Where is your thanksgiving turkey coming from this year?

Thursday, November 13, 2008

In a previous post, Nicole mentioned that Fair Food Farmstand is taking orders for local, humanely-raised turkeys for out Thanksgiving meals.  If you’re anything like me, and finding that this holiday has snuck up on you a bit, then you’ll be happy to hear that the Farmstand has extended their ordering deadline.  Whew!

Naturally-Raised Turkeys $2.99/LB
(Hormone & antibiotic-free, free-range)
Available weight ranges: 10-15 Lbs, 16-21 Lbs, 22-27 Lbs, 25-30 Lbs
Green Meadow Farm, Gap, PA
Ordering Deadline: Noon, Nov. 19th

Organic Turkeys $4.50/LB
(Certified Organic, raised on pasture)
Available weight ranges: 12-15Lbs, 15-19 Lbs
Spring Water Farm, Gap, PA
Ordering Deadline: Noon, Nov. 19th

“Bourbon Red” Turkeys $6.50/LB
(Heritage breed, hormone & antibiotic-free, raised on pasture)
Available weight ranges: 7-10Lbs, 11-14 Lbs
Griggstown Quail Farm, Griggstown, NJ
Ordering Deadline: Noon, Nov.16th

Pick up for orders will be at the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market on Wednesday, Nov. 26nd from 9AM – 6PM.  You can place your turkey order at the Farmstand, or online at www.whitedogcommunityenterprises.com. Email with questions or concerns.

Although I personally won’t be consuming turkey at our annual Veg*n Thanksgiving Feast (we’ll roll with Ray’s Seitan), I’m sure many are happy to know that the Fair Food Farmstand is providing such a great opportunity to purchase Thanksgiving turkeys raised by local family farmers.  Happy meal planning!

The family heirloom stew

Monday, November 10, 2008

With soup weather upon us, I’ve been concentrating on making soups that are can-able or freeze-able.  But there’s something so delicious about creamy soups.  And I can never resist trying new recipes for oyster stew - the perfect oyster stew is sort of the holy grail for me.  My great grandmother, a native Nova Scotian, made killer oyster stew, the likes of which I have never been able to recreate. 

A recipe in the November issue of Saveur does come pretty close, though!  And better yet, it’s pretty easy to make using all local ingredients.  Even the oysters can be locally sourced, although I did not use Cape May Salts or any other local oysters this time around.

The recipe is from Antoine’s in the French Quarter.  Apparently, oyster stew is a popular first course for Thanksgiving dinner in New Orleans.  Who knew?  I think I’d probably get run out of town if I tried that at my house, but I’m content to make oyster stew for myself every now and then!

Turkeys, Challenges, Sprouts, and Oysters - Oh My!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

It’s November and that means one thing: it’s Turkey Day Challenge month!  Contributors to Farm to Philly will be sharing their favorite Thanksgiving dishes with you all month long!  My own Thanksgiving should be interesting this year.  My in-laws have been coming for Thanksgiving dinner for the last couple of years, but this year my own parents might be joining us.  This puts me in a bit of a pickle - while my mother will at least try anything you put in front of her, my stepfather is deeply suspicious of high-falutin’ cooking (and when I say “high-falutin” I mean that anything other than plain old mashed potatoes with milk and butter, for instance, is considered bizarre and potentially dangerous).  And so I might need to do a lot of cooking this year - stuff that I want to make, as well as stuff that my stepfather will eat.

Oh, and speaking of Thanksgiving, Fair Food Farmstand is now taking orders for Thanksgiving turkeys.  They’ve got naturally raised turkeys from Green Meadow for $2.99/lb, certified organic turkeys from Lancaster Farm Fresh for $4.50/lb, and Bourbon Red heritage breed turkeys from Griggstown for $6.50/lb.  If you’re trying to save a bit of cash, you might consider signing up to volunteer at Fair Food - volunteers get a discount.  I’m a seasonal volunteer, and my first shift back after dragon boat season was this past Saturday morning.  Stop by and say hello if you’re around - I’ll be there loading up vegetables, bagging spinach, and wrapping cheese every Saturday from 7:30am to around 11am.

