Tag: <span>pork</span>

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 19

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The weather turned crisp and cool over the past week, and I decided it was time for chili!  Usually husband is the chili master, but the pork shoulder was on special sale at the farmer’s market, so I went for pulled pork chili done up in the crock pot.  I used the remainder of the leftover tomato sauce, added some spices, onions, and peppers and let the whole thing simmer for hours until the pork fell apart.  I added some beans towards the end, and topped the whole thing off with blue cheese and a biscuit from that biscuits and gravy breakfast.  A juicy asian pear on the side and a glass of homebrewed cider, and we have a meal!  It was just the thing for a cool evening.

Ingredients:
Buttermilk Maplehofe Dairy
Pork Shoulder    M&M Creek Valley Farm
Lard  M&M Creek Valley Farm
Flour  Mill at Anslema, Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
Asian Pear – North Star Orchard
Beans –  North Star Orchard
Onion –  Jack’s Farm
Peppers – Clover Hill Farm
Cider – Homebrewed from apples picked at the grandparents’ house
Cheese –  Birchrun Hills, smoked blue
Non Local – Spices, salt

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 15

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Another backlog entry – this was photographed August 5th, almost a month ago!  Bad Blogger!  Catching up though, slowly but surely, even if some of the details of these catch-up posts have gone missing from my brain.  Perfect to follow the breakfast crepes tacos are actual tacos with home-made flour tortillas.  Clearly I need a little more experience making flour tortillas before I’d do this for a meal made for anyone else other than me and the husband – most of them came out oddly misshapen, sticky, and weird, but, they fit the bill regardless of appearance.  On the side are a summer favorite, corn fritters, and to top everything off, yet another cucumber and tomato salad.  There’s a glass of wine there too, but neither of us can remember which wine it is and I neglected to get a photo that included the bottle (oops).  Thinking back, it may actually be a glass of our homemade cider using apples from my grandparents’ house out in central Pennsylvania.  Regardless, the whole lot disappeared quickly and was delicious.

Ingredients:
Flour Mill at Anslema, Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
Cheese  Birchrun Hills, Equinox
Ground Pork –  Countrytime Farm
Jalapenos –  Charlestown Farm
Onions – Clover Hill Farm
Corn – Clover Hill Farm
Cucumber Full Circle CSA
Tomatoes Full Circle CSA
Eggs M&M Creek Valley Farm
Non Local – Taco seasoning, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 9b

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Another installment in the catch-up posts for One Local Summer.  Husband had originally planned to do these pork chops on the grill, but the sky got dark and opened up so quickly that he ended up pan searing with the cast iron skillet and finishing it up in the oven.  Apparently, this is my new favorite way to cook pork chops because I have never had a pork chop quite so perfectly juicy before.  Pork can go from juicy and moist to shoe leather in a split second it seems, but man, skillet in the oven is IT.  Even though it was delicious, I only managed to finish off half of that pork chop because of the ridiculous amount of veggies.  Steamed green beans and carrots, that huge salad as usual, and then potatoes with olive oil, chives, and onions.  Top that all off with a glass of Spring Wine from Chaddsford Winery and we have a great rainy day dinner.

Ingredients:
Radishes  Full Circle CSA
Turnips  Full Circle CSA
Mushrooms  Oley Valley Mushrooms
Lettuce Full Circle CSA
Carrots – Full Circle CSA
Cucumber Clover Hill Farm
Tomatoes Clover Hill Farm
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Pork Chops –  M&M Creek Valley Farm
Chives – My Garden
Onions – Clover Hill Farm
Green Beans – Jack’s Farm
Wine – Chaddsford Winery, Spring Wine
Non Local – Olive oil, salt, pepper.

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 8

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MORE PORK!  Yes, we’re big fans of the pig meat, but this meal was so filling that I only managed to make it through about half of that chunk of meat on the plate.  It’s probably the fault of the overflowing salad bowl, but that’s the way I like it!  I’m always doing  salad prep while husband is out running the grill, so sometimes I get a little overzealous, today being no exception.  In the salad bowl is lettuce, turnips, radishes, mushrooms, cucumbers, and carrots along with the same not-local-but-homemade dressing we’ve been using.  It’s just olive oil, homemade vinegar, and a little bit of red wine, but it works great and is simple enough to not overpower the awesome vegetables in the bowl.  Going around the plate we have a Ham Steak which was really really great – cooked up nicely on the grill, rubbed with pepper, salt, and a little maple sugar.  Then there are steamed green beens with sea salt, and a cucumber salad made by soaking the cucumbers in vinegar, red wine, and a little crushed pepper.  We cracked open a bottle of our homebrewed PA Maple Reserve which is actually all local except for the yeast – local cider, local maple syrup, all fermented into a really delicious wine.

