Category Archives: Real Food

The Last Harvest

Posted on October 14, 2013 by AnnieRie

Of the garden. And of the computer. I mentioned last week that my PC seized up and told me my Operating System was corrupted.

My husband did manage to retrieve all the 59 Gbytes of pictures, finally. And, another 50 Gbytes of scans, downloads, pdfs, tax files, and pst files from Outlook.

Now I am putting together a new PC. But, currently, using his laptop for my blogging.

Today I also went out there and made the last garden harvest. Made a three basil pesto with the Thai, African blue and Genovese basils in the garden.

Almost two cups of basil. I was really surprised to see that much still growing in the yard, and in the pots by the back door.

Each basil is unique. The Thai, very spicy, the African, very peppery, and the Genovese, lemony.

I got an 8 ounce jar to put in the freezer, and about 3 ounces to use on Naan with dinner later this week.

I also harvested the Thelma Sanders squash. The lone squash.

I think this squash will be decorative. It never really got big enough. I will harvest the seeds and try again next year. Much reading to do this winter to see what I did wrong.

I will be planting garlic this week. And harvesting the last rosemary to dry, and the sage. Oh, there is still some ruby chard out there. Maybe another frittata, with chard and herbs.

Last summer was really challenging. I have to re-think where I plant next spring.

As for dinner, I did roast some cauliflower, and also made another spaghetti omelet.

Cauliflower with Indian spice. Omelet with feta. Not bad for a Monday night.

hocofood@@@

Weekly Meal Planning

Posted on October 13, 2013 by AnnieRie

Like so many others who belong to Community Supported Agriculture, I try and do a weekly meal planning on Fridays, the day after I receive my CSA box of veggies.

If I have to defrost items, or hit a market or make a store run, I do most of that on Saturdays. It is the best way to ensure I use up everything that comes in the weekly drop off.

Yesterday, I was going to go to Glenwood after my volunteering at the Conservancy, but the program and clean up didn’t finish until noon.

Thankfully, I knew I could get to Breezy Willow since they keep the farm store open from 10-2.

My meal planning required eggs, which I had completely used, and a loaf of bread, as I planned to have chili after the football game, and a spaghetti omelet using what I made in the crockpot Friday.

I didn’t plan on buying any veggies there, just eggs, bread, apples, cheese and butter. Oh, and some sausage so I can make meat loaf later this week.

I got sidetracked by this.

One amazing looking purple cauliflower. I will be adjusting the cooking schedule in order to roast this huge fresh vegetable. I love to dry roast them, with just a covering of melted butter and some garam masala. Looks like my meatless Monday will feature it.

As for what was planned and already executed, Friday did include a crock pot lamb “stew”. I saved the broth and some of the veggies, as this stew turned out to be a little thin. Using some noodles in the broth after removing the lamb, carrots, potatoes and some onions, I kept the crock pot on for just enough time to get a bowl of “spaghetti”.

Half of that mixture, stirred with four eggs, pecorino, salt, pepper and poured into a pan.

My husband told me his mom made spaghetti omelets often. I never had one, and this was one very nice simple dinner. After cooking the bottom, I put it in the oven, on broil, and browned the top. On the plate, it looked like this.

Served up with a side salad, using the rest of the beets from an earlier CSA delivery.

Dinners and lunches both highlight the CSA veggies. I now use a small notebook to determine the combinations I can make, to vary our meals and not waste any of the food.

I just need to keep from being tempted by those impulse purchases, like that cauliflower, but it is so good. That beauty will not go to waste.

Tonight we finished the venison chili. Tomorrow, the cauliflower, with baked potatoes and the pesto I made Thursday with the CSA basil.

Tuesday, I will be making those mini meat loaves and putting a few away for the future.

I still need to work the collards into the rotation, but they may be the side dish with the meat loaf.

By doing this planning, and remembering to defrost things in advance, I have really been good at using up my CSA.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, farms, Food, Locavore, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

Game Day Food

Posted on October 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

Like many of our friends and neighbors, we are dedicated football fans, watching games on Sunday afternoons.

Only, as a locavore, our snacks may be a bit different than others out there.

Crackers with chevre and pineapple habanero jelly. Don’t you always serve these at your football tailgate parties? If not, you should.

The chevre is just so, so good. I get it from Breezy Willow. They buy it from an Amish farm and sell it at their farm, and at the Glenwood farmers’ market.

