“Clever and simple, the best things usually are”,  is a quote I came across this morning while searching  one of my favorite blogs.

Purely Farm raises organically pastured chicken, turkey, pork and lamb. Marc and Joanna Michini operate a small diversified farm dedicated to sustainable agriculture, the humane treatment of animals, and an organic way of life.  Their goal: to provide the local community with quality and wholesome organically pastured meats. Chickens are raised with no hormones or antibiotics and with no GMO feed or chemical additives.

The Michinis offer  their  birds a grazing buffet of green grass, crickets and insects along with an organic grain ration.  “Our birds forage in portable shelters which are moved twice a day ensuring fresh pasture, exercise and clean air…our hogs are rotated between pastures where they consume green grass, plenty of roots and a variety of sub-soil treats.  We supplement their pastured diet with an organic grain ration containing no GMO feed or chemical additives.  Our happy hogs receive plenty of exercise as they chase each other around their pasture playing in the fresh air and sunshine…our lambs are raised on lush organic pasture and are 100% grass-fed.  Given room to graze, they are free to eat what they like and grow at their own natural rhythms.”

I recently visited Marc and Joanna between massive snowstorms at their rented farm in Pipersville, PA.  I have had many conversations with the couple over the past 3 weeks and enjoyed talking to them about their farming methods and their commitment to provide their product to their neighbors.   Talking with Joanna is like talking talking to a chef about customers.  Joanna runs down the list of Mrs. Blank and Mr. Blank who like this product or that item, and how she has to make sure that this particular favorite is available to them on a given day.  Twice monthly they have “Farm Days” where their customers can pick up products at the farm.  Its not the first time that I have had a talk with farmers who waxed poetic about these days being get-togethers for the community where a conversation about what-have-you starts and continues throughout the day.

Marc  took me for a walk around the extensive farm. (He apologized for the length and was happy that the snow had covered up the mud.  I didn’t mind.)  I  offered my inexperienced hand to Marc and Joanna a couple of times and still hope they will someday take me up on it.  Marc pointed out the intricacies of each group of animals as we walked.  He explained how he checks the eyes of one animal, the teats of another, the size of another, the feed eaten by another group, the protection offered to another and so on.

What struck  me most was the answer to a question I posed to Marc and Joanna at the end of our talk.  I asked them what makes their animals special.  The answer was simple.  A great diet, a stress-free environment, the care that goes into taking care of their animals.  After viewing  the field where Marc and Joanna planted clover for their chickens and baby piglets to eat,  there is no doubt in my mind that they are right.

I tasted  Purely Farm’s sweet sausage, pork chops, breakfast sausage, and bacon, and will make my way through the rest of their offerings.   Purely Farm, Joanna & Marc Michini, 55 Municipal Road,  Pipersville, PA 18947     215-317-0889

Lets cook!

Basil Brined Pork Chops with Broccoli Rabe and New Potatoes

For this recipe I used two Purely Farm pork chops.  I think they are big enough to serve two hearty-eating people with enough leftover to make a couple of sandwiches the next day.  Remember to use the rib bones to flavor a stock to use as a base for a great split pea soup. Three meals in one package of chops.

For the Brine
1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped fine  (I used some from my garden this summer that I froze)
1/2 teaspoon salt ( I used Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt from Louisville)
1/2 teaspoon coarse black  pepper (ditto)
2 ounces rice wine
2 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

For the Dish
2 Purely Pork Chops
8 new potatoes, boiled until just soft in 3 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt
1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, boiled to al dente in the same salted water
8 garlic cloves, slivered
1 Spanish onion, chopped medium
2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock

Method
Soak chops in brine overnight in a small covered casserole dish. Remove chops from brine and let drain in a colander.  Salt and pepper lightly. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat and place chops gently in pan.  Let chops brown (approx 4 minutes on each side), and then turn them over to side browned first.  Turn down heat slightly and add onion and garlic to saute pan.  Sautee the garlic and onion next to the chops until well browned (about 8 more minutes). Turn the chops while the vegetables are cooking to prevent burning.  Remove chops and put on a warm plate , covered.  (Your chops will be about medium at this point. Or, for      more well done chops, you may want to place them in a preheated 375 degree oven for a few minutes while you add the potatoes and brocoli rabe to saute pan.) Add the potatoes, broccoli rabe and parsley to the pan and cook for about 4 or 5  minutes. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.  Remove everything from the pan and add stock. Turn up the pan, scrape your pan of its browned bits and reduce to about 1/2 cup.  Plate the chops, the vegetables and pour the sauce over all.

