Locally grown: a coming trend in the NFL?

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

It’s practically sacrilegious to admit this in the Philadelphia region, but I am not much of a sports fan.  While many are bemoaning the latest Eagles loss, I can barely bring myself to even notice that the Eagles are actually in the midst of football season.  Even though I don’t really care about sports so much, I was tickled to see an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the executive chef for the Pittsburgh Steelers football team and the team management’s commitment to locally grown foods and environmental sustainability:

Most pro football players don’t sing the slow-food mantra of local sustainable food. If you ask them, they might say it is nice to eat an apple from a local farmer. But most football players aren’t talking about it the way the students did at Carnegie Mellon University, where Chef Hayes worked as a sous chef for Parkhurst Dining.

Buying local is important for Dan Rooney, owner of the team.

About 20 percent of the food used at the Steelers training facility is locally sourced, but most is not organic, said Jamie Moore, Parkhurst’s director of sourcing and sustainability.

[...] Chef Hayes also grows his own herbs just outside his kitchen. What’s the herb of choice of Steelers? “Football players don’t have a favorite herb,” he said. Then he added: “Pepper.”

I couldn’t find any information about whether any of the chefs for our local sports teams (or the team management) embrace those same ideals.  For all I know, the Eagles, Phillies, etc. are awash in locally and sustainably grown foods.  It’s nice to imagine that the local sports team who rely on community support are giving back by supporting area farmers.

World Peas

Monday, December 22, 2008

A bag of dried black eyed peas from Margerum’s has been languising in my cupboard since August.  By chance, I decided to haul them out and make something.  But what?  Googling for “black eyed peas” reveals millions of recipes for the same thing: peas with ham hocks, with and without collard greens. 

Black eyed peas are very much a part of the New Years Eve tradition for millions of people.  Eating black eyed peas on New Years Day is supposed to guarantee luck in the coming year.  My own family New Years Day tradition does not include black eyed peas (we’re more porkette, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes people).  That said, I wanted to make something with black eyed peas and maybe ham, but something that isn’t the standard New Years tradition type of recipe.

It took some research, but I finally came up with some options.

Stewed Black Eyed Peas with Ham
Curried pumpkin and black eyed peas
Pickled black eyed peas
Creamy Black Eyed Pea Soup
Black eyed pea hummus
Beans with pancetta and caramelized onions
Pork Belly with Tomatillo, Black Eyed Peas and Shiitake Mushrooms
Mushroom and black eyed peas ragout

In the end, I ended up going with a curry: Black eyed pea curry.  Everything was local except the ginger and spices were locally grown.  And it was good (more on that later)!

Local Food Gift Idea: Apple-Maple Jam

Sunday, December 21, 2008

I like making jam, and my friends and family enjoy eating homemade jam, so it’s one of my standard gifts these days.  However, much as I love eating strawberry marmalade in the cold of January, I hesitate to call such sugar-intensive recipes local, and they require a lot more planning ahead for use as holiday gifts.  Local apples, though, are still widely available, and don’t require as much sugar for gelling.

The two jars above are two different batches of apple-maple jam; the smaller jar, on the left, is this year’s batch, and the larger jar is last year’s.  Here’s the recipe I used:

3 qts chopped, peeled apples (~6 lb)
6 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1 c maple syrup

Prepare as jam and can in a boiling water bath.  (Put apples and sugar in a large pot.  Cook on low to medium heat, stirring, until there’s enough liquid to keep the apple bits from scorching.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until the apples are soft.  Add spices.  Cook a little more, then bring to a boil again and divide into sterile jars.) Makes about 8 half-pint jars’ worth.

That recipe is really for an apple-y, mapley jelly with chunks of apple suspended in it.  I prefer fruit preserves that are easier to spread on toast or PB&J sandwiches, so I purée mine with an immersion blender.  And I don’t peel the apples.  Otherwise, last year’s batch is pretty close to the recipe.  This year, I wanted to make my apple-maple stuff entirely local, so I used about 2c honey and 1.5c maple syrup instead of the 6c sugar and 1c maple syrup called for.  It came out quite nicely, if closer to applesauce than jam on the preserved-fruit continuum.  , If you’re looking for something to take to a latke party this week, some of what didn’t get canned was very tasty on latkes a few days ago.

