dark days challenge, weeks five and six

between the holidays, various sicknesses, and some technical difficulties, i didn't manage to post my week five wrap up last week. i promise that i ate it last week though!

for week five, last week, i made a hash of leftovers with a fried egg on top. one of my all-time favorite meals. the ham is leftover from our christmas ham from kookoolan farms, the potatoes are also from christmas and from washington (possibly more than 100 miles away), the cauliflower was leftover from the previous night's dinner and came from happy harvest farm, the eggs came from our backyard hens, and i fried it all in lard that i rendered from the pig we got from kookoolan farms. 

my cup of tea is not local, but the bread is made with stone-buhr flour. the secret aardvark sauce is a local company, but i have no idea where their ingredients come from. it is really good hot sauce though... my little one wasn't interested in the hash, but was happy with her toast and scrambled eggs from our chickens.

week six is a really simple meal. butterflied roast chicken, just like in my previous post, with roasted acorn squash and track town 200 meter ale made by rogue brewing.

the beer is brewed in eugene, which breaks the 100 mile rule.  the chicken is from kookoolan farms, of course, and the squash is from the last csa bin we got from groundwork organics in november.

as i sliced into that squash last night it got me thinking about planning my garden. i recently received the new territorial seed catalog and have been thoroughly enjoying it, when i'm not wiping my nose or chasing a small child around. i also just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. so inspiring! anyway, i had planned on only growing delicatas in the winter squash category because they're our favorite. so sweet and delicious. however, i know they aren't the best storage variety. i was thinking about all of this as i sliced into that acorn squash, thinking maybe i should plant some acorn too but then thinking that i wouldn't plant enough to necessitate buying a whole packet of seeds (my frugality is really strange sometimes). as i stood there scraping the seeds into a bowl for the chickens i realized that maybe i could just plant these seeds. they're from an organic farm so i'm guessing they're not monsanto seeds that would get me arrested for saving and planting them. so they're drying on a rack in the kitchen. next fall i'll let you know if it works!

dark days challenge, week four: country-style ribs

dark days challenge dinner: barbecue-style pork ribs, steamed romanesco, buttered oatmeal bread

the best thing about romanesco, i think, is how it looks. fractals! it's pretty tasty too, a sort of 'greener' cauliflower flavor. i steam it just like i would with broccoli or cauliflower.

i've been on a bit of a search for locally grown bread ingredients. for all-purpose flour, Stone-Buhr is the closest i've found. i got some whole wheat from Gee Creek Farm that was grown within 100 miles, which is great. however, in a moment of radical self acceptance i have realized that i don't always want whole grain flour. i've had some good whole grain breads that i've purchased from the grocery store, but i like baking my own bread. anyway, i found this flour which comes from farms in oregon, washington and idaho. still over 100 miles away, but pretty local when it comes to flour.

it boasts of having this handy tracking program where you enter the date on your bag of flour in this site and it shows you which farm it came from. what a great idea! well, i did it and it didn't come up with anything, which was disappointing. i'm sure it's just a programming issue. still i like what they're trying to do.

there are all sorts of things in this bread that aren't remotely local: oat bran, wheat bran, yeast, maple syrup, but the wheat flour, white flour, milk and the oatmeal are, or maybe consider them local-ish... the oatmeal is from Snoqualmie Falls Lodge. i first started buying it in high school because it was featured in Twin Peaks as The Great Northern Hotel. also, the recipe on the side of the bag makes the best oatmeal cookies i've ever tasted.

here i used country-style pork ribs from Kookoolan Farms. this recipe is really delicious and easy. mix up a spice rub of chili powder, black pepper, sugar, salt and paprika (sadly all non-local). rub the mix on the ribs and refrigerate overnight. bring the ribs to room temperature and bake in a baking pan at 200 degrees for 3.5 to 4 hours, coat with barbecue sauce and cook 30 minutes more. eat and go to heaven. i was out of barbecue sauce so i made some out of the last bits of my homemade lactofermented ketchup mixed with some molasses, cider vinegar, and onion powder (also, not local). it was really good. 

dark days challenge, week two

i think simple food is easier with the dark days challenge meals. this is a meal i would prepare regardless of whether i was trying to source my food locally or not. when the ingredients are good you really don't need to do much to it. this week i made pan seared, oven roasted pork chops from kookoolan farms, steamed cauliflower from happy harvest farm, and kale from gee creek farm. it's pretty much a guarantee that every one of my dark days meals, really every home cooked meal, that i'm going to make is going to have meat from kookoolan farms in it. this summer we got serious about eating good, pasture-raised meat and bought 1/2 of a pig, 1/8 of a cow and 20 chickens from kookoolan farms. so now instead of going to the grocery store, or the farmer's market, i just walk down to the basement, open the freezer and pull out what i want to make the night before to let it thaw in the fridge. sure, there are times that life gets crazy and i forget to defrost something and then we eat beans and rice for dinner, but that's really just a matter of planning. it is the best meat i've ever eaten. i was really worried that the beef would be gamey because it grazed on the pasture instead of eating corn, but it isn't gamey at all! the chickens have a richer flavor than super market chicken and also a denser texture that, i think, requires brining before roasting. there was a bit of a learning curve with the chickens, but now i can make an amazingly good pasture-raised roast chicken. i'm sure it will be one of our dark days meals soon. my favorite meat though is the pork. in fact i think my favorite meal overall is pork. these kookoolan pork chops are so good. so simple and juicy. my husband used to request applesauce with his pork chops until he realized that these weren't dry and didn't need it.

the steamed cauliflower was topped with tillamook butter. i used this recipe for the kale. the red wine vinegar for the kale isn't local, but i'm hoping to make my own soon! pork chops and greens are one of my favorite combinations. once i have finished searing the pork chops i like to wilt the greens in the pork chop skillet. so yummy!

below is the pork chop recipe from cook's illustrated. i typically only make two chops, but use the same amount of brine. i pepper one side of the chops when they are in the pan searing. i also lessen the amount of time they spend in the oven since my chops are 3/4" thick.

Oven-Roasted Thick-Cut Pork Chops from Cook's Illustrated 

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4cup dark brown sugar (lightly packed)
• 1/4cup kosher salt (or 1/4 cup table salt)
• 4 bone-in rib loin pork chops (12-ounces each), 1 1/2-inches-thick
• 2tablespoons vegetable oil

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. In gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag, dissolve sugar and salt in 6 cups  water. Add pork chops, then seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible; refrigerate until fully seasoned, about 1 hour, turning bag once. Remove chops from brine and dry thoroughly with paper towels.
2. 2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place shallow roasting pan or jelly-roll pan on oven rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees. When oven reaches 450 degrees, heat oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat until shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes. Place chops in skillet; cook until well-browned and nice crust has formed on surface, about 2 minutes. Turn chops over with tongs; cook until well-browned and a nice crust has formed on second side, about 2 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer chops to preheated pan in oven. Roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of each chop registers 125–127 degrees, 8 to 10 minutes, turning chops over once halfway through cooking time. Transfer each chop to platter; cover loosely with foil (be sure not to wrap foil tightly around meat), and let rest about 5 minutes. (Check internal temperature; it should register about 145 degrees).