Blogging is going to be a little light this week, as we are hosting Tim's parents for four days. I've taken a couple of days off from work, and we're enjoying the summer weather and going around to fun local places. The first place I dragged my mother-in-law off to -- not that she was protesting -- was Verrill Farm. She thought it was superb. We came home with the weekly staples (milk, bread, fresh berries) and some more dinner ingredients. Our fridge is practically bursting with tasty veggies and fruits. I have never seen such healthy lettuce, and it's even cheaper than the grocery store -- under $1.50 for a huge head of lettuce that's never seen the inside of a box truck.
Also, the corn wave is sweeping northward -- last week it was from Georgia, this week from Connecticut.
I've been giving the OLS rules a lot of thought. There are normally two of us eating here, and most groceries tend to last a few weeks rather than a few days. We have perfectly edible food -- carrots, pork chops, FLOUR -- that was purchased before the OLS kickoff, and ought to be eaten. Also, we've been incorporating local ingredients into almost every meal, including the leftovers. So I'm a little disinclined to buy some local pork chops and flour to be eaten for an OLS dinner when we are still going to eat the stuff we have. When they are gone, I'll happily switch to a local source. But in the meantime, I'm going to stop worrying about sourcing every main ingredient locally for a single meal, and be proud of the fact that about 75% of our grocery purchases in the last three weeks have been locally grown and/or made.
Without further ado... Red Currant Muffins!
Adapted from "Cranberry or Blueberry Streusel Muffins" in the Jersey Fresh Cooks book, one of the best for fresh produce. (Disclaimer: I am myself Jersey Fresh, having been transplanted there from New England at a very tender age.) It's produced by the NJ Department of Agriculture, and my mom picked it up at the Trenton Farmers' Market. Click the link -- they've got a terrific website.
Also featured this week, a no-recipe dinner referred to as "Duckweed Soup". Really, it's cream of broccoli (local broccoli, milk; on-hand chicken broth, butter, flour, S&P, cheese; unknown onion, garlic). More bread from Nashoba. It was so nice to come home from work, survey the fridge, and just cruise into making soup, knowing that it would taste delicious without a recipe. But if you're trying to use up a bunch of broccoli (or any green veg), you can do like this:
Duckweed Soup
Wash and chop 6 cups broccoli, chopping the stems small. Steam for a minute or two (e.g. in microwave) and set aside. It should be bright green, not sour green. Chop 1 large onion and mince 2 cloves garlic. In soup pot, sautee in butter to take the edge off. In a different saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter and then stir in 2 or 3 Tbsp flour. Cook the roux a little bit and stir in 2 cups warmed milk. Stir in about 4 oz grated Cheddar (or more -- 4 oz of NY sharp was still quite mild) and let the cheese melt. Add 1 quart chicken broth (you can adjust the milk:broth ratio to taste) and heat through. Add to soup pot, with broccoli, and when the broccoli is tender, process with a blender. That's how it got to be duckweed.
With tonight's pork chops: grilled zucchini, corn, and tomato/basil/mozzarella on French bread, drizzled with olive oil. All of it procured from Verrill Farm. I thought I grabbed local mozzarella, but the fine print says Wisconsin. However, my cheesemaking starter kit is in the mail!
It's been a blessing to have three weeks at the turn of the year, not with nothing to do (far from it), but with a total breakup of routine. Work gave everyone two four-day weekends in a row, and before that we were traveling, so it's been a while since we had a five-day workweek. It's the kind of timing that lets you set your own constraints, for the most part. You can pick your goals for the day and revise them as often or as whimsically as you like.
