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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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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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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Dark Days Challenge Recap, Week 3

Another week of enjoying the local bounty.   Our goal this week was to use up as much of our Thanksgiving leftovers as possible.  We only ended up throwing out a couple pieces of turkey and some mashed potatoes, which I consider a success.

Sunday, November 30

Tom Kha Turkey Soup

My attempt at using up some of the leftover turkey while getting away from the same old taste.  Overall a success.  Read more about it in my Thanksgiving Leftovers post.

Monday, November 31

White beans with black kale, savoy cabbage, and chicken sausage, adapted from Deborah Madison in Local Flavors

We had leftover white beans and several vegetables that needed to be used.  This recipe fit the bill perfectly and is one that we use frequently in the winter.

Ingredients include:

Cannelini beans (leftover)

Black kale (local – CSA)

Leeks (local – CSA)

Savoy cabbage (local – Eugene Farmer’s Market)

Onion (local – CSA)

Garlic (local – CSA)

Parsley (not sure)

Chicken sausage (local – Taylor’s Sausage from Cave Junction, OR)

Thursday, December 3

Smoked pork chops with plum chutney, potato pancakes, and broccoli salad

A really delicious meal highlighted by the amazing pork chops from Long’s.  For the broccoli salad, I used a recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks.  It is a staple when we get broccoli in our CSA box.

Ingredients include:

Pork chops (local – Carlton Farms from Long’s Meat Market)

Plum chutney (local – canned from local ingredients in the summer)

Leftover mashed potatoes (from Thanksgiving)

Broccoli (local – CSA)

Shallots (local – CSA)

Garlic (local – CSA)

Saturday, December 6

Crab bisque

An awesome holiday recipe using one of the great wintertime local ingredients, dungeness crab.  Get the recipe in my post.

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