Diary of a Cook's Week
My assignment was to write about how I do or try to "eat local" - locally grown produce, locally raised meats, etc. I think often people talk about a special project when they want to talk about eating locally - a once per year 150 mile challenge, or a special locavore dinner party. I wanted to examine my day-to-day, real life cooking habits. What's in my larder? What did a random, unplanned week look like? What did that week look like in March, one of the bleakest months in northern hemisphere farming?
What follows is a snapshot of the eating life at my house. I started on Monday March 14, and I did not plan any special menus* or shop with the intent of clever stocking. In other words, I did not cheat or weigh the week in favor of local or non-local, or give myself any sort of parameters other than getting food on the table in a typically busy work week.
*I do plan some dinners loosely; at the beginning of each week I "shop" from my freezer, pulling a roast and a package of chops or ground meat, and taking time to inventory the vegetables and stocks and fruits. I don't necessarily know what I'll be making with these items, but I do know that a roast will be good for 3 meals and the chops or ground will be good for easy, busy-night cooking.
Monday 3/14: Fred and I had colds all weekend, and whereas I don't believe in food-as-medicine per se, I do think you need a wide variety of nutrients when you're sick. I mean, duh. Indian might be the most medicinal of cuisines (I do mean that as a compliment) - vegetables, chilies, lots of garlic and ginger. All local ingredients are in bold.
Indian to Cure What Ails You:
1. Lamb chops seasoned with garlic and fennel and Piper's excellent eggplant pickle: Lamb from Lefever-Holbrook Ranch in Goldendale, WA; garlic from a friend's garden in Williams, OR; fennel seeds from the wild fennel growing in my parking strip; eggplant from Easter, OR.
2. Red lentils with tomatoes, shallots, garlic, ginger and Indian spices: Red Lentils from Milepost 65, Woodinville, WA; home canned tomatoes from Gathering Together Farm; shallots from Your Kitchen Garden.
3. Collards: Collards from 47th Ave Farm.
4. Rice with butter: Butter from Noris Dairy.
5. Whole wheat chapattis: Flours for chapattis from Shepherd's Grain.
6. Canned peaches: Home canned peaches from Columbia Blossom Orchards in Mosier, OR.
Tuesday 3/15: Tuesday is winter CSA pick-up day, which means I'm busy until well into the evening. We need a quick dinner. Also, time to clear out the ‘frig in preparation for all the new vegetables!
7 Layer Salad, winter version:
1. Butter lettuce (I can't give it up!), shredded carrots, radishes, cabbage-broccoli-sweet onion slaw and blue cheese all layered in my trifle dish. True Midwestern glamour! Carrots, cabbage, broccoli and sweet onions from 47th Ave Farm.
2.My friend Robin's Rillette (pork shoulder pate): Pork from Davis Family Farm in Underwood, WA.
3. Baguette from Grand Central.
Wednesday 3/16: Roast night, Southern style!
1. Ham hock roasted ham-style (perfect for 2) with sage, brown sugar, cider vinegar and chili: Ham from Davis Family Farm; sage from my yard.
2. Roasted parsnips: Parsnips from 47th Ave Farm.
3. Black-eyed peas with onion, collards and parmigiano rind: Onions and collards from 47th Ave Farm.
4. Corn bread with home canned garlic-pepper jelly and butter: Corn meal from Pintail Flour Collective; wheat flour from Shepherd's Grain; eggs from Champoeg Farm (est. 1856); buttermilk from Noris Dairy; Gathering Together Farm garlic and peppers; butter from Noris Dairy.
Thursday 3/17: To the local tavern, Grain and Gristle, for an exemplary burger (beef from a small ranch in North Powder, OR) and a pint of Terminal Gravity beer. They forgot the bacon on my burger, but I didn't realize until the next day. I guess I didn't need it.
Friday 3/18: Time to use up some leftovers, namely the take-out pork laab that had been hanging out since Sunday night. Fubonn, the Asian supermarket on SE 82nd, has an amazing selection of instant ramens from Japan, Korea, Thailand and elsewhere. Worth keeping in mind.
Gussied-up Ramen for a Rainy Night:
1. Instant ramen, MAMA brand, shrimp creamy tom yum flavor, of course.
2. Leftover pork laab.
3. Lots of flowering kale: Flowering kale from 47th Ave Farm.
4. A perfect hardboiled egg: Egg from Champoeg Farm.
Saturday 3/19: Something to go with a bottle of bubbly. It's Saturday night after all.
1. Crab soufflé:Oregon Dungeness crab; Noris Dairy butter and milk; Champoeg Farm eggs.
2. Salad of butter lettuce, kale and cornbread croutons, vinaigrette: Kale from 47th Ave Farm; cornbread from ham night.
3. Broccoli with brown butter: Broccoli from 47th Ave Farm.
4. Grand Central baguette.
Sunday 3/20: Proper Sunday dinner (plus an opportunity to use ham leftovers)
1.Scalloped potatoes and ham: Potatoes from 47th Ave Farm; ham from Davis Family Farm.
2. Sautéed savoy cabbage with balsamic vinegar: Cabbage from 47th Ave Farm.
3. Lemon bars: Noris butter in the lemon bar crust and curd.
It was pretty interesting to see the menus and detailed ingredient list on paper. I'm not a fundamentalist (or foodamentalist!); I believe in French wine, parmigiano reggiano, and good olive oil. I believe in treating myself to citrus throughout the winter. I also believe, however, that eating locally results in tastier meals, fewer trips to the grocery store, and a happier and healthier community and self. I was surprised at how much of my larder is locally sourced, from things gathered from my yard to grains in my pantry. Subscribing to a CSA makes it easier, as does doing a bit of summer preserving. If you're a meat eater, buying whole animals from local farmers and ranchers is invaluable. It also helps to have a friend to split that pork!
It takes a little time and management to maintain a "local larder", but the eating is awfully good.
By Laura Ohm, Cuisine Manager / Portland