Minnesota Fried Squirrel - Grain free

I have not eaten much fried chicken in my life, and I was joking that this meal is the closest thing I have ever had to KFC. (I did once eat KFC mashed potatoes at the end of a cross country bike trip - my sister and I had just arrived to the coast in Oregon, and were hungry for mashed potatoes. We got some from KFC and were sorely disappointed!) So My Charming Companion names these "MFS" instead. I don't know that it will become the next big restaurant chain - but these WERE super tasty. If you don't have squirrel handy (perhaps you do not have a road-kill acquiring charming companion like I do) - chicken will also work. Squirrel is tougher than chicken though, so it needs to be poached for a good 30-60 minutes first. If you haven't eaten squirrel, it's a darker meat. I have eaten goose only once, and I thought it was a bit goose like. But really it is just like chicken, but smaller.

This MFS also utilizes the new frying technique that My Charming Companion has been working on (initially for fish frying). Guess what works great? Parmesan cheese (the kind from a can at Cub foods) and ground up pork rinds. They turn out crisp, crunchy, and delicious. Also - there are actually no weird products in either the parmesan or the pork rinds. Who knew? The pork rinds are fried in their own pork fat (double check that in the ingredients, this may vary by brand) so you aren't getting some weird oils, and salt is the only other ingredient. It isn't a pastured or grass fed animal, but I guess I am not willing to make my own pork rinds just yet.

Minnesota Fried Squirrel (MFS)
1 squirrel per person (or chicken breasts or thighs)
Equal parts Parmesan cheese and ground pork rinds
1 egg, whisked
Bacon or pork belly fat for frying

1. If using squirrel, you'll need to poach it first to make it tender. Put squirrel pieces into pot and cover with water by about an inch. Depending on the size (age), you will need to boil for 30-60 minutes. You can test this by poking the meat with a fork. you want it to feel tender.

Cooked squirrel pieces

2. Prepare your parm/pork rind mix in a bowl. You'll need to grind the pork rinds in a coffee grinder or food processor to get a flour-like consistency. For two squirrels you will need about 1/4 c each of parm cheese and the powdered pork rinds.
3. Heat your pork fat in a cast iron - you'll need the pan to be filled about an inch on the bottom. You want this to be hot when you put in the meat - the fat should be smoking a bit.
4. Dip your pre-cooked squirrel or raw chicken pieces in the whisked egg, then coat with the fry mixture (turn it in the mix and make sure all sides are coated). Carefully lay in frying pan so as not to splatter yourself. Cook until crispy and browned on one side (about 4-6 minutes) and flip. If using pre-cooked squirrel, you do the same for side two, and then serve. If using raw chicken (or tender, aka young squirrel) then cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat to medium-low, and cook for 30-40 minutes. Once the chicken is done (you can  check with a thermometer), turn the heat up again and flip the meat over to re-crisp the top side.

5. Let meat rest for a couple of minutes to cool down enough to touch, then serve. We had these with some cauliflower mashed potatoes to complete the MFS meal. Yum!

Here is a fried sardine salad using the fry technique - yum!

Lobster Mushroom Chowder

I just returned from a week long Boundary Waters trip - one of the highlights of which included eating lots of wild mushrooms! On last year's fall trip, My Charming Companion and I regretted not bringing a mushroom guide with us because there were so many mushrooms everywhere in the north woods. This year My Charming Companion did a bunch of research and made a handy cheat sheet.

Definitely not a beanie baby

Boletes lined most of the portages we crossed, and though I didn't get any photos, they are a delicious, buttery mushroom. The lobsters were the most spectacular though. I had only just heard of their existence on a portage; a young guy doing some wolf research with the forest service was seeming quite depressed because after 2 weeks they had yet to find any wolves, and his group was down to the lackluster meal options. My Charming Companion was showing him boletes, because the only mushroom the wolfer knew of prior to that were lobster mushrooms. I had never heard of them, and didn't ask any more. Later that afternoon upon arriving at our campsite, I was visiting the latrine when I looked over and saw what appeared to be a bright red beanie baby lying in the woods. If something is called a lobster mushroom, I thought - than this must be it!

One lobster lead to several more - the easiest mushroom hunt ever because nothing else is that color in the woods. We didn't see any more of these anywhere else on the trip, so somehow this site on clearwater lake was a lobster mushroom hotbed. They were delicious! Apparently these mushrooms are actually a mold that grows over the mushroom. It's the prettiest mold I've ever seen, but is why the shapes vary A LOT. Some are like shells, others are more bulbous. And they have a slight seafood scent when raw and cooking. They taste really nice, and are quite firm. They hold their shape well. We ate them once sauteed in some ghee with eggs, and again in a chowder (while Clearwater lake was bountiful in lobster mushrooms, it was bereft of fish - so what would otherwise have been a fish chowder, was a "lobster" chowder instead - ha).

If you ever come across these, a simple butter/ghee saute would be great. They can cook awhile, and they will turn the butter an orangey color. To prep: trim away any dirt areas, and slice in nice large slices. Some of them had brown spots - or lines really - I'm guessing it was the inner mushroom, or that they were older. I cut those parts out because we had so many and I wasn't sure about it, but upon some research at home, it seems fine to eat that too.

