one local supper: 9

Nine! Can you believe it? I have been feeling particularly uninspired about cooking this summer. It's been a little difficult to cook 100% local meals simply for lack of inspiration. We've been eating almost 100% local produce, dairy, and meats, but sometimes getting all of them into a delicious-sounding and photographable meal isn't up my alley.

That being said, this week we had two local meals. On Wednesday I made an oven-roasted baby eggplant, tomato, and feta dish, plus a baked cherry tomato-feta crustless cobbler (cherry tomatoes, smashed, 1T flour, well-mixed in, crumbles of feta, ribbons of basil). We had some other non-local food (with local lady peas, couscous, lemon juice, and LORDY big fat decidedly non-local shrimp) with it, but I made enough to have for lunch on Thursday. It was a good, good lunch.

Last night I used up a lot of produce we'd had languishing in the pantry and crisper. I roasted a lovely porkloin from Barnes Farm in Jackson, TN with local onions and shallots. I also roasted beets and sweet potatoes, cubed them, and dressed them in a mustardy vinaigrette with arugula. Earlier that morning I mixed up a big batch of dough to keep in the fridge (I use the basic boule recipe with 1/3 whole wheat from this book) and made both a sandwich loaf and six dinner rolls with whole wheat and all purpose flour from Delta Grind. I used up my last leek, some aged swiss chard, and kohlrabi in a mixed-vegetable sautee. My seemingly random mix of ingredients- the last dregs from the fridge- I haven't been to the farmer's market in two weeks and won't be able to go again until next week- was pretty good.

My garden, at the end of July, is just beginning to produce. Thanks, miserable dry hot June. Our July's been more like a typical May. My tomatoes are going crazy, peppers blooming, green beans- well- they're languishing. I'm going to rip them out. Last Friday little boy planted our fall crop of Arugula- we've eaten the last of ours. This week I put in purple sprouting broccoli, broccoli raab (my favorite), more beans, lettuces, swiss chard, and a few other things. I'm hopeful for my little garden. I laugh at the thought of all of my tomatoes coming in from August to November's first frost, just in time for my fall CSA to begin. I think September and October will be heavy-duty canning months for me. And heavy duty pottery months, but that's a different story.

Happy weekend!