Monday, February 27, 2012

Wayland Winter Market 2/25

Gail and I visited an extremely busy Wayland Winter Market this past Saturday. We arrived just a few minutes after the market was officially open and there was already a line of nearly 20 people waiting to get produce from one particular vendor. There was barely enough room for people to squeeze by each other as we went from vendor to vendor. No matter though, we persevered and wound our way through the vendors, leaving the market with an impressive and delicious haul!

We took home a bag of salad greens, white sweet potatoes, and a bag of potatoes from Red Fire Farm. Two bottles of Ginger Libation from Green River Ambrosia. A nice sampling of pickled goods from Grillo's Pickles including pickled grapes, pickled carrots, and half sour pickles. Micro salad greens from E & T Farms. Carrots, radishes, and beets from Winter Moon Farm. Smoked Cambridge and Herdsman Cheeses from West River Creamery. Country style pork ribs and Dragon Stout Mustard from Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds.  Steak tips and beef liver from Charlton Orchard. A new(ish) vendor for the Wayland Market (but a favorite from other locales), Doves & Figs had one of my favorites - Cape Escape an amazing cranberry puree with Taza Chocolate! We also took home some baked goods from the Danish Pasty House - a chocolate croissant, a bourbon chocolate pecan tart, and a savory baguette - not pictured is the ginger chew cookie that only made it to the car, where it was promptly devoured by Gail and I.
What we love so much about this market is the great variety of produce and local foods available from some really friendly and passionate vendors. The Wayland Market is easily our favorite Winter Market, which is why once it is open for the season we frequent it far more then they other markets.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

2012 In Progress (February)

reading:
What I Eat: Around the World In 80 Diets - Faith D'Alusio & Peter Menzel (finished)
Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save The World - Paul Stamets
Dead for 32,000 years an arctic plant is revived - New York Times
Honey Makes the World Go Round - Grist


viewing:
Planet Earth (finished)

listening to:

Coffee I am drinking this week:  This week we've been enjoying the Captain's Coffee Brewers Hope Blend which is a nice mix of medium and light roasted beans from Asia & South America that is very smooth and mellow.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

2012 Seed Order

This past weekend I did one final check of my seed list, continued working on the growing plan for the upcoming 2012 season, and ordered some seeds to supplement what I already had. After looking around and debating where to order seed from I decided to go with High Mowing Organic Seeds of Wolcott, Vermont.

The order was nothing spectacular as we have more then enough seed for most of what we want to grow. I ordered:
Yankee Salad Mix
Purple Osaka Mustard Greens
Siberian Kale
Darki Triple Curled Parsley
Genovese Basil

That's it! The remainder of the seeds will come from what I've already got stored away in my personal seed bank as well as the random impulse seed purchase I may be susceptible too on occasion. We also have 4 packets of seed coming in each month courtesy of the Seed of the Month Club which is a great way to increase my personal seed collection. As usually I will be buying pepper and tomato starters from a local source, but plan to start the remainder of what we grow from seed, again this is subject to the occasional impulse purchase (last year it was huckleberries).

Have you ordered your seed? How for along is your planning/growing for the 2012 season??

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Dark Days Meal # 12: Sweet Potato Fries, Sautéed Spinach & Onion with Roast Carrots and Beef Sausage

The Dark Days Challenge is on! Running until March 31, 2012 over 100 participants will be doing our best to cook and blog about one meal per week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients. Recaps will be hosted by the blog collective Not Dabbling in Normal where you can follow along with all of the other participants.
This Dark Days Meal was pulled out of thin air a few nights ago! Looking in our refrigerator and pantry I took stock of what was available, at which point I realized that I had absolutely no desire to cook. That is how it happens sometimes though, and we still had some produce that needed to be used, hence the plate of seemingly random deliciousness pictured below:
Our meal consisted of baked white sweet potato fries, sauteed spinach and onions, and maple roasted carrots with sliced leftover Italian sausage from our last Dark Days Meal. The sweet potato fries were a real hit with Gail and I and the remainder of the meal was good enough to eat! The sweet potatoes, spinach, and onions came from Red Fire Farm while the carrots are courtesy of Winter Moon Farm and the Italian Sausage is from Caladonia Farm.

