Day 20 Local Eating Community Giveback

March 25, 2011

 

Breakfast

Two Eggs Sunny Up

w/ Kraut and Buttermilk Toast

Lunch

Swallowtail Plain Yogurt

w/ Honey

 

Dinner

Seafood Fettuccine w/ Cream Sauce

Fresh Spinach and grated Swallowtail Parmesan

 Garlic Toast

 

 

 Dessert

Maple Ice Cream

leftover Cornbread w/ Blueberry Compote

 

Oh Yeah... I was excited to see the cornbread I had wrapped in wax paper and stuck in the freezer a few days before when we had some chili for lunch.. I quickly unwrapped in split it in half slathered a little honey butter on it and hit the frying pan to brown it up and thaw it out.. on top of that a big dollop of blueberry compote and then the creamy homemade ice cream we never get enough of !

We LOVE Dessert !

Day 19 Local Eating Community Giveback

March 24, 2011

Breakfast

Two Eggs Sunny Up

w/ Kraut and Buttermilk Toast

Lunch

Swallowtail Plain Yogurt

w/ Honey

Dinner

Seafood Fettuccine w/ Cream Sauce

and grated Swallowtail Parmesan

Bisol Jeio Crede

A quick rundown of how this came together...
Add fresh fettuccine from the fridge to a large pot of boiling water with sea salt

as that boilings to al dente...

grab a skillet and saute butter, fresh crushed garlic & red shallots

adding a small handful of lobster meat as well a a half pound of Maine shrimp

in a separate sauce pan I melted 2 tbsp butter with a half cup of goat cheese and a quarter cup of milk on a very low temperature... giving it a quick whisk.

when the pasta is the perfect consistency strain and toss with cream sauce and sauteed seafood !

Sooooo Goood !

Tossing it all together...

Topped with a heap of Swallowtail Parmesan

(so glad Swallowtail Farm decided to do a Parmesan...this is the first week they have had it...
Keep up the great work guys ! )

accompanied by Bisol Crede 
 another in the great line of Jeio Prossecco

So today's meal was nice and quick seeing that we made extra pasta and I am not gonna lie... its was on my mind all day while I was plugging away at Lois' where I am the produce manager.  Its funny when we decided to dive back into our locavore ways during this 5 week campaign for the Green Wedding Contest, we were so confident that we could do it because we had done it before.  The difference was last March when we were fresh into the LocalrootZ Project we had horded so much food and set up a little more storage food then we had this year.  This year we have been sliding back into our weekly buying habits which sustains our needs from week to week but when the well runs dry... we are left with an empty bucket... for example last year we sauced up a lot of Olivia's Garden tomatoes before they ran dry (we had started the winter off with close to a dozen jars from our own tomatoes but those went really fast this winter, we also had over 50# of hearty winter squash stored in our back hallway last year... this year my bikes took over that storage space and we are left with hoping one of the farms will show up to the winter farmers market with some storage squash ! March is the gray month in between the winter crop and the fresh spring shots that are so close you can almost hear them cracking the soil reaching for the suns warmth that has seemed to escape the ground for the last 4 months !  My point is March and much of April are the hardest months for a locavore in Maine but as you can see it can be done... and it becomes especially easier when you broaden your diet to allow some sort of local protein. Cassi & I were both long term vegetarians when we met and I slowly worked small amounts of the coastal bounties onto our plate...

         We feel confident about our choices pertaining to eating seafood after researching the right species and fishing methods from our local fishmongers as well as using some great online resources such as Fishwatch ! Another great reason to support your local fishing industry is to preserve the working waterfront of this great state.  Year after year you see news reports about the local fishing industry struggling to stay afloat as the city of Portland tries to figure out what to do with the numerous vacant buildings along Portland's waterfront.  These vacant lots are constantly being perused by condo developers who are urging the city to lax its restrictions on what can be located along the salty Casco Bay.   I myself think the "working" waterfront is the heart Portland and urge people who agree to stop by one of the great fish markets located along the wharf and serve up some seafood to your friends and family next time your not sure what to make for dinner.... if you really are curious about the most sustainable protein from the ocean I would urge you to consume oysters ! Oysters are an amazing food that a lot of people are scared of... we were at first and now we consume them pretty regularly... in fact we are  gonna get some this weekend and do a special post about the wonders of oysters !
Stay Tuned...


