Archive for the ‘Local Food’ Category

23 Oct

Smash that Pumpkin

Posted by Lynn in Baking, Local Food. Tagged: , .

Recipe: Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins

I’m not going to make excuses for my blogging hiatus. Well, okay one. We had eighty days of pretty much straight sunshine here in Seattle. Really. Hardly any rain fell from mid-July through to the second week of October. Friends visited, trails were hiked, kayaks were paddled, day-trips were taken. And, I cooked of course – this year I really took my canning seriously – tomatoes, pickled peppers, creamed corn, and ketchup.

And I am, still delighted to be home. Delighted by everything I already take for granted in the is house, again, from the morning light, the 10 minute walk to Kerry Park, and the swing on the porch to the duel fuel stove.

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26 Jun

Crustacean Crush

Posted by Lynn in Local Food, Nostalgia, Recipes, Seafood. Tagged: , .

Recipe: Vintage Crab Cocktail

I lived on the East Coast for seven years, but I never really fell for lobster or lobster rolls. They’re good, particularly in Maine, along the coast, but they just never made me swoon. It’s not just a West Coast bias – I still dream of the fried clams on Cape Cod, for instance.

But when it comes to crustaceans, I am a Dungeness crab-girl. It’s a treat I will forever associate with trips to the beach as a kid, and the taste of the summer. The Washington coast Dungeness season typically runs from December through September.

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22 May

Wild About Nettles

Posted by Lynn in Food Politics, Local Food, Narrative, Recipes, Wild Food. Tagged: , , .

Recipe: Pasta with Caramelized Onions and Stinging Nettles

Wild food has a primal call. Catching a fish, digging clams, hunting (I suspect), and even picking a stinging nettle. Okay, there’s no danger involved with nettle gathering – being stung by a nettle is a weird, tingly sensation, but really not painful at all – but it’s still empowering.

So when a friend offered me one last chance to gather nettles this year, I didn’t hesitate, in spite of the persistent rain. (Once the nettles are more than a foot or so high, it’s too late to harvest. Older plants don’t taste great and contain calcium crystals that are hard to digest) Mid-May is really late for gathering nettles, even here in the Northwest. We were lucky to find any.

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13 Jan

Salad Days and Sustainable Seafood

Posted by Lynn in Local Food, Narrative, Seafood. Tagged: , , .

Recipe: Lemon Shallot Shrimp Salad

Sometimes, nothing beats a salad for dinner; on hot days, in August for instance. Or in January. I love roast chicken, tagines, chili, lasagna and cheese, all the typical comfort foods as much as anyone – more, probably.  But I take comfort in salad, too.

We’re lucky here in the Puget Sound. Greens grow abundantly pretty much all year round. Last week I came home from the farmers market with a huge bag of arugula and bundles of kale and rainbow chard.

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3 Jan

Summer Sunshine for the New Year

Posted by Lynn in Books, Local Food, Soup. Tagged: .

Chicken Corn Soup

One of my favorite rituals is hanging up new calendars. All the promise of a New Year, held in your hand and hung on the wall; the illusion that the way we order and divide time matters. Or maybe the allure lies in just being able to flip ahead from January to June and be reassured that summer is just a few page turns away.

It’s important to believe in that possibility on days when the sun sets at 4pm. And it can be vital to eat something restorative and colorful at this time of year – something like Chicken Corn Soup. Who can think of corn without thinking of sunshine?

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6 Dec

Charcutepalooza: A Year of Meat, Chaos and Hope

Posted by Lynn in Charcutepalooza, Cheese, Local Food, Narrative, Recipes. Tagged: , , .

Recipes: Duck Prosciutto Fig Spread, Mostly Poultry Cassoulet

It’s been a year of living dangerously: curing raw meat, making cheese, tending bread and yogurt starter, making sauerkraut in crock that belonged by my great-grandmother – a year of re-defining normal. And I owe the attitude that fueled all that to Charcutepalooza. I started out nervous. And I’m ending triumphant, with a renewed enthusiasm for all things culinary.

Would I have started making my own cream cheese if I hadn’t signed on? Would I have decided my diet is best defined by a proactive standard, i.e. humanely raised, locally grown, fair trade, etc. versus just drawing an arbitrary line in the sand and eating “no mammals” without Charcutepalooza?

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15 Nov

Food Network Virtual Thanksgiving: Blue Cheese and Rosemary Celebration Potatoes

Posted by Lynn in Local Food, Narrative, Recipes, Thanksgiving. Tagged: , , , .

Recipe: Celebration Potatoes

This year is the Food Network’s first ever virtual Thanksgiving. Featuring recipes from all over the web – from food blogs of all sizes and scopes, this compilation is sure to be helpful if you (like me) are still in the planning stages of your Thanksgiving meal. Time has just gotten away from me this year. I know it is mid-November already, but my personal calendar is still stuck somewhere in October.

I’m really lucky the next Charcutepaloza deadline isn’t till December 1st.

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8 Nov

Fall Flavors: Apples and Brussels Sprouts

Posted by Lynn in Local Food, Recipes. Tagged: , .

Recipe:Bangers and Mash with Apples and Brussels Sprouts

I’m one of those people who had to be convinced to try Brussels sprouts – that only happened a few years ago. Now they are one of my all-time favorites and just like kale, something you can always find in my refrigerator this time of year.

I’m pretty sure my Mom never tried to feed me sprouts – like, mushrooms, cabbage, any green but iceberg lettuce, chilies, and salmon, they ranked high on the list of things my father wouldn’t eat, so really, why would she have bothered? And since even Alton Brown was reluctant to take on the sprout, I can’t really blame her.

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20 Sep

A Five Dollar Fairy Tale

Posted by Lynn in Books, Local Food, Narrative. Tagged: .

Recipe:Black Bean Soup with Roasted Corn and Indian Spices

Slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food. This was the tag line for Slow Food USA‘s recent $5 challenge: sharing a fresh, healthy meal with loved ones, friends, or strangers for less than $5 a person.

I’m not sure how much of a challenge it was – the reality is that anyone who participated in the challenge, is probably already a slow food cook; someone who has the knowledge, access,
resources and the time to cook from scratch with real ingredients. If you work a 16 hours just to make ends meet, or live in a food dessert, a cooking challenge from Slow Food USA is about as interesting as a green energy tax credit. It’s a fairy tale.

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10 Aug

Stop, Smell and Eat the Roses

Posted by Lynn in Baking, Local Food, Nostalgia, Recipes. Tagged: , .

Recipe: Strawberry Rose Cupcakes

I’m not a big fan of the house we’ve been renting for the past 10 months. It’s a vanilla-bland subdivision, 3-car garage, late- twentieth century sprawl-special. The dogs get a lot out of the ¼ acre yard, but being surrounded by such relentless, plastic same-ness depresses me.  I can’t wait to live in an old-fashioned neighborhood again.

But I will miss the roses. The property has six rose bushes– and four of them are prolific bloomers. I haven’t lived with roses like this in a long time. My father loved roses. The entire south side of my childhood home was covered in them. Dad kept them blooming May through November, most years.  And every few days, he cut bouquets for me –even when I was 17 and he and I could barely have a civil conversation.

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