Tag Archives: real food

Making the Most of the CSA

Posted on October 10, 2013 by AnnieRie

It is week 21. Things are morphing into those fall veggies. There are really wonderful items in this box.

What did we get?

Salad Mix
Red butterhead lettuce
Radishes
Sunflower sprouts
Red Bok Choy
Potatoes
Collard Greens
Basil
Green Beans
Broccoli
Green Cabbage
Baby Eggplant

I already made pesto with the basil and used some of the sprouts in tonight’s salad.

We made venison chili today, using freezer and CSA items from the past few weeks.

As for making pesto, it was standard.

At the moment, I am having computer problems on my “piece of garbage” Microsoft system, and my husband’s won’t cooperate and let me open my files correctly (another Microsoft product). I really need to trash all of them and get an iBook.

Oh well. at least I got a post up.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food. 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@@@

1 Comment

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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.

Friday Night Un “chained”

Posted on October 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

Breaking free of chain restaurants. Something we did when Iron Bridge opened, years after JK’s closed. For quite a while, we were in that chain restaurant limbo, meeting friends or just going out on Fridays after a long tiring work week. Nothing but the circuit of places like Macaroni Grill, TGIF, Outback, Carrabas, Bertucci’s, whatever.

Sometimes I wonder if anyone in Columbia or Ellicott City ever cooks on Friday nights. There were nights with beepers for 60-90 minutes.

When we moved out here, we tried to break that cycle. We still headed to Iron Bridge early, or El Azteca.

These days, though, grilling at home has replaced eating out. This year, I have been working at making grilled flatbreads. Trying techniques. Experimenting with dough.

I think I found a winner in Harris Teeter’s pizza dough.

Ready to go on the grill. As for toppings, all sorts of CSA and home made goodies, and a few special items.

Top right. Tomato paste, mushrooms, olives and Italian seasonings. Below it, my homemade pesto and some goat cheese from Roots. The left pizza. All of the toppings including some roasted sweet peppers and my roasted garlic.

Seriously, this is one awesome flatbread.

Served with a Linden Rose wine. 2012. All told, less than half the cost of going out to dinner. Well worth it.

hocofood@@@

5 Comments

Posted in Food, Locavore, Restaurants, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, grilling, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, VA wine, wine. 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@@@

3 Comments

Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Locavore, Real Food and tagged cooking, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, value of CSA. Bookmark the permalink.

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@@@

2 Comments

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@@@

2 Comments

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

Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Locavore, Real Food, Weather and tagged cooking, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, grilling, Locavore, real food, weather. Bookmark the permalink.

The Fear of Canning …

Posted on September 18, 2013 by AnnieRie

… doesn’t have a name in the Phobia list, but it probably should.

I did find, in a Google search, a long list of blogs that used Fear of Canning in their title. So I was not alone when it came to having misgivings about canning.

I conquered that fear Monday morning. With Pineapple Habanero Jelly.

The recipe said it would make six 8 ounce jars, but I ended up with an extra pint of jelly. Thankfully I had a large jar in the dishwasher with the six jelly jars, so I could cope.

I found the recipe here.

And I promptly modified it. Here is what I used.

2 cups pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 jalapeño pepper, halved, seeded and with ribs removed
10 small orange habaneros, halved, seeded and with ribs removed
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 (3 fluid ounce) pouches liquid pectin
1 teaspoon pickled beet juice (to replace red food coloring)

Put the peppers and the cider vinegar in the blender and pulse until peppers are minced.

Pour this mixture into a heavy saucepan. Add the sugar, pineapple juice, and salt. Mix until all is dissolved. Add the beet juice to make it a deeper color. You can increase the amount of beet juice to get it darker. Bring to a rolling boil. Cut the heat back just a bit and cook for about 10 minutes stirring it constantly with a wooden spoon to keep it from sticking to the bottom. I think I didn’t keep the heat high enough so I didn’t get the evaporation to draw it down to 48 ounces.

Add the two pouches of liquid pectin and get the mixture back to a boil again. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes until thickened and syrupy. Mine didn’t get really thick, but it seems to have congealed OK in the jars. I checked them all today and they are no longer runny when I tilted them.

Before I put the liquid into the jars, I did skim off the foam, and I strained much of the pulp out of it to give me a fairly clear jelly.

For the canning, I followed the recommendations in the Ball Blue Book of Canning. Used the dishwasher to sterilize instead of the canning pot. I filled all the jars, and put the six small ones in the pot.

Processed them for ten minutes, and they all sealed properly. Put the large jar in by itself and processed it for 15 minutes. It sealed fine as well. That one will end up in the fridge and be the first one used. I intend to use it on a soft creamy goat cheese and crackers. And, I intend to mix it with butter to coat chicken wings to make a hot wing appetizer. I will report back to see how it tastes, and how it works in recipes.

All in all, this was pretty simple. Now, to be brave enough to move on to that green tomato bacon jam recipe I want to try.

hocofood@@@

7 Comments

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