Monday, June 2, 2008

One Local Summer - Dinner #1

So it was Kristin's big idea to join the "one local summer" movement and who ends up making the first local meal? Me. However, I found it easier to cook with fresh, local ingredients than if I had had to thaw packages and open cans. Our first local meal of asparagus and scallion frittata with cheddar cheese, mashed turnips with swiss cheese and fried beet chips took under an hour to make and only required a labor input of grating, chopping and mashing.

For the frittata, I sauteed the scallions and asparagus in a skillet and then mixed in half a cup of swiss cheese and six eggs. I put that on a stove burner until it was set and then put it under the broiler to finish off the top. The turnips were cut into large cubes and boiled for a half an hour and then mashed with a half of a cup of swiss cheese and 3 tablespoons of butter (amish butter from the Reading Terminal). Kristin loved the turnips but my favorite were the beet chips. They tasted just like those expensive Terra chips. I simply sliced the beets thin (actually my Mom did it with a cheese slicer) and then fried them in an inch of vegetable oil until they started to curl a bit. Next time we want to try beets, sweet potatoes and turnip chips all together but I think sweet potatoes are a fall vegetable so that might not be possible.


Everything we used, with the exception of the cheddar cheese and the butter, came from our CSA share that we pick up from Greensgrow every other Thursday. We bought the cheddar cheese at the Headhouse Farmer's Market at Second and Lombard Streets last Sunday.

I think once we get our deep freeze we would like to eat locally year round, that is if Kristin will start eating winter squash.


1 comment:

Kristin said...

Ummm, I didn't help cook because you started while I was still at work! And also - you forgot to mention that I planned the menu - I AM helpful!