One local summer Shabbat dinner (week 0)

[magid]

I signed up for 12 weeks of making at least one dinner per week out of local foods. The challenge officially starts next week, but given my current inundation with produce, I decided to make this Shabbat dinner a local one (minus the grape liquid for ritual purposes; I haven't found local kosher wine/grape juice).

To make the challenge a bit easier, I'm focusing on the produce, proteins, and starches being local (radius of perhaps 250 miles from home, so I can make sure King Arthur flour is at least milled 'locally' to me :-), while spices, condiments, oils, and so on, can be less so.

The menu:

• grape liquid, rolls made with King Arthur flour (Norwich, VT), yeast, salt, and water; much plainer than my usual, but it seems that the more interesting grain additions I have are from too far away
  
• chilled pea soup: I shelled four pints of peas*, then boiled the pods for a while. I discarded the pods, took the liquid out, and started sauteeing a bunch of scallions*. I put in the peas (less than four pints' worth, since I'd snacked on a lot) and the liquid. Later I added spearmint and black peppermint leaves (from the porch), and just before I turned off the heat, I added the chopped up end of a head of red leaf lettuce* (from last week). I pureed it (yay for stick blenders, but it would be good to learn how to use it so I wear any of it...), and it's chilling now. Garnish may be more mint and snips of chives*, if I'm feeling ambitious.
  
• leftover turnip slaw: Hakurei turnips* sliced thin, dressed with rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, scallions*, and a bit of sugar.
  
• sauteed greens: beet greens* and red chard* with garlic scapes*, also salt, pepper, and a dash of balsamic vinegar.
  
• roasted vegetables, all with salt, pepper, and olive oil:
  
  • beets*
    
  • Hakurei turnips*
    
  • zucchini* with dill*
  
  
• not really a stir fry: sauteed garlic scapes*, broccoli*, pea pods*, and onion-garlic tofu (Nasoya brand, Ayer, MA) marinated in Szechuan spicy sauce.
  
• strawberries* and rhubarb (Chamutka Farm, Whately, MA) cooked with a little honey (Tranquillity Bee Farm, Pepperell, MA)

* From my farm share with Red Fire Farm, Granby, MA.

I thought about a green salad, but I think I've got enough without it. Also, I definitely was feeling the lack of lots of alliums.


P.S. A useful link for finding MA organic foods.

Comments

Notes

[magid.livejournal.com]

The soup was very pea-y, but the mint didn't come through at all. Still nice, but in a more understated way than intended.

I overcooked the beets :-(

I put too much spicy sauce with the tofu. Still edible, but a bit more of a brick to the head effect than wanted.