Author: callywoodfarms

We are a sustainable family run farm in Upstate SC specializing in pasture-based animals/protein. "Nourish your body, excite your taste buds, give back to the earth."

winter potato salad – Sweet potato and broccoli

Wintry Mix – Potato Salad with a Twist

First appeared in the CAFE newsletter and edited by Ellie Sharp

In the middle of the Winter, sometimes you dream of Summer:  the grill, fresh corn, sliced tomatoes, potato salad…the Southern fixin’s of a Summer BBQ meal. But then you remember it’s February. And there’s buckets of rain outside. So you make do with seasonal ingredients and make a Winter BBQ meal happen. White spring potatoes are replaced with sweet potatoes in storage and broccoli from the garden. You can add all sorts of things to this base – apples, pecans, but I implore you to use balsamic vinegar in the dressing – a must!

Ingredients:

3-4 sweet potatoes, diced into ½ inch pieces

Oil for roasting vegetables

Salt & pepper

1 head broccoli, 3-4 cups broken into bite sized pieces 

2-3 slices of bacon

¼ cup mayonnaise 

¼ cup balsamic vinegar 

½ small red onion, minced

1 garlic clove

1 apple, chopped (Fuji, pink lady, honeycrisp preferred, but Granny Smith would work!)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven 425.
  2. On a half sheet pan, combine sweet potatoes, oil, salt and pepper. Mix and spread into one layer. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
  3. Pull out potatoes and flip. Layer broccoli pieces right on top and season those with a bit more oil and salt. Roast for another 10-15 minutes until broccoli is crisped and potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and cool.
  4. Chop bacon and cook until crispy. Drain oil, set aside. 
  5. In your serving bowl, make the dressing. Combine mayo, vinegar, onion. Grate or add minced clove of garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk ingredients together. 
  6. Assemble. Place sweet potato and broccoli mixture on top of dressing. Add apple. Gently toss to combine being careful not to mash potatoes. Top with crispy bacon!

callywoodfarms4 Comments

Root Vegetable Pot Pie

A rich and hearty pot pie is perfect for the season’s cooler temps – Make the most of earthy veggies with this tender main course that suits the season all winter long. Yogurt adds moisture and texture to the flaky crust while the decadent filling guarantees second servings. Try with a simple side salad.

Recipe originally posted on CAFE newsletter, edited by Ellie Sharp

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs each rutabaga, turnips, and sweet potatoes, cut into a ½ inch dice
  • 1 lb each carrots (sliced), Brussels sprouts (halved and tough outer leaves removed if necessary)
  • Extra virgin olive oil (~2TB)
  • Salt & pepper
  • 2 rosemary stalks, leaves minced

Leek Bechamel

  • Olive oil to sauté leeks
  • 1 bunch of leeks, halved, washed, and sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • Salt and pepper

Yogurt Dough (adapted from Nourishing Traditions)

  • 1 cup yogurt (goat yogurt OR kefir would be an excellent local choice here!)
  • 1 cup butter
  • 3 ½ cups flour (whole wheat is an excellent choice here as the yogurt tenderizes and softens the whole wheat and produces a stellar flavor and texture. A spelt flour version is pictured below.)
  • 1 tspn salt
  • Egg wash/melted butter for cooking

Directions:

Make yogurt dough:

  1. Cream together butter and yogurt in stand mixer with paddle attachment.
  2. Add flour and salt. Mix until combined.
  3. Split into two. You only need half this the dough for the recipe. Freeze the other half for the next time you make pot pie, pasties, etc.
  4. You can use immediately or set aside to allow the yogurt to soak the whole grains to increase nutritional absorption!

Roast veggies:

  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. On a sheet pan with a Silpat mat/parchment/foil, combine rutabaga, sweet potatoes, and turnips. Add 1 TB of olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper and half the rosemary. Flip vegetable halfway through. Roast for 25-30 minutes until fork tender.
  3. On another sheet pan add carrots and Brussels sprouts. Add oil, salt and pepper, rosemary.  Roast for 15-20 minutes.
  4. Set vegetables aside or add to your pie pan. You might have more vegetables than needed. They make an excellent topping to fresh greens, goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette the next day for lunch. 
  5. Reduce oven to 375.

Make bechamel:

  1. Sauté leeks in olive oil over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes until leeks are translucent. Season with salt, pepper, minced garlic.
  2. Add butter. When melted, sprinkle flour over and combine. Let flour cook for 2 minutes.
  3. With a whisk, add milk 1/2 cup at a time, whisking with each addition.
  4. Allow the bechamel to cook for another minute and make sure everything is combined. Turn off heat.

