Knowing how to make a quiche is big on my list of cooking skills. The recipe for quiche is a basic pie crust, filled with a savory custard of eggs, milk and cheese, and your favorite vegetables. Like pizza, quiches can have a huge variety of ingredients. This makes quiche an important go to meal item when thinking about local food because it can be made from year round staples (egg, cheese, milk, flour, and butter), and seasonal vegetables. I tend to make quiches for dinner, but they a usually served as a sunday brunch item. Quiche is usually made in a pie pan, but I made this recipe in large casserole. To lighten up a meal with quiche, I serve it with some sliced fruit, and gapes in season.

Spinach Quiche: Serves 6-8

ingredients:

For the crust:

1 3/4 cup All purpose flour
1 stick of chilled butter
1 egg
splash of water or milk

Procedure:

Cube the butter and add it to the flour in a food processor with a metal blade. Pulse a few times until the butter and flour resemble wet sand. Add the egg and a little water and pulse for a few seconds until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use.

Filling:

1 pint half and half
6 eggs
1 can of roasted peppers(or two large peppers roasted) drained and chopped
2 onions diced
3 cloves of garlic
2 bags of frozen spinach
1 1/2 cup of shape cheddar grated
1/2 cup grated parm
pepper
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Procedure

Saute the onion in a little olive oil or butter for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the spinach and cook until warm.

In a bowl combine the eggs, half and half, and cheese cheddar. Mix in the onion, garlic, spinach and the roasted red pepper. Add the smoked paprika, and pepper.

preheat oven to 350 degrees

Take out your pie dough, and place on a clean flour surface. Flattened into a rough rectangle shape, and roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. There should be enough dough to fit your casserole dish. Lay out the dough on the pan and make sure it goes up the sides. Pour the custard into the dough covered casserole. Smooth the filing to make sure the veggies are evenly dispersed. Spread he parm cheese on top in an even layer.

Place in the center rack of the oven and bake for one hour or until brown on top and bubbling.

Let cool for 15-30 before serving. Can be served at room temperature.

I’m trying to reinstate the habit of reading on the train subway, at least in the morning.  It’s that one (usually) uninterrupted moment of the day, and seeing as that I never have enough elbow room for knitting, reading becomes the most productive option – that is, over listening to mp3s with my eyes closed.  The ride home is reserved for me attempting to finish both an easy and hard sudoku and a crossword puzzle in roughly half an hour (it is possible).

Anyway, reading Manifestos on the Future of Food & Seed, edited by Vandana Shiva as inspiration for an essay for school.  It may be a small collection of essays, coupled with the mission statements-of-sorts for a new vision of sustainable agriculture, but this book is a powerful force.  It reinforces my decision to build a professional career based on the creation of sustainable, equitable spaces that support and in turn are cared for by communities intimately linked by a sense of place and stewardship.

Carlo Petrini, father of the International Slow Food Movement, from Manifestos:

“Solidarity and subsistence are the strength of the local community, and it is in this way that people can produce food… Look!  The communities are primarily a place, a place and a people: the people of a certain place and their local economy are extraordinarily compatible with a philosophy of sustainable development.”

It is necessary cast aside the stigma associated with agriculture and pull back the curtain on industrial food production.  The farmer should be a valued member of the local or regional community and each of us should know the texture, color, and warm smell of our local soil.  Certainly community supported agriculture (CSA) programs and urban gardens are a step in the right direction, but the path of divestment, from the looks of things, is difficult and without end.  Time to take that real first step.

bide (n.m.) : belly, gut (slang)

This past weekend I went to the Slow Food conference in Tours (the biggest city in the Loire River Valley, near all the châteaux).  To say the least, on a bien bouffé- just to the point where Saturday evening I was really quite mal au bide from all the cheese I was eating- but with so many free, delicious repas and a whole salon full of free, delicious, bio European specialties- how could I resist?

So just incase you don’t know, Slow Food = manger bon, propre, juste, et local; “eat well, clean, fair, et local”- it’s a movement that started in Italy in 1986, to protest the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome.  (Why is it always McDonald’s? haha).  The French chapter opened in 2003 and the New York chapter in 2000- so the Italians really were ahead of the game.  Every 4 years there is a particularly large Slow Food festival in Turin, where the siège of Slow Food International is based.

