From time immemorial, the cultures of the Mediterranean have been eating small, oily fish: sardines, smelts, anchovies, and mackerel. These have been out of favor for a long time in the US, and they are seriously underfished.  As such, you can eat all you want, and since they’re not predatory species they don’t have the concerns of pollutants concentrating in the flesh.  They’re also pretty cheap – a couple bucks a pound – and universally wild-caught.

What you need:
Vegetable or peanut oil – enough to fill a large skillet about ¾” to 1″ deep
A large cast iron skillet with high, straight sides
All-purpose flour
Old Bay or similar crab boil seasoning
Spring-loaded tongs
Several dozen smelts, heads on or off (about a pound)

What you do:
Liberally season about ½ cup of AP flour with the crab boil seasoning.
Heat the oil in the skillet over high heat to 375°F.
Coat the smelts, 8-10 at a time, in the seasoned flour.
Fry in the oil for 1½-2 minutes until lightly golden, then remove to a draining rack or paper towels to drain.
Season with additional crab boil, and serve hot.

Serving Suggestions:
Shake on a little rice wine or malt vinegar, or squeeze on a touch of fresh lemon or lime juice.
Serve over a salad of bitter greens (mustard, arugula, dandeloin, etc.) dressed with a light vinaigrette.
Eat with a hoppy beer like an IPA.

Just eat the whole fish – little bones and all, though I admit I usually break off the tailfin and discard. Acid and bitter accompaniments are best, as the fish itself is oily and rich and acid/bitter flavors help cut through. If you’re hungry, you can go through more than a dozen of these in a sitting. Give small fish a try – they’ll help your heart, the environment, and your budget.

Case in point – we love the folks at Springfield Farm. They’re a bio-conscious operation in northern Baltimore County that raises laying hens, roaster chickens, turkeys, hogs, and lambs on natural pasture.  You can see their laying hens in the photo above.  That little red building all the way in the background is the hen-house, and the food & water’s as far away from it as possible, so that the hens spend most of their time outside.  They’re exercised, in the open air, and free to forage for bugs and tasty plants.  They’ll strip most of the green vegetation off this section of pasture, and will be rotated onto pasture vacated by the sheep.

Springfield’s eggs are very reasonably priced – $3.75 for a dozen large, which compares well against the $3.49/dozen for “organic, cage-free” at the supermarket.  Here, though, you get to visit the hens laying your eggs, and can buy them before they ever hit a refrigerator.  They’re fresh, the pasturing produces eggs with brilliant orange-yellow yolks, and they’ve got a great rich flavor.  Win for everyone.  Springfield has almost 2500 layers in their flocks, and the operation has scaled well to offer an outstanding product at a reasonable price.

Now, we get into the pasture-raised meats.  Our cheap meat supply, based on subsidized soy and corn feed, is under scrutiny as a potential contributor to our unhealthy eating habits. We eat too much animal protein,  too few fresh vegetables and very few legumes, because we can afford to.  We spend approximately half of what people in the early part of the 20^th century did for our food, and we eat probably twice as much meat as we should.

So, is it reasonable to pay premium prices for what we have taken for granted as a cheap everyday consumable?  If chicken parts are selling for $1.49 a pound at the local megamart, is it sane to pay three times that for a hormone- and antibiotic-free version, raised on pasture and eating a well-rounded diet?

Being that Springfield is a poultry farm that you can actually tour without a gas mask, and that the roaster flocks spend most of their time wandering about in the open air, there’s a case to be made that premium prices are worth it if only for reducing the amount of agri-industry we depend on for our daily sustenance.  However, these truly free-range birds have an extra benefit – they actually taste good.

Whereas the average supermarket bird is bland, with a mushy, cottony consistency to the cooked meat, a real free-range bird actually uses its muscles.  The result is firmer flesh that is simultaneously tender and juicy and provides some resistance to the tooth.  It has a coarser… meatier… texture that’s a pleasant surprise.  The flavor is more pronounced as well, in that while not being gamy, it actually tastes like something. While a standard bird generally needs an overnight brining to taste of anything, the free range chickens don’t need anything other than some basic seasoning.

