On our way back from upstate New York in January, we had a layover at the Cincinnati airport. Since the airlines seldom feed you any more, we were there lunchless, with all the usual franchises. But there was one more booth: Gold Star Chili. It had a large bulletin board next to it, describing how four brothers had scraped together $1,200 in 1969 to start the business, which is now a franchise in Ohio and several neighboring states.
Well, I thought, might as well try it while I'm here: "Local Food", right? Cincinnati chili in Cincinnati. So I ordered the chili on french fries, topped with grated cheese. Oh boy, belly bomb. But it was delicious. The chili had a definite flavor of cinnamon, spicy but not too spicy. The serving was just the right size to be filling without overfilling. Great experience. Thanks, Cincinnati and Gold Star.
Here at home, I found a recipe for Cincinnati Chili in a cookbook, and set to work localizing it. Here is my result.
Mostly-Local Cincinnati Chili
1 pound ground buffalo (Rocky Plains, Grover producer)
1 pound ground pork (Rocky Plains, Kersey producer)
1 cup chopped onion (Cresset Farm)
1/2 cup chopped celery (not local in winter)
1/2 cup fresh chopped green pepper, or 2 Tbs dried (Cresset Farm)
2 tablespoons your favorite chili powder (Native Seeds, AZ)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (or black would work as well)
salt to taste
4 cups water
1 cup tomato sauce (not local this year, but will be next!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey (Clarks, Fort Lupton)
grated cheese (Windsor Dairy)
Brown the ground meats, adding the onion and celery, stirring. Add the chili powder, cinnamon, allspice, pepper, salt, tomato sauce, water, and lemon juice. (Yes, it's a lot of water). Simmer together at least 1 1/2 hours. Stir in honey, check for seasoning. You should be able to taste the spices, and just a bit of sweet-sour taste from the lemon juice and honey.
Traditionally served on spaghetti or on French fries, it is also good on baked or boiled potatoes. Top with grated cheddar or other cheese. You can also add well-cooked beans either in the chili toward the end of cooking, or at serving time.
Native Seeds/SEARCH is based in Arizona. The organization works to preserve native plant varieties of the southwest, selling seeds, and also sells chili powders and other traditional southwest foods. So although they are not a Colorado company, they are working hard to preserve local foods for our benefit. The chili powder I used in this recipe was on hand in my kitchen, half Hatch mild, and half Ancho, flavorful but not extremely hot.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Your Victory Garden, Part 1
My sister sent me a marvelous post by Bob Waldrop, who moderates RunningOnEmpty2 Yahoo group. Bob has graciously allowed free distribution of his Rant to Encourage Local Food Production, so I am reproducing it here. Feel free to pass it along to your friends, and publish on your own blog, if you have one.
Bob lives in Oklahoma City, and has organized the Oklahoma City Food Coop, which is a major force for good, local, inexpensive food in his locality. I am reprinting his message in its entirety--I wouldn't want to cut out anything.
----------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Waldrop
Let's just cut right to the point:
Growing vegetables in your back yard (or your front yard) is an excellent way to develop some part-time income and provide your family with great food.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard will increase your quality of life and your economic security and your physical and mental and emotional health.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard provides exercise which is important for good health.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard provides food that tastes very good and is full of nutrition.
We need people willing to start part-time, micro-businesses, growing food and distributing and selling it into the local market.
Lately there has been a lot of news talk about economic uncertainty. Entire sectors of the debt industry are in near-melt-down mode. The economic chattering class is going on and on and on about The R Word (recession).
Our government says the 2007 inflation rate for the year was 4.1% and energy price inflation was 17.4%.
But in the last quarter of 2007, inflation took a sharp turn up.
The inflation rate for all items Oct-Dec 2007 was 5.1% -- and for energy it was 37.1%. Primary data is at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm .
The globalized economy means that when Shanghai, or Hong Kong, or Washington, or London, or Moscow sneezes -- everyone gets a cold, even us'ns here in Oklahoma City.
Just as we are not in complete control of our food destiny right now, we are not in complete control of our economic destiny. Changing our food destiny is what the Oklahoma Food Coop is about. And economic viability is as important as social justice and environmental sustainability. By working together, we can change our food destiny and our economic destiny and our environmental destiny.
Given how important "economic viability" is to most of us, now is the good time to explore creating a part-time business that produces something for the local market.
Consider it a hedge against the possibility of economic and food disasters.
Local food production grows in a very sustainable way -- many small enterprises, spread over a large area, cooperating with each other in a local circle of trade and enterprise. No "one big operation" that monopolizes everything.
Nobody should quit their day job. I'm not. But within a month or two, I plan to bring to the coop market my product -- bulgar wheat, made with certified organic wheat bought from another coop producer. And also Hotter Than Hades Homemade Habanero Sauce. (HTH3.)
I recently pointed out to the producers that we may sell a million dollars of local food products in 2008. I asked them, "What are you going to do to make sure you contribute to that million dollar in one year benchmarket?"
Now I would like to ask our general membership -- "What could you do -- something new -- to increase local food production while at the same time creating yourself some part time income?"
If you don't think you can make money out of a relatively small plot in your back yard, go to http://www.spinfarming.com/ and read all about how these folks in Canada gross $50,000/year on one-half acre in a city -- and its not even one contiguous half acre, it is scattered around town in 20 plots. We have their guides. There's a lot of expert advice available. You're not going to make $50,000 your first year, or even in your first several years. But you will earn income and as your skills, production, and customer base increase, you will earn more economic and food security.