I was there with the CPP (Culture, Politique, Patrimoine – “Culture, Politics, National Heritage”) program from Paris IV (the Sorbonne), because I have a few friends in the alimentation program (who essentially study the anthropology of why and how we eat what we eat).  We were there for the convergence of three events:

(1) There was an academic colloque at the University Francois Rabelais, talking the naissance of regional food identites in France (which was essentially born out of automobile-driven tourism at the début of the XXe siècle, and the creation of new food guides like the guide rouge – the Michelin food guide – first published in 1900).

(2) A Terra Madre (Mother Earth in Italian) conference for youth interested in the Slow Food movement, so we got to meet a range interesting SlowFood characters, including Carlo Petrini, the president of Slow Food International- who is so carrément Italian and charasmatic in his over-the-top-ness that you cannot help but love him.  The most interesting thing he pointed out was that French people within the last 6 years have gone from spending 30% of their income on food to about 13% of their income…a figure that makes me understand why the dairy farmers in France are complaining about how it costs more to produce milk than it does to buy it in the supermarché.  I also got to chat over spiced vin chaud with chef Oliver Rowe, who sources his Kings Cross restaurant with 85% local produce, meat, etc. from within a 25 mile radius of downtown London (essentially the limits of the Tube map). -And that’s including spices.

(3) The Slow Food EuroGusto Salon: this is where the fun really started…and where my bide met its match.  With organic producers from Italy to Slovenia, to Norway, Morocco, Austria, Uzbekistan… – it was a gastronomic tour of the best bio that Europe and its neighboring countries have to offer.  And as far as France goes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much (or such a large variety) of cheese in my life.

So! (drumroll please) – I present to you les 5 meilleurs mets que j’ai dégusté ce weekend (the 5 best dishes I ate this weekend):

(1) Gwell : this incredible yogurt like product made with lait fermenté has a freshness and a tang that I have never tasted in any other milk product.  (No wonder its name means “mieux” en Bretonne, the local patois of Bretagne -in northwestern France)

(2) Salade de choux à l’huile de truffe blanc : This simple cabbage salade in white truffle oil was just a side dish to an entrée, but I literally could have eaten just that the whole weekend and been happy.  Absolutely indescribable.

(3) La piada romagnola : This flatbread made in Emilia Romagna was simple, warm, and honestly made me never want to see a baguette again (sorry France).  I’m not even a pain person… I have to try to make this myself.

(4) Tourteau fromager au chevre : This blackened goat-cheese “cake” was like the best cheesecake you could ever imagine.  With a texture somewhere between pound cake and ricotta cheesecake, (light and fluffy and dense and moist all at the same time- I have no clue how that’s possible) – it was the most beautiful taste of clean, lactic, cold freshness- like un verre du lait, ice-cold, first thing in the morning.  oh, la vache it was so freaking good.

(5) Vin chaud :  I have never had hot wine before, but this deep red, robust, épicé, sucré concotion was absolutely irresistible.  Even the British chef went back for seconds.  And in the chilly dusk light outside the Chateau de Chambord (known incidentally for the eccentric prince who raises 300 types of tomates on the property) – there was nothing else that could have rendered me more blissfully calm and reconnaissante.

So I guess all this wasn’t a bad way to spend Thanksgiving…at bit more gastronomic than turkey, gravy, and cranberry sauce (oh my gosh how I miss cranberry sauce!!!)- but since I managed to stuff every available coin of my stomach with delicious nourriture for 4 days instead of one, I don’t really think I can complain.

—vocabulaire—

châteaux > large palaces in the French countryside

on a bien bouffé > we ate well

mal au bide > sick to my stomach (slang)

repas > meal

salon > large room for expositions

bio > organic

siège > headquarters

alimentation > what, why, how one eats

naissance > birth

début > beginning

XXe siècle > 20th century

carrément > perfectly, as in the case of the perfect example of something

supermarché > supermarket

vin chaud > hot wine

lait fermenté > fermented milk

mieux > better

patois > dialect

entrée > appetizer

pain > bread

un verre du lait > a glass of milk

oh la vache > literally “oh the cow” – an expression means essentially “oh my gosh” but can be used randomly in any conversation to describe strong sentiments

tomates > tomatoes

reconnaissante > thankful

coin > corner

nourriture > food

Euro Gusto & Terra Madre Young Europeans
An opportunity to rethink the future of food in Europe.
France – This new international Slow Food event is being held from November 27 to 30 in Tours, in the heart of the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

At Euro Gusto you will find a host of attractions…

- The French and European market presenting hundreds of producers of high quality artisan food, selected according to Slow Food principles of good, clean and fair.
- Slow Food’s traditional Taste Workshops offering visitors an opportunity to discover and savor high class foods matched with great wines.
- The Slow Food Presidia market, featuring endangered products and traditions which are now protected and promoted by Slow Food.
- The Enoteca, with hundreds of European wines
- A learning area with special events for children to explore the taste, appearance and aroma of good, clean and fair food.

