Our own: tomatillos, green beans
Verrill Farm: tomatoes (still hoophouse!), golden squash, red peppers (probably not local), scallions, cilantro
Tossed with olive oil, chili powder, cumin, chopped fresh cilantro, and a little salt, then roasted at 400F for half an hour. Served on tortillas with fresh salsa verde (our own tomatillos! again! yum! puree'd with onion, cilantro, garlic, and hot peppers), Vermont salsa jack cheese, and some avocados my housemate left in the fridge.
While the oven was at it, I also roasted up three large eggplant for eggplant-garlic dip (frozen for later enjoyment). Will have to remember to add A LOT more garlic.
Finally, there is golden squash bread baking in the bread machine. Like zucchini bread, but milder.
We picked about 3 pounds of tomatillos this evening. The branches visibly lifted. What with the hot weather all week, some of the plants flopped over, but we've been watering twice a day now and they're still setting new fruit.
Red tomatoes any day now...
About the vegetarian thing. We've been eating less meat (as in, maybe two-thirds or half as much as usual? haven't been counting). Mainly because I put most of the menu planning effort into figuring out what to do with all of these vegetables (and making cheese) -- the meat is lucky if it gets remembered. At any rate, we both gave blood last week, and I have never felt so healthy afterwards. In recent years I've had trouble with low blood pressure and have always had slightly low iron (by donation standards). Who knows whether it's coincidence? It's a real kick in the pants to put veggies by for winter dinners!
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!
Making a home and a living.
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