We even have a structure handy and already operating to help you market. You can become a coop producer yourself, or you can hook up with the City Farms Coop founded by food coop member David Rushton, and sell through the network they are establishing, which includes a producer membership in the Oklahoma Food Coop. Check out their producer info at http://www.oklahomafood.coop/shop/producers/djr00.php .
In an economy as uncertain as the present, diversifying your income sources is more than a bit prudent. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative can help you do that. By 2012, we could be selling a million dollars of locally produced foods every month. But to do that, there must be a million dollars of locally produced foods available for us to sell.
So we're not talking "we need five or six", I'm saying we need hundreds, and then thousands, of new local food producers (or existing producers who re-orient their focus). In the next 4 years.
This month, 63 producers have something to sell through the coop, and many of the more in demand products are already sold out. 82 people opened baskets in the first hour of today's order (I call this the Oklahoma Food Coop Land Rush, although it's really an Egg Rush.) 258 people have ordered thus far today.
Four years from now I bet that thousands of people order on the first day of the February 2012 order.
And in 2016? We will be even more popular. If you're going to bet, this is where you should lay your money.
That's where this train is headed. I hope we're all on board for the ride. I am sure it will be bumpy at spots, but the food is something to write home about all along the ride.
So ponder those apples in your cider and see what you come up with. (That's an official directive from the head office, so I hope everyone is paying attention.)
Y'all have a bon appetitin' good time ordering these 2,461 great Oklahoma foods and artisan products that are on sale this month.
Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma Food Cooperative
www.oklahomafood.coop
PS. One final note. Every day people are dying in wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Ultimately, they are fighting over oil. Thus far, in the midst of our global troubles, we tend to forget that there are things we need to do here on the homefront to contribute to a world of peace and justice. During World War I and II, "Victory Gardens" made an important contribution to local economic and food security. In those days they remembered the truth of this children's rhyme:
Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.
In 1918, 1/4 of the US population was cultivating a Victory Garden.
Ninety years later in 2008, we here on the home front send our petro-dollars to pay for the bombs and bullets that terrorists use to kill civilians and our soldiers. The more money we send to OPEC, the more death and suffering there will be. That's obviously not our intention, but that is the unmistakable and unavoidable consequence.
It's a bad picture, and we need to get a better one. And everyone needs to contribute something, somehow --
producer, customer, advisor, teacher, cooperator, entrepreneur, researcher, distributor, investor.
-- all these are necessary for a functioning local food system that rewards environmental sustainability, supports social justice, sustains rural and urban communities, and is economically viable.
More local food production helps break our destructive petroleum dependence on the good graces and "friendship" of OPEC et al. It positions us to meet the energy realities of the future (higher cost, less availability) and thus insulates us from potential economic shocks. It reduces the flow of money to the enemies of peace and freedom.
It's really unlikely that the complex world situation is just going to muddle along for the next 50 years the way they have for the last 50. We're building towards what the sociologists call a "punctuated equilibrium" -- that is, big fundamental changes. During all of my lifetime until recently, gasoline has been cheap. My first car, a 1960 Ford Falcon, I could fill up for 23 cents/gallon, and like all of us, I just got into that car and went anywhere I wanted to go. One gallon now costs the price of a fill-up in 1964.
That was then, this is now. The tank is much more empty than it was then. The price of fuel will continue to increase.
Meanwhile, back at the drawing board, our entire built infrastructure, agriculture, and transportation systems are predicated on cheap energy. Oops! We need built infrastructure, agriculture, and transportation systems that can cope with future energy realities and we need that sooner rather than later.
"Not meeting this challenge" is not an option. The only thing we can do to moderate the price of energy is to use less fossil fuels and more renewable energies. Growing a local food system is an essential aspect of our region's energy transition.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bob lives in Oklahoma City, and has organized the Oklahoma City Food Coop, which is a major force for good, local, inexpensive food in his locality. I am reprinting his message in its entirety--I wouldn't want to cut out anything.
----------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Waldrop
Let's just cut right to the point:
Growing vegetables in your back yard (or your front yard) is an excellent way to develop some part-time income and provide your family with great food.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard will increase your quality of life and your economic security and your physical and mental and emotional health.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard provides exercise which is important for good health.
Growing vegetables in your back or front yard provides food that tastes very good and is full of nutrition.
We need people willing to start part-time, micro-businesses, growing food and distributing and selling it into the local market.
Lately there has been a lot of news talk about economic uncertainty. Entire sectors of the debt industry are in near-melt-down mode. The economic chattering class is going on and on and on about The R Word (recession).
Our government says the 2007 inflation rate for the year was 4.1% and energy price inflation was 17.4%.
But in the last quarter of 2007, inflation took a sharp turn up.
The inflation rate for all items Oct-Dec 2007 was 5.1% -- and for energy it was 37.1%. Primary data is at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm .
The globalized economy means that when Shanghai, or Hong Kong, or Washington, or London, or Moscow sneezes -- everyone gets a cold, even us'ns here in Oklahoma City.
Just as we are not in complete control of our food destiny right now, we are not in complete control of our economic destiny. Changing our food destiny is what the Oklahoma Food Coop is about. And economic viability is as important as social justice and environmental sustainability. By working together, we can change our food destiny and our economic destiny and our environmental destiny.
Given how important "economic viability" is to most of us, now is the good time to explore creating a part-time business that produces something for the local market.
Consider it a hedge against the possibility of economic and food disasters.
