Mini Reviews

Happy Friday! Today I am sharing five short reviews of products and experiences I've had recently. 1) Mixbook - Last fall when I was putting together Lil's annual photo book, I tweeted about it. Mixbook contacted me and offered me a coupon for to make a photo book, gratis. I created a book about our homestead to share at the OEFFA conference and future workshops, pictured at right. Soon I will write a full comparison of the half dozen photo book brands I have experience with; Mixbook is at the top of the list.

2) Kardea Nutritional Bars - I won a sampler pack of ten bars from the Healthy Heddleston blog. Each has 140 calories with seven grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber plus added vitamins for heart health, which is pretty good nutritional punch for a small amount of calories. I put them in the snack drawer and forgot about them until one day last week when I was running out the door without lunch.

I opened the box and all but two were eaten! I asked the most likely suspect, Alex, and he admitted to enjoying these for snacks at work. I liked the one I had too - the chewy texture was appealing and the chai spice flavor was surprisingly tasty.

3) Celtic Naturals - In a twitter contest, I won a set of Celtic Naturals chocolate covered cherry bath bombs, shea butter whip, and soap. The creator, Angela, kindly delivered them to my home. Devie tried to eat the bath bombs because they smelled so good. Not one to waste something because of a few chew marks, I let Lil use them in the bath the next day and she loved how long lasting they were. My dry skin is enjoying the shea butter whip.

I often avoid beauty products because so many are full of carcinogens but Celtic Naturals products are clearly labeled with understandable ingredients, many of them so safe they are edible.

4) Multigrain Cheerios - My Blog Spark offered me a chance to try Multigrain Cheerios. I jumped at the opportunity because Lil loves Cheerios. A LOT. She eats them every morning for breakfast and usually snacks on some before bedtime too.

When we tried Multigrain Cheerios, Lil's verdict was mixed. She says "In the milk they are too sweet." I dislike the sweet coating myself and the stickiness it leaves everywhere.

I will not purchase Multigrain Cheerios in the future because in comparison with regular Cheerios, the Multigrain variety has more sugar and calories with fewer grams of protein or potassium. Still, I can see this variety appealing to those who wish to transition from very sugary cereals to something more balanced.

5) Cooking Class at The Hills Market - Yesterday, fellow food blogger and marketing director Jill invited me to attend the vegan cooking class with Wellness Forum chef Del Sroufe. Myself and sixteen others spent the first hour in the kitchen watching and conversing with the chef. Then we were escorted to the wine department for service of the three course meal including three glasses of wine. The meal was tasty, the class entertaining, and a great value, for $35.

Meal Plan February 21, 2011

The formidable Joan Dye Gussow finished the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) conference with a speech that included a personal history of the food movement and rabble rousing call to action. "We are well overdue in this country for a revolution!" she incited. I happen to agree though I am not the revolutionary type. I prefer to work at the ground level, tending my small plot of land, eating food from reliable sources, and making sustainability a priority in my life. Hopefully I can inspire others to make similar small changes that can rock the world though my workshops and writing.

Other words in Gussow's speech, about eating seasonally and what that looks like, spurned me to make changes this weekly Meal Plan. From now on, I will share with you some of the inspiration and ingredients that drive the meal plan.

It isn't just about putting food on the table, after all. Meal planning for local sustainable eating calls for using seasonal ingredients, eating from pantry stores, exciting the palate with new recipes and paying attention to the weather. I will try to share bits and pieces of those thins that influence our meals.

Inspiration and Ingredients:

• President's Day Monday
• Overabundance of pantry tomato sauces
• Fresh sausage made at OEFFA workshop in the fridge
• Snowville whipping cream in the house
• Several aging oranges in the fruit bowl (We buy Florida citrus this time of year, as local as one can get for citrus)
• Moderately cold weather with snow possible Tuesday, rain possible Thursday
• One conference presentation, one cooking class, and one Broadway show at week's end

Meal Plan:

Monday - I'll make hoecakes for breakfast, the preferred meal of George Washington and other early presidents. Thomas Jefferson is reported to be one of the first to grow an embrace the growing of the tomato, a fruit many other gardeners considered toxic. In his honor on President's day, we will have tomato bisque and muffins or biscuits.

