Jul
13
Sweet Corn Recipe
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WPSU’s local food blog, Local Food Journey, is holding a contest to find the best local sweet corn recipe. I offered up the following:
I grew up next to a farm, and our neighbor, the farmer, had the perfect recipe for the most delicious sweet corn around. The secret is in the freshness of the corn. He grew his own and shared with us, allowing us kids to roam the fields all summer, and to pick corn for dinner in the evening.
Here’s his recipe, as it has been repeated in our family for years:
First, fill a large pot – the biggest you can find – with cool, clear water. Put it on the stove and start it to boiling.
Once it starts to boil, head out to the corn field. Pick a dozen or so ears, no more than you can hold in your arms, shucking the husks and dropping them on the ground as you go. You want to work quickly because fresh corn is best.
With your arms laden with your harvest, hurry back to the house. If you happen to drop an ear, leave it and keep going! It is too late for that one, and stopping to pick it up will make the others that much older.
Drop the ears in the pot, boil for about ten minutes. Remove the ears with tongs, and serve immediately. Butter and salt to taste.
Repeat as necessary until you are full.
I doubt it will win, but that’s what I think of when I think about sweet corn and summertime.
Jul
6
Grilled Peaches
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A recipe for grilled peaches from Salon.com.
I hear local peaches are coming into season. I’ll have to take a look this week and try this on the grill. Yum.
Feb
6
According to an article in today’s Centre Daily Times, Bellefonte Borough Council has ceded control of the Bellefonte Farmers Market to the Bellefonte Farmers Market Association. The Association has been adamant that the market remain producer-only, and it would appear they now have to power to make it so.
One only hopes Councilman Beigle and Mayor Goldman are still willing to shop there.
Aug
6
Hands-On at the Farm Tour
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Ed Mahon offered this preview of the Farm Tour in yesterday’s Centre Daily Times.
Aug
3
2009 Central PA Farm Tour Guide
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2009 Central PA Farm Tour Guide (pdf), courtesy of Voices of Central PA.
Jul
18
2009 Local Foods Week and Farm Tour
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Central Pennsylvania’s 4th annual Local Foods Week and Farm Tour are coming up the first week of August. This year’s Local Foods Week runs from Saturday August 1st through Saturday August 8th. The Farm Tour is Saturday, August 8th from 12:30pm through 5:00pm.
I’m planning to visit a few sites. I’ve been out to Full Circle Farms about once a week this season and will probably stop in during the tour. I’m also planning to visit a few other local places I haven’t yet visited, but I haven’t had a chance to look at the map closely enough to figure out which ones.
Jun
27
Way Fruit Farm, Fruit Smoothies, and Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
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Today we stopped by Way Fruit Farm, a local grower famous most recently for a campaign stop by Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin. The Way family have been farming here since 1826. Throughout the season, they’ll have all sorts of fruits including strawberries, blueberries, cherries, apples, and pumpkins. Unfortunately for us, the only fruit available today were strawberries and cherries.
The strawberries are compact and darkly colored. The flavor is perfect: both tangy and sweet.
For dessert tonight, we’re making a strawberry-rhubarb pie. We’re using the rhubarb we froze from the first CSA share a month ago. I’ll write more about it later.
We’ve been making fresh fruit smoothies (recipe below) every night for the past week and were anxious to get some fresh, local fruit for next week.
Fruit Smoothie
1/2 c. strawberries, sliced (about five decent-sized berries)
1/3 c. blueberries
1/3 c. red raspberries
1/3 c. blackberries
1-2 tbsp. sugar, to taste
8-10 fresh ice cubes
Place all of the ingredients in a blender. Pulse until thoroughly blended. Add ice or water to thicken or thin as needed. Serve and drink immediately.
Makes approximately 16-18 oz. of smoothie.
You can substitute whatever berries you have on hand or are in season for you.
We’ve also added a small amount of V-8 Splash to the mix for added flavor.
Jun
23
Pesto Chicken with Pasta
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We have been getting so many vegetables from the CSA, and I haven’t been sharing what we’re doing with them. Last night’s dinner was one I must share.
We began by knowing we wanted to make a pesto sauce with the fresh basil and fresh garlic scapes we received in Friday’s share. The obvious use was on pasta. And then we needed some protein. Chicken was the obvious choice as well.
Onward to the recipes!
Pesto Chicken with Pasta
1 box pasta shells, or other pasta of choice
1 lb. chicken breast, cut into 1″ cubes
salt
pepper
Pesto sauce (recipe below)
Cook pasta according to directions on the package. Drain and place in large serving bowl.
Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil. Heat to medium-high heat. Sautee the chicken cubes. Once they are thoroughly cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
Combine pasta, sautéed chicken cubes, and pesto sauce in a large serving bowl. Toss to coat the pasta and chicken with the pesto sauce. Serve with a simple side salad.
Pesto sauce
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 c. fresh garlic scapes, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/3 c. pine nuts
salt & pepper to taste
Combine the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until fully combined. Adjust the ingredients to taste.
We served it with a chilled bottle of Caves Aliança 2008 Vinho Verde, a fruity, slightly bubbly white wine from Portugal.
(Once again, I forgot to take pictures.)
Jun
3
Locally-Sourced BLTs
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I really need to start taking photos of these meals before we eat them.
Last night we made Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato (BLT) sandwiches for dinner. It was a very “local” meal. The bread was from a local baker who buys her grain from a local farmer and grinds it herself. (If I knew her name, I’d share it, but my mother buys the bread when the lady comes to her office and I’ve never met her myself.) The lettuce came from our CSA through Full Circle Farms. The bacon was from a 4-H hog bought by my wife’s boss at last year’s Grange Fair Junior Livestock Auction. The only non-local ingredient was the tomatoes, which were from a pack of vine-ripened, hydroponically grown tomatoes I picked up at one of our grocery stores.
We also made fried potatoes with some of the spuds we picked up at the Boalsburg Farmer’s Market last Tuesday. Those came out surprisingly well. I sliced the potatoes, with skin on, into 1/4″ pieces and fried them in oil in a skillet on the stove.