Try this for a month, and see how it works for you.  Spend the same amount you would normally spend on meat, but buy better quality, non-industrially produced meats.  You’ll have less of it.  This affords you the second, fun part of the exercise where you supplement this smaller quantity of animal protein with legumes, pulses, and fresh in-season vegetables.  You may find that you’re enjoying more flavorful, but smaller portions of meats combined with a healthier proportion of vegetables and spending nearly the same amount on groceries.

“Oven-Grilled” Organic Free-Range Chicken Thighs

4 Free-Range Chicken Thighs
Kosher Salt
Pepper
Caribbean or Southwestern spice rub
Olive Oil

Free range roaster thighs tend to be larger than what you’re used to, because free-range birds actually spend a lot of time walking around.  An average free-range thigh is 6-8 oz. with bone.

Preheat your oven’s broiler on high for at least five minutes.

Rinse your chicken under cold water, rubbing lightly, and blot dry with clean paper toweling.  Rub or brush lightly with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and fresh-ground pepper, and rub lightly with spice mixture.

Space evenly on broiler pan and place under direct heat 6-7″ from broiler.  Broil for 20 minutes, turning every five, or until a thermometer in the thickest part of the meat (but not touching the bone) reads 170°F (77°C).  Remove from broiler and let rest uncovered for 3-5 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.  360-480 kcal/serving.

The weather here in the Mid-Atlantic is starting to turn cooler, but I’m just not ready to let go of the last shreds of summer.  So, before I delve into the earthy and warming flavors of autumn, I’ve got to give light, fresh, and vibrant one more go.  Make this on a fleeting warm October afternoon, or hold onto it to spring on friends and family (ha!) come April.  Or, let’s be honest, you can use this on a winter’s day to bring a little of the lazy days of Tuscan summer into the kitchen.  Just be aware that some of the ingredients are only going to be available from distant climes.

This recipe is fast, fast, fast.  After about 15 minutes of prep work, it comes together as a meal in less than 10 minutes in most cases.  The sauce literally takes 5 minutes to prepare, so start it when your pasta has about 5 minutes to cook.

Ingredients:

6 oz. (dry weight) long pasta – spaghetti, bucatini, linguini fini, etc.
1 dry pint grape or cherry tomatoes
8 oz frozen, pre-cooked shrimp, thawed with tails removed
1 lemon
6 large cloves garlic
4-5 basil tops, fresh
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp white sugar
salt
pepper

Cooking time: 6-12 minutes for pasta, depending on type, 5 minutes for sauce.

Set pasta pot with at least 4 qts. of cold water on high heat to boil.

Halve the grape tomatoes, or quarter cherry tomatoes and set aside.  Zest half the lemon and set aside, then juice the lemon, discarding any seeds.  Peel and coarsely chop the garlic cloves into about 1/8″ pieces.  Separate the basil leaves from the stems, roll sets of leaves into a cigar shape, and thinly slice cross-wise, then separate the ribbons.

When pasta water comes to a boil, add salt at the rate of 1 tsp per quart, then add the pasta and stir briskly.

Place a large saute pan over high heat, and add 2 tbsp of olive oil and wait until it starts to shimmer on the surface.  Add the garlic and saute briefly – just until it starts to soften and get aromatic, but before it begins to brown.  Immediately add the tomatoes and toss to combine.  Lower heat to medium-high to prevent burning.  When tomatoes begin to cook down and give up some of their juices (about a minute), add sugar and lemon juice, and toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Turn heat back to high, add remaining tablespoon of olive oil, and thawed shrimp.  Toss to coat, and warm through.  When shrimp are heated through, add lemon zest and most of the basil (hold back a pinch or two to garnish), then toss to combine.  Immediately remove from heat.  The tomato and lemon juice should be reduced, concentrated, and thickened.

When cooked al dente, thoroughly drain the pasta and immediately serve into individual bowls, then top with the shrimp and tomato sauce.  Garnish each serving with a small pinch of basil.  Alternately, for larger groups, double the recipe, toss pasta with the sauce in a large bowl, garnish with basil, and serve at the table.

Serves 2.  Buon appetito!

Calories: about 630 per serving, and it’s filling.  The pasta and the olive oil are the killers here, but overall it’s a fairly healthy blend of carbs, protein, and monounsaturated fats.  Eat a reasonable portion, and there’s still room for a little sorbetto for desert.