During August I pushed Farmers’ Market recipes on the blog. And at What’s 4 Dinner Solutions, August menus and recipes are all Farmers’ Market-centric. So I was pleased to see that the First Lady was taking advantage of a Farmers’ Market near the White House today:
President Obama wants a Farmers’ Market at the White House. From his interactive radio show this week:
When it comes to food, one of the things that we are doing is working with school districts. And the child nutrition legislation is going to be coming up. We provide an awful lot of school lunches out there and — and reimburse local school districts for school-lunch programs. Let’s figure out how can we get some fresh fruits and vegetables in the mix. Because sometimes you go into schools and — you know what the menu is, you know? It’s French fries, Tater Tots, hot dogs, pizza and — now, that’s what kids — let’s face it, that’s what kids want to eat, anyway. (Laughter.) So it’s not just the schools’ fault.
A, that’s what kids may want to eat. B, it turns out that that food’s a lot cheaper, because of the distributions that we’ve set up. And so what we’ve got to do is to change how we think about, for example, getting local farmers connected to school districts, because that would benefit the farmers, delivering fresh produce, but right now they just don’t have the distribution mechanisms set up.
So, you know, Michelle set up that garden in the White House?
One of the things that we’re trying to do now is to figure out, can we get a little farmers’ market — outside of the White House — I’m not going to have all of you all just tromping around inside — (laughter) — but right outside the White House — (laughter) — so that — so that we can — and — and — and that is a win-win situation.
It gives suddenly D.C. more access to good, fresh food, but it also is this enormous potential revenue-maker for local farmers in the area. And — and that — those kinds of connections can be made all throughout the country, and — and has to be part of how we think about health.
I received an email requesting a salsa recipe. This is as simple as it gets, but so good.
Fresh Salsa:
blender or food processor
In blender or food processor, add all ingredients and coarsely chop until blended well**. If you can make a day ahead, it gets even better. Seal in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to a week.
**If you prefer a chunkier style salsa, you’d be better off chopping vegetables by hand.
After a trip to the farmer’s market it’s time to make a nice, fresh pasta sauce for Sunday dinner. I’m using fresh pasta, plain, not flavored pasta, since there are so many flavors in the sauce. I prefer linguine to spaghetti or fettuccine, but whatever works best for you is perfect.
Garden Fresh Pasta Sauce
saucepan & pasta serving bowl
Heat oil in saucepan, add onions and garlic; saute on medium heat until onions are transluscent (don’t carmelize onions or scortch garlic). Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes, starting at medium heat and lowering to simmer when it gently bubbles. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain. Add pasta and sauce to pasta bowl and serve with grated parmesan, steamed zucchini and a nice crusty loaf of bread. I know it’s popular to serve bread with dipping oil, but I still prefer garlic butter.
Serves 4 generously.
Interesting expansion of co-operative farms, where you can buy eggs and vegetables on a subscription basis:
The food is healthier and tastes better, they say. They like supporting their local economy. Eliminating cross-country delivery is better for the environment, as are the sustainable farming techniques the farmers tend to use.
“Being part of a CSA means that I know the first names of the people who are raising the meat I eat,” said Andrew Johnson of Kansas City, Missouri, a member of the Parker Farms meat CSA in Richmond, Missouri. “Whereas, with the meat I buy from the grocery store, I don’t know where it came from or who raised it.”
Others say they appreciate that animals from the usually small family farms don’t spend their lives in processing plants, conditions that advocates call inhumane.
Because CSA members deal with the farmers directly, they are able to visit the farms and see exactly how their food is produced. The transparency, they say, creates an incentive for farmers to raise their animals as naturally as possible.
Here’s the final recipe for Farmer’s Market Week. Collard greens grow like weeds in the garden. Luckily they’re easy to cook up any day.
Collard Greens w/ Bacon:
skillet, saucepan, steamer
Wash collard greens. In skillet, cook bacon till crisp, remove, cool and crumble. In bacon drippings, sauté onions, remove. In saucepan, place steamer and enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer, add greens and steam until tender. Mix honey & vinegar, and a little of the bacon drippings if you like. Toss all ingredients together and serve.
