Tag Archives: wine

Recipes, and Why I am Bad at Them

Posted on August 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Many times for my SSFC posts I have posted pictures of dinners made to use local foods for the food challenge. Since our current challenge to use local foods for one meal is heading into the season of tons of squashes, I have been trying to find ways to use them creatively.

Last week I made two dinners using almost completely local items, with a few additions. One was my eggplant parm, and another a baked chicken dinner.

Eggplant Parm

Baked chicken thighs with Amish egg noodles and roasted veggies

If I needed to document what exactly went into these two dinners, I would be in deep trouble, because when I cook, I don’t measure. When I bake, yes, when I cook, it is just whatever seems to look and taste good, and whatever I have around the kitchen.

These dinners were from Monday and Wednesday last week, mainly using up CSA items before I got my Thursday pick up. The eggplant Parmesan recipe started out from a web search that went into a half dozen places, including Martha Stewart. I think I used parts of hers but improvised because I had no mozzarella in the house.

The eggplants were a mix of Italian and Japanese. Sliced, salted and allowed to drain out moisture. The sauce was made by mixing all my overripe tomatoes with half a jar of Wegmans organic sauce and a squeeze of tomato paste from the tube in my fridge. See what I mean about measuring? I have no idea how much went into that base.

I didn’t have mozzarella so I mixed grated domestic parmesan from Roots with all the Firefly Farm chevre I had left in the fridge and the last of the Bowling Green Feta, grated. Added a little milk to make it creamier.

Dredged the eggplant in beaten egg, Panko bread crumbs and Parm, added a little salt and lots of pepper.

Coated the bottom of the baking dish (a small deep dish) with olive oil, added sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce, eggplant, cheese, sauce and topped with the last of the Parm. Baked it for over two hours on a slow cook setting on my oven until it was dinner time.

As for the chicken thighs, same sort of thing. Put olive oil, tomatoes, onions, peppers and chicken in a casserole, Covered the chicken in herbs, salt and pepper. Put it all in the oven on slow cook setting for three hours while doing chores around the house.

Served it with Amish egg noodles. The noodles were homemade by a vendor that sells at the Briggs Chaney farmers market. The chicken came from them also. The egg noodles were quickly boiled at the last minute.

Accompanied this SSFC meal with a local wine. We belong to a cellar club at Breaux. This wine is wonderful with chicken and with seafood. I love the blend.

Breaux Wine served with Chicken

Getting back to recipes. We got a huge eggplant this week. Along with lots of lovely tomatoes, garlic, white peppers. This week’s eggplant dish may actually be a stacked version using the tomatoes and mozzarella I bought at Roots.

Veggies inspiring a variation on Eggplant Parm

Who knows what I will cook next? And, if I will remember what I did put in it? That’s the fun of being in a CSA, getting creative with What’s in the Box.

hocofood@@@

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Eating Locally: The Fruits of the Vines

Posted on July 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

This week is a fruit themed week in the challenge ten of us are taking to cook seasonally and locally all summer and fall. For me, fruit has to include grapes. At least, the liquid, fermented version of grapes.

Hardscrabble Chardonnay grapes

My Challenge Page with all the SSFC links. We have been blogging since the beginning of June about our experiences with cooking locally. This past week, it was warm and muggy and the summer fruits have been coming into many markets.

Last night after going to Linden to visit, we decided to make a simple fruit related dinner. Fruit salad with watermelon, cantaloupe and tart cherries was the main component. On the side, olive bread with herb butter. The herb butter would also be used on the fresh corn on the cob. A light wine from Glen Manor.

My tomatoes. After all, tomatoes are also a fruit. This plate included orange blossom, red fig, yellow plum, sweet olive and green grape tomatoes, all from my garden. Served with homemade tzatziki using cucumbers and mint from the garden. The yogurt was organic Greek, my free container from the last visit to Wegmans. With South Mountain not at Glenwood Market, I have lost my local source for dairy.

Heirloom tomatoes

Sometimes the simplest freshest meals are the best. Summer fruit and vegetables need little more than salt, pepper, fresh herbs and maybe a drizzle of oil.

hocofood@@@

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Summer CSA Week Ten, The Greens are Gone!

Posted on July 12, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, we seem to have survived greens season, and even though our email said FIVE MORE zucchini, thankfully, they lied.

There was only one.

What did we get? The list is below. I swapped cilantro for what looks like white wonder cucumbers, ten of them to use in salads and to pickle.

