Dark Days 08/09 Week #9 Recap

A week or so ago Denise asked me if I’d be willing to write a couple of the Dark Days recaps for Laura.  I agreed, since I’m usually just the photographer of our dark days food challenge-worthy meals (like Laura’s comments from last week, sometimes our meals aren’t camera ready).  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize when Denise asked this favor of me that she meant *this* week.

If I were a regular reader of the recap, I would have had plenty of notice.  LOL  So, here we are, on the tail end of a writing marathon for me (two rounds of minutes from community meetings completed in the wee hours on Monday morning and, now, in the throws of updating my local Farmers Market “Rules & Policies” for 2009).  Therefore, if I miss one of your delightful blog entries, or miss the mark somehow, please accept my apologies.  I promise to be better refreshed for the next recap!

Last week’s squash lasagna was our chance to try cooking with an ingredient we don’t normally eat.  We were members of a CSA the first couple years we lived in our current home, which means we got lots of veggies with which we were unfamiliar.  It’s embarrassing to me the number of squash we put on the porch and forgot about.  We’re trying to redeem ourselves this year, and even have a selection of heirloom varieties curing in the greenhouse.

I have a feeling squash will become the staple of our diet going forward, until our Spring vegetables finally arrive, as we’re dangerously low on other options.  I sent an email inquiry about the availability of winter veggies to my Farmers Market farmers but only got a response from Del Tierra - carrots, beets and rutabagas.  Anyone have a yummy recipe for rutabagas?

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The West:

I was momentarily distracted by the cocktail recipe on Anita’s blog; I bet she appreciates the magnitude of the hand carried bottles from Japan a college friend brought back for me to surprise Denise with for Christmas - Hermes Violet).  Anyway, Winter Reruns were on the all-local meal menu this week and included Anita’s mom’s favorite meatloaf and a lasagna made with local cheese, fresh pasta and home-canned tomatoes.  She added a bit of local pork to each meal to change up the recipes a bit, creating differently spiced sausages for both meals.

Joan has discovered that freezing her local veggies in the summer is an easy, satisfying way to enjoy the fruits (and veggies) of her labor through the winter.  Two rounds of soups du jour made it to the table this week: a fun tomato, basil, mushroom and kale soup with noodles and colorful turkey, squash, carrot, potato, and pink bean minestrone.

Although the Cranberry Ketchup was not technically part of Amy’s Dark Days Challenge, I couldn’t resist posting about it - especially since Laura was a little over-eager last week and included some Week 9 meals in her Week 8 recap (including Amy’s Winter Squash soup).  I’m jealous of the classes Amy’s local Extension Office offers; this weekend she gets to go to a Master Food Preserver class to learn all about “fruit spread-making basics,” using raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and gooseberries picked locally and frozen for use later.

Over in our neck of the woods, Denise has been craving a good burger.  I bet you can guess the dilemma, since we live in the Pacific Northwest; tomatoes and lettuce!  It only took her a couple of days to decide that if we couldn’t grow them or buy them locally, we could switch gears and go to Plan B: buy organic from a small (i.e. not a franchise), local store.  Everything else was local and/or homemade, including the ketchup, mayo, and bun and her yummy skin-on french fries.

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The South and Midwest:

The Garden Life is back after some iMac issues that kept them offline (we know how that is!).  All dolled up for a romantic dinner out, the best restaurant in town turned out to be in their own dining room.  A local menu, from starters to desserts, was prepared and served by the couple’s daughters.  Highlights of the menu included sourdough bread (made with her daughter’s own starter), a salad with greens from the garden and tomatoes from a local farmer, and a choice of two entrées and desserts, including a freshly made pumpkin and almond torte!

Andrea and her family are wrapping up an experimental “no buy” week to help them stick to their budget.  It sounds like it was quite a success, as they ate heartily from their pantry and summer food stockpile, including chicken and corn chowder, fresh poppy seed muffins, and a roast she served with baked potatoes.

I’d say Anne’s Saturday brunch turned out quite well, despite not having taken her pain meds before cooking!  Hopefully, the blueberry pancakes with maple-blueberry syrup and bacon were enough of a diversion.

Karen explored traditional Italian peasant food, using heirloom beans in a pair of rustic soups.  First, the bean broth was made into Tuscan Crazy Water, topped with wonderful croutons made from homemade bread.  Then, the beans themselves went into an Italian pasta and bean soup later in the week, which was served with delicious looking homemade garlic bread.

Through a fortuitous trade with another CSA member, Laurel got a double share of sunchokes to play this week.  Wanting to really taste their flavor, she decided on a light, herb-infused au gratin by combining sliced sunchokes and red potatoes with an herbed, yogurt sauce and some Pecorino Romano cheese.  Now that she has a couple recipes under her belt, she’s even hoping for a few more sunchokes next week.

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The East:

What is a girl to do when she’s stuck with an abundance of vegetables she doesn’t like?  Turn to the internet for recipes, of course!  Mangochild rose to the challenge this week and experimented with turnips.  She bravely tried many recipes, in the process eating more turnips in 10 days than she had in the past year, before finding one she could tolerate - an Indian recipe pairing turnips with kidney beans and lots of tasty spices.  Hopefully, a few recipes like this will make the pile of turnips in cold storage seem less daunting.

Turnips abound in Nicole’s CSA this year, too, although it sounds like she likes them well enough and is just seeking new ways to prepare them to remove the monotony. Her main meal, however, was a “Tortilla Española” - which, I learned, in Europe and South America, is actually a layered egg dish.  Nicole’s egg & potato tortilla was served with a green salad and roasted beet compote, and finished off with crepes filled with apple butter.

Mia used an issue of Bon Appétit as inspiration for a dish of local pasta tossed with roasted root vegetables from her CSA.  She also discovered that parsnips can be tasty, and is thinking of new ways to cook them.  If the pancake recipe works, let us know!

Simple, yummy and quick was the name of the game over at Sophie’s house.  Her local meal of the week was composed of bacon, eggs, and toast slathered with good local butter.

Although she didn’t mark her blog as a Dark Days Challenge, I consider Matriarchy’s foray into her pantry a good fit within our challenge.  This week sweet potato biscuits with pineapple jam, parsnip spice cake, Cuban inspired pork chili, and spelt waffles all made it to her family’s stomachs.

Eating in on a snow day is no challenge for us local eaters who stock up on cuts of local meat and cold storage vegetables, as Kim can attest.  Check out her sublime, slow-cooked pot roast and creamy, mashed potatoes on the day she got 14″ of snow!  It was an ideal day for cozy indoor activities and a no fuss meal, capped off by summer strawberry ice cream.

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It seems we’ve made it to the end of my substitute Week #9 recap.  Happy local eating everyone; see you next week! — Holly, Hendrick Homestead

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5. Dark Days 08/09 Recap - Week #4