Local food production grows in a very sustainable way -- many small enterprises, spread over a large area, cooperating with each other in a local circle of trade and enterprise. No "one big operation" that monopolizes everything.
Nobody should quit their day job. I'm not. But within a month or two, I plan to bring to the coop market my product -- bulgar wheat, made with certified organic wheat bought from another coop producer. And also Hotter Than Hades Homemade Habanero Sauce. (HTH3.)
I recently pointed out to the producers that we may sell a million dollars of local food products in 2008. I asked them, "What are you going to do to make sure you contribute to that million dollar in one year benchmarket?"
Now I would like to ask our general membership -- "What could you do -- something new -- to increase local food production while at the same time creating yourself some part time income?"
If you don't think you can make money out of a relatively small plot in your back yard, go to http://www.spinfarming.com/ and read all about how these folks in Canada gross $50,000/year on one-half acre in a city -- and its not even one contiguous half acre, it is scattered around town in 20 plots. We have their guides. There's a lot of expert advice available. You're not going to make $50,000 your first year, or even in your first several years. But you will earn income and as your skills, production, and customer base increase, you will earn more economic and food security.
We even have a structure handy and already operating to help you market. You can become a coop producer yourself, or you can hook up with the City Farms Coop founded by food coop member David Rushton, and sell through the network they are establishing, which includes a producer membership in the Oklahoma Food Coop. Check out their producer info at http://www.oklahomafood.coop/shop/producers/djr00.php .
In an economy as uncertain as the present, diversifying your income sources is more than a bit prudent. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative can help you do that. By 2012, we could be selling a million dollars of locally produced foods every month. But to do that, there must be a million dollars of locally produced foods available for us to sell.
So we're not talking "we need five or six", I'm saying we need hundreds, and then thousands, of new local food producers (or existing producers who re-orient their focus). In the next 4 years.
This month, 63 producers have something to sell through the coop, and many of the more in demand products are already sold out. 82 people opened baskets in the first hour of today's order (I call this the Oklahoma Food Coop Land Rush, although it's really an Egg Rush.) 258 people have ordered thus far today.
Four years from now I bet that thousands of people order on the first day of the February 2012 order.
And in 2016? We will be even more popular. If you're going to bet, this is where you should lay your money.
That's where this train is headed. I hope we're all on board for the ride. I am sure it will be bumpy at spots, but the food is something to write home about all along the ride.
So ponder those apples in your cider and see what you come up with. (That's an official directive from the head office, so I hope everyone is paying attention.)
Y'all have a bon appetitin' good time ordering these 2,461 great Oklahoma foods and artisan products that are on sale this month.
Bob Waldrop, Oklahoma Food Cooperative
www.oklahomafood.coop
PS. One final note. Every day people are dying in wars in Iraq and elsewhere. Ultimately, they are fighting over oil. Thus far, in the midst of our global troubles, we tend to forget that there are things we need to do here on the homefront to contribute to a world of peace and justice. During World War I and II, "Victory Gardens" made an important contribution to local economic and food security. In those days they remembered the truth of this children's rhyme:
Little drops of water, little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.
In 1918, 1/4 of the US population was cultivating a Victory Garden.
Ninety years later in 2008, we here on the home front send our petro-dollars to pay for the bombs and bullets that terrorists use to kill civilians and our soldiers. The more money we send to OPEC, the more death and suffering there will be. That's obviously not our intention, but that is the unmistakable and unavoidable consequence.
It's a bad picture, and we need to get a better one. And everyone needs to contribute something, somehow --
producer, customer, advisor, teacher, cooperator, entrepreneur, researcher, distributor, investor.
-- all these are necessary for a functioning local food system that rewards environmental sustainability, supports social justice, sustains rural and urban communities, and is economically viable.
More local food production helps break our destructive petroleum dependence on the good graces and "friendship" of OPEC et al. It positions us to meet the energy realities of the future (higher cost, less availability) and thus insulates us from potential economic shocks. It reduces the flow of money to the enemies of peace and freedom.
It's really unlikely that the complex world situation is just going to muddle along for the next 50 years the way they have for the last 50. We're building towards what the sociologists call a "punctuated equilibrium" -- that is, big fundamental changes. During all of my lifetime until recently, gasoline has been cheap. My first car, a 1960 Ford Falcon, I could fill up for 23 cents/gallon, and like all of us, I just got into that car and went anywhere I wanted to go. One gallon now costs the price of a fill-up in 1964.
That was then, this is now. The tank is much more empty than it was then. The price of fuel will continue to increase.
Meanwhile, back at the drawing board, our entire built infrastructure, agriculture, and transportation systems are predicated on cheap energy. Oops! We need built infrastructure, agriculture, and transportation systems that can cope with future energy realities and we need that sooner rather than later.
"Not meeting this challenge" is not an option. The only thing we can do to moderate the price of energy is to use less fossil fuels and more renewable energies. Growing a local food system is an essential aspect of our region's energy transition.
Procrastination is the thief of time.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Make Your Own Lactofermented Vegetables
One way to make those wonderful winter vegetables taste different, and last even longer, is to pickle them by lactofermentation. This is the method used for sauerkraut, kim chee and old-fashioned dill pickles. I wrote a paper last year on making Lactofermented Vegetables, complete with recipes. Enjoy!
It's an easy process, with only a few ground rules. I like to use the half-gallon canning jars; it's a good size and nearly foolproof to make in the jars. You can also make pickles in the summer, preserving those cucumbers for winter salads. Lactofermented salsa is also great, but it's not the season for fresh tomatoes. I'll post a recipe next summer for that.
