MarWin Farm

We are super psyched to be the featured farm as part of The Ocean House’s Farm + Vine Dinner on February 6th featuring Chef Adam Halberg, Culinary Director of Barcelona Wine Bar.  Our Pekin duck will be featured in the Second Course prepared with roasted sunchokes.  My mouth is watering!

We recently had Yale researchers visit the farm…they are trying to understand molecular aspects of bird physiology.  How do ducks find their food?  How do they discriminate between right and wrong food?  What molecules help them do so?  These are fundamental physiological questions that the researchers seek to answer by analyzing the molecules that are present in nervous systems of ducks.  And when it comes to finding the right duck for research – no bird works better than MarWin Farm duck!  We are thrilled to be part of Slav, Elena, and Marco’s research efforts.  So there you have it…Food and Science!

If you would like our ducks or any of our other products - for food or science -  visit our How to Buy and Products pages.

Happy New Year everyone!  Although it’s hard to believe on a day like today, it won’t be long before the crocus and daffodils are pushing their way through the soil reaching for spring’s sunlight.  But for now, we must bear the winter elements, hibernate a little bit longer and EAT!  We’ll have plenty of Duck all winter long, along with some Chickens and Quail.  Stay up-to-date on what we’ll have available by subscribing to our email newsletter.

Check out our How to Buy page to find out how you can get MarWin Farm products in your kitchen.  We’ve made it easy for everyone!

It is funny how quickly we go from avoiding putting anything in the oven to savoring the warmth and the smells … well it is clearly “crank up the oven” weather. !!

If I might suggest some combinations …   fresh baked bread and a roasting chicken ..  or a stuffed duck and a batch of applesauce …

On another note .. this Saturday Tina and I will be serving stuffed chickens and ducks at the New Hartford Land Trust Fall Frolic at Ski Sundown … great food, awesome band, and a great organization … Any friend of MarWin Farm can show up and get the advanced price of $35.  not a bad deal for free food and booze .. and the music of Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem ..  check em out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qygWhIJIifA&feature=related   You will certainly find Joanne roaming around and I’m sure there is fun to be had .. think about showing up.

The gig is 6:00 to 10:00 this sat the 13th at Sundown

FarmShare delivery is this week so order up .. and remember if you want fish you need to order by 11 tonight (wednesday)

Thanks

Kenny for everyone at MarWin Farm

Gather – Cook – Celebrate – Repeat

Duclair (Left) Pekin (Right)

We have always felt the Pekin duck is a great duck.  However, we were recently turned on to a breed of duck by one of the chef’s who buys Pekins for his restaurant.  Because we love duck so much, we decided to grow a small batch of this breed called Duclair.  The Duclair is a black and white duck known for it’s depth of flavor.  You can see in the picture above that the Duclair pictured on the left is visibly darker than the Pekin on the right.  Something else to note…the Duclair’s weight dressed was 3-1/2 lbs.   Our Pekin’s usually leave the farm at 4-1/2 to 5 lbs.  Given the dressed weights, the breast meat on the Duclair was comparable to the Pekin.  Ok…Time to cook and taste.

Duclair (Left) Pekin (Right)

We simply scored the fat and cooked the duck breasts in a cast iron pan – no seasoning added.

Pekin – sliced.

Duclair – sliced.

Both were cooked the same amount of time about 12 minutes on the fat side, then another 6-8 minutes once turned.  The Duclair was a darker meat to begin with so it was no surprise to see an almost roast beef-like color once sliced.   Although both duck breasts were absolutely delicious, in a not-so-blind (only I knew which duck breast belonged to which breed of duck) taste test, a slight edge was given to the Duclair.

We’ve tried it…now we want you to try it!  We only have a small number of Duclairs, but are offering our FarmShare members an opportunity to do a side by side comparison.  When you place your FarmShare order ask for the Duclair Sampler.  You will receive one side of a Duclair duck breast along with one side of a Pekin duck breast.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Dinner on the Hill

We had the honor last evening of being guests at a fundraising dinner for the Hill-Stead Museum Farmers’ Market, Dinner on the Hill  in Farmington.  It was a great evening.  A delicious farm-to-table dinner catered by Russell’s Creative Global Cuisine using the bounty of our local farms.   We were very happy to be a part of it.

Happy 10th Birthday Eddie!!

On another happy note.  Eddie turned 10 years old yesterday.  Happy Birthday Eddie!!

