Maybe we are Neanderthals

On Easter Sunday my dad and I were hanging out in our yard shootin' the breeze when suddenly we remembered that Sheep's Sorrel (Scientific name: Rumex acetosella) grows in our yard. My father has a degree in botany and a master's in soil chemistry, and he has taught me all I know about edible plants.  Sheep's sorrel was always my favorite. When I was younger, I would hunt for it with my friends on the playground. 

Sheep sorrel has a delicious sour, lemony taste that you wouldn't expect from a common weed. I expect it would be quite good as a garnish or in a salad. It also has a high level of antioxidants. Where I live (in Rhode Island) it usually grows wherever grass does, primarily on the edge. Look for oblong leaves with short projections on the end, right above the stem. They always grow in bunches. Try some next time you spot them growing. 

My father and I never did find any that Easter Sunday (I think it was too early in the spring) but what we did find were wild chives and dandelions, both of which are edible. Valen had just bought some Narragnasett Bay quahogs and mussels  from our friend Mason at the Costal Grower's farmer's market, so we were ready to concoct a meal. 

First we took the heads of dandelion flowers and fried them by dipping them in a simple milk,egg and flour batter, frying them in vegetable oil and salting them. I first tried dandelions prepared this way by an awesome lady named Wendy Rappaport, a wild foods enthusiast who teaches foraging classes, at a local food festival last year. They are delicious and again, something you would NOT expect from a common weed. 

Next we made a dandelion leaf salad with crumbled goat cheese, toasted pecans, wild chives and apples, tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. The dandelion leaves can be rather bitter (think a strong arugula) so you usually want something fruity or creamy to balance them out. Bread is the Rustic Italian Loaf from Village Hearth (obviously).

Valen made an awesome butter-garlic sauce for the mussels and quahogs and they were the best part of the meal. I think next time we get a craving for them we are going to try to find some ourselves. We also want to try crabbing (possibly lobstering??) Who knows. 

We desire a culture in our food, a connectedness to it. A connectedness and culture that we usually lose a sense of in this so very modern world. I never thought getting down on my hands and knees and collecting leaves could be rewarding. I guess now I can be classified as a hunter/gatherer, resorting back to the ways of my ancient ancestors. 

I guess that's what real food is folks. Food that grows in your very own backyard. 

-C

Broccoli, Celery- gotta be

After reading the previous meatless posts, you may be asking yourself,
Are these two folks vegetarian?

The simple answer? Hell naw. We love bacon just like everyone else.  I will tell you though, we do not eat much meat. It is hard to find good meat these days. You're probably thinking, "Why, I can go to Stop and Shop or Shaws or BJ's Wholesale Club and find some great chicken or steaks or fish." No. Wrong. No you cannot.

Factory farmed meat is not something I often want to eat. It is filled with hormones, additives, antibiotics, chemicals and loads of other things I would not normally put in my mouth. Not to mention animals are kept in crowded and appalling conditions of which I simply cannot support. They are disgusting and make me want to cry. I will not go into detail considering this is a foodblog and we want you to be hungry. But in short, because of the previous reasons, I don't buy it, and Valen and I rarely cook it.

 Last Saturday I stuffed my face with mussels, oysters, sausage and roasted chicken at my friend's barbecue. Why the flesh binge? The oysters and mussels were harvested right here in the bay and sold by my good friend Mason through the  Matunuck Oyster Bar. The roasted chicken and sausage came straight off the land I was standing on- a farm right off route 138 in Kingston. I knew where these animals/crustaceans came from, and I knew they were treated fairly and justly. Last November, I processed (yes killed) my own Thanksgiving turkey. That turkey had a sweet life- living on Pat's Pastured Farm in Jamestown just roaming the fields as it should, and was killed humanely in a quick, painless instant.  I will let you in on a little secret- it was the best turkey I had ever eaten in my life.

Alive turkeys.

 Dead turkeys ready to be sold. 

More photos on Slow Food URI.

So, in the mean time, enjoy our meatless posts. We might have a meat one soon- I do have some friends with cattle and chicken farms. Yet I think we as Americans can all use a little bit less meat in our lives no?

Okey dokey artichokey. Here is our dinner.

Appetizer: 

A recreation of The Garlic's garlic cheese spread mentioned in previous post. Valen went crazy for this, wondering if he could make a crap load of batches of it and save it in his fridge. Technically you could but I feel like it will always be better fresh. Bread is the 8-grain loaf from the Village Hearth Bakery in Jamestown where I work.

2nd appetizer/first coursey kind of thing:

Goat cheese filled dates, simply because we have fallen in love with them. I think if everyone tried these there would be world peace. 

Salad:

Swiss Chard and avocado with parmesan and roasted garlic dressing. Simple and delicious. 

