Knitting 40 shades of green

Dark Days Challenge: week 5

I had planned on picking up a few things at the market this weekend maybe finally attempting a whole chicken (as a vegetarian for close to 16 years, I have never cooked a whole chicken) and then the snow hit...so the weekend was spent snowed in and digging out.

After the afternoon of digging out my car, I thought a simple bowl of soup would certainly hit the spot and then I remembered this one I had seen at one of the Post blogs.  It warms in more way then one.

Sweet Potato Bisque 

(adapted slightly from Joel Harrington, who used to cook at one of my favorite Burlington, VT restaurants, in All We Can Eat)
makes 6 servings

• 2 tsp butter
• 1 1/4 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5 cups sweet potatoes, diced (I left the peel on)
• water
• 2 Tablespoons Sriracha sauce
• 3/4 cup half and half
• salt (to taste)

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and garlic; stir to combine, cook until the mixture begins to soften.
2. Add the potatoes and enough water to cover. Increase the heat to medium-high; bring to a boil, then cook for about 30 minutes until they are tender. Remove from the heat. Keep a watch on the mixture and add more water as needed.
3. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor, pureeing it to a soup consistency. Return the soup to the saucepan over low heat; add the cream and hot chili sauce, stirring to mix well.
4. Add the salt to taste, stirring to combine; once the soup is heated through, divide among individual bowls and serve immediately, with a drizzle of the chili sauce and cream on each portion.

This was a wonderfully finning soup and would be nice with a green salad and a side of bread.

Local ingredients:

• butter, Blue Ridge Dairy, Leesburg, VA (32 miles)
• onions,Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna , PA (72 miles)
• garlic, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• sweet potato, Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• water, tap, Occoquan Reservoir, VA (13 miles)
• half and half, Trickling Springs Creamery, Chambersburg, PA (83 miles)

Non local:  salt, Sriracha

Dark Days Challenge: week 4

 

I made an effort to go to the Courthouse Farmer's Market in Arlington since I hadn't been this season and I desperately needed to pick up some onions.  I got sucked in by some not really in season tomatoes and basil -- there was something about the fact that these things were at the farmer's market that made me forget that the green tomatoes they had held until red weren't going to be any good for eating out of hand...it was December for goodness sake.  But I picked up carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, basil, some chicken, ground buffalo, some mozzarella and half and half.

Today, I went to brunch in Dupont before going to see the Christmas Revels, and managed to catch the tail end of the  Dupont Farmer's Market and picked up a stalk of Brussel sprouts, a spaghetti squash, some mixed salad greens and a couple of pears.  Then I realized I hadn't documented a local meal this week.  Well, I came home from theater and threw the spaghetti squash in the oven and made one of my favorites -- lasagna style spaghetti squash.

Lasagna Style Spaghetti Squash

• large spaghetti squash (3 pounds)
• olive oil
  
• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 cups tomatoes
• 2 cups onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 20 Kalamata olives, sliced
• 9 ounces fresh mozzarella
  
• 1/2 ounce Pecorino Romano

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Rub squash with a thin layer of olive oil. Place squash halves cut side down on the baking sheet.
2. Bake squash 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife can be easily inserted. Remove from oven, and cool.
3. Meanwhile, add some olive oil to a medium saute pan. Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic until golden brown. Stir in tomato sauce, tomatoes, basil, and black pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until you have a medium thick sauce.
4. Remove squash strands with a fork. Layer in a 9 x 9 pan a spoonful of the sauce, a layer of spaghetti squash strands, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers until all of the ingredients are used. Top with Romano cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until Romano cheese melts.

