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One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 14

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I was having trouble coming up with ideas this week and was feeling pretty uninspired. I had pork in the freezer, but didn’t know where else to go from there. So I googled and found Pork Afritada.  Not bad!  I had all the ingredients on hand except for the carrot, so I went for it.  Really easy to prepare and it’s sort of like a stew with a tomato base.  I did use water instead of broth and sliced tomatoes instead of sauce, but we’ve got plenty of tomatoes, so that was no problem.  Served the whole thing over bread to soak up the liquid and it was delicious (and deliciously simple)!

Pork Afritada:
Pork Cutlets – Countrytime Farm
Potato – North Star Orchard
Tomatoes – My Garden
Pepper – My Garden
Onion – North Star Orchard
Garlic – Charlestown Farm
Non Local – Salt, Pepper, Bay leaves, olive oil

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 13

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This one is pretty basic, but sometimes something simple is all you need.  Plus, I’d gathered about 8 green peppers from our two plants in the garden and this seemed like the best idea, especially after I found the FrankenOnion at the farmer’s market.  Seriously, the biggest onion I’ve ever, ever seen.  Add in some yummy bison sausage, and folks, we have a meal.  Minimal cooking and prep time, and it was just perfect.

 

Sausage and Peppers:
Bison Sausage – Backyard Bison
Green Peppers – My Garden
FrankenOnion – North Star Orchards
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills Farm
Bread – Sweetwater Baking
Non Local – Olive oil, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 12

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This week’s inspiration came in the form of beets.  I’d seen a few recipes around the interwebs about how to make beet pasta.  Having found beets at the farmer’s market the other week, I decided to give it a go.  The recipe is below, but the basics are to roast the beets, make a puree, and then make pasta as usual, but use 1/4th cup beet puree instead of an egg or water.  Perfect!  The color came out so vibrant, but leeched a little into the water while boiling, so the finished cooked pasta was light pink instead of deep purple.  Still incredibly beautiful and different.  We decided to go with a cheese/alfredo type sauce to top it off (marinara sauce just didn’t seem right), and add some turkey and grilled zucchini to finish off the red, white, and green theme for this plate.  Turned out amazing, and the sauce, while calorie packed full of fancy cheeses, was DELICIOUS.  Just a spoon full is enough!

Beet Pasta with Cheese Sauce, Turkey, and Zucchini:
Turkey Breast – Mountain View Organics
Zucchini – Back Yard Garden
Beets – Charlestown Farm
Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – Mill at Anselma
Onions – Charlestown Farm
Garlic – Charlestown Farm
Equinox Cheese  – Birchrun Hills Farm
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Goat Cheese (Oregano & Paprika) – Yellow Springs Farm
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Wine – Chaddsford Winery (Pierreno Grigio)
Non Local  – Olive Oil, Pepper

 

Beet Pasta Print Print
Ingredients
3 average-sized beets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
Instructions:
  • Preheat oven to 350F.  Wash beets and remove greens.  Wrap in aluminum foil with 1 tbsp olive oil drizzled on top.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until tender.  Allow to cool and remove skins.  Process into about 1/2 cup puree.
  • Put 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour into bowl, making a well in the middle.
  • Add in 1/4 cup beet puree and 1 tbsp olive oil.
  • Mix together with your hands and kneed until dough is firm and not sticky.  Add water or flour if dough is too dry or wet.
  • Either roll through a Kitchen Aid Pasta roller/cutter or by hand with a rolling pin and knife.
  • Hang pasta and allow to dry or boil right away and enjoy!
One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 11

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This is absurd.. is it really week 11 already?  Anyway, husband took the lead on this one and combined Bison, Bacon, and Blue Cheese into a hamburger.  Pretty sure that guy is a keeper.  He mixed everything together and then hand formed the burgers and gently grilled them up to absolute perfection.  Topped off with a little blue cheese and served on a locally baked roll, with a few french fries on the side, it’s your classic but classy (bacon makes everything better) burger and fries.  All done locally too!

Bacon, Bison, and Blue Burger:
Ground Bison – Backyard Bison
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Onion – Hoagland Farm
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Potatoes – North Star Orchards
Tomato – Charlestown Farm
Roll – St. Peter’s Bakery
Non Local – Oil, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 10

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We tried out a new type of zucchini this year called the 8 ball squash that grows into a ball shape instead of the normal long and narrow zucchini shape.  They just happen to be absolutely perfect for hollowing out and stuffing with all sorts of vegetables and sausage.  The polenta was an afterthough, but it fit well with the spicy chorizo.  This was a big hit, and I’m so glad we have leftovers!