1 Bag Rattlesnake Beans–
1 Bag Green Beans–
1 Bag Jalapeno Peppers–
1 Green Zucchini–
1 Bag Purple Viking Potatoes–
1 Bag Fennel Bulbs –
1 Bag White Garlic–
3 Slicing Cucumbers –
1 Bunch Thumbelina French Heirloom Carrots–
1 Bunch Red Radishes–
1 Bunch Cilantro –
5 Ears Sweet Corn –

We also got our first five ears of corn for the year. One big one, and four smaller ears, that will be grilled tomorrow night. The rattlesnake beans are new to me, as are purple viking potatoes. The carrots are getting bigger, too.

This week I know with twelve items we will be far ahead again on value. I really need to hit the market tomorrow before deciding what the savings are, as some of these items are new.

As for what I did to use up most of last week’s haul, I made Use Up the CSA Stew the other night, and also made couscous salad, and a potato salad. The salads are going with me to the Conservancy tonight.

There are potatoes, onions, carrots, kale, chard, beet greens, carrot tops, garlic and a couple of farmer’s market tomatoes in the pot. A little chicken stock for liquid. Herbs from my garden. Topped it off with some Boarman’s short ribs. Let it cook for eight hours. It ended up looking like this.

The short ribs fell off the bone. No need for a knife. Served with an Allegro Merlot.

hocofood@@@

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Eating Locally: Ratatouille

Posted on July 7, 2012 by AnnieRie

A go to veggie side when we drown in zucchini and eggplant. We don’t have eggplant yet but lots of zucchini and a few yellow squash Thursday in the CSA box.

I wandered into Wegmans after having the pickup serviced over at British American, to get some organic tomatoes and two small eggplant, to use with the squash, a yellow pepper from the farm stand, onions from the CSA and my basil pesto. All mixed up in a pan, roasted, and served with local beef sausage, the last of the deliveries from Zahradka in April.

The beef sausage is a good fit with the ratatouille. We also opened one of the Glen Manor 2010 Cabernet Francs that was left up in the dining room wine rack. A good match because the wine wasn’t overwhelmed, nor did it upstage the ratatouille. A simple rustic dinner.

This week’s contribution to our Southern Sole Food Challenge, using sustainable, organic, local and ethically grown or raised veggies and meats. The ten members of the challenge use Google Reader to keep track of what we are making using our local bounties, all of us living south of the Mason Dixon Line.

hocofood@@@

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Eating Locally: Even With All the Craziness

Posted on July 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yes, the craziness. Loss of power. A Weekend trying to stay cool. Did we do it? Yes, mostly.

Tonight we grilled. Since the downstairs AC is down, we didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. I went to Jenny’s market this morning, and found them moved up the road since their tents were ruined with trees falling Friday night. They are still upbeat and have lots of good things to eat.

I had a pound of Black Angus beef taken out Friday to grill Saturday for friends. That didn’t happen after the storm, so we used it tonight.

The beef was formed around some Wegmans pepper jack cheese, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The beef is local, from this winter’s CSA. The cheese isn’t.

Tomatoes from southern MD. Onions local, too. Corn probably from VA. Not our good sweet corn, but not bad.

Salad made from CSA beets, greens and a pear from Harbin Farms farm stand. Beer and wine both local. He wanted beer. I wanted wine.

I added one of my frozen strawberry purees to my wine glass, making a sangria.

Honestly, what is better than a low carb meal, no bun, with fresh onions, tomatoes and cheese stuffed burgers?

Oh, I forgot. Grilled corn with seasoned butter.

hocofood@@@

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It’s CSA Thursday, and It is Out of Control

Posted on June 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

I should know that eating out more than staying home messes up the CSA share. Way too many veggies to eat when you aren’t having dinner at home.

Field Day weekend and a couple of dinner dates with friends put us deep in the hole for clearing out the fridge. Then, we get the notice from Sandy Spring that there will be 12 items this week. We haven’t finished six from last week.

I may have to get a wider angle lens to fit it all in the picture. Here is the list. I was all “kaled” out, so I swapped it for some extra pickling cucumbers. I know I can use them. I haven’t used last week’s kale.

The swap box is a wonderful thing. You may swap one item that you don’t want. There are two boxes at our pick up site, since there are 45 of us.

So, what have I done and what am I planning with all these veggies? I made rhubar-b-que sauce last week, which I haven’t used yet. Got the idea from our link up party of CSA members. They made pizza with it. The sauce is awesome.

