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Ugly Fruit

RoundTart
I watched two incongruent, yet weirdly related, videos this month that have incessantly occupied my thoughts. The first was a Netflix special featuring a well-known stand-up comedian who performed a sketch about God being annoyed with humans for digging up fossil fuel to mass-produce food rather than eating the stuff He’d left for them all over the ground. Human’s excuse for this behavior? The food on the ground doesn’t come fast enough, and it arrives cold.

Wild Card Wednesdays

Truth in advertising: eating seasonally requires an attitude adjustment.

Truth in advertising: eating seasonally requires an attitude adjustment.

A lot of people think eating only local, seasonal food means sacrifice, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Oh heck, this isn’t Pinterest, this is reality, so I’ll come clean: the uneven spacing of our Thursday/ Saturday farmer’s market lends itself to rather dicey Wednesday meals. Let’s just say we aren’t very good a pacing ourselves. By mid-week we’ve concocted every recipe we can think of using the best of our weekend haul and the limp, left-over, non sequitur veg laying around can be difficult to assemble into something that meets the minimum standard of ‘a meal.’

This rather odd assembly would be spinach, scape pesto, & an over easy egg. You probably should avoid dinner at our house on Wednesdays.

This rather odd assembly would be spinach, scape pesto,
& an over easy egg. You probably should avoid dinner
at our house on Wednesdays.

We call our situation “Wild Card Wednesday.” We just never know what the heck we’re going to come up with.

Local Living Reality #1: Creativity, resourcefulness, and good humor are essential traits for local living.
Local Living Reality #2: Adventure is always on the menu.
Local Living Reality #3: Meat will not necessarily always be on the menu.
At the heart of our 10-mile challenge is the ambition to live deliciously and joyfully at the local level and share the experience with anyone curious enough to wonder. Even Especially on Wild Card Wednesdays. So instead of glossing over these seasonal and local living challenges, I’ve decided to spotlight them.

Helpful Tips To Keep In Mind: 1) Nearly anything wrapped in pastry crust becomes instantly delicious. 2) If all else fails, dice up whatever leftover veg you have and throw it together with an egg. Meal accomplished.

WILD CARD WEDNESDAY RECIPE
July 3rd Wild Card Wednesday Meal: Potato and Onion Tart with Roasted Veg (also with onion)
Wild Card Wednesday meals may include onions. With a side of onions.

Wild Card Wednesday meals may include onions. With a side of onions.

What we had on hand: four small (wrinkly) red potatoes, 1 small tomato, a handful of asparagus and snap peas, a small red onion, a small white onion, locally-made Wake Robin Farm Mona Lisa cheese, eggs, milk, our herb garden. On-hand, Non-local ingredients used: flower, sugar, butter, salt, olive oil

The Roasted Veg
Clean and chop whatever available veg you have, toss in olive oil, salt lightly, and broil about 10 minutes, turning frequently.

The Tart Dough
 1 ½ cup of flour
¼ cup of sugar
1 cup cold butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cold water
pinch of salt
1.     Put flour and a pinch of salt in a mixer with a paddle attachment.
2.     Turn mixer on low and slowly add the butter cubes until thoroughly incorporated.
3.     Add one egg yolk.
4.     Slowly drip in cold water, just enough to form a dough.
5.     Wrap dough and refrigerate for 15 minutes
6.     Roll the dough out until it forms a large, thin circle. Place on a flat cookie sheet.

The Tart Filling
 4 potatoes
1 small onion
½ cup of cheese
1 egg yolk
splash of milk
stalk of rosemary
1.     Preheat oven to 360 degrees F
2.     Thin slice the potatoes, put in a pan, and add water until they are just covered. Boil until just soft.
3.     Slice the onion and chop the rosemary. Set aside.
4.     In a bowl, mix cheese, egg yolk, rosemary, and a splash of milk.
5.     Arrange potatoes on the rolled-out dough, leaving about an inch all the way around.
6.     Pinch the dough edges together all the way around to form a wide, shallow “bowl”.
7.     Gently pour the liquid mixture evenly over the potatoes.
8.     Arrange the onions on top.
–> Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Mint Tea

By nature I expect things to be complicated. When it turns out a thing is simple it feels like magic.

teacup

Do you know what I mean when I say tea possesses a de-frazzling effect? Besides the flavor and aroma, and the pleasing tink of china on china, tea requires us to suspend all other activity and focus on the ceremony of preparing a perfectly brewed pot.

Not long ago The Husband invited me to raid his mint patch for my evening tea regiment. Instant confusion. What was he talking about, using his garden mint for tea? Surely tea-making entailed many complex and expensive steps? Dehydrating leaves? Grinding stuff? I searched the web. The answer was so simple. You’re probably savvy and already know this but for a food-growing newbie like me it was a lovely discovery: brewing homemade tea is easy. The plant simply seeps in the pot. Or, to be more precise:

  1. Cut 3 stalks of mint low on the stem.
  2. Rinse under water; dry with a clean kitchen towel.
  3. Roll stalks firmly and briskly between the palms of your hands.
  4. Form a nest with the stalks in the bottom of your teapot.
  5. Pour boiling water into the pot.
  6. Steep 4 minutes before enjoying (leave the mint in for stronger tea).
mint-tea
The flavor of natural mint tea is light and sweet and equal to any of the commercially-produced teas on which I confess to spending a small fortune. As a bonus, rolling  stalks between your palms releases mint oil that aromatizes the air. Sorta like a soothing Glad air freshener, except it’s free and won’t poison your kids or pets if they eat it. Magic, indeed.
brewing