Monday, February 20, 2012

SoWa Market 2/19

Gail and I made a quick trip to the SoWa market yesterday afternoon. While it wasn't one of our biggest winter market trips we did bring home a great variety of food stuffs! A nice mix of produce, meat, cheese, and specialty goods.
We took home 2 packages of ravioli - cheddar and stout as well as braised carrot and chickpea from Valicenti Organico. Muhammara and flatbread from Samira's Homemade. Local Honey from Golden Rule Honey (they also have a variety of non-local honey), smoked pork chops from John Crow Farm, Maple Smoked Gouda from Taylor Farm. Carrots, turnips, chard, acorn and butternut squash from Silverbrook Farm, and 3 small packages of nuts from Q's Nuts (Banana's Foster pecans, Cayenne Mango almonds, and Sweet Roasted pecans) who were nice enough to let us sample nearly all of the nuts they had available before we finally made up our minds!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

2012 In Progress (February)

Reading:

What I Eat: Around the World In 80 Diets - Faith D'Alusio & Peter Menzel

viewing:

listening to:
Nerdist Podcast # 167 - Conan O'Brien
Eric Clapton - Slowhand
Black Keys - El Camino
Thievery Corporation - Culture of Fear

coffee we are drinking this week: We are finishing up  Coffee By Design's Colombia Antioquia Jardin Alma Del Cafe we have been enjoying the last few weeks. The coffee is a nice strong and bold cup that has a slightly sweet finish, as if there was honey already in the cup.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Dark Days Meal # 11: Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Ravioli with Homemade Sauce and Spicy Beef Sausage



The Dark Days Challenge is on! Running until March 31, 2012 over 100 participants will be doing our best to cook and blog about one meal per week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients. Recaps will be hosted by the blog collective Not Dabbling in Normal where you can follow along with all of the other participants.

No picture of this weeks Dark Days Meal. What can I say, I was feeling lazy! Pasta is a pretty regular part of our diet as there is so much that can be done with it. No matter how we prepare it Gail and I are always satisfied with pasta.
This week we had Roasted Red Pepper, Goat Cheese & Chive Ravioli from Nella Pasta (and our freezer) with homemade red sauce that we canned this summer along with our homemade garlic scape pesto, onions from Red Fire Farm, and spicy Italian beef sausage from Caladonia Farm.

We are lucky to have a few different sources of locally made pasta and ravioli from a variety of the winter markets in the area so we typically have a few flavors of ravioli and maybe a fresh made pasta in our fridge or freezer for the days we want something warm and satisfying! I'd never had this variety of Nella Pasta's ravioli but I really liked it. The taste mixed very well with the Italian beef sausage, which was also a new item for us, as last week was my first time buying meat from Caladonia.

All in all it was a simple and tasty meal that left us with full bellies and smiles on our faces!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Growing Mushrooms in the Kitchen!

Last month Gail and I picked up a Back To The Roots Mushroom Kit at our local whole foods. The kit is a block of used coffee grounds inoculated with Oyster Mushroom mycelia. Activating the kit was as simple as soaking it overnight in water (we initially tried it without this step with no results, however as soon as the block was soaked and drained mushrooms started growing). Once activated a few sprays of water 2 or 3 times a day is all the attention the mushrooms really need.  On the days that I was working from home I would check in on the mushrooms a few times a day and could visibly see growth! In 8 days we harvested a 4 oz clump of Oysters Mushrooms. After the harvest, we turned the kit around and are now trying a second crop on the back side! Here's a few pictures documenting the rapid growth, which was really amazing!

Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
It was really cool to see how quickly these grew. Though they are not my favorite I am attempting to eat more mushrooms and have also been learning about mushroom cultivation and growth. I look forward to learning and growing more!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Chewy Tangy Bread

I am not an expert bread maker, I barely qualify as a novice most of the time, but I keep trying with some great success as well as some pretty bad failures as well, but sometimes I bake bread that is absolutely what I envisioned. The 2 loaves I made on Saturday were a perfect example of the final product coming out just as I had hoped. The addition of fed sourdough starter gives this bread a slightly tangy taste. The bread had a thin and crispy crust and the loaves were soft, fluffy, and chewy -a perfect vehicle for a bit of warmed butter and a great addition to the dinner table.

