I know, I know, not really a thing, this ‘catching up on a Thursday’. It’s supposed to be recipe Thursday but maybe we’ll just do everything at once. That is certainly how it feels most days right now — how do we fit just everything we need to do in one day — we have finally added another day (two days off, together? that might be almost human)…maybe it should be ‘Catcher’s Mitt Thursday’. Cleaning up — laundry/dishes, arting, organizing, business planning, shopwork, grant writing, article writing, feed the fire, more laundry, garden planning, workshop planning, feed the fire again, meal preparation, maybe a dinner date?, more laundry…etc (did you do your Duolingo lesson today? ha!).
D has been dying for preserved lemons so we set her up to make her own batch. In a great pot or big jar, lemons, salt, lemon juice if needed — cut them into almost quarters, leaving an inch connected, pry them open and salt, smash them into the jar to release juices, salt some more, add more lemons until jar is full, salting in the crevices and on top, you can cut them into wedges if necessary to fill the gaps…and the most crucial element — time. They take about a month to get tender and ‘preserved’, then rinse them, remove lemon ‘meat’ and discard, and use accordingly to recipe or desire. Start another batch. She loves them best with green cracked olives, roast chicken, and Fregola.
J has been longing for this Roasted Butternut Pasta Sauce recipe he found so I made his dream come true. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Split and seed a whole Butternut Squash, crosshatch slices into flesh and then fill seed cavity with a whole head of trimmed garlic (just cut ends off), drizzle & dust all with olive oil, sea salt, paprika, and thyme sprigs and roast until tender (about 45 min. or so, fork test for tenderness — you want it fully soft but not mushy), remove to cool a bit. Cook pasta per directions (tagliatelle or paccheri style), drain but save a little pasta water. Blend in a processor the squash with the squeezed out soft garlic from their skins (discard skins) and 1/4 cup pasta water. In a saute pan, add a little oil and add sage leaves, sauteeing until crisp, remove from pan (set aside) and then add finely chopped shallot (cook for 2 minutes until translucent), then add 1/3 cup dry white wine, squash puree, 1 cup heavy cream and heat through, stirring until thick but still loose — saucy. Add 3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese and stir in, save a little for garnish. Toss sauce with pasta, plate, add fried sage leaves and sprinkle parmesan. So freaking delicious (thank you Al Dante).
The child is doing her best Marie Kondo-workout today (and requests my assistance) on her room as I laze about and look up potsticker recipes. She’s cleaned out her art supplies (and ridiculous pencil collection), and old cardboard constructions (and even found some fun Kiwi crates to finish). It’s a rough life around here (yes, resplendent with bagel sandwiches this morning!). Yesterday, the baker had to go to work a couple of times for a bit each to prepare for his final class in this series (they are baking bread! much prep) which is tonite. I cleaned and arted (and actually managed to listen to a podcast, my 3rd in life so far) — it was glorious. It felt like the first time we’ve relaxed a bit in ages. I think we all actually slept (and had crazy animal symbolism dreams)! Now, if I can just get to the mending pile and the reading pile — egad.
I think for our belated anniversary date tonite, we’re going to talk big plans for a homestead/shop continuum, where it all comes together…sounds dreamy.
Rock Bottom Homestead 