Tag: <span>cheese</span>

Tag: cheese

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2014 – Meal 5

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Another meal down, and just 9  left to my goal of 14 which we should be able to meet  or exceed!  We had a nice party over the weekend and have had a bit of fabulous weather (lows aorund 60 degrees F in July!), so we took advantage of the cool evenings for some outdoor dining.  In the small bowl at top left is a tomato salad with some fresh basil, olive oil, and homemade vinegar.  The main part of the dinner was a Bison sirloin topped with blue cheese – sooo good.  Next, going around clockwise, are blue potatoes from our garden that were boiled, smooshed, and then put in a pan to roast after being doused with malt vinegar and sprinkled with salt.  The idea for those came from Cook’s Country, but they didn’t quite smoosh down the way they were shown in the recipe.  Blue potatoes seem to be starchier, and we boiled instead of baking them (short on time), so that might have been the difference.  They still tasted excellent and really soaked up the vinegar.  It was almost like having malt vinegar on french fries without the frying.  Next around the plate are Corn Jalapeno Fritters from this month’s Bon Appetit.  Couple of changes to locafy it involved using pickled banana peppers I had on hand already from a prior year’s bumper crop of peppers, and we used grilled corn leftover from our party over the weekend.  The flour came from our local historic grist mill, and we had to add a little more flour and an extra egg since ours weren’t traditional grocery store ‘large’ eggs, but smaller farm-fresh happy-chicken eggs.  They were SO good and so  easy to make that we’re already thinking of other veggies to add in on the next go around since we still have leftover corn to burn through.  And that’s that!  I’m a few weeks late posting this one, but I kind of wanted to space out the One Local Summer posts  on the blog instead of flooding them out as they’re cooked.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes – Hoagland Farms
Basil – Our Garden
Bison Sirloin – Backyard Bison
Blue Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Potatoes – Our Garden
Corn – Hoagland Farms
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Eggs – Deep Roots Valley Farm
Equinox Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Hot Peppers – Our Garden
Non Local – Beer, salt, pepper, olive oil, malt vinegar

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 23

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Back on my own, I had an idea in mind I had seen on Pinterest over the summer.  (Pin and Link)  I figured hey, that’s easy enough to do local and is something different, so why not?  I made a few modifications, but the idea is still the same.  Cut peppers in half, layer cheese in bottom, fill with chip steak, onions, and mushrooms, more cheese on top, bake till cheese is gooey and melty.  They really came out great, and while not the perfect compromise to a proper Philly Cheesesteak, are a great way to have all the fillings from the sandwich without the roll if you happen to be going gluten free (for the record, I’m not, but bread isn’t a local ingredient, so this fit my Local Summer agenda perfectly!).  Add in some roasted potatoes on the side and we have ourselves a whole plate full.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers:
Peppers – Charlestown Farm and Jack’s Farm
Bison Chip Steak – Backyard Bison
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Onions – Jack’s Farm
Mushrooms – Oley Valley Mushrooms
Potatoes – My Garden
Non local – salt, pepper, olive oil

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 22

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CHILI! My favorite, and the first time we’ve been able to pull this off as a one local summer meal.  Our local orchard, North Star, had been experimenting with growing beans and drying them, so we finally got a harvest and my FIRST thought upon seeing them at the market was CHILI!  Husband again took the lead on this since he’s the chili master and had this amazing stuff simmering in the crock pot all day.  I can honestly tell you that the only thing holding us back from the chili was the beans, and we had been pretty much doing this locally anyway, using bison instead of cow beef since it makes the resulting chili way less greasy.  The whole meal together on the table was incredible – the asian pears were heated up a bit and drizzled with maple syrup.  We managed to get enough tomatoes from the volunteer tomato plants to put in salads, so that worked out great.  Really can’t wait to do this again!

Chili with Cornbread and Salad:
Bison – Backyard Bison
Hot Bison Sausage – Backyard Bison
Beans – North Star Orchard
Celery – North Star Orchard
Peppers – Jack’s Farm
Jalapenos – Charlestown Farm
Onions – Jack’s Farm
Tomato sauce – Homemade, frozen from prior harvest
Tomatoes – Our Garden
Asian Pears – North Star Orchard
Cornmeal – Mill at Anselma
Flour – Mill at Anselma
Maple Sugar – Miller’s Maple
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Salad Greens – Jack’s Farm
Non Local – cocoa powder, salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 19

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Husband is back at cooking and made this simple but delicious meal in no time flat.  We’d had the chorizo in the freezer, so after that defrosted, he browned the chroizo, stuffed it into big red peppers, sliced some cheese on top, and set it in the oven until the peppers were soft and the cheese was bubbly.  I REALLY love this cheese (Equinox) for topping food that goes in the oven – it crisps up really nicely and doesn’t melt too far all over the place.  On the side, for desert, is a bowl of sliced asian pears drizzled with maple syrup and warmed up just a bit.  WOW was that a winning combination.  Plus, this week, only local ingredients!