Terra Madre Young Europeans is being held simultaneously with Eurogusto. This side event will bring together young people from the Slow Food and Terra Madre network who working to construct a different model of food production and are defending the right to reclaim healthy, local and good food. There meating will focus on the need for greater awareness among farmers, more artisans who respect the need for quality and greater diversity in our fields and on our plates.

www.eurogusto.org

FoodCycles will be presenting a surprise dinner item at Terra Madre Day! What could it possibly be? If you come on Dec 10 to FoodShare you can certainly find out! Tickets are $10 at the door, kids 12 under are free or call 416.978.8849.

Get the video and full post at FoodCycles.org

Douglas Gayeton speaks about the slow life in Tuscany. Reading from his new book SLOW: LIFE IN A TUSCAN TOWN, he will discuss the Slow Food movement as he experienced it in the Italian fields, barns, butcher shops, and dinner tables where he learned how to live and eat in the Tuscan countryside.  A panel discussion on the Slow Food movement follows. Book sales by Book Bay. This is a Green Stacks event.

Location: Main Library Koret Auditorium

Address: 100 Larkin St. (at Grove)

Library Sponsored Public Program

Event Time: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Marica Di Pierri

Il regista argentino Pino Solanas racconta come un documentario sulle ferrovie diventa metafora della devastazione che il neoliberismo ha portato in Argentina. «La ultima estacion» fa parte di un progetto di sei film per raccontare l’Argentina dopo la crisi del 2001.

Si trova in questi giorni in Italia il cineasta argentino Fernando «Pino» Solanas, per presentare al Festival del Cinema di Slow Food il suo nuovo documentario «La Ultima Estaciòn», che racconta lo smantellamento della rete ferroviaria in Argentina, terminata negli anni ‘90. Il regista – militante di lungo corso e da alcuni anni impegnato politicamente in Argentina con il movimento politico da lui fondato Proyecto Sur – è stato a Roma nei giorni scorsi, dove l’abbiamo incontrato per un’intervista.
Il documentario è il quarto di una serie di lavori dedicati allo scenario argentino dopo la terribile crisi economica del 2001.
«In realtà in totale i documentari saranno sei, cinque sono già usciti mentre l’ultimo è previsto per il 2010 – dice Solanas – Prima di ‘La Ultima Estaciòn’ sono usciti i documentari ‘Diario di un saccheggio’, ‘Il grido degli ultimi’ e ‘Argentina latente’, ognuno dedicato a un diverso aspetto della situazione. L’ultimo, del 2008, si chiama invece ‘Tierra sublevata’ ed è dedicato al problema delle miniere. Subito dopo la crisi, nell’atmosfera surreale dell’Argentina che si ritrovava immersa in un incubo, ho iniziato a girare notte e giorno con la mia telecamera filmando di tutto. Ancora non sapevo cosa ne sarebbe uscito, ma sentivo la necessità di documentare, filmare, consegnare alla memoria collettiva quello che accadeva in quei mesi. Dalle centinaia di ore di girato sono venuti fuori vari filoni di riflessione che sono poi divenuti le sei tracce sulle quale ho lavorato e continuo a lavorare.