 
 Chewy Tangy Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

1 1/2 cups fed sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour (I used 4 cups King Arthur All-Purpose Flour & 1 cup bolted Warthog from Four Star Farms)

Combine all of the ingredients and knead to form a smooth dough. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, approximately 90 minutes. After dough has risen, divide the dough in half. Shape each half into an oval shaped loaf and place on parchment-lined or corn meal dusted baking sheet. Cover and let loaves rise until puffy, about 1 hour. As the dough is rising preheat the oven to 425 F.
Make deep slashes in each loaf with a serrated bread knife and mist with lukewarm water. Place a shallow pan with lukewarm water in the bottom rack of the oven. Back the bread for 25 to 30 minutes on the upper rack until bread is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

(submitted to YeastSpotting)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Wayland Winter Market 2/11

Gail and I unexpectedly found ourselves at her Sister's house early on Saturday morning which made a trip to to the Wayland Winter Market  very convenient!  We got some usual staples as well as a few treats!


We got carrots from Winter Moon Farm, which are quickly become my favorite carrots! They are slightly sweet and bursting with flavor!! From Red Fire Farm we got a bag of potatoes, a bag of yellow onions, a bag of spinach, and two sweet potatoes. We took home a small bag of arugula micro-greens from E&T farms and a baguette from the Danish Pastry House. From Charlton Orchards we got apples and beef shank for soup. We also got a second beef shank from Caladonia Farms, because Charlton Orchards only had one. We needed a soft cheese for a dinner party so we took home a log of Australian ginger goat cheese from Crystal Brook Farm. On the 'treat' side of things we picked up a container each of pickled carrots and picked grapes from Grillo's Pickles...as strange as the thought of pickled grapes sound they are  a great balance of pickled and sweet and very snack-able. I can say with full confidence that I would be able to take down an entire container of the grapes with ease. The carrots were great too, and were a perfect addition to a cheese plate.
Not from the market, but another 'local' treat we got was a bag of Hawaii Kona coffee from Sudbury Coffee Works, which is roasted on site in their commercial grade roaster. The coffee works had an impressive selection of at least 15 or 16 varieties of coffee and I look forward to giving the Hawaii Kona a test drive!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

2012 In Progress (February)


reading:
What I Eat: Around the World In 80 Diets - Faith D'Alusio & Peter Menzel
Lifebook - WebUrbanist
Object Cancers - BLDGBLOG

viewing:
Oyster mushrooms growing on our kitchen counter!
Syria Fighting Continues - The Big Picture 

listening to:
Mr. P - Patrice O'Neal legendary comedian Patrice O'Neal passed away late last year at the all too young age of 42. This album was recorded and scheduled to be released before he passed away.

coffee we are drinking this week: We are continuing with Coffee By Design's Colombia Antioquia Jardin Alma Del Cafe. Coffee By Design is one of the two local micro-roasters in Portland, ME I got beans from New Years weekend. The coffee is a nice strong and bold cup that has a slightly sweet finish, as if there was honey already in the cup. 
Both Gail and I have had a little less coffee this week and have been drinking a little more tea.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Museum of Science Artists' Talk & Dinner at ArtBar

Last night Gail and I attended a great artists' talk at the Museum of Science, Boston. Award winning photojournalist Peter Menzel along with writer and wife Faith D'Aluisio shared hundreds of photographs and spoke about their work focusing mainly on their Hungry Planet and newer What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets books.
Gail and I first heard about What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets when we visited the Museum of Science, Boston last month for the Pompeii exhibit. While at the museum we visited a curated exhibit featuring a selection of daily food portraits and blurbs from the book. We stopped at every photo in the gallery and read each blurb- commenting and reflecting on nearly every single one as we walked through the gallery. By the time we left the museum we decided to purchase a copy of the book that inspired the exhibit. Gail and I are both currently reading our way through the book and hearing the duo talk about their experiences with food all over and share some of their amazing photographs, including a slew of photographs from their visit to Burma and Laos last month was interesting and incredibly informative.
Because their talk had a largely visual element I did not take detailed notes on each point that was made (there were at least 2 dozen great ideas worth noting), instead I jotted down some points and ideas that stuck with me. Here are three of them:
  • The concept of nutritional transition which is the increased prevalence of overweight individuals in low and middle income countries as a direct result of increased consumption of unhealthy (and often over processed foods). In developing areas still struggling with hunger there is an added complexity of also dealing with obesity and related health issues. 
  • We pay a serious price by consuming meat from CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) and food raised by modern industrial agriculture. By this they are referring to the number of antibiotics in CAFO meat as well as the high levels of pesticide, herbicides and other contemporary agriculture inputs. 
  • The Japanese idea of Hara hachi bu/Hara hachi bunme which is a Confucian teaching that tells people to eat until they are 80% full, which gives the mind a chance to catch up to the stomach.
The talk by the clearly jet lagged Menzel and D'Aluisio, fresh on their return to the States from being in Burma and Laos was riveting as were the great photographs they shared. The talk and slideshow provided me with a much greater idea and appreciation for what went into putting together books such as Hungry Planet and What I Eat and will be in the back of my mind as I work my way through What I Eat, which thus far has been fascinating!

