locavore

Showing posts with label locavore. Show all posts. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013 in , , , , , , , , , ,

White Bean and Snap Pea Salad with Yogurt Miso Sauce - from Dinner in the Garden


Snap peas are one of my favorite things about gardening in the cooler seasons of the year.  My daughter will eat them raw as I pick them.  I like them blanched and as a carrier for various sorts of dips or in green salads as a sweetly substantial crunch with my greens.

 I devised this recipe back in June when we had a bumper crop.  It was served at the Dinner in the Garden / For Reals Meals event to great acclaim by the attendees.  Now that the weather is cooling again snap peas will be in season and you can prepare this for any upcoming gatherings of your own.

The snap peas used for the dinner event were all from the Blissoma community garden.  There were a LOT this spring so I was scheming constantly on ways to put them all to good use.

The Yogurt Miso Sauce could be made with soy yogurt but I had the worst time finding any even in health food stores in St. Louis.  Consequently I used an organic, humane goat milk yogurt instead.  It seems all the soy yogurt around me was replaced by just coconut yogurt, which was sweet (I tried it just in case) and totally unsuitable for this recipe.  It was one of the only recipes for the entire dinner that ended up not vegan.  Fortunately many people digest goat milk better than cow milk, and it is generally not factory farmed which eliminates many of the environmental and gustatory concerns related to dairy.


I wanted a really savory, tangy sauce and this particular mixture turned out to be insanely delicious on crackers and just as a dip for other veggies too. The miso and white truffle oil add layers of flavor that bloom in the mouth as each bite goes down.  I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.  Make sure you buy an organic miso paste or read labels very carefully as otherwise you're likely to end up with unwanted MSG, which is common in many mass produced misos, or since it is a soy product anything non organic is likely GMO.  Even most of the miso pastes at my local asian market are packed with MSG.  I had to get the cleaner version from an independent, locally focused grocery store.  The miso paste is usually salty and provided all the salt this sauce needed.  If you find yours needs a little more you could add a splash of soy sauce or a sprinkle of sea salt.

White Bean and Snap Pea Salad with Yogurt Miso Sauce

Yogurt Miso Sauce

1 quart plain goat milk yogurt or plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
4 Tbsp white miso paste (organic, MSG free)
2 large cloves garlic, minced or crushed in garlic press
2 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped
4 tsp white truffle oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

 Mix all ingredients and allow to sit for several hours in the refrigerator to blend the flavors.
White Bean and Snap Pea Salad

 6 cups fresh snap peas
1 lb dry white cannellini beans
Yogurt Miso Sauce
Optional: quality blue cheese or feta cheese for sprinkling on top

Soak and cook cannellini beans according to package directions (beans are generally an 8 hour overnight soak, rinsed, and then boiled until soft).  Drain and set aside.

 Blanch snap peas by placing in boiling water for 1 minute, then quickly drain and rinse in cool water to stop cooking.  Allow to cool.  Cut each snap pea in two sections and remove any tough tips from either end.  

 Mix beans, snap peas, and yogurt miso sauce.  Serve chilled.
If you don't mind dairy then the addition of a little blue cheese or feta was an amazing added flavor.  I ate many of my leftovers topped with it as a treat.  The tangy and pungent flavors of both these cheeses was delightful.  Feta was a little more overpowering, oddly enough.  The blue blended in more seamlessly and had a creamier texture with each bite.  Depending on the effect you want either could work.

I know my cohost Jess is going to be excited to finally see this recipe posted and hopefully you'll find it to be a palate pleasing delight as well.  It's a dish that can help you easily enjoy seasonal eating.  More peas, please! 



Thursday, August 1, 2013 in , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

St. Louis Dinner in the Garden with City in a Jar - inspired by One Part Plant "For Reals Meals"


Regular readers and Blissoma fans know that we are creating a community garden in North St. Louis City.  It's big and we're hoping to make a big impact for our community and their involvement with healthy, organic foods and herbs.

 Part of my goal this year was to start bringing more people into the garden either through volunteer time or events.  I delivered fliers around the neighborhood and hosted the first group work day in the garden in late spring.  Neighbors I'd never met before came and learned about what's happening on our plot. 

 More events were on tap, and after seeing the For Reals Meals series by Jessica Murnane on One Part Plant I decided that St. Louis definitely needed to host a copycat event.  They say imitation is sincere flattery and Jessica proved her colors when she offered 100% enthusiasm to the idea of her concept spreading to other cities.  Done! 



The season was perfect to have it outdoors in the lush June garden and feature as many locally procured and garden grown ingredients as possible.  Jessica Leitch of City in a Jar became my cohort since I am notoriously unable to focus on anything but food when planning a dinner.  If it was left up to me folks would have been eating with fingers, though the food would have been delicious.  Thank goodness I had help then with the table settings, bartending, flowers, and hosting.