Dark Days: The heartbreak of frozen asparagus

This week’s entry for the Dark Days Challenge includes the meal pictured above, as well as several meals that were not documented.  I had a lunch yesterday of local duck eggs and bacon (just like last week), as well as dinners of canned soup from local ingredients.  I realized early in the week that I’ve been stockpiling soup as if nuclear Winter is just around the corner - and not eating any of it.

I can’t be the only one who does stuff like that - you know, hoard food.  But I’m making a concerted effort to actually eat the food that I can and freeze!

The meal I actually photographed is what I had for dinner last night - proof that I’m trying to use the food that I put by!  The lamb loin chops are from Meadow Run Farm.  I brushed them with non-local mustard and Worcestershire sauce, and then broiled for about five minutes per side.  I served the lamb with a side of sauted mushrooms from Mother Earth Mushrooms and asparagus from Landisdale Farm.  The asparagus was from my freezer - and I remembered why asparagus is really only good when it’s fresh.  The taste was OK, but the texture was awful. 

Ecovore Eating, Even in the Winter!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

The last week has largely been devoted to attending to my academic duties and neglecting my food blogs. But papers and grades are in, the dust has settled and I am slowly returning to my food writing. I am dividing the holidays been CT and San Francisco. I must say, I already miss Philly and my local food routine, but I know I can get some good meals in CT (where I am now) and will definitely be overwhelmed by the local and eco options in San Francisco (I’m sure I won’t be able to resist posting about my meal at Chez Panisse!!!!!). Regardless, I am sad to miss going to the farmer’s market at Clark Park each Saturday and regret having to postpone my CSA share a few weeks. That being said, the winter weather has gifted me only one missed share instead of two!

Yes, the organic Keystone Farm has a winter share worth mourning. For $250 one gets a half vegetarian share for 24 weeks. This includes 1 pound of granola, one local cheese, half a dozen eggs, vegetables and fruit. Of course, some might question the value of fresh, local produce in the winter. But delicious, nourishing and filling local meals can be had even in the darkest of months (as the “Dark Days Challenge” shows here). Root vegetables and winter squash are durable suckers that, if properly stored, can be enjoyed throughout the season. From these ingredients any number of soups, stews, gratins and lentil dishes can be made. Roasted vegetables are always a treat too.

The other night I sliced a sugar pumpkin, tossed it with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, and roasted it.

A few weeks ago I made a tasty gratin based on an Alice Waters’ recipe with sweet potatoes, turnips and regular potatoes.

Sweet Potato-Turnip-Potato Gratin

3 small to medium potatoes (I used red potatoes, but Yukons would be good too)
3 small sweet potatoes
3 small to medium turnips
ca. 1 cup raw milk
3 tbs butter
salt and pepper

Thinly slice potatoes, sweet potatoes and turnips. In a baking dish that has been greased with butter line the various roots in an order you see fit (I had a row of sweet potatoes, then turnip, then potatoes). Overlap the slices like shingles. Salt and pepper this layer, then add another layer. Salt and pepper it and add another layer if you have more slices (you don’t want to make more than three layers). Chop the butter into pieces and disperse them over the surface of the gratin. Pour in milk carefully. You want the milk to come to the top of the bottom of the top layer. Adjust milk accordingly. Bake in an oven heated to 350˚F for 1 hour, or until potatoes are soft and top is golden brown.

A Radish Bonanza!

Watermelon radishes sure are pretty!  An heirloom variety of Daikon radish, this Winter radish tastes pretty much exactly like any other radish.  I’m not a huge fan of radishes, though.  Every now and then I get in the mood to eat them with salt...but there just doesn’t seem to be much to do with them.  But because watermelon radishes are so attractive, I do try to work them into meals when I can.

