tongue 'n' cheek

First day of the season for the Wednesday farmers' market in the city hospital parking lot....

There were very few vendors who set up in the drizzly morning today; one featured lots of baked goods, and none of us even went over to look.  There was one stall with goat-milk soaps and lotions, and a few felted-wool items.  Another had potted vegetable plants, herbs and flowers.  One more had various early vegetables and berries, where i bought some pickle-cucumbers to take home and ferment (or maybe i'll use the recipe in "Paleo Comfort Foods"...).

I saved the best vendor for last.  Although they don't 100%-grass-finish their meat, this farm claims to be a humane producer of beef and tallow-based soaps on their website.  They very intelligently lure the buyer with a crockpot full of delicious meatballs wafting their aroma around the site.  Tempting to the intellect as well as to the senses, there's also a file of recipes for some of the more unusual cuts of meat offered in their freezers.

I succumbed to temptation....  (I love it when that happens.)

I picked up a beef tongue, and will cook it as the appetizer course for some meal over the weekend; i snagged their recipe for braised tongue as well, but i'm not yet sure if i'll use it or another.  My husband has been curious to try this cut -- funny, until a very few years ago he wasn't even willing to eat heart!  Nowadays, he's an enthusiast of sweetbreads, and anxious to try other abstruce meats.  I have to say, i'm proud.

Today, though, i cooked another piece of meat we brought with us from the midwest -- a beef cheek that he was anxious to try, and that he'd talked up to his mother to the point that she was disappointed we didn't have it before leaving home.  Under circumstances like THAT, i HAD to bring it along to eat here.  I seared it in oil, removed it from the pan and replaced it with chopped onion, carrot and celery, sauteed them briefly then added a teaspoonful of cocoa powder and some wine, reduced it a bit, then put the meat back in with some diced tomatoes, and cooked it three or four hours in the oven.  It smells heavenly and is as tender as butter!  We'll let it mellow for a couple of days before reheating and chowing down -- i'll report if it's as good as it promises to be!

Looks like there may be a fricassee on the menu in a few days, too; the kids need to remove a few roosters from the flock, and they're giving only one of them away.  I procured a reprieve for another of them, as it was too pretty to kill, but it kinda looks like three birds will be going to "freezer camp" this spring!