My first contribution to the Turkey Day Challenge is a very simple way to prepare brussels sprouts: brown halved sprouts in olive oil with finely chopped bacon.  That’s like crack in a bowl right there.  I don’t eat bacon too often because I don’t like the texture, but I do like the bacon available from the Fair Food Farmstand.  I believe it’s double smoked bacon from King’s Butcher Shop - nice, thick bacon.  My husband, who generally thinks brussels sprouts taste like dirt, will eat brussels sprouts this way.  For him, bacon makes everything taste better.  For an extra special dish, use walnut oil in place of olive oil.  Delicious!

As an unrelated aside, my husband and I had dinner at Ansill’s last night (I had the Trick or Meat Halloween special - squid cooked in its own ink, a skewer of beef hearts and veal kidneys, and Tongue in Cheek - a bowl of veal cheek and pig tongue with white beans and pumpkin.  Everything was delicious!).  On the appetizer menu they offer raw oysters - the oysters of the day were Cape May Salt Oysters.  Offal aside, I would have gone to Ansill’s just to have the locally grown oysters!

Local Turkey Source

Although I’m going to my parents’ in Milwaukee for Thanksgiving (sure beats flying at Christmas!), I’m ordering turkey from Highland Orchards to make when I get back so that I, too, can forage among the leftovers. They also have goose, duck, and turkey breasts. While there’s no information about this on their website, you can call them or pick up an order form at the Fitler Square Farmers Market in Philadelphia (23rd/Pine on Saturdays, 10-2) before 11/15. They’re also taking reservations until 12/1 for winter and spring CSA shares, and they do have a “small” share which I’ve found to be perfect for my small household. The phone is 302 478 4042, email . Enjoy!

Take the Dark Days Challenge!

I nearly forgot that it’s down to the last few days to sign up for the Dark Days Challenge, a seasonal eating challenge that follows the Winter months.  The challenge lasts from November 15 to March 15.  One Local Summer, the Summer months version, may be hosted here at Farm to Philly, but I have no guilt in admitting that OLS is the easier challenge of the two....at least for many of us.

Here in Southeast PA and the surrounding areas, it’s not all that hard.  I mean, we have Winter CSAs, the Farm to City Winter Harvest buying club, more than a few year-round farmer’s markets, and places like the Fair Food Farmstand that are open year-round and supply all sorts of seasonal vegetables and fruit.  Plus, if you’ve been canning and freezing the Summer harvest, you’re probably all set.  But it’s still a little more difficult to eat seasonally in the Winter than in the Summer, especially from a variety point of view.

At any rate, don’t forget to sign up for the Dark Days Challenge!  I just signed up today, and I’ll be doing my update posts here at Farm to Philly!

Gold Rush Apple Time!

Friday, October 24, 2008

These wonderful apples, possibly the perfect apple, are available for a short period of time from North Star Orchard. To buy them in bulk or to reserve the delicious cider from these apples, there’s a form on their website. You might think that this is overkill, but Gold Rush apple lovers are serious. To see all the hard to find varieties of apples and asian pears (another North Star specialty), visit one of their farmers market locations. If I sound like a commercial, it’s just that their fruit is so good and Ike and Lisa are really nifty people. Check it out.

Modest but Tasty Apple Cake

Monday, October 20, 2008

Clearly, this was my big day in the kitchen because I also made my favorite apple cake recipe. I’m afraid that only the apples from my Highand Orchards CSA were local, but the eggs were from cage-free hens. This cake is terrific with very ripe pears (especially Bartletts) in place of apples.

