Monthly Archives: October 2008
When I planned out our Eat Local menu last weekend it was chilly out and we had commented on the way to our bike ride that Fall was definitely here and it was time to make “get cozy food”. Good old San Francisco weather surprised us with warm sunny weather. Regardless we have been enjoying wonderful soups all week.
I have to apologize for such a short post. It is late, I am tired, spin class kicked our butts! So here it is …. Eat Local Challenge, Day 3 for us. Late night, late dinner. I love cauliflower soup and Lenny likes it after tonight. I have yet to find the perfect recipe;
We did not hear about the Eat Local Challenge until the very end last year, so I was excited to be able to jump on board at the near beginning this time around. Why are we doing it? Overall, I feel we are pretty good about eating locally; but, I thought this challenge would be a good way to take a reality check to see how we are “really” doing. As well, here is a list of 10 great reasons for eating locally!
  I had the honor of hosting the Grow Your Own event (GYO #17) for Andrea over at Andrea’s recipes. I always love this event as it is fun to see what people from all over the world are growing and eating at basically the same time, just different locations and cultures. We had lots of tomatoes and apples this time around as well as exotic fruit.
 Leslie over at Beachlover’s Kitchen, used her container grown tomatoes to serve along side this fantastic looking House Special Fried Rice. The recipe not only sounds fantastic but she introduced me to a new special seasoning, which is her secret ingredient, abalone and scallop sauce.
 Edith over at Precious Moments (Singapore) is also blessed to have a fruit tree in her yard, a Starfruit. I recently ate my first starfruit and was not sure how to do it, we just sliced it and ate. Edith shared a Starfruit Salad with us. The colors are brilliant with the green of the fruit and red chilis. Sounds light and refreshing.
 Ning over at Heart and Hearth (Manila, Phillipines) grows Thai Basil, which is definitely a favorite of ours. She wanted to recreate a recipe she had with her husband when dining out, it was for a Tomato Baked Rice. She made the rice dish using tomatoes, onions, chicken broth and the Basil from her garden, then she stuffed into a red peper. Looks delicious!
 Andrea the founder of GYO and the creator of Andrea’s Recipes (Northern Virginia/DC Metro area), planted two Tomatillo plants, which her husband was skeptical about and take a look at what happened! I would have never thought about growing them and we do love them in salsa. She made a Roasted Green Tomatillo Salsa for us not only does it look fanastic but the recipe seems very easy. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon of football!
 AJ over at Annarasa (United States) grows a patio garden and a couple of her items, tomatoes and cucumbers are giving her some big returns. She made this Garden Fresh Salad for us with the two and lightly dressed it with lemon juice and roasted cumin. She mentioned that it would go nicely with Spicy Panner Filled Rolls and I could not agree more.
 Becke over at Columbus Foodie (Columbus, Ohio) has a mulberry bush in her yard and she was concerned that it would not surive a storm. Lucky for us it did as she made this sinful looking Berry Trifle using the mulberries and other berries from the farmer’s market. The recipe seems very easy as well. Who does not like sinful dessert!
 Reeni over at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice (Hudson Valley, NY) reminisces about stuffing manicotti with her mother while they shared stories of her Great Grandmother. She shares with us the recipe for Baked Cheese Manicotti using fresh tomatoes from her garden for the sauce. You can almost smell the pot of sauce bubbling when you read her store.
 Kim at Live:: Love:: Laugh:: Eat! (Virginia, United States) has a garden that is still producing many wonderful things for her. She used pimento peppers, tomatoes, oregano, and basil for this event to make Giada de Laurentiis Chicken Cacciatore recipe. It looks fantastic and what a great way to use those tomatoes and peppers.
 Bee and Jai over at Jugalbandi (Northwestern United States) are teasing our tastebuds with a very creative dish using anaheim peppers and cherry tomatoes from the garden and a splash of tequila to make an Apricot, Blueberry and Roasted Anaheim Salsa – sounds firey and fantastic! What a great combination, I would never have thought about tossing in the apricots or the tequila for that matter!
 Nathan at Annies House (San Jose, CA) not only grew some of the best looking Heirloom tomatoes I have ever seen; but, he had a fun event with some friends at his house, doing a taste test. The photos will make you drool. On top of that he created a fantastic looking Chopped Greek Salad using the tomatoes. The best of the last of the summer tomatoes!