Assemble:

  1. Place vegetables in pie pan.
  2. Top with bechamel and stir to combine. Taste and add more seasoning if needed! Set aside.
  3. Roll dough (easier if slightly chilled) out on countertop, make sure you have enough to cover pie pan. 
  4. Cover the pie with dough. Press dough onto pie pan using fork, crimping edges or your fingers to press down. Create vents on top allowing steam to escape during cooking process.
  5. Brush with egg wash or melted butter to help brown.
  6. Cook at 375 for 30-40 until crust is browned and delicious looking!

callywoodfarms2 Comments

Braised Radishes (w/ bacon or browned butter)

First appeared on CAFE newsletter January 12, 2020

Edited by: Ellie Sharp

In the middle of the winter, finding colorful crunch is hard without the beautiful radish! Most people put radishes in salad. While they certainly are a tasty, crunchy addition to a salad, there are other ways to use them! The most common way is to simply dip them in soft butter and sprinkle with salt. Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it! If you can’t quite swallow that, you can spread some bread with a (thick) layer of butter, then a layer of radish, then top with salt (black salt pictured). Don’t forget about the tops too! They are thinly sliced and placed on top of the radish sandwich here, but radish tops make an excellent addition to homemade pesto and soups (think in place of spinach, kale, or mustard/turnip greens!).

Perhaps though, my favorite way to prepare radishes is to cook them. They are wonderful roasted on pan amongst other vegetables (like potatoes or squash). I’m a big fan of “sheet pan meals” and love to throw potatoes, radishes, broccoli, and some local sausages on a pan to roast and call it dinner! But I want to leave you with a very tasty addition to your recipe box. Braised Radishes. I hope you try it and love it!

Ingredients:

  • 4 slices of bacon OR ¼ cup butter
  • 2 bunches of radishes, about 1 pound, or about 14 radishes
  • 3 large shallots or a small red onion, sliced and 1 garlic glove, minced
  • 4 slices of bacon, diced
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • Water or chicken/vegetable stock 2TB-1/4 cup
  • Italian parsley, leaves chopped into about scant ¼ cup
  • Salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Trim away bottoms of radishes. You can keep nice looking greens intact or remove and save for another use (or compost!). Slice each radish in half from top to bottom. Peel the shallots and slice into thin rings.
  2. Cook the chopped bacon in a large heavy skillet – preferably cast iron. When the bacon is crisped remove from skillet and set aside. If you need to, drain some fat away. You should have enough bacon fat covering the skillet (about 1-3 Tablespoons). OR melt butter in pan. Over low, allow butter to cook until small bits start to brown on the bottom of the pan ~3 minutes.  
  3. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until they start to brown slightly. Move to the outside of the skillet, away from heat. Add the radishes, placing each cut side down in the skillet. Let them cook undisturbed for about 2 minutes or until the bottoms just start to color.
  4. Add the balsamic vinegar and some water/stock – the liquid should just come up around the sides of the radishes. Cover, lower heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
  5. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for about 3-4 minutes, or until the water has reduced into a syrupy sauce. Add the parsley/herb of choice and sauté for about a minute or two, until it’s wilted.
  6. If using, add the bacon back in and season with salt and pepper. Serve over grits!

callywoodfarms2 Comments

The romantic baker

The other day I got up early to rise a batch of bread. My daughter, who is 8, heard me and joined me at the kitchen counter in the early hours of the morning while everyone else was asleep. We scooped and weighed flour, measured water and sourdough starter, and she began mixing the dough with her hands. After a few turns, she looked up at me and said, “It’s just so cool that flour and water become the yummy loaves that I love so much!” And I think that means I win at parenting? Just kidding – but seriously, it was a good moment.

Usually when I’m baking it’s in the early morning hours or the late night and I’m alone. I turn off my podcasts and listen to the rhythmic sounds of the kneading, slapping, and folding dough. I’m in my body. And then, often, I slip into my mind. My favorite daydream is one where I assume the mindset of my kids at their height of play and pretend I’m a famous alchemist mixing things and transforming them. Because isn’t bread the simplest and most magical alchemy in our world today? Flour + water + salt + hands = delicious sustenance. 

