Farm Kitchen Report Jan 21, 2010

Or... how to make dinner in 7 minutes.

Do you know what I love about farming/self-sufficiency/self-reliance whatever you want to call it?  I love being prepared. Especially in the kitchen, I love having a well run, well managed, well stocked kitchen. I spend a lot of time growing, processing, and stocking up the ol' larder so we are usually in tip top shape. Not only will we be ready for the zombie apocalypse and the end of life as we know it... but its also perfect for emergency situations – like this:

Last nite, after a full day of sulking and whining as the Winter Of My Discontent '10 slogged into The Big Mud Fest outside, I decided there was no way I was standing over the stove making dinner.  I went downstairs and informed The Big Man that I was “On Strike.”

Normally when I announce that I'm “On Strike” The Big Man leaps up and says “Don't worry! I'll make dinner”.... and then he hurries off to call the local pizza place. I love it.



However, we had gotten home late after driving all over three counties earlier in the day... and neither one of us was about to go out one more time. So this is what I did:

1.Skulked downstairs to one of the freezers and pulled out a baggie of tomato sauce from last summer's Big Tomato Harvest.
2.Opened the Meat Freezer and grabbed out a baggie of turkey x pork meatballs – already cooked and ready for action.
3.Cut open the sauce and plopped it in a big pot over low heat on the stove. I returned to sulking on the couch.
4.When I could smell the sauce I heaved up off the couch, microzapped the meatballs until they were thawed, then threw them in with the sauce. I returned to sulking on the couch.
5.After listening to the plucky weather guy talk for about 5 mins about how we would never be warm and dry again.. ever... I heaved up again from the couch and made a quick cheese/bechamel sauce (3 Tbls of butter, 3 Tbls of flour, cook for a minute or two, add 1.5 cups of milk, stir, add handful of cheese, a bit of garlic, black pepper and nutmeg).  By the time it was done the tomato sauce had thickened and the meatballs were warmed throughout.
6.Meatballs and sauce were slid into a baking pan, cheese sauce on top, a dusting of parm and 15 mins in a hot oven later...

Dinner!

I was clever enough to have made bread earlier in the day so the whole dinner thing took about seven  minutes of actual standing up time. Which left me plenty of time to sulk about how winter is Bad and summer is so far away.

And that's why I love being prepared....

(note: how to make meatballs - thanks Rach!)