 PG over at My Kitchen Stories (Hamburg, Germany) is also lucky enough to have an apple tree in her yard. She shares with us a recipe from the cookbook she has owned since moving to Germany. Not only has it taught her how to make this wonderful Polish Apple Cake; but, she has learned German with it as well. The cake looks dense thanks to the apples and light thanks to the wonderful thin layer of meringue on the top.
 Michael at the Fishmonger’s Place (Racine, Wisconsin) has a bumper crop of Roma tomatoes. Last year he decided to freeze a bunch of them to use throughout the year (we do the same with dry farmed tomaotes). This year he decided to try something new, Oven-Dying. They look really great, not only for cooking with but for snacks as well.
 Rachael over at The Crispy Cook (Saratoga County, New York) has a garden that has just about taken over her life! She made a dish using yellow wax beans, purple Chinese beans, and tomatoes, and it has a wonderful name as well, Roasted Rainbow Bean, what kid would not like that for dinner. It is flavorable with all these great herbs as well: Rosemary, Basil, Garlic, etc. I found it to be a nice alternative to the usual green bean dishes you see out there.
 Chez US (San Francisco, CA) we had our first good year of tomatoes (we have been trying for 6 years) and have been using them whenever we can. For this event we decided to make Eggplant Dolmas. The dish was bursting with flavor and the tomatoes really showed their sweetness with the eggplant and peppers. It was even better the next day. We decided that it will be a favorite in our house! Thank you to everyone who contribued to this fun event. I had a great time reading about all your dishes and what you are growing. Maria at A Scientist in the Kitchen is hosting the next round of Grow Your Own, be sure to enter again! We love reading your recipes!
 Ever since I discovered the cooking Blog, Under The Tuscan Gun, I have had Parmigiana of some sort on my mind. Lenny loves eggplant parmigiana, I love them all. After all, who does not love gooey cheese and tomato sauce? Since we are doing a big ride on Saturday (today, which was tomorrow when we ate this) we also wanted to load up on carbs, so …. that is where the kind of comes in. I took a chicken breast, thinly sliced it and then cooked it with some olive oil and chili peppers. It was ultra moist and juicy because we like to use organic or free ranging chickens. Then I cheated …. I added a jar of premade Italian tomato sauce, Parmesan cheese and cooked pasta (we like little ears), tossed it all together, put it into a baking dish and baked until bubbly. We served it with a big loaf of garlic bread. Even though I did not take the time to make my sauce and I used premade garlic bread, the meal was still really great; well, you could really tell that the bread was premade, not so great. The pasta dish tasted like Chicken Parmigiana which is what I was after! Next time … we will be making the eggplant parmigiana. Saturday night, I will tell you how we are going “local”! We had plans to spin tonight, after all, we are doing a big ride on Saturday; but, then we realized that the debates were on. So, it became a rest night. After, doing a little pre-debate yoga, I decided to tackle the pork that I had defrosted. We don’t eat a lot of pork and every time we do eat it, Lenny always says, “I really love Pork Tenderloin, you never make it”. And, I reply, “I will, someday”. ….. then I forget, shame on me! The big questions was, what to do with this other white meat??!
 First day of October, this is the day I consider the “real” first day of fall and it definitely felt like fall. The air was crisp as the evening cooled down … not to mention the fog rolled in! We were feeling exhausted and hungry when we got home from the office and decided it would be a good night to stay in, pour a glass of wine and make dinner. Just get cozy. Cozy for us equals food home cooked French food. We made a French onion soup and a Frissee salad with poached eggs. I did take some fennel, thinly sliced it and carmalized it with the onions for the base of the soup. The fennel gave it a slightly sweet taste, it was really refreshing and a nice surprise. I found my original recipe for Frisee salad, it is a Alice Water’s one and it is by far the best we have ever made. Not only very easy but the flavors are fantastic! After eating the Frissee salad with the crispy bacon and warm poached eggs, flavored with a slightly garlicky and dijon dressing, I decided this was definitely my favorite salad. I probably could eat it almost everyday and this is coming from the girl who really is not a “big egg” fan. If you think about it, it really is a meal, you don’t need anything else but a warm piece of bread and a nice glass of wine! Thursdays dinner will include the “other white meat” as well as a write up on what we are doing this month! Come dine with us later. |
