Eat, Drink, Cook: Food haiku to greet the new

As the old year leaves

get out cans of black-eyed peas,

review recipes

How's that for a New Year's Day haiku? The Southern tradition of having black-eyed peas to encourage good luck has spread nationwide, and bean dishes have heft and nutrition, a good way to start the year off. One option is to make a rich shimmery beef and beer stew and add some black-eyed peas to it. Allow me to recommend Amanda Bristol's beef stew made with a locally brewed, seasonal ale from Bristol Brewing, (you might even have some party extras setting around)... We've published the recipe a couple of times in our Ranch Foods Direct newsletter, but I'll repost it here.

If the crisp air and bright sunlight of this first day of 2012 leaves you less than ambitious about spending time in the kitchen, how about a stovetop version of cheesy black-eyed pea dip, served with Colorado-made crispbread crackers left over from last night or some fresh broccoli and apples slices?

Here's how to do it (in my case, modified to suit the pantry ingredients already on hand; make substitutions as needed or to taste):

Diced bacon (just a little for extra flavor), onion and Jalapeno pepper, gently pan-fried together in smoked olive oil; a can of diced tomatoes and some corn kernels (frozen or canned); seasoned with a teaspoon of cumin and of thyme and a half-teaspoon of paprika and chili powder; a 15-oz. can of black-eyed peas, drained; and a big pinch of salt and ground black pepper; topped with 4 to 8 ounces of creamy Haystack Mountain goat cheese, crumbled and melted.

In honor of "Bean Day" on January 6, look for more bean recipes in our forthcoming January 2012 customer newsletter (shown here).

Celebrated signpost of summer

Celebrated signpost of summer: the first Colorado peaches have arrived at Ranch Foods Direct from the Western slope of the mountains. Peach season signals a special interlude in the ongoing kitchen ritual that extends from spring until a few weeks after the final freeze. But peaches are so good, it's often hard to wait until you can get them to the kitchen, as at least one poet has noted...

"From laden boughs, from hands, 
from sweet fellowship in the bins, 
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all..."

— Li-Young Lee (Read the complete poem here.)

Blind rush and bald pleasure aside, peaches do lend themselves to slightly more complex compilations of food bliss, blessings which include peach salsa, peaches grilled, peach pie or cobbler. The fruit's sensual sweetness stands out in a dish or lends delight to a minimal mix of ingredients. Here's a perfect demonstration: Martha Stewart Living's simple side salad of peaches, basil and red onion marries three of summer's most memorable flavors in an elegant splash of sunny golden colors. Art for the table, rendered effortless.

Relish these words: Cheered by cherries

Just as the plump, wine-red cherries from the Western slope of Colorado ripened (Ranch Foods Direct gets them from the Glenn Austin family at Paonia) I came across a book at the library I’ve long wanted to read called Cherries in Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times. Author Suzan Colon, a New York magazine publishing exec, describes being laid off during the current recession but finding herself spending more time in the kitchen, cooking and sharing family stories with her mother, drawing inspiration from women of earlier generations who lived with more uncertainty and got by on far less.

She writes: “I’ve learned that there’s a difference between showing up for dinner at my parents’ house and making dinner with my mother: as the ingredients go into the food, the stories come out of the making.”

The stories teach her that being poor doesn’t mean living poor, if you remind yourself to splurge occasionally on something simple and fabulous like winter “bings,” fine French raisins juicy with “joie de vivre” or a new blue porcelain vase in a store window available for the price of eating only bread and applesauce for dinner.

Another timeless lesson: Change what you can, and make the best of the rest. Looking back over her family’s journey and reflecting on her own, she writes: “Sometimes what looked at first like more rotten luck turned out to be fate’s little crooked smile.”

Hers is a heart-warming book for dispelling the chill of somber economic times. As publisher Random House describes: “It makes you want to cook, it makes you want to know your own family’s stories, and, above all, it makes you feel rich no matter what.”

She includes a few old family recipes, including this simple treatment of a picnic staple that makes use of the earthy, robust potatoes now in season:

German Potato Salad

4 slices bacon

1 cup diluted vinegar (1/2 cup vinegar plus ½ cup water)

1/4 cup sugar

6 good-sized cooked potatoes, diced

3 onions, diced

Cut bacon into small pieces and brown in frying pan. Add vinegar and sugar and allow to cook together until heated and sugar is dissolved. Add to cooked diced potatoes and diced onions and allow to heat through.

Eat, Drink, Cook: Chicken fries and buttermilk pies

I still remember my first taste of buttermilk pie.

It happened last year at the Pikes Peak or Bust chuckwagon cook-off.

During competitions, chuckwagon cooks are all provided with a few common ingredients and allowed to improvise. Twice this month, Ranch Foods Direct provided competing teams with beef and let them work their rustic magic. Over Fourth of July weekend, prior to the Ride for the Brand Ranch Rodeo, the contestants cooked up melt-in-your-mouth tender chicken-fried steak and whisked up gravy in their cast iron cookery.

For the Pikes Peak or Bust competition, cooks had their choice of working with cube steaks or a chuck roll.

Teams tend to have their preferences and specialties.

Kit and Phil Haddock with the Heart Bar Wagon from over at Monument — who often cater events featuring Callicrate Beef — are masters at turning simple peaches into a perfectly cooked fruit-studded golden brown bread pudding.

One of the teams last year introduced me to a favorite of theirs, buttermilk pie, which at the time didn't sound particularly appealing (despite the fact that I consider buttermilk indispensable for baking), but, wow, it was dreamy good.

I still haven't gotten around to making it myself but when I do I will probably turn to one of the many great pie recipes contributed by Amy Graham (owner of Smiley's Cafe, 323 N. Tejon) to Top of the Range: A Recipe Collection, a stellar cookbook put together last year by award-winning and perennially popular Front Range Barbeque. Looks to be luscious, but with minimal effort. 

Lemon Buttermilk Pie

3 large eggs, room temp

1 cup granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 9-inch partially baked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat 3 large eggs until creamy and lemon colored. Gradually add, while beating, 1 cup sugar and beat until thick. Blend in, in this order: 1/8 teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons flour, 3 tablespoons melted butter, 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice. 

Turn beater to low speed and slowly add 1 1/2 cups buttermilk. Beat until well mixed. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon powdered sugar over the pie crust bottom. (This is to help prevent the crust from becoming soggy.)

Pour filling into partially baked shell. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Refrigerate any leftovers. Garnish with whipped cream and lemon twists.