Exploring the perimeter

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Having participated in One Local Summer and other challenges, where the perimeter definition of ‘local’ is 100 miles, and being a frequent visitor of the 100 Mile Diet site, I naturally consider my own local eating perimeter at 100 miles.  I’m not sure what other contributors to FTP consider local [feel free to jump in here, guys].  But the 100 mile perimeter surrounding Philadelphia is what makes eating locally grown food so easy here.

Directly to the West, we have Lancaster County and all of the awesome farms out that way, not to mention the various Amish products.  Directly to the East is New Jersey.  Make all the jokes you want about Jersey, but the Summer produce is killer and it’s practically the cranberry capital of the States.  And let’s not forget the seafood.  We have access to scallops, monkfish, tuna, ocean quahogs and surf clams, fluke, crabs, squid, lobster, mackerel, and a host of other things.  Then there’s Kennett Square out in the PA burbs, which supplies 51% of the nation’s mushrooms.

I often forget, though, that just about all of Delaware and part of Maryland fall within the perimeter.  It’s exciting to think of all the Delaware and Maryland products that I just haven’t discovered yet.  I’m excited to say that Rachel, a Baltimore resident, has offered to clue us all in on all good, local things in the Baltimore area every now and then.  Hooray!

By no means do I insist on eating locally grown food every day at every meal.  I don’t berate people for eating pineapples or lemons.  But for myself, it feels like a challenge to eat locally grown foods as often as possible.  And it makes me happy knowing that I’m supporting local farmers.  And there’s that whole issue of trusting your food sources.  It’s great to live in a place with such a wide variety of choices.

CSA Weekly Report: Red Earth Farm

We’re winding down for this season. The last two weeks of shares have brought fall items, despite the unseasonably warmer weather. I’ve gotten turnips, potatoes, cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower.

I’ve also decided to try some Asian greens that are new to me. Hon tsai tai was a mild green, similar to spinach, that I used for a stir-fry. Fuyo shumi is a variety of bok choy, and I will make a simple saute from this. The tot soi I have will most likely be incorporated in a stir-fry as well (yeah, my wok is getting a lot of use lately!). I have some komatsuna (pictured above, from Evergreen Seeds) that I have yet to try.

Two weeks of shares to go.

Luck of the pot

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Philadelphia is a food town, and the number of food bloggers bears that out.  And never let it be said that food bloggers don’t know how to party!

Invite to all Philly food bloggers to the first ever Philly food blogger meet-up and potluck dinner to be held Friday, November 2.  If you consider yourself a Philly food blogger and want to join this group for this event and future events, please send your name, blog url, and email contact to taylorhigh24 (at) hotmail (dot) com.  An invite will follow with event details.

It’s not an event dedicated to eating locally grown food, but considering FTP’s own Marisa is hosting this first event at her place I’m sure there will be a dash of locally grown flavor in the house! 

If you can’t attend this inaugural event (like me), don’t fret - more potlucks will follow!

CSA Weekly Report: Blooming Glen Farm

We got some pretty cool radishes this week.  Our choice of Daikon, watermelon, or the mysterious Nero Tondo, which is described as “round, black, hot” by our farmers.

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names and quantities of this week’s share.)

My sister thought the kale was looking especially happy this week, and I have to agree!

Dark Days: Rabbit Pot Pie

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I put the garden to bed today.  Well, most of it.  The brussels sprouts are still out there growing.  It seemed crazy to tear up almost all the plants, though.  We’ve had an incredibly warm Autumn here in the Philly area and I had fresh buds on my tomatoes and lima beans, the herbs still looked good.  But I know what will happen if I don’t take the garden down now: it’ll go directly from 75 to 35 and I won’t want to get out in the garden.

The big highlight of the day was digging up the potatoes.  We have fairly heavy clay soil out here in my part of Delaware County, so I wasn’t sure if potatoes would grow for me without a lot of work.  Yes, I dug up the bed and amended it with all sorts of things.  All for naught, apparently: out of the 12 hills of potatoes I planted, we only got five potatoes.  Yes, really.  Five.  Weirdly, it was at least a sampling of all the varieties I planted. 