It's an easy process, with only a few ground rules. I like to use the half-gallon canning jars; it's a good size and nearly foolproof to make in the jars. You can also make pickles in the summer, preserving those cucumbers for winter salads. Lactofermented salsa is also great, but it's not the season for fresh tomatoes. I'll post a recipe next summer for that.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Foods from Far Away: Spices, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate
What is this doing in a Locavore blog? Aren't you supposed to be eating only what grows locally? Yes, but.....
1. Many people won't eat locally if it means that they lose their spices, their morning coffee or tea, their chocolate. For example, in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful book, she allowed spices, and allowed her husband's coffee.
2. Spices, in particular, are very lightweight, and have been traded extensively for at least 1500 years. An ounce of cloves will last you for years. If you can get a few ounces of spices, to season up many many pounds of 100-mile meats, fruits, and vegetables, it's worth it. Spices are also important in lactofermented vegetables, a wonderful healthy way to preserve vegetables for long-term use.
3. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and tropical spices really can't be grown in the U.S. (with the exception of a single tea plantation in South Carolina). These items come mainly from less-wealthy countries, and if properly imported, are an important source of income for local farmers.
However, many times these items contribute to poverty and misery instead of relieving it. I have recently read the book "Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Free-Trade Coffee" by Dean Cycon (of Dean's Beans). He has traveled to many of the countries that produce our coffee and spices. Some of the stories are horrific; the local producers are taken advantage of by everyone along the way, and get pennies per pound for their hard work.
Children in some areas work as virtual slaves in chocolate plantations. Herbicides and insecticides are required by many large companies, and poison the workers and their families who cannot read the instructions which are in English. It's really hair-raising to think about the suffering which can be embedded in our innocent purchase of these foods.
The solution is "Fair Trade". Fair Trade is an international certification, which determines what farmers in a particular area would need to earn to feed their families, send their children to school, and improve their villages. It is always higher than the world price of these commodities.
The Fair Trade buyers agree on the bonus price, which is generally paid in a lump sum each season, above the usual price the farmers get. Lump sums allow coffee villages to build their own coffee bean processing plants, or build a school, or improve their source of potable water. It is difficult for an impoverished village to accumulate enough capital to make these simple changes in their lives without the Fair Trade bonus.
We have exceptions for coffee (Jim's call) and spices (my call) by which I mean tropical spices that really can't be grown in this country: nutmeg, allspice, mace, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cardamon, and vanilla (well, not exactly a spice, but vanilla is also a fair-trade item). Chocolate was a holiday exception for two weeks, off now. And I'm saving a spot for black and green tea. When I buy any of these items, I will look for organic and fair-trade sources. We are citizens of the world, after all, and bear a responsibility for the impact of our purchases.
1. Many people won't eat locally if it means that they lose their spices, their morning coffee or tea, their chocolate. For example, in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful book, she allowed spices, and allowed her husband's coffee.
2. Spices, in particular, are very lightweight, and have been traded extensively for at least 1500 years. An ounce of cloves will last you for years. If you can get a few ounces of spices, to season up many many pounds of 100-mile meats, fruits, and vegetables, it's worth it. Spices are also important in lactofermented vegetables, a wonderful healthy way to preserve vegetables for long-term use.
3. Coffee, tea, chocolate, and tropical spices really can't be grown in the U.S. (with the exception of a single tea plantation in South Carolina). These items come mainly from less-wealthy countries, and if properly imported, are an important source of income for local farmers.
However, many times these items contribute to poverty and misery instead of relieving it. I have recently read the book "Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Free-Trade Coffee" by Dean Cycon (of Dean's Beans). He has traveled to many of the countries that produce our coffee and spices. Some of the stories are horrific; the local producers are taken advantage of by everyone along the way, and get pennies per pound for their hard work.
Children in some areas work as virtual slaves in chocolate plantations. Herbicides and insecticides are required by many large companies, and poison the workers and their families who cannot read the instructions which are in English. It's really hair-raising to think about the suffering which can be embedded in our innocent purchase of these foods.
The solution is "Fair Trade". Fair Trade is an international certification, which determines what farmers in a particular area would need to earn to feed their families, send their children to school, and improve their villages. It is always higher than the world price of these commodities.
The Fair Trade buyers agree on the bonus price, which is generally paid in a lump sum each season, above the usual price the farmers get. Lump sums allow coffee villages to build their own coffee bean processing plants, or build a school, or improve their source of potable water. It is difficult for an impoverished village to accumulate enough capital to make these simple changes in their lives without the Fair Trade bonus.
We have exceptions for coffee (Jim's call) and spices (my call) by which I mean tropical spices that really can't be grown in this country: nutmeg, allspice, mace, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, cardamon, and vanilla (well, not exactly a spice, but vanilla is also a fair-trade item). Chocolate was a holiday exception for two weeks, off now. And I'm saving a spot for black and green tea. When I buy any of these items, I will look for organic and fair-trade sources. We are citizens of the world, after all, and bear a responsibility for the impact of our purchases.
Red Cabbage? Daikon? Help
We're eating the winter vegetables from Cresset Farm, including red cabbage and daikon. These are unfamiliar items in many kitchens, so I've rounded up a few recipes to help.
Red cabbage is a very determined vegetable. You can add some thin shreds to a cole slaw made up of green cabbage and/or Napa, but a straight red cabbage slaw would be somewhat intimidating. Generally, red cabbage is braised with various seasoning, until it becomes tender and flavorful.