Chorizo Stuffed Peppers:
Chorizo – Countrytime Farm
Peppers – North Star Orchard
Asian Pears – North Star Orchard
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Maple Syrup – Miller’s Maple

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 18

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I had big plans for the garden this year, but somehow it never really got off the ground.. or in the ground.  Either way, I did manage to get one lonely squash plant seedling planted, and it yielded a single ENORMOUS Boston Marrow Squash.  Well hey, I wasn’t going to let that go to waste, so I scooped out the seeds and set out to make the largest batch of squash soup ever.  It ended up working out really well for soup – the squash has lots of flavor and is pretty sweet, almost like a pumpkin on steroids.  I added some local cheese to thicken up the texture, saving some for the top as well, and paired it with a mug of Asian Pear cider.  A pretty simple meal, but that squash is a big winner.  Maybe next year, I’ll have a few more!

Squash Soup:
Boston Marrow Squash – My Garden
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Asian Pear Cider – North Star Orchard
Non local – salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 16

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Stuffed Peppers, One Local Summer style!  The Anselma market had these huge red peppers and I couldn’t resist.  We used ground pork, tomatoes from our own garden, and instead of rice, wheat!  The substitution worked out really well, and in fact, I think I might prefer it – the wheat is really much more flavorful than rice, even if it takes longer to cook.  Add to that a big chunk of cantaloupe and some potatoes, and it makes for a very filling dinner.  It really came out well and I’m SO glad we had leftovers.  Yeah, I know I’m behind on blogging again – this was actually prepared a few weeks ago, before vacation, but I’m just finally getting it online now.  Oops.  Better late than never?

Stuffed Peppers:
Red Peppers – Brogue Hydroponics
Blue Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Yellow Potatoes – Brogue Hydroponics
Cantaloupe – Brogue Hydroponics
Onion – Maysie’s Farm
Ground Pork – Bendy Brook Farm
Wheat – North Star Orchard
Tomatoes – My Garden
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Non Local – Olive oil, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 15

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The husband took lead on this dinner and I’m glad to have him back again!  I don’t know why we never thought of it before, what with the Bison vendor and the pork vendor just a booth away from eachother, but we finally did it – Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon!  One of the most delicious combinations to ever grace the grill, and the husband managed to cook the filet exactly to my specifications (brown the whole way through, but still tender, yes, I know I’m a freak about how red meat is cooked).  The bacon kept the filet extra juicy and it really is a winning combination.  To finish off the plate, we had a grilled peach covered in Equinox cheese, and potatoes grilled with onions and garlic.  Good ole meat and potatoes, but a classy meat and potatoes, I think.  Such a shame there isn’t more!  And, before I forget to mention it, there really is nothing in the world better than nitrate free bacon from our favorite pork vendor at the market – this stuff is SO SO SO beyond anything I’ve ever gotten in the grocery store.

Bacon Wrapped Filet with Potatoes and a Grilled Peach:
Bacon – Countrytime Farm
Blue Potatoes – Jack’s Farm
Onion – Jack’s Farm
Garlic – North Star Orchard
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Bison Filet Mignon – Backyard Bison
Non local – Olive oil, salt, pepper

One Local Summer

One Local Summer 2013 – Week 10

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TEN weeks already – time is flying by.  Husband cooked up this one as well, as you can tell from his summertime favorite there on the plate, a grilled peach with cheese.  We picked up a pork loin at the farmer’s market and he cooked that up on the rotisserie on the grill after having rubbed it down with his signature pork rub (the same one from the pork butt).  Add in some vegetables, and it makes a meal!  Short and sweet this week, but it was really delicious.

Pork Loin and Vegetables:
Pork Loin – Countrytime Farm
Zucchini –  North Star Orchard
Onion –  North Star Orchard
Tomatoes –  North Star Orchard
Peaches – North Star Orchard
Cheese – Birchrun Hills
Non local – spices, salt, pepper, olive oil