Pollok house and grounds.

  Cattle breeds have always captivated me.  They tie us to a past where we depended on cattle for our sustenance.  On our farm we are lucky to have had many different types of cows.  When I was young we had a Jersey named Natasha, while today we have mostly Highlands and Hereford crosses and a few Charolais that I convinced my father to buy. However, our Highlands have a special place in my heart, and one would be hard pressed to find a breed that evokes reaction like the regal Highland; they are stunning animals and a true crowd pleaser.

Malcolm who shows and cares for Pollok’s Highlands and my husband brushing a highland cow.

My husband and I were flying into Glasgow en route to Belfast so I lobbied for an extended stop over.  In this spirit, I contacted Pollok House to inquire if I could see their herd of prize-winning Scottish Highlands.  Pollok House is within a beautiful park in the middle of Glasgow. The park’s director and the herdsman gave us a private tour of the grounds and their prize-winning Highland fold. We felt like superstars! A herd of Highland cattle are called a fold: in ancient Scotland cattle roaming the highlands were taken into “folds” when the weather was particularly inclement, or if there were wolves or thieves about. I have never met a non-gentle Highland, but in the past their horns and fur where excellent protection against predators like the wolf.  It doesn’t take much imagination to envision a fold of Highlands fending off the winds and predators on the rough Scottish uplands.   

Highland cattle are one of the oldest breeds in the world, and archeologists have uncovered remains going back to at least the 6^th century. Unlike their ancestors, the Highland fold at Pollok Park are city residents, and serve to teach Glasgow residents about Scotland’s cattle heritage and agriculture. Each year they host hundreds of school children that learn about the fold and its history and the special ecosystems that pastures cultivate. They also take the cows to events around the city, which helps to raise awareness; one event brought a beautiful Highland cow into a fancy restaurant. Ha! I was a bit jealous; it would be great if we had a herd of cattle or dairy cows in Prospect Park, wouldn’t it?  Perhaps the divide between city and rural perceptions of agriculture could be breached if more people saw cows grazing around us.

School children learn about pastoral ecosystems when they visit Pollok Park, and the park pastures support a diversity of insect and plant life. Pollok is the only known breeding ground for honeybee mimics, and also hosts a variety of bees and rare wildflowers.  One cow produces over four tons of manure a year, which helps to feed a variety of insects, which in turn feed foxes, hedgehogs, bats, newts, shrews, toads and a variety of birds.  Pastures are one of the few human creations that actually promote biodiversity, and when managed correctly can heal natural environments and encourage wildlife and flora.

The fold’s prize winning black bull, that is my husband with him.

The Pollok fold also serves to preserve and promote the quality of the Highland cattle breed, which is much needed in a world were many heritage breeds are threatened. Pollok Park was originally a grand estate, and has had Highland cattle for over two centuries. This tradition continues now that the city of Glasgow owns and manages the park.  One of the most promising trends in the culinary world is attention to the different flavor profiles and quality of domestic animal breeds, and one of the best ways to preserve domestic animal diversity is to support farmers who do so. Slow Food has encouraged this with their Ark of Taste program that identifies and promotes heritage foods, breeds and heirloom seed varieties. In Scotland, there is a lot of excitement surrounding Scottish beef, and this is helped by the fact that cattle are a source of national pride. My father believes that these old breeds tie us to our past, and that it is important not to lose these wonderful animals There are cultural reasons for this, but also practical reasons: many of these older breeds excel on grass, which could become important to us in a world of shifting resources and tastes.

Rare dunn colored bull.

Pollok’s fold has a diversity of colors, many of which I had never seen here in America.  They have black Highlands, yellow, white, different shades of red, some brindled, and a beautiful silver-dun color. The centerpiece of the fold is the gorgeous, prize-winning black bull. Malcolm, the fold’s knowledgeable and passionate herdsman, told us that black was their original color, and gave us a peek into their past via a historical account featuring Rob Roy.

Pollok Park is also home to an incredible art collection called the Burrell Collection, and their beautiful Chardins delighted me. The collection is astounding and rivals many of the world’s best. My husband and I thought the combination of art and cattle was so marvelous! We definitely need more people to preserve culture in this wonderful and elegant way!  Pollok Park is not to be missed on a trip to Glasgow! The café is excellent too, so be sure to make a day of it if you do get the chance to visit!

Special thanks to Marilyn Muir it’s Facility Manager and Malcolm Moy and the delightful staff at the café where we had a lovely lunch that celebrated Scotland’s amazing produce!