Ingredients:
String Beans – Jack’s Farm
Carrots – Jack’s Farm
Radishes – Full Circle CSA
Turnips – Full Circle CSA
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Lettuce – Full Circle CSA
Cucumber – Clover Hill Farm
Ham Steak –  M&M Creek Valley Farm
Maple Sugar –  Miller’s Maple
Wine – Homebrewed PA Maple Reserve with Maple syrup from Miller’s Maple and cider from Linvilla Orchards
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, homemade vinegar

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 7

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Don’t tell anyone, but we’re actually a week ahead due to husband’s love of cooking local food.  Really though, that’s fine, because at some point, we’ll end up being away or too busy or something and we’ll fall behind a week, so I figure this will all come out in the wash, as Willy Wonka might say.  Husband is a big fan of the basics – meat, vegetable, and a salad makes a meal.  However, it’s the prep and spices and whatnot that bring it far beyond that level.  I’ve never had a complaint about any dinner, and how could I – my basic policy is that any meal I don’t have to cook is a good one!  Enough babbling, onto the plate!  First up, in the salad bowl, we have lettuce, turnips, radishes, and some carrots with a non local but homemade dressing.  On the plate is a slice of a Pork Loin  Roast on the rotisserie after being rubbed with pepper, maple sugar, and salt, glazed with red wine and maple syrup while being cooked.  Then we have carrots drizzled with maple syrup, and grilled zucchini (a personal favorite).  Topped the whole thing off with a glass of red wine and we had a lovely dinner.

Ingredients:
Pork Loin  Roast – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Zucchini – Clover Hill Farm
Carrots – Clover Hill Farm
Lettuce –  Full Circle CSA
Turnips – Full Circle CSA
Radishes – Full Circle CSA
Maple Sugar/Syrup – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Paradocx, Barn Red
Non Local – Olive Oil, homemade vinegar, salt, pepper

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 6

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Well I really have no reason to cook since the husband enjoys it so much and I find it such a chore.  That said, I did help out this week by making the spaetzle!  We had bought a spaetzle maker (basically a slotted metal plate like a cheese grater with an open-bottomed container that slides across the plate) but hadn’t tried it out yet, and this week seemed like a great opportunity to use it and fill in some space on the plate!  We followed the recipe on the spaetzle maker package which gave us a really thin batter, but I’ve tried it once now and know what sort of consistency to shoot for.  Also on the plate is a pork rib roast, cooked on the rotisserie on the grill, covered in maple sugar, salt, and crushed pepper and brushed with homebrew amber ale, vinegar, salt, and pepper while on the rotisserie.  Then we have bacon wrapped asparagus, a bowl of cucumbers with salt and pepper and vinegar, and a nice glass of Blaufrankich from Chaddsford Winery.  Everything came out AMAZING and made for a really nice dinner.

Ingredients:
Pork Rib Roast – M&M Creek Valley Farm
Asparagus – Clover Hill Farm
Spaetzle – Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from the Mill at Anselma and butter from Handmade by Abby
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Cucumber – Clover Hill Farm
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Chaddsford Winery
Non Local – homemade vinegar, salt, pepper, homebrew amber beer

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 4

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Another wonderful week of local food!  We’re getting some awesome vegetables ripening, and strawberries are ready for picking.  We’re probably a week ahead, even after the very long, late winter, mostly thanks to a TON of rain in April and then three weeks of full sun.  We could use the rain now though, but it isn’t stopping our local providers from having some great food for us to enjoy.  Husband and I worked together on this one – he did the main plate and I worked up the salad.  We have a pork butt steak cooked on the grill, rubbed with maple sugar, salt, and pepper and marinated in malt vinegar.  Then there are carrots with a touch of maple syrup, another chunk of homemade gouda with milk from a local farm, and cucumbers in vinegar with salt and pepper.  In the salad, we have DELICIOUS strawberries over a bowl of mixed greens and snap peas, dressed with an olive oil, wine, and homemade vinegar dressing.  To finish things off, there’s a glass of homebrewed peach ice wine.

Ingredients:
Port Butt Steak – Countrytime Farm
Cucumbers – Jack’s Farm
Carrots – Jack’s Farm
Cheese – Milk from Birchrun Hills
Strawberries – Charlestown Farm
Mixed Greens – Jack’s Farm  and Charlestown Farm
Snap Peas – Jack’s Farm
Maple Syrup – Miller’s Maple
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Wine – Paradocx Barn Red
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Homemade vinegar, Homebrewed peach ice wine, olive oil

One Local Summer 2015 – Week 3

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Another relatively simple plate  for this week, but simple can still be delicious!  Husband is home again and took over both the shopping and cooking this week (HOORAY!).  On the plate, we have a basic salad with red wine, vinegar, and oil dressing, steamed pea shoots, a grilled pork loin marinated in red wine and vinegar and rubbed with salt and pepper, and then cheese, paired with a glass of Barn Red from Paradocx Vineyard.  The husband  has taken to making his own cheese and this is his first gouda.  I WHOLLY approve of this pursuit and its results which were incredibly perfect.  The milk for the cheese even came from a local dairy farm, so it counts!

Ingredients:
Lettuce – Jack’s Farm
Cheese – homemade with milk from Birchrun Hills
Pork Loin – Countrytime Farm
Pea Shoots – Jack’s Farm
Wine – Barn Red from Paradocx
Non Local – Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, homemade vinegar