The granolas that I concoct are the same thing. While I start with a base recipe, I create flavors and re-create memories. A favorite drink? A childhood memory? It comes down to seasonal ingredients paired with complementary spices and textures.  When my love affair with cooking began, I always said I’m not a baker. Baking requires precision, which I don’t exactly excel at. Cooking is my artistic and creative expression to the world. Some of us use a canvas, some of us use words, images, etc. To be an artist is to “tinker” – a smidge of this, handful of that, pinches here and there. Going off the roadmap and letting yourself be led by the senses is what drew me to cooking. And after years of baking bread, I’ve found this also in baking. While I do start by measuring my ingredients, a truly good loaf of bread is in the sight, feel, touch of creating it. I add more water or more flour because of the way the loaf looks based on my touch, based on my senses.Ideas, but also feelings and memories, form the flavor profile that go into making a batch of granola.

And finally, cakes – oh the cakes! I never thought I’d really enjoy baking cakes and I do have a certain approach to cake baking: I pay particular attention to ingredients often using whole grain flours to create texture and flavor in the base. But my mind is always turning on how I can incorporate an herb or a vegetable. How can I blend the flavors blooming all around me on the farm to create unique flavors that you may never have experienced in cake form. And the cakes I bake for people? So much of my love of them goes into that cake I bake for them. I often recall a meal, dessert, or a drink we shared together. I think about the things they love and I try to fold it into the cake batter or frosting. I love creating cakes for people, rather than the baking itself. 

So, my point? While baking is a science, I prefer to think of it as a love affair. It allows me to connect with my body, my mind, my spirit, and my heart – and for a moment, someone else, too. 

Check out our Products + Pricing page for more details and always reach out for a custom order!

callywoodfarms5 Comments

A formula recipe: Skillet gratin

Edited by: Ellie Sharp, first published in the CAFE newsletter

This time of year I crave hearty, deeply satisfying dishes like shepherd’s pie and baked au gratins. I turn to these and others time and time again, with just one regret: the inevitable stockpile of pots and pans that such recipes require when each component is cooked separately and then combined into a final baking vessel. With snow in the forecast this past week (it eluded us this time – boo!) I was hankering for a hearty, hot soup alternative that wouldn’t put my kitchen cleaning into overdrive. The result was combining the likes of a shepherd’s pie with an au gratin into a single skillet supper.

This meal is exceptionally adaptable and can be tailored to flavor preferences as well as meat or meat-free diets. Once a filling is chosen, it is topped with a starchy vegetable and cheese “crust”. With this basic formula as your guide, the resulting outcomes are truly limitless. Play around with what’s in season, try combining new-to-you ingredients with a familiar base, or switch up seasonings for Tex-Mex, Greek, Asian or Italian flair.

For my first creation, pictured here, I used bacon, leek, shiitake, and cabbage with a rutabaga topping: a true celebration of CAFE offerings these days!

Skillet Gratin 
The formula:

Protein: 1 lb ground meat, 8 oz chopped bacon, 1.5 cups leftover roast meat, OR 1 can of drained beans/lentils 

Vegetables: You need roughly 6 cups of chopped vegetables. Ideas include mushrooms, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc.

Gratin topping: 1 pound starchy root vegetable such as potatoes, rutabaga, turnip, even beets. Slice chosen vegetables thinly with a mandolin.

Seasonings and Herbs: Start with 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped, freshly chopped herbs, salt and pepper. Nice additions include tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc.

Cream and Cheese for Topping: Save the cream from the top of your raw milk or, as pictured here, the top layer of canned coconut milk. Nut milk might work, too, if you can make it thick enough (give it a whirl). You’ll need about ½ cup of the milk choice and ½ cup of preferred cheese.

In addition to the following specific recipe, here are some combination ideas to get you started:

  • Chicken pot pie inspired with chicken, carrots, mushrooms, peas and topped with Yukon gold potatoes.
  • Roast pork from the freezer with Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and topping with some potatoes and goat cheese.
  • Ground beef would do well with spinach or broccoli plus tomato and an addition of tomato paste.
  • Lentils! I can’t wait to try this with lentils and some kale topped with turnips. 

The possibilities are truly limitless or at least as far as your taste buds and imagination can take you!