Today I made pesto from the basil. I also roasted all the beets, this weeks and last weeks.

Two of the beets ended up in tonight’s dinner, along with last week’s Yukon gold potatoes, some greens, a pear and some Marcona almonds in the salad. This meal did not need meat to make it complete. It was pretty satisfying with just the veggies.

I drizzled some butter over the potatoes. We also had four ears of corn from a local farm stand. The wine. A Pearmund Petit Manseng.

Tomorrow I will be making some cole slaw with the cabbage and carrots. Maybe another frittata this weekend with all those lovely greens.

Analysis, all comparing to organic veggies: Cabbage $3. 12 Pickling cukes $6. 3 pounds red potatoes $4.50. 1 Pound young chard $5. Heirloom carrots $3. Heirloom beets, $3. Boatload of basil $3. Two large cukes, $3. Pak Choy $3.50. Radicchio $3. Five large zucchini $3.75. This week: $40.75. Cost $29.75. Excess is 11.00. Added to cumulative savings makes it $63.90 more than I spent to purchase CSA share. Seventeen weeks to go.

Check out this week’s link party to see what people from all over are doing with their CSA shares. In Her Chucks has created an amazing link up party that highlights what is in all our CSA boxes, plus what great recipes we have to use all this great stuff. My link will be there in a few minutes.

Lots of great CSA’s here in our part of the world.

hocofood@@@

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Getting All “Dilled” Up at Wegmans

Posted on June 19, 2012 by AnnieRie

As I said in my earlier post, I went to Wegmans for dill and got scallops.

The scallops are marinating in lemon olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon zest. I bought the dill to use in my tzatziki and to add to my pickles.

The dinner tonight was exceptional, with the scallops the star.

They were grilled after the marinating, and served with my beans, farmers market asparagus, CSA carrots and English peas from Butler’s.

I made dill butter. It went over the steamed veggies and the grilled asparagus.

I also made the tzatziki to use tomorrow. Made with lemon juice, my cukes, spring garlic, my mint and Wegmans dill, and Wegmans Greek yogurt. I decided not to add the onion, and used only the tops of the garlic. The rest will be used later.

The dinner also included a local wine from Glen Manor, to complement the scallops. Citrusy, light and perfect for scallops.

And, since the dill butter was so delicious, we grabbed some Wegmans bread to sop it up.

OK, I could do carryout, or run to restaurants but this meal was incredible at a fraction of the price of dining out.

hocofood@@@

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Eating Locally, the Whole Weekend

Posted on June 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

Without going to Wegmans. 🙂

Seems like all anyone is talking about is Wegmans. Don’t get me wrong. I love going there for specialty items but camping out? Really? Seems like from the comments I will be OK if I go looking for that Marvesta shrimp and stay away from the food court.

My challenge to cook locally continues and most of this weekend included local meals. Check out what the others are doing on our Google Reader page.

Friday night we went to Black Ankle. Most of what I took to eat was locally produced.

Saturday I grilled all sorts of local goodies.

The petit filets and tomatoes were from Boarman’s. Yellow zucchini, asparagus and radishes from Glenwood market. Potatoes, lettuce and onions from CSA. Green beans and herbs from my garden. The tomatoes were not local, but they were so good after oven roasting them.

Today was a fun day. Lots to do around the house. No time to camp out to go to a grocery store. Can you tell I wonder why people would camp out to go to a grocery store? Really. The only thing I ever camped out for was Jimmy Buffett tickets.

Getting ready for ARRL amateur radio field day. More on this later in the week. But, we spent hours checking hardware for the towers.

Dinner was in the crock pot. Lots of greens this week in the CSA, so I made a variation of a Tuscan bean soup. A pound of kale. Chicken broth from my freezer. Italian sausage from South Mountain. The butter beans were not local, but they were organic from Roots. Spring garlic from my garden.

So were the herbs.

A sweet onion from the CSA, salt and pepper. A really good meal.

Dinner tonight was served with a 2004 Linden Cabernet Franc. Love their francs. None of the bell pepper acidity of other Virginia francs.

Last night an old Pearmund complemented the filets. Hanging in there barely but still a good wine. 2002 was not a big year in Virginia. This Ameritage was starting to fade just a bit. Still, with the big steak flavors, it did OK.

Friday night of course was Black Ankle night. Lots of local MD wine to drink.

