One Local Summer: Southern, week 4

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Hard to believe we’re already a month in to One Local Summer, but judging by recent heat and humidity levels, I think it’s safe to say summer is well underway. Here’s a look at what we’ve been eating here in the Southeast.

Kentucky

Caroline of Burrow House shares a mouth-watering peach toast, served with sausage and cabbage, and makes her own butter when a trip to the market comes up short.

Tennessee

Kristina the Tennessee Locavore shares a week full of locally-sourced meals, including one entirely local day whose meals consisted of:
  Breakfast: local eggs scrambled with feta and local garlic scapes.
  Lunch: local beet greens and swiss chard sauteed with local bacon, served with steamed local new potatoes with local butter and dill. 
  Dinner: pizza with local potatoes and leeks and local goat cheese (and a sourdough crust to avoid using yeast!)
  Dessert:  homemade peach granita made from local peaches (recipe included). Inspiring!

Melissa of Bridgman Pottery cooked up a goat cheese, swiss chard and basil pizza and a refreshing cucumber buttermilk soup; she reports the soup can also be used to make a savory gelato—great idea!

Sarah at A Girl Named Go puts high quality ingredients to use in a breakfast favorite, using fresh bread from a local bakery to make French toast, topped with homemade vanilla yogurt and fresh berries to replace the syrup.

North Carolina

Melissa of Rabbit Hill Farm fortified her family for their “ultimate reuse/recycle” summer project with a warmed tomato and zucchini salad, organic chicken and smashed red potatoes.

Virginia

Elizabeth of Caveman Food shares a meal that looks lovely, even if she wasn’t totally in love with it—green onion burgers, slaw made with kohlrabi and basil, and golden zucchini with basil, sauteed up with a little lard.

Keeping Up With K catches up with a quick report of recent salads dressed up with berries and more from her CSA and markets, including herb-infused salad dressings.

Jasmine of Knitting 40 Shades of Green had a pre-travel, “fridge-clearing” omelet this week of sauteed onions and zucchini, cherry tomatoes, Anaheim pepper, refrigerator dried basil and pickled jalapeno slices.

Nancy of Learning As I Go takes advantage of the abundant summer squash at market now to adapt a Martha Stewart “pot au feu” recipe and came up with quick summer vegetable stew with sauteed honey/red-pepper chicken cutlets. As an added bonus, see her adventures in making homemade ricotta (or paneer).

Nana Sadie got fresh bread, cabbage (for slaw, of course) and the first beets from her CSA, which she roasted for dinner and ate alongside a steamed summer squash.

Carolyn of Walnut Spinney shares her husband’s impressive all-local brown bag lunch, comprised of ruby red beets, steamed and sliced, zucchini and yellow squash in browned butter, sugar snap peas with garlic-soy sauce (recipe included), Harvey House slaw, sliced cucumbers in vinegar and a slice of locally raised and smoked ham.

Here at FoodieTots we enjoyed a “BLT” Fettuccine with local bacon, tomatoes, chard, and a favorite, sun dried tomato fettuccine from Smith Meadows Farm.

Washington, DC

Erin took the plunge and started a blog, New at the Market, to facilitate sharing her local eating experiences. (Congratulations, Erin!) This week’s meal was a fresh salad with ramp vinegar dressing, making use of the fabulous vinegar from West Virginia’s Bigg Riggs Farm.