Goat Stew

After eating fully vegetarian meals since going to the farmers market (not all vegan as I enjoyed some of Saxon Homestead Creamery's amazing green fields cheese -- you can taste the grass!) I had to try some of the meat I bought from Mint Creek Farm.  I made some goat stew with Mint Creek's goat kabob meat.  This is a very cheap cut and reminded me that those who complain of grass fed meat's prohibitive cost should consider that those who can't afford a filet from a grass fed steer don't need to buy a filet from a corn fed steer -- they could buy the cheaper cuts which, prepared properly, are in my opinion sometimes better.  The meat was certainly "gamey" and I do believe I could taste the grass.  Michael Pollan meets a farmer who raises cattle, pigs and chickens in the Omnivore's Dilemma who calls himself a grass farmer.  Healthy grass is the key to it all.  Well Mint Creek seems to agree.  What's the first thing they discuss on their website?  Nothing short of the types of grasses on their fields that their sheep and goats are eating.  There's no discussion here of marbeling, tenderness, cheap prices, or other descriptions of the end product (the butchered meat in your fridge or freezer).  Instead Mint Creek discusses the individual types of grasses their animals eat, and mentions what this means: simply healthy animals.  From that the rest follows.

I have to say that my mood and energy levels have been up and I noticed it considerably throughout this holiday weekend.  While there may be other explanations, I am so far convinced that eating some meat is the right move.

I perhaps prematurely defrosted the lamb kidney so I'm going to have to find a good recipe for that and freeze the finished product.

Farmer's Market!

One of the best things about summer is the farmer's markets.  Most of the Chicago neighborhood farmers markets have not started yet (they will open in early June), but some of the ones downtown and a few others have been open for weeks now.  I went to the one at the Daley Center on Thursday and was a bit disappointed as I remembered that the ones downtown are often more fairs then farmer's markets (ad of course you have to be pretty strategic about what you buy).  Today I hit up a little market off Armitage just east of Halsted, and then the mega Green City Market.  I'm embarrassed to say this was my first time at the Green City Market.  It's on Clark just north of North Ave.  GCM is huge with a tremendous variety, including all the grass fed and pastured dairy, eggs and meat you can imagine.  I walked away with two types of raw cheeses from Saxon Homestead Creamery (these are full milk fat from grass fed cows -- you can't get more authentic than this), goat meat, lamb kidney, lamb liver and lamb chorizo sausage from Mint Creek Farm (all totally free range grass fed) and turkey drumsticks from T.J.'s Free Range Poultry (completely pasture raised).  (I realize not everyone finds the thought of organ meat apetizing, but it is believed to be extremely healthy for human consumption -- something I'll talk more about another time.)  Mint Creek and T.J.'s also sell eggs from pasture-raised chickens and other vendors were selling milk from grass-fed cows (sadly it was all pasteurized but it's illegal otherwise).  I also picked up some amazing foraged mushrooms, farm-made pasta sauce, and some veggies.  

The meat was all frozen, which in some ways was unfortunate, but the only way to be able to buy any type of meat any time of year is to buy it frozen or to buy it from around the world.  Of course this is local, seasonal eating.  Asparagas was all the rage with things like tomatoes (that don't get going until later in the season) hard to come by (and not very good looking when you saw them).  

One of the things I was surprised to learn recently is that just like vegetables are seasonal, so are animals.  Farmers only slaughter certain animals certain times a year -- due to the times when they are born and then reach proper size and maturity for slaughter.  So if you want fresh chicken all year round, it can come from down the street when chickens are "in season" but 6 months later they will be coming from New Zealand.  So the freezer may be a decent compromise.  

I'm really looking forward to checking out the Green City Market in the future and exploring the neighborhood farmers markets as they begin to open over the next few weeks.