Melody's Wildflower Bistro

West Virginia Blog 2

Melody's Wildflower Bistro

Last summer we wrapped our porch around the house and got my kitchen out of the mud. I now have a real roof, a wooden deck that is 20x10 . We've a working full size fridge, a great white tile and wood table and 5 wooden chairs and a wonderful pantry that Dan built for me just 2 weeks ago.
With the porch wrapped around, we've moved the table into the kitchen and it truly has a bistro feel! Check out the photos.
I'm cooking on 2 gas burners, a slow cooker and an inexpensive charcoal grill that has lasted 3 years now. I've taken inspiration from our friend Buck who said anything you can cook in the oven, you can cook on a grill, course he meant Weber, but we do with what we have. Anyway, it's true! I've baked pies, pizzas, roasted a loin of pork and this year made meatloaf on this grill. This weekend I'm going to try lasagna and a quiche. I'll let you know.
I found a blender at the What Not Shop for a few dollars and it's really come in handy. I've been making fresh breadcrumbs out of the good HealthNut bread we like and it makes a big difference . This year I tried making meatloaf on the grill. With finely chopped sweet Vidalia onions and fresh breadcrumbs and eggs , I also use fresh ground salt and pepper , fresh parsely and some dried thyme and smoked paprika. I mix a little bit of the adobe sauce that chipotles are packed in with ketchup for the top of the meatloaf and put it in a disposable baking dish covered with foil for the first half hour, then open the top the last 10 or 15 minutes. Delish, I keep making more for leftovers, but the most that's left has been 2 pieces! Using the grill as an oven is an ancient technique and quite logical. I ready the coals in a chimney ( hate using chemicals to start a fire , especially to eat off of ) . I put the hot coals in the grill and arrange them in a tight circle with a hole empty in the middle, or an rectangle open , depends on the shape of the baking pan. Then put the pan in the middle and put the lid down, making sure air gets in to keep the coals going. Also making sure that the coals are bunched together , if they are too far apart the coals will go out too fast. If something takes a long time more coals might have to be readied in the chimney.
I brought some chipotles in adobe sauce with me, although the Walmart in Spencer does have them in their Mexican food section. As much as I hate the politics of Walmart, they do have the best food selection within the closest drive for me. I've found good whole wheat bread, romaine lettuce, dark roast coffee, pesto and a few produce items that I like to cook with that I can't find in the local Foodland. I do have a culinary reputation to uphold!
Two years ago Diane showed us that you can bake a pie on a grill. You need to put in on as soon as everything else is finished and perhaps add some coals though. Also I discovered this year that a thinner crust is better. I've been using prefrozen pie crusts as I don't have a surface for rolling my own. Maybe next year we will build my cooking station. Right now I have a fold up 6 foot plastic table that holds a 2 burner gas camp stove, a toaster, Dan's expresso machine ( another What Not Shop find ) ,cooking utensils, a basket for fresh produce and lil things that end up there. It gets crowded and I have a small chopping board, need to work on that part.
The pots are hung above the table with nails on the rafters. I hope to build a table that stays and add a three burner cast iron gas stove top at least next year. We drooled over on at Cabela's recently. The two burner stove is challenging as if it's larger that a medium saute pan or sauce pan, 2 pots don't actually fit over the burners next to each other. I have to open the wind block sides and move the pots around to cook on different sides.
I do bring some spices and my favourite Henckel knife. Everything else is now here for cooking. I do need a larger chop space and also desperately need water where I cook. Right now I keep a pitcher and some shop towels for cleaning and wiping down some veggies, but I spend a lot, lot of time running back and forth between the sink outside the bathhouse and the kitchen. It's not too far, but is up and down stairs and tiring when you're cooking anything with more than one pot or two ingredients.
I do a lot of straight up grilling as well. Defrost, marinate, grill. We're so fortunate to have generous friends with gardens full of tomatoes, cucumbers and other fresh produce, yummy yellow squash this year from Dan B. Did manage to grill some chicken and make enchiladas this summer. The blender came in handy for that one. Made the sauce early on in the day and after grilling the chicken, assemble the enchiladas and baked on the grill. Yum. I will need some fresh chili spices this year. I order them online from New Mexico. Coming here with a good knife and spices does make a huge difference.
Tom is taking advantage of having a bistro in the neighborhood and if we don't see him early on in the day I just call him and tell him today's bistro menu.
I'm enjoying being out of the rain and mud, previously I was on the ground and we had tarps coming out from the rooftop to the ground. With the porch and roof extended , there is a lot more light. The walls are open and it's a delight to have the breeze coming through on 3 sides ( the fourth wall being the house ). Also this year we put up a rain gutter. This will make my grill place and under the house where our bedroom is much drier.
I say we loosely. It was primarily Dan and Tom doing the rain gutter work. I did get to strap on my new toolbelt ( finally found one that fits girls! ) . Mostly I measured and hit a few nails. I have to say if you need to hit a nail more that 2 or 3 times, you are in trouble. It's hard to center a hammer repeatedly for more than that and also takes more time. I did put a few in and also had to take a few out. I seriously need some hammer and drill practice time to build up my skills! I do have the perfect toolbelt now though, I even have an attachment for the drill!
We have to redo the front of our trailer in Key West, so it will come in very handy. Thanks to Tom and his patience and his attitude of “ if I can do it you can” Not really always true as he's at least twice as strong as I am and fearless on a ladder, but encouraging none the less. Dan is less patient with me, but he is very skilled and also has to deal with my apprentice skills a lot more than 2 months out of the year. Well, he's also not known for his patience with me either, but that's another story. My biggest contribution to the building is remembering measurements and running around fetching things the guys have forgotten on the ladder, or holding the other end of things, but hey GOG ( Girl on Ground ) does come in handy and makes me feel useful and involved. I've definitely learned a lot building this place and I'm always happy when I'm learning new things.