Category Archives: Real Food

You Like Tomayto, I Like Tomahto

Posted on May 25, 2012 by AnnieRie

No matter how you pronounce it, tomatoes are my summer candy. So, I was excited yesterday morning to find this in my garden.

These are yellow plum tomatoes. I noticed the blossoms last week. Now, I have teeny tiny tomatoes there, and I have blossoms on the Sweet Olive plants, which are a determinate grape cherry tomato. They are an early bloomer and will be done before others produce.

The Wayfarer cucumbers are blossoming, and even have really tiny cukes starting to emerge. And yes, after I snapped the pics I went in and weeded out the emerging morning glories that inevitably come up from seeds left in the soil after last year. I use them as an attraction for pollinators at my perimeter, but they tend to take over unless you grab them out before the seed pods open in the fall.

The wild asparagus in my crepe myrtle is still producing. Besides the four spears in this pic, there are two more tiny ones coming out of the ground to the left of the plant. This year I have harvested 15 spears so far. These six would bring the total to 21, the most I have found in this location.

These two long thin spears will be sliced, blanched and find their way into some pasta with the garlic scape pesto tonight.

As for the lettuces and mixed greens, the rain rejuvenated them and there are all sorts of goodies hiding among the bolted plants. Time to harvest these and use as a garnish on a pizza.

I also think I need to do some serious mint pruning, and maybe make mint simple syrup for iced teas and summer drinks. This pot of mint is about six years old, coming back every spring.

Herbs and greens right now, with the promise of other goodies in the next few weeks. Gardening is one of those simple pleasures. What is your garden producing now?

hocofood@@@

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Enjoying Friday’s Bounty

Posted on May 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

Last Friday I wrote about picking strawberries, and visiting the hospital market where I found garlic scapes and rhubarb. These fresh fruits and veggies will be part of tonight’s dinner. Two dishes, one made Saturday and one made this morning.

Garlic scapes. Never knew what they were until last year in the CSA. These are from Love Dove Farm. I bought four bundles, enough to make a double batch of pesto.

If you look closely, you can see the bulging area where a flower would emerge, if left on the plant. The farmers remove this scape, in order to force the plant to devote energy into growing the root, or the heads of garlic. Not removing the scape will inhibit the growth of the heads of garlic. These curling plants have a more delicate flavor than garlic cloves but they still pack a big punch when whirled up in the blender with parmesan, pine nuts, olive oil and salt.

I made enough to freeze some in small containers, and put a large container covered in olive oil in the fridge. It will be served tonight with pasta as a side to some tomato braised ahi, which will be slow cooked in the oven later today.

The small containers were coated lightly with oil, sealed and put in a bag to go in the freezer. The large one more heavily coated as it will be in the fridge a few days. Besides tonight, I will be making bruschetta this weekend using the ends of the Atwater’s rosemary Italian bread. I don’t always follow recipes. I cook by taste, but this was 24 scapes, about a cup of Parm, a half cup of pine nuts, salt to taste, and oil streamed in until it reached the consistency I wanted.

As for dessert tonight, it will be the strawberry rhubarb crisp I made over the weekend. Using the Larriland strawberries and rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm, bought at the hospital market, I made a simple crisp. The juicy strawberries made this crisp moister than the rhubarb crumble I made a week ago.

We had some Sunday night and will slice off some more tonight. If I look back at my plans, I didn’t do either thing I said I would in my Saturday post. The chicken was made with a fruit salsa, and I made the crisp instead of a compote. I tend to cook on impulse, so planning sometimes goes for nothing. I didn’t get around to doing the pesto until today.

I also did get the strawberry ice cubes popped out and packaged for use later in the summer. These little nuggets will find their way into vinaigrettes, sangrias, wine coolers, and compotes.

