One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 8

By Sheetar 29 June 2012 29 June 2012

Another meal by the husband, and the last one for a few weeks, unfortunately, as he’s back out to sea. This one is pretty basic, but I just cannot get enough of those grilled vegetables. We have a pork tenderloin and then carrots, potatoes, snap peas, and zucchini all tossed into the grill. The vegetables were cooked toether in the grill wok with some salt, pepper, and olive oil, and the tenderloin was covered in a seasoning blend that isn’t local (Maple Jalapeno seasoning from Cabela’s), but is OH SO VERY GOOD. Hopefully our little garden will be producing some vegetables soon. The zucchini plants both have wee little baby zucchini on them, there’s a teeny watermelon, and loads of marble-sized tomatoes.

Pork and Vegetables:
Pork Tenderloin – Countrytime Farm
Zucchini – Jack’s Farm
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Snap Peas – Charlestown Farm
Carrots – Charlestown Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Non Local – Olive oil, Salt, Pepper, Maple Jalapeno Seasoning

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 7

By Sheetar 18 June 2012 18 June 2012

It’s kind of neat how simple a one local summer dish can be, yet how delicious and incredible that simplicity is. We picked up a Bison Delmonico steak from our local bison guy, and folks, let me say that I am not a red meat person. I’ll eat it occasionally, and it has to be VERY VERY VERY well done – brown the whole way through (I realize this is blasphemy to you bleeding steak eaters). Husband managed to cook this steak (1 lb raw) on the grill the whole way through and it was still tender and delicious. The potatoes were thrown in some aluminum foil with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and the squash was sliced and tossed on the grill. All were on different burners at different heat levels and came out just right at the same time. We also had another nice evening for cooking and eating outside, so thanks for that, weather system!

Steak and Vegetables:
Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Yellow Squash – Charlestown Farm
Bison Delmonico Steak – Backyard Bison
Wine – Paradocx, Barn Red
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 6

By Sheetar 15 June 2012 15 June 2012

Zucchini are finally coming into season and we’re indulging in ALL THE ZUCCHINI! Husband took the lead on this meal again, cooked on the grill, and we dined al fresco. It’s been so nice that the weather has been compliant for outdoor cooking and eating – we’ve had a relatively nice spring/summer so far. On that plate is a Maple Apple sausage which really was something incredible. The outside was glazed in maple syrup and just perfectly sweet while the inside was savory. Really just the perfect combination. The grilled vegetables at the bottom of the plate are Zucchini, Broccoli, and Turnips, and the salad at the top is Lettuce, Turnips, Garlic Scapes, Spring Onion, and Blue Cheese, tossed with non local Balsamic Vinegar. There is a glass of wine along with the meal as well, a Gewurztraminer from the Mount Hope winery. And, if you notice there, the vegetables take up over half the plate and were oh so delicious. We have a pan for the grill that looks like someone took a hole puncher to a sheet of aluminum and went wild, and it works great for grilling vegetables – everything mixes together and comes out just right. This could also be attributed to husband’s chefly abilities. We did inadvertently agitate the Robin who is nesting under our deck and sitting on some eggs, but apologized profusely to her and allowed her to nest undisturbed for the rest of the evening.

Sausage, Vegetables and Salad:
Maple Apple Sausage: Mt View Organics
Zucchini – Jack’s Farm
Turnips – Jack’s Farm
Garlic Scapes – Jack’s Farm
Spring Onion – Jack’s Farm
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Broccoli – Charlestown Farm
Romaine Lettuce – Charlestown Farm
Gewurztraminer – Mount Hope Winery
Non Local – Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Balsamic Vinegar

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 5

By Sheetar 5 June 2012 5 June 2012

The husband is home again and took over full responsibility for this meal. He went to the farmer’s market and picked everything out and even cooked it too! The chicken is stuffed with spring onions, mushrooms, and blue cheese, served with grilled vegetables. Again, all cooked out on the grill, and served with a local wine, Paradocx’s barn red.

Stuffed Chicken:
Chicken – Mt View Organics
Spring Onion – Jack’s Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valey Mushrooms
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Zucchini – Jack’s Farm
Carrots – Jack’s Farm
Wine – Paradocx, Barn Red
Non Local – Salt, pepper, olive oil

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 4

By Sheetar 30 May 2012 30 May 2012

No, it’s not technically a salad. Right? They’re mushroom swiss turkey thigh burgers on a bed of lettuce with asparagus and mushrooms. Buns are not really local (locally made, but not from local ingredients), so, burgers without the buns! As far as the burger patties, I know that the mushrooms are from the same local vendor that I got my skewered mushrooms from, but I’m not sure about the swiss, and forgot to ask. Oh well. The asparagust was coated in olive oil and a little salt on the grill. The burgers were grilled, and of course the mushrooms too. I love being able to cook outside and not heat up the inside of the house!

