Filed under: Recipes
We are starting a new thing…. every Tuesday I will post a yummy recipe that you can try out! So remember to check every Tuesday!!!
RECIPE:
*Pork chops with apple and arugula:
Serves 2
2 Pork Chops
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped shallots
1 medium green apple, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 cup brandy
1 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups arugula, washed and dried
1) Rinse and pat the pork chops dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
2) In a saute pan over medium-high heat, add the oil, heating until it just starts to haze. Add the pork chops and saute until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Closely monitor the heat so the pork chops get a deep golden brown but the bits at the bottom of the pan don’t burn- they are the flavor foundation for your sauce. Remove the pork chops and set aside.
3)Add the shallots, chopped apple, and garlic to the same pan. Cook for 2 minutes or until golden. Use tongs to scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the brandy and let boil, reducing the liquid by half. Add the apple juice and rosemary, and boil for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and boil (reduce) until you have a nice saucy consistency. Add the butter. Turn off the heat and stir just until the butter is melted. Add the arugula.
4) Place each pork chop on a plate. Pour the sauce with the arugula on top of each chop.
ENJOY!
Filed under: Events
Join us at the Race City Festival on May 19th in downtown Mooresville for a free tasting with Chef Troy!
Chef Troy along with Motown Spice Provisions will host a tasting booth from 9 am until 3 pm using fresh local ingredients seasoned with his all natural spice blends.
*The Event-May 19th, 2012 9 am – 3pm*
-Free food samples prepared by Chef Troy using local food grown or raised right in our community.
-Raw local food supplied by farmers MIKE SMITH of BIG OAK FARM, Amy Foster of Gilcrest Natural Farm, Kate Brun of Lucky Leaf Gardens, and Josh Graham of Josh’s Farmer’s Market.
-Free handouts of some of Chef Troy’s top quick, easy, simple and tasty recipes will be available. Chef Troy’s spice line will also be available for purchase during the event.
For fans wanting to learn more about the Mooresville NC Food Revolution Chapter, upcoming events and like the fan page can do so at Chef Troy’s booth.
Also on site, the booth will have a way for you to sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution petition and help educate yourself, family and friends on how to get back to our roots of “real food” that tastes great and is good for you.
Why the Food Revolution matters- “The problem stems from the loss of cooking skills at home and the availability of processed foods at every turn, from the school cafeteria to church function halls, factories and offices. This Food Revolution is about saving lives by inspiring everyone: moms, dads, kids, teens and cafeteria workers to get back to basics and start cooking good food from scratch.” -Jamie Oliver
Filed under: Events
Come taste test some of our beef and pork that Chef Troy Gagliardo will be Celebrating Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day at Race City Festival!!!!
Chef Troy Gagliardo Celebrating Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day at Race City Festival
Local food tasting sponsored in part by Motown Spice Provisions
Mooresville, NC-Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day is being celebrated all over the world on Saturday May 19th, 2012. Local celebrity chef Troy Gagliardo, of Fox Charlotte’s morning show Fox News Rising, will be hosting a free local food tasting at his booth during Mooresville’s Annual Race City Festival.
“I am so excited to finally bring Jamie’s vision and passion for food education to our community using locally farmed and raised foods”, explained Chef Troy. “We started the Mooresville NC Chapter-Food Revolution as a fan page on Facebook to get the ball rolling in our community. We are committed to helping folks learn more about simple cooking and eating more real food. This is our first community event and we are all very excited to stand up for real food.”
Chef Troy along with Motown Spice Provisions, who blends and distributes his signature blends of all natural spices, will host a tasting booth from 9 am until 3 pm using fresh local ingredients seasoned with his spice blends. “We will cook the basics to show exactly how simple and easy it is make fresh real food taste great”, said Chef Troy.
The Event-May 19th, 2012 9 am – 3pm
• Free food samples prepared by Chef Troy using local food grown or raised right in our community.
• Raw local food supplied by farmers Mike Smith of Big Oak Farm, Amy Foster of Gilcrest Natural Farm, Kate Brun of Lucky Leaf Gardens. If you are or know of a local raw food supplier of vegetables or organically raised meats contact Chef Troy to donate a sample of your product for use in the tasting for Food Revolution Day.
• Free handouts of some of Chef Troy’s top quick, easy, simple and tasty recipes will be available. Chef Troy’s spice line will also be available for purchase during the event.
• For fans wanting to learn more about the Mooresville NC Food Revolution Chapter, upcoming events and like the fan page can do so at Chef Troy’s booth.