I was heartbroken over the sad, five potatoes, but it made me determined to use them well.  I started thinking about what else I pulled out of the garden today - lots of herbs and a few teeny little baby carrots.  I also had a single head of garlic left from my garden, and onions from the CSA share.  And a rabbit from a local source.  What else could I make but pot pie?  A Dark Days Challenge meal is born!

1 rabbit, cut into bite sized pieces
water
vinegar
salt and pepper
flour
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, diced
5 potatoes, diced
a bit of dill and basil, chopped
pizza crust (no, the crust wasn’t local - it was store bought)

Soak rabbit in equal parts of water and vinegar overnight.  Remove rabbit from water/vinegar mixture and dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste and roll in flour (I used Daisy Flour from Lancaster County).

In a large skillet, heat a little oil and brown the rabbit quickly on both sides.

Add enough water to cover the rabbit. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.

Add the onions, garlic, carrots, and potatoes. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender.  Add in herbs.

Roll out pizza crust and press into a greased baking dish.  Bake for five minutes at 375 degrees.

Ladle the filling into the crust, and top with another layer of crust.

Cook at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I know the idea of eating rabbit is unappealing to many people, but farm raised rabbit is really very mild and not in any way gamey.  It was tender and delicious, and the pot pie was fabulous!  It could only have been improved with a cooler night and a fire in the fireplace.

Seasonal fare

Friday, October 19, 2007

Many of us FTP have spent some time putting food up for the Winter - be it canning, drying, or freezing.  Even though corn isn’t in season in the February here in the Philadelphia region…well, it doesn’t mean I can’t eat locally grown corn!

I think we all understand the variety of fruits and vegetables that are season in the Spring and Summer.  But going into Fall and Winter, does anyone really truly know we might consider seasonal throughout the colder months?

Beth at the Sustainable Food Blog has laid out a handy (though partial) list:

Apples Pumpkins & winter squash Potatoes Carrots Onions Garlic Cabbage Turnips Celeriac Milk Butter Cheese Eggs Meat

And let’s not forget my favorite: brussels sprouts!

A peck of pickled… cucumbers!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

To supplement my garden and CSA tomatoes for canning, I bought a box of tomatoes from the Shoemaker’s road side stand.

A side note here, that the link will take you to the Shoemaker’s machine shop. The family has run their welding and machining business and lived on Leidy Road since the 1950’s. It’s been as long as I can remember that they’ve sold their garden crops out front. Out here in the ‘burbs, among all the McMansions and age-restricted townhome developments, there are occasional glimpses of realness that reflect the area’s agricultural, small town roots. The several front yard road side stands in town are probably my favorite of those reflections

While I was there, I couldn’t pass up a few delicious-looking cucumbers. I don’t usually see cukes so late in the season, and my mouth was watering at the thought of a crispy cucumber sandwich.

Shortly after, when my tomatoes and I headed over to my dad’s for canning, I was surprised with a bunch of local kirby cucumbers. Thanks pops, but yikes - what to do with them all? Naturally, pickles seemed out best option, though neither of us have preserved them before.

Thank goodness for the Pickle Preservation Society (seriously, who knew?!). They have several recipes on their site, and I copied the one we used below. We went with an easy, traditional kosher recipe that required no hot-packing, and also one that utilized local ingredients we had on hand. The recipe called for dill and garlic, which I received in my CSA share that week (though the dill was not flowering as the recipe recommends). Man, I just love it when things work out like that!

 

Kosher Pickles: The Right Way
From Mark Bittman, New York Times

1/2 cup kosher salt
1 cup boiling water
2 pounds small Kirby cucumbers, washed, and cut into halves or quarters
5 cloves or more garlic, peeled and smashed
1 large bunch dill, if desired, fresh and with flowers OR 2 tablespoons dried dill and 1 teaspoon dill seeds, OR a tablesoon of coriander seeds

1. In a large bowl*, combine the salt and boiling water; stir to dissolve the salt. Add a handful of ice cubes to cool down the mixture, then add all remaining ingredients.

2. Add cold water to cover. Use a plate slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl and a small weight to hold the cucumbers under the water. Keep at room temperature.

