September 30, 2020
by Deborah Burgess
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Roasted Lamb Shanks with Red Wine & Rosemary, an Instant Pot® Recipe!

Everyone who knows me KNOWS that I love my Instant Pot(s)®, so yesterday I set out to craft a pressure cooker recipe for our delicious lamb shanks. Farmer Bob said that I hit a home run! We are nearing the end of our fall harvest, so please call or text me at 803-804-3541 or email me at DebbieBinSC@gmail.com to stock up on our Fox Trot Farm lamb shanks before we sell out for the year. Read on for the printable recipe below. Continue Reading →

September 23, 2020
by Deborah Burgess
1 Comment

Armenian Lamb Shanks, A Customer Recipe

We sure do enjoy hearing from our customers! Every once in a while they share their favorite recipes using our lamb, and then I get to share it with you. Here’s one from a delightful couple who comes to our farm to purchase our lamb. Robyn Kalajian and her husband Doug recently stopped by to pick up some shanks, and then Robyn posted a recipe on her blog, The Armenian Kitchen. Check out her great blog and you’ll learn about Armenian cooking, and you’ll find her recipe for our lamb shanks, which she’s graciously given me permission to repost here. Continue Reading →

September 17, 2020
by Deborah Burgess
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Fox Trot Farm Bone Broth Recipe Revisited

There are all kinds of good immune building properties in bone broth, we all know that. All the rich collagen is also purported to benefit joints, and drinking the broth is also supposed to be good for strengthening your finger nails and bringing health and shine to your hair. It’s all the rage right now, and justifiably so! If you are restricting calories, bone broth is a good addition to aid nutrition. If you are a bit under the weather, bone broth is soothing to the throat and easy to digest. One thing that has always troubled me is that it can be pretty bland, right? Well, read on, dear readers!

Years ago I had a personal chef business and made friends of colleagues from across the country. One of these friends I’ve kept in touch with all these years is Sally Cameron, who has a business called “A Food Centric Life.” Her tagline is “Because good health begins with good food.” I think that’s great, don’t you? Her recipes are fresh and oh so flavorful. If you follow the link to her blog, then do a search for her homemade vegetable stock. It’s the very best tasting vegetable stock ever, and you’ll find yourself making it time and again.

Reading her recipe for chicken stock/bone broth got me thinking about our lamb bone broth and adding nutritious ingredients and herbs and seasonings to make it taste more than just bone broth, but good, rich stock that I’d want to guzzle down with gusto. After all, bone broth is really just stock that you cook down a little bit longer to leach all the goodness out of the bones. So, here is a new recipe for bone broth that I think you’ll love. It’s versatile as far as added ingredients, but you start out with a pack of our meaty lamb soup bones and then make the additions you want. Our meaty soup bones are still just $3.99/lb. and you can get them here at the farm or at the Matthews Community Farmers Market on Saturday mornings till we sell out for the season. Give me a call or text or email with your pre-order or to check on our supply and make an appointment to come to the farm. 803-804-3541 is my cell, and DebbieBinSC@gmail.com. Here you go….

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September 4, 2020
by Deborah Burgess
3 Comments

Lamb Restocked and Matthews Community Farmers Market

We’re excited to announce that soon we will be completely restocked with all our pasture-raised, lean and delicious lamb meat!

Call or text us at 803-804-3541 or send me an email to DebbieBinSC@gmail.com to place your order for pickup here at the farm, or, beginning September 12, at the Matthews Community Farmers Market.

For pricing and descriptions of all cuts, please click HERE.

January 31, 2020
by Deborah Burgess
0 comments

Lamb Sausage & Shitake Ragu, oh my!

