The Farmette Report

An omelette and a glass of wine

Supper by myself tonight; Keith is working late. I had the menu in mind all day: an omlette with baby spinach, with a dab of rosemary roasted baby potatoes and carrots on the side - quick and easy with veggies left over from Christmas supper.

I came home, fed the donkeys, the cat, and the woodstove. I plugged in the lights on the Christmas tree even though it sits in the next room out of sight of the cozy, warmth of the kitchen. Ah, surely it prefers the milder temperature of the front room, anyway. The kitchen is invitingly free of clutter just now, still in that "company's coming" stage of cleanliness. As much as I love company (and yesterday it was my brother, his wife, and their delightful 9 month-old twin girls - their visit exactly what I had asked for, for Christmas), I also love that it compels one to stop knitting or reading or brooding for at least a few hours so that one can take care of some overdue housecleaning.

So the kitchen is rather tidy just now. Being one who likes her sauteed spinach on the garlicky side, I minced three large cloves of the stuff and tossed them into the heated olive oil. When slightly browned around the edges, I added the baby spinach and a dash of nutmeg, cut the heat, and left the spinach to wilt while I made ready with the omelette. Two eggs, tonight. That's plenty. Into the butter, already sizzling in the small and shallow skillet. Tilt and swirl. Use the spatula, mark an asterisk in the eggs before letting them settle down. Salt. Freshly ground pepper. A bit of Swiss cheese. Half the nicely wilted spinach (the other half is for Keith's omelette when he comes home later).

I cheat a little now by covering the skillet for perhaps a minute, or not quite, so that the center will cook and the cheese will melt before the rest of the omelette turns to rubber.  Then it is folded, and it slides easily onto the warm plate that already holds the tiny warm potatoes and carrots. Perfect.

Then I remember that I'll want something to read as I dine, and all the usual clutter of books and papers has been cleared away. I go to a bookcase in the other room, thinking I'll read up on knitting technique and colorwork. I pull out a book - and the one right next to it pops out and lands on the floor at my feet. Shelve them a little too tightly and that'll happen. I pick up the book: Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine. Hmmmm. A collection of essays I haven't gotten around to reading yet.

The book accompanies me back into the kitchen where - why not? - I pour myself a small glass of organic, sulfite-free "California Red" by Orleans Hill that has been sitting around opened (but stoppered) a little too long.  I am not fussy about wine (meaning: I am wildly ignorant about wine). I'd rather have an omelette and a glass of beer. But, what the heck, I'll do it for Elizabeth. And so we settle down, Elizabeth and I, with an omelette and a glass of wine. It is delicious.

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To my online friends, I am really sorry for going AWOL for... gosh... more than a month. I appreciate your kind thoughts, your stopping in despite my continued neglect of the Farmette Report. Things have been a little odd lately, with sad news for two of my dearest friends, and I have been in this weird space-time continuum dealie where it felt like maybe if I held my breath or just knit-knit-knit while waiting for their news, then the bad thing wouldn't be happening to my dear friends. Of course it didn't work, and all I've managed to do is be about a week late for everything in my personal life for the last month or so - or, in the case of my blog, a month late.

On the plus side, the shawl (my very first shawl) that I started Thanksgiving week is more than 80 percent done. Photos and updates soon. Yeah, you've heard that before, but really this time. You have already been so patient.

Before it gets any later, one last thing for tonight: Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy New Year to you all.

Late season supper from the garden

Most of our late-season Mantises (or is it "Mantids"?) have gone brown in order to better blend into the landscape, but this one has kept her green coat. Given her surroundings, the green coat was still appropriate, even on what proved to be the tomato patch's last day before it got pulled out and dispatched to the compost bin.

Our green guest was not the only one to enjoy her supper from the garden yesterday. While cleaning out some of the beds, I gleaned the last of the little grape and pear tomatoes. About two cups of these little gems, combined with some hardy African basil (also from my garden), some diced red onion, good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt were served with some excellent toasted crusty bread and fresh mozzarella for a tasty supper of bruschetta. It seems fitting that we enjoyed our first and last tomato harvest of the season in the same way.