Can’t wait to see what we get in the CSA box Thursday. I did use up almost everything except the kale. I do want to make kale chips. Let’s see if I find the time to do so. Check out this week’s goodies at the markets and make something fresh and seasonal this weekend.

hocofood@@@

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To Market, To Market

Posted on May 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

Friday and Saturday markets in HoCo were fairly busy, but not to the level they could be. I attended both this week, mainly to see what the local vendors have, and to round out my CSA box items.

Friday was better than Saturday, as I see Breezy Willow isn’t coming until June, and South Mountain Creamery isn’t coming at all. At least that is what their web site says. That’s too bad, because I loved their yogurts, mozzarella, ice cream and other goodies, like their butter. Don’t know why they canceled but it was a disappointment.

Friday I went to the Hospital site specifically to see if Love Dove Farms had garlic scapes. And, yes, they did.

Pesto will be on the menu in a few days. I picked up pine nuts at Costco in anticipation of getting scapes. I also found some lovely rhubarb from Falcon Ridge Farm in Westminster, to go with those Larriland strawberries from my morning picking frenzy.

Strawberry rhubarb compote, pesto for the TLV Tree Farm chicken from Miller Library market and I have a great meal planned for tomorrow or Monday.

This is a good warm up for our next challenge. It’s the Southern SOLE Food Challenge. Ten of us who did the winter challenge to eat locally at least once a week have informally decided to have our own summer challenge to showcase south of the Mason Dixon line cooking with market and home grown goodies. Our challenge will run from June to Halloween. Stay around and see what we cook. I will be putting up a sidebar linking to the nine blogs besides mine. All of us enjoyed learning new recipes and commiserating about finding grains and other difficult locally sourced items in the winter. This informal get together will show what we can find to cook during the high seasons here in the Southeast.

SOUTHERN SOLE FOOD CHALLENGERS
AnnieRie Unplugged – me
Backyard Grocery Northern VA
Bumble Lush Garden near DC
Eat. Drink. Nourish. South Carolina
Eating Appalachia Blue Ridge VA
Eating Floyd Southwest VA
Family Foodie Survival Guide Northern VA
Sincerely, Emily Texas
The Soffritto right up the road in Woodstock
Windy City Vegan North Carolina

Victoria from The Soffrito and I met on line here and found out we live less than 10 miles from one another. Today we met face to face for coffee at Casual Gourmet before hitting the Glenwood market. I did get some nice flowers from Greenway, and some beets and radishes from Zahradka. Plus, a buttermilk cake from Stone House, highly recommended by Lewis Orchards to showcase the local strawberries.

The flowers are already in their pots on the deck. Above the mint and with some chives I picked up at Larriland yesterday. The herb garden is done. The veggies, almost. I need to pull out the greens and put in some rainbow chard seed to get chard later this summer.

Tomorrow we are off to Olney to have brunch at their market and see if they have any dairy sources to replace South Mountain. I don’t feel like driving to B’more to get dairy, or to Frederick. We may have to resort to home delivery once a month. I do love their mozzarella, and their yogurts enough to set up a delivery schedule. It is sad we have lost all the dairies except for Bowling Green in HoCo.

Support the markets. Don’t let them lose vendors due to lack of interest. Today is Food Revolution Day, if you follow Jamie Oliver. Cook with real ingredients and enjoy the local summer bounty.

hocofood@@@

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The Miller Library and Market after a Morning at the Conservancy

Posted on May 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

Wow! Today was the first time I went to Miller Library. I went for the farmer’s market after having fun leading first graders around looking for nature, like strawberries and frogs. First graders learn “I Spy Nature” in places like the herb garden, honors garden, farm house front yard, and the apple orchard at the Howard County Conservancy, my favorite place to be on a lovely spring morning.

Wild berries to be found in the clover.

Can you find the two frogs in the picture? The children were looking for colors, shapes, sights, sounds, smells, textures but not tasting. We focus on the senses and use them to discover the natural world around them.

As for the Conservancy, we will be doing Wine in the Garden next Thursday the 24th, and the garden is really lovely right now. The peonies are blooming. I believe these are aurora sunrise. They line the paths down to the Honors Garden where caterers will be feeding us, while volunteers pour wines from local vendors and distributors. A great evening, one I look forward to attending.