3. Begin sampling the cucumbers after 2 hours if they are quartered, 4 hours if they are halved. In either case, it will probably take from 12 to 24 hours, or even 48 hours, for them to taste “pickly” enough to suit your taste. When they are, refrigerate them, still in the brine. The pickles will continue to forment as they sit, more quickly at room temperature, more slowly in the refrigerator.

Yield: About 30 pickle quarters.

*We went with pickling in one of those giant industrial-food-sized jars instead of bowls. We tried the bowls, the jar was just way easier to manage.

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These turned out quite garlicky, so next time we’d probably use only three or four cloves. I can totally see how people get into making their own “special recipe” pickles. With slight adjustments to so many different and easy-to-find ingredients (garlic, hot pepper, peppercorns, mustard seed, onion, celery, sugar), there are endless taste possibilities. This is definitely a project we’ll be doing again next season!

Dark days ahead!

Several of us here at FTP participated in the One Local Summer project, and now comes a new way to get motivated: the Dark Days Eat Local challenge!

The rules are simple: make your own damn rules!  Suggested guidelines are:

• We have to cook one meal a week with at least 90% local ingredients
• We have to write about it - the triumphs and the challenges
• Local means a 200 mile radius for raw ingredients. For processed foods the company must be within 200 miles and committed to local sources.
• Keep it up through the end of the year, and then re-evaluate on New Year’s Day
• The challenge starts now, or whenever you sign up.

If you’re interested, sign up at Urban Hennery.

I have chosen to participate only because I find that I tend to eat less locally grown foods in the Winter.  This will be a good, motivating factor for me.  My own rules will be similar, but I reserve the right to use non-local oils, vinegars, spices, and things like that.  Anyone care to join me?

Comfort Food

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I’ve been all about the comfort food lately, probably because it’s fall and even though it’s not all that cold outside when the temperature dips below 50 my 100+ year old house gets cold. And honestly, we’re a bit too cheap to turn on the heat when the days are still in the 70s. So comfort food it is, and most of it’s on the unhealthy side with lots of meat and cheese. But it’s still local!

My husband was thrilled that I’ve made Sloppy Joes with beef from Meadow Run farms (is that in the meat list on the sidebar?), and tomatoes and hot peppers from our garden. I think he may have actually pumped his fist in the air and shouted yes! when I served patty melts made with local beef, cheddar, and caramelized onions served on Le Bus bread with oven fries from local potatoes on the side. Getting away from the ground beef, I cooked a big sweet potato enchilada casserole with homemade enchilada sauce using all local veggies and cheese (though I did cheat with the black beans and tortillas) and a few days ago with homemade tomato sauce, local eggs,  freshly ground breadcrumbs from a day old loaf of local bread, basil from my garden and eggplant from Red Earth Farm, I made Eggplant Parmesan using an America’s Test Kitchen recipe.

The recipe is pretty similar to the ones I’ve used in the past, only it calls for baking the eggplant on preheated baking sheets rather than frying it, and dotting the top layer with sauce instead of drenching it so the eggplant stays crispy. I’ve made Eggplant Parmesan dozens of times before, but I’m definitely sticking to this recipe. A little bit of crunch goes a long way.

Eggplant Parmesan
from the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

2 globe eggplants sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
salt
1 cup flour
pepper
4 large eggs
4 cups plain dried breadcrumbs
3 oz Parmesan cheese grated
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
fresh basil leaves, torn

Toss the eggplant with 1 teaspoon of salt and let drain for 40 minutes. I take Lidia’s advice, and line the eggplant up the sides of the colander, place a heavy bowl over the eggplant, and weigh it down with a couple of cans of tomatoes.

Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions, put a baking sheet on each rack and preheat the oven to 425. Combine the flour and 1 teaspoon of pepper in a large ziploc bag and shake to combine. Beat the eggs into a shallow dish. Combine the bread crumbs, 1 cup of Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in another shallow dish.

Rinse the salt off the eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. When the eggplant is thoroughly dried, place a handful of slices in the ziploc bag and shake to cover with flour. Shake off excess flour, dip in the egg, then coat with breadcrumbs and let drain on a wire rack. Work in batches until all of the eggplant has been dredged in flour and breaded.

