Delicious news from your friendly meat department

St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are coming, and the meat department is eager to help you celebrate.

Corned beef – it’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day, but what better time to think of it? It’s hard to find corned beef that is all natural, much less local, but we have a solution! MAKE YOUR OWN!!! It takes 2 weeks, so if you want to do this for St. Patrick’s Day, buy a roast this weekend and get it going!

It’s a fairly simple process – coat a roast in a salt and spice rub, massage and turn it daily, then after 2 weeks, soak it in water for 1-3 days, and it’s ready to cook. Simmer it with some carrots, potatoes, and cabbage, and you have a very delicious corned beef dinner (plus leftovers) that you made yourself. (Oh it’s so exciting!)

Copies of the recipe (from Julia Child’s book, The Way to Cook) are available at Just Local, along with a nice selection of roasts from Wheatfield Hill, Little Spring Valley, and Out to Pasture.

Leg of Lamb – How about a leg of lamb from Lambalot Acres for this year’s Easter dinner? We have a sign-up sheet, similar to our Thanksgiving turkey ordering process. Sign up by Monday, March 17, and we’ll have your order ready for pickup or delivery on Friday, March 21.

Legs are available butterflied, bone-in, and bone-in with shank. The bone-in is great if you want to make soup the next day, and the bone-in with shank makes a nice presentation for carving. (btw, just last weekend Laura made lamb stock at home for the first time, then Scotch Broth the next day; it beat the heck out of the Campbell’s version she used to love as a child.)

Fresh Pork – Another really nice option is a pork roast or pork tenderloin from Beaver Creek Ranch. Pork is so versatile, the possibilities are endless. Rosemary and garlic, Chinese barbeque, Cuban, mmm, go adventurous or traditional. We have a few of each in stock now, and will be getting more tenderloin in shortly.

Please let us know if you have any requests in the meat department.
We’ve been selling lamb like crazy lately, with the shanks being a particularly hot item. We expect more shanks, gyro strips, kebabs, and ground for this Saturday.

We currently have a nice selection of lamb chops and leg steaks, which are really tasty, and fast and easy to make as well. If you haven’t had lamb in a while, or aren’t sure you like it, check out some of the recipes posted in the store, or look on-line, and give it a try. You’re in for a nice surprise.