A new home for our blog

Dear wonderful readers-

We have decided to move our blog to our own website.  Please come visit us there for past and future blog posts.

Your blog authors at Our Home Works,

Amy & Matt

The Country Cat in Portland

Our weekend trip to Portland was successful on all accounts.  In addition to picking up our beans at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market, we also spent time with some of our closest friends, picked up a Harsch crock at the Mirador Community Store, and ate dinner at The Country Cat.  The Country Cat was a recommendation from Eugene friends (thanks Brian and Caroline!) and it did not disappoint.  We thought that it was a bit like Belly in atmosphere, menu, and price.  And in case you don’t know how we feel about Belly, read about it here.  Matt ordered their special which was a flat iron steak sliced thin with chanterelles, andouille sausage, and potatoes.  I ordered two starters – a citrus salad with avocado and chesnut and potato dumplings.  We also placed two orders of their braised greens for the table.  They cooked the heck out of them, which is not my style, but they were good, good, good.  Another standout dish at the table was the fried chicken.  The only complaint was not getting any dark meat.

In summary…  I was more blown away by Belly, but our meals were delicious.  If there weren’t so many great restaurants in Portland, we would probably return soon.  And like many Portland restaurants, it is kid friendly.

Overall, I am really liking this trend (can we call it a trend?) of restaurants serving good local food at reasonable prices.  Do you know of other places in the Northwest doing the same?  Please tell us about it in the comments!

PS – If you are wondering about the Harsch crock, we already have a batch of sauerkraut brewing in it.  I am sure you will be hearing more about that later.  I learned about Harsch crocks from Culinaria Eugenius, another Eugene local food blog.  I have to say these crocks are really cool.

Winter squash soup

We made our first winter squash soup of the year with the Sibley Squash that I picked up at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market this morning .  Our main purpose of going to the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market was to procure some Ayers Creek Farm heirloom beans but I couldn’t resist when I saw this beautiful squash at their stand while waiting in line to pay for my many bags of beans.  Several people even commented on my arms full of beans.  I overheard someone say “now there’s a bean lover”.  Guilty as charged, but I do have a good excuse in that we don’t live in Portland, right?

Cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta

I couldn’t wait to make this when I first saw the photo of borlotti beans in tomato sauce over polenta in the Heirloom Beans cookbook by Steven Sando of Rancho Gordo.  You are probably wondering when we will get sick of beans.  We have made pot beans, and ham and bean soup over the last couple of weeks, and now cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta.  And we haven’t even told you about all of our bean meals….

Would you think I was crazy if I told you that beans have become one of my comfort foods?  Our cold, dreary Northwest winter weather has a way of making me want comfort food like soup and vegetable braises, and beans seem to make their way into these dishes quite often.  It’s hard to think of a better comfort food – they’re healthy, relatively low in calories, and they go in just about anything.

Crustless quiche with winter squash, leeks, and prosciutto

Crustless quiche is one of my favorite go to breakfast dishes for company – it looks beautiful, tastes delicious, and it’s all done at once.  What’s not to love?  I developed this crustless quiche recipe a few years ago by experimenting with ingredients that go well together.  Quiche is really forgiving that way, which makes it really adaptable to eating seasonally and locally.  Our local or regional ingredients include eggs from Laughingstock Farms, delicata squash from our CSA, and cream from Organic Valley.

Besides fresh, free range eggs, and seasonal produce, the key to a crustless quiche or savory tart is Herbes de Provence.  We use the Herbes de Provence from Dean and Deluca, although it would be simple enough to make your own.  The herbs included in their mixture are savory, fennel, thyme, rosemary and lavender, with the fennel playing a leading role.

Bolognese sauce

We were looking for an easy meal afterreturning from a long weekend in Bandon.  And I didn’t want to go to the grocery store, so pasta with bolognese sauce it was.  Typically bolognese sauce simmers for several hours, but I found a recipe in Cooks Illustrated last year that cuts the time way back (to about 30 minutes) and achieves similar results.  It makes a pretty big batch, so we freeze the leftovers for lasagna.  We used some of our home canned tomatoes and ground beef from Deck Family Farm to make it a local meal.

Organic cranberries in Bandon, Oregon – Brush Prairie Bogs

The holidays are over, but I still wanted some local cranberries.  Every time I am in the produce section at the grocery store, I look at the box in hopes to see Oregon cranberries.  Instead I walk away disgusted that a grocery store in Eugene buys cranberries from Wisconsin.  What the heck?

We did manage to pick up a pound of local cranberries through Eugene Local Foods right before Thanksgiving, but I didn’t feel like I got my cranberry fix for the year.  After reading the Culinaria Eugenius post about most Oregon cranberries being shipped away, I did not have high hopes on our trip to Bandon.

We paid a visit to Misty Meadows, an Oregon coast producer and retailer specializing in cranberry jams.  While completing our purchase of cranberry jam, gooseberry jam, tayberry jam, and some local frozen huckleberries , I asked whether they sold frozen cranberries.  They suggested that we look in Coffee Break, a weekly publication of classified ads published by the local newspaper, Bandon Western World.  Sure enough there was an ad for organic cranberries from Brush Prairie Farm.  I was giddy and could hardly wait for them to call me back.  Eventually, we arranged a rendezvous and we are coming home with 10 lbs of organic cranberries.  I will probably make cranberry ketchup and cranberry salsa.  If you have other ideas, please put them in the comments.

I am encouraged to find a farm that is willing to sell smaller quantities directly.  We are hoping that some of their cranberries can find their way to Eugene next year.

