Cook Local

I will talk to just about anyone about the benefits of cooking and eating local. However, there are a handful of non-local ingredients in my kitchen and there probably will be for quite some time. So what foods or ingredients are important enough for me to go far and wide for them? Well, it wouldn't be a blog if I didn't tell you, now would it?

So here are my primary non-local ingredients in no particular order.

1. Sugar: If you bake at all (outside of breads), sugar is nearly an essential ingredient. Our climate in the Pacific Northwest just won't support sugar cane. I'm not sure where the nearest sugar is, but it certainly isn't in this state. Check back for more information on where the closest sugar really is. I buy organic sugar from Costco as it's about 1/3 of the price of the organic sugar you find in the average supermarket.
2. White Flour: We use Emmer flour for the vast majority of our flour needs. However, the Emmer flour does have a very different consistency and taste. It works in some things, but doesn't work in others. We don't use it for biscotti, for example, because we make the biscotti to help raise John's blood sugar after a workout. Using a high protein flour wouldn't help that very much. So we still buy white flour on a regular basis.
3. Soy Milk: I have a very minor dairy allergy and so we use soy milk in our coffee.
4. Cornmeal: Our favorite biscotti recipe uses cornmeal. Even though there are a lot of local farmers who grow corn, we haven't found any that produce cornmeal. tonight we experimented with using cracked Emmer in place of some of the cornmeal in the biscotti recipe, and we'll report on that in the next few days.
5. Lemons and Oranges: Citrus does not grow here, though logically, I'm not sure why. After all, my dad grows fantastic lemons in California and our winters are only slightly colder than where he lives. We use lemons and oranges for recipes that call for zest, as well as some of our marinades and salad dressings.
6. Olive Oil: There is a fantastic vendor at our local markets that sells Hazelnut oil. While this works for a number of recipes, it has a very distinctive flavor and is quite expensive. I'll use it in small quantities (like for our Garlicky Kale recipe), but for salad dressings and marinades that require a significant amount of oil, we still use olive oil. Our olive oil comes from California.
7. Balsamic Vinegar: We can find some local vinegars in the Pacific Northwest, but they are mostly cider vinegars. If we want balsamic, we have to go as far as California or even Italy. I have yet to find something to replace balsamic vinegar, so for now, we'll buy it when we need it.
8. Ginger: Ginger is another one of those items that really should be able to be grown in eastern Washington. But until I find a farm that has it, we'll buy it for marinades, desserts, and the occasional main dish.
9. Coffee: Non-negotiable. Enough said.

Those are the primary ingredients we buy from far and wide. There are others, of course. I'll buy a mango once or twice a year, either to eat raw or to cook with. Occasionally I'll have a real hankering for carrots out of season and I'll give up and buy them even though they are from California or even Mexico. I'll also buy wine from a variety of locations, even though I do tend to prefer Washington wines these days.

So if you've been thinking of cooking local, but it feels overwhelming, just realize that you don't have to go 100% local to make a positive impact.

I have the worst luck.  Sort of.

I've made a souffle once.  It came out awesome.  I mean, it was unbelievable.  Especially for someone who hates working with eggs and who never made a souffle before.

I was thrilled beyond belief.

I mean, go look at those souffles.  Really, go look.  I'll wait here.

Back?

So, the second time, they were still good.  Maybe not quite as good as the first, but still good.

It was time to try something different.  And this is where my worst luck comes into play.  The first time I do something I've never done before?  Comes out great.  But I'm never able to quite reproduce that first time masterpiece.  Happened with Amazing Chicken too. 

I think you can see where I'm going with this.

I thought it was time to make a sweet souffle, as opposed to a savory.  Especially when I saw the yogurt cheesecake souffles on Baking Bites. 

Greek yogurt?  Vanilla flavor?  Awesome.

Let's go to the recipe, then we'll talk.

Ingredients

• 1 cup greek style yogurt
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 large egg white (room temp)
• 3 T all-purpose flour
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/8 t cream of tartar
• 1/4 c sugar
• butter
• 6 ramekins and a baking sheet

Well, local wise, not so great.  Salt, vanilla extract and sugar aren't exactly local here in the Pacific NW.  And until I read this, I had no idea where cream of tartar came from and I still don't know where I could buy local versions of it.  You'd think up here in wine country, wineries would just package it.  I mean, wineries have devoted followings generally, wouldn't people be more willing to shell out extra money for Stag's Leap Cream of Tartar?  Annnnnyways.