After leaving the children behind, for them to enjoy lunch at the picnic tables, I headed off to grab a snowball at the Woodstock Snowball Stand. Today’s flavor of the day was Red Wine Cooler (non alcoholic of course).

It was time to drive down to hit the market and find strawberries to put in the wine cooler I will be making when we grill this weekend. I had never been to the new library. I like Glenwood, my local library, but now I have library envy. Miller is just stunning. I went in to check out the Historical Society, then came out for the start of the market.

The first thing I saw was the new pull behind display trailer that our favorite bakery bought to use at the markets. Stone House Bakery has been at Glenwood a long time, and at the other markets as well. Love the display case.

I picked up some dinner rolls to have with leftover black bean soup, and with the chicken I will be grilling to go with that wine cooler this weekend.

I got the chicken from TLV Tree Farm, they were doing a brisk business in strawberries and asparagus. I also got a dozen eggs from them, and half a chicken. The chicken is fresh, “processed” just yesterday. No frozen birds anymore, we can get fresh free range chickens and know that they don’t have all those antibiotics or hormones.

Talked to John Dove, from Love Dove Farms, to find out garlic scapes will be here next week. I wasn’t the first to ask either, so we may be competing for one of the coolest veggies to use to make pesto. We did pick up some spring onions and some turnips, since I won’t be getting turnips in the CSA box tomorrow.

In order to support more of the farmers there, I did pick up my strawberries from Lewis Orchards, as I had bought chicken, eggs and asparagus from TLV. We always buy fruit from Lewis in the summer at Glenwood. I love getting her bruised peach specials and bringing them home to slice and freeze. Ugly fruit tastes better!

I was pleased to see all the people there at 2 pm. It was a bustling site in the middle of the afternoon.

Great Harvest and the Breadery are both there as well as The Cosmic Bean, and Penn Farm. It was not the week for Bowling Green Farms to bring cheese. They come every other week.

Check out the local markets. They are reasonable in price for the quality you receive, and you can’t get much fresher.

hocofood@@@

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My Husband is Ranting Again

Posted on May 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Tonight again the same rant. Why do we ever go to restaurants? Because of this.

Sockeye, couscous and roasted tomatoes

This is the second night we had really good dinners. Yesterday I did soft shell crabs for him.

Grilled soft shells with mustard butter

Served with this.

One stop shopping at Boarman’s for the crabs. Live when you see them, and cleaned for you as you wait. Oh, and vodka for your cosmos. Where else can you get liquor and dinner to take home?

Both nights featured Linden wines as well. With the crabs, a 2009 Hardscrabble, big, rich and luscious to cut through the richness of the crabs. Tonight a 2009 Avenius, completely different due to the flintiness of her soil. This chardonnay was citrusy, with just a hint of malolactic fermentation. It perfectly complimented the oiliness of the salmon.

At the moment, I think the Avenius is drinking better than the Hardscrabble. The Hardscrabble, though, is a huge wine which will need cellaring. Might not peak for 7-10 years. Linden’s big chards are Burgundian in style, and take years to develop. I may not have the patience to wait that long.

As for desserts lately, we have a few. How about Shoofly Pie from the Amish vendor at the Briggs Chaney market?

I picked up a couple small shoofly pies from the Amish vendors along with some homemade egg noodles. Nice market. Not big, but with a few really good vendors. If you live in South HoCo, not far away at all. These pies will be dessert later tonight with some High’s vanilla ice cream.

I am doing a good job of avoiding chain groceries, and certainly not eating badly. I think this is working out well. Shopping at markets and local businesses. Works for me.

hocofood@@@

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Dining Al Fresco … West County Style

Posted on May 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

One thing I learned moving out here. We don’t run out for dinner or order carryout like we did in Columbia. Not as many choices without driving. My neighbors and friends out here have more meals outside, in the quiet countryside, with family and friends. Friday night al fresco dining is this for us.

