There hasn’t been (and won’t be) much cooking going on in the Cook Local household this week. We’re getting brand new windows – ones that actually open – and so the house is in a bit of disarray. It has been a challenge to find takeout that doesn’t use CAFO meat, and so far, we’ve resorted to Whole Foods and some lucky leftovers that we had from this past weekend (saffron salmon risotto anyone?).
So in lieu of a recipe today, I thought I’d offer up some easy serving suggestions for when you have a piece of meat or fish and just don’t know what to do with it. Here are some of our favorite ways to serve the food we buy at the farmers’ markets.
- Zane and Zack’s: These folks make an awesome smoky chipotle sauce, as well as a whole host of smoked sea salts, seasoned salts, and rubs. They are our go-to spicy sauce folks and you can find them at the Ballard Farmers’ Market.
- Pancetta: It is probably obvious that I am in love with Sea Breeze Farms’ pancetta, but for very good reason. You can either wrap some of your beef, poultry, or fish in it (pancetta wrapped halibut with asparagus sauce) or you can just cook it up and crumble it on top of some protein that you cooked in the rendered (and spiced) pancetta fat. If you don’t have pancetta, use bacon. Skagit River Ranch makes delicious thick cut bacon and it is perfect for wrapping foods.
- Homemade marinades: We love the bourbon marinade from the bourbon marinated scallops with crumbled bacon. We plan on trying this soon with chicken and other seafood products. Another quick and easy marinade is olive oil, wine vinegar (red or white), and a couple teaspoons of spices. Rosemary, oregano, basil, and thyme all work well in this situation. The basic formula for a marinade is usually oil + acid + flavor.
- Risotto: We make almost all of our risottos with emmer, but the basic formula is always the same. Check our our cooking technique of the week: risotto for details. You can throw in any vegetables you might have, as well as roasted, grilled, or baked chunks of your favorite protein product.
- Breaded: My favorite breading involves mixing Parmesan cheese and panko breadcrumbs. I dredge the meat in flour, then in egg, then in the Parmesan-Panko mixture. After that, either pan or oven fry and you’re good to go.
We’ll return with new windows, more recipes and one last CSA interview tomorrow.