Red Cabbage and Chestnuts (adapted from Joy of Cooking)
Chestnuts are optional, but add a lot to the dish. Have your chestnuts peeled and simmered until tender.
1 cup cooked chestnuts
1 small head red cabbage, shredded fine
1/4 cup dry white wine or vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons bacon drippings or butter
salt and pepper
1 peeled, thinly sliced apple
1/4 cup raisins
Place cabbage in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then drain. Heat drippings or butter in skillet, add cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer covered 10 minutes. Add white wine or vinegar, raisins, apple, and chestnuts. Simmer together another 10 minutes and serve.
Spiced Red Cabbage
3 tablespoons butter
1 head red cabbage, sliced thin
1 diced apple
salt to taste
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
dash nutmeg
Heat butter and add cabbage. Cook, stirring, until cabbage wilts (probably 15-20 minutes). Add remaining ingredients and cook another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Daikon is a very large, mild-flavored radish which is very popular in Asian cooking. Here are a few more ways to fix it.
Red and White Radish Salad
1 pound sliced radishes--use a mixture of daikon peeled, quartered and sliced, and red radishes, sliced
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley, if available
Mix vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Let stand 30 minutes. Add radishes, toss well. Let stand another 30 minutes to soak up dressing. Garnish with parsley. A very colorful dish for midwinter.
Stir-Fried Daikon
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup diced scallions or finely sliced leeks
1 medium daikon, peeled, quartered, and sliced thin (about 3 cups)
2-3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1/4 teaspoon hot chili oil or Thai curry paste
Heat oil in skillet, add scallions and stir-fry for a minute. Add daikon, stir-fry for a minute. Add 2 tablespoons water and continue to stir-fry until water is gone. Now add soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste or oil, stirring for another minute or so, until tender-crisp but not mushy. Serve.
Daikon Clear Soup
A traditional Japanese dish, warming in cold weather.
1 strip kombu (kelp) 6-8 inches long
2 cups sliced peeled daikon
1 sheet nori, toasted and cut into small squares
tamari to taste
sliced scallions for garnish
Place strip of kombu in 4 cups water, simmer 10 minutes. Remove kombu. Add daikon, simmer 5 minutes. Season soup with tamari, pour into bowls and garnish with a few slices of scallion and a few squares of nori. The kombu can be used in another dish, cutting it into small dice, or some can be added back to the soup.
Braised Beef and Radish
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 pound stewing beef, cut into medium chunks
1 pound daikon, peeled and cut into medium chunks
1-2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice seasoning
In skillet, brown meat cubes in oil. Add daikon, spice, and water to cover by 1 inch. Simmer until meat is tender. You can add salt or tamari to taste.
Red cabbage is a very determined vegetable. You can add some thin shreds to a cole slaw made up of green cabbage and/or Napa, but a straight red cabbage slaw would be somewhat intimidating. Generally, red cabbage is braised with various seasoning, until it becomes tender and flavorful.
Red Cabbage and Chestnuts (adapted from Joy of Cooking)
Chestnuts are optional, but add a lot to the dish. Have your chestnuts peeled and simmered until tender.
1 cup cooked chestnuts
1 small head red cabbage, shredded fine
1/4 cup dry white wine or vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons bacon drippings or butter
salt and pepper
1 peeled, thinly sliced apple
1/4 cup raisins
Place cabbage in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then drain. Heat drippings or butter in skillet, add cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer covered 10 minutes. Add white wine or vinegar, raisins, apple, and chestnuts. Simmer together another 10 minutes and serve.
Spiced Red Cabbage
3 tablespoons butter
1 head red cabbage, sliced thin
1 diced apple
salt to taste
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
dash nutmeg
Heat butter and add cabbage. Cook, stirring, until cabbage wilts (probably 15-20 minutes). Add remaining ingredients and cook another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Daikon is a very large, mild-flavored radish which is very popular in Asian cooking. Here are a few more ways to fix it.
Red and White Radish Salad
1 pound sliced radishes--use a mixture of daikon peeled, quartered and sliced, and red radishes, sliced
1/4 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley, if available
Mix vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. Let stand 30 minutes. Add radishes, toss well. Let stand another 30 minutes to soak up dressing. Garnish with parsley. A very colorful dish for midwinter.
Stir-Fried Daikon
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup diced scallions or finely sliced leeks
1 medium daikon, peeled, quartered, and sliced thin (about 3 cups)
2-3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1/4 teaspoon hot chili oil or Thai curry paste
Heat oil in skillet, add scallions and stir-fry for a minute. Add daikon, stir-fry for a minute. Add 2 tablespoons water and continue to stir-fry until water is gone. Now add soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste or oil, stirring for another minute or so, until tender-crisp but not mushy. Serve.
Daikon Clear Soup
A traditional Japanese dish, warming in cold weather.
1 strip kombu (kelp) 6-8 inches long
2 cups sliced peeled daikon
1 sheet nori, toasted and cut into small squares
tamari to taste
sliced scallions for garnish
Place strip of kombu in 4 cups water, simmer 10 minutes. Remove kombu. Add daikon, simmer 5 minutes. Season soup with tamari, pour into bowls and garnish with a few slices of scallion and a few squares of nori. The kombu can be used in another dish, cutting it into small dice, or some can be added back to the soup.
Braised Beef and Radish
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 pound stewing beef, cut into medium chunks
1 pound daikon, peeled and cut into medium chunks
1-2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice seasoning
In skillet, brown meat cubes in oil. Add daikon, spice, and water to cover by 1 inch. Simmer until meat is tender. You can add salt or tamari to taste.
