Monday, August 13, 2007

Farm to Table, first installment

It's been a while since I've done a "Farm to Table" installment, so here's a catch up post. There are several photos I need to get from Jim's camera, which I'll post as a second installment.

We didn't get in on One Local Summer in time to participate, mostly because I was hemming and hawing about participating because our efforts have been focused on zero mile meals rather than 100 mile meals. We eat local every night of the week, much of it produced right here on our own farm. We buy our beef from a farm 13.5 miles down the road, which is our only meat we don't produce for ourselves at this point, though that may change down the road if I get that Jersey I've been wanting.

Non-local staples: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, pepper, flour, grains and most cheeses—all my goat cheese is home produced, which is why we use it so often. I buy King Arthur flour, which is arguably regional, but have yet to find an available local source. I make nearly all of our bread products from scratch and plan to start making our pasta as well as soon as I get my birthday present—a deluxe hand crank pasta maker. So, I figure making from scratch makes them kinda, sorta local.

Zero Mile Meals:

Grilled pork tenderloin, Caesar salad, herbed focaccia bread.


Green zebra and summer squash salsa with balsamic vinaigrette, served as a side to a rotisserie chicken.


Bacon, tomato and chard on homemade bread with homegrown pickles.



Rotini with sauteed sungold tomatoes, garlic, basil pesto and goat cheese.


15 mile meals:

Beef shish kebab, rotini with roasted sweet olive tomatoes, basil and garlic goat cheese, and herbed focaccia bread.


Grilled beef short ribs and sweet corn, sauteed sweet olive tomato and summer squash medley with goat cheese.

6 comments:

Madeline Rains said...

Yum! This makes me so hungry. What wonderful meals. I have been so lazy about making everything from scratch this summer. I wanted to ask you about how you do your beef short ribs on the grill? We had them the other night and they were really tough. I think I should have boiled them first. I prefer pork ribs but our farm source was out.

Omelay said...

do you save seeds from your tomatoes? if so i'd love get a couple of green zebra tomato seeds.

karl

Danielle said...

Madeline, Jim says it must've been the cow.

But then I made him really tell me how he did it, cuz I know he slow cooks them. He says he put them over the coals at first just to brown them on all sides. Then, he pulls them out to the edge, covers the grill, and let's them slow cook for an hour to an hour and a half.

Ours are very fatty, but oh, so tasty and tender!

Karl, I was going to try saving seeds this year, but I don't know how tricky it will be because I have all my tomato varieties planted together.

From what I've read, tomatoes are far easier to save with multiple varieties than things like beans or cucurbits where you have to hand pollinate and bag, yadda, yadda. If you want to take the chance, I can send you some.

Woody said...

Yum

Yum

yum...


yum...I could go on. Everyone of those meals looks wonderful.

Madeline Rains said...

Thanks for the beef rib info. We are so grill ignorant, having just gotten our first grill this year! I see now that I was way too impatient and should have cooked it much longer. Good to know.

Omelay said...

those zebra striped look like they are potato leaf. if they are then they will cross with other potato leaf tomatoes. if that is the only potato leaf tomato that is in your garden then i'd happily take the chance. if it isn't potato leaf then it is fine also