Who knows what direction a blog will take? I have always thought that recipes and cooking would be a part of my blog.  It’s my love!  It turns out that one of my readers asked for and was missing the crab cakes at our restaurant. Since I am not cooking for the masses anymore,  I figured I would teach a man/woman to fish and give everyone the recipe. Yes…. I checked… and crab meat is on the Monterey Bay Aquarium  “good alternatives” list. How about some caper mayonnaise to go with them?

This recipe makes approximately eight 3 ½  ounce cakes.  (There is no typo.  You need a can of jumbo lump AND a can of lump crab meat.)

Crab Cakes

1 pound  fresh jumbo lump crab meat, drained
1 pound fresh lump crab meat, drained
1 large stalk celery, minced
½ red pepper, minced
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh dill finely, chopped
½ teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 to 1 ½ cups unseasoned bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Saute celery and red pepper  in  one tablespoon of oil over medium heat until translucent.  Cool these vegetables and in a medium bowl combine remaining ingredients except breadcrumbs. Mix together lightly. Add 1 cup bread crumbs and fold together with crab mixture mixing only to combine. If mixture feels wet add more crumbs. The idea is to add enough crumbs so that the cakes stick together but are not “bready.” Add salt and pepper to taste.  Be careful with the salt.  Salt permeates the crab very quickly.

Let the mixture stand in a refrigerator for about one hour.  Form into balls and then flatten bottom and top to form a “puck”. (This exposes more of the cake to the bottom of the pan when sauteing.)  Pour remaining oil into saute pan and heat to medium/hot .  The oil should be hot the cake.  Turn the cakes  and repeat.  Sauteeing should take about 8 minutes total  but use your judgment on browning .  The cakes should be about ¾ the size of a cup measure in diameter.  The small size of the cakes ensures that when the  cakes are brown, they will also be warm in the center.

Caper Mayonnaise
1 cup mayonaisse
1 tablespoon  capers, chopped fine
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon  fresh parsley, chopped fine
pepper to taste

Combine ingredients and mix well.  Serve a dollop with crab cakes.

Notes: Serve a smaller cake as an hors d’ oeuvres. Use as a seafood stuffing or even a dip mixed with 1/2 pound of softened cream cheese.

I  first met Lucia Heubner at a meeting at The Yardley Inn hosted by  the restaurant’s chef, Eben Copple. Six of us talked about what was new with the food movement. We were there to talk about Mobile Slaughter Units.  I filled my notebook with Lucia’s alphabet soup of  farm organizations, books, movements, small farms, farmers,websites and book clubs. I  visited her farm in  Hopewell and met her in her element. In thirty minutes she stoked her woodstove, watered her animals, tended to a sick animal, scolded her Australian sheppard, calmed a shaking calf, dumped four frozen water buckets, talked about and showed me her farm. She apologized for the “sloppy” barn and said that when her daughter got home from college she would likely kill her for letting in get “that” way.

After the tour she filled another one of my notebook pages with her geyser of knowledge and experience. She mentioned  NOFA, and its mission to build healthy farms, healthy food, healthy lands and a vibrant community. She also spoke the importance of defining  “sustainability” in which we’re all engaged. And, she invited me to join her at  a book club in Princeton …take a breath…She has  me reading Real Food by Nina Planck, The Revolution Will not be Microwaved, The End of Overeating; looking up Meatingplace.com, Newfarm.org.  She asked me to meet with David Becker of Burning Heart Farm, Karen Anderson of  NOFA NJ, to find out more about  the Westin Price Foundation, and……well…you get the idea!

Lucia and her husband sell their grass fed beef at their  farm in Hopewell NJ.
Beechtree Farm
Lucia and CharlesHuebner
web.mac.com/beechtreefarm
609-466 0277