As I look forward to a sunny day in the 70s, it's hard to believe that today is the last day of October. Temps supposedly got down to freezing last night, but we still have not had our first killing frost. From where I sit, I can look out into our courtyard garden and see Impatiens still in bloom. (I can also see out to the barn, where a couple of little donkeys are keeping watch for me to come out and give them some hay.)

Before I go visit the donkeys, here's a quick tip from a lazy gardener. In our remote location, we get no trick-or-treaters, so I don't go in for Halloween decorations the way I did in the 'burbs. But, if you happen to have a planter that became overgrown with weeds, thanks to your going on vacation and general inattention, and then the weeds died thanks to a drought and even more inattention, you can just plunk a big pot o' mums smack on top of the planter (anchored with a plant stake, if you must) and call the dead weeds a "design element."  As Count Floyd would say, "Oooooh, spooky!"

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Cherry-almond rice pudding

Rice. It's the food version of the little black dress. You can dress it up, dress it down, serve it plain, savory, or sweet. And it comes in so many varieties. I could eat rice at every meal and never get tired of it. But, when it comes to cooking rice, my tendency to forget the pot on the stove has ruined many a pot of rice, and even resulted in a few scorched pots to boot. Automatic rice cookers have it all over cooking rice on the stove-top, and when I got my first electric rice steamer some 10 years ago, I never looked back. About two years ago, I upgraded to a combination rice cooker/steamer/slow cooker with a timer. It lets me dump the ingredients in the bowl and tell it when, within the next 13 hours, I want the rice to be cooked. It cooks the rice on time, and if I'm not around when the rice is done, it goes into a "keep warm" setting for a few more hours. Brilliant!

I could go on and on about the joy of rice cookers, so when Jen over at Life Begins at Thirty recently blogged about her Zojirushi, it was time to share this recipe for cherry-almond rice pudding, an excellent cool-weather dish. This recipe is for a slow-cooker:

Cherry-Almond Rice Pudding

• 1 1/2 C. Arborio rice (short-grain rice for risotto)
• 3/4 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. dried cherries
• 2 t. grated lemon zest
• 2 T. ground almonds
• pinch salt
• 8 C. milk (yes! 8 cups of milk! You can use 2% or skim.)
• 2 eggs (or egg replacer)
• 2 t. almond extract
• 1/4 C. toasted slivered almonds

In the bowl of your slow cooker, mix together all ingredients except for slivered almonds. You could skip the eggs as I sometimes do, or use ground flax seed or other egg replacer or just egg whites. Cook on slow cooker's high setting for 4 hours or until done to your liking. Sprinkle with toasted almonds. Serves 12.

I adapted this recipe from Judith Finlayson's 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes, using more rice and half the sugar than she calls for. I will sometimes add a little grated nutmeg or cinnamon. This is wonderful warm with half a baked pear or apple. It is yummy for breakfast, too, if a bit indulgent for early morning.

Challenge within a challenge

As part of the August Eat Local Challenge, Tomatilla has issued the Paper Chef #9 - the Local Edition. In this challenge, participants are called upon to exercise their culinary skills and come up with a dish that makes tasty and imaginative use of selected ingredients. This month, extra points go to those who take the effort to use local ingredients - "the more local the better." This month the ingredients are:

1. Dried Chillies
2. Peaches
3. Edible flowers

What a combination! As luck would have it, I'm allergic to fresh, raw peaches, but I can eat them almost any other way: baked or cooked in any way, frozen, dried, or canned. Chutney seemed like a good way to go, but that would be best on something like a pork dish, and I don't eat pork (or beef, or most meat). I immediately thought: grilled peaches and ricotta with a spicy chipotle-cinnamon honey glaze. Fresh peaches are still in season here, and ricotta can be found locally. I already have local honey and dried chillies (local, from last year's CSA offerings) in the pantry and a choice of edible flowers from the garden. In particular, I had in mind either the nasturtiums (for beauty) or the cinnamon basil now starting to flower and go to seed (for amazing flavor).

I only caught wind of the challenge this morning, so all the way to work, I thought about combinations of the chosen ingredients. How about a leek soup with a spicy basil-peach pesto, garnished with nasturtium blossoms? Or a peach ice cream that warmed the tongue? Or a large ravioli filled with smokey chillies and peaches bound with local goat cheese? Or a cheesecake or tart....? I could only hope that someone would attempt (and post a recipe for) a chili-chocolate peach cake.

