A little more than a week ago my mom blacked out and fell, breaking three ribs. In reality, I originally came out to see my dad whose heart is weakening. I arranged it between chemo treatments....
While here, have either been doing harvest meals n my own (twice) or acting as sous chef for my sister (lots of chopping). This year has been a little nuts as we don't know if we are going to have seven to feed in the field or 12. ....and they eat lots.
Yesterday, I made Bott Boi (a.k.a. "Pot Pie") a German dish which is made by the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Amish and the Germans around my area of Ohio. It is wonderful home-made egg noodles traditionally cut in squares, with chicken....basically chicken and noodles....but then...at least back home, the whole ooey gooey mixture (which is more like gravy from the noodles than broth) is served over mashed potatoes (or in some areas, but not mine, chunks of potatoes). I love it...So.....I made the broth and stripped the chicken and yesterday made the egg noodles. I used my sister-in-law's Atlas pasta machine as the last time I made it my noodles were tough....I couldn't get them thin enough and the dough is soft so I had to keep on adding flour to keep it off the rolling pin.
I was in a panic as I didn't know how much the recipe would actually make..the one I used said it would make 6 servings...but I remembered that the last time I made it I fed the ladies of my quilting group as well as saving some for home and freezing a lot since it feels good on my chemo ravaged tummy. So.....I made a second batch of noodle dough to hold in reserve.
I sort of cheated as I usually slip in veggies to make it more wholesome than just pure starch. Celery, peas and carrots found their way into my pot. It tasted heavenly....and made a huge stock pot full. I fed the field (that day 9 men), saved out half cup servings for my mom, dad, sister and me, and there was still enough left to put in containers for my brother to eat for breakfast. I wondered if they guys in the field had ever had home-made egg noodles. Mom made them rarely, but I loved them. As I worked on this she kept on saying "why bother? I just buy the dried egg noodles." Nope. Not good enough, and actually noodles aren't that hard to make. This website is basically the recipe I used, and the noodle recipe is the best. I didn't put it over mashed potatoes as I have always thought that was overkill...and we have from 2 - 4 diabetics working for us.
http://chezpim.com/cook/pennsylvania-du
This lovely photo is wheat harvest in Spokane, in 1926. Thank goodness I didn't have to feed horses too!
I'm leaving soon...I wish I could stay longer, but my ribs are saying "are you nuts??" from all the standing.
2 comments:
What a lovely post. Lisa, thanks for sharing your recipe and teh story of harvest. It's very interesting to an urban dweller like myself.
Margaret Hughes
Those are awfully lucky field hands. It sounds delicious.
Post a Comment