A Sunday Afternoon

As the best husband in the world and I were leaving church on Sunday, he asked me what I wanted to do for the rest of the day. In the most sexy and sultry voice I could muster, I leaned in close and said, "I'm in the mood for something hot. Hot and sweet"

You would not believe how quickly good church going folk can scoot out of the way of a speeding vehicle as TBHITW floored it out of the church parking lot. 

As soon as we got home, we ripped our Sunday church clothes off and  (scroll down)

Wait for it....

Oh my.....

changed into our garden clothes and headed out to go our local UPICKIT Farm to go Strawberry Picking!! Yeah! The strawberries in NJ are in and ripe.

Um... what did you think I was going to say? Hmm... 

Anyway, it was a beautiful hot day and the berries were sweet. There were lots of family's picking and it did my heart good to see so many people interested in harvesting their own food. Of course, not everyone was picking as many as I insisted we pick. TBHITW, bless his heart, just kept picking even though he thought we had quite enough after 15 minutes.. We ended up with about 15 pounds of juicy, sweet berries for ONLY $2.00 per pound. That's a bargain I can live (and eat) with. 

Last night I washed and cut some up for strawberry shortcake. I also froze about 3 pounds for smoothies and strawberry margaritas (mostly margaritas). In addition, I rinsed a pound or two and put them in a bowl for eating "out of hand". They disappeared before dinner. 

Today, I am staring down at these:


I'm going to make 8 pints of strawberry jam. The promise of summer sweet jam in January drives me to do this. Imagine, a hot, freshly baked loaf of bread - right out of the oven, sliced and slathered with sweet cream butter and topped with chunky, sweet strawberry jam in the dead of winter!  Yum. 

Here's my recipe for shortcakes. If you are used to those yellow, sponge things you buy in the grocery store - do yourself, your tastebuds and your fresh strawberries a favor and bake some of these up. 

If you're inclined to join in the fun of picking your own, here's a website to help you find a farm near you:

http://www.pickyourown.org/index.htm

Be sure to call ahead and ask if they are picking that day. Most UPICKIT's also have a market stand so if you're not up to picking your own you can buy the same produce right there. If you find a farm that's further than you want to travel call them and ask what local markets they supply. A lot of farms also do an email newsletter to let you know what is ripe and what is being picked that day.

Your tastebuds will thank you and you'll be doing your local farmer and your community a great service. 

Strawberry Shortcakes: (makes one 8 inch round cake or eight 2-inch shortcakes)

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Butter and lightly flour an 8-inch cake pan or cookie sheet. 

Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Cut the butter in bits (you can also use your food processor to do this). When the mixture resembles coarse meal, slowly stir in the cream. Using just enough to hold the dough together. Turn out on a lightly floured board or counter. Knead for just a minute. Pat the dough into the cake pan or pat out to 3/4 inch thick and cut into eight (8) 2-inch rounds. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes (2-inch rounds)

Bake for 12-15 minutes (cake pan)

While still warm, split with two forks, top with sugared berries and whipped cream.  

Strawberries for shortcake:

1 pint (about) fresh strawberries, washed and sliced.

2 tablespoons sugar

Sprinkle sugar over berries, crushing berries gently with the back of a fork. Let rest in refrigerator until ready to use. The sugar will help to "juice" the berries. Be sure to include juice on shortcakes. 

Whipped Cream:

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

Put your bowl and beaters in refrigerator for 30 minutes before whipping. 

Pour cream into deep, chilled bowl. Whip on high with hand mixer. As cream begins to thicken, drizzle in the sugar. Whip until stiff. Serve immediately.

A Cook's Notes:

Be sure to pick enough berries to enjoy "out of hand". Refrigerate the berries with caps on, uncovered. Just before ready to serve or slice, rinse. This is the best way to store fresh strawberries. 

The strawberries are so good and abundant this year, I'm going back with my two grand daughters on Friday! Maybe I'll see you there. 

PS. TBHITW forgave me for my [little] deception - he LOVES homemade strawberry jam. 

A Locavore Dinner - Spinach & Mushroom Tarts with Pan Seared Scallops and Baby Greens Salad

I'm back from the market and I am psyched! This is why I love this store so much. You walk up to the front of it and BAM before you're even inside, they have this sign posted.

You can easily pick out what has been delivered and from where, complete with the Farm's name.

The produce section in this market is a thing of beauty.

So, what did I buy? Well, I have the shitake mushrooms that I grew my very own self. As soon as I walked in I spied fresh baby spinach - all bright green and crisp. I couldn't resist. I'm going to pair the spinach with the mushrooms and make a tart. They also had some lovely baby lettuces, but I have those in my garden and they need to be picked. So I'll make a small salad with a simple vinaigrette.  