Local foods

• spaghetti squash, Dupont farmer's market (not sure of the name of the farm)
• tomato sauce, pantry made this summer from tomatoes from Shlagel Farms, Waldorf, MD (16 miles)
• tomatoes, Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna , PA (72 miles)
• onion, Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna , PA (72 miles)
• garlic, Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Orrtanna , PA (72 miles)
• fresh mozzarella, Blue Ridge Dairy, Leesburg, Va (32 miles)
•  Brussel Sprouts, Archor Nursery Galena, MD (74 miles)

non local foods:  salt, pepper, olive oil (Monrovia, CA), Prcorino Romano, kalamata olives, dried basil, balsamic vinegar

Dark Days Challenge: week 3

This is going up a bit late because I meant to post it before heading out last night but that didn't happen.  At least my excuse is that I was at a Slow Food's party.  My local Slow Food convivium has decided to have a supper club of sorts that will be eating together every two months.  Last night was at a lovely apartment on Capitol Hill overlooking Lincoln Park.  We had finger foods and drinks.  I brought some of my homemade cranberry liqueur and a pomegranate avocado salsa while it wasn't local it is very seasonal and this is the only time of the year I get a chance to make it.  The food was wonderful as one could expect of this kind of gathering.

For my local meal this week, I continued to work with what I had on hand and will have to make a concerted effort to pick up a few things this week since I used my last local onion and could really use some milk (which has always been a bit tricky for me to find).  I made acorn squash stuffed with sweet Italian sausage, caramelized onions and cabbage.  I served it with a green salad with pear and feta as I had some of all of these ingredients left over from my trip to the Dupont Market last week. 

Local foods

• cabbage:  not sure of the name of the farm but I know it is in Charles County, MD (20 miles)
• acorn squash:  Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• onion:  Three Way Farm
• sweet Italian sausage:  Smith Meadows Farm Berryville, VA (53 miles)
• mixed salad greens, Archor Nursery Galena, MD (74 miles) 
• pear, Black Rock Orchard,  Lineboro , MD (63 miles)
• feta cheese, Keswick Creamery, Newburg, PA (94 miles)
• honey, my mother's bees, Kents Store, VA (86 miles)

non local foods:  salt, pepper, olive oil (Monrovia, CA), balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard

Dark Day Challenge: week 2

Normally, before I jump on board with one of the challenges, I make sure that I have some staples and buy extra of those things you always need to have on hand like flour, onions, garlic.  Well, this one I happened upon after it had already started and then I didn't manage to get to the market last weekend.  I have one red onion (and there were no yellow onions at the market this morning) and no all purpose flour (although I do have whole wheat and buckwheat flour).  Yes, and there are grits and corn meal.  I am debating on ordering the white flour -- I kind of prefer to use the King Arthur White Wheat Flour when a recipe calls for white flour and I am never certain of the impact of having a 5 or 10 pound bag of flour delivered by USPS or UPS.  Just not sure it is the most efficient.  I do have domestic olive oil and organic sugar from Florida and a little left from my friend's daughter's inlaws' sugar farm down in Louisiana.  (Are there enough apostrophes in that sentence?)  I guess eating local and looking at where things originate has become more a part of my everyday grocery shopping whether I am participating in a challenge or not.

I whipped up some soup based on what needed to be used up soon and then picked up some greens, cheese and pears for a salad and some sour dough bread to eat with it at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market today.  I had some potatoes from my CSA which needed to be used along with some cauliflower from the a couple weeks ago when the cab driver bought me vegetables at the Old Town Market.  I had recently had a broccoli cheese soup at supper club and riffed on the recipe to make a cauliflower cheese soup with the local ingredients that I had on hand.

Spicy Potato Cauliflower Cheese Soup

• 4 cups cauliflower florets
• 3 cups cubed potatoes
• 2 cups water
• 3 chile de arbol
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/8 cup jalepeno slices
• 5 ounces cheese
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. boil potatoes and cauliflower in water with chiles and celery salt until tender (I used my pressure cooker for this
2. mash with a potato masher
3. mix in tomato sauce and finely chopped jalapeno slices (the recipe I adapted from used diced tomatoes with chiles)
4. mix in cheese and heat gently until melted
5. Enjoy!

