Don’t forget the pups! Christmas treats for locavore dogs

This might not be the typical cookie recipe you come across this time of year but I have a lot of four-legged friends in my life and I adore them all….

First, there’s Teddy, king of the AP Interiors office.  Ted is proof that good things really do come in small packages.  Here he is taking a break at Sant Ambroeus during a big installation in Southampton.

A typical office pose – on my lap.

  

Our adorable, sweet office puppy, Gypsy, also on my lap.

  

It’s much more common, however, to see Gyp chasing her tail or roaming the office, trash-picking tissues from the wastebaskets and hiding in the closet while shreding them.

  

I grew up with German shepherds and my sister and brother-in-law have two beauties:  Penny

and Rocky.

Last but certainly not least, the Outer Banks Crew – Shandy, Porter, and Whisky – part of my brother’s family (Note: This is not a staged pose. It really happens!)

Pets may as well be people, as far as I’m concerned, and I include them in the Christmas treats as well.  No inferior ingredients for these pooches!  I use whole wheat flour from Cooper Gristmill, an historic water-powered flour mill in Chester, New Jersey, stone-ground cornmeal from Wild Hive Farm in the Hudson Valley, wheat germ from Bob’s Red Mill in Oregon, Kate’s Homemade Butter from Maine, and yes, my favorite eggs from Quattro’s Game Farm.  Fresh mint and parsley from the farmers market do wonders for doggie breath….

Dog Biscuits
Adapted from Gourmet December 2005

People have been known to eat these biscuits (ahem…they are really good).  The recipe calls for a food processor but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with mine so I mixed the dough with a pastry cutter and my hands.

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
1 ¼ cups cornmeal
1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup toasted wheat germ
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ sticks (¾ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
½ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 large egg

Pulse flours, cornmeal, oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-size butter lumps. Add 1 cup water and pulse until a coarse, dense dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in parsley and mint until well distributed. Gather, then halve dough and form into two balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill until firm, about a half hour.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two large baking sheets.

Roll out one disk of dough into a round (1/3 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, wrap in plastic and chill again until firm.) Cut out as many biscuits as possible and arrange about ¼ inch apart on one baking sheet.

Gather scraps and reroll, then cut out more biscuits. Repeat with remaining dough, using other baking sheet.
 

Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush biscuits with egg wash and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until tops are golden brown, about 35 minutes total. Turn off oven and dry biscuits in oven overnight. 

Makes about 5 dozen biscuits

Sausage and Broccoli Rabe with Wild Hive Farm Polenta

As a gigantic snowstorm worked its way up the East Coast last week and was about to hit the city, I hightailed it to New Jersey where I was happy to be inside, cozy by the fire, while it unfolded.

Cold and snowy weather makes me want warm and filling food. Polenta certainly fits the bill, although I must say, I rarely make it. Case in point – the never-before-tried recipe I grabbed while dashing out my apartment door to catch the train came from an issue of Food and Wine – from 1997! But no matter, it’s never too late to start, so along with some sweet Italian sausage from where else but Flying Pigs Farm and polenta from Wild Hive Farm, I decided to give it a whirl (or should I say a whisk?).

Sausage and Broccoli Rabe with Polenta
Adapted from Food and Wine November 1997

There has been a resurgence of freshly milled, locally grown grains coming on to the market in the last several years. Gristmills, once the center of every prosperous town, were abandoned with the advent of electric machinery and by the end of the 1800’s mostly obsolete. Not only are traditional mills a part of our rural heritage and supportive of local economies, they also produce more dimensional, nutritious, and full-bodied flours and stone-ground grains than those from modern mills.

It should be mentioned along with the benefits of local grains also comes the quirks. Just as a pastured cow will produce milk that tastes different depending on the time of year and type of grass she is eating, grains are affected by the soil and weather conditions of a particular farm. Most of us are used to flours milled for uniformity; using local grains and flours takes a willingness to experiment with variations in gluten content, flavor, and shelf life, among other things. That said, the Hudson Valley polenta I used in this recipe behaved just fine - no surprises, no quirks.


Wild Hive Farm is located in Clinton Corners, NY and mills grains grown organically on Lightening Tree Farm in nearby Millbrook. Along with their Farm Store, Wild Hive products are sold throughout Dutchess and Ulster Counties, as well as the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan, where I bought my polenta.

The original recipe called for the polenta to be made with water, salt and a little olive oil, nothing else. While that will certainly work, I wanted something a bit richer and creamier so I added freshly grated Parmesan and a few tablespoons of butter. After all, what’s the harm in a little cheese and butter? Especially if you get up the next morning, pull on a pair of boots, and venture out into the cold for a nice, long walk in the snow.


Ingredients
4-½ cups water to start, more as needed at the end
1 1/3 cups coarse cornmeal
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons butter
1 pound broccoli rabe, tough stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/3 pounds hot or sweet Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup dry white wine
One 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes in thick puree
1 ½ cans chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine the water and 1 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Whisk in the cornmeal in a slow steady stream and continue to whisk until the polenta is suspended in the water and no longer sits on the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the polenta is thickened, about 1 hour. Keep warm until ready to serve. The polenta should be soft and creamy; if it gets too thick, stir in some water.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the broccoli rabe until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain, then rinse in cold water and drain again thoroughly. Cut into 2-inch pieces and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy skillet. Add the sausage and cook over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until browned and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a plate and let cool slightly. Slice the sausage into ½ inch thick rounds.


Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wine and bring to a simmer. Stir in the sausage slices, tomatoes, stock, thyme and 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Add the broccoli rabe, parsley and pepper and return to a simmer.

Stir the Parmesan and butter into the polenta. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Spoon the polenta onto dinner plates and top with the sausage and broccoli rabe ragout. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan if desired.

Serves 4