1. Preheat the oven to 375F
2. Butter the ramekins relatively liberally.  Put a couple dashes of sugar into each ramekin and give them a shake to spread the sugar around the interior.  Throw the ramekins on a cookie sheet.
3. Whisk the yogurt, egg yolks, flour, salt and vanilla extract together in a bowl.
4. In a different bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until it's foamy and then slowly pour in the sugar and beat to the soft peak stage.
5. Gently fold in a third of the mixture from step 2.  Once the egg whites are fully incorporated, fold in another third (which would also be considered half of the remaining).  And then, fold in the rest of the egg white mixture.
6. Divide the mixture amongst the ramekins, about a half cup into each.
7. Bake until risen and lightly browned on the edges, about 15 minutes.

That picture up there? 

That's the end product, coming out of the oven.

Were they tasty?  Hell yes.

Did they rise?  Hell no.

My theory is that I screwed up by trying to third the recipe.  I mean, it's just two of us, and souffles aren't exactly a leftover ready dish.  I had planned on making this for our parents this past weekend, unfortunately, things just didn't work out (ok, apparently our parents have stopped feasting on actual food and now subsist merely on the suggestion of food).  Someday, we'll have a dinner party with two other couples (or, at the very least, four other people) and I'll try this again.

After all, I can't fail every time, right?

I've already introduced you to one of my favorite asparagus recipes. In fact, I have a really hard time cooking asparagus any other way. I just don't think these tender stalks need much accompaniment. Though when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. After all, what better accompaniment to just about anything than cheese!

Gruyere cheese is a smooth, rather strongly flavored cheese, reminiscent of Swiss. Though strangely, I don't much care for Swiss cheese (gasp!), yet I'm very fond of Gruyere. This tart was very easy to make, yet not the easiest thing in the world to eat. Still, I'll make it again.

Asparagus and Gruyere Tart from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Serves 4

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 6 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded
• 1-1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus (From Homestead Organic Produce)
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400. 
2. Lightly flour the counter or work surface and roll out the pastry until it measures 16x10 inches.
3. Score the pastry dough about an inch from all edges.
4. Use a knife or fork to pierce the the dough inside the score marks at regular intervals. This will prevent the pastry dough from bubbling in the oven.
5. Bake the dough for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the baked dough and sprinkle with the cheese (don't be shy, use as much as you want!)
7. Trim (or break) the asparagus and lay the spears over the cheesey dough in a single layer.
8. Brush with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the asparagus is tender.

Hi there hey there ho there, friends and neighbors.  It's the other half of Cook Local here, the Mister to the Missus.  And I'm here to talk about bisexual Scottie dogs.

...

Sorry, I've just been informed that there wasn't actually a space in the email, scotti wasn't a typo, and I'm actually supposed to be talking about biscotti.  My bad.

Which, I guess, is good, because I wasn't sure how cornmeal and apricot worked into the dogs and I'm not sure I actually wanted to know.

Recently, during a bout of worklessness in my life, P and I sat down and looked at what we spent money on and we realized that coffee and our morning snack was a serious money drain, but we weren't particularly willing to give up that daily passion of ours.  As our wedding rolled around, we started looking at home espresso makers.  Since I was unsure of my ability to learn how to make a proper espresso with a manual machine, I was pushing for an automatic machine, which we promptly put on our registry.  While we didn't get it for our wedding, we did get it for Christmas, thanks to my wonderful in-laws, a scant 3 days later, along with a small outlay of cash from our own accounts.  We realized that the machine we put on our registry wouldn't be sufficient for our needs, but the most inexpensive machine we could use was still too expensive for a gift.  So, the in-laws got half, we got half.  Happy news is that we have actually paid it off already in savings on our daily purchases of coffee.  Hooray for us!

But, this is all background, a rich Columbian (and Costa Rican, Konan[?], Rwandan, Panamanian and who knows where else) tapestry, if you will, leading to what I'm supposed to be talking about.

So, in addition to making our own coffee, we still needed our morning treat.  After all, my blood sugar tends to dip in the morning after our workout and a little protein snack we've previously shown you how to make.  So, we started making our own biscotti.  We've gone through probably seven or eight different recipes trying to not only find a great one, but also not to get bored.  And we think we finally have one we'd like to share.

But wait, there's still more background.  Seattle has a very, very wonderful bakery called Cafe Besalu.  One of their items is a cornmeal, apricot and sage cookie, and it was such a novel, unique taste, we've tried to replicate it in so many different ways.

Which lead to me doing a Google search for cornmeal biscotti and, eventually, led me to this recipe (which, of course, we'll be writing up below in our own style, along with a couple changes and planned changes.  In fact, make sure you read to the end first, because this recipe wasn't as perfect as we wanted it and I'll share some tips about what we're going to do next to, hopefully, make it better.