A killer day at the office didn't get me home until quite late, but I was determined to go with my first choice and try the grilled peaches. Keith had to work late, too, and when I came home I was surprised to find five messages waiting. One from a realtor who we don't know, referring to us by a name that's not ours, telling us that he understood that we are selling our place and is interested in listing it for us. Not true! Well, he may be interested in listing, but we are not interested in selling. Another message was from an unknown drunk-sounding guy saying "Charlie, man, I heard you blew out your back again, man. Give me a call, huh?" There was a message from bro-in-law number one, back from vacation, checking in. And there were the two messages from bro-in-law number two who was planning on putting my 78 year-old father-in-law on a plane home from Boston tomorrow only to have Pops admit that he would really really prefer not to be negotiating airports and airline travel all by himself after all - even though that's how he got up to Boston to begin with. Tom was going to put Pops on the plane, and Keith would be there to take him off, but if Pops is feeling anxious, well, we need to pay attention because not much makes Pops anxious.

So! Phone calls and whatnot ensued instead of grilled peaches, which is fine. Family and making sure Pops gets home safely is more important. The Paper Chef challenge will remain a paper challenge for me, at least for today.

You all have a good night - and please make sure your father (or father-in-law, as the case may be) knows he is loved.

Blue plate special

Update on the August Eat Local Challenge: After working 14 hours on Thursday and otherwise putting in some long hours last week, it seems there was not a lot of meal planning going on. Instead, before the weekend, we were simply grabbing, grazing, and noshing from the fridge and pantry.  That situation changed with the arrival of the weekend and my Friday visit to the farm where I participate in a CSA program. This week's share included:

• Head lettuce (it’s back after a heat wave caused the outdoor crops to bolt)
• Carrots
• Napa cabbage
• Green beans
• Squash (beautiful yellow and green Zephyrs)
• Cucumbers
• Cherry or Juliet tomatoes
• Slicing tomatoes
• Basil or parsley or another herb
• Fresh garlic
• A hot pepper or two
• A cantaloupe

As if this wasn't enough for two people, yesterday morning I made a trip to our local farmers' market and picked up half a dozen ears of bi-color corn ("Temptation") and some flowers.

Feeling gluttonous for simple, fresh veggies, supper consisted of:

• Steam/sauteed green beans with crispy shallots. The shallots were already on hand; I'm not sure where they're from, other than from the organic market.
• Cole slaw with a toasted sesame seed and soy dressing
• Sliced cucumbers and Vidalia onion marinated in rice wine vinegar Normally, I would have added dill, but didn't have any on hand and couldn't find any locally grown. The Vidalia was not local, but was authentic and already in my larder.
• Steamed fresh bi-color corn
• Grilled Zephyr squash and plum tomato halves
• Chilled melon

Marvelous summer simplicity!

(Hmmm, I wish I were a better food photographer.)

Washington County Farmers' Market
Prime Outlets:   Hagerstown
Prime Outlets Blvd. off Sharpsburg Pike
Wednesday:   3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.   
May 18 – October 26
Saturday:   10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.      
June 11 – September 24
Contact:  Pearl Martin 301-733-4551
WIC and Senior FMNP Checks Accepted
They sell only what they produce!

Menu for a Maine wedding

Six years ago today, Keith and I were married on Mount Desert Island in Maine. We had retreated there for a week or two every summer for most of our previous thirteen years together, and we couldn't think of a better place to embark on our married life together. We also loved the opportunity to introduce our family to such a beautiful part of the world. 

Then, as now, local, organic and seasonal food was important to us, so we felt fortunate to find a caterer who lived on the island and who specialized in fresh, seasonal Maine foods. Kate Huntress ("Never Enough Thyme") worked with me to develop the menu, and with only 17 wedding guests (immediate family only), we were able to pull out all the stops, more or less. I must say that the food surpassed all expectations!

