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One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 6

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My, my, how time is flying already.  It’s over a month of One Local Summer meals.  For those of you late to the party, the One Local Summer challenge involves spending the summer (or at least here, our summer farmers market season) cooking one meal a week using only local ingredients with a few allowable exceptions (salt, olive oil, seasonings, etc).  This is my third year of doing the One Local Summer challenge, and I’ve learned so much about my own cooking skills (or lack thereof sometimes), different foods, and new vegetables.  The benefits are many, probably too many to list here, but for me, the big deal is that we can get soo much food locally, without hauling food across the country or even halfway around the world.  I’d love to hear your take on eating locally and what’s important to you, and if you’re interested in participating too!

This week is an amazing Asian Pork Cutlet meal complete with Bok Choy and a little veggie side of spinach, mushrooms, and garlic scapes.  I was SO excited to see garlic scapes this past weekend at our Phoenixville Farmers Market, that I couldn’t help but add them to the plate.  The real big non local item this week was teriyaki sauce, but it was only used in the marinade, so I’m calling that a spice/seasoning and giving it a pass.  The scapes and mushrooms were sauteed with a little butter, and then the heat was turned off, spinach added overtop, and then covered to allow the spinach to wilt.  Meanwhile, just as the pork was nearing perfection on the grill, I dabbed the bok choy with a little olive oil and threw that on the grill as well.  Everything came out so perfectly (or am I just that hungry?), I believe we have a HUGE win for today.  No real recipe with this one, just your basic grilled pork and vegetables.

Asian Pork Cutlet w/ Vegetables:
Bok Choy – North Star Orchards
Garlic Scapes – North Star Orchards
Spinach – Maysie’s Farm
Portabella Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Pork Cutlets – Countrytime Farm
Non Local – Olive Oil, Butter, Soy sauce

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 5

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We had an unexpected trip away from home, but still managed to hit the Anselma Farmer’s Market, and with some help from our freezer, got a meal together for One Local Summer.  It’s pretty basic, but was nonetheless delicious.  The husband cooked the steak to perfection (read: brown and fully cooked the whole way through – I like my steaks WELL WELL done) and topped it with some delicious goat cheese, threw together a salad, and found some sugar snap peas to add as a vegetable.  It was all last minute, but we made it!

Bison Delmonico Steak w/ Salad:
Bison Delmonico Steak – Backyard Bison
Sugar Snap Peas – Brogue Hydroponics
Mesclun mix – Maysie’s Farm
Strawberries – Brogue Hydroponics
Cucumbers – Brogue Hydroponics
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Italian Herb Goat Cheese – Yellow Springs Farm
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Wine – Chaddsford Pinot Noir
Non Local – Olive oil, Pepper, Salad Dressing

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 4

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Some of my favorite spring vegetables are finally ready to harvest and I’m just thrilled!  This meal features items from vendors at both the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market and the Mill at Anselma Market.  This one was all me this week and I found a bunch of fresh vegetables to toss in a creamy, white wine sauce along with a crust of Focaccia and some chicken.  The pasta is the same old recipe I use every time I make pasta (1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, one tbsp olive oil, and 4 tbsp water [or one egg if you want egg pasta], add extra water to acheive the right consistency).  With the power of our Kitchen Aid Mixer and the pasta roller/cutter attachment, this is really an easy process, and nothing beats making your own pasta.  Sometime this summer, I have to figure out how to make flavored pastas by using vegetable puree in place of water.  For the wine, I uncorked a bottle of Riesling we brewed up at home.  It’s not entirely local, but it was made in our own kitchen, so that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.  The sauce didn’t quite thicken and become creamy like I had hoped, but it’s still delicious, and infused itself into the vegetables.  YUM.  The chicken was marinated in wine and oil and cooked on the grill to perfection.  All in all, the meal was REALLY delicious and I’m happy there are leftovers.

Spring Vegetable Pasta
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Chicken – Mt. View Organics
Focaccia – St. Peter’s Bakery
Sun Dried Tomato Cheese Spread – Birchrun Hills
Spinach – Maysie’s Farm
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Asparagus – Hoagland Farm
Broccoli – Smith’s Produce
Spring Garlic – Brogue Hydroponics
Non Local – Olive Oil, Riesling (homebrewed!), pepper

11 in 2011, Socks

Warm Up Sox

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It sounds naughty right?   Well the pattern comes from a book called The Joy of Sox, and yes, it’s a clever play on another book about something entirely different.  The pattern was originally knit starting at the toe and finishing at the cuff.  Now, I can knit socks toe-up, but I loathe every second of it.  I learned to knit socks from the cuff down (top-down), and it’s more familiar and comfortable for me.  So, I pretty much took the stitch pattern and worked it into a top-down sock.  Yeah, the cable is upside down, but it really doesn’t matter to me, and the basic idea of the sock is still preserved (or at least I think so anyway!).  Really love the eye searing green from the colorway called, “Night Vision,” and the yarn was fun to knit with, making a squishy pair of socks.  So sad that it’s summer and I won’t really be wearing them till the fall again, but when the cold weather comes, I’m sure they’ll be ready for my feet.  This is the third finished item in my 11 in 2011 goal for knitting this year.

