Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Dark Days Eat Local Challenge: Week 7

Sunday night, we had delicious organic grass-fed beef fillet (from a farm 37 miles up the road) topped with crumbled bleu cheese, sautéed swiss chard and kale with caramelized onions, country potatoes with the last of our green peppers, herb foccacia and a delicious mixed green salad. Alas, the potatoes weren't local.

No photo, but we had some delicious turkey soup this Tuesday with homemade spatzen, or German drop noodles, along with pannini sandwhiches on homemade bread with local baby swiss cheese, caramelized onions, and swiss chard. Mmmmmm, tasty! So good, in fact, that I could eat another right now.

I'm laming out on my zero mile meals again, I know, though almost all our breakfasts really do fall into that category. But how many times can I post a photo of fried eggs, bacon, and homemade toast with grape jelly? Problem is a combination of a lousy potato harvest and the fact that I am a walking cheese commercial. I simply cannot cook without dairy of some sort, and I wouldn't even try. Seriously, I'd pout, and possibly refuse to eat out of sheer spite.

"Don't forget the cheese" is my motto.

4 comments:

Pam said...

please post your foccacia recipe. It looks so delicious every time I see it.

Pam

Danielle said...

Sure. I make all my dough in a bread machine, so I'm not sure how that may change the recipe for those who don't use one. (Yes, I love my bread machine!)

10.5 oz water
4 tbsp olive oil
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp bread machine yeast

(This, btw, is the same recipe I use for pizza crust.)

I toss and pull the dough into a rough rectangle, but you can also roll it and dimple like a traditional foccacia. I brush it with olive oil and cover, letting it rise for as much time as I have.

I chop/ dice whatever herbs I have on hand in the garden—usually rosemary, thyme, chives, and either dill or basil. Add minced or crushed garlic and coarse sea salt and bake on a hot pizza stone for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

I like this bread because it's not only delicious, it's quick. So if I haven't gotten ciabatta started early enough, we can still have bread with dinner. The pizza dough setting on my machine is 50 minutes, and I can toss the dough and make it right away if I need to, meaning it can be done start to finish in about an hour and a half.

Anonymous said...

Now that is a motto I can live by!! :)

Pam said...

Thanks for the recipe Danielle!
Pam