On the subject of What We Eat, Gail and I knew we would need to grab dinner ahead of the lecture and wanted something close to the museum. Based on a number of positive reviews I had seen online and it's close proximity to the museum we decided on ArtBar, right around the corner at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. I mentioned on twitter that we would be heading there for dinner before the talk a few days ago and the folks at ArtBar tweeted back right away offering to reserve a table for us, which I thought was great, but probably not necessary for 5:15 pm (we are exciting people with our early dinners!) but went along with it anyway.
From the time we arrived the staff was courteous, knowledgeable and extremely polite. We first ordered drinks from their interesting list of custom made cocktails (ArtBar also has Cocktail Classes). I had the Wicked Cider which was a warm sweet delight with rum, house spiced cider, and maple syrup while Gail enjoyed the Perfect Bubbles a concoction of gin, clove syrup, lemon, and prosecco that packed a deceptive punch! 
For dinner we shared an order of Salt & Pepper Fries and Sweet Potato Tots that were fried to perfection without tasting or feeling too greasy. They were served with a trio of great dipping sauces - spicy banana ketchup, pesto crem fraiche, and roast garlic parmesan aioli. The portion size was perfect to split and the dipping sauces were really great, especially the spicy banana ketchup which I need to make here at home! I really could go on about how delicious it was.  A salad of Boston Bibb, sugared pecans, goat cheese and pears had a simple sweetness that I enjoyed. It was the exact opposite of my 'main course' - the charcuterie plate which consisted of chicken liver pate, salami, prosciutto, a spicy cured pork, mustard, pickled carrots and shallots, and toasted baguette pieces. I am a sucker for a good charcuterie plate and the portion sizes of this one were exactly what I wanted, just enough to enjoy all of the flavors together as well as separately. For her entree Gail had the house made Cavatelli with broccoli rabe, roasted squash and cheese, which was very nice and balanced. The cheese and squash played off the bitterness of the broccoli rabe very well. 

Typically we do not go out during the week but it was great to get out for a really delicious dinner and enjoy a wonderful and engaging talk! Thanks to ArtBar and the Museum of Science, Boston for getting us out on a weeknight!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Buckwheat Flour


Last month when I picked up all the great local flour from Four Star Farms, Elizabeth L'Etoile of Four Star mentioned that buckwheat flour was great for banana bread and added a nice earthy flavor. Using their recipe for Banana Bread with barley flour, I substituted buckwheat flour for the barley and made the addition of 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.
The recipe made 1 full sized loaf and 1 mini loaf (pictured above). This was a really hearty banana bread which balanced well with the addition of the small amount of chocolate chips and I loved the flavor. From now on, If I have buckwheat flour on hand that is how I will be making my banana bread!

Do you use any 'alternative' grains and flours for common recipes??

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Dark Days Meal #10: Roasted Beets & Grilled Cheese

The Dark Days Challenge is on! Running until March 31, 2012 over 100 participants will be doing our best to cook and blog about one meal per week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients. Recaps will be hosted by the blog collective Not Dabbling in Normal where you can follow along with all of the other participants