Menu for an August wedding in Maine:

Appetizers

• Puff pastry hearts with basil pesto and plum tomato
• Phyllo-wrapped asparagus and fresh herbs
• Crudités basket with light dipping sauces

Dinner

• Steamed Maine lobster
• Steamed Maine mussels and/or clams
• Local organic field greens, edible flowers and fresh herbs with cranberry-ginger dressing
• Grilled vegetable and couscous salad
• Red, white and blue potato salad
• Soufflé of fresh sweet corn
• Freshly baked whole-grain breads and rolls

Instead of a big wedding cake, we had individual cakes baked in popover tins by the Morning Glory Bakery. The cakes were not frosted, but were filled with sweetened lemon-flavored local goat cheese and served with mixed summer berries.

Many a Bar Harbor Brewing Company microbrew was consumed that wonderful day.

(Note: I posted this entry on 8/7, but back-dated it to 8/6 because I had other things to occupy my attention on my wedding anniversary!)

Day 3: let there be leftovers

Take someone who doesn't know how to prepare a dish that serves fewer than six people and put her in a household of just two, and what do you get? Leftovers.

Hooray for leftovers. It was 95 degrees today. Who wants to cook when it's 95 degrees? Even now, it's almost 80 (with humidity at more than 70 percent), but it's night-time so that means it's a dark heat, so it can't be that bad right?

Stay cool - and eat local. (Am I the only who has seen "local" so many times in recent days that it's starting to look like "lo-cal" as in "low calorie"?)

Mystery squash revisted

As it turns out, that mystery squash growing out of the compost bin is producing five really great pumpkins and it looks like more are on the way. There's another plant coming out of a different bin that's producing some fine patty-pan squash, which will definitely figure into some local eating this month.

I've never grown pumpkins before, and can hardly take credit for these since they were an accident of my lazy cold composting habits. They are so cool - dinosaurs among vegetables! I used the above pic to make the eat local button on the sidebar (over there ->, see?). Liz has some cool buttons - or you can click for the official logos for the eat local challenge.

The pumpkin only started showing its colors just over a week ago. The above pic was from less than two weeks ago, so you can tell it's moving along fast!

Speaking of not dawdling, weeknight suppers around here are usually what we can fix that's yummy, doesn't take too long to make, and doesn't require heating up the kitchen on a humid 92 degree day. For day two of the eat local challenge, we had...

Tabouleh with chickpeas

• 1/2 cup bulgar (cracked wheat)
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• a couple of tomatoes
• a small cucumber
• a carrot or two
• a small summer squash (our CSA had beautiful yellow and green Zephyrs)
• a clove or two of garlic
• olive oil
• lemon juice
• a bunch of mint
• a bunch of parsley
• can of organic chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans - if you're the type who has fresh beans or your own home-cooked beans around, by all means use them)

1. Stir the water into the bulgar and let sit for about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, chop the veggies into into chunks (large dice), except for the garlic and herbs, which you want to chop finely.
3. Add the veggies and herbs to the bulgar. Mix well.
4. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans, then add them to the mixture.
5. Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons each of olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Serve over a salad of mixed leafy greens. Add pita bread if you have it. With a little extra effort and some tahini, you could use the chickpeas to make hummus and really have a treat.

All the ingredients for tonight's supper were organically produced, but only the veggies and herbs were local.

August challenge: eat locally

Do you know where your food comes from? Would you rather support huge agri-businesses who truck or fly their mass-produced, pesticide-laden, non-biodiverse, genetically modified foodstuffs to you, or would you rather support the family farm down the road? If you'd like to see your local farmers continue to plant crops instead of housing developments, if you'd like to be more thoughtful about just where your food comes from, or are perhaps growing your own and are enjoying your garden's summer bounty, take a shot at participating in the August Eat Local Challenge.

Thanks to Liz, for being my inspiration in what is essentially a month long local food meme. Here's the original call to action:

What if all of our food decisions for a month were based on what was available in our foodshed?  What is it like to eat only what's in season?  What if we all became more aware of where our food really comes from?  What if local businesses got the message that people actually care about where their food comes from because of the sheer number of people asking questions about sourcing?

Life Begins at 30, in association with Locavores, is pleased to bring you the August Eat Local Challenge.  During this August, we challenge you to set some goals that will include eating food that is local to you.  Life Begins at 30 will be hosting a month-long meme along with suggestions for how to do this, and an update of how everyone is doing.