Spinach at Fox Hollow Nursery, West Oneonta, New York

Vermont tops  Strolling of theHeifers Locavore Index. Unfortunately, New York State, Vermont’s neighbor, ranks a dismal 42 out of 50 states. This is really, really bad considering how many wealthy urban consumers live in our state and how much wonderful farmland we as a state are blessed with. Kudos to Vermont for understanding that working farm landscapes and local food are good for the environment, food culture, and that farms attract tourists. Shame on New York for doing so little to promote agriculture and local food systems. We as a state need to make local food and working farms a priority. We need policy to change this which requires urban voters to care about farms and local food systems!

Thanks to @nyfarmer for the link!

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The anticipation for our first CSA share is building, I can’t wait! Now that we have moved to Long Island, I have been geeking out on what is local and where to get local seafood and vegetables. Most of the farmer’s markets open in June, so we made a trip to Whole Foods in Manhasset where they had a wide selection of everything. Almost too much selection, truth be told I got a bit overwhelmed, I really AM a creature of habit when shopping. Yet, everything I ended up buying was exceptionally good,  I bought perfectly ripe strawberries, relatively local asparagus from New Jersey and some local kale and parsnips. My sister came over for a Sunday dinner and I made a roast chicken, roasted potatoes wedges tossed in olive olive, rosemary and anchovies and this delightful asparagus salad. We then had the strawberries with pastured cream for dessert.  No need for sugar, what a treat!  My mother-in-law had Trader Joes Champagne Muscat Orange Vinegar in the fridge which has become a new favorite and seems to have mitigated my husband and I’s “vinegar wars”, we both love it! It was especially good with the beautiful spring asparagus from New Jersey which looked overgrown but were so tender and delicious! This recipe is a keeper, if you don’t have this specific vinegar; champagne vinegar with a small splash of orange juice would suffice.

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This picture captures my approach to cooking, or as my mother in law would say “rough and ready”: simple, honest and not too fussy, and maybe a bit sloppy looking…

       Print Just the Recipe    

Life here is a bit hectic, we are in the mist of a move and we don’t have a place to move to yet, I am finding it a bit traumatic but liberating at the same time. In the mist of this all, I have been taking comfort in simple things, like perfectly roasted chicken and having family we can rely on. Perfect, easy and oh, sooo good! Thomas Keller’s roasted chicken recipe is so crispy, so perfect, my husband and I finish off one chicken together… Granted my husband is a bottomless pit and can eat, and eat and eat.    I added asparagus to the dish about 45 minutes into the roasting. Not picture perfect but welcome simplicity when all your cooking supplies are in boxes… This is why I didn’t truss the chicken here!

My favorite simple roasted chicken by Thomas Keller.

I made these for myself yesterday for lunch and goodness I wasn’t disappointed.  The secret to this dish is good quality butter, I used Kerrygold here and it is essential to this dishes’ success. . Butter has a long and interesting history, having great importance in grassland cultures. The Romans thought butter was “barbarian food”, and when the Catholic church tried to curtail butter eating during lent in the middle ages, the people of Northern Europe almost revolted. Butter is serious business, and has been an essential food for thousands of years for people where grasslands are abundant. I did a column on Cowbella’s pastured butter last fall, who are now carrying on a fifth generation of butter making. At the turn of the century, almost half of America’s butter came from farm women who made the product to support their family’s with the supplemental income–a true cottage industry. Many of us now use olive oil, but there really is a case to be made for good quality pastured butter. Not all butter is created equal, and cultured butter is like nothing else and can take a humble dish to another level. Now pastured butter is expensive, but fancy sauces and condiments are expensive too, and the flavor and added health benefits of pastured butter in my mind make up for the extra cost. Here in New York, there is a renewed interested in pastured and cultured butters, and there are more and more farms offering butter processed on their farms. This is a response to the fact that pasture-based farms in New York state can’t compete in a commodity system that favors larger CAFO dairies out west. Sadly, our policy does little to help our farms here in New York State and we have seen dramatic losses in our Dairy industry but by sourcing locally for dairy products we can all make a difference. In Ireland, pasture-based farms receive support and policy that helps them stay afloat, and as a result their butter is a high quality pastured product. The same is true in Iceland where the butter is some of the best I have ever tasted and still reasonably priced. I used to eat the butter like crazy when I was there, thinking I couldn’t find comparable quility in America but this isn’t true at all, you can buy Kerrygold, Smjor and a wide variety of local butters like Cowbella and NY Butter and Organic Valley pastured butters. Which is wonderful for butter lovers like me!

To me this dish is as much about the butter as it is about the soft shell crab. Together they make magic!

Make sure your soft shelled crabs are fresh! They are just coming into season!

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You are probably thinking another Chinese recipe? Weren’t you just in Iceland, Ireland and Scotland? Where is the Icelandic leg of lamb, Irish lamb stew or champ recipes? Where is your tasting notes from all the whiskeys you enjoyed? Well, there will be more posts from our trip and I got a lot of inspiration, I feel so filled with inspiration actually I can’t stop smiling. I didn’t realize how much we needed a vacation and am so thankful for it!   Yet, after a week of eating delicious Ulster fries and champ,  I was craving some spicy food when we arrived back to Queens. Reading No Recipes Beef Rendang Recipe post, didn’t help either, it looks so good! I can’t wait to try it with stew meat from one of our bulls.

Dan Dan Noodles were one of my favorites but unfortunately Chinese take out is now off limits because I am avoiding gluten. This didn’t stop me from creating a gluten free version that was a show stopper, it is easy and packs a full flavor punch. I used our pastured pork, and while it was frying up it smelled like slow roasted pork, that is how much flavor our pork has! Ground pork has become one of my favorite quick meal secrets, I defrost it in a water bath for about an hour and use it in meat sauces, burgers and meat balls. Quick and because it is ground pork it is a welcome change from our weekly grassfed beef burgers. I am a big fan of Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Organic Pasta and used the spaghetti type here, you can also use pad thai rice noodles and Trader Joes is carrying a corn pasta which has great texture and works well in Asian stir fries.

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I spent the week without Internet, on tours of the north coast of Ireland, where steep grassy pastures plummet into an azure Irish sea.  We were accompanied and guided by my sister-in-law, her husband and lovely new baby—it was mind clearing and moving. There was a lot of craic, which in Ireland is the most important of all activities and translates into “having a good time with friends or family.” It requires a sharp wit and hopefully, a good cup of tea. Nothing is rushed in Ireland, and lingering over a cup of tea is almost an art form. Nothing compares to an Irishman’s wit, and sitting for hours talking is a welcome change from our faced-paced New York life.

The blackfaced mountain sheep, triplets are common for this mountain breed.

View down into one of the Glens of Antrim

Visiting Northern Ireland with my Dublin-born-and-raised husband was moving and sometimes difficult, and ghosts of the past were everywhere.  Ballycastle and its surrounding areas are predominantly Catholic, and the impossibly steep pastures  with minimal topsoil became a haven for Irish Catholics who had been forced off the good land to settle on rocky country that is good for little else than grazing. It was a hard place to live, but it is impossibly beautiful, and smaller breeds like the black faced mountain sheep excel in this area. You don’t see as many cattle grazing here, or even lowland sheep like the Suffolk, which require better feed and do not excel on a grass-fed diet. This area of Ireland is sheep country and there were thousands of sheep grazing all around us on small pasture-based farms. Ironically, this bad land where Catholics were forced to live is now prime real estate for tourism, and attracts thousands a year because of its spectacular natural beauty. As an outsider to the troubles, I felt ill equipped to understand it all, but the fault lines didn’t detract from the profound natural beauty and the deep Gaelic culture that was present in Ballycastle and surrounding glens.  It is possibly the most beautiful place I have ever visited and I recommend it to anyone.

More pictures of sheep! I am flirting with putting together a book proposal about lamb with essays on the culture and history of lamb in different countries and found Country Antrim to be the perfect place to research sheep and find inspiration.

Aren’t the lambs precious?

A beautiful young Ewe.

My Irish Terrier, Flynn on one of our hay fields. Can’t remember a February that looked like a November!

Our brave and ever watchful Great Pyrenees, Louis.

Our piglets, out on pasture very happy indeed!

Last week I spent a few delicious days on the farm, we launched our new site, had wonderful meals, conversed and I got to take some long walks. I do my best thinking on walks, there really isn’t anything that is more mind clearing. We have had a baby boom of late, with dozens of adorable lambs and I had to share with you their cuteness.

This isn’t really a recipe. I made this yesterday and  it was so  incredibly good I had to share. I thinly sliced 1/2 pounds of (cleaned and trimmed) Brussel sprouts, and let a heavy bottomed skillet get really hot(over a medium/high  heat), added olive oil(you can also use bacon fat or lard) and then cooked them quickly until they were a bit soft. I then seasoned them with a dash of sea salt and served them immediately! Enjoy!