One nice thing about farming and homesteading is that you never know what you are going to discover upon arising in the morning to do chores. Most mornings there is a comfortable rhythm that I settle into after I flop out of bed into my boots or cat shoes (Yes, during the warm, dry summer months I do chores in my cat print slip on shoes, cause I can!). Once in a while though, that rhythm is disrupted. My least favorite farm life existential upendings are the death or carnage events, and thankfully those tend to be rare, but like an early fall frost, I can depend on some random weird thing occurring to mess with my comfortable pattern vibe.
Take today for instance, my neighbor's invited us to their annual Labor Day Bash. Their party is no small affair, rather there are 3800 paint filled water balloons, slip and slide kickball, brisket, and a live band to enjoy, so there was a smile on my face when I entered into wakefulness this morning, for it was party day!
That said, there are always chores to be done, so my plan was to pick any beans and cukes that needed to be plucked, feed the animals, roast and peel the Hatch chiles I scored at the grocery store yesterday, and make a green bean and bacon side dish to take to the party.
Pieces of cake!
One of my normal feed stops is the ducks. I was gifted 13 ducks a few months ago, and they have been happily living in my orchard ever since. Now, I don't need 13 ducks, and I especially didn't need anymore, so I have been very watchful of the Khaki Campbell/Runner ducks egg laying activity. The thing about my orchard is there is a resident raven clan that hangs about, and they have been very helpful in collecting any eggs that I missed daily. I thought I was in the clear.
I also now have 23 ducks.
That's right, when I strolled into the orchard to clean out the duck's swimming pool and feed them their morning ration, my vision field did a quadruple take at the waddling little quackers that were weeble-wobbling along behind their mother.
Guess I will be finding some ducklings new homes next week, as if I didn't have enough to do. But really, I had to smile at the duck's determination, they found the one tiny secret space in the orchard and covertly hatched their brood, so I couldn't be mad at them. Plus, baby ducks are cute.
After pondering and cooing at my duck manifestation, I moved on to the garden and picked about twenty pounds of cucumbers and five pounds of beans. Dill pickles and bacon and onion infused green beans are two of my favorite foods, so I wasn't sad about completing that job either, in fact I might have whistled while I picked, strange.
Anyway, upon returning to the house and informing my family that our farm family had grown, I got to work dealing with the harvest, because I had a party to attend!
Our local store roasts Hatch chiles every year, which is cool, but as I grow them myself most years and try to avoid paying more for things that I wish too, I avoid the store during that time. The only reason I picked the chiles up was they were trying to offload them for .50/lb! I bought a giant bag for .92. I would have bought more, but I already have a ton of food preservation to do and have learned to pace myself when it comes to bringing on more jobs that require my already heavily demanded for attention.
Since I don't have a tumbler roaster, I broil my chiles to roast them. After washing and drying the chiles, I placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet. I then placed the chiles under the broiler (about 4 inches away) and broiled them on each side for about 4 minutes or so. When roasting chilis you want about a 60-70% char. After removing my roasted chiles from the oven, I popped them into a paper bag for fifteen minutes to sweat them a bit, and the peeled the skins from my future enchilada add ins. I also removed the tops, most of the seeds, and the membranes before chucking the green chili into freezer bags. Job done.
Right before I did that job, I washed, snapped, and prepped the green bean dish I am taking to the fete down the driveway. Simmered green beans with bacon and onion is one of my absolute favorite dishes ever. Especially when the beans are fresh right out of the garden. And as today's weird farm event was a rather joyous, albeit unexpected one, it seems only neighborly to share my green bean recipe with you all:
Green Beans With Bacon And Onion
1 lb fresh green beans (washed, trimmed, and snapped)
1 medium onion (diced)
4-6 slices of bacon (diced)
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
2 cups of chicken brothPlace a medium to large stockpot on your stove's burner and turn it on to medium heat, add bacon. I let the bacon brown a bit, but honestly sometimes I get in a hurry and chuck the onions in shortly after, usually when I get done dicing them. I know, I know mise en place is a thing.)
After the bacon is browned (or before if you are like me) add the onions and cook for at least five minutes, you want some fond on the bottom of the pot, trust me this is >important.
Once you get your bacon and onion browned and a bit caramelized, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Don't overcook, burned garlic is yucky.
Remove bacon, onion, and garlic from the pot and add the chicken stock. Throw your washed, trimmed and snapped beans into the pot too. Salt and pepper your beans a bit to taste, bring to a low boil and cover.
Simmer your beans for 1-1.5 hours. While this is happening, I pour out the excess grease from my bacon/onion bowl of flavor wonder. Some grease is good, too much of it is sorta meh.
After the beans simmer and are tender, I stir the bacon and onion mixture into the beans, and serve!