Ok sorry I digressed a bit.. where was I ? Right I was talking about how we were a little less prepared for the local eating challenge this March as we were last year... rather than get to wordy and to avoid any more passionate ramblings about food, lets take a quick glimpse at our food stock at the start of March !

 in the cupboards we have lots of local goodies... whole corn, beans, seaweed, various locally foraged mushrooms, various types of hot peppers from our garden, cider vinegar, sea salt, oats, wheat berries, sunflower oil, canola oil, dried herbs, honey, popcorn and a curry blend that isn't 100% local but we got it from a pleasant woman from India who had a booth at last years Commonground Fair, she grew some of the spices in the curry on her farm but certain ingredients in the mix just cant be produced in Maine, however she grinds it all herself so we allow it... I mean in reality we will use foreign flavoring occasionally... ever heard of the spice trade.. its been going on for a longtime !  

then there is the freezer.. some frozen broccoli from last falls harvest as well a some frozen blueberries and Lalibela tempeh backstock, along with those you'll see various ends of bread that we will use for breadcrumbs, stuffing or croutons.  We also store a lot of our flours in the freezer...

and then we have the fridge... lots of root veggies potatoes, beets, carrots, celeriac root, all of our krauts and kimchis, yogurt, cheeses, beans, spinach, arugula, baby chard and this weeks newest addition cucumbers from Olivia's Garden... still waiting on their cherry tomatoes to ripen up in the greenhouse but the cukes should hold us over... Thanks Guys !


Alright there is a little update about our food stock as well as some interesting tidbits about our trials and tribulations about finding local foods and why we do it...

Day 18 Local Eating Community Giveback

March 23, 2011

Breakfast

2 Eggs Sunny Up

w/ kraut and toast

Lunch

Swallowtail Yogurt

w/ Honey

Dinner

Porcini Ravioli

So making an all local pasta isn't something we are unfamilar with, however it is rather time consuming and we seem to wing it every time because all the "recipes" call for certain flours that are not available locally.  In the state of Maine we are very lucky to have a couple old mills that processes all of our wonderful flours.  Currently we have whole wheat, cornmeal, buckwheat and rye flour.  Every time we make pasta I tend to explore a new combination of flour types to see how it holds up...

But before I get ahead of myself I should list the ingredients we needed for the whole recipe.
 

Cheese... chunks of Swallowtail Farm Parmesan, Ricotta & Mozzarella as well as some Sunset Acres Herbed Goat Cheese.1 whole bulb of Garlic and Red Shallots
Dried Porcini Mushrooms (soaked) from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company
 7 Fresh Eggs from Maine-ly Poultry
Whole Wheat Flour & Buckwheat Flour

 Ok with those ready to go... we start with sifting the flour...
 4 cups Whole Wheat / 2 cups Buckwheat

you'll notice the "hulls" collect in the sifter... discard and continue till you
cant pull any more out of the mixture...

 With the flour is ready... create a well and add your eggs into the well...

I pre-beat the eggs this time and it seemed to help with the mixing process !

 After thoroughly mixing the flour and egg and a small (1/4 cup-1/2 cup) amount of water...

Need the dough into manageable balls until the mixture is of an even consistency! 

 Let the balls rest for 10-20 minutes

From there comes the tedious process of running small chunks of the dough through

the pasta rollers... constantly folding the sheets in half and re pressing them through the rollers.

The more you roll out your pasta the more likely it will hold its form when you boil it. 

We usually pull every sheet through 6-10 times till it reaches the desired thickness.

With the pasta in sheets it was time to trim them up...

this step of trimming isn't quite as important when making things like

fettuccine or spaghetti but an even edge is what we needed for tonight's

ravioli dinner !

Now for the ravioli filling... we just combined all the cheeses in various amount... to taste, that way you get to eat a little during the cooking process...along with cheese we added half of the

hydrated porcini mushrooms as well as half of the garlic and shallots that I had previously sauteed in a little raw butter.

After the filling was complete... it was time to cut the pasta sheets into the ravioli size

we desired...

a heaping dab into the middle of each sheet...

encase it with a top and press the sides with a fork...

the meal is nearing completion... bring a big pot of water to a boil !

Not bad for our first Whole Wheat Ravioli !

Into the boiling water they go... while also sauteing a pan containing

the remaining shallots, garlic and mushrooms with a dab of butter.

I also hit it with a splash of red wine to enrich the flavor a little more...

Dinner is finally coming together after only 3 hours....

now I remember why this is such a treat !

