Dark Days Eat Local Challenge: wrap up

February and March  -- these are lean months for eating local in any climate that experiences freezing weather in the winter. There isn't too much growing that isn't in a hoop house, cold frame, or green house. Anything that is fresh is likely being helped along as the seeds and roots start their fight out of the winter mud and into the light. I wasn't posting much (about much of anything) and didn't get many entries posted. I think one of the reasons for this is that due to the lack of variety in the storage crops, I am often mixing them with non-local items, like butternut squash with noodles, lime and coconut milk or roasted veggies and black beans, or even a simple pasta dish. With a large portion of the meal being non-local foods I never quite felt right posting since my summer meals were usually 95% local. However I still eat tons of local food in the winter.  Well, Laura, over at Not So Urban Hennery (she has just moved out of downtown), has wrapped up the challenge and I was no where to be seen.

I have been doing some spring cleaning and decorating (new curtains anyone?) and that includes the refrigerator and pantry. I have been trying to use up those last few squashes, the pounds of turnips that I have been avoiding and the greens and sweet potatoes that keep coming in from Olin Fox Farms and Food Matters. So I thought that I would share some of these recipes with you, in case you, too, are trying to clean out the crisper and use up the last of the mounds of squash and the piles of turnips. It may require a few ingredients from the grocery store but the result should be a great dinner.

This recipe started out as a filling for vegetable enchiladas and has morphed and changed as my mood and ingredients have dictated what I have cooked.

Roasted vegetable with black beans and feta cheese

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup zucchini squash -- diced (I used an organic one I had picked up at Trader Joe's)
2 cups sweet potato -- diced (these were white sweet potatoes other than the third of an orange one sitting in the fridge from some other meal)
1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen, organic corn, I can't seem to justify the price or freezer space to freeze my own)
1.5 cups turnips -- diced (I have found even the ones that are a little less than beautiful roast up just fine and I often don't peel any of my veggies if they are organic because I am lazy and rationalize that there is healthy fiber and nutrients that should feed me rather than my sad compost pile)
1 large parsnip -- diced (This was a new addition for me but I had some laying around)
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 cup red onion -- chopped
1 small tomato -- seeded and diced
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
4 cups of kale leaves -- chopped (I usually use spinach but there is no room for spinach in my fridge it is stuffed to the gills with hardier greens that are looking for homes in creative recipes or the compost pile -- how did it get so out of hand?)
1 cube frozen chopped chiles (The freezer doesn't have much room either and I am trying to freeze some soup and whatnot so it is getting excavated as well).
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup or so feta -- crumbled and divided (you can also use cojito, queso blanco or farmer's cheese -- I had local feta)
2 1/4 cups black beans (I get mine from Rancho Gordo cook them up a pound at a time in my pressure cooker and then put them in the freezer in 2 cup portions ~about 1 15oz can)

Preheat oven to 425º. Place olive oil in In a 9X9 baking dish. Place squash, sweet potato, turnip, parsnip, corn, garlic, hot pepper cube, 1 tsp. cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, and toss. Roast, tossing every 10 minutes, until tender, about 25 -35 minutes. Add tomato, 1/4 cup cilantro, kale and onion. Return to oven for 10 minutes to wilt the kale. Meanwhile, cook or otherwise warm the beans.  Place 3/4 cup of the vegetable mixture topped with 1/4 cup of beans on a plate and sprinkle with cheese (or whatever proportions work for you).  Enjoy.

** Hey I hear the folks over at Eat Drink Better are holding a carnival of local recipes and food stories so if you want to read more about local eating check over there.  (and I will post this without pictures and add them after the Caps game where I will be "rocking the red" and cheering my team to victory!!)  You win somw and you lose some -- now if we could just win three more this round...

Comments

[Phyl]

Hey! tried to text you at the game but it wouldn't go through. Darn that technology. Not the greatest game but that's why it's a 7 game series!