For our chowder, we started sauteing the mushrooms (in ghee) first since we had to do it in two batches (due to limited cooking vessels). Meanwhile we chopped up a few slices of bacon and cooked them, than added dehydrated onions, peppers, celery, and a few potatoes along with a bunch of water to hydrate everything. The hydration takes a good 15 minutes or so, and we added the mushrooms once they had softened and been sauteed a bit - there were too many mushrooms to fit in our largest pot, so we had a bit of overflow! Then we added some salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning and simmered everything another 10-15 minutes. We stirred up a bit of cream powder, and mixed that in at the end. It was delicious!

Chinese Dumplings (Sui Mai) Paleo-style

I'm pretty picky about what blogs I follow...I want them to be paleo, I want them to feature mostly food for meals (not desserts), and I don't really like when there is lots of promotional material. I also like when they feature foods from various cultural cuisines. Really, I have only a few staples that I check out regularly (i'm on the hunt for more). Studio Snacks is my recent find - I've mentioned the blog before, but this is my first mostly-true-to-recipe post. She seems to be on a quest to create some paleo dim sum options, this one being Sui Mai (stuffed zucchini). I haven't ever had dim sum, which will be my fate unless a gluten free dim sum place appears. But really, I found these delicious, so who needs it?!

I actually think I can do some more playing around with them. I made these twice - both times using zucchini instead of yellow squash because, well, the zucchini just keep growing. The first time I steamed the dumplings as directed, but found they were too watery for my taste. The second time I baked them in the oven, but then the meat texture wasn't as nice. I am not sure if this is a) due to baking, b) because I used a spoon to mix the pork/shrimp mixture and not my hands (maybe the fat from the pork didn't set well enough with the rest of the ingredients?), c) because I let the meat mixture sit out longer before stuffing the zucchini, or d) because the zucchini were larger and maybe too big, hence needing a longer cooking time and possibly over-cooking them.

Ultimately either cooking method worked, but the steaming meant watery dumplings, and the baking version had meat was a bit soft. Take 2 also included a trial of stuffing the meat mixture into mushrooms, but I didn't find that as tasty. The mushrooms were too strongly flavored, whereas the zucchini is more neutral. My Charming Companion (who was really excited about these because, unlike me, he has a long history of dim sum eating and was missing dumplings) also suggested trying to wrap these in steamed cabbage leaves, which I find intriguing and want to try.

Anyway - you can also just make this meat mixture, fry it up in mini patties, and eat dipped in some sauce. I did that with part of batch one and it was delicious.The meat gets a nice sear on it that way too!

Stuffed Zucchini "Dumplings"
3-4 medium zucchini
1/2 pound ground pork
5 large shrimp
6 shiitake mushrooms
1/2 inch of ginger
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder
1/4 teaspoon 5-spice powder (optional)

1. Shell/devein the shrimp; mince it, along with ginger and muchrooms. Mix together with the pork.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix into pork mixture. Use your hands (just in case this contributed to better meat texture) to really blend the flavors. Put mixture in fridge while you prep the zucchini.
3. Cut zucchini into 1/2" thick slices. Using a spoon, score around each slice in a circle, then dig into the circle and scoop out the center. Imagine you are using a melon ball scoop - but it's a spoon.
4. Fill each ball with meat mixture (it will be super sticky - wetting your hands will help). If you are steaming, start the water boiling in your steamer; to bake, heat oven to 350. To steam: put sui mai into steamer and steam for 15 minutes, or until pork is cooked. To bake: bake for 15-20 minutes until pork is done.

5. Serve with dipping sauce below!

I first used a simple coconut aminos/fish sauce/sriracha to dip these in, but My Charming Companion was not having that. The recipe he devised is a bit more traditional, and was delicious.

Dipping Sauce
2 T coconut aminos
2 T rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
sprinkle of sesame seeds
splash of sesame oil

Paleo Tabbouleh

This photo is with hemp seeds - but pepitas are just as good!

I was never a big tabbouleh fan - I'm not sure why really, except that it just seemed to be too much parsley and too grain-y. (Traditionally the salad is largely bulgher.) But this recipe is not that way it all - this version is all fresh veggies with just a bit of grain crunch - though in this case the "grain" is some chopped up pepitas.

The recipe I modeled this version from is actually a nutiva recipe - I order my coconut oil from them because it is super cheap to get in a 1 gallon bucket. Their original recipe uses hemp seeds (no pepitas), but hempseeds are expensive. I did try the recipe with hempseeds initially (see photo) only to realize that I could really use any number of chopped nuts/seeds. And it turns out I LOVE tabbouleh! At least this version. You could certainly add more pepitas - but I like them as a small part of the overall salad.

Garlic chive blossoms

I also used some garlic chive blossoms instead of onion. These are all over the garden at the Northside homestead - and they are not actually related to the garlic plant (good for my garlic allergy) - and are more like chives. The blossoms taste like mild green onion, but with fun texture. I've been putting them in just about any fresh salad thing because they are so plentiful and pretty. Also they grow like crazy - I am going to bring some down to my house so they can be there for late in the season fresh onion-ness.

Paleo Tabbouleh
Huge bunch parsley (I used flat leaf cuz that's whats in my garden)
1/2 c chopped pepitas (or hemp seeds)
2 c cucumber, diced
1 c tomato, diced (use a nice sweet variety)
1/4 c red onion or garlic chive blossoms, diced
1/4 c fresh lemon juice
6 T olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

1. Mix parsley, pepitas, cucumbers, tomatoes and onion/chives in a bowl.
2. In a small bowl mix lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. Pour over tabbouleh. Serve!