But what about the Locavore's Dilemma? Yes, you heard me right. So what is it? Well, if you're a fan of eating local, you probably already know. The locavore's dilemma is this: what the heck do you eat in mid-March?
Well, I hope to inspire you. In spite of the continuing lack of fresh veggies, Erin and I were able to do some good cooking this week, proving that March can be just as interesting (and possibly more creative) than June. And no, not all of it was done with local ingredients. That's okay. In my opinion, being a locavore and an activist for sustainable agriculture is all about doing what's possible. For your own health and sanity, I recommend eating well, no matter what day of the year, and sometimes that means using ingredients from afar (another locavore's dilemma -- should you forever renounce Florida oranges?). The point, here, is to try as hard as you can, or are able to, with promises to 'do better next year!' March, I believe, is the hardest time of the year for maintaining a local diet -- even those of us who did canning and freezing in the summer (I didn't) are probably running low. So here's a sampling of what we're cooking and eating during one of the most frustrating months for food.
Relatively, we used a lot of local ingredients for this one, so I feel justified in calling it a 'local' frittata. The mustard greens were available in a big bag for $7.99 at Ellwood Thompson's, from Just Picked Farm in Montpelier VA. We had goat cheese available through Faith Farms from Goats R Us, a farm in Green Bay VA. And our eggs came from a generous co-worker who has her own chickens!
4 cups mustard greens, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons diced olives (use your favorite kind)
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
8 eggs
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise.
1/4 cup goat cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
In preparation for the final step, set your oven to broil. Then, using a medium-sized cast iron skillet, brown the garlic in olive oil for a few minutes. Add the onions and cook until they are slightly soft. Then, add the mustard greens. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl and stir them together with mayonnaise. This step is optional if you don't like mayonnaise -- it is simply to get a fluffier egg texture. When the mustard greens have wilted, add the sun dried tomatoes and onions and heat through. Season with salt and pepper, then add the eggs. Cook until the eggs have mostly set. Sprinkle the goat cheese on top (use as much or as little as you like) then put the whole skillet in the oven for a few minutes, checking periodically until the eggs have completely hardened. Serve with buttered toast. Serves 4.
All of the ingredients used for this recipe are available at Ellwood Thompson's. I got the idea from my #1 favorite site for recipes, RecipeZaar. Check out the recipe we used here. I followed most of the instructions pretty closely, except we used roasted red peppers from a jar instead of a fresh red pepper because peppers are out of season right now. It was easy to get up early one morning and set up the tofu to marinate. The results were really good, and the salsa tasted fresh and summery -- a preview of things to come!
Erin claims to be a 'pizza purist' -- crust, sauce and cheese is all she needs. And while I've always been the type to overload my pizzas with piles of toppings, this pizza was great! The key, of course, was the quality ingredients. Our crust was based on a recipe from Alice Waters' The Art of Simple Food. We opted to let it rise in the refrigerator overnight, and the consistency turned out great. The sauce was pretty simple, just Pomi tomatoes-from-a-box (these are amazing), garlic, and a custom blend of italian spices. Cheese? Ellwood Thompson mozzarella, and a bit of parmesan.
So go on and cook. Now is the time to be creative...right as you're hitting the utter low of the cooking year, tired of potatoes and kale and heavy winter stews, not yet in possession of the spring veggies your'e dying for...
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