1/2 C butter
2 eggs
3/4 C brown sugar (can be mix of brown and white)
2t vanilla
2t baking powder
1t cinnamon
1 3/4C flour (I used 40/60 King Arthur wheat and white flours)
1t salt
1C chopped walnuts or other nuts, or a couple handfuls of millet are great
1/2C milk
4 medium apples, peeled and cut into small chunks or slices—whatever you prefer

10” springform pan or regular cake pan
I use parchment paper for all cake baking b/c it’s so easy to get the cakes out!

350 oven

Sift the dry ingredients. Cream butter, sugar(s), and vanilla, then add eggs. Add half the dry ingredients, the milk, then dry. Mix in the nuts/millet and apples. Spread in the pan and bake for approx. 40 mins. It makes a great breakfast cake, too.

Apple cake

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Aside from the dozen or so we’ve eaten in the past week, the first thing I did with my half bushel of apples picked from Linvilla Orchard was make Jewish Apple Cake. This recipe is not by any stretch of the imagination a recipe that’s been handed down from generation to generation, but a search to see if there was a recipe I might enjoy more than mine returned dozens of family recipes that only slightly differed from the one I’ve been using for the last several years. I guess you just don’t mess with a good thing.

INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 4 eggs
* 1/2 cup orange juice
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3-5 apples - peeled, cored and sliced
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 5 teaspoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 10 inch tube pan. Combine the ground cinnamon and 5 teaspoons of the sugar together and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 cups of the sugar. Stir in the vegetable oil, beaten eggs, orange juice and vanilla. Mix well.
3. Pour 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan. Top with 1/2 of the sliced apples and sprinkle with 1/2 of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour the remaining batter over the top and layer the remaining sliced apples and cinnamon sugar.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 70 to 90 minutes.

My recipe calls for sliced apples but since my toddler was helping me cut them with his plastic Ikea knife I used chunks of apples instead. The recipe did not suffer.  The cooking time really does vary depending on the number of apples you use and your oven temperature. I tested the cake after 70 minutes and ended up cooking it for about 85 total. This is a thick, dense, cake. I think it must weigh about ten pounds.  I used a bundt pan (because I don’t have a tube pan) so I put some sliced apples at the bottom of the pan to make it look prettier.

Apple heaven

Sunday, October 05, 2008

While not a website about supporting local farmers and eating seasonally, A Food Coma is a new blog devoted to New Jersey.  And hey, we gotta support Jersey, right?

A Food Coma is a group blog devoted to restaurant reviews, recipes...there’s even a podcast!  Their lead story is pretty timely - a recipe for apple pie.  We are awash in locally grown apples right now.  Linvilla currently has nearly 25 varieties available for picking.  The Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal has dozens of varieties from various area farms. 

Other local orchards for apple picking:

Weaver’s Orchard, Berks County
Shadybrook Farm, Bucks County
Styer Orchard, Bucks County
Highland Orchards, Chester County
Johnson Farm, Jersey
Terhune Orchards, Jersey

One Local Summer-week Finale: Western Region

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Here we are at the end of the One Local Summer challenge - where did the summer go? Sorry this is a bit late, it’s been a busy weekend and start of the week around here.

While she’s in San Francisco, Anita opted to skip the Slow Food Nation party in favor of continuing her normal slow food life and celebrate in her own way. They’ll keep up their shopping at the local markets and farms, putting up the harvest, supporting restaurants that support local farms, exploring the food traditions of their neighbors and celebrating the bounty of the region. They might not have joined the party, but the sure had their own celebration.

Already looking for another challenge, Green Bean celebrated the end of the challenge by sharing a local pot luck with friends. While they all had their pick of recipes, they all gravitated to Outstanding in the Field and enjoyed a variety of delicious, simple treats. Way to close it out!

Joan took a trip to the coast where they enjoyed a bounty of local foods. With three families pulling from their gardens, CSAs and farmer’s markets there was no shortage of things to eat. Meals included red new potatoes with wilted chard, a saute of zucchini, onion and corn, green salads, chicken, frittata with peppers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, cheddar and jalapenos and challah french toast. Not only all of that, but also an earlier meal of curly kale and potato soup. Wow.