Normally, a tart and a small salad would be plenty for dinner, but I wandered into the seafood department. And bless my soul - the fishmonger man was just putting out wild caught New Jersey day boat scallops. I just know they serve these lovely darlings in heaven. I could not resist and I bought a pound of them. 

So I had my main ingredients - but what about the other stuff needed to make the tart? After a little label reading I was able to buy organic, heavy cream and unsalted butter from a dairy in NJ, greek yogurt from a NY dairy and organic, free range eggs from Pennsylvania. My goal was to only buy fresh products from NY, NJ or PA; the tri-state area being about a 100 mile radius from my home. The only thing I couldn't find was locally grown and processed whole wheat flour, so I'm using Hodgson Mill's whole wheat pastry flour. Sigh - even the pioneers brought stuff with them, right? 

Before we get to the recipes let me say this, buying locally grown (organic and sustainably farmed) and produced products cost me about 10% more than buying "brand" products. Not a bad investment in our health and our community. I figure I'm still up on the green scale because I took my own reusable "green" bags to hold my purchases (which reminds me of an event that still makes me see red instead of green, see my side vent)

Side Vent: When I worked in a glass tower in the sky (ie: corporate world), one of my vendors sent my whole team green grocery bags at the holidays. They are heavy duty canvas, attractive and roomy with wide handles. I thought that was a great client gift! One of my co-workers was less than thrilled with the gesture and sent me their bag, saying that after taking the bags home and showing them to his wife "they just don't fit our lifestyle".  DON'T FIT YOUR LIFESTYLE? WTF?? We're not talking major changes here folks. It's a bag. Not like, oh, we had to give up raising llamas and emus.. it just didn't fit our lifestyle. It's a bag for the love of god. "DON'T FIT YOUR LIFESTYLE?" Does global warming fit your lifestyle? Does dependency on foreign oil fit your lifestyle? Do land fills stacked to the heavens with nonbiodegradable plastics fit your lifestyle? Every time I use one of those bags and I think of this person my normally sunny disposition turns dark and I know that people like that are the very reason this planet and this country are in trouble. Phew. 

Sorry. Now where was I? Oh, yes, the recipes. 

Spinach and Mushroom Tarts: (makes four small tarts)

Tart Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you an also use all white, all purpose flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 cup greek yogurt (I know! But trust me, this is the easiest, flakiest, most delicious crust you will ever make) - you can use sour cream instead - but I'm cutting fat and calories.

Place first three ingredients into the well of your food processor. Process one or more times to lighten. Add butter and process until a coarse meal forms. Add yogurt and process until dough comes together. Turn dough out on counter, shape into disk. Cut into four equal parts. Roll out individual rounds and fit into small tart pans. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before filling. 

Mushroom & Spinach Filling:

About 12 ounces fresh spinach, steamed, drained and rough chopped. 

About 6 ounces shitake or other type mushroom

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

5 eggs

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

1/2 teaspoon each salt & pepper

Steam the spinach, squeeze any moisture from it and give it a rough chop.

Saute mushrooms in 1 teaspoon butter. Cool

Beat eggs with a whisk, add heavy cream and whisk to combine. Add thyme, salt and pepper and whisk to combine.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lay spinach out on bottom of tart crust, dividing among tarts. Layer mushrooms the same way, dividing evenly. Pour egg mixture over spinach / mushrooms. Bake in center of oven for 30 minutes or until set. 

A Cook's Note: You can make one big tart - use a pie tin and call it a quiche. Increase bake time to about 45 minutes. 

Pan Seared Sea Scallops with baby lettuces: (serves 4)

1 pound wild, day boat sea scallops, dried

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon white balsamic or white wine vinegar

4 cups baby mixed lettuces, washed, heaped on a platter

Melt the butter in a saute pan until froth subsides. Pour off butter, reserving it in a small bowl. 

DO NOT WIPE OUT PAN. 

Dry your scallops* by patting with paper towels. Salt and pepper them on both sides.

Heat up the pan you melted the butter in. It will have some butter residue in it. When almost smoking, add scallops. Don't crowd them. Cook for 2 minutes, turn, cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to platter with baby lettuces. 

Quickly, place reserved melted butter back in saute pan, warm. Add vinegar, salt and pepper and stir quickly to combine. Drizzle warm vinaigrette over scallops and lettuces. 

Enjoy. 