Remove the preheated baking sheets from the oven. Spread 3 tablespoons of oil over each sheet, tilting the sheet to coat evenly. Spread the breaded eggplant in a single layer over the hot sheets. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the first side is brown and crisp. Flip the slices over and return to the oven until the second side is browned, about 10 minutes more.

Spread a cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Put half of the eggplant over the sauce, overlapping. Cover the eggplant with a cup of sauce, a few torn basil leaves, and half of the mozzarella. Layer the remaining eggplant in the dish and dot with a cup of sauce leaving most of the eggplant exposed so it stays crisp. Sprinkle with 1/4 of Parmesan and the remaining Mozzarella.

Place the dish on the bottom oven rack and bake for about 15 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove from oven, top with the remaining basil leaves and let sit for 10 minutes. Pass the rest of the sauce and Parmesan around when you serve.

Local foods volunteer opportunity!

Now that dragonboat season is almost over, I find myself with more free time than I’m used to.  I’ve been on the look out for ways to volunteer my time to organizations that I have a passion for.  Most recently, I signed up to be a clinic escort at Planned Parenthood (you walk patients into the clinic past the throngs of protesters).  And today another potential opportunity presented itself: volunteering at the Fair Food Farmstand.

FTP contributor Joanna has been volunteering there for quite some time, and today Sarah Cain, the supervisor for the Fair Food Farmstand, let me know they’re looking for more volunteers.

Volunteering at the ‘Stand is a 3-hour a week commitment, you get to work with all this great local product, and as we go into the busiest part of the year (with all these ‘food’ holidays), there’s the added bonus of getting a 30% discount at the ‘Stand once you’ve completed your training. As we’re open year-round, it also is a place where people can get their local food ‘fix’ once the farmers markets close down for the season.

I really think I may try to work this into my volunteering schedule, and I hope you’ll consider it, too.  I buy quite a bit of my food at the Farmstand - it’s an important resource for those of us who care about the quality of our food and care about supporting local farmers.

To download a volunteer application form or find out more about the Fair Food Farmstand, visit the Farmstand website.

CSA Weekly Report: Blooming Glen Farm

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names and quantities of this week’s share.)

And an extra view this week:

Valley Shepherd Creamery Carameaway

Sunday, October 14, 2007

The latest of the local cheese acquisitions is Carameaway by Valley Shepherd Creamery.  It’s a mixed, raw milk (sheep and cow) cheese with caraway, and is cave-aged for a few months.

So far, this is my favorite of the Valley Shepherd cheeses.  It’s very creamy with an excellent texture, and the caraway definitely gives it a ‘wow’ factor.  I’m not sure if the pungency is provided by the caraway or is part of the cheese - maybe both.  Either way, it’s delicious.  I have been unable to stop eating it!  And that’s sort of funny, considering caraway is used in folk medicine to relieve loss of appetite.

The Carameaway can be had at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market.  If you know of other Philadelphia locations where it’s sold, please let me know!

Wonton soup for the soul

Saturday, October 13, 2007

I’m not overly familiar with Asian vegetables like bok choi and joi choi.  I grew bok choi last year in the garden, but never got very creative with it.  In the past couple of weeks choi has shown up in the CSA share and it seemed like a good idea to try something a little different with it.  I came across a recipe for wonton soup and instantly decided to make it.  And, better yet, I was able to source the a lot of ingredients from local growers!

The recipe itself takes a lot of time to make.  Not active time, mind you.  But you’ll need eight hours, start to finish, if you choose to make it all in one day.  Stock can certainly be made on one day, and the wontons can be made in advance and frozen.  Don’t let the idea of an eight hour soup throw you - it’s easy to make and the end result is well worth the hour of active time this recipe calls for.

First off, you’ve got to make soup stock and this is what takes the longest.  Sure, you could use premade chicken stock but it wouldn’t have the depth of flavor in homemade stock.  Homemade stock is to ready made stock as Brie de Meaux is to Cheese Whiz, OK?  There’s just no comparison.  Gather the following:

2 lb country-style pork ribs
2 lb chicken, a combination of thighs, legs, and wings (picked up from Godshall’s Poultry at Reading Terminal Market)
3 heads of baby bok choi, coarsely chopped (from the CSA share)
4 scallions, coarsely chopped (found at the Fair Food Farmstand in RTM)
1 (2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, coarsely chopped
14 cups water (good old Philly tap water)

Throw it all in a giant soup pot and simmer the crap out of it for five hours.  Go knit or watch television or play with the dog or something.  Come back in five hours, pour the stock through a sieve to remove the solids (discard the solids), and refrigerate the stock for about two hours.

