Holly graciously helped me with this week’s recap again (thanks Holly!), taking the South and the East while I rounded up the Midwest and West. Of course, the recaps are getting easier as our numbers dwindle – where’d everyone go? We’re only on Week #10!
I intended to find an ingredient that was truly new for our featured meal this week, but never found time for a trip to the local farm to hunt up some mustard greens. Instead, I tried my hand at cooking spareribs for the first time – turns out they’re not as hard as they seem. Or at least they aren’t when you start with a perfect local rack, marinade them for the day and slow cook them in the oven.
Can’t wait to see what else we all come up with in the next few weeks. Thank you to those of you that are still cooking along – you make it look easy with your inspiring dishes!
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The South
There were no sunchokes to play with this week for Laurel; instead, she got a beautiful head of orange cauliflower which she sautéed with pesto infused oil, onions, eggplant and the cauliflower leaves… who knew they were edible, too? The photo was plenty colorful, but, according to her blog, doesn’t do the vegetable justice!
The girls over at The Garden Life have been making juice this week. As a grapefruit juice lover myself, I can appreciate what a treat this must be for their Daddy.
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The East
Where Laurel left off with her sunchoke gratin last week, Nicole picks up at Farm to Philly with a Kuri squash and potato gratin this week. I happen to like squash, but, even if you don’t, you’ve got to agree that no matter what your gratin is made of, as long as it’s “all gooey and melty” it’s gotta be good.
Sophie tempted the rest of the locavores with an oak leaf salad, acorn squash mashed with better and maple syrup, and pan seared pork chops.
Kim’s slow cooked theme continued this week as she tackled oxtail, paired with some yummy leftover, homemade noodles. The result is a rich and tasty meal.
Mangochild went head to head with an enormous cabbage this week. Although the recipe she found and made (with substitutions) sounds tasty enough, it also looks like she needs more recipes as she only used a quarter of the cabbage!
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The Midwest
Anne pan-fried boneless chicken thigh and enjoyed it with mashed potatoes, chicken foot gravy, stuffing, corn with adobo and butter and green beans. Even better that someone else did the dishes after the meal was done.
Andrea did a bit of fridge emptying and made a sweet vegetable soup of carrots, cabbage, celery, corn, wax beans and tomato juice. On the side was a bit of fresh bread, hard cheese and homemade pickles. Yum.
Karen took the “use a new ingredient” challenge seriously and decided to use squash in a soup – oh the horror 
Not only was it edible, she actually liked the corn, bean and pumpkin stew she made. Of course, the current scones topped with homemade apple butter and the cake for dessert might have helped too. Up next, borscht (genuine ew! from me).
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The West
Rejoining us with two weeks of updates is Maya. First up were keftedes learned from a Moroccan friend, I may just have to try those, yum. The previous week was the sunchoke gratin she was contemplating. She cooked it in some nifty little pottery casseroles from Turkey. Do I sense a theme?
Joan had a busy week at work and is also finding that sourcing local ingredients may be getting a bit harder right about now. But her post was saved by a breakfast of scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese, a few slices of bacon and hash browns. Mmmm, that’s my kind of breakfast!
Choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkrat) is a winter tradition at Anita’s house. Her version is fit more for midweek dinner than feeding a crowd, perfect for that leftover kraut hanging in your fridge. Add a bit of potato, lard, sausages, pancetta and more and it looks like a dish that would even get me to try sauerkraut on more than just my annual Oktober Fest brat.
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I’m back, my leg is doing better and I will have a meal for next week.
Thanks for understanding.
Pam
Nice roundup — this one should be easy to go and visit everyone’s posts, at least.
Here’s something that might push you over the edge on choucroute: When you simmer sauerkraut in wine (and pork juices), it removes that squeaky/sour thing that so many people dislike. But unlike plain-old cooked cabbage, it remains a little toothsome, rather than devolving into mush.
I want to try sauerkraut at someone else’s house. It’s intriguing, but I also know it can be very, very bad if it’s not done right. I want someone to do it right, then let me taste it and see if I like it enough to try it myself! Normally I am not afraid to jump into things.. but sauerkraut…hmmm..
The keftedes look awesome! I think I need to try that recipe, too. I bet it would work nicely with some of the lamb I need to use up.