Last weekend I made deviled eggs (based on this recipe, the yolk filling of which contained minced watermelon radish and minced shrimp.  The eggs were delicious, and the radish added a nice peppery bite and some nice texture.  I had to laugh a little when one of the contestants on Top Chef made deviled eggs for a challenge on this week’s episode.  Who knew I was on top of food trends?

Beyond using them last weekend, I’ve had braised radishes and I once made raita using radishes.  And, of course, radish kimchi.  But there must be other things to do with radishes.  Considering that it’s so easy to find radishes practically year ‘round, I got a little curious.

Apparently, watermelon radish and trout are natural partners.  I found several recipes pairing the two: Smoked Trout, Grapefruit, and Watermelon Salad and Smoked Trout Spread with Watermelon Radish.  Un-trout-related recipes include Watermelon Radish Parathas, Beef Briskey with Red Miso and Watermelon Radish, and Tempura Avocado with Watermelon Radish and Wasabi Mayo.  Apparently, you can even boil and mash these radishes.  No doubt they’d be a very pretty color, but I’m not so sure I’d love mashed potatoes with a radish-y bite.

Can Winter radishes stand in for Spring radish varieties?  Well, maybe.  In most cases, I would say yes.  And considering some of the interesting radish recipes I’ve found, I might have to look into make the substitution:

Radish Basil Pesto
Ricotta and Radish Crostini
Radish Cream Sauce
Carrot Radish and Mushroom Stirfry
Radish Penne
Radish Hot and Sour Soup
Cream of Radish Greens Soup
Steak and Radish Salad with Tahini Sauce

As with most vegetables, you can also pickle radishes.

Easily the weirdest recipe I found is this: Pan-Seared Rougie Foie Gras with Cascabel, Roasted Banana, Basil, Baby Arugula, Daikon Radish and Black Pepper Marshmallow.  I’m pretty sure you won’t be finding me trying to make that one!

Won’t you be our friend?

Friday, December 19, 2008

Farm to Philly has been on Facebook for a while, but only recently did I get off my butt and start really maintaining the group page.  I hope you’ll come and hang out with us there, too!  We’ve been posting notifications about our posts here, and will also be posting extra news items, discussing the latest in seasonal eating and local finds, and posting bonus recipes.

Obama: A Model For Farmers?

Thursday, December 18, 2008

This past election, Obama led what many are calling the best campaign of all time. It was tight, well-run and well-organized as well as being the techie-est campaign ever. And, according to a seminar I attended a couple of weeks ago, farmers (or any community group) would do well to pay attention to the tools that the campaign used, namely, the use of online organizing.

A couple of months ago I wrote a piece about how farmer’s need websites. It got some responses, most of which, understandably, had to do with being able to afford it as well as cold feet about the technical aspect. So first, let me talk about the seminar that I attended because I believe that this alone could be a huge help in both respects. BarCamp Philly was a free seminar that creates a real-life equivalent of the online experience to push and reciprocate knowledge. It’s free-form, open discussion groups that lasted all day and (see picture below) came with some nice booty. Anyone can lead a “class”: you can either be an expert OR someone who simply has a question and would like to pick the brains of others. This would be the perfect opportunity for local farmers (or an emissary) to post a class to discuss whatever tech questions concern them. In addition, it would give anyone a great chance to network. You could, possibly, find out information about, say eCommerce and find a programmer or consultant. There is such a community aspect to this that the people you find here want to help, as opposed to seeing you as just a great big dollar sign.

So, what does this have to do with Obama being a model for farmers? Well, as I mentioned, one of the seminars discussed online organizing and how the Obama campaign really blew the lid off of this. Their techniques, their databases, their technology was A++. The seminar leader compared this model to traditional, offline organizing (this model, although made for a campaign, is just as applicable to any community-building needs). He predicted that those community-based organizations who don’t adapt to this model will quickly either be locked out and made irrelevant, taken over by a competing group or, and this is most dire, replaced by corporate structures that co-opt the goals of these community groups but do so to sell a product or agenda. This is, unfortunately, what’s at stake: as the local foods movement becomes larger, corporate interests will move in. And when they move in, guess who moves out? In order to keep the basic spirit of local foods (the ability to actually see and talk to the farmer that produced your food), this group needs to organize and use the very best tools at it’s disposal. I envision an umbrella organization of all area local farmers who, through the strength of pooling their resources, can set up the necessary online devices to keep this movement relevant to it’s customers. Then, that organizes it’s customers. Farmers will now have a database of those interested potential customers and can set up efficient and relevant ways to reach them. Marketing can now be microtargeted, rather than a shot in the dark.