* This is important. In order to get a golden carmelization on your scallops they need to be dry. 

A Cook's Notes: you can use shrimp instead of scallops. Dry them and make the same way, increasing cooking time by about a minute. 

HEY! If you are striving to eat more local, support your community's farmers, being green, I'd love to hear about it. Be sure to leave me a comment on your triumphs, struggles, ideas. 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Fiddleheads!

I recently took a class called "Living as a Locavore". And what you ask is a Locavore? 

A Locavore is any person committed to eating, and learning about food grown and produced in their local community. Local is generally considered to be anything grown or produced with products from within a 100 mile radius of "home." The class led me to buy and read  "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a true account of one family who committed to eating only locally produced or grown food for one year. 

Only 20 pages into the book it is literally changing the way I look at food. And I look at food a lot. I feel about grocery stores and farmers markets and food stands the way a senior girl feels about prom dresses. 

I LOVE to food shop. One of my favorite things to do is visit food stores, road side stands and markets while on vacation. I love to peruse aisles and vegetable bins, meat racks and fruit stands. Weird huh? 

The one question I never seriously asked myself though is where is this food coming from? Good question, and the answer is shocking. It comes from everywhere. Literally, everywhere. And it comes at a cost. A high cost. 

Some basic food facts:

1. On average, a standard grocery store food item travels over 1,500 miles before makings is way to you table. 

2. Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable varieties that were in existence in 1903 are now extinct or nearing extinction. 

3. 91 cents of each dollar spent on vegetables in a typical grocery store go to producers, processors, midddlemen and commercial agencies - leaving only 9 cents on the dollar for farmers.

4. A standard 400 calorie meal sourced from a major grocery store uses over 2800 calories of fossil fuel energy in transport.

5. On average, Americans spend only 10% of their food budget on locally sourced products.

6. According to chamber of commerce statistics, 43 cents of every dollar spent in local community stores stays in that community. In comparison, only 13 cents of every dollar remains that is spent in chain or major retailer stores.

7. The food industry burns nearly 1/5 of the petroleum consumed in the US, and only 1/5 of that total energy is spent on farms - the remainder is in processing and transportation.

8. Although Americans now spend nearly 1/4 of their food dollars on "organic" products, nearly 3/4 of those dollars are spend at large commercial chains. 

9. Shipping 1 strawberry from California to New York requires 435 calories of fossil fuel but only provides 5 calories of nutrition. 

10. The word "organic" has changed definitions. I personally worked for Rodale Inc, Robert Rodale having coined the word organic back in the 60's. Since then, major commercial operations have spent millions lobbying Washington to change the criteria for "organic". Today's "organic" food is NOT grown without the use of certain fertilizers and pesticides. 

Phew - I'm getting dizzy up here on my soap box. Can you stand just one more, this from "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" (page 5)

"...... If every US citizen ate just one meal a week [any meal, breakfast, lunch or dinner] composed of locally and orgainically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

Okay - so here's my challenge to you, my readers. It is the growing season right now in many parts of the country. Here in the Northeast we are blessed with some of the most fertile farm lands in the country. They don't call New Jersey "The Garden State" for nothing. Can you join me in having just one meal a week that is totally locally sourced? 

For some help in finding locally produced fruits, vegetables, poultry, eggs and more, check out these websites:

www.localharvest.org (this is good nationwide)

www.eatwellguide.org (US & Canada)

Think about it. I'm not asking you to give up your daily banana from South America, or your New Zealand Kiwi - I'm not even asking you (or me - guilty as charged) to never buy a strawberry from California. Just commit to one meal a week and see what happens. Your tastebuds, your wallet and your local farmer will thank you. 

Fiddleheads:

YES! Fiddleheads are out, but only for a week or two. If you've ever seen these tasty little fern shoots in the store or farmer's market and had no idea what to do with them, this recipe is for you. They are local (they just can't be shipped) and they are a taste between a fresh young green bean and new asparagus. 

Buy bright green, tightly curled heads. 

In a saute pan place 1 part unsalted butter and 1 part olive oil. Heat till almost smoking. 

Add washed fiddleheads and 2 smashed garlic cloves. 

Saute quickly - just two or three minutes

Sprinkle with a pinch of Kosher Salt and a Grind of fresh black pepper. 

Amazing! 

Note: The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) recommend boiling fiddleheads for 10 minutes before consuming. 

ps. If you find a vegetable or fruit at your local farm stand or CSA (community supported agriculture) and don't know what to do with it, give me a shout at thegoodcooknj@comcast.net and I will shoot you back a recipe or two within 24 hours. I promise!