Tuesday is homeschool coop day and ladies Bible study night.
While the kids hunted for hickory nuts before lunch I strolled down the field to check on Priscilla, the heifer. The woods were filled with breezy chatter, soft wind rustling and blowing colorful leaves like party confetti. The grass was green, the stream bed was dry. Priscilla and Coco were cuddled up next to one another, giving each other affectionate nuzzles.
I can't really tell if she is farther along or not. I guess she is definitely farther along, but just how far, I don't know. After the kids took off after drama class I went out to check on the boys' clean up work in the barn. They were doing a great job. Coco's old stall is now ready for Priscilla, raked out, nice and clean layer of hay. The afternoon was so lovely I had to take another stroll down the old hay meadow to visit with Priscilla and Coco. Priscilla let me scratch her face and back. Very unusual. She never lets me near her on any typical day. Imminent signs of delivery? Who knows.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on paperwork and emails. By 6:30 I was very hungry. We had to cancel Bible study since several of the ladies couldn't make it. I was glad to have the opportunity for a family dinner. Here is what we ate:
Fresh trout fillets bartered from Jimbo with Big Pine Trout Farm in New Castle.
Sweet potatoes bartered from one of the other Botetourt Family Farmers at ikenberry's.
Fresh green beans and onions from the garden and a tomato salad from the garden.
Here's what I did with them:
quartered the sweet potatoes, dusted with curry powder and sea salt and roasted at 350 degrees with coconut oil.
Sauteed the green beans with onions and garlic in a bit of oil, generous sea salt.
Quartered the golden and red tomatoes, tossed with toasted sesame oil, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar and sea salt.
Pan-fried the trout fillets in a bit of coconut oil til skin was nice and crispy.
Made a peanut sauce to top the fish by sauteeing fresh ginger, garlic and minced onion til fragrant, added 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/4 c. vinegar, 1 small can coconut milk, 1/2 natural peanut butter, 3 tbsp succanat. Simmered until nice and creamy. Added red pepper flakes.
Most of the family thought the peanut sauce was weird, but Maggie, Philip and I loved it. I will use the rest of the sauce in a cold noodle toss or something.
It was really yummy. All the colors on the plate made me quite pleased. The yellow and red of the tomatoes contrasted with the pale pink of the fish, the brown nutty sauce, and the green and yellow beans and orange potatoes made me think of my afternoon autumn walk. Eating our familiar foods dressed up in foreign clothes pleased my taste buds. But what pleased me most of all was having us all around the table to listen to Philip tell silly stories to make us laugh.
BTW, Philip thinks our friend's cow's milk tastes just like Coco's milk. Everyone drank several glasses of it at dinner so I think they are pleased to have any cow's milk, as long as it is fresh and raw!
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3 comments:
Your peanut sauce recipe for the trout reminds me of something my sister-in-law makes. She is from Ghana and they typically eat a dish that combines fish with a peanut butter sauce. I've always thought it a strange combination, as some of your family does, but apparently it works!
Sounds like a great and very healthy meal!
i ate crispy pan fried trout last night, too! i got a raise, so meara and i went out to celebrate, to a little restaurant down the street from my house called sunnypoint.
we shared crispy pan fried north carolina mountain trout with swiss chard sauteed with fennel and cranberries, and green onion sage cornbread stuffing. it was delicious!
thank god for trout!
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