While local meals have been a bit thin around her house lately, Donna did manage one nameless meal of a fabulous sounding hash / scramble. A combination of potatoes, onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, bacon and eggs. Hmmmm. And Donna - I’ve been wondering the same thing about my squash…

Kimberly and Paul finished out the challenge with brunch at the Raincity Grill. I’m hungry just looking at the photos below… Brunch was Dungeness crab eggs benedict, fresh berries with yogurt and meusli and croissants and apricot scones with mixed berry preserves. What a way to finish the summer!

For various reasons, dinner at our house last week was mostly a simple affair. There weren’t really any complete meals or photos, so suffice it to say that we were busy eating homegrown produce snatched in between rain showers and preserving.

One Local Summer, The End: New England

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Just like the great irony of a New England summer, OLS is coming to an end just as everything seems to be in season and abundant at once: tomatoes and corn are sharing market space with melons and stone fruits, beans, zucchini and even the beginning of winter squashes.  And just as it all comes in, bang...summer’s over.  Just like this year’s OLS challenge.  But here in New England, I know we’ll continue to eat like royalty and keep squirreling away the some of the bounty for winter’s long stay.

A big thank you to all the New England participants, as well as our regulars.  Cheers!

Erica continues her Recipe project, and this week’s meal was Braised Lamb Shanks with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Orange, and Rosemary. Except with fresh tomatoes and not sun-dried. And turnips instead of carrots. And dried herbs instead of fresh...well, how bad could braised lamb be, anyway?  Don’t worry Erica, just like white shoes after Labor day, braising lamb before Labor Day has now become socially acceptable!  Just look at what Leslie had…

For this week’s finale, Leslie feasted on braised lamb, too!  She marinated it in olive oil and rosemary, and accompanied the meal with a fantastic sounding sage potato dish.  Hop on over to her blog to see the recipe for the potatoes.

Sarah gave us a great summary of some of what she’s been eating this summer.  Glad to see she hasn’t missed out on things like fresh corn on the cob, roasted veggies and lots of squash!  Sounds like she’s been able to put up lots of supplies for good winter eating, too!

Shiitake mushrooms on pasta with cream sauce and salad made up Laurie’s meal.  I want local shiitakes, I want local shiitakes!  Not to mention a shop in town that makes pasta… Delicious looking meal, Laurie!

We also feasted with friends this week, on a roasted local chicken, fresh corn on the cob and a big tossed salad.  But lunch the next day of a tossed salad with roasted chicken was my favorite local meal of the week. 

Happy fall, everyone!  I hope to see many of you again in October when the Eat Local Challenge rolls around.  Thanks for letting me into your blogs every week, and I’ve enjoyed getting to see what people are eating around New England. 

One Local Summer, week 13: Mid-Atlantic Region

Thanks to the Mid-Atlantic participants for a truly inspiring season of cooking (and eating) local. I enjoyed getting to know you and your fabulous blogs.

Maryland

The lunchbox the Purloined Letter packed up for her partner looks almost too pretty to eat. It’s chock full of all sorts of garden goodness: a chopped salad of swiss chard, green beans, yellow zucchini, and chioggia beet with red pepper dressing, lima beans “kissed” by red pepper lips (too cute), sautéed beet greens topped with twice-cooked grits rectangles (the cornmeal was grown and milled at their son’s camp) and cherry tomatoes, plus scuppernongs (a type of grape) and blackberries. And if that isn’t enough, to drink, some home-grown lemon verbena tea sweetened with home-grown stevia.

Plus it’s harvest time chez Purloined Letter, be sure to check out the gorgeous corn. This is just one stop on the road to home grown, ground and baked cornbread.

New York

Happy Birthday to Meghan who has been celebrating all week long. She did manage to squeeze in some local goodness: roast chicken and a huge salad. All ingredients local, and all came from the co-op she just joined.

