Dark Days 08/09 Recap – Week #3

While Laura’s enjoying a long weekend with her family in Minnesota (including some beautiful pies for a second Thanksgiving dinner), she asked me to put together the Dark Days recap for this week.

I enjoyed reading ALL of the posts from this week, and seeing both the similarities and differences in what foods are now available in different parts of the country. Though “simple meals” was not an explicit theme for the week, it seems that many of us took a cue from Laura’s comment that some challenge participants found the gourmet meals they were seeing here daunting. Many of this week’s meals are not at all complicated; I find that simple preparations are often the best way to let the quality of fresh, local ingredients really shine.

The East:

Nicole admitted she talked to herself in public about what to cook for dinner last Saturday night. Is there something odd about that? What she decided on looks great: pan-fried chicken sausages, spinach and roasted cauliflower puree. Nicole says that roasted cauliflower makes a drier, fluffier puree than boiled; milk and sour cream make it richer.

Last Sunday, Mia she spent a whole day in the kitchen cooking comfort foods: granola, oatmeal bread (she’s looking for a local source of oatmeal), and a Catalan-style roast chicken flavored with garlic, cinnamon, bay leaf and brandy. Sweet potatoes and radish butter with the bread made a comforting meal. As the holiday baking season is upon us, Mia wonders whether she can pull off a 90% local cookie. I’ve been puzzling over the same thing!

Sophie‘s local meal of the week fit into the unofficial theme of “simple”: an omelet, home fries and toast. It’s the details (dehydrated miatake mushrooms and sage cheddar in the omelet, sweet potatoes in the home fries) that make her simple meal sound pretty special to me.

Mangochild made a 100% local meal (except for thyme and pepper) featuring something cozy, something satisfying, something sweet. A soup of kale, red onion and roasted potatoes, homemade triticale, rye and whole wheat quick bread, and an improvised dessert of homemade applesauce and cottage cheese.

When Peg visited the farmers market near her office this week, she decided that the extra miles her food traveled between the market and home didn’t count, as she was traveling those miles anyway. That’s how I think about it, too. She brought home broccoli and cheese bread from a baked goods stand, which she toasted and served with sauteed brussels sprouts and caramelized onions. Scott enjoyed his with a Brooklyn IPA; Peg was a bit disappointed by her local pear cider.

This week, Jenn roasted her first spaghetti squash, which didn’t separate into pasta-like strands quite the way she’d expected. She tossed the warm squash with pesto made from basil she froze this summer. Served with roasted brussels sprouts and a local cabernet franc, it made a fine lunch.

Kim made the most of thanksgiving leftovers in three meals this week, before freezing the last of the turkey for later. (Her turkey, mashed potato and stuffing take on bubble and squeak looked really yummy.) She used leftovers in a fourth way that was delightful, but I’d wouldn’t suggest trying it if you live in a city!

Pam has found her potatoes! She also bought what she hopes will be a winter’s worth of sweet potatoes. She roasted both types of potatoes; fake chicken topped with sauteed peppers rounded out the meal. Next up in Pam’s plans for the sweet potatoes: savory sweet potato bread.

*****

The South:

This week, Laurel set out to make an extra-simple meal from readily available local ingredients. Her dinner of sweet potatoes and apples baked in spiced orange juice and butter, served with wilted winter greens and caramelized onion may not be fussy, but it certainly looks delicious!

*****

The Midwest:

Although she laments that she doesn’t like the winter greens that are plentiful in Tennessee, Kim is glad to cook with other local staples, such as sweet potatoes and squash. She’s also enjoying peanuts from her CSA, and fresh — but hot! — locally grown ginger. Putting all of them together (minus the greens!), Kim cooked a beautiful local sweet potato, ginger and peanut soup. I’ll have to try this recipe!

Karen‘s featured meal for the week was a “simple” hamburger and fries. Karen has found that the beef from their local small producer has a marvelous flavor, served with local onion and homemade pickles. Oven fries made with CSA potatoes tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper are far tastier than frozen fries, plus there are no unwanted ingredients.