Fresh and fruity.
Pear-Raspberry Salad:
baking dish & serving bowl
In baking dish, toss walnuts with oil, soy, ginger, salt & garlic. Heat in a 250° oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until walnuts are crisp. In serving bowl add lettuce. Seed and slice pears, add to lettuce, along with raspberries, bleu cheese, & walnuts. Toss with dressing.
Here are some new flavors to try with fresh green beans.
Green Beans w/Red Peppers:
steamer & saucepan
Place steamer, in saucepan, with just enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer and add beans. Steam beans until tender-crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain beans and set aside. Heat oil in saucepan, sauté pepper & olives for 1 minute, toss with beans, lemon and pepper flakes.
This week I’ll post recipes that take advantage of what’s fresh at local farmer’s markets around the country.
Black Bean Salad:
serving bowl & blender
In serving bowl, add lettuce, beans, corn, pepper, tomato & onions, toss well. In blender, add cilantro, water, vinegar, chili powder, salt, pepper and blend. Slowly add oil and blend until smooth. Pour over salad and toss. Garnish with cheese. Serves 4
If you have pets and a garden, you know sometimes they don’t always go together. But if you understand your animals natural desires, you can avoid clashes. One of my Great Danes (I had three for many years) was allergic to grass – couldn’t lay on it, so subsequently she loved dirt. If there was dirt, she was in it, digging a nest and snuggling down. And this is a Great Dane we’re talking about – it was always a king-sized nest. Luckily, my wonderful rescues seemed to come pre-trained, because a knee high fence (or as we called it, ‘a suggestion of a fence’) kept them out of both my vegetable garden and my flower garden. I let her have the compost pile – she’d dig in it and I’d have compost in half the time. The other compromise was that I moved my flower garden to one large plot instead of lots of little plots around the yard. That worked out well, too, it was much easier to maintain that one plot than the multiple plots had been.
I also had ducks. They started out as natural pest control and companions for my Great Dane, who seemed bored and lonely. That issued resolved when I adopted Great Dane brothers – it’s a long story, I’ll tell you someday. Ducks love snails and slugs and bugs. Unfortunately they also love lettuce, parsley and cilantro. They really love cilantro. I didn’t mind losing a bit of my garden to them, but just one could strip a garden in minutes. Once I realized how much they loved cilantro, I planted a plot of it far from the vegetable garden and they seemed content to munch on that and leave most of my garden alone.
My cats are generally indoor cats, but when I’m home and can keep an eye out, I leave the door open and they love to wander. I planted catmint (a variation of catnip) for them in the flower garden to roll around in and soon realized two things – it attracted every cat in neighborhood and spread like crazy. Now their catnip is in a pretty pot (thanks Aunt Lari) and I cut it for them and let them roll around in the cuttings.
I also plant oat grass for them. I keep several pots going, planted about a week apart. This gives them something to eat and unlike Kentucky blue grass, they don’t immediately throw it up on my carpet.
My Danes loved clover, I don’t know if other dogs are as fond of it as mine were, but I finally tore up the grass in their dog run (okay, their run was actually a third of my yard) and planted clover. Clover takes some work to get started, but once it’s started it’s hearty, stands up to pet waste (and Great Dane feet) and spreads easily. It’s also a great source of nitrogen for your grass. I’m glad I planted it, because by the time the yard was established my dogs were geriatric and enjoyed laying in the clover all day. And it kept my girl from digging big holes – clover was almost as good as dirt.
I’d rather garden with pets around to occasionally mess things up (one of the Danes ate my Flowering Almond Tree – pulled it right out of the ground and gnawed it like a big bone), than have a perfect garden without pets. It’s a matter of balance. Keep that in mind if your dog digs up your favorite flower or your cat suddenly decides your herb container is the perfect place to sleep on a hot afternoon. Or when your child thinks that every vegetable garden should have grasshoppers, so she proceeds to go out and collect all the grasshoppers she can find and drops them in your garden. (You can ask my dad about that one).
I’ll see what’s fresh in the store this week and post an appropriate recipe. Until then….
