Every few weeks, we drive out to Concord, Mass., stop in at Verrill Farm for some produce (um, and 2 or 6 of their mocha chocolate-chip cookies), and then drive just down the road. We park in a small, muddy lot next to a horse stable, and walk down to an almost-hidden little door with a wooden chicken hanging on it. Inside the door is a tiny room containing a refrigerator (which contains pastured chicken eggs by the dozen) and a large freezer filled with fresh, local meat.
In addition to being a great way to support a local food source, it's just plain fun to go to Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds. Slipping through that door feels like a secret privilege. And walking out again with farm fresh eggs (their laying hens live the good, grass-munching life in a mobile coop) feels like a special gift. In the summer, one of our favorite dinners is a couple of super-fresh eggs, sunny side up, oozing bright yellow yolk over a hash of seasonal vegetables. Ooh, summer:
But I digress. Eating local in a New England winter means eating meat. And I missed my chance to get orders in for Pete & Jen's meat chickens, plus I don't eat pork. But lucky me, because they currently have in their freezer grass-fed beef that's pastured in Southborough, Massachusetts!
We bolted over there right after getting the email alerting us to this exciting development last Sunday, and we came home with a beautiful chuck round roast and a pound of ground beef. And last night, we chowed on pot roast - brightened with the biggest honkin' carrots I've ever seen (which we picked up at Verrill's), and stewed slowly in a braising liquid that's half Barefoot Contessa and half of my Great-Aunt Dot:
Equal parts tomato juice and ginger ale.
The ginger ale gives a little zing to the roast, and the tomato juice tenderizes and flavors the whole thing. Four hours on low heat, a little brown rice to sop up the juice, and dinner was served.
Do you have any local food sources that feel like your own special secrets? Come on, it's just between us chickens....and grass-fed cows.
To tenderize meat put a few drops of vinegar into the pot, good for rabbits
Posted by: stewart | January 13, 2010 at 07:03 AM
Mmmm. Pot roast...
Posted by: John | February 25, 2009 at 06:59 PM
I belong to a meat CSA in Vermont. The farmer raises grass-fed beef, veal, and pork, and delivers it (frozen) to Massachusetts once a month in 10, 15, or 20 lb shares. It's truly the best meat I've ever eaten. They also raise chickens, but are not allowed to sell the meat outside of Vermont due to some wacky state regulation. Sometimes we're able to get eggs, and they are amazing.
You can also often get meat at Drumlin Farm...
Posted by: betsey | February 25, 2009 at 02:32 PM