The view is way better from my chair than parking lots or storm water management ponds.

We can spend lots of money to go out for dinner, but honestly, dinner on the patio is so much more relaxed, and a fraction of the cost. Everything at dinner tonight was bought without setting foot in a chain grocery store. The entire meal, minus wine, cost about twelve bucks.

The soup: cauliflower leek

I made using CSA veggies with organic almond milk and vegetable broth. Indian spices. The sausage that finished the soup. Homemade hot Italian from Boarman’s.

The salads: CSA oranges and beets from the Lancaster market. Tomato and goat cheese mozzarella, also from Lancaster. The basil from my garden. The oil from Casual Gourmet.

The bread: Atwater’s rosemary Italian. The wine: Linden chardonnay. I figure the dinner cost me $12 in supplies. The wine $20. What would I pay for a meal this good in a restaurant? Two times? Three? The wine alone is the equivalent of a decent Burgundy, that would cost me $40-$50 in a restaurant. I suppose I could order a $10 wine marked up to $30 which is the usual markup.

I know I am unique in loving to cook. I know I now have the time to do so. But, I used to “pee” away how much time with a beeper at restaurants waiting for a table. I think I prefer spending that time cooking, and not roaming around being bored and paying ridiculous prices for a beer or glass of wine while waiting for a table in the chain restaurants in Columbia.

My cocktails are better, too. Meyer lemon basil fizz, anyone?

Have a great weekend everyone!

hocofood@@@

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Spargel Season

Posted on May 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

OK, being German, I know spargel season is generally referring to white asparagus in Germany but it is the generic name for asparagus over there.

The first time we experienced the season was in 1989, when we went to visit neighbors who had relocated to a suburb of Munich. Everywhere you went, spargel was on the menu. Asparagus and springtime are a match to me. Tonight was a German night.

Asparagus, grilled. Weisswurst, grilled. Two of my favorite spring ingredients. Simply prepared. To me, wurst is one of those childhood memory foods. We had all kinds of wurst in the house. Leberwurst. Bratwurst. Knockwurst. Weisswurst. Bierwurst. Blutwurst. You name it. We had it on the dinner table, or on sandwiches for lunch.

I fired up the grill tonight and indulged in a trip down memory lane. Most of what was served came from farmer’s markets or local sources.

The spargel. From my local CSA. Along with spring onions from the Catonsville farmer’s market. Grilled dry and then finished with lemon olive oil, salt and pepper.

The wurst. Bought in Lancaster at the Central Market. These wurst are some of the best I have found.

The salad on the side. Tomatoes from Lancaster, served with goat cheese mozzarella, and lemon basil from my garden, bought at Sharp’s Farm. Ariston olive oil from Casual Gourmet drizzled over the top.

The mustard. Lowensenf, bought in Lancaster. First bought by me in Germany. The taste of German mustard. Something I remember from childhood.

The wine to accompany it. A sauvignon blanc from Glen Manor. That citrusy New Zealand style that will cut through the richness of the veal and the mustard, and compliment the meal.

Hmmm, other than the salt and pepper, to make this meal, we never set foot in a grocery store. Eating fresh real food, made from scratch. Evoking memories of my childhood. Can it get any better?

hocofood@@@

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One of Those Cooking Days & Getting Ready for the HoCo Markets to Open

Posted on April 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

Since I got the CSA delivery yesterday, I realized I needed to do something with all the goodies, from this week and last. The freezer is bare of stocks. I used the last one for soup a week ago using chicken thighs I bought at Roots. I also had eggs galore and beets from this week.

I dry roast my beets. Washed and placed on a bed of salt. Ninety minutes in the oven for beets this size, at 350 degrees.

They will be used for something like this, using the CSA oranges and spring onion.

The eggs will go into an egg salad for lunches. Doing these leaves me with 20 eggs until the farmer’s market opens.

As for making beef stock, I chopped up the ugliest carrots, used up the celery and last week’s leeks, and the end of last week’s spring onions to make the base.