Believe me, I could sit there and eat the entire log of this cheese. We put it on rosemary crackers, from Roots. Added a dollop of my homemade jelly.

We figured something out about the jelly. The bottom of the jar is hotter than the top. It seems those bits of pepper settle and the more you dig into the jar, the hotter the jelly gets.

Still, with a cold Yuengling, from my husband’s home county in Pennsylvania, this is locavore Nirvana, in terms of game day food.

Anything else you can think of, that compliments football and fall?

hocofood@@@

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Great New Recipes

Posted on October 6, 2013 by AnnieRie

Last night when we returned home, I decided to pull out some new recipes and try them. First, a tribute to Marcella Hazan, her leek and scallion frittata.

A thin frittata. Just the right size for a light dinner. I do not have a 12 inch nonstick skillet specified in the recipe, so I used my 14 inch skillet. It meant I had to slightly adjust the recipe. This recipe came from MARCELLA SAYS.

You don’t want to mess with Marcella’s recipes very much. They are perfectly balanced. It all comes down to the layering of flavors. That being said, here is what I did.

Heated the tablespoon of butter and tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. Added one cup of scallion tops. Two cups of thinly sliced leeks (white parts only). Let it all slowly soften under a low heat. Add the 1/4 cup of water to steam them to doneness. After water evaporated, took it all out and set aside.

Meanwhile, added four eggs to a bowl. I used four regular sized free range eggs from Love Dove Farms. If you use large or extra large eggs, use three instead of four. Added 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmesan to the eggs. Gently mixed it together. Added the scallion/leek mixture. Folded it all together. Put it all in the skillet, after I had melted another tablespoon of butter in it.

Let it cook until starting to firm up. Put it in a 400 degree preheated oven to finish.

Along with the frittata, I served a new salad. Inspired by Dinner: A Love Story. The link will take you directly to the recipe.

I really love this salad. You do not have to measure anything. I used about a half dozen large pieces of Tuscan kale. Cut very thinly, avoiding the stems. Place in a bowl and add one avocado, sliced in thin pieces. A handful of thinly sliced scallions into the bowl. Squirt the juice of one large or two small lemons over it. Shave pecorino romano over everything. Drizzle olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. We were heavy on the avocado compared to kale. Next time, more kale as it is so good this way.

More on the great recipes I have found over at DALS. Even if it is a “family” blog, the recipes are simply wonderful. I stumbled upon them by accident, looking for something a while back. If I can ever find the book at the library (it is always out or on hold), I would love to check out their cookbook.

I do have their blog to thank for knowing that you shouldn’t mess around with the instructions on Marcella Hazan’s recipes. Do what she says. The layering of flavors makes her food incredibly flavorful.

hocofood@@@

4 Comments

Posted in cookbooks, CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. Bookmark the permalink.

CSA Surprises

Posted on October 3, 2013 by AnnieRie

Week 20. And there were tomatoes in the box. Also, edamame. Oh yeah, tatsoi. Cilantro. Talk about mixing cultures!

Here is the list:
1 bag Yukon Gold Potatoes – Hillside Organics
1 bag Edamame – Sweetaire Farm
1 piece Fennel Bulb – Autumn Blend Organics
1 bunch Pink Beauty Radishes – Friends Road Organics
1 bunch Tatsoi – Hillside Organics
1 head Frisee – Meadow Valley Organics
1 container Cremini Mushrooms – Mother Earth Organics
1 head Green Romaine Lettuce – Bellview Organics
1 head Green Leaf Lettuce – Green Valley Organics
1 bag Red Roma Tomatoes – White Swan Acres
1 bunch Cilantro – Kirkwood Herbs
1 bag Mixed Beets – Tasty Harvest Organics

It’s one of the reasons I like this CSA so much. The adventure. The variety. The fact that Lancaster Farm Fresh uses a tightly knit group of farmers to supply thousands of people in the New York and Philly areas, as well as New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and DC. They use a rough 150 mile radius for their membership. To me, that diversity of New York and Philly, along with their wholesale business which I assume caters to restaurants and large produce and farm stands, is what drives them to grow such unique items.

