100 Mile Diet

My wife and I have always been advocates of good food. We try to eat a lot of local food, we get our veggies mostly from a local CSA farm and we get our beef from a local farm as well. We get to know where our food comes from and what went into it.

Over the past year, I have been getting more and more into the eat local craze. Much of this was the result of Michael Pollan’s books: The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food.I believe these books are a must read and should be added to everyone’s personal education.

I fall off the bandwagon every so often, I admit it – I have an addiction to CheeseIts. My New Year’s resolution (first one I have had in years) will be to eat far more locally. You have to be practical, good luck finding local peppercorns or other spices.  However there is no excuse other than laziness for buying in-season produce and meat from anyone other than a local producer.

To keep me focused on my resolution, I have decided to start a 100 Mile Dinner Club, based on the 100 Mile Diet that had been getting a lot of buzz lately. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. The basic idea is that:

• a group of friends will rotate hosting duties once a month 
• everything in the dinner, including the wine, must be raised, grown or caught within 100 miles of the host’s home
• there are a few exceptions, most notably salt and pepper

I am excited about this endeavour. I hope I discover many local treasures. We’ll see how it goes.

Bread Fever

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day was recently published and it has started a wildfire of home bread making.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m hopping on the bread bandwagon with the rest of their fans. If you want the recipes, buy their book. For the basics, watch their video.

 

According to their blog, they have been fiddling with their recipe since the book was published, depending on which article you read about them you will get slightly different measurements, heat and timing. My observations are that you need to up the water to 4 cups, up the rest period after refrigeration to at least an hour and a half, and up the oven temperature to 475.

 

All in all I am very happy with the basic Master recipe. My best results so far have been using an iron skillet instead of a pizza stone. I’m letting the stone season some more before I give up, but so far the skillet gives a better crust every time. The bread has a great crust and crumb. You really need to let the bread cool completely before cutting (kills the whole warm bread ambiance) or else you end up with a dense gummy crumb that is no where near as good as after the bread has cooled.

 

 

I need to start trying the other variations in their book. Before that though I am thinking of doing a few modifications myself.

 

First up, I’m thinking of eliminating the packaged yeast by doing a pseudo starter. I’ve never tried a starter but from all of my research it looks to me like their Master recipe is half way between a starter and a dough. Someone on their blog mentioned that they just incorporate some the previous dough instead of adding yeast, essentially how you make a sourdough. I think this means you would have to give it a little more time before using, no big deal as I think this bread is best after day 3 anyway. I’ll keep you posted on how this goes.

 

If you can’t tell, I’m hooked. I’ve always had this phobia about bread for some reason. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day has changed that. I have the fresh bread bug and I’m passing it on. Be warned though, the first symptom is five extra pounds.

The Saga of the Ham Part 2

For those who have been following along, you will know that I am in the process of trying to make my first ham. I started about 2 weeks ago (see part 1).

When I last saw the pork it looked like so:
 

I pulled it out of the refrigerator. The changes so far are subtle. The meat is firmer, darker, and a little shriveled.

The next step was to a rub the pork with the cure/salt mix. I used exactly the same amounts as last time. Last time the pork was able to easily hold the entire batch of mix. This time however, the pork was drier and firmer. As a result about 1/3 was left over.

I wrapped the pork up like last time and place back in the refrigerator.

See you back in a couple of weeks…

Fried Green Tomatoes

This week’s farm share included 2 pounds of green tomatoes. It is unbelievable that we’re still getting tomatoes at this time of year!

I only know two things to do with them and that is to fry them up or pickle them. I’ll fry a couple of batches and can the rest I guess.

Ingredients:
1 medium green tomato
1/4 cup fine corn meal
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Vegetable oil

Directions:
1. Slice the tomato into 1/4 inch slices
 

2. Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl. Whisk in cream and milk until you have a smooth thin batter.
 

3. Add tomatoes to the batter and make sure they are coated well. Allow to sit while you heat oil in a large iron (or non-stick) skillet over medium heat.

4. Fry for about 3-4 minutes until golden brown on one side. Flip and repeat so that both sides are golden brown.
 

5. Remove from skillet, season with salt, and allow to dry on a drying rack or on paper towels.

6. Serve immediately.

Parmesan Crisps

Simple, fun, elegant and easy what else could you ask for. These parmesan crisps add a touch of elegance to any salad or appetizer.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (or other hard cheese within your budget, but not the powdered stuff)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 325F.

2. Place 2 tbsp of grated cheese in a pile on a Silpat or wax paper and arrange into a disc about 4″ in diameter. Continue with rest of cheese making about 4 disks.

3. Place in oven and bake for 12-14 minutes.
 

4. Remove from oven and allow to cool. If desired, form into cones or cups. Serve with salads, appetizers, or just munch on them for a treat.