“Cheers” to Mia who has become a master of local mixology. Among her specialties: a cucumber gimlet (with home-grown cukes), a strawberry jive featuring home-grown basil and mint, a lavender honey martini (both the honey and lavender were local) and a blueberry thyme concoction. Alongside these fancy libations, she whipped up some summer soups thanks to her CSA and garden plot: gazpacho, squash soup and cucumber dill soup garnished with smoked trout. There was also a potato and green bean salad. Plus farmer’s market bread and local cheese.

New Jersey

We celebrated the close of the OLS Challenge with some local crab cakes topped with CSA swiss chard. Our CSA also supplied the squash and potatoes which we grilled. Our own garden provided the tomatoes which were tossed with local mozzarella and CSA basil.

-this section of Mid-Atlantic updated posted by Elizabeth of Seedling.
______________________________________________________________________________

I can’t believe this is the last OLS update!!  This Summer passed by really quickly!  For the last update, we’ve got only three updates in this section - two from Pennsylvania and one from New York.  Thanks to everyone who participated, from those who only submitted once to those who stuck it out for the entire Summer!

Pennsylvania

Buzz and Pat ate bison and pepper rice, which Pat says was the best tasting meal they had all Summer.  Considering some of the photos I’ve seen of their meals, that’s shocking to me!

My final meal of the OLS challenge was soft shell crabs served with cabbage and carrot gratin.  I also went on a minor canning spree, which I haven’t posted about yet.  The canning mania included plum barbecue sauce, watermelon barbecue sauce, watermelon rind relish, and peach butter.

New York
Julia threw a barbecue with local foods.  She served grass fed burgers with sage and Worcestershire sauce - her first time grilling!  Also included were homemade flatbread, baba ganoush, and hummus.  Good luck in your new apartment, Julia!!

This section of the update by Nicole.  Thanks again to all participants in the 2008 One Local Summer challenge!  I’ll do a challenge wrap up in the next few days.

One Local Summer, week 13:  Midwest

We’re a little short-handed this week as challengers attentions are being pulled in ever more directions.  It’s been a great summer and we’ve all learned a lot.

Anne of Green Leanings made a great vegan dish this week:  “It was a simple dish, served warm, and was somewhere between a stew and a salad. Local black beans teamed up with onions, bi-color corn, and grape and pear tomatoes from the garden.”

Sirena of Swimming in this Sea of Life did a roundup of some local foods she had while she was travelng on vacation.  They had “eggs, tators, biscuits and gravy, and country ham” and “fried green tomatoes from the Chef’s garden, we also tasted their freshly brewed IPA and wheat beers” and wine and ice cream and ... (not all at the same meal, though).

Karen of toteleeding had a fantastic brunch:  “The meal included arugula frittata, roasted potatoes and a mixture of blackberries and blueberries. All local, all fantastic. We even washed it all down with local milk.”

Joy of The Spiral of Seasons gives a thoughtful summary of some of the things she learned over the course of the summer, including new ways of cooking, trying new foods, and a new way of thinking about what foods to eat:  “instead of asking ‘What’s for dinner?’ we’ve learned to ask ‘What needs to be eaten?’”

Jenny of The Nourished Kitchen wrote:  “This week we enjoyed a classic American meal.  The main course was a rich meatloaf of grass-fed beefalo, beef and meadow-raised pork covered with a nice rich gravy.  Aside from that, we also enjoyed salt-roasted fingerling potatoes, raw carrots, steamed baby squash and a salad of our very own lettuce in addition to home-made sauerkraut with all its beneficial bacteria.  Top that with sweet peaches and we were all set.”

Anna of twelve22.org wrote “I made eggy-hashbrowns (chopped potatoes with eggs scrambled in—a Torborg family classic) with red bell pepper and onion, served on top of wilted chard and topped with two tiny tomatoes. Everything came from my garden, apart from the eggs.”

