8th week - dark days
Soup and sandwiches...a simple meal somewhat waylaid.We've been trying to use up an excess of leftovers and stored food after the holidays, and there was a request for onion soup. I had made the cream of onion soup from the Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook years ago, and remembered we liked it....was surprised to find what a simple dish it was to highlight local ingredients.
Slowly soften (almost caramelize) a lot of thinly sliced onions in butter (I used red and yellow copra onions from the market), add a few tablespoons of flour (locally grown hard wheat) and add a few cups of scalded milk (from a local dairy). The only seasoning was a little mustard powder, nutmeg, and salt/pepper. Simple and delicious.
Sandwiches were ham and farmer john's swiss, with some homemade WI cranberry mustard. In my fantasy life I was going to make fresh mayonnaise and deviled eggs to go with it, but I ran out of time....
Another mishap was that the sandwiches were supposed to be on a focaccia bread made with half of my market wheat flour, mashed market potatoes, and with home grown sundried tomatoes, onions, and our own parsley/sage inside. It was a new recipe and it took a little longer than I expected, however, and it didn't quite make it to supper time. Instead the bread used was a loaf that finished baking on time: a whiter rustic Italian loaf with some fresh rosemary from a plant brought in for the winter. The focaccia would have been a much better dark days contribution--and if it helps I did eat a slice after dinner!
A note on the ham...we have a old-style butcher shop within walking distance of our house. Their meat is not all locally sourced or grass-fed, but they are a wonderful family business that is a great resource in our neighborhood--and we want them to stick around! So the ham was from them--purchased for a family event at thanksgiving and the leftovers frozen in portions for quick meals.
omgomgOMG Sara! Your blog link just finally showed up on your comments to my site: I don't THINK I have been asleep this whole time, have I?
ReplyDeleteFAB STUFF HERE. You are definitely a bread ninja from what-all I can see!
yay! (I have always wondered who you were: you have had such interesting things to say on FGTW that I've always thought "that girl should be blogging) yay! make my day!
Thanks, you are mainly to credit for starting this. I'm just not very good at this blogging thing, but I wanted to participate in dark days so I am giving it a try.
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