Romanesco broccoli straight from the garden, to be lightly steamed. 
The smallest of the broilers butchered yesterday. A 2 pound 5 ounce hen, just bigger than a cornish game hen. Spatchcocked Butterflied and destined for the grill.
But first, Hood Canal oysters picked up at the farmers market, grilled with a bit of local butter, homegrown green garlic and Very Hot Sauce hand delivered by Anita & Cameron back in February.
Grilled to perfection by Mike, the chicken was complemented by the broccoli and a salad of homegrown lettuce and green onion plus locally grown organic radish.
All topped off by a dessert of the first of the local organic strawberries with fresh whipped cream (organic, non-local sugar and vanilla). Mmmmm.
Not all of our meals this summer will be so extravagant, but I figured we might as well start off the challenge with a BANG.
Happy summer all!
*****
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Good grief, it’s food porn—the local edition!
So gorgeous and tasty-looking. I swooned a bit over those oysters. Yum!
PS. What do you mean you’re not growing and milling your own sugar cane? You slacker
Great start indeed, those strawberries! And broccoli – our area is nowhere near having broccoli ready yet.
Wow! What a feast! I have never seen broccoli like that–is it a cross between cauliflower and broccoli? I say it looks like the best of two worlds.
Wow, that all looks SO GOOD! We enjoyed bbq oysters this week too with the Mukilteo Market opening on Wed.
What a feast. And great photography. I think Romanescos look like the rocket ship in ET.
Now that looks good!!!!
YUM YUM!!! Time to go check out my garden for strawberries!
You had me until the oysters. Everything else looked wonderful though. I’m envious of your broccoli. I’ll be lucky if mine are ready by July. Did you start them in a cold frame?
I might be interested in this “One Local Summer Challenge”, but my table will be a bit less fancy than what you can serve up! LOL Is this a separate challenge?
Beautifully written and photographed…I’m not hungry but my stomach is growling! Does the Romanesco taste the same as other broccoli varieties? Congrats on the Great Chicken Butchering Event, by the way…I mentioned how many birds you were going to process to my husband and his eyes got big as saucers!
Tea :: Thanks! It was fun to take photos of it all on such a gorgeous afternoon! I could have used local honey, but I like whipped cream made with sugar better…
Mangochild :: That was the first, and only, head ready to harvest out there. And really, I should have let it get a bit bigger but we couldn’t resist eating it…
Monica :: according to Wikipedia, Romanesco broccoli is actually a variant of cauliflower, but with the lime green color. I find it tastes more like broccoli than cauliflower – we love it around here, but unfortunately that might have been the only start that made it through the heat (I should learn to mark my broccoli varieties…).
Brittney :: I love the Mukilteo market! How did you prepare your oysters?
Kathleen :: I agree on the rocket ship – I remember the first time I ever saw Romanesco, I had to buy it just because it was so cool looking.
Linda :: It was!
Pam :: Indeed it is – hope you find some hiding out there!
Sharon :: I’m a recent oyster convert so can completely understand your reaction. I started the first of the broccoli inside in late February and then moved it to the cold frame. It was planted out pretty early. Hilariously, that head beat out the 4 that actually overwintered…
Monica :: It’s a challenge hosted by Nicole over at Farm to Philly (www.farmtophilly.com) – It started on June 1, so I’m not sure if it’s too late to sign up or not. Drop her a note!
Amy :: It does taste pretty much the same as regular broccoli, maybe a bit milder. The butchering went fast – we did the first 50 birds in the same time it took us to do 25 last time.
It is, indeed, food porn, ha-ha! I couldn’t take my eyes off those images. I also have my share of food porn. You can check out my web blog.
It all looks fabulous, Laura. We just had fresh, local oysters the other day – but had them raw. I have had wonderful ones cooked on the grill, but don’t know how to do it. Do you grill them with the shells open?
Love the meal you put together! You decided to chop the “rogue” romanesco to allow your broccoli to grow. Didn’t know you liked oysters. You’ll have to bring your recipe to Whidbey next time and we’ll pick them off the beach and grill them.