Middle::
Aagaard Farms had another type of meal I think we can all appreciate: the one pot meal! This one featured a beef roast, root veggies and kabocha squash. I’ve never thought of including squash with a roast and root veggies, and I can’t wait to try it! This is the type of meal that is easy to make and gives plenty of leftovers.
Linda enjoyed a simple pasta dinner in the midst of this busy retail season. With homemade tomato sauce, pork sausage and a Honey Crisp apple on the side, it sounds like the perfect dinner to me!
El had a carbohydrate-rich dinner from the pantry this week, something I think we can all respect! The pot of cranberry beans with smoked pork belly and herbs sounds delightful, the bread and butter looks delicious, and she even included a healthy greenhouse salad. It’s amazing how good a simple pot of beans and bread can be when you are using excellent ingredients.
At put your shovel where your mouth is, the meal of the week coincided with pizza Friday. The result was a delicious-looking stuffed-crust pizza filled with sausage, cheese, peppers, onions and garlic; the homemade sauce went on the top. I really wish I could have this pizza for dinner tonight!
Wendy and her husband made potatoes au gratin with potatoes from their garden, local cheddar cheese and homemade butter. Wendy’s butter didn’t quite get to the point where the buttermilk separated out (you probably needed to beat it longer, Wendy) but it was at that delicious creamy stage between whipped cream and butter. (I think most of us who make butter have had that experience, and that is a really excellent texture for a spread!)
The Local Cook joins us for her first week of the challenge, and she also had a one-pot meal, with a rump roast from her herdshare and carrots and potatoes leftover from the summer CSA. (You’re not the only one who is still eating vegetables from your summer CSA, trust me!) A glass of local red wine completed the meal.
notes from a country girl living in the city had a Thanksgiving feast this week, complete with all the trimmings: corn, stuffing, squash, potatoes, cranberry sauce, and croissants. It all looks and sounds delicious, but I am especially enamored of the miniature pies she made in muffin tins, with three different fillings (blueberry, pumpkin, and apple.) What a great idea!
My own Dark Days meal (that’s Anne from Green Leanings) was a simple squash soup with homemade croutons. I used caramelized onions as a base, and improved the color of the soup with a couple of carrots. Both the squash (green-striped cushaw) and the salt I used to adorn it (Alaea sea salt) are items in Slow Food’s Ark of Taste program, which means they are in danger of extinction. The sea salt certainly isn’t local, but with it’s lovely red color (from Hawaii’s volcanic clay) it is definitely terroir!
East::
NatureWriter used one of my favorite vegetables in carrot-celeriac soup. With a guest to help with the chopping, this soup was even more delicious the second day (which is part of the physics of soup, I think.) Kale chips made an excellent and healthy accompaniment.
Stacey prepared cream of tomato soup and a sunchoke and cauliflower gratin for this week’s meal, and gave recipes for each. I never think about making cream of tomato soup, so thank you for the inspiration!
I really envy Amy this week, because her Dark Days meal featured local shrimp! They were cooked with garlic, leeks, and shallots in butter, and served with romanesco (the fractal vegetable!) and fried potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes. Shrimp, sigh. I love seeing what you lucky coast-dwellers get to eat!
Joining us this week is Annika, with a meal of classic comfort food: meatloaf (made with ground beef and pork sausage) topped with spaghetti sauce, potatoes mashed with butter and cream, and steamed beets.
Sophie’s dinner of pan-seared scallops with sautéed shitakes over mizuna greens looks absolutely amazing and has once again filled me with envy. Aren’t those scallops just perfect?
Kaela’s herb-roasted turkey breast was adapted from a Thomas Keller recipe, and was thing of beauty. Served with rosemary-juniper cranberry sauce and spicy oven-fried sweet potatoes, it was definitely the perfect meal for a dark and rainy day!
Breakfast was the meal of the day for Amber, with an onion and sage frittata served with toasted brown rice bread spread with homemade, herbed yogurt cheese.I’m glad to see another fan of yogurt cheese out there – what a great idea for spreading on toast!
JLGB broke in her new griddle with a pancake smorgasbord, including potato latkes, leek fritters, and regular pancakes. Accompanying them were eggs, red cabbage slaw, and homemade applesauce. What a great theme for a meal!
Marisa also featured latkes in her meal, which she cooked in local lard. Her post includes some secrets to making good latkes (like squeezing the moisture out in a flour sack) as well as the technique of both frying and baking them (which cuts down on the amount of fat needed.) Paired with local romanesco broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and sustainably fished salmon, this looks like a meal to remember!
South::
Life is Like a Box of Chocolates joins us for the first time this week with a delectable meal of ostrich tenderloin with roasted potatoes, snow peas and carrots. What a great start to the challenge! Ostrich is another thing that I have found to envy, since it isn’t produced in my area.
Over at the mommy porch, fish and cornbread were the order of the day, and were dictated but what was available at the market that day. Cornmeal-breaded trout, roasted white sweet potatoes, cornbread muffins, and salad greens with tatsoi sound like a successful shopping day to me!
Laura enjoyed a local lunch that many of us at-home types can appreciate: scrambled eggs with cheese, toast and homemade apple butter, and one of the very last German Johnson tomatoes of the season. With a glass of apple cider, it’s the perfect meal for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Fresh pasta done hippychick style was accompanied by beautiful photos of the pasta in process. The pasta was made with eggs fresh from the yard, and had dried ancho peppers in the dough for color and taste. With a salad of garden greens and a simple sauce of olive oil, butter, and garlic, this meal is an excellent reminder of a time when pasta was made fresh on a regular basis.
Joyce enjoyed a meal of roasted chicken drumsticks over potatoes with a salad of hydroponic lettuce. I agree that chicken over potatoes isn’t the most photogenic of meals, but it is easy to imagine how good it is! And leftovers are always an excellent bonus of Dark Days dinners.
At Knitting 40 Shades of Green, this week’s meal featured an intriguing dish of lasagna-style spaghetti squash served with Brussels sprouts. With homemade tomato sauce, two types of cheese and kalamata olives, this is one of the most original squash dishes I have seen! Definitely an inspiration in these times of more squash than ideas.
Windycityvegan decided to turn her pie pumpkin into a simple soup with sweet potatoes and applesauce, which was served with chickpea cutlets and bread, along with some adorable smiley-faced potato slices for the little one.
Jennelle served up a beautiful dish of pan-seared venison medallions, with one of the many venison recipes from The City Tavern cookbook (from the historic City Tavern in Philadelphia.) They were served with a demi-glace over non-local barley, and looked and sounded good enough to tempt this non-venison eater! (While I applaud people who hunt and eat deer, I was severely traumatized by Bambi as a child, and I just can’t bring myself to eat it. But this dish certainly sounds good!)
*****
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wow, great roundup — lots of great dinner ideas.
Oops, I thought I added “south” to the title!