Bacon, shiitake, leek, cabbage with rutabaga skillet gratin (pictured recipe):

  • 8 ounces bacon, chopped
  • 12 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 leeks washed and sliced into half moons
  • 1 small (or ½ large) cabbage head, quartered, core removed, sliced into ribbons
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 1 pound rutabaga, sliced thin with a mandolin
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk (not shaken and poured from the cream on top)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. If using pre-cooked meat or beans continue to step 3. Otherwise, heat a 10-inch iron skillet over heat and brown the meat. Remove from the pan, place on a plate and set aside. Drain off all but 1 TB fat. Continue to step 4. 
  3. In a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, heat fat of choice.
  4. Add mushrooms and sauté until they release liquid, about 5 minutes (if using onions, I’d add them at this point too). 
  5. Add remaining chopped vegetables. Season assertively with salt and pepper. Sauté until they begin to cook and become slightly wilted/limp. Remember you will be cooking this in the oven for a time, so the vegetables don’t need to be entirely cooked, just get the process started, about 5-7 minutes.
  6. Add your herbs, garlic, and any other seasoning of choice at this point. 
  7. Add the cooked meat or protein of choice into the skillet and fold everything together until warmed and combined thoroughly. Turn off the heat. 
  8. Starting with your ragged looking slices (saving the pretty ones for the end) of gratin topping choice, began layering these over the mixture. Continue layering until all the slices have been used. Season with salt and pepper. 
  9. Slowly pour cream over the skillet, taking care to wet each slice and top with cheese, if using.
  10. Cover your skillet with aluminum foil. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
  11. Test your potatoes/topping for doneness by sticking a knife through them. If there is any resistance, continue baking another 5-10 minutes.
  12. Uncover the dish and bake another 5-10 minutes until the top has browned in spots.
  13. Let it cool for about 10 minutes while you throw together a salad. Slice and serve!     

callywoodfarmsLeave a comment

6th Annual Summer Solstice Farm & Music Festival

Home Grown BBQ, Home brewed Beers, Little Farmers play area,Live Music, Camping and much more!Live Music By:

  • Eli Edwards Project
  • Amongst The Trees
  • Rebecca Smith Kids Jamboree
  • Farmer B

Tickets available at the gate on festival day.  Your ticket includes admission to all festival activities, Callywood Farms home-grown BBQ plate (with sides prepared by Sister’s Restaurant), and sampling of home-brew beer.  Ticketing will be different this year than in the past.  We will be accepting cash and checks only at the gate and there will be no online pre-sales.  If you want to purchase a paper ticket in advance to reserve a spot, contact Amanda at callywoodfarms@gmail.com.Ticket Options:

  • $40 Family ticket.   Good for 2 adults plus all your little ones.  Everyone gets food and adults get beer samples
  • $20 individual ticket.  1 adult with full access to food, drink, music, etc
  • $10 DD ticket.  1 adult with dinner but no beer.  We love designated drivers!

Contact callywoodfarms@gmail.com with any questions.Volunteer opportunies available for discounted/free admission. Please contact for details.

FAQs

Are there ID or minimum age requirements to enter the event?

No! We are super family friendly and even have a “little farmers” play area and a kids concert. But of course only 21+ to consume beer. Please be prepared to show ID.

What are my transportation/parking options for getting to and from the event?

Free parking is available across the street at our neighbor’s house and limited spots along our driveway. There will be clearly marked signs for this area. Only vehicles displaying ADA permit may park down at the farm. Please don’t pull down our driveway unless you have ADA permit or prior approval to do so. There will be a shuttle provided every 15 minutes from the parking area, or you may walk the 1/4 mile down the driveway to the event.

Camping…Really?!?  Tell me more!

We have rustic campsites scattered throughout the farm.  Camping is included in your ticket price and is welcome and encouraged.  Be prepared for an early morning donkey and rooster wake up call however.

What can I bring into the event?

  • You, your family, & a smile. This is a family friendly event & we even have a “Little Farmers” play area & a kids’ concert
  • Chairs/Blankets/Hammocks/anything to lounge on while you listen to music and enjoy the fest.
  • Any and all instruments for jamming around the bonfire at night
  • Water (or just cups if you don’t mind drinking from the hydrant)
  • Extra snacks beyond Saturday dinner and Sunday egg breakfast
  • Sun Screen
  • Bug Spray!!! (this is a must)
  • Flashlights/Lanterns (you will be walking thru the farm after dark)
  • Clothes & Shoes appropriate for the farm (ok to get down and dirty)
  • Camping Gear (if you plan to stay over). Camping is encouraged…Be Safe people!
  • Camping Chairs/Blankets
  • Rain jackets (rain or shine baby!)
  • Shade/Pop Up Tent (if you have one, please bring as we always need extra shade during the afternoon)
  • Yard & tailgate games

What can I not bring into the event?

  • Your Dog (dogs + free range chickens = no bueno)
  • Fireworks (scares the farm animals, sorry)
  • Outside alcohol (trust us…we got you covered)
  • No weapons of any kind. Please and Thank you.

How can I contact the organizer with any questions?

Email BJ or Amanda at callywoodfarms@gmail.com

callywoodfarmsLeave a comment