Bunless Turkey Burgers:
Turkey Burgers – Mt View Organics
Lettuce – Charlestown Farm
Asparagus – Hoagland Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Non Local – Salad Dressing, olive oil, salt

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 3

By Sheetar 25 May 2012 25 May 2012

Another salad, I know, but the greens, they call to me! Also, we still don’t have much else available in terms of vegetables. At least this one is a little more creative? I added a whole bunch of toppings to this one including some amazing bison chorizo. Our local bison farmer (rancher?) is super nice, and I enjoy cooking with bison over beef any day of the week. I’ll admit that my diet is skewed about 80% towards vegetables with about 20% meat in there, so while I’m not all vegetarian, I certainly appreciate vegetables in my dish. So, this salad is a mix of three types of greens (romaine, mesclun, beet greens), roasted beets, chevre, grilled turnips, and that yummy chorizo. I decided to pour myself a glass of homebrewed hard cider since it’s been a little warm this week, and since I cooked everything out on the grill and the evening was starting to cool off.. well it felt right. The beets were put in an aluminum foil package with some olive oil on the grill first. Then the turnips with some olive oil and salt in a slotted grill pan, and then finally the chorizo. The rest is fresh, so it was easy to put together.

Chorizo Salad:
Romaine – Charlestown Farm
Mesclun – My Garden
Turnips – Jack’s Farm
Chevre – Shellbark Hollow
Beets & Greens – Charlestown Farm
Bison Chorizo – Backyard Bison
Non Local – dressing, olive oil, salt

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 2

By Sheetar 17 May 2012 17 May 2012

When I talked about doing things simple this year? I really meant it. Hooray for salads! It’s still early in our growing season, so a lot of what’s available is leafy and green. Of course by the time summer comes, lettuce and leafy greens become scarce, so I might as well enjoy it while I can! There are three types of greens in that salad – romaine, mesclun mix, and some turnip greens which I found to be particularly delicious. The other ingredients are crimini mushrooms because I’m a firm believer that there should be fungus in every meal, sliced turnips because the turnips are more than just greens, and some goat cheese because, well, CHEESE. Sadly, the dressing isn’t local, but you’ll forgive me for that if I tell you that I grew the mesclun all by myself, right? I am very much open to salad dressing recipes, but they’d have to not contain oil in order to be local.. possibly something yogurt based? I can get goat’s milk yogurt locally, and we have a variety of herbs that I either grow myself (dill, sage, cilantro, basil) or can obtain at the market. I’m also looking for a good use for the saffron I harvested in the fall from my crocuses. How does saffron polenta sound?

Spring Salad:
Romaine – Charlestown Farm
Turnips & Greens – Jack’s Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Mesclun – My Garden
Goat Cheese – Shellbark Hollow
Non local – Dressing

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2012 – Week 1

By Sheetar 11 May 2012 11 May 2012

Seeing as our local farmer’s market kicked off its first regular market of the season, I figured I’d start One Local Summer back up again. I seriously contemplated whether or not to do this again. This year would be my fourth year of a summer’s worth of making one meal a week using only local ingredients. To be honest, I’m lacking motivation this year, and have gotten pretty busy with a bunch of other things. But, reason won out, and said hey, this is good for your health, it doesn’t have to be complicated, so cook something local once a week, no big deal. This year may be a little less inspired than other years, but I’m still doing this. ON TO THE FOOD!

This is pretty basic. It’s still early in the vegetable growing season, so my veggie options are limited. Our opening farmer’s market with the Phoenixville Farmer’s Market was a honey bee festival, so I included that here. Going around the plate clockwise, we have chicken marinated in honey and olive oil, then crispy beet greens from the grill, crimini mushrooms, and wilted beet greens with wee little baby beets on the end. When they ‘thin the herd’ so to speak, to prevent overcrowding with the beets, the greens and baby beets are perfect for eating. The whole thing is edible – the greens are sort of spinachy and the teeny beets on the end grill up in short order and are perfectly tender. The wilted beet greens were done up in foil with a little olive oil and salt and set on the grill. EVERYTHING on that plate was cooked on the grill! Easy peasy. Here’s the rundown on ingredients.

Chicken and Beet Greens with mushrooms:
Chicken – Mt View Organics
Honey – Baues’ Busy Bees
Beets and Beet Greens – Charlestown Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Non Local – Salt, Olive Oil, homebrew beer (Saison)