Apparently we have at least three chickies going, one of which is a monster. This now puts us at over a dozen eggs in the fridge, so we'll either have to get another egg carton or start on ice cream and quiche soon. And really, I'm guessing the onslaught has yet to begin. Fun.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
This morning's haul
Apparently we have at least three chickies going, one of which is a monster. This now puts us at over a dozen eggs in the fridge, so we'll either have to get another egg carton or start on ice cream and quiche soon. And really, I'm guessing the onslaught has yet to begin. Fun.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Green eggs! (Well, green egg at least.)
We got our first green egg today, undoubtedly from the Chairman (the Easter Egger) -- all the others should lay brown eggs. Supposedly the EEs lay extra-large eggs, but this one was tiny compared to the others we've been getting. Maybe her eggs will get bigger as she gets a little older. So, we now have confirmed two chickens laying, perhaps three. Shrimpy egg below:
Monday, August 3, 2009
Salt crusted branzini
This bit of background threatens to be embarrassing, but I suppose it's time to embrace it or at the very least amuse myself with the obnoxiousness. Listening to NPR* the other day, I heard a story about a team at UMBI that designed sustainable* indoor aquaculture technologies that can be implemented in an urban setting* - basically, they are raising non-native fish in an indoor enclosure downtown, I believe, with the idea being that this can be replicated anywhere, regardless of proximity to water, thereby eliminating the potential impact on the local ecosystem and need to import fresh food. (You can read more about that here.) A few weeks ago, I found branzini at the farmer's market* when picking up our CSA share*, and thought it was odd. Yesterday, they had more and after asking, I was told that the group at UMBI occasionally brings up their fish to be sold at Mill Valley. Got to love that. E and I decided to pick up one for dinner. At $6, it was totally reasonable, and super fresh - they had apparently been dropped off that morning. Best of all, it gave E a chance to try the salt crusted fish recipe he saw somewhere a while ago.
The fish was about 1 lb, and came complete with all of its guts.
I haven't had the opportunity to clean a fish before (although I've dissected some), so I watched while E did all the work. After some deliberation we decided not to scale it - partially to save the mess, and partially because we hoped it would protect the fish from the salt.
After it was cleaned, it was time to bury the thing in salt. Most recipes we found called for rock salt, although a few said kosher salt was okay. The consensus, however, was that the larger the salt crystals, the better. We therefore hit the hardware store and picked up a 40lb bag for all of $6.
We laid down about 1/2 inch deep layer of salt on the bottom of a 9"x13" pan (better to hold in the mountain of salt coming), and sprinkled some pepper and scattered a few bay leaves on top. E stuffed the fish with some fresh thyme from the backyard* and laid it on top. Then, he packed salt around the fish, and we stuck it in the oven.
An hour later, we pulled it out. Superficially it didn't look much different, but after scraping away the salt (which did indeed form a bit of a crust), it was clear the fish was done. Although it used quite a bit of salt, this was perfectly cooked and outrageously delicious. 
The recipe:
One whole fish, gutted, scales on
Thyme
Lots of rock salt
Lemon juice
Pepper
Bay leaves
Stuff thyme into the fish, along with a little lemon juice. Lay on a 1/2 inch deep bed of rock salt in a 9"x13" pan. Cover the fish with a mound of salt. Bake at 425F for one hour.
Eric adds:
Just a note about the salt. We were going back and forth a bit over what kind of salt to use. We figured that a whole box of coarse kosher salt would work, but would be sort of pricey ($2.59 for 3 lbs, according to Safeway's site) and kind of a waste, but neither were we completely comfortable using driveway de-icer. Internet searches ranged from no mention to omigod your children will die.
Fortunately, the kid at Lowes pointed us to something we hadn't considered, which was rock salt for water softeners. Most of them came in these weird football shaped pellets and some of them were potassium chloride, instead of regular old NaCl aka Halite aka table salt, but Diamond Crystal apparently sells regular rock salt in 40lb bags. At $6 for 40 lbs, that works out to about 15 cents/lb,or roughly six times cheaper than using the coarse kosher.
Of course now we have 35 lbs of rock salt, but that's a different story.
The fish was about 1 lb, and came complete with all of its guts.
I haven't had the opportunity to clean a fish before (although I've dissected some), so I watched while E did all the work. After some deliberation we decided not to scale it - partially to save the mess, and partially because we hoped it would protect the fish from the salt.
After it was cleaned, it was time to bury the thing in salt. Most recipes we found called for rock salt, although a few said kosher salt was okay. The consensus, however, was that the larger the salt crystals, the better. We therefore hit the hardware store and picked up a 40lb bag for all of $6.
We laid down about 1/2 inch deep layer of salt on the bottom of a 9"x13" pan (better to hold in the mountain of salt coming), and sprinkled some pepper and scattered a few bay leaves on top. E stuffed the fish with some fresh thyme from the backyard* and laid it on top. Then, he packed salt around the fish, and we stuck it in the oven.