Local foods

• cauliflower:  not sure of the name of the farm but I know it is in Charles County, MD (20 miles)
• potatoes:  Olin Fox Farms, Reedville, VA (81 miles)
• water:  tap, Occoquan Reservoir, VA (13 miles)
• tomato suace, pantry made this summer from tomatoes from Shlagel Farms, Waldorf, MD (16 miles)
• onion flavored cheese curds:  Fields of Grace Farm, Remington, VA (44 miles)
• jalepeno slices, found these a little freezer burnt in the freezer -- sure they came from the Del Ray Market but who knows which vendor
• mixed salad greens, Archor Nursery Galena, MD (74 miles) 
• pear, Black Rock Orchard,  Lineboro , MD (63 miles)
• feta cheese, Keswick Creamery, Newburg, PA (94 miles)
• honey, my mother's bees, Kents Store, VA (86 miles)
• sour dough bread, Atwater's Bread, Annapolis, MD ? (33 miles)

non local foods:  chile de arbol (Rancho Gordo, Napa, CA) , celery salt, salt, pepper, olive oil (Monrovia, CA), balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard

Roots restaurant: Milwaukee

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is do a little research and have one absolutely fabulous meal at a restaurant that features local foods and a creative menu.  I started out my search with the Milwaukee Lecturer Blog and ended it when I found the Journal Sentinel Dig-In Blog which featured a  list of local restaurants.  After perusing restaurant menus and looking at my schedule, I decided on brunch at Roots Restaurant and Cellar.  It is located in a neighborhood called Brewer's Hill that looks out over the city of Milwaukee.

It was a cloudy day with quite a bit of mist and light participation but the server allowed me to sit out on the balcony over looking the city and the garden which is outside the cellar.

Being summer in Milwaukee, everyone wanted to be outdoors despite the "threat" or reality of rain. 

True to character, I started the meal with a glass of champagne and a glass of water and was easily talked into the assortment of mini muffins. I believe they were an assortment of apricot and basil, blackberry, and a ham and cheese served with fresh butter and a nectarine compote/jam.  They were all quite scrumptious and made me wish I had more people to feed at my house so that making a batch of mini muffins every weekend wouldn't leave me eating muffins for every meal for the rest of the week.  I did make a batch of mini muffins from an entirely made up recipe and I think I may need to spend some more time in recipe development -- anyone want to be a muffin taster?

For my entree, I had the crepes which were served toped with a local aged goat cheese and filled with summer squash and corn in a bechamel sauce. They were served with mixed greens and hash brown potatoes.  It was all wonderful!  So, if you find yourself in Milwaukee, I highly recommend a drive up to the Brewer Hill.

Roots Restaurant and Cellar
1818 N. Hubbard St.
Milwaukee WI 53212
414.374.8480

7th Annual Slow Food Dinner

7th Annual Clyde’s Farm Dinner

Clyde's Willow Creek Farm
42920 Broadlands Boulevard
Broadlands, VA (571) 209-1200

Clyde’s, opened the barn door and garden gate at Willow Creek Farm to welcome Slow Food members and friends to tour their organic garden—where all their veggies grow—and to eat a five-course farm dinner.

I didn't get a chance to tour the gardens but the location is absolutely lovely. The food was fabulous.  I didn't do such a great job of photo documenting here but will share what I have.

We started the evening with Blanc de Blanc from Kluge Estates  and glasses of white Sangria with peaches and blackberries and passed appetizers that included some baby tart with chard, pieces of pork belly and a consume with a single cherry tomato floating in it.  The pork belly was a first for me and it was much better than the name makes it sound.

The first course consisted of the cutest poultry breast and thigh I have seen in a long time.  I didn't remember to take a picture before I had devoured the wee bird.  It was described as "Roasted "EcoFriendly Farms" Poussin with roasted peaches, greens, pickled onions, and Willow Creek Farm herbs".  I do believe the cooking method was different for the two pieces of poultry.  This course was accompanied by a lovely dry Rose from Barboursville Vineyard.  (Which is lovely to visit should you get the chance.  I have wonderful memories of climbing around the Jeffersonian ruins in the rain with my father and step mother several years ago.