I think I went an entire weekend eating mostly locally produced foods. Haven’t been to a grocery store all month. You can eat amazing meals using markets, CSAs and a local butcher like Boarman’s.

hocofood@@@

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Friday Night at Black Ankle

Posted on June 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

We haven’t done a picnic at Black Ankle for quite a while. It was time. We went out early to stake out a good location that has views, can hear the music but still talk, and gets shade fairly quickly. It even had a view.

The view was so great, I forgot to take pics of the food. But, we did have some of my leftover grilled turkey.

Some garlic scape hummus.

Atwater’s Boule.

Some potato, green bean and English pea salad. Just like this one from last week, with tzatziki.

Lots of good Black Ankle white wines.

Good company and good music, and a view. What more can you ask for? How about chocolate bark from Parfections?

Head out on a Friday night for a great place to picnic. Music, great wine, bring your own food. There were at least a hundred people there last night. If you picked a place too far to the left, you could get a parking lot view, to make you feel like you are dining in Columbia.

hocofood@@@

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On a Wine Wednesday …

Posted on June 14, 2012 by AnnieRie

Trying to make sense of hashtags? What is #WW? Is it Wine Wednesday? Or Writer’s Wednesday? Or Wacky Wednesday? Keeping up on Twitter is sometimes confusing. But, for me, I think I will consider yesterday was Wine Wednesday.

We have been slowly working through older wines in the cellar. Buying local wines when first released, usually at a good price, and putting them away while drinking less expensive jug and non vintage stuff allowed us to keep some amazing wines stashed away. Out of sight. Out of mind.

We now are in the position of pulling out oldies but goodies, and enjoying that patience of 33 years of putting away more bottles than we drank. It also took organization. I kept an Excel spreadsheet that collated and tracked everything shoved under the cellar stairs in our old house. Now, I am working my way through that sheet.

Mostly doing OK. Pouring one or two down the drain, but keeping track did allow us to minimize the loss. We bought cases of cheap Bordeaux, years ago. I am talking $65 a CASE for some wines. Those we opened for parties, or with dinner on a weekend.

We joined a few case clubs, or cellar clubs, like Breaux. We get a case a year. Mostly really decent wines. I have posted before about being a “locapour” and choosing local wines to drink when I can. I think it makes eating locally even more fun, when you can pair a local wine with locally grown food. This lovely Cellar Selection Nebbiolo Ice became part of dessert last week, paired with a few slices of Bowling Green Farms Feta. Salty Feta, and deeply rich wine, a perfect pairing. Nice to enjoy while watching sunsets on the porch.

We also have done a few vineyard visits to places like the Finger Lakes, and Charlottesville. Put together a four pack or six pack, mostly of white wines, but with one or two good reds to put away. Our visit to Pearmund last Sunday brought us a couple of Ameritage to put away, and a few Chardonnays to drink now.

Last night we had leftovers, so to speak. I made lasagna the other night, and last night we had part of it for dinner. This was thrown together, no real recipe lasagna. Full of local items, but also using up stuff from the fridge, pantry and freezer.

I used to buy frozen lasagna all the time when I worked. I now make it from scratch, and use whatever is around. I made this “mess”, yes, it looks ugly, but ugly food tastes better, right? 🙂

The meat in this lasagna is South Mountain Creamery pork sausage. Very little of it, but enough to make it tasty. Taken out of its casings, I chopped two links of sausage and mixed with a jar of McCutcheon’s spaghetti sauce and herbs from my garden, and half a container of Pacific Organic red pepper tomato soup. Long on sauce and short on sausage. Below is a staple I buy at Costco, an organic soup that adds flavor to so many of my meals. It even jazzes up my gazpacho occasionally.

I had the last of the South Mountain mozzarella and some Bowling Green Farms cheddar in the fridge. It got mixed into the stack, and I cheated and used no boil noodles found in the pantry. The other item used was chard. Lots of sauteed chard to form part of two layers on the bottom. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it worked out well. Really had a good taste.

Along with the lasagna, I put together a locally sourced salad. Romaine and orange cauliflower from the Catonsville market. Feta from Bowling Green Farms. Radishes from Breezy Willow. My first cucumber from the garden. Blueberries from Butler’s. And, blackberry splash vinaigrette from Catoctin Mountain Orchards.

I love fruit in salads. Summer berries are so good tossed on greens with cheese and other crunchy veggies. All in all, another relaxed patio meal, with another wine from down the road a piece. I am hoping this lovely weather holds for Father’s Day weekend. It has certainly been nice lately.

hocofood@@@

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