I thought about getting a jump on our one local summer challenge by preparing an all-local meal yesterday evening. We had had a glorious day--a picnic in the park with lots of friends, neighbors, and acquaintances--and the sun was starting to peek through our kitchen window, which faces due west. It's the best time to be in the kitchen.
Rhubarb for a crumble.
E was on the front porch, shelling peas. Both she and N eat a raw pea or two out of every pod, so this is a somewhat hazardous undertaking, unless you have lots and lots of fresh peas.
Our menu (all vegetables and meat purchased from various stands at the McLean Farmers' Market):
a warm salad of roasted beets, wilted beet greens, and grilled asparagus, tossed with Dragon Fly Farm's merlot and black currant wine vinegar (from the Falls Church Farmers' Market) and toasted sesame oil (based on a recipe from The Splendid Table);
grilled pork chops (very simple--salt, pepper, and olive oil) and caramelized whole spring onions;
pureed English peas with a touch of local cream;
mashed tiny new red potatoes with butter made from local cream.
E shaking the cream to make butter.
The beets were roasted in foil packets with a pat of butter and some star anise.
The warm salad:
The main course:
E ate pork chops and potatoes; N ate mostly peas. Both kids love asparagus. E tried a beet and pronounced it sweet and sour, but didn't go for seconds.
Everyone, however, gobbled down dessert (paired with vanilla malt chip from Middleburg Creamery. I'm curious where they get their milk).
Sorry for the blur. Couldn't let ice cream melt on warm rhubarb crumble, now could I?
I confess: I screwed up the "local" angle with the rhubarb crumble. The rhubarb and butter were local, but the sweetener (white and light brown sugar) obviously was not. I had even bought some local honey in case I made a marinade or sauce that called for a sweetener, and then totally forgot about it. Even while I was making the crumble, eating the crumble, and sleeping with a tummy full of crumble, I didn't think about the fact that the sugar (not to mention the flour) wasn't local.
Well, that's why they call it a "challenge!" and also explains this blog's title, all at the same time.