Today the fruit share members had Asian pears, concord grapes and kiwiberries in their share. I really wished we had chosen a fruit share seeing their bounty. Today also the half share members had Asian green radishes. Heirlooms. I should have waited around to try and swap for some, but I was loving our haul, and still had those blue radishes from last week. I ended up roasting them this afternoon, with the mixed beets and the remainder of the purple okra I picked up from the Glenwood market last Saturday.

I was multi-tasking here. Roasting beets. Dry roasted over salt. Okra and radishes were both drizzled with oil. The radishes ended up in tonight’s stir fry.

Last week’s bok choy, onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and the radishes. A splash of sesame oil. Served with chicken.

Definitely not boring meals in our house. The CSA always surprises us.

hocofood@@@

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Insaporire

Posted on September 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

A tribute to Marcella Hazan. Who inspired me in my pursuit of Italian classic cooking techniques.

“Really tasty”. An understatement.

It was Marcella’s cookbooks that taught me to make risotto. Taught me technique. Taught me patience in browning and prepping vegetables. Taught me how to make bolognese.

Saturday I picked up another of her books at the used book store in Glenwood. The next day was the day of her passing. I didn’t buy it because she signed it.

I bought it because I learn so much from her. I was reading through this new book, new for me at least, yesterday. Then saw that at 89, she left this world.

Rest in peace, one of the extraordinary Italian home cooks, who gave her knowledge to all of us who love to cook.

hocofood@@@

Making It Mine

Posted on September 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

I put together a mostly local dinner this evening. It started by tweaking a favorite recipe and making it the way I like it. After all these years of following recipes, I enjoy changing what is written into my own take, using the preferences that I have, and those of my husband.

This is Mario Batali’s Spaghetti with Green Tomatoes.

I know. No spaghetti. Not all the tomatoes are green. Where is the parmesan on top?

Even the pesto is different.

Here is what I did. I went into the garden and harvested as much arugula, basil and mint as I could find, to make about 3/4 cup. I came in and snipped off 1/4 cup of the curly parsley from the CSA, including some of the smaller stems. This gave me the cup of greens that I needed. I used 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan. And, 1/3 cup pine nuts, even though they aren’t called for in the recipe. Added a squirt of lemon juice and three roasted garlic cloves to the processor with the greens, parm and pine nuts. A teaspoon of salt. Half teaspoon of white pepper. Mixed it all while adding olive oil until it stopped clumping along the sides of the processor.

That’s the pesto on the left. On the right, in the pan, about a cup and a half of underripe cherry tomatoes from the farmer’s market. They would have become fully ripe within two or three days. I did have three small green tomatoes from my garden in there too. They were cooked down in a little olive oil, with about four ounces of the hot Italian sausage left over from that grilling of the Breezy Willow sausage a few days ago. And, a handful of scallion tops, sliced.

I added about half a cup of pesto to this mix. And, leftover goat cheese from the appetizer we had earlier. About two ounces of soft goat cheese, melted into the pesto and tomatoes.

I made a cup of small assorted pasta shapes, and added them to the skillet, with a ladle of pasta water to thin the pesto.

This is the skillet before I added the pasta. It coats the pasta well. I put a loaf of Stone House bread in the oven to warm up.

Served all of this with a lovely crisp Early Mountain Petit Manseng. We really like this wine. It cuts through the richness of that sauce. We had only tasted late harvest Petit Manseng before trying this one. Early Mountain has a winner with this grape. It has more body than a Pinot Grigio, but isn’t as heavy as a Chardonnay. A perfect dinner wine.

This dinner was so easy to put together. The pesto takes ten minutes, which included toasting the pine nuts. The pasta takes ten minutes to cook, while you are making the tomatoes in the skillet. Bread warmed in the oven while dinner was cooking.

Great Sunday dinner.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Farmer's Markets, Farms, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, farmer's markets, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, VA wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Seventies and Sunny

Posted on September 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

About four days ago, it was the forecast from Bob Turk, my favorite local weatherman. For days on end, it was to be in the seventies and sunny or partly sunny. Every day. It looks like this weather pattern will go on for almost the entire week ahead of us also.

It does mean I have to water the remaining plants in the garden, but that’s OK. It means lots of nights grilling. Lots of dining on the patio, watching the deer.

It means, because of the continued lack of rain, that our trees are starting to turn color early.

