Rhode Island 100 mile

Beets seem to have become the “go to” vegetable this summer. We’ve eaten some of the ones that we have grown and I’ve picked some up at the various farmer’s markets in our area. No matter where the beets come from, I think that this is our favorite preparation (from Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin)…

1. Roast the whole beets in the oven or in foil on the grill…about 45 minutes.
2. The skin should just slip off- cut the beets into half inch chunks.
3. Toast some whole cumin seeds on the stove for a couple of minutes and then grind them using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder.
4. Add the cumin powder to 1/4 cup olive oil, a dash of salt and a couple grinds of pepper-let this mixture sit a little while for the flavors to release into the oil.
5. Meanwhile, fry some thoroughly drained chick peas in a couple of tablespoons of canola oil until they turn golden brown and are a little crunchy. Drain them on a paper towel lined baking sheet.
6. Toss the beets with the oil mixture and add some diced shallot.
7. Spoon the beets onto a plate, add some feta or ricotta, the chick peas and some parsley…

…for those of you who are scrutinizing- we already had the chick peas, cumin, oil, salt and pepper in our cupboard before starting the challenge- all fair game!

                                         -Josh

…I’ve been reading the  The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and while an excellent read and resource on everything concerning meat, it has also further reinforced some parameters that Ingrid and I have developed about our meat consumption. Hugh firmly agrees that having  meat of superior quality less often is of greater moral standing than having inferior product at less cost all the time. He also states that you should get to know everything that you can about the product- who raised it, where it comes from, what their farming habits are, etc…which is one of the reasons we are doing this 100 mile diet. We’ve been getting some excellent product from Pat’s Pastured  and Stoney Hill Cattle Farm which are both located here in RI. As our friend Carolyn can attest, there is a difference in what you can get at the supermarket as opposed to what’s local…and we’re finding that we’re eating less because it is so good. While this can turn into a soapbox real quick, we believe that knowing where your food comes from not only helps in the education process, but it also helps draw a connection to what you’re eating- more than you get from picking up the cellophane wrapped piece of industrial meat in the supermarket cooler. Anyways, onto tonight’s dinner:

• Rack of beef ribs from Stoney Hill
• Pattypan squash from Friday’s market at Goddard Park
• Roasted Beets also from the market.
• Yellow watermelon from Upinngil Farm.

…we only ended up eating three of the ribs from the rack…more for lunch later in the week!

                                          -Josh

So Josh and I (it’s Ingrid – I guess that’s obvious) both wanted to try out the flour we purchased this weekend.  I was craving something with some sweetness so I tried the Beautiful Blueberry Cornbread (really, that’s the name) recipe from The New England Cookbook.  I couldn’t find the exact recipe online but this one is very similar.  However, instead of baking it as a loaf, I made muffins.  I had to have one as soon as they were cool and they were good!  The color was a little off because the flour was whole wheat flour and instead of mixing in whole blueberries, I added ~3/4 cup of blueberry . . . mush I guess you would call it.  I had about 5 cups of frozen blueberries – blueberries that I had picked last year.  I cooked them all down and then strained them.  I froze the resulting blueberry juice for future use but didn’t know what to do with the blueberry mush so I put in the frig until inspiration stuck.  Well, inspiration struck and I added it to the cornbread/muffin batter – the batter turned a dark purple.  The muffins were really good – especially with some butter slathered on them while still warm.  And it was all legal by our rules as we still had some sugar left from before starting the challenge.

Josh made bread – we’ll leave that story for tomorrow!

Ingrid

Breakfast traditionally has been one of the easier meals to concoct while we have been on the 100 mile diet. Fruits and eggs have been in large supply over the last couple of weeks- the trick is to mix it up enough so that we won’t get bored with what we can get. Our tomato plants have been giving us a rather steady supply just about every other day, this morning being no exception. I picked what was ripe (check out our 8 foot high Super Sweet 100 plant in the center photo!) and added some julienned squash blossoms and basil to the uncooked egg creating a psuedo omellette/frittata…a combination that we have yet to try. The blossoms got a little lost in the combo, but they were on their last legs and we had to use them- and if anything, they provided a nice splash of color to our breakfast plate!

                                   -Josh

…”THE HOLY GRAIN” HAS BEEN BESTOWED UPON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…but first, let’s begin the story at the beginning. Grains have been the thorns in our sides during the 100 mile challenge. Due to New England’s climate and limited market for them, grain for human consumption isn’t readily found within our 100 mile radius…until now! Ingrid and I had been planning to head out to Williamstown, MA to see the Prendergast in Italy exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art. We managed to squeeze in a trip yesterday and our itinerary was to head to the exhibit, camp out at Mohawk State Forest on route 2 and then make our way to the Greenfield Farmer’s Market this morning. Since I knew that we were going to be out there, I started searching for farms that may possibly produce grains and most of them were up in VT or ME- out of our 100 mile range…except for a small producer at Upinngil Farm in Gill, MA. I had emailed them earlier in the week and they confirmed that they produced wheat that was sold as flour from their store…a quick glance at our handy 100 mile map confirmed that they were in our radius and we instantly added them to our itinerary…

Friday morning, we packed everything that we thought we would need for a day away from home. We packed all the food, except that we didn’t plan for one thing- rain!  We were going to cook dinner that night on a small camp stove but it turned out that the weather would not be cooperating with us. While we were in the Prendergast exhibit, the sky opened up and a deluge ensued, leaving our camping plans in limbo. We got back to the car soaking wet and decided that we would take the short drive over to Mass MoCA over in North Adams to see the Sol LeWitt exhibit (and wait to see if the rain subsides). After dodging some more raindrops to get into the building, we were welcomed by three floors of enormous wall drawings designed by the late LeWitt. The 27,000 square foot building that houses the exhibit was designed exclusively for the installment which is running for the next 25 years! If you’re ever out there it is quite the sight to see! We spent a good two hours wandering around the exhibit while the rain thundered on the tin roof of the building. We realized that camping would probably be out of the picture, so we came up with an alternate plan of driving to Greenfield to see if we could get a room…and to find dinner because we wouldn’t be able to use the camp stove in the hotel room.

Dining out on the 100 mile diet is next to impossible, so we had to loosen the rules a bit and “take one for the team”- a hungry team at that! We ended up going to the People’s Pint in downtown Greenfield which makes their own beer and soda and also serves some locally raised products. The place was a little busy, but after a 10 minute wait we were seated and placed our order. We both shared a “ploughman’s plate” that consisted of a brie-like blue cheese, bread, cherry tomatoes and succotash. This didn’t last too long- everything was excellent and Ingrid was revelling in the moment because it involved bread. Next up was a burger and short ribs- both meats came from a farm in nearby Shelburne and most of the veggies were local as well. While the burger was good, it was the short ribs that blew us away. They were braised in molasses and then finished on the grill which created a caramelized shell on the succulent, soft inner meat. The ribs were served on a bed of baked beans with braised chard and an ear of corn. I can’t profess how good this dish was! Dessert caused a small conundrum as there were so many choices! Ingrid settled on the double chocolate cream cake and some local ice cream and I had the raspberry buttermilk layer cake. The pieces were rather huge, but we managed to finish everything- Ingrid being the confectionery expert thought hers was the better of the two. Not feeling too guilty that we cheated on the diet, we headed back to the hotel to watch the Red Sox get drubbed and fell asleep satiated. Oh- if you ever go to the People’s Pint it is cash and personal check only…no credit cards are accepted.

We woke up todayand headed over to the Saturday Farmer’s market in Greenfield- right in front of the town hall. One of the reasons why we wanted to hit this market was that there was a producer which makes cheese from milk that they produce right on their own farm. Chase Hill Farm from Warwick, MA (coincidence?) had a bunch of cheeses available, so we ended up getting some feta, cheddar, a parmesean-like hard cheese and a farmstead cheese. They also had veal that they raise for sale as well, so we stocked up with some ground veal and veal cutlets. The market was pretty standard- tomatoes, carrots, etc. but we found some leeks and pears that we haven’t seen here in RI. After we poked around, we headed up to Gill to hopefully get some grains.

We made it up to Upinngill (clever!) farm in about 15 minutes and we were totally excited that our wish had come true in the form of whole wheat flour and wheat berries. They started growing wheat on the request of a local baker and eventually starting making it available to the public as well. We ended up getting about 8 pounds of wheat flour and 5 pounds of wheat berries. The berries can be used in various ways and even ground into flour as well. The farm also sells milk products and a whole host of vegetables and fruit- we ended up walking away with a watermelon along with our coveted flour…well worth the side trip! The farm also does mail order, so we’ll have a supply for any future 100 mile endeavors!

                                                                                           -Josh

 I’ve been reading about Poulet Rouge chickens that Pat’s Pastured sells at the farmer’s markets over on Last Night’s Dinner. Finally, we got ahold of one at the East Greenwich market this past Monday. They come frozen, so after a couple of days in the refrigerator it was completely thawed and ready to go. I decided to prepare it “leaping frog style” like they point out over on Last Night’s Dinner. It was super easy to do and because it lays flat, the cooking time is significantly reduced and  there is virtually no loss of meat. We cooked it on the grill along with some yukon gold and red potatoes and served both of these along with some tomato salad and watermelon that we picked up on Friday. The chicken was really fantastic- nice and firm, yet moist with much more flavor than your run of the mill chicken…we’ll be getting some more of these in the future…and thanks to LND and Pat for the info!