Tuesday - Toad in the hole using homemade sausage, cranberry orange sauce

Wednesday - Lentil chili and cornbread for family with a side of chorizo for the charcuterie fans

Thursday - Roast chicken and root vegetables for friends

Friday - Chicken and bean burritos with rice

Saturday - Speaking at Beyond Social 101, spaghetti and tomato sauce before Madagascar Live! (Only 12 hours left to enter my contest for four tickets!)

Sunday - Teaching Family Style Soups at Franklin Park Conservatory, Alex will make something for family dinner hosted here

PS. If you missed my interview with Joan Dye Gussow, you might want to click the link. She reveals a trick to longevity and fascinating information about growing sweet potatoes.

Meal Plan Sunday February 13, 2010

I am teaching a private cooking class, preparing to present at the OEFFA and Beyond Social conferences, celebrating Valentine's day, and hosting three giveaways on the blog this week. We're planning quick and simple meals to complement all the special events. Sunday - dinner with family, bringing vegetables and cranberry applesauce compote

Monday - Afternoon tea of crackers, cheeses, cornichons, special dessert; later, Alex and I will share carryout taco truck treats for a Valentine's dinner in.

Tuesday - mushroom strogannof over homemade egg noodlees

Wednesday - dinner at a restaurant with Dad

Thursday -baked macaroni and cheese with friends

Friday - grilled fish, vegetables, and rice

Saturday - OEFFA conference

Sunday - OEFFA conference

Don't forget about the Beyond Social 101 Ticket giveaway! It ends tomorrow (Monday) night at 8 pm.

Cider Syrup Bacon

Italy has prosciutto, German has sausages and Spain has serrano. It seems to me that America's go-to cured meat is bacon.

Long ubiquitous at breakfasts, bacon has recently enjoyed resurgence to cult status, flavoring everything from beer to cupcakes.

With a populace growing in concern about high fructose corn syrup and additives, making bacon has also become the de rigueur for the adventurous home cook. We hopped on the bacon makin' wagon over two years ago and haven't bought a pack of the store bought stuff since.

The process is simple: Rub fresh pork belly (our favorite local source is Blues Creek Meats) with a curing mix of sugar, salt, and pink salt. Under refrigeration, allow the pork to absorb the salt and leach some liquid for 4-7 days. Rinse off the salt, pat dry, and smoke or oven roast. Slice, cook, and viola! You just made the best bacon you've ever tasted.

The joy of home charcuterie rarely stops with the first batch of bacon, however. A curious cook wonders how this or that will affect the flavor and begins experimenting.

This drive to excite our mouths with interesting new flavors led to the discovery of cider syrup bacon. Just as one might make maple flavored bacon by adding maple syrup to the cure described above, we tried adding 1/2 cup of Charlie's Apple Cider Syrup to a five pound batch of bacon last year. It imbibed the pork belly with tangy zest from the apples and the slightest hint of cinnamon.

When we pressed cider and made our own syrup this fall, we made another batch, knowing the ingredients even more intimately. Perfect for winter when we don't always want to fire up the grill, cider syrup bacon is best oven roasted, lest the delicate syrup flavors be overwhelmed by smoking. This charcuterie experiment was a keeper.

If you want to jump into the world of home cured bacon and other tasty meats, we recommend Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. You can also follow the Charcutepalooza blog project in which we are participating. If you learn best in person, join us for our Charcuterie class at Franklin Park Conservatory on March 15 from 6:30 - 8 pm.

Added to Simple Lives Thursday 30th edition.

Eggs in Winter

Our backyard chickens are surviving well through this winter's ice, snow, and feather-burning bulbs. They look plump and healthy and even brave cold feet to come clean up around the base of our bird feeder when there's no active participation. But they aren't laying well. We are collecting an average of two eggs a day from our four hens in comparison to last summer's four eggs daily.