Perché questa volta parlare dei treni?
L’Argentina è un paese molto esteso, nel quale la rete ferroviaria ha giocato sin dalla sua costruzione un ruolo importante. Fino alla fine degli anni ‘50 c’erano 54 mila chilometri di ferrovie ad unire le province. A partire da quegli anni, e lungo tutti gli anni ‘60 iniziò il lento smantellamento della rete. Dapprima i chilometri di rete utilizzata si ridussero notevolmente e molti lavoratori furono licenziati, infine negli anni ’90 Carlos Menem decise da un giorno all’altro di sospendere completamente il trasporto di passeggeri e di lasciare soltanto alcuni treni merci a percorrere le lunghe distanze del paese. Attualmente oltre il 90 per cento del trasporto di persone e merci avviene su gomma, con catastrofiche conseguenze sull’ambiente, sull’efficienza dei trasporti, sulla sicurezza. Lo smantellamento della rete ferroviaria è stata un colpo durissimo per le economie regionali, ha significato un aumento sensibile della povertà e una ondata di migrazioni interne: oltre un milione di persone sono migrate dalle zone rurali alle città e circa 800 piccoli centri abitati sono stati abbandonati divenendo paesi fantasma.

Per questo dice che le ferrovie sono un esempio emblematico del modello di saccheggio applicato in Argentina?
Esatto. Dagli anni ‘90 – ma già nel decennio precedente vi erano in nuce tutti gli elementi per comprendere quello che sarebbe avvenuto – il paese è stato letteralmente svenduto ai privati e ai capitali stranieri. Telecomunicazioni, mezzi di comunicazione, trasporti, servizi di base… tutto è stato privatizzato, facendo credere alla gente che il mercato potesse garantire maggior efficienza. Una menzogna, che ha portato il paese ad impoverirsi a tal punto da arrivare senza neppure accorgersene sull’orlo del baratro, e di caderci dentro.

Da alcuni anni ha fondato un movimento politico, Proyecto Sur, che ha avuto ottimi risultati alle ultime elezioni, specialmente a Buenos Aires. Quali sono le idee di fondo, e quali i progetti in campo?
Proyecto Sur ha un progetto molto semplice, che contempla ‘cinque cause’ il cui obiettivo è ‘democratizzare la democrazia’, traghettando le attuali forme delegate verso una democrazia sociale a fortissima partecipazione popolare. Le cinque cause per le quali Proyecto Sur lavora e lotta sono l’uguaglianza e la giustizia sociale, il recupero delle risorse naturali, della sovranità e della difesa dell’ambiente, l’ampliamento e approfondimento della democrazia, la riforma della cultura e dell’educazione, la ricostruzione dei servizi pubblici e l’integrazione autonoma dell’America Latina.

Politica e cinema. Sono ambedue strumenti di emancipazione?
Credo che il cinema possa avere un ruolo importantissimo. Spesso i concetti e le denunce che possiamo espimere a parole lasciano il tempo che trovano. Vedere in immagini le stesse cose invece lascia nello spettatore una impronta ben più profonda. E’ davvero uno strumento di comunicazione, sensibilizzazione e anche di mobilitazione irrinunciabile.

I recently came across this multimedia composition by the New Yorker artist and children’s book author Maira Kahlman: And The Pursuit of Happiness. I’ve described it as the perfect anthem for my Digital Media Literacy Slow Food Movement Movement.

Ultimately, Kahlman believes a democracy would insure access to nutritious foods for all. Our democratic ideals would be reflected in our ability to appreciate where that food comes from and the degree to which we take the time to enjoy meals together. Slowly.

I knew Kahlman first as the creator of wildly colorful and uniquely lettered children’s books like “Hey Willy See the Pyramids” and “Sayonara Mrs. Kackleman.” I thought she was also the author of “How Pizza Came to Queens,” which was  published at around the time of those early Kahlman books.

Turns out I was wrong.

Dayal Kaur Khalsa, the actual author of “How Pizza Came to Queens,” created a beautiful tale that captured my adult imagination. As a kid who grew up in Queens and who ate a LOT of pizza, I was astounded by the overlooked obvious notion that some idenitifiable individual could be responsible for introducing an iconic food into our culture. It helped that the story was also beautiful and colorful.

I loved that the main character, Mrs. Pelligrini, given the chance, unrolls her prized rollling pin just before making pizza with the two children in the story. It reminded me of the display cases at the Ellis Island museum in which what immigrants brought with them is showcased. In many instances those making the long arduous journey to this country carried with them cooking utensils. Will they have samovars? How will will I find the right cast-iron pots? I cannot part with my rolling pin! I imagine the would-be immigrants saying to themselves as they choose what to bring and what to leave behind.

These cooking utensils provided the means for meeting basic survival needs, yes. But they also represented the transplanting of culture, the underpinnings of new communities, the beginning of a reshaping of the country in which they would land.