The next course of Maryland Jumbo Crab Cakes w. local corn and tomatoes and micro greens was accompanied by Jefferson Vineyards' Viognier.  The sweet corn went very well with the sweetness of the Chesapeake Bay crab.  It was definitely the tastes of summers past and brought back memories of sitting at the picnic table in Edgewater picking crabs and eating corn on the cob (possibly stolen from the neighbor's fields and hopefully not the cow corn they put around the perimeter to discourage the likes of us).

The next course was Wood-Roasted Virginia Prime Rib of Beef  served with tomatoes and smoky blue cheese gratin and new and fingerling potatoes.  I am not usually a big fan of blue cheese but the combination of the smokey blue melted with the fresh tomatoes was pretty good.  I may have to experiment with this concept. This was served with a Garnett from Hillsborough Vineyards. 

The cheese plate was a little less local than they had planned but they all came from small craft dairies.  There was a Twig Farm (VT) soft Goat Tomme, a Rainbeau Ridge (NY) Chevre Log along with a Carr Valley Cheese Company (WI) Cave Aged Marisa.  This was served with a desert wine, also from Hillsborough called Moonstone  and  followed by desert of a warm corn cake with sweet corn ice cream and blackberry compote.

All in all it was a lovely dinner despite a rather opinionated table companion who did not wish to be dissuaded from expressing her lack of tolerance for people who held views different from her own.  I think I may have been quoted as saying "Your intolerance is intolerable".  She did apologize at the end of the dinner.

One Local Summer: Week 11

All of the obligations of returning to work after vacation caught up with me this week and I had lots of good intentions for cooking but few of them were carried through with the intent I had planned.  Before the weather got to incredibly hot temperatures, I sliced up an eggplant and baked it in the oven intending to make Rollotini  or maybe a pasta-less lasagna.  Between back to school night and other various meetings , it didn't happen.  Not wanting the eggplant to go to waste, I  made this mixture of eggplant, red peppers and ricotta cheese (and a sprinkle of shredded non-local parmesan.)

I had made some Sweet corn and squash soup that I was too lazy to strain but it tasted wonderfully.  I topped it with a few fresh  cherry tomatoes for color.

Maybe not the most beautiful meal but it was certainly tasty.

One Local Summer: week 9

The weekend has been full of fun, friends and eating -- lots of eating and now it is Sunday night and I realized that I haven't put up a post for one local summer this week hosted over at Farm to Philly .  I attended a Slow Food DC dinner last night that was both wonderful and local but that deserves it's own post, so I will see what is in the camera to be shared.

Ah, here is a meal and a recipe to share:  gazpacho with carrot and apple salad (the bread was bought at a the farmers' market as well, although I am unsure of the baker.  I was going to guess Uptown but that doesn't seem right.)

The first of the summer apples appeared at the market last week or maybe the week before and it had been months since I had made my favorite apple and carrot salad.  I was in luck, because after picking up a pair of apples at Bigg Riggs Farm, I wondered over to  Shlagel Farms and found they had carrots which can be hard to find at the markets around here.   The recipe is super simple but the results are quite tasty.

Carrot and Apple Salad
(Very slightly adapted from a Weight Watcher's Momentum Program pamphlet)

2 large apple(s), 1 red and 1 green, cored, thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or less to taste 3 cups carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup chives and/or scallions, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp table salt 1/4 tsp black pepper, or more to taste (make sure this is freshly ground) 2 oz feta cheese
Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice. Add carrots, chives, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cheese; toss to mix thoroughly. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving. Enjoy!

