Sea Salt and Black Pepper Crusted Whole Local Trout

Dear East Fork Farm,

You have officially ruined us. Since we have known you, we can no longer fully enjoy duck, or lamb, or rabbit unless it dwelled with you first. It's just not the same. No more pizza night verses eating in. Your fresh hens trump the ease of eating on the fly. You have made your mark on all of my aprons. You have caused me to fill my sink with dirty dishes, leaving them for the morning after eating a meal too satisfying to rise early from the table. You have made me absent minded as I blissfully recall meals since passed. I talk less at dinner. My fork lingers. My cloth napkins are a wreck. You've driven me to photographing dead trout. My freezer is overflowing with homemade stock. I haven't seen my doctor in years. I am spoiled rotten.

Thank you!

Sincerely yours,

Rachel

Sea Salt and Black Pepper Crusted Whole Local Trout:

*1 fresh whole locally caught/raised rainbow trout, cleaned and rinsed

*sea salt

*black pepper

*3 thin slices of lemon

Preheat oven to 375.

Clean trout. Rinse under cold water.

Place on a lined baking sheet. Arrange lemon slices in belly cavity. Completely coat the top layer of skin with generous amounts of sea salt and black pepper. Add pats of butter inside fish if you desire (I'm guessing you will).

Bake until skin slightly blisters and flesh is just done, about 15 minutes. Time will vary according to size of fish. Do not over over bake.

Enjoy with oven roasted sweet and gold potato wedges and a fresh garden salad.

*Save the bones, head and tail for stock.

Local Lamb Sirloin Chops with Parsley Pesto

Like I have said so very many times before, every morsel from East Fork Farm is downright dreamy. This evening, tender lamb sirloin chops were enjoyed smothered in a perfect parsley sauce fresh from the garden. Accompaniments included; roasted sweet potatoes tugged from the soil just 50 yards from the dinner table, smeared with delicious whole milk ricotta, and organic red wine for sipping. It's good to be alive.

Lamb Sirloin Chops:

*2-4 pasture raised lamb sirloin chops

*sea salt

*pepper

*butter

Bring coals of a charcoal grill to moderate heat, or place a grill pan over medium heat. Coat grill rack or pan with butter. Rinse lamb chops. Pat dry with paper towels. Liberally coat each side of chop with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Place on hot grill, turning once halfway through, about 3 minutes per side (time will vary depending on thickness of chops). Sear to medium rare, being careful not to overcook. Allow to rest.

Parsley Pesto:

*3 cups loosely packed fresh Italian flat leaf parsley leaves

*2 cloves garlic

*sea salt

*pepper

*extra virgin olive oil

Blend parsley with garlic, sea salt and pepper in a food processor. With blade running, slowly add olive oil until desired consistency. Spoon over whole or sliced chops.

Toast to the hard workers of your local farms, who's tedious labors produce the opportunity for meals such as these.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Cherries

I ate them straight up, but couldn't resist pairing the remaining cherries with this evening's lamb. Although the flavor of East Fork Farm's lamb stands strong on it's own, adding some ripe seasonal fruit proved wise.

When I prepare a meal like this, I am reminded of the days when I refrained from eating animals. I was boycotting a broken industrial meat system. A system with very little reverence for the complexity of life in every aspect. This was long ago, but even then I understood the unlikelyhood of gaining nourishment from an animal that wasn't nourished.

One evening in college, a friend of mine extended an invitation to join him and some friends for venison stew. He had taken the deer's life, and carefully prepared a meal from it, which he was offering to me. This struck me as an example of generosity in it's purest form. That meal was the fist bite of meat in 8 years. And it made me feel like a million bucks! The best realization was that I could resume eating meat while still maintaining my boycott. To this day I continue to refuse a broken system.

Every nourishing bite of local, carefully tended, grass fed flesh says "no" to one system and "yes" to another. Meat is not just meat. Protein is not just protein. There is a difference in quality and a difference in how it feeds us. There are stories behind meals. I like to think about the life story behind this evening's lamb. It lived well, gracefully passing the baton to me!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Cherries:

*2 local pastured lamb foreshanks

*1 tablespoon butter

*1 small onion, chopped

*water

*sea salt and pepper

*1 cup pitted cherries

*1/4 cup red wine

Add butter to a heavy pot and place over medium high heat. Rinse lamb shanks and pat dry with paper towels. Sear all sides of shanks in pot until well browned. Set aside. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Return shanks to the pot and add enough water to cover. Season with salt and pepper. Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer. Cover and cook for at least 3 hours or longer. Allow to cool while starting on the cherry sauce.

In a small saucepan, bring wine and cherries to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced into a thick sauce (about 15 minutes), breaking up the cherries with a potato masher or similar tool while cooking down.

Spoon over lamb. Serve with a heap of fresh garden greens.