So, let’s take my previous post a step further: not only do farmers need websites, but they need a collective, umbrella site whose main function is to be the “go-to” place for anyone seeking information about local PA. There are already sites that attempt to be a go-to place (Local Harvest, Farm To City). But we should consider these Web 1.0. We need an upgrade. First off, create something that is PA based. Then, give it enough useful and pertinent information so that potential customers will willingly give their email and other contact (and demographic!) info. Then you can take that info and tailor events, growings, everything to how to best reach those that want to be reached. It would be the best money ever spent. I mean imagine: reaching people who want to be reached! See, this is the big advantage to community-based marketing as opposed to corporate marketing. No one gives a crap about what Tide can do for them. But there are groups of people willing to spend (and spend!) on sustainable agriculture and well-made food. Microtargeted marketing is perfect for small groups such as local-foods producers.

The fact is, these are rough economic times. People want value for their dollar. Stay in their minds through marketing. And market by using the best tools available. Times like these can be a downer or they can be the best opportunity ever. Market, state value, partner up with anyone with a plot of land and a stand at a farmer’s market. And don’t be afraid of tech seminars. Most of these people are the nicest people that you will ever meet. Get the most bang for your buck. I know that it’s hard to find dollars to spare. Go talk to your neighbor. Tell him or her to group together. Get an umbrella organization and use that as a portal for personal websites. In these times, that’s the wisest use of marketing dollars. I won’t lie to you: these types of websites are expensive. But in addition to tapping the resources of your neighbors, also tap into the resources that the web provides. Go to seminars such as Bar Camp Philly. Heck, feel free to write me for advice on where to turn to next. There are great resources out there. There are people that truly believe in what you are doing. And we want to help. Just tap us on the shoulder and say “I got great farm products!”. After we’re done salivating, we’ll give you advice. Just keep making that delicious raw milk cheese. Deal?

Dark Days: Soupy and Dippy

Sunday, December 14, 2008

My first Dark Days challenge meal of the week was early in the week - an on-the-fly soup using stuff that I had in my kitchen and pantry.  Onions, butternut squash, Kabocha squash, tomatoes, thyme, bacon, butter, and chicken stock. 

It kind of shocks me sometimes that Winter squash like butternut and Kobacha is so hardy.  Those squash were leftover from the last few CSA share boxes!  And I still have a few more Kobacha squash out on the patio.  The tomatoes were from the CSA share, too, but they were canned (the chicken stock, too).  The onion and bacon were picked up this past weekend at the Fair Food Farmstand.  The thyme was from my garden, and I made the butter from some locally produced heavy cream.  All thrown together, it made a really great Winter soup.  Even roasted, Kobacha squash really retains good texture.

My second meal of the week was lunch yesterday - bacon and eggs!  I’m not normally a huge bacon eater, you know, just plain old bacon.  But I do love the thick, double-smoked bacon available through Fair Food every once in a while.  And the eggs were duck eggs!  I picked them up at the Fair Food (do you see a running theme here?) - they are from Hares Valley Growers. 

I’ve never had duck eggs before, so I wanted to try them in a way that would be simple: poached.  Interestingly, the yolk tasted pretty much the same but the white tasted different.  I can’t say how exactly, it was just different.  Even though I didn’t think the yolk tasted much different, there is a difference: the yolks are larger than in a regular hen egg (although the eggs themselves are the same size) and the yolk seems thicker.  For poached eggs, this is a great quality (I’m a toast dipper)!

Another reason to love brussels sprouts

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I know that just about any vegetable can be made into a pickle.  But the idea of brussels sprouts made into pickles strikes me as kind of bizarre.