One Local Summer: Week 8

Mid summer has hit this northern outpost of the South.  My CSA share contained tomatoes, corn, and okra as well as a baby watermelon.  Oh, and eggs, yes more eggs.  The cooler weather we have been having means the chickens are still laying and I am running out of room for eggs in my fridge.  My daily breakfast of  cottage cheese omelet muffins (I will have to share that recipe at some point) only uses about four eggs a week and if I have a few days of cereal or go on vacation for a week or two...well lets just say that there is more than a few dozen eggs in the fridge.  I think I need to make a concerted effort to eat more eggs.  So far I had planned to make some cherry amaretto cookies and had the dried sour cherries soaking in the Amaretto (yeah, I know it only uses one egg but boy are they good), and then I saw Colleen's post  about crepes at the farmers' market and decided that crepes would be on the menu once again here at Chez 40shades as they hadn't made an appearance since week 2 .   While I have run out of all purpose flour from Byrd Mill, I still have plenty of buckwheat flour in addition to whole wheat flour which should be fine for a savory crepe.

I turned to Mark Bittman for inspiration for the recipes.  The crepe filling is a rif on his Okra, Corn and Tomato Stew from How to Cook Everything (a much appreciated gift from my mother many years ago) and the watermelon salad was inspired by some of the ideas in this article as well as Collen's Watermelon gazpacho.  I hadn't thought to use watermelon in a more savory salad.  And since the oven was going on for the cookies, I decided to cook up the sweet potato I  discovered  while getting the potatoes for Potato, cabbage and feta salad that I will take to our "backyard barbeque" supper club this month.
 

Buckwheat Crepes

3 eggs 3/4 cup(s) buckwheat flour 1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk 1/4 cup(s) whole wheat flour 1/4 tsp table salt 2  garlic scapes 2 tbsp parsley Instructions Blend eggs with a whisk, add remaining ingredients and whisk quickly until lumps are gone. Cook in  frying pan sprayed with oil (but not too much) over medium heat. Takes about 2-3 minutes per side, depending on the size of your pan.

Okra, Corn and Tomato filling/stew 1 tsp olive oil 2  cups onions 1 1/2 cup red pepper (these were Italian frying peppers) 4 cups tomatoes 1 1/2 cup okra chili powder 2 cups corn parsley salt and pepper to taste Heat a large skillet over medium heat, add oil and once it is heated add onions and peppers.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes or until onion turns translucent. Add the tomatoes, okra and chili powder, cover and cook over low for an additional 10 minutes.  Uncover and cook off some of the liquid, add the corn and cook until heated through.  Garnish with parsley and serve as is or as filling inside a crepe.

One Local Summer: Week 6

Well, I have been home long enough to pick up vegetables from my CSA and visit two different farmers' markets and now I am trying to use up the fresh produce in my fridge before heading out of town again on Tuesday.  So it has been a race to use of the fresh produce and still eat balanced meals.  Summer has finally hit the markets and they are full of wonderful vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and corn.Oh, and the fruit like blueberries, watermelon, blackberries, apricots, and peaches.  It was tough not to over buy produce.

 

I had bought a couple of Japanese eggplant as well as Anaheim peppers before my last trip that weren't getting any fresher in the crisper, so I mixed them with the onions, yellow squash, and tomatoes that I had received in my CSA and made a ratatouille that mostly went into the freezer.  I served this with  the green beans and tomatoes  in a sherry vinegar dressing sprinkled with the last of the feta cheese from Blue Ridge Dairy.  Then I had to figure out a plan for the 9 ears of corn.  I headed out to the West End Farmers' Market for a reddish pepper (it is a little early for red peppers but I did find this one) .
 

Here is the recipe

Fresh Corn and Goat Cheese Salad

• 4 ears of fresh corn, cut off the cob
• 3 medium scallions
• 3/4 ounces goat cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt and fresh ground black pepper

Steam or microwave corn until tender. Cool, then cut kernels from cob. Stir together corn, diced scallions and red pepper in a medium bowl.

Combine chopped scallion, goat cheese and lemon juice in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Pour over corn mixture and toss well; season to taste with salt and pepper and toss again. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving.