My first time recapping for the Eastern region and I’m already green with jealousy of the other participants!
Kim has a source for local shrimp, which makes want to make her adopt me so I could have a local shrimp source, too! In the two weeks since the last Dark Days update, Kim has made some seriously amazing looking meals – shrimp and pasta with green beans and squash from her freezer stash, homemade sausage pizza, roasted chicken with potatoes and squash, and roast pork with potatoes and squash. Potatoes and squash? I sense a theme!
Wendy is dealing with the rigors of being stage mom right now, but managed to eat local by breaking out the crockpot. An after-rehearsal meal of a roast and potatoes with local lettuce for a salad must have been excellent!
At Danielle’s house it’s been all country ham, all the time – she cooked up one of her dry-cured hams this week! There was a ham breakfast tortilla (on homemade tortillas, no less), and ham and cheese panini on homemade ciabatta bread. Last week Danielle’s husband made fried chicken and her daughter made drop biscuits to welcome her home from a conference, and earlier in the week the family ate a local chuck roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade ciabatta bread, and a salad from the garden. I wonder if she’d notice if I moved in and horned in on their meals?
Sophie accidentally made a challenge meal out of a local chicken roasted with local shallots, thyme, and sage, as well as squash roasted with maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice. Another meal of meatballs from local beef, homemade pasta, bread, salad, and wine – all local – sounds so like a perfect Winter dinner!
New meat grinder in hand, Ed was possessed by the spirit of Mario Batali and made whole wheat meat grinder pasta, along with a pork ragu sauce that looks amazing. There was also a side of Hubbard squash roasted then mashed with brown sugar, allspice and nutmeg. Ed is lucky enough to have a Winter CSA that includes the occasional chicken, which led to a meal of Coq au Vin with a side of turnips mashed with blue cheese and braised greens seasoned with apple cider. Delicious!
My husband wants to go to Julia’s house – she’s practicing for Thanksgiving. Discovering a turkey breast at her local market, she decided to making stuffing (or dressing, I guess, if you’re from the South, right?) of toasted whole wheat bread cubes with sauteed onion, garlic, apple, parsnip, and a few handfuls of torn-up kale. Julia also made clam chowder using local dayboat clams as part of a larger party menu that included her homemade bread, as well as a meal of flounder, clams, and roasted beets over Jerusalem artichoke puree. Wow!
I’ve been concentrating on eating out of my freezer recently, so nearly all of my meals feature many freezer treasures. That includes a steak topped with roasted bell peppers with delicata squash roasted in honey and Swiss chard sauteed with garlic, and homemade bread and butter I made a few days ago. We also enjoyed some fantastic chicken sausage; with white wine and herbs with a side of potato galette, and a meal of citrus roasted chicken, broccoli, and roasted butternut squash.
*****
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Mmmmm….local shrimp
I should eat more of those; we’ve only had them once this season.
Nicole – excellent post! Thank you so much for guest posting this week. It’s been a solid weekend of work, and so nice to come here and read your update! Everyone’s meals make me even more sorry that we haven’t had time to really cook in weeks.