They still have a small quantity available this year.  If you plan to be around Bandon in the next couple of weeks and are in need of a cranberry fix, contact Brush Prairie to see if they have any available.  If you are interested in how cranberries are grown, harvested, and packaged, they also have a beautiful set of slides on their website that chronicle the process.

Read about other local food and food related sources here.

Beans and grains in the Willamette Valley revisited – Ayers Creek Farm

Beans and grains have become a bit of an obsession around here.  We are headed to the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market next weekend in search of some beans.   A helpful reader turned me on to Ayers Creek Farm (thank you!), owned by Anthony and Carol Boutard.  I have exchanged a few emails with Anthony and read a few online articles about their farm and harvesting methods.  The only thing I am disappointed by is not being able to get any of their beans until next weekend.

Anthony and Carol grow a wide variety of heirloom beans and grains on their farm in Gaston, OR.    They grow a number of Italian heirloom beans including Bianchetto, Black Basque, Purgatorio, Zolfino, Borlotto Lamon, and Tabais.  They also grow barley, corn for polenta and popcorn, durum wheat, and soft red wheat.  Until now, they have focused on growing non-bread grains.

They use some of their durum wheat harvest to produce frikeh.  Frikeh, a grain featured in Middle-Eastern cooking, is wheat that is harvested while still green, then roasted, and finally threshed, and winnowed.  Anthony wrote a very informative, detailed description of the process, along with information about required equipment here.  According to Anthony, frikeh is best enjoyed within a month of harvest, which begins in July.  I am looking forward to picking some up this summer and exploring ways to use this unusual grain.

The polenta, popcorn, and beans listed above are all available right now and can be purchased at the Hillsdale Farmer’s Market.  They are sold out of barley and frikeh until the summer.  I can hardly wait to try some Ayers Creek Farm beans, polenta, and popcorn.  Of course, we will share our experiments and recipes with you here.

If you are a small grain farmer or wish to know more about growing and harvesting grains, Anthony shares his experience on growing grains on the Small Grain and Pulse Production blog.  You can watch a short video about Ayers Creek Farm on Cooking Up a Story here.

Read our other bean and grain posts here:

Beans and Grains in the Willamette Valley

Ham and bean soup

Pot beans

Cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta

Read about other local food and food related sources here.

Ham and bean soup

Staying with the bean theme, we made ham and bean soup for dinner.  Ham and bean soup has always been one of my favorite comfort meals.

My original intention was to make black-eyed pea soup for an pre-New Year’s Day good luck meal, but I couldn’t find any locally grown black-eyed peas, and opted for the Yankee version instead.  We used our recently purchased Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye beans, but you can use any white bean.  If you are trying to use local beans, Azure Standard carries several regionally grown white beans including their organic navy beans.  (Incidentally, they also carry black eyed peas that are grown in Moses Lake, WA)

Beans and grains in the Willamette Valley

I wanted to follow-up my last post, Pot Beans,  with some more information on local beans and grains. I mentioned the Southern Willamette Valley Bean & Grain Project in that post, but thought such an exciting project deserves more than a mere mention.

I learned about the Southern Willamette Valley Bean & Grain Project through my volunteer work at Willamette Farm & Food Coalition.  The project began a few years ago when a local farmer and founder of Oregon Tilth, Harry MacCormack, was shopping for beans at First Alternative Co-op in Corvallis and realized that none of the beans or grains were grown in the Willamette Valley.  He planted several varieties of beans to see if they would be viable and determined they would.

Harry & his wife, Cherie, run Sunbow Farms.  They sell organic beans, grains, and vegetables produced on their farm.  They sell beans and grains by contract in 5lb to 100lb quantities and grow a variety of each.  The bean varieties they sell include pinto, black, fava, and garbanzo bean, and grain varieties they sell include wheat, oats, rye, amaranth, and quinoa.  Their 2008 crop is completely sold out, but contact them via email to let them know you are interested in placing an order for their 2009 crop.

Before the 1980’s when many of the valley’s bean and grain farmers converted to grass seed, residents of the valley sourced about 50% of their food locally.  That number currently stands at less than 5%.  The aim of the project is to reverse the trend by reconverting much of the grass seed land back to producing beans and grains.  One grass seed farmer,American Grass Seed Producers, has already begun the transition back to growing some beans and wheat.

Through their food production arm, Stalford Seed Farm, American Grass Seed Producers also sells beans and grain.   They produced red wheat, white wheat, garbanzos, and pinto beans this year and currently still have everything for sale except the red wheat.  The prices for the white wheat, garbanzos, and pintos is $0.75/lb.  The 2008 crop is in their last year transition from conventional to organic.  The 2009 crop will be certified organic.  I plan on making a run up to their farm in Tangent after the new year to pick up some garbanzos, pintos, and possibly some white wheat.  Please leave a note in the comments or send me an email at ourhomeworkseugene at gmail dot com if you are interested and I will pick some up for you too.

In addition to buying direct, there are also some buying clubs that you can purchase through.  Ten Rivers Food Web has a buying club in Corvallis and Krishna Khalsa organized an informal buying club in Eugene.  I will post updates to buying club information in future posts – so stay tuned.

If you want to read more about this exciting project, Dan Armstrong at Mud City Press maintains a biannual report.  The latest report can be viewed here.  In addition, the December issue of Edible Portland features an interview with Harry MacCormack.  Read the article online here or pick up a copy of Edible Portland at Laughing Planet Cafe on Blair between 7th and 8th.

Other recipes and posts on beans:

Beans and grain in the Willamette Valley revisited – Ayers Creek Farm

Pot Beans

Ham and Bean Soup

Cranberry beans in tomato sauce over polenta

Read about other local food and food related sources here.