 We invited some neato people in the St. Louis scene, splitting the invite list between us equally.  I reached out to local filmmaker Ken Calcaterra, city government employee and fellow foodie Vincent Haynes, and Cbabi and Reine Bayoc of the famed vegan eatery SweetArt.  Jessica invited her photographer Christopher Willingham who shot all the photos in this post, her videographer, and several other friends.


At 6 pm on the first day of summer the guests began to descend on the garden.  I had planted, weeded, tended, and put in great efforts to make sure the garden was in spiffy shape for the evening.  The garden gods smiled on me and didn't let the weeds, bugs or heat get too far ahead of me.

Jess bartended while I was holed up in the kitchen completing the meal.  Afterwards Vincent told me he'd never consider having a dinner without a co-host again, as it solves the notoriously difficult problem of how to entertain guests while cooking food.  A buddy makes it possible!






We set things up picnic style on low tables with blankets.  It was casual but a memorable dining experience.

Recipes for Dishes from Dinner in the Garden

 - Lavender themed cocktails made with lavender simple syrup and 360 Vodka (Jess declared her favorite to be the Lavender/Lemon variation on a Lavender Collins) 
- Strawberry and Pickled Beet Salad with Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
- Creamy White Bean and Sugar Snap Pea Medley
- Sweet Potato Oven Fries with Crumb Coating and Homemade Heirloom Ketchup
- Panfried Polenta with Garden Herbs and Raw Mustard Greens Pesto

and a gluten-free baklava with coconut ice-milk for dessert


 




All recipes were original concoctions and featured ingredients harvested from the garden to show off the work we've been doing to grow fantastic food.  I'll gradually be posting all the recipes over the coming weeks so everyone can enjoy these healthy and super tasty creations.  With the exception of the white bean salad and baklava all recipes were vegan, and all of them were gluten-free.

Everyone enjoyed their evening.  I was glad I completed dinner by only 30 minutes after the estimated serving time (phew!) and that everything turned out well.  I'm working on some tweaks to the desserts as both weren't as fine as I'd like for sharing with the whole world, but they tasted good that night.

By next year I hope to have a full size farm table made from donated, reclaimed wood to serve on for many future events.  Thanks to both the Jessicas for their contributions!  I highly suggest following One Part Plant on culinary adventures through Chicagoland as you're sure to find something delightful.  We were honored to replicate her concept and instigate a little happy mixing of people and plants in North St. Louis.  We've got a lot growing up here.





Thursday, September 3, 2009 in , , , , , , , ,

Whole, local harvest for your face and body


The Midwest has had a ridiculously mild summer. St. Louis is usually a sweaty, humid mess by the time June rolls around but this year we had week after week of mild, breezy weather. By late July I was really starting to think I was in the Twilight Zone. With temperatures only barely topping 80 degrees it was getting a little freaky.
Not that I'm not thankful for the break in the air conditioning bills, but the weather has effects on many things. One of those things is the growth of local crops. Because of the mild weather many crops didn't mature as fast as usual.

Summer is usually filled with fresh produce coming from all directions, but I definitely began to notice the squeeze when we began calling around for Organic Cucumbers. Our main wholesale supplier was (and still seems to be) out for a month and a half. Not that there weren't any tasty organic cukes in the bigger natural grocery stores. But perhaps there wasn't enough supply to then filter some over to the little guys.

Once the shortage continued for weeks on end I started calling around to local growers. With the fact that St. Louis has a good, solid, cold winter there are many months where we can't buy local - there just isn't anything available. Plus many of our local farms are not Certified Organic as they don't want to mess with the paperwork. They may be growing cleanly but without the certification we can't buy from them and honestly support the claims on our labels.

After a few calls I was able to locate Biver Farms, a lovely certified organic farm in Edwardsville, IL just 20 minutes from us. The first week I called in mid August there were still no slicing cucumbers available. So we waited on pins and needles.

Last week, hallelujah, the harvest is in! I picked up 100 pounds of fresh, beautiful, locally grown organic cucumbers from their booth at the Tower Grove Farmer's Market. The weather was heavenly again and the veggies were plentiful at all the booths - in fact I had trouble not walking home with bushels of other produce as well.

Now we are cleaning, peeling, and slicing our local cukes to make them into the fresh infusion for our Tone Intense Hydration Tonique and juicing them for our Natural Deodorant sprays. And here are the pics to prove it. Gorgeous, green, and great for your skin! 

Not many companies are willing to go this kind of distance to offer true botanical benefit in their products. Most companies buy preprocessed ingredients from giant suppliers who load them down with preservatives, propylene glycol, carbomer, and dimethicone. Not Blissoma. 

We prefer to put in the bit of extra work to ensure that you aren't getting anything but clean, raw, nutritious plants in our products. Sure, it makes our supply chain work a bit trickier. Sure, I stand for hours on end slicing, peeling, and straining. But our integrity is worth it, and so is your skin.So, for all you Locavores it doesn't get any better than this. Get your Blissoma crisp off the vine, cause it is!

 

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