This weeks Dark Days meal sprung out of a need to use some leftover items in our kitchen. Gail made up this easy, delicious, and comforting dinner.
Gail makes excellent roasted beets without any oil or butter which taste delicious and can be used in a number of dishes. For this dinner she roasted the beets and tossed them with a bit of marinated feta, they were a great accompaniment for a grilled cheese sandwich. For a little bit extra I enjoyed a few pickled green beans on the side.
The beets are from Red Fire Farm. Marinated Feta from West River Creamery. Extra Sharp Cheddar from Cabot, and the buckwheat sourdough was homemade with local flour from Four Star Farms! The pickled green beans were made during the summer with Kimball Farm green beans and garlic and our own dill.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Wayland & SoWa Markets 2/4 - 2/5

This weekend we were all over the place getting local goodies for the coming week as well as for the (quite disappointing) super bowl. On Saturday we hit up the Wayland Winter Market and Sunday morning I dashed off to the south end for a quick trip to The Butcher Shop & SoWa Winter Market.
Wayland Winter Market haul
We got a great variety of produce, meats, and specialty goods at the Wayland Market- Apples from Charlton Orchards. Carrots from Terrosa Farm. A variety of radishes and potatoes from Red Fire Farm. Equinox cheese, maple pork sausage and bacon from West River Creamery. A bag of Ehtiopian Yirgacheffe coffee from Karma Coffee Roasters. A 4-pack of Tower Root Beer from the appropriately named Tower Root Beer. Savory Syrah finishing salt & Curry Sugar from didi davis food, proprieter of Salt Traders, and a chunky granola bar from the Danish Pastry House. Along with all the great food we picked up Gail and I also had the pleasure of meeting Lara from Good Cook Doris, her husband, and their delightfully cute baby. It was great meeting a fellow local food and cooking enthusiast, and what better place then a winter market to do so!
SoWa & Butcher Shop Sunday haul
Sunday I had to make a quick trip to The Butcher Shop. Earlier in the week they sent out an email with their Super Bowl specials that Gail had forwarded on to me. When I finally finished salivating over the menu I called them up and ordered to pints of pulled pork and a 1/2 lb of their buffalo chicken galantine. While the butcher pulled my order together we began chatting and he mentioned they had some fresh made pastrami on hand. After a quick sample I was sold! From the Butcher Shop I took home the 2 pints of pulled pork, a 1/2 lb of buffalo chicken galantine, and enough pastrami for a few mid-week sandwiches. The pulled pork was moist and the barbecue sauce was tangy without being overly sweet and had a bit of residual heat that I really enjoyed.
Seeing as how I was just around the corner I made a quick stop at the SoWa Winter Market to say hello to a few of the vendors. I also picked up a small jar of lavender honey from The Herb Lyceum. Stew beef from John Crow Farm, and a bag of Hope Blend from Captain's Coffee Brewers. A lot of running around in an all too busy weekend.

where does the time go?

Saturday, February 4, 2012

2012 In Progress (February)

reading:

Tomatoland - Barry Eastbrook
What I Eat: Around the World In 80 Diets - Faith D'Alusio & Peter Menzel

viewing:

listening to:

coffee we are drinking this week:  we finished the New Harvest Cycledrome this week and started Coffee By Design's Colombia Antioquia Jardin Alma Del Cafe. Coffee By Design is a micro roaster and coffee shop in Portland, ME that I visited multiple times when we were in Portland for New Years weekend. This is a strong and bold cup of coffee that has a slightly sweet finish, almost like there is a dollop of honey in the cup. What I like is that it has a bold taste without an over roasted 'extra dark' after taste. 

Friday, February 3, 2012

Buckwheat x Sourdough


This bread was a challenge for me in multiple ways. I had never used buckwheat before in bread making, nor had I deviated so much from a 'base' recipe when baking, which is why I was pleased with how tasty this was. The final product was a hearty bread with a moist and chewy crumb, a crispy crusty, and a tang that reminded me more of a Russian style light rye bread then a sourdough. Whatever it was it tasted great!!

I have been hoping to find a steady source of local grains for a while and was really excited to have an opportunity to pick up a variety of locally grown grains and flours this past weekend from the folks at  Four Star Farms in Northfield, MA. The L'Etoile family clearly cares about their grains which even more evident after visiting the Sustainable Farming part of their website. I made this loaf with a mix of their bolted Warthog (15.4% protein), their Zorro (16.9% protein), and their Buckwheat flour. For more info on these and their other flours visit the Four Star Farms flour page.

