Meats and Beets

            Yesterday was the first official day of summer for 2012.  This week has certainly felt like summer with 90 plus degree days.  As I am writing this, the predicted high for Saturday is back down into the 80’s, which will make for nicer temperatures for visiting Farmers Market. 

            For those of you who take the time to preserve the summer harvest by canning and freezing, now is the time to get your supplies organized and prepared.  I speak from experience when I say don’t wait until the last minute to buy canning supplies because, sure enough, if you wait until the day you are ready to start, the store will be sold out.

Now is also the time to go through the freezer and use up any produce left from last year.  That way you will have enough space when this year’s crops are ready.  Another important tip is to check your freezer frequently to make sure it is working properly.  Earlier this week we had a freezer malfunction and discovered that all of the contents of our kitchen freezer had thawed out.  I’m just so glad it was not our large deep freeze which is currently holding half a beef and all of the deer meat.  Needless to say, I am now going to invest in a freezer alarm as an extra precaution.  It will warn us if the freezer temperature gets too high.  Last summer my friend Sarah had the same thing happen and lost all of the tomatoes she had worked so hard to preserve for the winter months.  You don’t want a whole summer’s worth of hard work to be wasted, so be sure to check often.

Since I haven’t yet convinced my family to let me raise pigs, I buy a lot of pork from the meat vendors at Farmer’s Market.  This accounted for a large portion our meat that accidently thawed out.  First, I fixed a large crockpot of pork and homemade sauerkraut, which we ate for about three days.  Being one of my favorite meals, I didn’t really mind.  Then, on Tuesday my grandma came over and she and my mom and one of my cousin’s children made a large quantity of ham salad.  It was pretty neat to have four generations in the kitchen at once working on the project.  Mom and Grandma wanted it to taste “just like what they used to get at Zakany’s” and in the end they decided they succeeded.  However, the project was slightly messy and time consuming, so I suggest you go the easy route and let the meat vendors at our market do the work for you and try their ham salad and other spreads.

Beautiful beets are now showing up on the vendors’ tables at market.  I was raised by a mother who hates beets more than any other vegetable in the world, so my appreciation for them has only come about in the last couple of years.  I figured out that there are wonderful ways to cook them.  Here is an adapted version of a beet salad recipe from allrecipes.com.  I changed the method of cooking the beets to roasting, because it is quicker and tastier in my opinion. 

Honey Beet Salad

·        4 large beets

·        1 T. olive oil

·        3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

·        1 tablespoon honey

·        1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

·        1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

·        1/4 cup chopped sweet onion

·        1/4 cup chopped walnuts

·        1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

·        2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

·        salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425º.  Cut beets into bite size pieces, coat with olive oil, and spread on baking sheet.  Roast in oven for about 20 min.  Whisk balsamic vinegar, honey, red wine vinegar, and black pepper together in a bowl. Stir slightly cooled beets, onion, and walnuts into vinegar dressing. Sprinkle with blue cheese, parsley, and salt to serve.