Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt
• Bread crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups chili sauce
• 1/2 cup Coombs Family Farms 100% pure or organic maple syrup

Preparation:

Combine beef, onion, eggs, salt in a bowl. Mix well and add enough bread crumbs to bind mixture. Shape in small balls. Brown in skillet. Pour rest of ingredients over meat, gently mix together and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve with wooden picks.

The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Lemon Blueberry Pancakes is pretty easy, delicious, and sounds like a lot more work than it actually is. Oh, and of course you can drizzle maple syrup all over those pancakes while saying “I love pancakes”…so much fun.  Check out her website for step by step photos.  The great thing about real maple syrup, it looks lovely in the bottle on the table or tray so no need to find a pretty ceramic pourer unless you want to.

If you are not going to have enough time in the morning to make pancakes, or you don’t like lemon or blueberries (does anyone not like blueberries?) the Pioneer Woman’s make the night before Cinnamon Baked French Toast might be just the right item.

Some fresh cut fruit, bacon or sausages, coffee, and juice are all you need to round out the table. Enjoy!

Photos Ree Drummond.

Cornbread Muffins with Maple Butter from Bon Appetit and/or Oat and Maple Syrup Scones from Smitten Kitchen.

Candied Bacon from Fine Cooking (a super sweet gesture)

and… for a savory main The Eggberts Sunriser with step by step photos from The Pioneer Woman

Photo Bon Appetit.

A few people have called or written to find out when and how they can visit us this winter.  Vermont, New Hampshire and New York host their maple weekend on March 19-20.  This is when most sugarhouse are open to the public, including Bascom Family Farms. We hope to see you in Alstead, New Hampshire that weekend.

For information on maple weekends please visit the appropriate site:

New Hampshire:  http://www.nhmapleproducers.com/events.html

New York: http://www.mapleweekend.com/

Vermont:  http://vermontmaple.org/events.php

Now, to get you started with a delicious dish in 2011.  This recipe is for those of you lucky enough to live in a warm climate where grilling is still possible outdoors this time of year (we could do this in New England, but some days might require the kind of layers normally reserved for the slopes), or those who have invested in the essential indoor grilling equipment. This dish can be enhanced with a pasta dish and salad (lettuce based).

Spicy Sweet Sausage and Peppers

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large green pepper, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large red pepper
• 1 small yellow onion chopped in 1/4 inch pieces
• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Coombs Family Farms pure maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp dried crushed red pepper (or more to taste)
• 4 pork or chicken sausages, preferably hot Italian
• 4 submarine or large hot dog buns
• 2 Tbsp butter

Directions:

Prepare grill.  Mix first seven ingredients together in large bowl to coat peppers and onions well. Grill mixture on an oiled rack above coals under just tender.

Meanwhile, prick sausages with a fork and grill on medium to low until just cooked through.

Spread butter on inside of buns and toast on grill until golden.  Insert one sausage in each roll and cover with pepper onion mixture.  Serves four.

Leftovers from this meal can be reheated as lunch or dinner the next day. What is important is keeping what you can simple this time of year since there really is so much going on and aren’t you hungry after coming in from the cold? Meals like this one are not terribly involved, but are hearty and delicious.  We will try to supply you with a few more ideas like this one during the next few days, and by all means encourage you to share recipes you have using maple syrup that find a way onto the dining room table more often than not.

Roast Pork Loin with Quince Maple Compote

• 1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork loin roast, well trimmed
• 4 large garlic cloves, smashed
• 4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried
• Salt and pepper
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 pounds quinces, peeled, quartered, cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• ¼ cup Coombs Family Farms pure maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Rub pork with garlic and spices. Place pork, fat side down, in prepared roasting pan. Being careful not to rinse off spices, add wine and stock to pan. Roast pork 30 minutes. Turn roast fat side up. Add quince, maple and water. Cover with foil. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 155°F and liquids are almost all absorbed, about 25 minutes longer. Remove roast and set on plate; let stand 10 minutes. Place roasting pan directly on stove top burner on medium heat. Heat pan juices and quince, scraping up Coombs bits as you go. Reduce 2 to 3 minutes. Serve roast thickly sliced with juices and compote on top.

Ingredients:

• 1 (6 to 8-lb) roaster chicken, giblets removed, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 whole lemon
• 1 Tbsp dried whole sage
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp Coombs Family Farms pure maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Rub chicken skin with butter.  Place 1/2 whole lemon in cavity. Sprinkle chicken inside and out with sage, salt, and pepper.  Roast chicken for about one hour, and remove from oven. Baste with pan juices and then pour syrup over entire chicken.  Return chicken to oven and continue to baste occasionally for another hour or until thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh registers 180 F.  Let stand five minutes before serving. Serves six.

Zak Pelaccio’s Brussels Sprouts (inspired by Linda Pelaccio) New York Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. thick-cut bacon, cut in 1/4-inch lardons
• 36 Brussels sprouts, trimmed, with outer 2 leaves removed, and halved
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 12 chestnuts (roasted and peeled, broken into chunks)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup grade-B maple syrup
• 1/2 lemon

Directions:

In a large saute pan or cast-iron skillet, render the lardons over medium heat until they are a rich brown. With a slotted spoon, remove the lardons to a paper-towel-lined plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan. Toss the sprouts in the pan, season with sea salt, and cook in the bacon fat over the medium heat for 1 minute. Add the chestnuts, and continue cooking for 4 minutes. Sprinkle in the garlic and thyme, and cook for another 3 minutes. Pour in the cream, and reduce by half. Season to taste. Add the bacon, pour in the maple syrup, and give a squeeze of lemon juice. Cook, stirring, for another couple of minutes, and serve.

Photo by Esteban Cavrico.

Crispy Duck with Maple and Sour Cherries

Ingredients:

• 4 frozen skin-on duck fillets (preferably all-natural, such as Bell and Evans)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 shallot, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen sour cherries
• 1 Tbsp orange zest
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 Tbsp low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 Tbsp Coombs Family Farms pure maple syrup
• 3 Tbsp tawny Port or cherry brandy

Directions:

Thaw duck according to package directions. Salt and pepper both sides. Heat 1 T of oil in large skillet on medium high heat. Place duck fillets, skin side down, and cook according to package directions until medium rare and skin is crispy. Set aside. Drain all but 1 T of duck fat from skillet. Reduce heat to low. Saute shallot in duck fat. Add cherries, zest, juice and broth; reduce, scraping up Coombs bits. Add syrup and Port. Pour over each fillet and serve hot.

During maple harvest season a traditional candy-like treat is created by drizzling hot maple syrup on snow. This dessert by Bon Appetit is a bit more gourmet, but it has the same idea. Drizzle maple syrup over almost anything and the results are going to be devoured.

Photo by Dan Forbes for Bon Appetit.