So now, to make a long story even longer... The recipe. 

Cornmeal Apricot Biscotti

adapted from Pittsburg Needs Eated who adapted from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies

Ingredients

1.5 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
.5 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Now, looking at that list, we didn't do too well on the locavore front.  We didn't use a local flour, we don't even have a clue if you can get local cornmeal (we're working on it tho), salt and sugar are both non-local staples.  Heck, I think, generally speaking, the only local in this was the eggs, the butter and the apricots.  We can do better, of course, with a local flour and cornmeal.  We could fudge the lemon if we have my in-laws zest some of their lemons next January and we figure out how to store lemon zest for the long term.

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar just until blended.
4. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy.
5. Add mixture from step 2, stir until all ingredients are moistened.
6. Add apricots and mix just until blended. 
7. Spread some cornmeal on a cookie sheet.
8. Flour up your hands and form the dough into a log, about 6 inches wide, an inch tall and whatever length it comes to.  It isn't that hard to figure out when you're doing it.
9. Throw the cookie sheet on the middle rack for about 35 minutes.  The top should be cracked and golden brown.
10. Carefully slide the biscotti onto a cooling rack.  If the innards of the biscotti loaf didn't fully cook, it will break apart.  But it will still be good to eat.  Let cool for about 5-10 minutes.
11. Using a serrated knife, cut the loaf diagonally in slices about half an inch thick.  Give or take.  It isn't science.
12. Now you have two options for crisping the biscotti
    1. Lay the pieces cut side down on a baking sheet, bake for five minutes or until browning at edges.  Flip pieces, bake for five minutes, or, again, until browning at edges.  Remove and cool on a rack.
    2. Lay the pieces cut side down on an oven safe rack, bake for 10 minutes, or until browning at edges.  Remove and cool.

Makes roughly 18 pieces, give or take, and should last for 2 weeks in an airtight type container.

You know, even if you screw this up, it'll still be tasty and, honestly, it's a very inexpensive recipe, especially if you go to the bulk section.  Heck, the most expensive thing are the apricots, and those are barely $7 a pound.

Now, if you look at the 'original' recipe we used, you can see that we changed it a little bit.  To be honest, the above recipe is our second attempt at the recipe, the first just followed the Pittsburg Needs Eated recipe. 

The next time we make it, we're going to cut .25 cup of flour and add the same amount of cornmeal.  The above ingredient list produced a biscotti that was just a little... dry?  That's not the best word.  The best word I can come up with is it just tasted too much of flour and not enough of cornmeal.  The original recipe had equal amounts cornmeal and flour, so I think we need to switch back to that ratio.  Cutting back the sugar, however, didn't seem to have a negative effect.  Perhaps we'll use stevia or agave nectar instead.  I'm also thinking these could be made into excellent cookies, something I'm going to try this Sunday, I think.

Rhubarb is one of those foods that I never wanted to try. As my dear husband puts it, "It looks like celery and you make dessert out of it? WTF?"

I'd seen people make pie, and coffee cake, and sauces, and jam out of it. It was a beautiful color, but beyond that, it held no interest. Why in the world would I bake a vegetable into a pie?
Now that I've decided that vegetables can actually taste good and I want to eat more of them, I've decided to try my hand at the epitome of all rhubarb dishes, rhubarb crumble.

Rhubarb Crumble adapted from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Serves 6

• 1 1/2-2 pounds rhubarb stalks (from Anselmo Farms)
• 1 1/4 cups Emmer flour (from Bluebird Grain Farms)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Slice the rhubarb into pieces that are no more than about half an inch thick.
3. In a 13x9 glass baking dish, mix the rhubarb pieces, the sugar, and 1/4 cup of the flour.
4. Cut the butter into chunks.
5. In a food processor, combine the butter and the rest of the flour. Pulse until the butter is reduced to small pearls.
6. Add the oats and the cinnamon and pulse to combine.
7. Pour the topping over the rhubarb and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the topping is golden brown.
8. Cool slightly and serve.

It's Memorial Day Weekend and the weather is supposed to be decent, though not warm. The last of the parsnips are still available at the local farmers markets, so I present one last winter recipe.

This is another recipe that can be made with just about all local ingredients. I do recommend using salt and pepper, which I have yet to find produced locally. Originally, this recipe came from the Amateur Gourmet who took the recipe from Molly Stevens' All About Braising. I adapted it slightly.