Main Course: Sopa/Zuppa/Soup

A split pea and barley soup I concocted the night before. Pureed with leeks, onions, carrots and vegetable broth. Valen and I decided to add sauteed onions because we had one in the fridge. Topped with a dollop of creme fraiche, cilantro and a sprinkle of hot red pepper flakes. 

Dessert:

This was Valen's genius and it was delicious. Vanilla bean ice cream with dark chocolate shavings. thrown in were some of the goat cheese filled dates. If I were to recommend any of these one dishes it would be this one. So, so good. 

"Mmmmmmmmmm."

What a great meal. Probably one of our last soups too, because its SPRING and we don't need to eat soul-warming foods anymore. Daffodils!!

See you foodies soon.

-C&V

Gahlic

Killington Vermont.  My best friend Kelsey and I embarked on the journey in her father's Subaru wagon packed with snacks, skis and CDs. We were staying about 2 miles down the road from the mountain in a little place called the Butternut Pancake Inn (yes it was just as cute as it sounds). Each day as we drove up the long and winding road leading to the mountain, we would pass by a restaurant called "The Garlic". After our first view, each time we passed  for the rest of the trip, we would both exclaim in unison "Da gahhhhhlic. Mmmmmm".

Pardon the bad breath and you've got yourself one of the most simple and refined but yet most widely used and delicious flavorings of all time. I am a huge fan of the bulb and so is Kels. We had to give this place a try.

I wish I took more photos of this spot. Better yet, I wish I could have captured the smell and somehow shared it with you internet people. The place reeked of garlic, in a good way. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING on the menu had garlic in it. Instead of the usual bread and butter/olive oil, it was bread and a crushed garlic clove topped with parmesan cheese, oil and vinegar. Genius. Kelsey and I both ordered the creamy garlic soup and we were in heaven. I know I promised no more crappy pictures but all I had was my phone. I followed with a salad with garlic vinaigrette and garlic butter roasted vegetables. Kels got garlic chicken with sauteed spinach and tomatoes.

Here we had an entire restaurant devoted to this one ingredient, worshipping and savoring it and honoring it as though it was a food of the gods. Maybe this is how we should look at all we eat. We so often take food for granted, shoving it down our esophaguses in cars on our way to work- or maybe reducing ourselves to eating food that can't even really be identified as "food" (hello cheese puff and Twinkies).

Jump into your food. Savor it. Smell it. Talk about it with your friends. Have fun cooking it. Grow it. Save some for your neighbor. Worship garlic, or whatever food you love. 

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good." - Alice May Brock

A Real Rhody Bfast

You know what I love to do? Wake up inappropriately late, saunter around in my snowflake jammies, yell at my cats who are sitting on the counter when they are not supposed to be and make an insanely delicious breakfast. Since I am a student at URI and I live on campus, (which means a tiny room and no kitchen) I rarely get to do this. Yet alas! It is spring break and I have the luxury of using my mother's kitchen. I have only been home for three days, (I was skiing in VT for 4) but you better believe I've been cookin' up a storm.

Sunday while I was making breakfast, I realized everything I was using was local. This just proves to people (like my skeptical parents) there IS INDEED local food you can eat in the winter and it is NOT HARD. Check out the Farm Fresh RI website for a winter market near you. Valen and I hit up the Costal Grower's market at the mills in NK. We try to go every Saturday- we always come home with treasures.

Anywhoodle. Lets cut to da chase.

Yeah did I mention I found a food setting on my Nikon camera? Its like they knew or something. I will try to not post anymore crappy pictures (refer to post one) anymore.

Bread is multigrain bread from Olga's cup and saucer based out of Providence RI. Jam is some that my friend Alyssa gave me over Christmas, made last summer from grapes she picked right near her home in South Kingstown, RI. The greens are greens I bought at the market (sorry not to give credit to the farm, I can't remember the name) and the eggs are from my best friend's cattle farm right here on the island of Jamestown.

Local AND tasty. Aint nuffin' betta dan dat.

Happy eatings.
-Cate

Taste the Rainbow

I was first introduced to rainbow carrots by my good friend Alyssa. She is a food obsessed girl such as myself. Check out her blog Absolute Ambrosia for some fantastic recipes.

Anywho.

For our club Slow Food URI we decided to have a local foods thanksgiving dinner, complete with local donated vegetables and a turkey we "processed" ourselves from Pat's Pastured Poultry Farm in Jamestown, RI.

