Posts under ‘challenge’

My Dark Days Challenge meal #8 is like eggplant parm. I say like because I make eggplant parm differently. Usually, I slice the eggplant, dip the rounds in an egg wash, then fry them. Then I layer tomato sauce, fried eggplant rounds, and mozzarella cheese. I sprinkle a little Parmesan, and then repeat until I [...]

Here’s my Dark Days Challenge meal #7: I made this dish a year ago, almost to the day. I “discovered” it in Puerto Rico, where it was warm and sunny. With several feet of snow outside, this is my reply. I used this Arroz con Habichuelas recipe, with some substitutions to keep it local. This [...]

There’s a new winter market on Saturdays at the Norfield Grange in Weston.  It’s a nice drive, over hill and dale—not the kind you’d take when there’s weather, but a nice drive on nice day. I picked up some veal cutlets from Eaglewood Farms when I went and wanted to make something different, but what? [...]

I don’t know what to call my Dark Days Challenge meal #4. I had a bunch of disparate items in my refrigerator with no foraging trips to find something to tie them all together. Saturday was Christmas and the Farmers Market was closed. So I made this: My nameless dish was constituted and sourced as [...]

Merry Christmas everyone! Although not local, Christmas is a big food day for my family. Our food traditions go back to the “old country,” and it’s my sister’s holiday, not mine. We begin with an antipasto of Italian cold cuts and cheeses, fresh cut vegetables and dip, a variety of olives, roasted peppers, artichoke hearts, [...]

Meal #2 for the Dark Days Challenge (hosted by Laura at (Not so) Urban Hennery) is roasted pork chops with pan fried delicata squash and pea tendrils. I seared the chops in a cast iron skillet, then transferred them to  325-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Sources: pork chops from Rowland Farm via Best Butcher [...]

This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was a tribute to the unseasonably warm weather: grilled ribeye steak with sauteéd spinach, pan-fried butternut squash, and a salad with crumbled bacon and hard-cooked eggs. Here are my sources: ribeye steak from Greyledge Farm butternut squash from Riverbank Farm spinach from Fort Hill Farm via New [...]

This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was provided nearly entirely by Wild Hive Bakery & Café: Ravioli with a Creme Fraiche sauce. The ravioli were homemade by Wild Hive using: their own spelt flour eggs from their own chickens cheese from Ronny Brook apple from Fishkill Farms parsnips from Four Winds Farm salt [...]

Wow. Week 15. Soon we’ll be eating asparagus… This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was Peregion beans over wheat berries with spinach on the side. I picked up these beans at the Coventry Farmers Market. I probably created a scene in my excitement over finding local (really local) dried beans. Peregion beans are [...]

This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was The Northeast Locavore Feast!! Several of us from the northeast joined forces for a pot luck gathering at my home. The premise was simple: we all bring local dishes, we all eat, we all blog about it! (The original gang of seven was reduced to the [...]