Cider Braised Chicken with Hard Cider and Parsnips
(Adapted from Molly Stevens' All About Braising)
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons hazelnut or olive oil (optional)
• 4 thick slices of bacon (ours was from Skagit River Ranch)
• 3 pounds chicken breasts or thighs (from Rickman Gulch)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large shallot
• 2 1/2 cups hard cider (from Rockridge Orchards)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
• 1 pound parsnips

1. Prepare the ingredients by mincing the shallot, dicing the bacon, and chopping the rosemary. Peel the parsnips and cut them into sticks. Larger parsnips will have a woody core that should be discarded.
2. In a large, oven safe pan, saute the bacon until crispy. The original recipe calls for cooking the bacon in the oil, but I've found this is usually unnecessary.
3. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a paper towel lined plate. 
4. Preheat the oven to 325.
5. Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper and brown them on all sides in the same pan over medium-high heat. If you are using skin-on chicken pieces, brown the skin side first until crispy.
6. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and set aside.
7. Add the shallot and saute, stirring often to prevent burning. Add 2 cups of the hard cider and deglaze the pan, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
8. Boil and reduce the cider to approximately 1/2 cup, about 10-15 minutes.
9. Add the rosemary and the last 1/2 cup of cider and reduce again until there is about 3/4 cup of liquid left in the pan.
10. Add the parsnips and some salt and pepper. Crumble the bacon over the parsnips and then add the chicken. If you're using skin-on chicken, the pieces should be skin side down.
11. Place a piece of parchment paper over the pan and cover with a lid. Bake for 25 minutes.
12. Turn the chicken pieces and make sure the liquid isn't boiling too rapidly. If it is at a rolling boil, turn the oven down 10-15 degrees.
13. Bake for another 20-25 minutes until the thickest chicken piece is done and the parsnips are fork tender.
14. Remove the chicken and transfer the pan back to the stove. Over medium-high heat, boil the sauce for another minute or two to thicken it slightly.
15. Plate the chicken and arrange the parsnips and sauce over it.

I've been on a bit of an apricot kick lately. We've had apricot biscotti, this recipe, and stuffed chicken with apricots and goat cheese (see the Examiner site for that recipe later this week).

This recipe was adapted from Crispy Apricot Pork Chops that I blogged for the Examiner yesterday. I just wasn't thrilled with how the recipe turned out with pork, so we tried it with chicken. It was fantastic. I run hot and cold with pork (at least pork in a non-sausage or non-bacon form) and so having the option to use chicken is very helpful.

The recipe is from a new cookbook we bought at Costco a few weeks ago. Everyday Food: Great Food Fast. It's a cookbook from the Martha Stewart collection, and while I'm definitely no Martha (in fact I usually shy away from anything Martha related), I have to admit that this cookbook hasn't steered us wrong yet. What I love about the cookbook is that it tells you exactly how long a recipe takes to prep and to cook. As an added bonus, every recipe has a full color picture along with it and the pictures actually aren't that far off from what the food looks like!

The original recipe called for apricot jam, but I prefer to use Apricot Yum from Pipitone Farms. They have an interesting little fact on their jars of Yum. In order to be called Jam, a product must have 50% sugar! That's an amazing amount of sugar. Since well grown ripe apricots are incredibly sweet, it is a shame to add all that sugar to it. Apricot Yum does not have all that added sugar. In fact, it doesn't have any, making it much better for John.

Crispy Apricot Chicken from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

• 1 Tbsp oil of your choice
• 2 slices crusty bread
• 4 chicken breasts
• Salt and Pepper
• 4 Tbsp Apricot Yum (Pipitone Farms)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 and start your prep work. Tear the bread into large pieces and put the pieces in a food processor. Pulse until the bread now resembles large crumbs. The largest crumbs should be no larger than your fingernail.
2. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil into the crumbs and pulse a couple more times to moisten the crumbs. You're aiming for about 1-1.5 cups of crumbs.
3. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
4. Put a little oil on a baking sheet.
5. Lay the chicken breasts on the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.
6. Spread 1 tsp of apricot yum on each breast. Top with breadcrumbs and pat gently so the crumbs stick.
7. Bake about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve.

Patricia's Notes: This was incredibly tasty. Using the apricot yum rather than apricot jam imparted a very strong fruit flavor to the chicken. We used a lot more yum than the recipe called for, and that wasn't a bad idea. The crispy bread crumbs were fantastic and I think the added texture was what made the recipe so perfect. The dish even reheats well in the microwave or oven.