Until pizza could become so ubiquitous and readily available that a Korean-American kid from Queens would find it unimaginable that it was ever different.

Ingredienti per 6 persone:

• 6 Papaccelle napoletane dolci (presidio Slow Food)
• 400 gr di mollica di pane raffermo
• 100gr olive nere snocciolate
• 3 acciughe salate diliscate
• capperi
• 200 gr formaggio pecorino mediamente stagionato
• olio extravergine di oliva
• origano secco

Preparazione: lavare accuratamente le papaccelle napoletane dolci, svuotarle dei semi facendo attenzione a limitare il taglio sul torsolo, sciacquarle e passarne accuratamente con le mani la parte esterna con un velo d’olio extravergine di oliva. Metterle in forno caldo a 200° per circa 30 minuti. A parte preparate il ripeno tritando grossolanamente la mollica di pane raffermo, unire ad essa il pecorino grattuggiato finemente e le olive nere snocciolate e tagliate, le acciughe sminuzzate ed i capperi, rimestare sino ad ottenere un composto uniforme. 

Terminata la prima fase di cottura delle papaccelle tirarle fuori dal forno e riempirle, aiutandovi se necessario con un cucchiaio da thè, sino all’orlo con il composto che avete preparato nel frattempo; Un filo d’olio extravergine ed una manciata di origano garantirà una certa vivacità aromatica alla preparazione. Infornare nuovamente e lasciare terminare la cottura sempre a 200° per altri 30 minuti circa. Et voilà, la tradizione è servita!

Ricetta di Lilly Avallone, da provare per credere…

Well, one perfect and its fellow, not so.  I had guests on Friday and some oil left-over, so I made pooris to go with my dal makhani for supper and amazingly, some of them even survived, so I have a treat to take with my tiffin to work tomorrow.  The one on the right was first in the oil, and the temperature wasn’t quite high enough and the poori didn’t inflate properly.  When done correctly they puff up like a fugu in the oil, and when draining – here on kitchen paper and the Japan Times – they emit the most lethal hot steam out of their sides.  Amazingly the poori are crispy on the outside yet surprisingly soft, layered and moist on the inside and hardly as oily as you might imagine it would be; a marvel of Indian and Pakistani cooking.

Azi-dimineață am fost la târgul de slow food din curtea Bibliotecii Județene. Dacă am reținut bine, e la a noua ediție. Eu mai fusesem de vreo câteva ori și niciodată nu am plecat cu mâna goală, deși nu de fiecare dată mersesem țintă să mă aprovizionez. Astăzi, totuși, aveam poftă de ceva bun de pe acolo, așa că m-am dus cu ideea fixă să dau iama în produsele naturale de pe tarabe. Mai ales că nu fusesem luna trecută și cu timpul am ajuns la concluzia că „slow food” e un concept care îmi place și de care mă simt apropiat. Mai mult de atât, e un stil care vizează de la promovarea agriculturii ecologice și până la un mod de abordare a activității zilnice, un manifest pentru o viață așezată în epoca fast food.

Târgul are o locație simpatică, în curtea cochetă a Bibliotecii, care trebuie spus că rămâne lună de fiecare dată după plecarea comercianților. Publicul pare să fie deja format (cunosc persoane care merg lună de lună și cumpără câte ceva), iar marfa (nu dintre cele mai ieftine, dar na!, nu o cumperi zilnic) e suficient de variată încât să nu te plictisești căutând preț de vreo 15-20 de minute. Eu mi-am ales azi brânză de burduf de oaie, caș dulce, pâine de mălai, un Muscat Ottonel „Crama Țelna” de prin părțile Transilvaniei, un mușchiuleț împletit tras în niscaiva ierburi și mirodenii plus o bucată de plăcintă cu varză la ieșire. Mi-a mai atras atenția taraba unui domn tare vorbăreț care vindea niște palincă suficient de parfumată încât s-o simți dacă stăteai la coadă la vecinul vecinului.

Cu ocazia târgului – care, fie spus, are loc în ultimul week-end al fiecărei luni – Bistro de l’Arte organizează duminică la prânz un bufet cu produse de la târg. Intrarea costă 25 de lei, o sumă rezonabilă după părerea mea. Cum spuneam, o dată pe lună putem renunța la sandwichul halit pe fugă în pauza de masă pentru un festin relaxat fără ochi ațintiți asupra ceasului, cu feluri savurate pe-ndelete care să ne amintească de faptul că secolul vitezei s-a încheiat de vreo 10 ani.