Lamb Sausage & Shiitake Mushroom Ragu

Debbie Burgess

This recipe is definitely a KEEPER! The seasoning in our lamb sausage is what gives this sauce such fabulous flavors, flavors you can’t get with just plain ground lamb. We’ll be at the Waxhaw Farmers Market on Feb 1 with tastings of this delicious sauce. If you can’t make it there to pick up a recipe, here it is for you to try. You do need to get some of our sausage, though, so give us a call at 803-804-3541 and we’ll get together between market days, I like a heavy bottom Dutch oven for this recipe. Enameled cast iron is perfect.Makes 2 quarts ~Debbie Burgess, Fox Trot Farm, February 2020

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8 1 cup each

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
16 oz Fox Trot Farm White Wine & Garlic Lamb Sausage
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped (no garlic needed, it's in the sausage!)
2/3 cup each finely chopped carrots & celery
8 oz fresh shiitake mushrooms stems removed and caps thinly sliced
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup dry white wine such as Pinto Grigio
28 oz can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes (using SM tomatoes does make a difference)
1 cup water + 1 tsp. low sodium soy sauce (a secret ingredient!)
1 3-inch piece Parmesan cheese rind, or 1/2 cup shredded plus more to serve
1 lb. pasta of choice, prepared A nice broad, flat pasta such as farfalle is perfect for this hardy ragu.

Instructions

Heat Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp. oil and heat to shimmering.
Add the Fox Trot Farm White Wine & Garlic Lamb sausage into the pan. Brown, breaking apart and turning frequently, till cooked through. Spoon meat into a bowl and drain fat/broth, reserving 1/4 cup.
Add 2 tbsp. oil to Dutch oven and heat to shimmering. Add finely chopped onions and rosemary and stir till onions begin to soften, adjusting heat so you don't brown the onions.
Pour in the 1/4 cup of reserved broth and add the carrots and celery. Cover the pan and simmer, stirring frequently, to steam the veggies a bit to soften, about 3 minutes.
Sit in the fresh mushrooms along with the 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper. Pour in the 1 cup white wine and stir to combine all.
Bring to a fast simmer over medium heat to cook off the alcohol and soften the shiitakes, about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, while you prepare the tomatoes.
For the tomatoes, dump the whole can into a medium bowl and, with your clean hands, break up the whole tomatoes into small pieces. Scrape the bowl of tomatoes into the Dutch oven. Use the 1 cup of water + soy sauce to rinse out the tomato can. Stir all to combine.
If using the cheese rind, add it now. Bring mixture to a simmer. Reduce heat and simmer slowly, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes. If using shredded cheese, stir it in now to melt.
Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to suit your taste. Serve over pasta.

EIEIO!
Debbie

December 8, 2019
by Deborah Burgess
0 comments

Farm Fun Sunday on Fox Trot Farm 12/15, and we have new bunnies!

Meet our new bunny rabbits, Flopsy (on the right) and Mopsy (on the left)! They are just adorable and we are so grateful to our friends Debbie & John at Lingerfelt Farms for letting us adopt them. If you look between them you can see our old bunny’s ears and one eye peaking at the newcomers. We’ve renamed her “Cottontail” and now our bunnies are all named after Peter Rabbit’s sisters from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, one of our favorite children’s books.

Come meet Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail on Sunday, December 15th, from 1:00-5:00 p.m., when our farm will be open to the public for free self-guided tours. There are lots of fun things to see and do on our farm!

Pork Chop!
Meet Rosie
Thelma & her sheep
Heritage Chickens
Border Collies
Face Boards
Shucking Corn
Hay Wagon Rides

the back forty — Hike the Back Forty Trails

And then come shop our farm market:

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December 4, 2019
by Deborah Burgess
0 comments

Christmas Market at the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market this Saturday!

***Our next Family Fun and Market Day on Fox Trot Farm will be Sunday, December 15 from 1:00-5:00.***

Come see us at the Waxhaw Farmer’s Market this coming Saturday, December 7th, from 9:00 a.m. till Noon. It’s our Christmas market day and we’ll have lots of extra special farmhouse gifts to help you with your holiday shopping. We’ll have all our cuts of our pasture-raised lamb and our Granny Bee’s pure, raw honey, too, for your holiday entertaining!

Here is a list of some of the goods we will have Saturday. First, our meat:

Farmer Debbie’s been busy, with lots of embroidered kitchen linens, coiled rope baskets, hand-twined (woven) table mats, quilted table toppers, and natural wool dryer balls that are beautiful, too. We’re also fully restocked with our popular Country Gentleman, Lavender Luxury, and Patchouli Patch honey & beeswax soap. We’re introducing our beautiful new Rosie Posie pink & white swirl, softly rose-scented soap just for the holidays. Enjoy a preview of some of our gift items:

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November 24, 2019
by Deborah Burgess
2 Comments

How to make Uptown Collard Greens, a dish fit for company!