Added my herbs and plopped in the frozen beef bones bought at Wagner’s in Mt. Airy a while back. Using these bones frees up quite a bit of space in the freezer. Put water in the crock pot and crank up to high for six hours. Then, I will be working at reducing and straining all the goodness out of this stock.

I will be the first to admit that having a CSA and getting fresh veggies means more work up front. Cleaning greens, prepping veggies, roasting, and cooking takes much longer than opening a box or container and nuking it. We used to do that years ago. I am glad I have the time to do this now. Much of it can be done on weekends, and we eat lots of defrosted soups and stews from crock pot cooking.

Once all this goodness is done, the dinners and lunches will show up in posts in the next week or so. Maybe another satisfying soup like this one from a few weeks back.

If you want good organic food at a fraction of the cost of pre-packaged, you should consider one of the CSAs that deliver to Howard County. There are a number of them out there, and I find that I spend less for good fresh organic foods by subscribing to a CSA year round. From May 2011 until May 2012, I only have one week without a CSA delivery (and that will be next week).

My summer CSA starts up on May 10th, just in time to use fresh veggies for lunches and dinners. I will be picking up in Columbia this year. Just off Cedar Lane. Thursday delivery so I can still hit the farmer’s markets on Friday and Saturday to get my meats, eggs, dairy and breads. Looks like a summer with minimal grocery store visits because Howard County has a great variety of sources for fresh foods. They are updating the web page daily and adding the vendors. Check it often to see if your market day is covered yet.

hocofood@@@

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Grillin and Chillin in Locavore Style

Posted on April 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Today was lovely. One of those days you are glad you are retired. Cleaned up the grill. Did some yard work. And grilled up a locavore meal.

This is surf and turf Boarman’s style.

We bought two crabcakes Sunday. And four mushrooms. Split the crabcakes into the mushrooms with some Trader Joe’s mustard underneath and Old Bay sprinkled on top. Brushed with Trickling Springs butter. Grilled up off the flame.

The sausages are Boarman’s sweet Italian. Not the spicy ones.

As for the rest of the meal, it was mostly CSA foods. Potatoes, onions and the defrosted peppers, all came from Zahradka. The only non-local items here were the tomatoes, but they also were bought at Boarman’s. The bread. Sourdough from Canela, bought at Boarman’s.

I did not set foot in a grocery store to buy these foods. You can have lovely meals from small stores using local sources.

The wine: the Linden 2011 Rose made from the estate merlot grapes. 2011 was the difficult year, due to the hurricane and all the rain. Lots of good grapes that didn’t get to be great wines are being used to make light refreshing wines. This wine was a perfect match to compliment crab and pork sausage.

Doesn’t get much better than this.

hocofood@@@

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White Asparagus Anyone? Right Out of Your Yard?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

White Asparagus. What comes up deep under the mulch if you don’t move it out of the way.

Wild asparagus grows many places in this area. The best way to find out is to look for the plants that aren’t harvested and that become small trees. This is how we found ours.

At the base of one of the crepe myrtles there are thin wispy fronds that have fallen over. They are what sprouts from the crown if you don’t harvest the plant. You can find them if you really look carefully. We found ours while mulching one year. It seems this plant was some sort of volunteer that comingles with the base of the crepe myrtle.

Today I went out looking and first saw this.

If you look very closely, you can find one spear in the upper left, and one in the lower right. We had lots of mulch built up around the crepe myrtle this spring so the rest of the spears were fully covered. Careful moving of the mulch revealed the rest.

Then I started uncovering the white ones.

White because of lack of exposure to sunlight. I also found this one hidden on the other side of the bush.

Now there are five spears coming up in total. Hopefully in two or three days, I will have enough to cut and make pancetta wrapped grilled asparagus. Foraged food. Right out of the backyard.

Do a little looking around in parks and on roadways in the area. See if you can find a source of asparagus. Don’t tell anyone you found it. Just harvest and enjoy.

hocofood@@@

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