Stuffed Zucchini with Polenta:
Zucchini – My Garden
Chorizo – Countrytime Farm
Corn – Hoagland Farm
Onion – Hoagland Farm
Cornmeal – Mill at Anselma
Non Local – Butter, olive oil, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 9

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The bison vendor at the Phoenixville Farmers Market caught my husband’s eye this past Saturday. We decided on brisket for this week’s meal, and brisket it was.  He decided to cook it in the smoker (the temperature is around 200-250 constantly) and lay on the smoke (applewood and hickory) pretty thick in the beginning.  It was also coated with a dry rub of a whole bunch of spices/seasonings (some non local, but I think that’s okay).  I think it worked out really well – the smoky flavor came out, but the meat was still tender and juicy.  The veggies were steamed quickly and tossed with some olive oil.

Bison Brisket:
Bison – Backyard Bison
Sugar Snap Peas – North Star Orchard
Carrots – Charlestown Farm
Cheese – Birchrun Hills (Fat Cat & Matilda’s Summer Tomme)
Sesame Semolina Bread – St. Peter’s Bakery
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Non Local – olive oil, paprika, pepper, garlic powder, salt

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2011 – Week 8

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I’m late getting this one posted, but it was cooked during week 8, honest! We had an abundance of dill growing in the planter on our deck, so I decided to make some tzatziki, one of my summer favorites. It’s just cucumbers in yogurt with dill, but I LOVE dill like nobody’s business.  Husband grilled up the chicken to perfection, and our guest, Abbie, slid all the vegetables (squash, onions, and bok choy) onto a skewer that also went onto the grill.  Pretty basic, but it was DELICIOUS and we were able to put it together last-minute before dinner.

Chicken with tzatziki and vegetables:
Chicken – Mt. View Organics
Cucumbers – North Star Orchard
Dill – My Garden
Squash – North Star Orchard
Candy Onion – Smith’s Produce (Anselma Market)
Bok Choy – North Star Orchard
Smoked Sea Salt – Pureblend Teas
Non local – olive oil, pepper, red wine vinegar

Foreign

Eurotrip 2011 – Venice

Rome > Siena > Florence > Venice > Munich > Brussels > Amsterdam

 

Still 20 March.  We hop the train at Florence for Venice.  On board the train, there was a little drama – a woman behind us swore up and down, over and over and OVER again that she had paid for her first class ticket, but didn’t get a receipt from the conductor.  She spoke broken English (she looked to be from asia, though I wasn’t sure exactly where) and got very upset with the other conductors (the one she paid had gotten off at a prior station).  The police were called aboard, twice, and we could not get off that train fast enough to get away from the constant whining coming from her seat.Anyway, we hop on the vaporetto (Venetian water-bus) that takes about an hour to get to our stop at Santa Maria della Salute and just a short walk from there, we find our hotel, Hotel alla Salute da Cici.  They had a pretty spectacular deal online for a great room with canal view, toilet/shower, and a bottle of wine so we went for that.  The view was worth it (photo at right).  Room was a little smaller than our last three, but it was just fine.  Dinner at the restaurant next door was included with the hotel price, and it was okay, but nothing to write home about.  We were pretty tired, so it didn’t matter all that much anyway. IMG_4894
March 21.  Breakfast was at the hotel and there was a fantastic selection of food laid out.  We left our bags, PacSafed again, at the hotel in the bag area and headed out to Piazza San Marco.  Sadly, Venice was nearly completely under construction while we were there – everything was scaffolded and covered in canvas painted/printed to look like the building it covered.  The really disappointing part was the Bridge of Sighs which was nearly entirely encased in advertising by the folks who were sponsoring the restoration.  I understand the importance of donors and restoring/maintaining historic landmarks, but it was really disgusting – there’s a photo in the flickr set.  There are still plenty of pigeons around though (photo at right), even if there were less than I remember from years ago. DSC_7243
We hopped on the Vaporetto and went to Murano, the island of the famous Venetian glass.  We oogled the chandeliers, and Doug even picked up a small glass faucet dripping out a fish sculpture that he’d been eyeballing at every shop.  It’s really cute and we need to find a neat place for it at home (still!).  We also hit up Burano, the painted island of lace, and wandered around the beautifully colored homes (photo at right) for a while.  I had been feeling ill all day (weird stomach/gut pains?) and didn’t have my advil on me, so we were kinda taking it easy. DSC_7252
On the Vaporetto back to the hotel, we get to watch a gorgeous sunset over the water (photo at right).  While we probably spent more time on the vaporetti than actually sight seeing, it’s a good way to get an overview of Venice without setting foot on land.  Anyway, we grabbed our bags at the hotel and prepared for the night train to Munich! DSC_7254

Slideshow of photos from Venice