And there is the final dish with a little more grated Parmesan to top it off

I think we were so excited to eat after such a long time preparing dinner that we never got a great picture of the final product... but I can tell you honestly that they were fantastic...

and we planned well for leftovers !

We cut the remains of the pasta sheet into a hearty Fettuccine that will

get us through the rest of the work week with a smile on our face !

Check back soon to see what we do with the fettuccine...

Day 137 LocalrootZ Project (May 19, 2010)

Breakfast

Plain Swallowtail Yogurt

w/ Honey

Lunch

Local Salad Mix

w/ fermented slaw

 

Dinner

Pasta Night !

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

w/ cherry tomato sauce & lovage

Glass of Blueberry Beaujolais

 

 

 

Dessert

Creme Fraiche Cornbread Sandwich

w/ Strawberry Ice Cream

Wow so Id say the pictures show you what a night we had ! Pasta night is always a rewarding but painstaking dinner that lasts a couple nights... so here we go!

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 22 miles bicycle

Errands: 3 miles walking

Day 088 LocalrootZ Project (March 29,2010)

Breakfast

Gala Apple

Lunch

Plain Smiling Hill Yogurt

w/ honey

Dinner

Basil Alfredo Sauce

over

Whole Wheat Pasta

w/ Shrimp

Aroostook Wheat Garlic Bread

Glass of Coastal Red

 

Monday wet windy... Im not gonna let it get me down ! A grueling bicycle ride to say the least...nasty wind gusts as well as three inches of rain falling on the peninsula in the last 24 hours or so... that coupled with days packed full of to do's... I decided to make this evening a night of cooking with Cassi.  In fact it would be a pasta marathon kinda night with a clean kitchen to dust in flour for a couple hours and the evening to share with Cassi who would be working every night this rest of the week.  The pasta once again was a pretty lengthy and demanding meal but the 2 hour preparation was going to make the next few nights dinners an easy task.  With the fettucine noodles completed, I sauteed the shrimp with garlic and butter... combined cream and Echo Ridge Romano cheese with a cup of homemade pesto for the basil alfredo sauce... It all came together for a wonderful warm belly filling dinner that ought to get us through some rainy days ahead....

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 15 miles bicycle

Day 055 LocalrootZ Project (February 24, 2010)

Breakfast

Macintosh & Fuji Apple

Plain Smith Farm Yogurt

w/ raw honey

Lunch

Leftover Monkfish Pesto

w/ fresh sunflower sprouts

Dinner

Pesto Kale Lasagna

w/Garlic Aroostook Bread

Glass of Coastal Red

Another long lasagna cooking night that started with all these

great ingredients....

Let's start with the sauce... a little sunflower oil in a sauce pot ; add chopped garlic, onion, shredded chantenay carrot and saute

Through a handful of tomatoes and some basil in the food processor and puree...

 

add pureed basil and tomatoes to into the garlic onion carrot mixture... put heat on medium, stir and simmer for about an hour.

in another dish add 12oz Ricotta with 1/2 cup Mozzarella, 1/4 cup Romano, Two Eggs and a pinch of dried herbs (oregano, sage, thyme)

Blend together well....

Now it's pasta time...

3 cups Hard Red Wheat Flour combine with 4 eggs... knead into a ball and let rest 15 minutes

run through pasta rollers 3- 6 times... slowly moving the rollers closer together until you reach your desired consistency.

  

so with the noodles finished and modeled by the beautiful Cassi its time to saute some greens (curly & red russian kale) as well as boil the noodles...

 

 

 From there its time for assembly... I went with a layer of noodle, scoops of ricotta mixture, spinkled greens, cover with sauce repeat, repeat and then I topped it off with a layer of pesto and some shredded mozzarella.  

Into the oven for 45 minutes @ 350˚

 

 

So that is how we make a 100% local lasagna in Maine !  Unfortunately Scott from Olivia's Garden in New Gloucester informed me that his tomatoes are in the process of transition... meaning a complete restart, causing a 50 day lapse in tomatoes !  Oh well they were great while they lasted...the wonders of hydroponics.  The newly acquired ricotta & mozzarella from Swallowtail Farm were fantastic and Im so glad to have them as an addition to the new Portland Winter Market... speaking of which it is coming around in just a couple days, that means we need to finish up the stuff we got there last week ! Welp... back to the kitchen !

Transportation Today

Work Commute : 15 miles Bicycle

Errands : 3 miles Walking