Uptown Collard Greens

When we moved to our farm from Pennsylvania in 1985, I was surprised to find that collard greens were a traditional holiday side dish here in our community. We embraced all the Southern vegetables, such as these delicious greens, and I created this recipe to dress them up for special occasions.

3 pounds of washed, trimmed, and sliced collard greens*
3 cups water
2 tsp. salt
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups half and half
8 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
Salt & pepper to taste
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
4 ounces Mozzarella cheese

Oven: 375°

For Greens: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a large stock pot; add salt. Fill the pot with greens, adding more as they cook down, until all have been added. Cover, bring back to a boil, lower heat to a fast simmer and cook until tender, stirring and checking water level frequently. Add water as needed to keep from burning. Greens should be JUST tender, and not mushy. Pour into a large colander and drain completely. While greens are draining, make sauce.

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November 15, 2019
by Deborah Burgess
0 comments

Holiday Herb Roasted Fox Trot Farm Leg of Lamb

We have a good supply of our delicious leg roasts for the holidays. They range from about 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 pounds. They are bone-in for extra flavor, and we’ve had the shanks removed so they’ll fit easily into your roasting pan. They are $10.99/pound, which is a great deal for pasture raised local lamb. The roasts are lean and tender and mild, and, if you do want to remove the bone, it is easily done and I can show you how.

Some of our customers are curious about our favorite ways to prepare our leg roasts, so we’ll post a traditional roast recipe as well as a grilled recipe on our blog. This first recipe is for roasted, and the grilled recipe will appear next week. We hope you’ll give them a try over the upcoming holidays.

Holiday Herb Roasted Fox Trot Farm Leg of Lamb

Deborah Burgess

So delicious and so simple to prepare, this is our lamb at its finest. It is tender, succulent, and mild tasting with just the right amount of seasoning to make your mouth water! What a feast for your holiday gathering!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 6

Equipment

Meat Thermometer
roasting pan or sheet pan with rack

Ingredients

1 4-5 lb. Fox Trot Farm Bone-in Leg of Lamb thawed, rinsed, & patted dry
1 tsp. ground dry mustard
1 tsp. ground dry ginger
3 tbsp. finely minced rosemary needles
2 tbsp. fresh mint leaves
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil

Instructions

Combine all the above ingredients except the meat in a small bowl to make a thick paste. Rub the paste all over the meat, pushing it into crevices, until the entire roast is coated.
Place in a plastic bag, squeeze out the air, and seal. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Take the roast out of the plastic bag and place it on a rack over a foil-covered sheet pan. Place meat thermometer in thickest part of roast, being careful not to put it against the bone.
Roast at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the thermometer reads 135 degrees for medium rare. (The amount of time will depend on the size of your roast.)
Remove from oven, cover lightly with foil, then lay a heavy kitchen towel over top. Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes. If you slice it sooner, the juices will pour out.
Slice and arrange on a platter. Pour any escaped juices over the top

You can purchase this roast and any of our lamb meat at the Matthews Community Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, or right here on our farm at 5066 Rowell RD, Lancaster. Just give us a call at 803-804-3541 to make sure we’re home to help you.

EIEIO!
Debbie

November 4, 2019
by Deborah Burgess
0 comments

Delicious Welsh Lamb Paté Recipe

We’ve had quite a few customers ask us how they could prepare our Fox Trot Farm lamb liver, so I decided to post a great recipe. With the holiday entertaining season in mind, I decided to do a paté!

I found a great recipe on a Welsh food website HERE. I followed the instructions almost exactly but, since it’s a bit cumbersome to read, I’ll write it out for you here. I’ve also include some adjustments that I made.

Fox Trot Farm Welsh Paté

1 Fox Trot Farm Lamb Liver (about 1 pound), roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 tablespoons port or sherry
4-6 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
Salt & pepper
2 tablespoons melted butter
Suggested toppings: slices of fresh stone fruit, apples, pears, chutney, honey

Saute the onion and garlic till softened, then add the chopped liver and herbs, with a good dusting of salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring, until the meat is browned and there is no pink inside. Stir in the port or sherry, and simmer a bit to cook off the alcohol. Pour onto a plate or tray to cool to room temperature.

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