Just a quick note as we get ready for the Hill-Stead Market … last night we had the first test batch of Tina’s Duck Breast Pastrami … oh my .. what a home run .. simply “over the top” fabulous… I couldn’t help but think it would be perfect with Beltane’s soft Goat cheese and a Gin Martini .. what a way to start an evening.

Stay tuned for that … and more from the Kitchen at MarWin Farm

Thanks Tina !!!

Kenny

Gather-Cook-Celebrate-Repeat

Hi all, What a great time of the year.. cool weather around the corner and you can almost smell Thanksgiving way off in the distance.

So much going on …. the little fatties are .. in fact .. really fat.  We expect to start delivery next week !    The quail and partridge are just getting to market weight and we hope that we will have a steady supply going forward.   We are really excited about the prospects for quail and partridge, what with our current “de-bone and stuff” movement !!  With the cooler weather comes more traditional stuffing and with duck sausage as an ingredient, the options are mouth watering.

We now want to offer all of our birds to FarmShare members as whole, de-boned, or de-boned and stuffed.  In all cases but the game birds, the bones can be included separately for stock !  We know how pressed for time people get and we are really excited about how delicious these birds can be when stuffed with seasonal ingredients and the presentation at the table is just fabulous.  We have adjusted the pricing a bit so check out the products tab for details.

Thats all for now .. Eddie needs to get to school

Kenny

Gather-Cook-Celebrate-Repeat

Hi Farmshare Members !

This week we will have a full complement of delicious products ready for delivery on Friday.

*  Stuffed Chickens (boneless of course)  this week will be stuffed with Radicchio, Apples and Toasted Pecans

*  Stuffed Ducks will be stuffed with Radicchio, Pears and Shallots

*  The Farm Sausage of the week will be Duck with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Basil

*  The whole Chickens are running around 3 lbs (just the way I like them !)

*  The Whole Ducks will be around 4 lbs each.

*  We should have plenty of “skinny fat” and  ”pulling my leg” too !

The Fish:   Red Snapper at 15.95 / lb  all meat filets

To think about:  The little fatties (american Guinea hog ) are almost ready  !!!  They should be between 30 and 45 lbs hanging weight .. we will be adding more about them very soon so watch the products page.  If you want one for sure reserve asap as there are only a dozen.

Thanks

Kenny

Boneless Chicken Stuffed with Peaches, Kale & Thai Basil.

Obviously Kenny has not been doing any posting; but, he has been working very hard!  Recently, Kenny has been on a deboning mission after spending more time than can be considered healthy with Jacques Pepin on YouTube.  The bottom line is…last night we had some fabulous deboned stuffed chicken and duck and we want everyone to know about it - so you can all enjoy it too!

After last night’s kitchen experiment, we are excited to offer as a part of our expanding product line…deboned chickens and ducks and stuffed deboned chickens and ducks.

These are some of the details of what transpired… Kenny was in charge of deboning and I took on the role of scoring some excellent local seasonal ingredients courtesy of our friends Bryan and Gina Gill at Beckwith Brook Farm…right down the street.

We started with a 4 lb broiler, deboned and stuffed it with fresh local peaches and Beckwith Brook Farm kale and Thai basil.  Seasoned with a little salt and pepper, we baked it at 350 for about an hour.

Left: Whole Boneless Chicken with fresh peaches, kale & Thai basil. Right: Whole Boneless Duck.

For the duck, we tossed together some fresh local red & green plums and Beckwith Brook Farm nasturtium leaves, Thai basil & calendula petals. A little bit of salt and pepper to taste and a 350 degree oven for about an hour and ten minutes and VOILA…

Whole Boneless Duck stuffed with fresh local red & green plums, nasturtium leaves, Thai basil & calendula petals.

Left: Deboned Stuffed Chicken ready for the oven.

Finished Duck…red & green plums, nasturtium leaves, Thai basil & calendula petals.

For at least a short time we will be offering small-ish (2 lb.) chickens and ducks (approx. 4.25 lbs) whole and deboned – so that you can do what you want with them… or, whole, deboned AND stuffed with fresh local seasonal ingredients from our neighboring farms.  Ingredients will change week to week as different produce becomes available.  See This Week’s Menu for the most current stuffed & deboned chicken & duck selection, plus other products available through our FarmShare and Farmers’ Markets.

Hi everyone… we just put up this new website this morning and will be working to build it over the next few days … this new website and blog will be where you can find info on the farm… see what products are available … comment … and order products..  more to come  really soon.

Kenny