The other day on the train I was reading a book on canning and preserving that someone bought me last year, and I noticed that brussels sprouts were mentioned.  Apparently, canning brussels sprouts is a very bad idea.  Sprouts freeze nicely, so it would not have occurred to me to even try to can them...but there it was: canning can unpleasantly intensify the flavor of sprouts and will usually result in a gross discoloration, too.  Unless you pickle them, that is.

Well, now that I got the idea in my head, I can’t get it out.  I do love brussels sprouts, and I’d probably even love them pickled.  And it’s been recommended to me that I try them in a Bloody Mary or Martini, because they are allegedly the perfect addition to a cocktail.  Who knew?

I ended up finding several recipes for pickled brussels sprouts:

• Pickled Sprouts with Fennel
• A pretty standard pickle
• Pickled Sprouts with Cayenne and Garlic
• Pickled Sprouts with Szechuan oil

Brussels sprouts are very in season right now, so I’ll be sure to pick up a few pints of sprouts this weekend and give it a shot.  I cannot resist!

Roasted Vegetable and Kale Soup

This is one of my favorite winter soup recipes. It’s easy to vary the ingredients depending on what you have on hand and you can omit a few of the steps if you’re pressed for time.  It’s colorful and filling and easy to make with entirely local ingredients (though I used a can of beans). I even had tomatoes from my garden.  The roasted vegetables add a sweetness and the kale makes it a nutritional powerhouse. It smells so good when it’s cooking my husband excitedly asked if I was making bacon. The answer was no, but the soup was not a disappointment.

Roasted Vegetable and Kale Soup
adapted from epicurious

* Nonstick vegetable oil spray
* 3 medium carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise
* 2 large tomatoes, quartered
* 1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
* 1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges
* 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
* 1 tablespoon olive oil

* 6 cups (or more) vegetable broth (I use chicken)
* 4 cups finely chopped kale
* 1/4 red cabbage, shredded
* 3 large fresh thyme sprigs
* 1 bay leaf

* 1 15-ounce can Great Northern or Cannelini beans, drained

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray rimmed baking sheet with oil spray. Arrange carrots, tomatoes, onion, squash and garlic on sheet. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Bake until vegetables are brown and tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.

Transfer carrots and squash to work surface. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces; set aside. Peel garlic cloves; place in processor. Add tomatoes and onion; puree until almost smooth. Pour 1/2 cup broth onto baking sheet; scrape up any browned bits. Transfer broth and vegetable puree to large pot. Add 5 1/2 cups broth, kale, thyme and bay leaf to pot; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered until kale is tender, about 30 minutes.

Add cabbage, beans and reserved carrots and squash to soup. Simmer 8 minutes to blend flavors, adding more broth to thin soup if necessary. Season with salt and pepper. Discard thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to simmer before serving. Like most soups, this tastes even better the next day.

Made from all local ingredients except for beans, bay leaf, olive oil, salt and pepper

Jelly Belly

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Even though I’m trying to get away from taking cookies to parties and giving people cookies as gifts during the holiday season, some cookies still allow you to showcase local products and stuff that you’ve made with local produce.  One of my favorites is the thumbprint jelly cookie - mostly because it really gives me a chance to use up preserves that I made during the Summer.  And right now I have strawberry jam and raspberry preserves, plus some blueberry port compote a friend made (which is delicious).

1.5 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
3 c. flour
1.5 tsp vanilla
jam, preserves, or some filling

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add yolks, and then flour and villa.  You can work in more flour if the dough is too soft, but I like to refrigerate it for an hour to make the dough a little stiffer.

Roll into balls, make an indentation (my flatwear ends are perfect for this, as you can see), and fill the indentation with jam or some other filling.  Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 9 minutes.

Thumbprint Jelly cookies nicely packaged with a jar of the preserves used to make the cookies would make a great gift!

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Dal

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

I don’t know about you, but I find that I have a considerable stock of sweet potatoes and winter squash from my CSA. I truly enjoy both of these fall ingredients, but I inevitably have some that don’t get cooked one week and get dragged into the next week (and the next week and next week). So with a new crop of sweet potatoes and a blossom squash in this week’s share, I realized I had to be serious about cooking some of them!