Two Locavores on Vacation
I haven't been posting for the last couple of weeks because we were traveling to New York state to visit my son Eric and his wife Aileen. This is part belated-holiday visit (it's cheaper and easier to travel AFTER Christmas), and part house-hunting trip for them in the Catskills.
This is the first travel away from home that we have done since starting our 100-mile diet in November. Our rules were that we would try to find local food at our destination, but not be rigid about it; the main point of the trip is the visiting and being with our loved family, rather than what we eat. I expanded this slightly to say that I can bring back a few small items with me that were produced within a 100-mile circle of our destination.
That said, my sweet DIL had put in some work in finding stores selling local foods. They rented a house for the week, with a fully equipped kitchen. We shopped locally and cooked all but one of our meals.
The crowning locavore glory was a locally raised roasting chicken, eight pounds. We roasted it one night, with local potatoes. Then I took the meat off the bones, and we used it in lunches the rest of the week, along with other items. I cooked the carcass, making a rich chicken soup from the broth and meat, with the vegetables that we had on hand (including canned peas).
The first full day we were there in the Catskills, we went to the Adams natural food market in Saugerties, which had lots of local foods. We got New York state apples, Grafton Valley 2 yr old cheddar, Russell Farms buckwheat flour, New York potatoes, local onions, Kim chee. This was the source of the fabulous roasting chicken.
We also got fresh local ricotta, an absolutely superb product. We used it for lasagna and breakfast crepes, as well as an occasional dip with the spoon. Miles ahead of any commercial product I’ve ever had. If I can’t find real fresh ricotta, I’ll have to learn to make it. We also got local eggs and milk (regular commercial pasteurized) but it was good. Local for Woodstock New York includes Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Jersey, since it is in the south of the state.
We shopped at the local German market and got local bacon, really superlative. German potato salad, smoked gruyere, European chocolate, German herring and sardines, local venison salami were among our other purchases. I expect the bacon had sodium nitrite in it, but oh well, once a year won’t hurt. We also got local maple syrup there. And we stopped at the Sunflower market in Woodstock, a natural foods store, for local cheese, milk, and eggs.
I saw linden flower tea for sale in the German market, which was imported, but I bought some. I have wanted to try out this tea for a while. It was delicious, with a honey-like fragrance, and very soothing. We have many linden trees in our area as landscape trees, so collecting linden flowers should be easy enough to do. You collect them just as the flowers fall, and dry them gently so that they will keep. I am definitely doing this next spring in linden blossom time. BTW linden is also known as tilia (tilleul, tiglio) and lime flower (though it has nothing to do with the citrus lime).
Aileen had also bought us American Classic tea, blended with tea from the South Carolina tea plantation, the only tea plantation in the U.S., and the closest to local black tea that we can get. It has a very nice flavor. Bigelow owns the plantation.
The New York weather was cold, with a damp chill that just goes through you, compared to our drier cold. But we had only two very small snow flurries. The area is a mecca for locally-produced food, especially in the warmer periods of the year. The land is fertile and harbors a large number of CSAs, small local farms, dairy farms, and so forth. Maple syrup is produced locally. The New York apples are wonderful. The area has a strong tradition of locally-produced artisanal cheeses.
We stopped at Lucky's, the local chocolate shop, and got some treats, locally made from non-local ingredients, but delicious.
We ate brunch at Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia, NY. The food was delicious, and the servings very generous. Aileen made a fabulous brown-rice noodle lasagne, with local cheeses, spinach, and pesto.
I made gluten-free pizza the next evening using flours she had brought, local mozzarella and sausage, and more of that delicious pesto (the brand name was Buddhapesto). Pesto goes a long way. I'm happy I have many small jars of it in my freezer from last summer's basil extravaganza from Cresset Farm.
What I brought back: a bag of buckwheat flour produced less than 30 miles from where we were, and some New York cheese.
This is the first travel away from home that we have done since starting our 100-mile diet in November. Our rules were that we would try to find local food at our destination, but not be rigid about it; the main point of the trip is the visiting and being with our loved family, rather than what we eat. I expanded this slightly to say that I can bring back a few small items with me that were produced within a 100-mile circle of our destination.
That said, my sweet DIL had put in some work in finding stores selling local foods. They rented a house for the week, with a fully equipped kitchen. We shopped locally and cooked all but one of our meals.
The crowning locavore glory was a locally raised roasting chicken, eight pounds. We roasted it one night, with local potatoes. Then I took the meat off the bones, and we used it in lunches the rest of the week, along with other items. I cooked the carcass, making a rich chicken soup from the broth and meat, with the vegetables that we had on hand (including canned peas).
The first full day we were there in the Catskills, we went to the Adams natural food market in Saugerties, which had lots of local foods. We got New York state apples, Grafton Valley 2 yr old cheddar, Russell Farms buckwheat flour, New York potatoes, local onions, Kim chee. This was the source of the fabulous roasting chicken.
We also got fresh local ricotta, an absolutely superb product. We used it for lasagna and breakfast crepes, as well as an occasional dip with the spoon. Miles ahead of any commercial product I’ve ever had. If I can’t find real fresh ricotta, I’ll have to learn to make it. We also got local eggs and milk (regular commercial pasteurized) but it was good. Local for Woodstock New York includes Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Jersey, since it is in the south of the state.