The first step was to feed my sourdough starter with 3/4 cup of bolted Warthog and 3/4 a cup of water and let it do it's magic overnight. After a night out on the counter the fed starter had a nice tangy aroma and looked to be fairly active.

Fred's experimental Buckwheat x Sourdoughmakes 2 loaves
Starter:
1 cup King Arthur Flour sourdough starter
3/4 cup bolted Warthog flour
Bread:
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 1/2 cups 'whole wheat flour' (sifted Zorro), plus extra for baking
2 cups 'bread flour' (bolted Warthog)
12-16 oz fed sourdough starter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
large handful of cornmeal for the baking sheet.

Using a stand mixer with the dough hook mix together the water and all 3 flours on low speed for a bout a minuted or until the the mix is stiff and a little shaggy. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
With the mixer on medium speed add the fed sourdough starter (I tried using a cup an a half but it was so sticky I am sure I ended up using a full 2 cups), salt, and sugar and mix for 3-4 minutes or until starter is well incorporated. At this point the dough should be somewhere between sticky and smooth, slightly sticky but still smooth and stretchy. If it is too lose at a little more flour, if it is too stiff add a little more water.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and let it sit for 2-3 hours (I let it sit for the full 3 hours).
After the dough has sat, flour your hands and work area and turn the dough out of the bowl. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a ball by continuously tucking the edges of the dough underneath until the dough has shaped itself into a ball with a taut surface.
Sprinkle your baking sheet generously with cornmeal and place the loaves on the baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Cover them loosely with plastic wrap and let them sit at room temperature for another 2 - 3 hours (mine sat 2.5 hours) or until they have loosened up and relaxed a bit.
Preheat the oven to 500 F and position one rack in the center. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with the extra flour. Slash the surface of the loaves with a knife and place the baking sheet in the oven on the center rack with a pan filled with 2 cups of water on the rack below. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the loaves are a golden brown or darker on top and sound hollow when you tap the bottom.
Transfer the loaves to a wire rack and let them cool for at least an hour before slicing.

(submitted to yeastspotting)

Thursday, February 2, 2012

New Plant Hardiness Zone Map for U.S.

Last week the USDA released a new climate zone map for the country, showing a general warming trend (no surprise there). Looking at the new map, the Fenway neighborhood of Boston (the location of plot Z1 the garden home of Grown Away) now sits squarely in Zone 6b, having moved up half a zone from 6a.
Overall this is not indicative of major changes for gardening around here. Plants that are only fairly hardy may have a better shot at survival, but overall I don't expect the growing season to start earlier or to end later, although this past fall I could have easily gardened into December, ah hindsight!!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Dark Days Meal #9: Chuck Roast w/ root veggies, Salad, and Buckwheat/Sourdough

The Dark Days Challenge is on! Running until March 31, 2012 over 100 participants will be doing our best to cook and blog about one meal per week featuring SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients. Recaps will be hosted by the blog collective Not Dabbling in Normal where you can follow along with all of the other participants. 

This week's Dark Days meal continued on the trade of hearty roasts and root veggies, but I was fortunate enough to also have a delicious local salad and an entirely local loaf of buckwheat x sourdough bread! The chuck roast had a wonderfully rich flavor and was only a bit dry, which was my own fault. The roasted root veggies included carrots, parsnips, onions and potatoes. The salad was a mix of winter greens & edible flowers with radish, carrot, apple, and goat cheese. 
The buckwheat x sourdough had a rich earthy taste without an overly heavy crumb which complimented the roast and veggies perfectly. Having a nice fresh salad on the side is a nice treat in the middle of an admittedly mild winter!

The bone-in chuck roast was from John Crow Farm. The carrots and parsnips for the roast as well as the carrot and daikon radish in the salad were from Winter Moon Farm, while the onions and potatoes in the roast were from Red Fire Farm. The salad greens were from E & T Farms and the garlic and basil goat cheese is courtesy of Crystal Brook Farm. The apple in the salad was crispy and sweet and came from Charlton Orchards. The buckwheat/sourdough was made using buckwheat flour & a mix of whole wheat bread flour's from Four Star Farms along with my King Arthur Flour sourdough starter that I had fed with the same Four Star Farms whole wheat flour. 

I will be on the lookout for a nice pork cut to feature in an upcoming Dark Days meal as I feel there has been a lot of beef and sausage but not as much pork.