*****

The West:

Almostima writes that her meal planning is often driven by the need to use some local ingredient she and J. have on hand. This week, a bottle of pomegranate juice inspired pomegranate-glazed pork chops. Herbed potatoes and wilted chard rounded out the meal. The apple-raspberry-cranberry cobbler (from a previous night) was likewise a result of raspberries that needed to be used. I’m amazed that anyone still has fresh raspberries!

Because of computer problems, Robin hasn’t been able to post much. This week, however, she’s written about making her grandmother’s recipe for San Francisco stew, a mixture of ground beef and beans seasoned with bacon, onion, tomatoes and brown sugar. The tomatoes were the last from her garden; picked green and wrapped in newspaper, they ripened to a gorgeous red. Except for salt, pepper and brown sugar, everything in the stew was local.

Like many of us, Maya‘s been cooking with leftovers this week. She used homemade turkey stock and farmers market vegetables to make a collard turkey soup. Her cornmeal parsley dumplings sound like a particularly yummy addition to a simple meal. And, as her mother recently mentioned that she’d never thought about where food comes from, Maya outlines her reasons for trying to eat locally. I think all of us can relate.

Anita went through both of her freezers last week to find room for half a turkey. She and Cameron made two Dark Days meals using a few odds and ends she found there: stacked enchiladas filled with beans and turkey (recipe from a long gone, much lamented restaurant in my Seattle neighborhood), and beef braised with ale, which they topped with leftover mashed potatoes. Server problems prevented them from posting Cameron’s recipe for beef and ale stew; it will be up next week.

Joan‘s favorite meal from the week was turkey soup, but the turkey was from California, and not local. And beef stew made from a recipe she loved the first time was just so-so this time around. (I’m never sure why that happens, either.) So, her post for this week features a classic, simple meat-and-potatoes dinner: steak, mashed potatoes and kale braised with bacon, onion and vinegar.

This week was the beginning of Dungeness crab season here in the PNW. Amy used crabs caught that day to make crab bisque, which she took in a thermos on her Christmas-tree cutting trip. First she made a shellfish fumet (like stock, but made from crab shells), then added aromatics, wine, the crab meat and cream. I’m going to have to find some crabs this week!

Following a weekend of feasting, I’m back to cooking our usual quick, simple dinners. One of our favorites this time of year is sprouts sauteed with leeks, thyme and lemon, served over whole grain farro. It took our first CSA to convince me that brussels sprouts were worth eating; now, I can’t get enough of them.

And last, but certainly but not least, Dark Days host Laura enjoyed breakfast for dinner while home alone for the evening. Along with an omelet and toast with homemade raspberry jam, Laura had homegrown, pan fried potatoes. She’s proud — rightfully so! — of having mastered pan fries. That’s a dinner I’d be happy to eat (and have on many nights).

*****

I’m sorry that I didn’t manage to get any of your photos into this post; I realized that Laura’s procedure for linking photos is different from mine, but wasn’t able to figure it out in time.

I hope that I managed to get everyone’s posts into the recap. If I missed you, my apologies… and please leave a comment with a link to your post. I still have the keys to the place, and will add any posts I might have missed.

And, yes, I missed a couple of people. So sorry, Chessa and Donna! Here are their posts for the week:

As Donna commented below, her family frequently makes a meal of a large green salad. In her meal for this week, that salad included three types of greens, several fresh herbs, sunflower sprouts and local avocado, dressed with meyer lemon and Texas olive oil. The only non-local ingredient was a bit of sea salt. Sounds luscious!

Although she’s been sick, and in a bad mood (in part about a non-local Thanksgiving), Chessa wrote about a recent meal of local Seattle-area tofu roasted with balsamic vinegar and veggies, kale chips, squashed baked potatoes and roasted acorn squash. The tofu, while perhaps a little spicy for her toddler’s tastes, sounds like something I’d love. And I’m going to try those kale chips; I’m still trying to get the other person in our house to eat his greens!

Possibly Related posts (newest to oldest):

1. Dark Days 09-10: Week 6 Recap (Middle and South)
2. Dark Days 09-10 Recap :: Week #5 (PNW)
3. Dark Days 09/10 : Week 5 Recap (Midwest and South)
4. Dark Days 09-10 :: Week #4 Recap (Middle, East and South)
5. Dark Days 09-10 :: Week #2 Recap (East, South, and Middle)