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 3

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Husband was in charge yet again of this one.  We’d had a fancy blue cheese wedge salad at a restaurant and thought, hey, we could do this locally.  So, a big chunk of lettuce covered in blue cheese, blue cheese dressing, and most importantly bacon, add a slice of bread, and we have a meal.  The dressing came out REALLY well even though we didn’t have buttermilk and sour cream, but the yogurt is pretty tangy to begin with, so it worked out.

Wedge Salad
Lettuce – Jack’s Farm
Spring Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Tea
Sesame French Bread – Sweetwater Baking
Riesling – Mount Hope Winery
Non Local –  pepper, worchestershire sauce

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 2

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We had picked up chip steak from Backyard Bison last week, knowing full well that we were going to do Philly Cheesesteaks, Local Summer style this week.  So, all we needed were mushrooms, something resembling an onion, cheese, and some bread to finish the meal.  Husband took the reins on this one and had everything ready to go for lunch when I got home.  Perfect!  The bread was supposed to be St. Peter’s Bakery’s rustic white, but somehow we ended up with an olive loaf instead (honest mistake) which worked out alright anyway!

Philly Cheesesteak
Bison Chip Steak – Backyard Bison
Crimini Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Experimental Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Spring Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Bread – St. Peter’s Bakery
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Non Local – olive oil, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 1

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The market has opened for the season and it’s time to bring One Local Summer back from the dead (ack, a zombie, run!).  Our local Phoenixville Farmer’s Market had its opening day this past weekend and we were there for the honey sweet festival marking the first day.  While our market is still open on a limited schedule throughout the winter, it’s nice to know all of our favorite vendors will be there every week from now until the end of December.  We’re always up for the challenge though and this week, I tasked the newly-returned-from-Indonesia husband with cooking the meal.  Naturally, it ended up being beef-based but since there aren’t quite enough vegetables growing just yet, but that’s fine with me.  The brisket was smoked for about an hour and then put in the crock pot for the rest of the afternoon.  The meal was paired with a local wine that really set off the smokey flavor of the beef just perfectly.  Hope you’re ready for an awesome One Local Summer!

Brisket with Mashed Potatoes:
Beef Brisket – Birchrun Hills Farm
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Truly Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Goat’s Milk Yogurt – Shellbark Hollow
Goat’s Milk – Shellbark Hollow
Spring Garlic – Jack’s Farm
Bread – St. Peter’s Bakery
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Due Rossi from Chaddsford Winery
Non-local – Homebrew beer (for crockpot), salt, pepper, paprika, olive oil, garlic powder

 

recipes

Risotto Coi Bruscandoli

Ri-What Co Who?  That’s Italian for Rice with Hop Shoots (Bruscandoli).  My husband and I brew our own beer, so we started growing hops (Fuggle and Hellertau) in the back yard.  Just three short years later, they’ve grown beyond their boxed-in home and have started invading the lawn.  This means lots of pruning since you’re supposed to only have three vines per rhizome to ensure a good harvest.  Once they start shooting up in the spring, they grow quickly – sometimes 3+ inches per day.  Today, I walked out to find that there were shoots already reaching over a foot high, and it was time to thin the hop-herd.  Someone in our homebrew club had mentioned that the young, tender shoots can be used in cooking much like asparagus.  Google to the rumor-rescue, and it’s true!  In fact, it’s a very common Italian dish (specifically around Venice), and those young hop shoots (Bruscandoli) can be found at markets throughout the spring.  I managed to find authentic Italian recipes using Bruscandoli on the website for the Commune di Berra (near Venice).  I printed out the recipe for Risotto coi Bruscandoli and set to translate it.  What follows below is an Americanized version of the recipe with both the original measurements and the (roughly) American equivalent.  It’s pretty easy to make, and don’t worry about having a whole 300 grams of hop shoots – I only had about 125g, and it was plenty!  The recipe calls for a white wine, but I served mine with a delightful hoppy beer – Terrapin’s Rye Pale Ale.

Risotto coi Bruscandoli

Adapted from recipe here		 Print Print
Ingredients:
1.5 cup (300 g) Arborio Rice 4 cup (1 liter) Vegetable Broth
3 cup (300 g) Bruscandoli (Hop Shoots)
use only the tender tips, break off hard ends		 1/2 cup (50 g) grated parmesan cheese
1 Onion – minced 2 tbsp Olive Oil
4 tbsp (60 g) Butter (unsalted) Salt/Pepper/Parsley to taste
Instructions:
  • Chop the onion and Bruscandoli finely
  • Add chopped onion and Bruscandoli to pan with olive oil and sauté for about 10 minutes at medium heat
  • Season with salt and add rice, stirring for 5 minutes
  • Start to pour in broth, about a half cup at a time, stirring frequently, until the liquid is mostly absorbed by the rice before adding the next half cup of broth – mixture should still be wet, and not dry/sticky once the liquid is absorbed
  • Remove from heat, add the remaining butter, cheese, pepper, and parsley to taste and stir together well

 

Serve with your favorite hoppy beer!

Serves about four

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