Cherry-Fig Chutney

Amy's mom recently made a comment that our recipes were getting a little crazy. She briefly mentioned fish sauce as a particularly odd ingredient. Well, Mom, you're not going to like this one, we expect. So let us start by restating something we've said before, which is that we feel recipes are mostly suggestions, not meant to be followed to the letter. We write about what we did and encourage you to try it your way. 

That said, on a recent summer motorcycle ride out to Brooklyn, Connecticut, we stopped at the Creamery Brook Bison Farm (see also our old post here). If you are ever in the area on a weekend, you should go check it out. Besides bison, they have emus and many different birds. They offer farm tours and wagon rides, host seasonal events, and have a store in which they sell their meat along with an astounding array of bison-themed products. Plus, there's ice cream! It's a small, family-run farm, so definitely check their website before you go for their hours and other pertinent information.

On this particular day, we picked up a gorgeous bison tenderloin at the farm's store. When we got home, Chris trimmed it to remove the extra fat and silver skin. We tossed some small potatoes in olive oil with fresh herbs and Chris set out to the deck to put those on the grill. Once they were nearly cooked, he put on the meat, first searing it on all sides, then turning down the heat to cook it to medium rare. It didn't take long, and he was very careful not to overcook it, because it was a beautiful piece of meat. (If you're not sure how to cook bison, the farm has handout to guide you).

While Chris was grilling, Amy made this cherry-fig chutney to serve over the meat. In case you don't know, besides being the most annoying character in Legally Blonde, a chutney is a spicy condiment made of fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar, sort of like a savory marmalade. We had fresh cherries in the house (see also Cherry-Lemon Clafoutis) and thought they would work nicely with the bison, although we think this sauce-of-sorts would also be great with beef or pork. 

Chutney in Legally Blonde

The "strange" ingredient Amy's mother might not like here (besides the bison, that is) is the fig-infused balsamic vinegar, a gift from our neighbors D and J. It really gave the chutney a deeper, darker, sweeter, less acidic flavor than a regular balsamic vinegar would. If you can't find it at your grocery store, they would certainly carry it at one of those specialty olive oil/vinegar shops that seem to be all the rage lately. Williams-Sonoma has one as well. In other words, while it may take more effort, it will be well worth it. 

Cherry-Fig Chutney

makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup demerara sugar (or light brown sugar)

1/4 cup fig-infused balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

a dash of cayenne pepper

1 cup black cherries, pits removed

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Remove the onions to a small bowl and set aside. Put the sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, cloves, and cayenne in the skillet and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat to low. Add the cherries and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Return the cooked onion to the skillet and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over bison, beef, pork, or whatever you wish. 

Bison Shortribs Dorie's Way

We love Dorie Greenspan, and the short ribs recipe from her book Around My French Table can not be matched. That's why after we purchased a few pounds of bison short ribs from Creamery Brook Bison in Brooklyn, Connecticut (read about our visit here), we took out her book, found the right page, and got straight to work.

As a general rule, we prefer not to copy recipes from cookbooks into our blog, and we won't do that today. Around My French Table really is a treasure trove of amazing recipes, photos and stories, and we encourage you to buy it (makes a great holiday gift for you or your fellow foodie!). Nonetheless, in the interest of sharing, we have taken step-by-step photographs (with captions!) of how we made the short ribs and we think you can get the gist of it from those. So here goes.

Lay the short ribs out onto a foil-lined cookie sheet, pat them dry and ....

...broil them until they are browned on both sides.

Then turn the oven to 350.

Prepare some herbs (rosemary, parsley, celery leaves, bay leaves, thyme, star anise)...

...and wrap them in dampened cheesecloth.

Cut up some vegetables (parsnips, celery, onion, carrots, leeks, ginger, garlic)...

...and place them in a pan. Season with salt and pepper and toss with a mild oil.

Turn on the heat and start to soften them (about ten minutes).

Then add some tomato paste. 

Keep stirring and cooking until it looks something like this.

Then add about a bottle's worth of red wine such as this shiraz, and a cup of port if you've got it.

Put in the bouquet of herbs.

Bring the whole thing to a boil over high heat until the liquid reduces by about 1/3.

Put the browned short ribs in the pan (bone side up) and cover them with beef broth.

Cover with foil, stick a tight lid on it, and put in the oven at 350 for two hours. No peeking!

Remove the foil, put the lid on loosely, and continue to cook for another hour.

While the meat cooks, make your side dishes and set your table.

When the meat's done, remove it from the pan and let it rest.

Strain out the vegetables from the sauce and reduce the sauce by half.

Serve the sauce over the shortribs; it will still be thin but it's really

tasty from all the herbs and vegetables.

The results? Stellar. Talk about amazing. Falling off the bone. Fork-tender. Not one bit gamey. Slightly sweet yet savory from that wonderfully flavorful sauce. With buttermilk mashed potatoes? You gotta try it! It's a whole lotta love. Enjoy!

Creamery Brook Bison Farm, Brooklyn, CT

Amy: "What do you want to do today?"

Chris: "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Amy: "I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Chris: "I don't know..."

Amy: "Okay, enough. Let's just go for a drive and see what happens."

Chris: "What direction?"

Amy: "I don't know..."

Chris: "I think it's time for the magic nickel of indecision."

It was a sunny fall day, just a few weeks ago, and we had nowhere to be but couldn't seem to decide what we wanted to do. So we flipped a coin (the aforementioned magic nickel) and when it turned up heads (heads = east, tails = west), we turned up the radio and headed east on CT Route 6. We thought for a minute that we might end up in Providence, perhaps hit up the ole' Federal Hill neighborhood for some Italian chow, but that was not meant to be. For when we saw the sign announcing that we were entering the little haven of Brooklyn, Connecticut, a glimmer of recognition went through Amy's head.

Amy: "I think there's a bison farm around here. How big can Brooklyn, Connecticut be? Let's find it and buy some bison meat!" 

We stopped at Brooklyn Beef and Fish, thinking that if they didn't sell bison, they would know where the farm was. In fact, they did. And so it was we ended up at the Creamery Brook Bison Farm. Following the butcher's directions and then, the signs to the farm, we passed a long gated pasture where we stopped and watched the buffalo roam.

Yes, bison is buffalo. They are one and the same, and it's thanks to farms like Creamery Brook that the bison population continues to be on the rise. Here, they feed them corn and grass, no hormones or antibiotics, and the result is a flavorful, slightly sweet, not-at-all-gamey, tender meat with fewer calories and less cholesterol than beef, chicken or turkey. The healthier red meat!

We made our bison purchases and stepped out to enjoy the sunshine and visit the animals. One of the younger bison had stealthily entered the emus' home. The emus, therefore, were chillin' by the fence, far from young Mr. Bison, curiously checking us out as we did them.

A rooster crowed, a peacock ambled by. It was quiet and peaceful and perfectly New England. That magic nickel sure comes in handy.

Wondering what we did with our bison purchase? Come back tomorrow and find out.