I always have assorted legumes and spices, so this dish came together in a jiffy and without having to wander farther than my pantry. I’ve made a hundred variations of this dish, so please feel free to improvise (I always do). I am attempting to provide some concrete measurements here, but—again—they are flexible.

Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Dal
makes 4 hearty servings

1 small onion diced
2 garlic cloves diced
2 cups winter squash, peeled and chopped (I used a plain old sugar pumpkin)
2 small-medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1 1/2 cup dal (I used yellow dal or Masoor dal)

In 2tsp olive oil sautee onions and garlic until onion is soft and glassy. Add sweet potato, salt and spices. Sautee another 5 minutes or so. Add pumpkin. Sautee another minute or two. Add 4 cups water and dal. Bring to boil, then let simmer, stirring occasionally, until pumpkin becomes good and mushy and dal has totally broken down (unlike French lentils, yellow dal does not hold it’s shape). This should take 30 minutes or less. The consistency should be pretty thick. The dish won’t win a beauty contest, but it is tasty and filling! I served it with brown rice.

These are the awesome sweet potatoes that came in this week’s Keystone Farm CSA share. Next week their winter share starts (can’t wait!):

These remind me of the informative and moving documentary by Agnès Varda ”La glaneurs et la glaneuse.” I am fascinated by gleaning and would love to learn more about the state of gleaning in Pennsylvania. Is there gleaning here? Are farmers opening their fields to the hungry? Are there laws regulating gleaning? If any of you readers have any insight into this topic, I would love to hear from you!

Seeds of Change

Monday, December 08, 2008

After roasting butternut squash and kabocha squash today for soup, I was left with a few handfuls of seeds.  Any Winter squash with larger seeds can be treated just like pumpkin seeds - they’re great just roasted with a bit of salt and olive oil. 

Now I like roasted squash seeds, but there are lots of things you can do with them.  One of my favorites is to make pesto, using the roasted seeds in place of nuts.  Basil is out of season right now (unless you’re growing it inside under grow lights), but I still have a few herbs out in the garden - and that means a good portion of the pesto can be local (like this sage and pumpkin seed pesto)!  If you preserved garlic scapes this past Summer, you might want to use them to make garlic scape-pumpkin seed pesto.  I know that arugula is seasonal right now, and I found one recipe that uses arugula, pumpkin seeds, and garlic.  Pack up some pesto in a nice jar and it makes a great hostess gift!

Roasted pumpkin seeds can also be used to make brittle - pumpkin seed brittle can make a really unusual gift.  Even Nigella Lawson has a recipe for her own version of this yummy treat!  I also found a delicious-sounding recipe for Chocolate Toffee Pumpkin Seed Bark.

Here are some other recipes involving roasted seeds that can be used in hostess gifts and potlucks:

Pumpkin Flan with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds
Candied Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Seed Cream Scones
Pumpkin Seed Butter

I can just about guarantee you’ll be the only person to bring something to the party with pumpkin seeds that you roasted yourself!

Dark Days: Sausagefest

Sunday, December 07, 2008

My official Dark Days meal of the week was Saturday night dinner.  No doubt all my fellow volunteers at the Fair Food Farmstand were sick of hearing me talking to myself during my shift about what I might make, and asking them what I should cook!

Griggstown Quail Farm makes wonderful chicken sausages.  I picked up a pack and pan-fried them, served with some very lightly cooked spinach from Lancaster Farm Fresh and roasted cauliflower puree (cauliflower from The Common Market).  The meal was definitely 90% local - the only thing not local was the olive oil I used to roast the cauliflower (California olive oil that I picked up locally when I was in San Francisco recently) and salt.

I used to make cauliflower puree quite a bit when I was concerned about avoiding carbohydrates.  I mostly just boiled the cauliflower, but the roasted cauliflower makes a much better puree.  The boiled cauliflower puree is sort of wet.  The roasted cauliflower makes a drier puree that is fluffier.  Combined with sour cream and milk (both from Natural by Nature), well, that’s just good stuff!