Wednesday, August 20, 2008

LOCAVORE PIZZA ART

GOAT CHEESE, Prairie Fruits Farm, Champaign, Illinois
GREENS, PEPPERS & LEEKS, Angelic Organics, Caledonia, Illinois

Late August is a time of absolute plenty for local produce. We have so much great food that David can create art on a daily basis. Here is a weeknight locavore pizza, lovely to behold and eat!

(By the way, not to diss the superb culinary skills of Dave, but after reflection, we've decided that leeks are not best spent on pizza. They are infinitely more splendid in soups and terrines. Goat cheese, ever so joyous to ingest, is, however, fab on pizza or any other context.)

Monday, August 18, 2008

CHLODNIK: COLD BEET SOUP

BEETS from Genesis Growers, St. Anne, Illinois
CUCUMBER from Angelic Organics Farm, Caledonia, Illinois
Local RADISHES from Happy Foods
DILL from the Gunkel garden, Chicago

Chlodnik (hwod-neek) is the ultimate Polish summer soup. It is beautiful, healthful and splendid. David demonstrated this recipe several years back in his appearance on WTTW-TV's Your Chicago Kitchen. It is a cold soup that tastes MUCH better if left in the fridge overnight for the flavors to meld and intensify. It is incredibly simply to make and the only heat needed in the kitchen is baking the beets.

Ingredients:
4 cups buttermilk
1 medium cucumber, quartered and diced
1 bunch radishes, sliced
4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
3 -4 red beets, roasted, peeled & diced
salt for roasting beets
sour cream or plain yogurt for garnish

Roast beets in foil (Wrap each individually drizzled with olive oil and salt) at 450 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool, peel and dice beets. Mix all ingredients in a crock or large bowl. Refrigerate over night. As a meal, its great with a side of boiled, dilled potatoes and an added hard-boiled egg for protein. For serving, add a last-minute dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Graphics Notes:
Photo & Design (c) 2008 Ann Hetzel Gunkel.
Digital Supplies by Thao Cosgrove courtesy of Scrap Girls.

Friday, August 15, 2008

THE JOY OF PLUOTS

Ann's new obsession: the pluot. As shareholders in Angelic Organics CSA, we also purchase a Fruit Share. This is a bi-weekly box of organic produce supplied by farms which partner with Angelic. Not all are grown locally, but all are organic suppliers. In this week's box o' fun are plouts. As the Angelic newsletter notes, "Flavor King Pluots are from Frog Hollow in California. Pluots are a hybrid of a plum and an apricot and mainly retain the characteristics of a plum. The Flavor King gets its delicate heart shape from its plum parent -the Santa Rosa Plum. It is one of the highest flavor pluots available, with a unique spicy aroma and a mild vanilla finish." As a lifelong plum maniac I say to you, "Dude--get thee a pluot!"

THE CSA BOUNTY ARRIVES

As shareholders in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), we pick up a weekly bounty of locally grown organic produce delivered fresh to our city neighborhood from Angelic Organics farm. Our pick up site is only 2 blocks from our house, easy enough to reach with our 40 year old red wagon. If you are in Chicago looking for a CSA to join, please check out the justly famous Angelic or put the documentary The Real Dirt About Farmer John (its founder) in your Netflix Queue. Another great resources is Farmer John's cookbook, which arranges the produce by season with recipes and lots of great tips for cooking, storing and serving. Its a good thing!

DAVID'S KALE, WHITE BEANS & ITALIAN SAUSAGE PASTA

Finally, the recipe we promised is here. Some of you are getting kale and/or swiss chard right about now. This is a great way to use them.

The original Dave recipe is for Swiss Chard & Gnocchi. His Kale variation is for Pasta with Kale, White Beans & Italian Sausage. Enjoy! An image of this tasty dish as made with Kale is found below in the blog.

Dave's Swiss Chard & Gnocchi OR
Pasta with Kale, White Beans & Italian Sausage

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. Italian sausage (out of casing)
5 - 6 lg leaves of swiss chard or kale, chopped
4 - 5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 t. fennel seeds
1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes
Gnocchi (whole wheat or regular) (May substitute any preferred pasta)
1 can white beans (northern or cannellini) rinsed & drained
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Brown sausage. (At same time, boil water for pasta.) Remove from pan. Saute garlic, red pepper flakes and fennel in pan. Add the leaves; continue saute until they wilt ( 4 -5 min.). While pasta
is cooking, remove 1/2 cup cooking water. Add chicken broth and return sausage to saute pan. Simmer for 6 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water to the saute pan. Add cooked pasta to the saute pan, cook for another minute or so. Remove from heat. Add 1/4 cup grated
Pecorino-Romano. Serve immediately.


Note: If you want more heat, increase crushed red peppers to
1/4 teaspoon.