We shopped at the local German market and got local bacon, really superlative. German potato salad, smoked gruyere, European chocolate, German herring and sardines, local venison salami were among our other purchases. I expect the bacon had sodium nitrite in it, but oh well, once a year won’t hurt. We also got local maple syrup there. And we stopped at the Sunflower market in Woodstock, a natural foods store, for local cheese, milk, and eggs.
I saw linden flower tea for sale in the German market, which was imported, but I bought some. I have wanted to try out this tea for a while. It was delicious, with a honey-like fragrance, and very soothing. We have many linden trees in our area as landscape trees, so collecting linden flowers should be easy enough to do. You collect them just as the flowers fall, and dry them gently so that they will keep. I am definitely doing this next spring in linden blossom time. BTW linden is also known as tilia (tilleul, tiglio) and lime flower (though it has nothing to do with the citrus lime).
Aileen had also bought us American Classic tea, blended with tea from the South Carolina tea plantation, the only tea plantation in the U.S., and the closest to local black tea that we can get. It has a very nice flavor. Bigelow owns the plantation.
The New York weather was cold, with a damp chill that just goes through you, compared to our drier cold. But we had only two very small snow flurries. The area is a mecca for locally-produced food, especially in the warmer periods of the year. The land is fertile and harbors a large number of CSAs, small local farms, dairy farms, and so forth. Maple syrup is produced locally. The New York apples are wonderful. The area has a strong tradition of locally-produced artisanal cheeses.
We stopped at Lucky's, the local chocolate shop, and got some treats, locally made from non-local ingredients, but delicious.
We ate brunch at Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia, NY. The food was delicious, and the servings very generous. Aileen made a fabulous brown-rice noodle lasagne, with local cheeses, spinach, and pesto.
I made gluten-free pizza the next evening using flours she had brought, local mozzarella and sausage, and more of that delicious pesto (the brand name was Buddhapesto). Pesto goes a long way. I'm happy I have many small jars of it in my freezer from last summer's basil extravaganza from Cresset Farm.
What I brought back: a bag of buckwheat flour produced less than 30 miles from where we were, and some New York cheese.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
January: What Are We Eating?
We're having a lot of soups now. Seems like I've always got at least two to choose from in the frig.
Borscht is a big favorite. Made with Cresset Farm beets, cabbage, onion, garlic, and carrot, and local bacon or sausage. Topped off with homemade yogurt from Windsor Dairy milk, this is a totally local meal. (recipe #1 under Nothing Beets Borscht post)
Caldo verde is another. Made with Cresset Farm kale, onions, and garlic, local potatoes, and sausage. I still have some local Anaheim chiles (a couple fresh in the frig, believe it or not, and some roasted in the freezer), so I add them too. And sometimes I add some soaked dried beans (currently using up my stock from Native Seeds/SEARCH, but looking for local sources).
Chicken soup from Northern Colo. Poultry chicken (Nunn), Cresset leeks, local potatoes (sometimes Cresset, sometimes from LaSalle). Potatoes, leeks and chicken go together so well.
Cole slaw of various types; the fresh food tastes great this time of year. I make slaw from green cabbage or from Napa (both from Cresset). Napa makes a great slaw. I've been adding a little radicchio (Cresset) and sometimes carrot slivers (Cresset). And once a hothouse Loveland-grown tomato. I also add pickled cuke slices (lactofermented by me from Cresset cucumbers). Dressing can be kefir/buttermilk (Windsor Dairy milk) with dill weed (Cresset) and celery seed (on hand), or olive oil (exception) and pickle juice or vinegar (on hand).
The last three weeks I have been fixing pizza for Saturday night dinner. Jim's has WheatLand Farms wheat flour, mine is from my dwindling stock of gluten-free flours. I've been using pesto (made last summer from Cresset basil and garlic) as a sauce, and Jim's is from the nearly vanished stock of tomato paste/sauce. Uh-oh! Then local sausage (Rocky Plains), local mushrooms (Hazel Dell), olives (California, exception), and Windsor Dairy's delicious fresh mozzarella. Yum. (Next summer I'm going to put up TOMATO PASTE! and tomato sauce, etc. etc., so we don't run out.)
We're enjoying our stored apples from our trees. I often have a chopped apples with homemade yogurt (Windsor Dairy milk) for breakfast; I fix spiced apples with cream for dessert often (like an apple pie without the crust, and without extra sugar). Spices are on hand; like Barbara Kingsolver I declared "spices" an exception. Spices have been traded by humans for millenia. My chosen spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, allspice, black pepper, cardamon and vanilla, none of which we can grow here. When I run out of stock, I will get them fair-trade and organic.
Another apple dish I plan to make soon is red cabbage cooked with apples and onions. Red cabbage is a little too resistant to make good slaw (except for a few bits for color), so cooking is the way to use it. It keeps nearly forever in a cool place.
Winter squash: Delicata stuffed with Hazel Dell mushrooms, a little rice (dwindling stock), and fresh mozzarella, with fresh herbs (cut from my sunny-window herbs). By the time my rice is gone, I hope to be able to find quinoa locally. I also plan to make some winter-squash soups, and will post recipes as I try them.
Those who can eat wheat could use whole-wheat (WheatLand) bread crumbs instead of rice to stuff squash, and make this dish perfectly local.
You could also use Haystack Mountain goat cheese instead of the mozzarella, or in addition to it. They are west of Niwot, and have a lot of wonderful varieties. You can go to the dairy to buy their cheeses, if you're close; Whole Foods carries lots of the chevre, and generally a few other varieties. For Christmas, I sent my daughter-in-law's parents a package of Haystack Mountain goat cheese (her mother is a gourmet cook) and she was impressed.
