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Adventures in mostly local cooking
Sep. 9th, 2007 10:12 pmThis morning I went west for the traditional pre-Rosh Hashanah picking of the apples. I was surprised that there weren't many varieties available right now, just Macintoshes, Gravensteins, Cortlandts (off in another area, so I didn't bother), and Liberty. I got mostly Macs, with a couple of the others in the bag for variety. They're not my top favorite, but they cook well, and I'm intending a bunch of applesauce to can, plus possibly some baked goods, in addition to the canonical apples and honey (both of which will definitely be local this year :-). Unfortunately, the last of the peaches were picked yesterday, so I had to go down the road a bit to a farm stand and get already-picked peaches. Usually peaches don't inspire me to cook, for some reason, but this year, I have lots of things to make: fresh salsa, chutney, cran-peach jam (minimizing sugar for a tart fruit spread).
Apples: $18 for a little over 22 lb
Peaches: $13.90 for about 13.5 lb
Impulse buy: local cranberry honey
So tonight I started in on the peaches (apples are a bit more temporally forgiving). First up, mostly-local peach chutney.
Local ingredients: 5-6 lb peaches, an onion, three fat cloves of garlic, two long red hot peppers, a bit less than a thumbworth of new ginger (harvested from my porch! *happy dance of gingerosity*)
Non-local ingredients: a cup or two of apple cider (distributed locally; no clue about original source), a cup or two of brown sugar (I didn't measure either of them, just added until it looked right. Sorry 'bout that.), some nutmeg
Some of the peaches I got the skin off of, some not; I decided I didn't care enough to be thorough. It's simmering now, and I'm guessing I'll get about five pints out of it. (edit three pints and two half-pints, with a little bowl for using now.)
Second up, mostly-local green and yellow chicken.
Non-local ingredients: chicken thighs, black pepper, chipotle mustard (atop the chicken)
Local ingredients (under the chicken): a sliced leek, a diced golden tomato, two diced peaches, two earsworth of corn kernels
It's a total experiment; I'm not sure they all go together at all. Should be ready in about an hour or so, just after the chutney finishes, if I'm really lucky.
Apples: $18 for a little over 22 lb
Peaches: $13.90 for about 13.5 lb
Impulse buy: local cranberry honey
So tonight I started in on the peaches (apples are a bit more temporally forgiving). First up, mostly-local peach chutney.
Local ingredients: 5-6 lb peaches, an onion, three fat cloves of garlic, two long red hot peppers, a bit less than a thumbworth of new ginger (harvested from my porch! *happy dance of gingerosity*)
Non-local ingredients: a cup or two of apple cider (distributed locally; no clue about original source), a cup or two of brown sugar (I didn't measure either of them, just added until it looked right. Sorry 'bout that.), some nutmeg
Some of the peaches I got the skin off of, some not; I decided I didn't care enough to be thorough. It's simmering now, and I'm guessing I'll get about five pints out of it. (edit three pints and two half-pints, with a little bowl for using now.)
Second up, mostly-local green and yellow chicken.
Non-local ingredients: chicken thighs, black pepper, chipotle mustard (atop the chicken)
Local ingredients (under the chicken): a sliced leek, a diced golden tomato, two diced peaches, two earsworth of corn kernels
It's a total experiment; I'm not sure they all go together at all. Should be ready in about an hour or so, just after the chutney finishes, if I'm really lucky.