We got snowed in this weekend, plus it was Jonathan’s birthday. What better thing to do than cook lots of food? And what better food to cook than food fresh from the bioshelter?
Saturday night Eric and I brainstormed a magnificent Thai-inspired coconut fish soup. Eric made his trademark sticky rice to go with it. We used chicken broth, grated ginger and galangal, winter squash, potatoes, tilapia and vietnamese catfish (which we will soon be raising ourselves!), salty little shrimp, and fish sauce. Right at the end we dumped in a bowl of greens from the bioshelter, including tatsoi and purple mustard. Each person added their own toppings of ground peanuts, hot sauce, sardines, and our own fresh cilantro. Fantastic. And fun. A bunch of friends came over to share the bounty and be cozy in the blizzard. Oh, and we made a local blueberry pie for dessert. Oh yeah.
I was still feeling the cooking bug today, so I created a homemade polenta casserole. I had never made polenta myself before and it was much easier than I thought it would be. While I was stirring the polenta, I sent Jonathan out to the greenhouse for a pound of mixed greens. He came back with a bounty of ethiopian kale and tree collards. I quickly blanched the greens, chopped them up, and mixed them with ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, cayenne, salt and pepper. I dumped half the polenta in the bottom of a baking pan, then spooned on the cheese and greens filling, and then topped it with the remaining polenta and some cheese for good measure. All baked up it tasted so good! At the last minute I made a quick tomato soup to go with it. Yummmm.
The bioshelter is so good for our stomachs and souls this time of year! Viva Paradise Lot!
Paradise Lot 
I am really enjoying reading about your bioshelter…might have to make one ourselves for this coming winter. We call them polytunnels here…is that the same thing? Not sure! Translation can be strange sometimes 😉
According to Bioshelter Market Garden, a bioshelter is an insulated greenhouse managed as a year-round indoor ecosystem. So a few steps up from a polytunnel which we also had and loved for many years until it was crushed by a tree and we decided to build a fancy bioshelter that would let us enjoy subtropical fruits along with our fresh winter greens.
Subtropical fruits? I am in! I think I have read about them and they have a double skin that traps layers of warm air (making it even warmer than a poly tunnel) between the skins? I have heard of 3 skinned varieties that are even more insulated and manage to keep the heat in for a longer time. What a brilliant idea and how clever you are for taking advantage of it :). I love the idea of eating out of your own bioshelter in the middle of a blizzard. I got an immediate parallel with Eskimo’s :). Here in Tasmania Australia it doesn’t get that cold in winter and we very rarely get a frost but I can appreciate that if it got very cold or snowed your food production would have to get quite specific or even halt. Cheers for the reply and for the share 🙂