• Also on site, the booth will have a way for you to sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution petition and help educate yourself, family and friends on how to get back to our roots of “real food” that tastes great and is good for you.
Why the Food Revolution matters- “The problem stems from the loss of cooking skills at home and the availability of processed foods at every turn, from the school cafeteria to church function halls, factories and offices. This Food Revolution is about saving lives by inspiring everyone: moms, dads, kids, teens and cafeteria workers to get back to basics and start cooking good food from scratch.” -Jamie Oliver
Filed under: News
Please follow the link below and educate yourself on Pink Slime, it’s sold in many grocery stores and you might not even know it!
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/is-pink-slime-in-the-beef-at-your-grocery-store/
Filed under: News
Hello Everyone!!
We are about to start getting really busy… between the beautiful weather and the farmers markets about to start full force. Here is the info and links for the two markets we always attend:
Davidson Farmers Market april 7th
http://davidsonfarmersmarket.org/
Conover Farmers Market: Aapril 28th
http://conoverfarmersmarket.org/default.aspx
Filed under: News
Today has been a busy but very successful day… For starters we have been looking to buy some more bulls for the last few weeks and FINALLY found a registered Angus that caught our eye. We bought him from Yon Family Farms they are well known and we have heard about them for years and what a good reputation they have. We searched them via Internet liked what we saw and contacted them. They had 140 bulls for sale, he brought one to our farm and we feel in love…. According to our mini me 4 year old grandson the bulls name is “Peanut” he is a whopping 1,590lbs… beastly for a little over one years old. “Peanut” is currently checking out his new lady friends and making himself right at home.
After that we loaded up 3 of our calves onto the trailer and took them to the processor: Mays Meat in Taylorsville.
Link to Yon Family Farms:http://www.yonfamilyfarms.com/
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more exciting days on our farm!
Filed under: Contact Us
Mike and Dawn Smith
Office:
2749 Sherrill Cove Way
Denver, NC 28037
Farm:
6565 Beaver Road
Kannapolis, NC 28081
704-489-8097 (office)
704-785-0038 (cell)
email us at mikesmith1859@yahoo.com
Filed under: Goals
Goals
Our most important goal is to provide flavorful, lean, healthy beef products to our customers.
Another goal is to expand both our pasture land and livestock. If you know of any 30 plus acreages in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Gaston, Lincoln or Catawba counties in North Carolina, please let us know.
We will work with the property owners and assist them in either placing the property in the property tax deferment program for agricultural use; or , if already in the program, to maintain it. This program is paramount to the survival of the vanishing family farm in NC, and it can also save thousands in property taxes.
Filed under: Our Cattle
Our Cattle
Owning our bulls and momma cows, we have complete control of our breed selection. Our momma cows (or brood cows) are Charolais and Charolais/Angus crosses. Our bulls are Angus.
Our selective breeding promotes a lean product for obvious health reasons.
All our cattle roam and graze freely in abundant, rolling pastures and wander into the woods and graze on berries, acorns, and assorted leafy plants. During the heat of the summer they often enjoy relaxing and chewing their cud in the shade, their noses facing into the breeze. This is a dramatically different life from cattle that are raised in feedlots in the Midwest and processed into beef and sold in most commercial grocery stores today.
We believe this easy, unstressed and free-grazing lifestyle is essential in raising the highest quality cattle for the most tender and flavorful beef.
We never have and never will give our cattle growth stimulants or hormones to make them fatter or to force them to grow faster. (Research indicates that these same growth stimulants and hormones make people grow bigger and faster too.)
We do not routinely give any of our cattle antibiotics. Any cattle who receive antibiotics for health reasons are culled out of the beef selection process.
Filed under: About Us
We are a family of farmers who have been proudly involved in agriculture for over 100 years in northwestern Cabarrus County in North Carolina. We are following in the footsteps of both my grandfathers by farming our land. They raised a variety of produce and farm products and “took them into town” to sell.
Big Oak Farm focuses on all-natural beef products. We produce the best all-natural beef you can find. Our beef products are USDA inspected and vacuum sealed for freshness and preservation of our all-natural flavor. We are the true producers of all our beef.
Our beef is sold from our home in Denver, NC and also at Davidson Farmers’ Market (8 am – 12 pm on Saturdays), Conover Farmers’ Market (8 am -12:30 pm on Saturdays) and G-Town Market in Gastonia (8 am – 2 pm on Fridays). We are also one of the farms providing beef for Know Your Farms LLC program, a local buying club designed to provide local farm products to people in our area.
We currently maintain around 200 acres in pasture and hay production in Cabarrus and Mecklenburg counties.