Rhode Island 100 mile

…well the ice cream experiment turned out better than planned…it is soooooo good! I don’t think it’s going to be around too long. Wright’s Dairy Farm in North Smithfield produces their own cream from cows raised on-site, so last week I stopped by to pick some up. We already had some sugar and vanilla bean in the closet- which were fair to use…along with some eggs from the Goddard Park Farmer’s Market and a little patience, we were able to whip up an ice cream that is amongst the best we’ve ever had. I used a recipe from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook which was pretty simple and an ice cream maker we got for our wedding. After cooking the custard and letting it sit in the fridge for 24 hours, we put it in the machine and let it turn for about 30 minutes…out came a fluffy, creamy treat that was sure to impress! I bought a bunch of cream, so the extra ended up in Ingrid’s squash blossom sauce which was frozen for quick wintertime pasta meals…it’s nice to see that we can add cream to our local arsenal!

                               -Josh

…well these are the last few days of the 100 mile challenge for 2009. It’s been a great seven weeks- we’ve found some new vendors and have tried a whole bunch of new foods…just what we wanted to get out of this year’s “experiment”. In our last few days of the challenge, we have a few things planned- making tomato sauce from the last of our tomatoes and basil, making ice cream (we found a farm that produces cream right here in RI!) and having a first go-round at making some trotters…we’ll post about all these things specifically- so stay tuned! Enjoy your Saturday!

                                      -Josh

…welcome to Autumn everyone!

Josh and Ingrid

…I was met with a surprise today at the Goddard Park Farmer’s Market. There was a meat vendor! We’ve been holding out for markets on Saturday and Monday for meat, but Hill Farm from Foster, RI has joined the Friday market right near our house. They produce pork and I ended up getting some pork belly and a small picnic shoulder for the upcoming week. I’ve been wanting to experiment with pork belly for a while- ever since we were astonished with a preparation of it at Hugo’s  Portland, ME. I ended up using a thyme, salt and pepper rub and crisping the skin at 425 for 1/2 hour and finishing it up at 325 for another 45 minutes…it came out OK…not Hugo’s caliber but good enough to eat (with some bok choi and beets from the market as well). We’ll have to hone this one down!

                                                                                                                                 -Josh

…the second part of our challenge is saving for winter. We’ve been buying extra fruits and veggies that we can’t get during the winter and freezing them to help carry us through the colder months. So far we’ve stocked on soup starter (diced carrots and onions), string beans, peaches, blueberries and strawberries. As we head into Fall, we’ll be on the lookout for anything that can be frozen…especially if we’re going to attempt the 100 mile challenge in February!

                  -Josh

So this weekend was looking to be a challenge because we were a little low on protein (this is Ingrid).  This past Labor Day, the East Greenwich Farmer’s Market was open but our usual sources of chicken, pork, and beef were NOT there.  I was quite upset!  We had some meals planned for the week days but not a lot for the weekend.  However, Josh pulled a few rabbits out of his hat.  Friday night we had some veal (bought back at the Greenfield MA Farmer’s Market) with a really tasty cabbage salad from one of  Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks.  The veal was cooked perfectly and Josh braised the cabbage with two different types of apples and some fennel seeds.  The taste of the cabbage matched the veal perfectly.  We look forward to having more of it soon.

Since we were able to get some protein at the Casey Farm Market yesterday, Josh made a LARGE batch of chili tonight- we still had some dried pinto beans left over from the winter and Josh mixed it up with the ground beef we purchased from Don Minto .  The best part of it we have enough chili to take us through most of the week’s lunches – yeah!!

Ingrid

…we woke up to a dreary Saturday morning here in RI…the perfect day to do a few errands and some food experiments. We mixed it up a little this week and decided to go to the Saturday Coastal Grower’s market at Casey Farm in Saunderstown, RI. We don’t really go to this market too often because we’re usually up at the Providence/Hope Street one, but we wanted to make the trip because this is really the only market where we can get meat from Watson Farm. Luckily, Don was there with his products despite the weather…we ended up picking up some ground beef and some short ribs which we’ll post about in the near future. Our pork and chicken purveyor was there as well and we ended up getting some ground pork and some trotters which I’m very excited about preparing…as for the rest of today, I’m trying another go-around at a loaf of whole wheat bread and Ingrid has already produced some wonderful smelling whole wheat/cornmeal/blueberry muffins…gotta love a rainy Saturday sometimes!

                                          -Josh

…we’ve been hit or miss with our bread experiments thus far. The flour that we scored last month is a little difficult to work with- especially in regards to making breads that actually rise. I’ve tried making two “traditional” loaves thus far and have ended up with some really dense, brick-like objects that really don’t pass off as bread as we would like it. Although I’ve managed to eat most of both loaves, the best option that I’ve figured out to do with them is grill the slices in a pan and eat them with honey for breakfast. I decided to take a different approach on Friday night and tried making a flat bread that was cooked on the grill. Besides saving  a ton of time, these actually were more palatable than their bricky cousins. We made some chicken tortillas with them and this morning I cooked up some eggs and served them on top of one of the “loaves”…a step in the right direction!

                                    -Josh

One thing that I am trying to do while on the 100 mile challenge is keep the food variety exciting; it’s easy to get into a rut and keep buying the same foods week after week. Luckily, there hasn’t been much of a problem at the markets that we attend…there are plenty of vendors who also like to try growing different fruits and vegetables as well. This week’s challenge was brussel sprouts…something that I’m not too familiar with and have had very little of in the past. I know these little green orbs have a dodgy history with some, so I tried to find an inventive way to dress them up a little. Since the ingredients in our refrigerator are fair game, I was able to find a recipe that ended up coming out pretty well. First, I blanched the sprouts and cut them lengthwise. A broth was made with chicken stock, garlic confit ,shallot thyme and dijon mustard…after the flavors came together and the broth thickened, I added the sprouts and let them simmer until they were soft enough to be pierced with a fork. We had the sprouts topped with some of our favorite chicken which was done on the grill…I think that I see brussel sprouts in a new light…this was excellent and I’ll be sure to include them in a meal in the future!

                                                 -Josh

So I have to confess – I had raw cookie dough a few times this week (it’s Ingrid).  Though Kim suggested that I make cookies with our new found flour, we haven’t gotten around to that yet – mostly because we don’t have the chocolate chips!  However, my friend Donna made a lot of dough the other day for a lunch we had at work to greet incoming graduate students.  Donna brought the dough and baked the cookies while we had lunch.  I got to partake in the baked cookies during lunch and they were soooooo good!  Donna put the extra dough in the refrigerator and I found it the next day.  And yes – I ate a little – three days in a row!   I told Donna yesterday and she put it in the freezer – complete disaster averted.  But man – that cookie dough was good!