During the summer, we eat a lot of salads. In fact, we'll often buy two large bags of salad each week and have salads for lunch every day. We  add lots of fun stuff, like chicken breasts, almonds, sunflower seeds, feta cheese, dried cranberries, and croutons. This makes for a great salad with one exception. I hate most commercial salad dressings. We've tried many different options and I've just not found anything that I enjoy eating day after day. So this year, I'm going to try to make my own dressings. This was my first attempt.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 6 Tbsp orange juice
• 3 tsp agave nectar or honey
• 3 Tbsp raspberry cider vinegar
• 1 medium shallot
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp orange infused olive oil
• Salt

Directions

Chop the shallot. In a small food processor or blender, mix everything except for the olive oil. Pulse until the shallot is finely minced. Add the olive oil and pulse once or twice to combine.

Serve over mixed greens. This would also likely make a good marinade or rub for chicken.

Patricia's Notes: For my first dressing attempt, without a formal recipe, this was quite good. I used a largish shallot and I think it would have been a bit better had the shallot been medium instead, but otherwise it was excellent.

(Note... I'm testing a new posting format. If this doesn't render well in your RSS reader, please let me know.)

When I'm sick, there's not much better than a hot bowl of soup. Last week, I was still fighting the dregs of this awful cold, and John offered to make me soup. We picked up a new cookbook at Costco the other day, Everyday Food: Great Food Fast">Everyday Food: Great Food Fast'>Great Food Fast. I liked it because there were pictures of every recipe, as well as prep time and cooking time for each. So far we've been pleased with the results.

Ingredients

• 28 oz chicken broth
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• Red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms
• 3-4 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 3 scallions

Directions

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and slice them. Beat the egg well and set aside.

In a large pot (at least 4.5 quarts), combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, red pepper flakes and 2 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil and add the mushrooms.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk the rice vinegar and cornstarch together to form a thick syrup. Add to the pot and cook for another minute or two, until the soup thickens.

Take a slotted spoon and pour the well beaten egg into the pot through the spoon. This is what creates the ribbons of egg in the soup. It probably won't look "right" as you pour in the egg, but trust me, it will sort itself out.

Take the grated ginger and squeeze any juice you can out of it. We used a fine sieve for this, but cheesecloth would work better. Add the ginger to the soup and taste. You could add more red pepper, more vinegar, or more soy sauce if desired.

Top with sliced scallions.

Our notes: This was quite tasty. I've had better hot and sour soup at restaurants, but not often. We omitted tofu because I'm not a big fan of the texture, but you could certainly add some in after you add the egg. Even though it's not common, I'd even consider adding some shredded chicken to the pot for a complete meal.

Alton Brown is kind of annoying. I'm not sure why I feel that way, something about his presentation, at least on the show Good Eats, just rubs me the wrong way. But I was home alone a few weeks ago and flipping channels, and I caught a few minutes of his show on vinegar. I really wasn't planning on watching, but he intrigued me with a salad recipe that involved grilling lettuce with parmesan cheese. I'll definitely be trying that sometime this summer. Since that recipe caught my eye, I decided to keep watching the rest of the show. When he stuck a roast in a marinade for 3 days, and then used one of my favorite cookies ever to make the sauce, I knew we had to try the recipe. So, now I present to you:  Sauerbraten!

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large carrot
• Salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 3-4 pound roast (bottom round)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 18 gingersnaps (or about 5 oz)

Directions

Chop the onion and the carrot into medium pieces. In a large saucepan, combine the water, vinegars, onion, carrot, salt, bay leaves, cloves, and mustard seeds. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat.

Next take your roast and pat it dry. Rub it with the oil and salt and pepper it on all sides.

In a skillet (preferably cast iron), cook the roast until browned on all sides.

Here's a little food porn for you.

Isn't that a beautiful roast?

Put the roast in a non-reactive bowl (non-metal).

Now comes the... interesting part of the recipe. It actually says something like "when the marinade has cooled enough not to burn a finger stuck in it..."

Yeah. I'm not sticking my finger in hot liquid to see IF it burns me. So I waited about 20 minutes after removing the marinade from the heat.

Pour the marinade over the roast, cover, and refrigerate for three days. (If the roast isn't totally submerged in the liquid, turn once a day)

...

Wow. Look at that. In the space of an ellipsis and one line feed we've fast forwarded 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 325 and put the roast and all of the marinade in a Dutch oven.

Bake for 4 hours.

Crush the gingersnaps.

Remove the Dutch oven from the... well, from the oven. Keep the roast warm. Strain the marinade and add it to a saucepan. Cook over  medium-high heat and mix in the gingersnaps. Cook until thick, stirring frequently.

Slice (or shred) the roast and top with sauce. Enjoy.