We miss the abundance of yolks and whites. We lament cooking scrambled eggs for breakfast and frittata for dinner, knowing another dozen eggs would come our way in just three days. Surely our family misses the excess we shared with them.

Chickens lay fewer eggs in winter because they are not exposed to as much sunlight and their bodies are consuming more calories to stay warm. Some backyard chicken raisers use light bulbs to stimulate production but rarely achieve the same abundance as in summer.

We are already expending energy to heat the coop on very cold nights with a heat lamp and don't want to add more to that bill. Of course, we could just buy extra eggs and we did during the holiday baking season. We agreed that it felt strange to eat someone else's eggs.

This is the reality of seasonal eating. Without electronic intervention, there are naturally fewer chicken eggs in winter.

Perhaps it's healthier for us to have fewer calorie rich eggs at our disposal during these slow winter months. When spring returns and we are digging, mowing, and otherwise working hard, our bodies will need the dense nutrition of eggs. Our taste buds will better appreciate the abundance after a period of slim pickings too.

More physical labor and eggs in summer, less in winter: a seasonal cycle that satisfies the homestead.

By the way, ever wonder what happens to laying hens when they age and aren't laying well no matter the season? Frijolito Farms, a humane chicken operation in Columbus, is considering how to have a sustainable egg laying population. Farm Wayne has come up with a generous and just solution to the problem of the ne'er laying hen.

We Killed and Ate a Backyard Chicken Today

Some may find pictures in this post graphic. Sometimes you have one idea in mind and the day takes a totally different direction. Today was such a day.

A fellow chicken-keeping family called around 10 in the morning and said this was the day they wanted to kill one of their hens. Speckles, a Speckled Sussex like our Sussey, wasn't laying eggs and wasn't following the flock. They invited us to participate. After a quick read of the Hip Chick Digs method for slaughtering a backyard bird, we headed out for our first chicken kill.

Alex held Speckles and we all said goodbye to her. Hanging her upside down by the feet and covering her eyes, Alex yanked the neck to break it. She was dead in less than five seconds.

Our friend cut the head off and Alex held the bird as about a quarter cup of blood drained away. The chicken's body seized and wings flapped, natural post mortem movements.

A large pot of sub-boiling (140 degree) water was brought outside and Alex dunked the body in for twelve seconds to loosen the feathers. A stench not unlike singed hair filled the air.

We carried the body inside and everyone went to work removing feathers. This job was less tedious than we expected, though many hands contributed. Many feathers were saved for the kids to explore and craft with.

Alex started the butchering by removed the neck bones. Then, he carefully cut a 'Y' shape on the lower abdomen, cut between the cloacha (anus) and tail and pulled out the entrails. We were all fascinated with the chicken anatomy.

The two children were interested in all the body parts so while two adults rinsed and chilled the bird, others dissected the heart, observed the intestines, cleaned the liver, and cut open the stomach. Later Alex found the crop, the stone filled sack chickens use to partially digest their food.

Already we would sense that this bird would be different than any we had tasted. Under the skin and around the organs were huge masses of yellow fat. The leg muscles (drumsticks in culinary terminology) were small in comparison to the body size.

Once fully cleaned, our friends invited us to share a lunch of roasted Speckles with them. Alex trussed the bird with skewers and we surrounded her with onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes, all covered with salt and lemon pepper.

The bird cooked quickly. The flesh was chewier than a broiler bird but very mildly flavored. We did not consume the copious fat, leaving most on the carcass to roast with the bones and make stock.

For some reason, the kids attached to the feet. Each wanted one to preserve for 'making into a tree for the train set' and 'making into a halloween decoration'. We are salt curing ours to draw out moisture and then we'll dry it. Even these oft-discarded parts are finding uses.

Like when we slaughtered the pig, I feel like this was an honest end to this chicken. We killed her humanely. Her flesh fed six for lunch and will provide at least one if not two meals for our three friends. Dissecting her body provided an anatomy education for all of us. The children experienced empathy towards animals, one of many lessons to be learned by witnessing an animal slaughter. Once again I conclude that to know a meal from backyard to plate is immensely satisfying.