You will be able to design your own Eat Local challenge, noting your level of participation (eat local all day every day, once a week, one big event during the month, etc) and your "exceptions" - those things that aren't local and that you won't be able to live without as long with other specifications.

By taking this challenge, you will be joining a group of bloggers and non-bloggers alike who are willing to make the effort during August to source their food and eat accordingly.

Interested?  Move on to the Nuts and Bolts.

Need more convincing that local is the way to go?  Move on to the Reference Guide.

I'm about a day late with this, but I should at least clarify a few things:

1. What’s your definition of local for this challenge?
   While I'll certainly aim for the recommended 100 miles, it's going to too limiting to try to stick with it for everything. I'll feel that I'm doing good if I stay within Maryland or close-in West Virginia or Pennsylvania.
2. What exemptions will you claim?
   Unless I want to eat only the typical Maryland summer farmstand diet of Silver Queen corn, cukes, melons, lopes, and tomatoes, I'll be claiming a lot of exemptions, mostly pantry staples such as olive oil, spices, condiments, and beans and grains. Part of what attracted me to this challenge is the realization of just how many of the foods I eat are produced hundreds or thousands of miles away - I want to be more mindful about what I eat.
3. What is your personal goal for the month?
   I gave it away with my last response. I want to be more mindful about what I eat. Given summer's bounty, August should be a fairly easy month for this kind of challenge, and it helps that I belong to a CSA that provides ample organically grown vegetables for us every week, yet it was only when I started to think about the meals I would be eating this month that I realized just how much of my diet is not local at all. (I'm beginning to sound repetitive, aren't I?) I hope, too, to discover some new local food sources - and already have made some headway just researching the links for my blog's sidebar. I figure that I'll be talking more about goals, and what this challenge is teaching me, as we go along. I want to enjoy participating in this challenge and I want you to enjoy it, too.

Now, for the important question: what's for supper? With temperatures in the upper 80s, I'm not much for cooking after coming home from the office. Today, the "sweat index" was compounded by the time I spent doing some yard work before dinner - just as it was alleviated by the discovery that a large number of the tomatoes in our garden are now ripe. We had a light supper of tomato bruschetta on roasted garlic toasts with Allegheny Chevre from FireFly Farms. We washed down our tasty repast with a nice cold Wild Goose IPA made by the Frederick Brewing Company. The bruschetta was nearly all local (the recipe is below), but we suspect the bread is mass-market stuff disguised as local artisan bread by our chain grocery store. FireFly Farms is less than 40 miles away, but we bought the cheese at My Organic Market when we were in Rockville this weekend - about 60 miles in the other direction. Frederick is about 30 miles away. Not a bad start, but then I didn't mention what I ate for breakfast or lunch. Let's not go there, eh?

Tomato Bruschetta (I've written about bruschetta before, and this recipe is slightly different, only slightly):

1. Get as many ripe tomatoes as you want to eat. If you can, use a variety. Heirlooms are great. For firmness and texture, I prefer smaller tomatoes such as Roma and grape. Chop them up as coarse or fine as you like.
2. Add diced red onion to taste.
3. If you have a mild pepper such as a banana pepper, mince it and toss it in.
4. Chop up some fresh basil leaves - as much as you like - and toss them in with the tomatoes.
5. Dribble on some good olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
6. Add a pinch of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir.
7. Serve on top of toasted garlic bread. Enjoy!

First week of CSA shares!

Today, I picked up the season's first shares from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that we participate in. They usually try to make sure everyone ends up with at least a dozen items, but these are early days in the growing season, even with a greenhouse, so we ended up with seven beautiful and fresh items to take home: a bunch of mixed salad greens, spinach, chard, green onions, white radishes (there was a choice of red or white, and I prefer the milder white radishes), bok choy, and cilantro. The spinach is going into an omelet for tomorrow's breakfast.

If you don't grow your own or already participate in a CSA, wouldn't you like to get to know the farmer who grows your vegetables and to buy those vegetable directly from the farmer - knowing that he or she will receive fair payment for all the their hard work? Wouldn't you like to get those vegetables the same day they were picked, to know they were grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, or commercial fertilizers? If so, look for a CSA nearby - and enjoy!

PS - Actually, just because a program is a CSA doesn't automatically mean that the farmers raise their produce organically. Be sure to ask.