Site-ul evenimentului (cu denumirea oficiala “Targul de produse traditionale Roadele Pamantului”.) e www.slowfoodbrasov.ro, unde gasiti imagini de la fiecare dintre cele 8 editii precedente si date de contact ale organizatorului.

Photo via Maira Kalman, "And the Pursuit of Happiness"

From Maira Kalman’s blog, And the Pursuit of Happiness, comes a thoughtful, unique, visual tribute to Thanksgiving in “Back to the Land.” An illustrator, author, and designer, Kalman takes us back to the history of America’s food culture, shows how it’s changed, and what people are doing to slow down our way-too-fast food.

Thanks to Gabby for sharing this with me!

This week was a busy, crazy week.  Thanksgiving was a wonderful day spent with my hubby, my kids and my inlaws.  I took some local freezer slaw that I put up months ago and homemade cranberry sauce that I canned last weekend along with a pumpkin cheesecake.  I plan to do my own “Dark Days” Thanksgiving but I didn’t pick my turkey up until this morning and I don’t have the time to deal with him, so that will have to wait a week or two. 

Instead, I needed a way to utilize my exciting new local ingredient! Thanksgiving morning my friend, Michelle, deliverd a 50lb. bag of freshly-milled, organic spelt flour from Organic Bean and Grain in Caro, Michigan.  I’ve been looking forward to using it ever since I learned about it and I had just the recipe in mind. 

When I was a kid, my mom used to make pasties.  Much to my mother’s chagrin I ate them doused in ketchup.  As an adult I fell in love with pasties all over again when I started making them myself.  My husband, once a chef at both The Grand Traverse Resort and Spa and North Peak Brewing Company, and I started making our own pasties years ago.  While most pasties are simple meat and vegetable pies, Hubby and I experimented with pasty recipes for a long time until we found the perfect recipe.  Pasty purists might disagree, but they’ve never tried mine!

Angela’s Homemade, Local Pasties:

For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups cold, homemade butter
3 cups organic spelt flour
1 1/2 cups organic spelt flour
1 1/2 T. yeast
1 1/4 cups milk or buttermilk (leftover from making your butter)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1/4 to 1/2 cup organic spelt flour

Cut butter into chunks and stir into the flour until coated and separated; chill.  Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and yeast.  Heat buttermilk, sugar and salt until warm (120-130°) and add to flour/yeast mixture along with the egg.  Beat on low with an electric mixer 30 seconds and then on high for 3 minutes.  Stir butter/flour mixture in with a spoon.
Sprinkle a board with a quarter cup of flour.  Turn dough out onto the floured board and knead gently about eight times.  Roll dough into a rectangle and fold into thirds, loosely wrap and put in freezer for 20 minutes.
Roll dough again, fold into thirds, turn 90° and roll again.  fold and roll two more times, wrap dough and refrigerate for four hours.
Remove dough from refrigerator and cut into quarters.  Return three quarters to the fridge.  Roll the remaining quarter until it is about 1/4″ thick.  Cut the rolled piece in half.  These pieces will be used to make two pasties.  The process will be repeated with the other quarters as necessary.  You will probably have one or two quarters left over to freeze for later.

For the filling:
1-2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 1/2 lbs. buffalo stew meat or roast cut into bite-sized chunks (tenderloin is preferable, but quite pricey)
salt, pepper, garlic
1-2 T. flour
water to cover
2 smallish carrots or 1 large one, diced
4 baby, 2 small or 1 large turnip(s), diced
1 medium potato, diced
1 small rutabaga, diced
shaved homemade cheddar

Drizzle a little olive oil into a preheated skillet.  Add onion and stir to carmelize.  Season buffalo with salt and pepper then dust with flour.  Add buffalo to skillet and saute ’til brown.  Cover with water and simmer until the meat is tender.  Add vegetables and cook until the vegetables are al dente and most of the sauce has simmered away.

Assemble pasties:
Spoon filling onto one half of dough semicircle.  Sprinkle shaved cheese onto filling and fold pastry in half.  Fold, pinch and crimp edges of pastry to seal filling inside.  Bake in a 375° oven.  Check after 15 minutes; you may need to cook them one or two extra minutes.