An hour later, we pulled it out. Superficially it didn't look much different, but after scraping away the salt (which did indeed form a bit of a crust), it was clear the fish was done. Although it used quite a bit of salt, this was perfectly cooked and outrageously delicious. 
The recipe:
One whole fish, gutted, scales on
Thyme
Lots of rock salt
Lemon juice
Pepper
Bay leaves
Stuff thyme into the fish, along with a little lemon juice. Lay on a 1/2 inch deep bed of rock salt in a 9"x13" pan. Cover the fish with a mound of salt. Bake at 425F for one hour.
Eric adds:
Just a note about the salt. We were going back and forth a bit over what kind of salt to use. We figured that a whole box of coarse kosher salt would work, but would be sort of pricey ($2.59 for 3 lbs, according to Safeway's site) and kind of a waste, but neither were we completely comfortable using driveway de-icer. Internet searches ranged from no mention to omigod your children will die.
Fortunately, the kid at Lowes pointed us to something we hadn't considered, which was rock salt for water softeners. Most of them came in these weird football shaped pellets and some of them were potassium chloride, instead of regular old NaCl aka Halite aka table salt, but Diamond Crystal apparently sells regular rock salt in 40lb bags. At $6 for 40 lbs, that works out to about 15 cents/lb,or roughly six times cheaper than using the coarse kosher.
Of course now we have 35 lbs of rock salt, but that's a different story.
Basil, basil, basil, basil, and more basil
The basil has been ready to be picked (heavily) for the past couple weeks, and I've been prolonging the agony by snipping off the tops for some time now. Last night, the work began. The three plants from the community garden yielded about 16 cups of basil leaves. A gigantic head of garlic, tons of olive oil, and a pound of romano/parmesan later, and we have more pesto than we could conceivably eat in a year. There's still another two plants' worth to deal with tonight, not to mention another crop later in the summer. Thank god for the food processor. 
The pesto recipe:
3 c loosely packed basil leaves
3-4 big garlic cloves
1/2 c walnut pieces (pinenuts if you're feeling fancy and/or rich)
2 oz shredded parm/romano/anything else that looks interesting
~1/3 c olive oil
1 t salt (E likes more)
1/4 t pepper
Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except olive oil. Process until uniformly chopped and folding easily. Drizzle in olive oil slowly while the food processor is running.
Eric adds:
My hypothesis about the salt (and to a lesser extent the garlic and the oil) is that you want pesto to be pretty robust and maybe slightly overseasoned. You're never going to eat it by itself, so the flavor of it when it's not on pasta or chicken isn't a good gauge of how it's going to be in the final dish.
That said, Jess's pesto is excellent.
The pesto recipe:
3 c loosely packed basil leaves
3-4 big garlic cloves
1/2 c walnut pieces (pinenuts if you're feeling fancy and/or rich)
2 oz shredded parm/romano/anything else that looks interesting
~1/3 c olive oil
1 t salt (E likes more)
1/4 t pepper
Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients except olive oil. Process until uniformly chopped and folding easily. Drizzle in olive oil slowly while the food processor is running.
Eric adds:
My hypothesis about the salt (and to a lesser extent the garlic and the oil) is that you want pesto to be pretty robust and maybe slightly overseasoned. You're never going to eat it by itself, so the flavor of it when it's not on pasta or chicken isn't a good gauge of how it's going to be in the final dish.
That said, Jess's pesto is excellent.
Nesting boxes
After getting our second egg (or rather an egg from a second chicken), we decided it was definitely time for nesting boxes. Eric built us a great stacked pair of nesting boxes, complete with tilted floors and a little lip on the back so the eggs don't fall out. Soon this phase of coop renovation will be complete with the addition of a little cut out door on the side so we can peak in and snatch up the eggs. 
To the left, you'll notice our golf ball eggs. Apparently you need to give the chickies some idea of what these boxes are for and hope they eventually get the idea. They actually sell wooden eggs for this purpose, but I would imagine the chickens don't care much one way or the other.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
More eggs!
This morning Eric went out to collect our more or less daily egg and found an unexpected egg sitting out in the run. The second egg was lighter than those we've been getting (the new egg is on the right in the photo, from the old batch on the left), and it's unlikely The Colonel was in double-time laying mode anyway, so it's almost certainly another chicken. Given her odd posture yesterday, I'm guessing it was the Pol Pot chicken. It was certainly the Colonel bitch-chicken that pecked and broke this new egg when Eric took it out of the run. Jerk. Sadly we had to throw it away. Hopefully that was a one time thing. Next addition to the coop: laying boxes! (And, if we're particularly industrious, the roost needs to be moved, or a lower one added.)
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