It also means I will be heading out to Larriland this weekend to get a few things. Like some crisp fall apples. Some tiny greenish tomatoes, to make my “famous” green tomato pesto pasta (recipe courtesy of Mario Batali). I don’t have any small tomatoes left. Just a handful of large slicing tomatoes out there.

This was my recipe post for that pasta. I love it, early in the fall with the last of the tomatoes.

I found a great recipe for green tomato chili, thanks to Kirsten. My leftover tomatoes will go into that chili (well, once the weather cools down). It doesn’t seem like chili weather yet.

By the way, pumpkin picking is all over the county. Larriland acquired a new farm just for picking pumpkins. They also have tons of activities on the weekend for the little ones.

So, tomorrow morning, visit to Breezy Willow to get a few dairy items, and some ground beef for the chili, followed by a trip out to Larriland for apples and green(ish) tomatoes. Need to remember to pack the cooler, or to go to Larriland first, followed by Breezy Willow. Their farm store is open, 10-2 on Saturdays.

The weather will be lovely, that’s for sure.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Farms, Food, Foraging, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Weather, West HoCo and tagged cooking, farms, Food, foodie, gardening, grilling, heirloom tomatoes, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The Fourth Quarter

Posted on September 26, 2013 by AnnieRie

Of the CSA. This is week 19 of 24. The final six deliveries of the summer CSA.

I can’t believe how summer just flew by. We are now getting quite a bit of fall veggies in the box.

This is what we got.

1 Spaghetti Squash – Elm Tree Organics
1 bag White Sweet Potatoes – Sunrise Ridge Organics
1 bag Red Potatoes – Rodale Institute
1 bunch Leeks – Rodale Institute
1 bag Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers – Healthy Choices Organics
1 bag Garlic – Friends Road Organics
1 bag Baby Sweet Stuffing Peppers – Organic Willow Acres
1 bunch Blue Radishes – Millwood Springs Organics
1 bunch Lacinato Kale – Farmdale Organics
1 bag Baby Mixed Mustard Greens – Organic Willow Acres
2 heads Green Leaf Lettuce – Green Valley Organics
1 bunch Curly Parsley – Noble Herbs

I thought it was interesting that Rodale is now part of our non profit cooperative. They are in Kutztown, not far from most of our Amish suppliers. They do massive amounts of research. It is where I researched spelt. One of our ancient local grains.

This week I love those baby sweet peppers.

I am considering stuffing them with goat cheese, and some habanero jelly, and grilling them. Tonight, though, we just grilled them with a Breezy Willow sausage and the rest of the okra from last week.

I am seriously enjoying that grilled okra. Love it all charred and smoky.

Working on some good recipes for the weekend. The weather will be lovely. Time to really utilize the grill.

hocofood@@@

6 Comments

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Ankida Ridge … With a Local Dinner

Posted on September 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

Pinot Noir. One of our favorite red wines. Not readily available from local wineries. Only a few in MD, PA and VA make it. Chaddsford in PA. Black Ankle in MD. Ankida Ridge and Loudoun Valley in VA.

If there are others, I would like to know. Except, we really were bowled over by Ankida Ridge. Even in 2011, a difficult year due to the Hurricane and the Tropical Storm.

This is a stellar red wine, no matter where it originates. Thank you, Early Mountain, for featuring it in your tastings, and for bringing wine from a very small vineyard to a larger audience. On TWO acres of vineyards.

Sustainable practices. Eco-friendly. A winery that offers what we look for when it comes to food, and gives it to us in wine.

I thought it was fitting to pour the Pinot Noir with grilled lamb. Local lamb. From England Acres.

We grilled a foreshank roast. Added some CSA potatoes. Pesto made with sorrel, parsley, pine nuts and Parmesan.

And, we grilled that pesky little okra.

It all tasted wonderful. I like grilled okra. The lamb went perfectly with the Pinot Noir. Other than a few supporting ingredients, this was a completely locally sourced meal.

So nice to find one of our favorite varietals just a few hours down the road.

Ankida Ridge makes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from their grapes. They also make a white and a red from grapes bought near their farm, and they call it the Voyager series.

The white, made in a vinho verde style, is a combination of vidal blanc and pinot noir. Interesting combination for a white wine. Not sweet at all. Many vidals can be way too sweet, but this isn’t.

All in all, these wines were a real find on our vacation weekend. Worth seeking out if you want to support small locally owned vineyards.

hocofood@@@

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