                                                                  -Josh

On my way home tonight (it’s Ingrid) I stopped at the Farmer’s Daughter and picked my first batch of raspberries.  Though it felt like 100 degrees, it was so worth it.  Those raspberries that just fell into my hand and stained my fingers pink were amazing (Josh has pointed out that I use that word – amazing – a lot to describe food – I’ll try to expand my food vocab in the future).  The next time I go back I’ll have to wear pants because those prickly plants are a little wild in spots…some of the plants are falling onto the path, hiding a treasure trove of fresh berries just for me!  I can expect to pick into September – yahoo!  At least two more times to pick – though the freezer is packed already with strawberries, green beans, and peaches – time for another freezer?

So Josh totally spoiled me tonight.  He made the Yellow Gazpacho from the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine – it was amazing – oops – it was . . . sweet because of the corn, a little spicy because of the Tabasco (we already had that in the fridge so it’s legal), and crunchy because of the cucumber – it was a perfect summer soup.  I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow to have more of it – maybe I’ll have it for breakfast?  Josh also grilled up some beets – ones from the Goddard State Park market this past Friday and some Chiogga beets from our own backyard garden.  Our beets were a little more peppery than the usual beet – I’m not sure what type of beet a usual beet is.  On a night like tonight, I feel like I could eat local all year.

Below are the raspberries that I picked and the beets that Josh grilled up.

We had a great visit to the Goddard Park Farmer’s market on Friday morning. It seems as though there are a lot more vendors there this year which makes shopping for local goodies a little bit easier. Coupled with the East Greenwich market on Monday, we now can get most of our shopping done without driving too far from our house (although it is still fun to hit the Providence market on Saturdays when we can). Some surprises are the market this week were mature butter and sugar corn and melons. We picked up a small watermelon and a cantaloupe to add into our local mix- and what a welcome addition indeed. This is the time of year when the variety starts to take off- which we learned last year when we started the 100 mile diet in July. There really weren’t too many choices last year all the way through July…and that got exasperated this year due to the rainy summer we’ve had (until now). The sad thing about the diet is that we won’t be able to make Pete Carpenter’s excellent watermelon salad unless we can find some locally made feta!

Other items that we picked up on our shopping foray were:

• Red and yukon potatoes.
• Peaches (for eating and freezing).
• Tomatoes (for freezing- we’ll eat our own for the challenge).
• Yellow string beans.
• Zucchini flowers (for Ingrid’s squash blossom sauce- which we’ll freeze).
• Red beets.

                                                   -Josh

So I have to say that Josh and I are getting totally spoiled.  We really haven’t had it too tough since we started the 100 Mile Diet this year.  Last night Becky and John came over to visit and enjoy a 100 Mile dinner.  Josh cooked up some fingerling potatoes (they had slightly pink flesh – very cool), some skirt and sirloin steak from Stoney Hill Cattle Farm, and we had a salad with tomatoes from our own garden!  Becky brought dessert – that’s ok by the rules.  She made Hoosier bars – chocolate and flour!  Oh so good!  The food was great and the company was better!  The next time anyone sees John, ask him about his new suit – his new tan suit.  So that was flour and chocolate two days in a row – I’m so spoiled!

Josh and I are big fans of skirt and flank steak and for those of you wondering what those cuts are – go here to find out.  Meat is one thing that is not difficult for us to get – we have so many vendors and so many options.  I’m guessing for many in the New England area, this is probably the case.  Let us know if there are any good farms to try in MA and CT – much of those two states are in our 100 mile radius.

Since we are in full 100 mile mode, I had to think a little harder about what to make Ingrid for her birthday. Luckily, I was able to satisfy her chocolate quotient because we already had some cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips already in the house. Add to that some butter, flour, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract (all of which we previously had before starting the challenge) and the result was some rather impressive chocolate “bouchons” that were a welcome treat. With dessert being taken care of, I decided to thaw a frozen ball of pizza dough we had made a couple of months ago and with the all-local ingredients pictured on the left, I managed to pull together a grilled flatbread/pizza that came out rather impressive. We even have a couple of slices left over to satisfy the birthday girl if she gets any carbohydrate cravings later in the week!

                                      -Josh