Roasted winter vegetables: turnip, parsnip, carrot, and leek, olive oil (exception), and fresh herbs from my sunny window.
Another favorite is buffalo burger (Rocky Plains) patties with melted mozzarella cheese (Windsor Dairy). A common simple meal is a sausage link or two (Rocky Plains), with a cooked vegetable and cole slaw.
We rely so much on our Cresset CSA vegetables, on Windsor Dairy, on Northern Colo Poultry for eggs and chicken. There are many CSAs in our area, a number of small local dairies, a number of small ranchers raising meat and poultry, so you can pick some near you. If you are reading this from another part of the country, you can do a search on the Local Harvest web site. It's really amazing how many small local producers there are, in every corner of the country.
So, we're eating like kings and queens here; still a lot in the freezer, pantry, and garage (cool room); on-hand non-local food is dwindling (necessity is the mother of invention; I'm figuring out these things as I go along). I'm gradually losing a little weight, not for lack of food, but because the local home-cooked food is more satisfying.
Borscht is a big favorite. Made with Cresset Farm beets, cabbage, onion, garlic, and carrot, and local bacon or sausage. Topped off with homemade yogurt from Windsor Dairy milk, this is a totally local meal. (recipe #1 under Nothing Beets Borscht post)
Caldo verde is another. Made with Cresset Farm kale, onions, and garlic, local potatoes, and sausage. I still have some local Anaheim chiles (a couple fresh in the frig, believe it or not, and some roasted in the freezer), so I add them too. And sometimes I add some soaked dried beans (currently using up my stock from Native Seeds/SEARCH, but looking for local sources).
Chicken soup from Northern Colo. Poultry chicken (Nunn), Cresset leeks, local potatoes (sometimes Cresset, sometimes from LaSalle). Potatoes, leeks and chicken go together so well.
Cole slaw of various types; the fresh food tastes great this time of year. I make slaw from green cabbage or from Napa (both from Cresset). Napa makes a great slaw. I've been adding a little radicchio (Cresset) and sometimes carrot slivers (Cresset). And once a hothouse Loveland-grown tomato. I also add pickled cuke slices (lactofermented by me from Cresset cucumbers). Dressing can be kefir/buttermilk (Windsor Dairy milk) with dill weed (Cresset) and celery seed (on hand), or olive oil (exception) and pickle juice or vinegar (on hand).
The last three weeks I have been fixing pizza for Saturday night dinner. Jim's has WheatLand Farms wheat flour, mine is from my dwindling stock of gluten-free flours. I've been using pesto (made last summer from Cresset basil and garlic) as a sauce, and Jim's is from the nearly vanished stock of tomato paste/sauce. Uh-oh! Then local sausage (Rocky Plains), local mushrooms (Hazel Dell), olives (California, exception), and Windsor Dairy's delicious fresh mozzarella. Yum. (Next summer I'm going to put up TOMATO PASTE! and tomato sauce, etc. etc., so we don't run out.)
We're enjoying our stored apples from our trees. I often have a chopped apples with homemade yogurt (Windsor Dairy milk) for breakfast; I fix spiced apples with cream for dessert often (like an apple pie without the crust, and without extra sugar). Spices are on hand; like Barbara Kingsolver I declared "spices" an exception. Spices have been traded by humans for millenia. My chosen spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, allspice, black pepper, cardamon and vanilla, none of which we can grow here. When I run out of stock, I will get them fair-trade and organic.
Another apple dish I plan to make soon is red cabbage cooked with apples and onions. Red cabbage is a little too resistant to make good slaw (except for a few bits for color), so cooking is the way to use it. It keeps nearly forever in a cool place.
Winter squash: Delicata stuffed with Hazel Dell mushrooms, a little rice (dwindling stock), and fresh mozzarella, with fresh herbs (cut from my sunny-window herbs). By the time my rice is gone, I hope to be able to find quinoa locally. I also plan to make some winter-squash soups, and will post recipes as I try them.
Those who can eat wheat could use whole-wheat (WheatLand) bread crumbs instead of rice to stuff squash, and make this dish perfectly local.
You could also use Haystack Mountain goat cheese instead of the mozzarella, or in addition to it. They are west of Niwot, and have a lot of wonderful varieties. You can go to the dairy to buy their cheeses, if you're close; Whole Foods carries lots of the chevre, and generally a few other varieties. For Christmas, I sent my daughter-in-law's parents a package of Haystack Mountain goat cheese (her mother is a gourmet cook) and she was impressed.
Roasted winter vegetables: turnip, parsnip, carrot, and leek, olive oil (exception), and fresh herbs from my sunny window.
Another favorite is buffalo burger (Rocky Plains) patties with melted mozzarella cheese (Windsor Dairy). A common simple meal is a sausage link or two (Rocky Plains), with a cooked vegetable and cole slaw.
We rely so much on our Cresset CSA vegetables, on Windsor Dairy, on Northern Colo Poultry for eggs and chicken. There are many CSAs in our area, a number of small local dairies, a number of small ranchers raising meat and poultry, so you can pick some near you. If you are reading this from another part of the country, you can do a search on the Local Harvest web site. It's really amazing how many small local producers there are, in every corner of the country.
So, we're eating like kings and queens here; still a lot in the freezer, pantry, and garage (cool room); on-hand non-local food is dwindling (necessity is the mother of invention; I'm figuring out these things as I go along). I'm gradually losing a little weight, not for lack of food, but because the local home-cooked food is more satisfying.
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