The East:
Cheryl
(At the Farmer’s Market) made her legendary pumpkin waffles which are the perfect breakfast with this time of year’s abundance of apples and winter squash. I wonder if these would be good for brunch? Check out her post for the recipe. Yum!
Jenny (Daftly Smitten) had a hard week when a farmer’s market she had high hopes for turned out to be anything but the holy grail of winter produce she hoped. Breakfast made another appearance, this time with eggs over easy, bacon, mushroom hashbrowns and raisin toast. Personally, I’m looking forward to cabbage soup with homemade beef stock – we could use a good recipe around here!
With the local market back in business, Stacey (Fessenden Farmstead) found the ingredients she needed for a cheese souffle with a side of steamed broccoli and a salad of young chard and sliced kohlrabi. Next week? PORK from a heritage Tamworth hog.
Inspired by her trip to Puerto Rico, Sophie (Late Bloomers Farm) made Habichuelas or Sewed Beans modified to fit the ingredients she had access to.
Feeling a bit lazy, Marisa (Food in Jars) chose to tell us about the salad she made for lunch. After making it to the market quite late, she was still fortunate enough to pick up eggs, portobello mushrooms and a bag of tender salad greens. She tossed the greens with balsamic, olive oil, alt and pepper. She topped it with a bit of goat cheese and hunk of baguette.
With a gift of venison in hand, Kaela (Local Kitchen) used it to make chile verde. She’s not an overnight convert (I don’t love it either and we’ve eaten a lot in the last 10 years), but did enjoy it more than she expected. Of course, having the chile verde ready to go certainly helps!
Jeanell (My Local Food Obsession) embarked on a three-day cleanse, but decided to focus on liquids that would still nourish her. Two of them turned out to be pretty local. The first was a juice of carrots, beets, cabbage and ginger. The second was a local, organic kombucha. The last was a broth made with miso and bits of veggies from the broth bag.
After grinding her own soy flour, Amber (Unstuffed) used it to make vegetable fritters by combining it with acorn squash, egg, shredded radish and horseradish. On the side was a delicious looking salad of radish, carrot, mung bean sprouts and a horseradish dressing.
After finding a local “old hen” for just fifty cents a pound, it hung out in the freezer at Annika’s (Northeast Kingdom Locavore) house for a bit. After hours in the oven with veggies, red wine, turkey broth and herbs, the hen became delicious coq au vin. It was enjoyed with sauteed cabbage and baked delicata squash.
Melissa (Connectivore’s Dilemma) highlighted two meals this week. The first was a brunch of beef kielbasa, scrambled eggs, local cheese, homegrown sprout salad on homemade bread. The second was a dinner of sauteed garlic, onions, sprouts, zucchini and kielbasa over homemade goat cheese ravioli. Yum.
After making homemade bouillon, Peg (The Palmyra Silver) used her new immersion blender on the soup of the week. This time around it was celery-celeriac-potato soup featuring local ingredients. Sounds good to me!
Amy (What Did She Do Today?) turned her homemade brioche into roasted parsnip bread pudding. The parsnips and rutabaga were roasted in duck fat (yum) and on the side was a bit of spiced apple sausage, green beans and cranberry juice.
The West:
Ellen (2010 CSA Challenge) and her family continue to eat out of the freezer, pantry and root cellar as they get ready to list the house. This week featured more of the pumpkin soup, this time with crispy onion straws and buttered rosemary rolls.
Einat (Almostima) rejoins us with a triple play. First up: pork shoulder with a simple salad of greens and sweet carrots. Then the pork went into a stirfry with local rice, egg, green onion, broccoli and carrots. Finally, the rosemary found it’s way into slow cooked beef shanks cooked in local beer, carrots, onions and tomato sauce. Go Einat!
As Kristen (Arugulove) discovered, celery root may smell like celery but it tastes a bit earthier and has no weird strings. The celery root soup went well with the mandarin toasts. Of course, segmenting satsumas is an effort in self-flagellation.
Her version might have turned out more like a stew, but Juli (From Dirt to Dinner) still found it yummy. The kale, turnips, carrots, beans and herbs were all from the garden, combined with chicken sausage. This sounds delicious as well!
I may have screwed up Anita and Cameron’s (Married… with Dinner) plans for the week, but the spicy stew that they put together for Sunday night dinner was delicious. It might not have much to look at, but it more than made up for it in it’s deep flavor. Yum.
Kathleen (Our Life in the Country) made use of two fresh Dungeness crabs for two dinners. The first they ate them on newspaper with butter (my favorite way). For the second she used the leftovers to make a frittata with eggs, butter, broccoli and sun-dried tomato cheddar cheese that she brought back from their holiday visit up here.
Sara (Prepping 4 28) found a farmer’s market full of the first signs that winter was over. After filling their bags, she made a breakfast of hashbrowns, scrambled eggs with green onion, garlic and cilantro and sausage patties. Sara, I’m so glad that you’ve realized that Dark Days is all about where you’re eating, not how fancy it is!
Her pickle obsession is paying off with a bit of crunch and texture whenever she needs it and Jen (Eat Local Challenge) is pleased as punch. Her meal this week was white beans topped with canned tomatoes and cheese. She enjoyed them with roasted beets and a short rib sandwich with turnip pickles and a local pale ale. Hmmmm.
*****
Possibly Related posts (newest to oldest):
whoops, I posted too late to get in the roundup! Here’s the link to my Dark Days week 10 post:
http://thriftathome.blogspot.com/2010/01/dark-days-week-9-ethnic.html
Okay, I seriously need to better proof read these before I post them. And apparently have my keyboard cleaned so that certain consistently missed letters stop disappearing. My apologies – I’ll fix typos tonight when I get home from my first horseback riding lesson in more than 15 years. I feel sorry for my new trainer already…
you did not screw up our dinner plans! we loved having you, and it was my own damned forgetfulness that cost me a Dark Day dinner later in the week.
So sorry for my slacking. I’ve been posting a dark days meal each week, but too late each time for the ’roundup.’ I’m planning to do better in upcoming weeks and already have one up for next time. Thanks for organizing the challenge–I think it’s a fun topic and I love seeing all those delicious meals.