Destabee of kaleidoscope Living used some fresh local beef and fresh veggies for a an experimental crockpot meal. 

Debbie of Rites of Passage, in response to the cooler weather we had been having, made roasted corn and pepper soup.  And she took a picture this week, but, while it tasted great, but it looked awful.  Ah well.

One Local Summer-week 12: Western Region

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

While she’s up for making sausage now and again, Anita believes in leaving meat curing to the experts. And what experts they are. Dinner last week at Piccino was a foodie extravaganza featuring local, in season ingredients and good company. After 5 hours of eating, laughing and enjoying the evening they will go back again, without a doubt.

Finding that produce is bigger in Fort Collins, Lauren made a local meal in a strange city to celebrate her sister’s new home. Combining her market veggie haul with some almost local orzo, she made a meal for 50! While the brat she ate with it might not have been local, the beer was and that counts in my book.

With ripe tomatoes (finally) and basil from the garden, Joan made a dish for sharing with guests and party goers. She combined pasta with pesto, Italian chicken sausage and cherry tomatoes and served a green salad on the side. Not to mention her amazing espaliered pear tree!

JM had a busy week welcoming new students and preparing for classes. Even so, she found time to make a Frittata with corn, scallion and potato. It looks and sounds divine - it’s definitely going on my list of winter meals.

Finding herself with an unexpected excess of squash, Kimberly channeled her childhood and made cheesy squash casserole. Served with cauliflower roasted with mustard, lemon and butter and sauteed sweet corn it sounds delicious. There was even enough for leftovers.

Catching up with us, Monica found time in a busy couple of weeks to make several things. First there was a blueberry crisp, then carrot bread that disappeared fast and finally a spinach quiche. Yum.

Mamaste missed us this week as she was a bit busy delivering Lucy! Congrats!

Over at our house, we shared a mostly local dinner of burgers, steamed veggies, green salad (with tomatoes and peppers!) and fresh picked blackberries. We shared it with family and enjoyed every single bite.

One Local Summer, Week 12: New England

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Sorry for my tardiness today.  I work at a school, and like many others directly affected by the yearly migration of teachers and kids, I’m feeling a little pressed for time.  Teachers show up tomorrow, whether we’re ready or not!  AND, it’s just now getting to high tomato season here, and I have some anxiety about getting sauce in the freezer and tomatoes and salsa in jars!  Not only that but next week is the last week of this year’s OLS!  Okay, New England, let’s go out with a bang!

So, my apologies for the less-than-stellar visual nature of this post, but please go visit these fine folks and see what they’ve been up to this week!

I decided to spotlight a pasta dish this week (again?).  We enjoyed spaghetti with sweet italian sausage, pesto and roasted tomatoes.  It was deeeelicious!  Even better for lunch the next day, I must say.

Erica is way more creative than I am, and her local meals make eating local look like a gourmet delight (which, it actually is, no matter how plain the meal...).  She has challenged herself to try one actual “Recipe” each week.  Like others, she often relies on methods rather than exploring new dishes.  This week’s result of her own challenge is kefta mkaouara (meatball, tomato and egg tagine), and it turned out to be a homerun!  Her challenge is off to a good start.  Inspired by Erica, this winter I may take on the same project.

Vegetable soup with pistou was on the menu at Leslie’s.  She’s got an excellent recipe for the soup up on her site, as well as for a low-fat pistou.  Soup is such a great idea this time of year, with vegetables of all sorts vying for attention in the crisper drawer.  Great idea for these end-of-summer cool nights.

Laurie’s meal came from the sea: she enjoyed scallops with succotash and parsley drizzzle.  The herbs and the salad all came from her own garden, and she even had some vinegar from Maine that she bought while on vacation.  Great reminder to check for those local ingredients wherever you travel!

Have a great week, everyone - let’s make the last week a big one!  I look forward to hearing from you, even if you haven’t been blogging regularly.