All posts tagged: Sport Hill Farm

Bringing Something to the Party

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What to bring to a summer party? I got beautiful carrots and beets from the Black Rock Farmer’s Market. The beets came from Sport Hill Farm. My friend Red Bee Marina, who was hosting a little gathering in her garden, suggested coleslaw, but the carrots were too cute to shred. So I cleaned them up, blanched them, and pickled them whole. The brine was one cup of apple cider vinegar, one cup of warm water, salt, pepper, onions, ginger, herbs from the garden–lemon balm, thyme, marjoram, chives–and a little honey. Beets Because it’s summer and I didn’t want the house to get too hot, I boiled the beets. (Roasting in the oven is my preferred method.) After they were tender, I slipped off the skins, sliced the beets, and put them in brine.The carrots and beets rested in the brine, in the fridge, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., till we left the house. I repacked them in Ball jars for travel. After a glass of prosecco, everyone went to Marina and Vic’s garden, and picked greens for pesto.  I picked mint and …

Pozole at Home, Sort of

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Cooking at home is a continuous process. We bought pork hocks from Patti Popp at Sport Hill Farm in Easton. The pigs were raised by Patti and her husband Al. We rubbed the hocks with salt and pepper, and roasted them on a bed of onions, carrots and celery, and added water before covering the pan with foil to create moist heat. That night we ate the hocks with mashed potatoes, gravy and honey-parsley carrots. I sliced some tender meat off the bones. Men like putting the whole hock on their plate. The next day, we had leftover meat. Hocks are the perfect consistency for making a quick homemade pozole. What is pozole? It’s a Mexican stew made of hominy and pork. It’s served on weekends at restaurants such as Los Poblanos in Norwalk and El Paraiso in Bridgeport. The fun part is it’s served with a whole bunch of condiments — green and red sauce, limes, avocado, raw onions, dried oregano, fried tortillas or tostados smeared with beans and topped with shredded lettuce and avocado. I love the whole enterprise of …

Pork from the Farm

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Our friend farmer Patti Popp of Sport Hill Farm asked how we cook pork hocks. Patti raises pigs and sells excellent pork. We got this pork hock from Sport Hill Farm. Pork hocks like to be cooked in moist heat. So first, I put the hock in a pot of cold water and brought it to a boil. Then I removed the hock, rinsed it, dumped out the water and rinsed out the pot. Then I put the hock back in the clean pot, added cold water, a bay leaf, a couple peppercorns, and some salt.  After it simmered for about three hours, and the meat was tender, I removed the hock, cut everything off the bones — meat, skin and the white blubbery-looing stuff — and chopped it up. This has to be done while the meat is still warm.  Note: Don’t throw out the cooking liquid. You’ll need some for the hocks and you can cook  a delicious green pea or bean soup in the broth. Then, I added a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, a …