Winter Solstice Dinner

Last year our family started celebrating the Winter Solstice, as a way to have a small family gathering before we see our parents for Christmas.  I try to make the meal as local as possible and order from the Red Hills On-line Farmers Market .  This market has the motto of "Shop Naked" because you pick out your order on-line sometime between Sunday and Wednesday morning at 6am and then pick up your items at the Bread and Roses Food Cooperative on Thursday after 5pm.

I looked at the items available and decided to do a beef stew.  Someone recommended a chestnut and beef stew and I found a recipe to try.  I substituted turnips for potatoes in the recipe, since that was what was available locally at this time. 

Carrots and turnips from Full Earth Farm, beef from Deep Roots Meat, and chestnuts from Blue Ridge Farm

I steamed the chestnuts using my rice cooker/steamer after looking up some instructions on-line.  First I cut them in half vertically and then steamed them on the highest setting of water for 20 minutes.  They were hot, and peeled very easily.  Their meat is rich and tasty.

The recipe called for a red wine.  I was all out of my red wine from Florida wineries.  Luckily I shopped for additional ingredients at one of the larger Publix stores and they had a selection of red wines from Florida wineries.  I decided on the Vintner's Red from San Sebastian Winery over in St. Augustine, since I have not yet been to that winery.  I also looked at the Southern Red at Lake Ridge Winery near Clermont, I have been there before and like many of their wines.

We also served a salad with lettuce from Ragged Glory Farm (this is the first I had heard of it) and carrot slices with a dressing of ponderosa lemon juice and almond oil.  While the produce was fresh and tasty the salad really could have used something else, I am not quite sure what though.

The beef and chestnut stew was very yummy and made for a nice, local Winter Solstice dinner, especially since a cold front had just come through, making the weather perfect for a hot stew to enjoy before opening our presents.

I even got two new cook books that were published this year and are specifically about local eating in Florida!



Winter Solstice presents from my family, can't wait to read them!