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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Pot beans

When we decided that we would eat as much locally grown food as possible, we started using mostly dried beans.  There are sources for some dried beans (mostly black beans) in the Willamette Valley, but that will hopefully be increasing with the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project that is focused on converting grass seed farmland into bean and grain production.  A larger variety of dried beans can be purchased from Azure Standard, which sources most of their beans from the Northwest.

Imagine my delight when I ran across Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market in San Francisco a few years ago.  Rancho Gordo sells dozens of varieties of heirloom dried beans.  Since they aren’t local for us,  I only pick them up on trips to San Francisco.  (They do have a mail order option.)  On our unexpected stop in San Francisco this past weekend, we picked up 5 lbs. of beans, including 1 lb of Red Nightfall, which we used in this recipe.  Although pretty expensive at $5/lb, they are very high quality making the extra cost worth it.  They have an almost cult-like following in the Bay Area.  On the airplane, our rowmate noticed our stash of beans which prompted a discussion about our favorite bean recipes.  Who would have thought people could be so passionate about beans?

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Borscht

I have never thought that borscht looked like a soup that I would like to eat, let alone make.  But our visit to Belly changed my opinion of borscht.  Brian ordered borscht for dinner and kindly let us all taste it and it was delicious.  I think the color is what turned me off.  Its kind of a weird color for soup – it reminds me of the soup that Renee Zellweger makes in Bridget Jones Diary (instead of using standard kitchen string for the bouquet garni, she uses red string that turns the soup pink).

We had some roasted beets leftover from our roasted beet salad, plus potatoes and carrots from our CSA, and a head of savoy cabbage from our Eugene Local Foods order – a majority of the ingredients for borscht.  I bought some chicken thighs to add to the soup, but forgot about them – I bet they would be delicious.  

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Baked eggs with dungeness crab

Baked eggs, or eggs en cocotte, are a new dish for us.  For some reason, I avoided French egg dishes because I thought they would be overly complex or fussy.  Nothing could farther from reality with eggs en cocotte.  They also make an attractive presentation, so would be a great breakfast/brunch to serve to company.  The eggs are served in the their ramekins, hence, en cocotte.

The preparation couldn’t be simpler – butter the ramekins, add cream and other ingredients (like dungeness crab), add the egg, followed by cream and a dab of butter.  Put the ramekins in a water bath and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.  They can sit in the water bath for 15 minutes or so while you are finishing other dishes for your brunch.  An egg dish that is pretty and patient is a perfect brunch dish.

We used leftover crab dip in our variation, but  artichokes, mushrooms, minced ham and cheese would also be delicious.

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Dark Days Challenge Recap, Week 4

A very exciting living local week indeed.  We received our second order from Eugene Local Foods, went to a holiday party at a restaurant that features many local ingredients, made a yummy crab dip for our annual cookie decorating party, and I attended a class by the Master Food Preservers.  What a week!

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Amy’s crab dip

Another awesome recipe from my awesome sister-in-law, Amy.  It is week 2 of dungeness crab season and I returned to Newman’s to pick up 2 crabs for this delicious recipe.  Instead of shelling them by myself, I recruited Matt to help me after work on Friday.  He is a champion crab sheller (see exhibit below).  Last week, I shelled 3 crabs by myself and my hands about froze.  I digress.

It is really one of the best dishes you can bring to a holiday party – it’s delicious, it’s easy, and you can make it ahead of time.  A bonus is that the recipe  consists of almost all local ingredients, with the exception of the coconut milk, mayo, and curry powder.  We served it at our annual holiday cookie decorating party.  I assure you that if you show up with this at a holiday party, you will be asked for the recipe and invited back.

You can see the large pieces of crab in the finished dip – make sure you don’t break them up too much when you mix everything together.  They are such a treat sitting atop your melba toast.

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Roasted beet salad

Image from Tiny Farm Blog.

Unlike our President Elect, I love beets.  And this is my all-time favorite beet recipe.  I have tried others and always wish that I had just made this one.  If you haven’t tried beets in years or only know beets from salad bars – this is your recipe.

The beets are roasted, which is the easiest, least messy, and most tasty way to prepare beets (in my opinion, of course).  I like to wrap beets individually in foil – it reduces the mess, helps them stay juicy, and the peels slip right off when you roast them this way.  It does take a little longer, but worth the extra time especially since the oven does all the work.

I have used all types of beets in this recipe – red, golden, chiogga, and they all work equally great.  This is a great weekday meal because the prep-time is minimal.  You just have to allow for enough time for the beets to roast (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours).  You can also make the recipe a day or two ahead  (except for combining the beets and greens).

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