Along with Rhody Fresh milk and cream, Windmist Farm cider and eggs, Sonowski Farm potatoes, Watson Farm beef and Moonstone Garden buttercup squash were oodles of carrots courtesy of the URI Agronomy farm- and they were purple. I had never seen purple carrots before, so I was a bit shocked. Alyssa informed me that there are actually many varieties of carrots- some purple, violet or even a reddish color. These are heirloom breeds, and are usually not sold at your local Stop&Shop. These carrots are delicious. I concocted a vat of carrot soup with them of which went down very well at the  Thanksgiving Dinner. Valen was eating the leftovers for weeks and said he was glum when he ate his last bowl.

These carrots are hard to come by. The only other time I stumbled across them was through a roasted vegetable dish at Local 121, but they always have amazing local food.

So when I saw them at the farmer's market in North Kingstown, I grabbed a whole bunch. MmmmmM!

Aaaaaand you guessed it. I made carrot cake- one of my favorite, favorite, FAVORITE desserts. Whenever Valen and I are out to eat and carrot cake is on the dessert menu I can guarantee you we will be trying it. The mixture of nuts, carrots and spices in the cake create an intense flavor but the cream cheese frosting always helps it go down smooth. Along with olives and those really, really addicting sweet potato chip things, it is one of our top foods. Anyways, I am a huge fan.

-C

The Last Supper

Valen was leaving for San Francisco.
I was leaving for Vermont.
How do we celebrate our last evening together?
By eating lots and lots of food.

I'm going to use this post to give my my little speech on how important I believe local food is. After this I won't bother you with it again (I could go on and on).

 In a nutshell- local food rules. It is good for the environment because it uses way less petroleum than shipping produce halfway around the world (ahem greens grown in South America that can be grown right here in Little Rhody). It is an economically sound practice as well because it keeps your dollar in the state and supports the dwindling population of small farmers (30+ years ago we had about 70 dairy farmers in the state- now we have 11). Local food is fresher, and often grown organically. Most importantly however, IT IS THE MOST DELICIOUS FOOD YOU WILL EVER EAT. I am a huge, huge advocate of it. If you want to know more about local food, visit my other blog at Slow Food URI or just leave a comment and ask.
Our dinner contained 2 local ingredients: Rainbow Carrots (again) and Rainbow Chard.

The photo is oven roasted leeks, carrots and parsnips over wild rice. The two little guys on the side are goat cheese filled dates. The were not part of the original dinner plan but Valen was fooling around with some odds and ends while cooking and came up with the combo. Delicious.

For some more veggies and protein we made a salad with local Rainbow Chard, fried chick peas, sprouts, tomatoes and some yummy Briana's brand dressing (they make the best).

This supper was vegetarian, local and really, really healthy. Jesus and his apostles would approve. Amen.


Peace 'n blessings. Peace 'n blessings.
-C

Wanna know what I wear as a hat? A lentil

                             


Mmmmmm lentil soup. Definitely qualifies as a top favorite winter meals, probably in a close race for first with a classic Thanksgiving-inspired dinner. Its hearty, warm, rich and best of all CHEAP. A bag 'o lentils runs for about 1-2 bones these days- not bad when it costs 4 dollars just to go over a stinkin' bridge- which these devotees nearly did for a mere lack of carrots. Lentil soup without carrots? Just won't do. Its really easy to make and easy to throw in whatever you have around. We're talking variety here people. Leeks, scallions, celeriac, thyme- you kinda play it by ear, or mouth rather. You can literally add anything you desire into this dish. You can even use 1 month old scallions like Valen did! 1 month old I tell ya! MMmMmM. That's called being green, even if they aren't anymore.

Anyways- the best part about lentil soup? Beer. No, not beer in the soup. Beer with the soup. Let us warn you ladies, beer and lentil soup can be quite the man's meal. We tried pairing it with wine, we really did- and we wouldn't recommend it. But there is a solution to every problem- and that solution is a little thing we like to call HOPS. Newcastle HOPS to be specific. Not so heavy that it will make you lethargic like a Guinness and not so light you will feel like you're at a college frat party. As a wise philosopher called Goldilocks once said, "This one is just right."

Well, were going outside before this snow storm comes.  Of course, we will be drinking again. But you don't drink cold Newcastles when you're going outside in this weather, oh no. Hot toddies- and we're not talking cider and rum here people. Good Earth Tea, 2% Milk and Seagram's Whiskey. Oh yes, we did, and you can't judge us until you have tried it yourself. We just created it from beverages we already had- and turns out its our new favorite thing. (Valen is Scottish- of course he always has whiskey in his freezer.) A night hike is much more intriguing (and warm, and fun) when you have a thermos filled with this concoction.

'Cause you wanna know the best part about cooking? Experimentation. And that is the theme of the night. Sometimes the creations you whip up with things you have laying around can turn into a favored standby. So get in your kitchen and create a masterpiece- if we can do it so can you.

Goodnight Internet people.

Oh and the weird title? If you don't get the reference:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU. Lots 'o laughs here.