Unless you’re making the wontons in advance and freezing them, I recommend making the wontons about half an hour or so prior to the end of the stock refrigeration period.  The wontons will get a little sticky in places and dry out in others.  To make the wontons, you will need:

1/2 lb ground pork or turkey (turkey, from Harry Ochs in RTM)
1 large egg yolk (from Fair Food Farmstand)
2 scallions, finely chopped (from Fair Food Farmstand)
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1/2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
salt and pepper
About 30 wonton wrappers

Combine pork or turkey, yolk, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in 1 direction with your hand until just combined (do not overwork, or filling will be tough).

Put 1 wonton wrapper on a work surface (keep remaining wrappers covered with plastic wrap). Spoon a teaspoon of filling in center of square, then brush water around edges. Lift 2 opposite corners together to form a triangle and enclose filling, pressing edges firmly around mound of filling to eliminate air pockets and seal. Moisten opposite corners of long side. Curl moistened corners toward each other, overlapping one on top of the other, and carefully press corners together to seal. Make more wontons in same manner.

When your wontons are all made, break out the chilled chicken stock.  Skim the fat off the top and bring to a simmer.  Grab another bunch of choi, maybe a pound or a pound and a half, and chop it all up into bite sized pieces.  Put the choi in the soup pot and simmer for four minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add wontons and simmer three minutes.  Cut open a wonton to make sure the filling is cooked through and, if it is, serve!

The soup turned out delicious - a true comfort food!

 

If the shoe fits

Friday, October 12, 2007

I know this is very un-local eating of me, but it has never really occurred to me to make pumpkin pie from scratch.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made many a pumpkin pie…but only using canned pumpkin puree.  And there’s nothing wrong with it - pies made from the canned stuff taste just fine to me.  But since I’ve never tasted a pumpkin pie made from homemade pumpkin puree, how would I know the difference?

As luck would have it, the opportunity to find out has presented itself.  Last week there were two baby pie pumpkins in the CSA share, and this week there was one (grown by Green Acres Organics and Countryside Organics).  Pie pumpkins in hand, there was only one thing to do: roast them.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  While the oven is preheating, cut the pumpkins in half and remove the pulp and seeds.  While you wouldn’t use a big jack-o-lantern type of pumpkin for a pie (they’re too watery), you can save the seeds out of pie pumpkins and roast them - so hang on to those seeds!  Place pumpkin halves cut side.down on a baking sheet, and roast them for about an hour.  Peel off the skin, puree in a food processor, and voila: pumpkin puree!  It’s all ready for the addition of sugar and spices for a pie.

My three baby pie pumpkins yielded about four or five cups of puree.

Don’t be a turkey

Last year I ordered an organic, heritage breed turkey for Thanksgiving dinner through the Fair Food Farmstand.  Even my in-laws, who admittedly are not foodies and don’t care so much about eating locally, commented on the great taste and juiciness of the turkey.  We even discussed the benefits of eating meat that isn’t drenched in growth hormones, something a little too serious for Thanksgiving at my house usually.  I can’t promise that eating an organic, heritage breed turkey will guarantee a discussion of anything other than grandchildren and the various Philadelphia sports teams at your own house, of course!

Thanksgiving is fast approaching (I’ve already started deciding what to cook).  I’ll be participating in the 100 Mile Thanksgiving again this year, but you don’t have to be involved in that to want to try a locally grown turkey!  There are quite a few options available, the easiest of which for me is ordering through the Fair Food Farmstand.  I was recently alerted that they’ll be taking orders starting next week.

You might be able to find locally grown turkey at Whole Foods, and the farmer’s market in Collingswood, NJ definitely takes orders.  To get straight to the source, though, try Woodsong Hollow, Bolton Turkey Farm, or Rumbleway Farm.