I served the pasties with a salad of mixed greens and carrots from Providence Farm, diced tomato and my old stand-by dressing: yogurt, minced garlic, homemade feta and cracked pepper.  Even though we didn’t really need bread with our pasties, I couldn’t help myself and tried out my new flour on homemade spelt bread.  Dinner was pretty labor intensive, but it was so good that it was worth every minute of prep time I put into it.  Plus, I have leftover croissant dough stored in the freezer now to use another day.

Buffalo Pasty, Mixed Green Salad With Tomato and Carrot, and Homemade Spelt Bread

I was pleased to open up my copy of Sojourners this month and see an interview with one of my heroes, Joel Salain, founder of Polyface Farms.  Some sweet excerpts:

Jeannie Choi: What’s the vision behind Polyface farm?

Joel Salatin: Healing—healing in all dimensions. We want to develop emotionally, environmentally, and economically enhancing agricultural prototypes throughout the world. We want to heal the relationships of the people involved with the farm and our business and our family. We want to heal the land, soil, air, water, and, ultimately, the food system.

From what disease is our current food system suffering?

Well, when is the last time a farmer went and asked for money from a banker and the banker said, “Well, that’s all well and good. I’m glad you’re going to be able to grow a corn crop. But what is that going to do to the earthworms? Or to the topsoil? Is that going to go down the Mississippi and add to the Rhode Island-sized dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that’s been created because of erosion and run-off chemicals?”

We don’t measure those kinds of things, and yet each of us intuitively understands that those immeasurable or non-quantifiable parts in a business plan are actually the most precious resources we have.

How can we revolutionize the food industry?

Healing the food system would fundamentally flip-flop the political and economic powers of our culture. Wendell Berry says that what’s wrong with us creates more gross national product than what’s right with us. It’s a fantastic observation. Right now, our culture thrives on things being sick. Dead soil brings more people to chemical companies because they need chemical fertilizers, which makes people sick. When people are sick, obviously the medical establishment thrives. If a neighborhood or community’s food system is sick, then of course you need to import food from a foreign country, which stimulates global trade. So when you start talking about healing the food system, we need a fundamental realignment of all the power and money in our culture, and that’s why there is a tremendous amount of inertia against healing the system.

So what can we do? If you want to dream out of the box for a minute, here’s an idea: If every American for one week refused to eat at a fast-food joint, it would bring concentrated animal feeding operations to their knees. What can one person do? We have a sick, evil system, and a healing system, and the question is, which one are you going to feed? Have you gone down to the farmers market or patronized local livestock farms? Or have you had candy bars and cokes? Whichever one you’ve fed is going to get bigger, and the one you’ve starved is going to get smaller.

How does your faith inform your work?

It makes me want to farm like Jesus would if he were here right now, in charge of this place. God actually loved us and provided a salvation experience for us that shapes the way we should, with the same grace and appreciation and respect, honor the creation that God made. It’s in respecting and honoring the “pig-ness” of the pig that we create our ethical and moral background for respecting and honoring the “Tony-ness” of Tony and the “Mary-ness” of Mary. And so it’s how we respect and honor the “least of these” that creates a theological and philosophical framework for how we respect and honor the creation that God made. It’s in respecting and honoring the “pig-ness” of the pig that we create our ethical and moral background for respecting and honoring the “Tony-ness” of Tony and the “Mary-ness” of Mary. And so it’s how we respect and honor the “least of these” that creates a theological and philosophical framework for how we respect and honor the greatest of these.

Our culture simply views our plants and animals as so many inanimate piles of protoplasmic structure to be manipulated however cleverly hubris can imagine to manipulate it. I would suggest that a culture that views its life in that respect will be a culture that views its citizens and the citizens of other cultures in the same manipulative and arrogant way.

For the entire interview article, go here. And for an expanded audio interview with Salatin, go here.

His books are well worth reading (Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal is illuminating and outraging), as are these other articles about Polyface Farms.

Finally, I leave you with a video of Salatin and Chipotle founder Steve Ells, a food activist superstar in his own right.

As you rest up this Thanksgiving weekend, check out this NYTimes Opinion piece, “And the Pursuit of Happiness – Back to the Land” by Maira Kalman.  It is a fun read in support of slow, organic foods and shows pictures from Alice Waters’ restaurant, Chez Panisse, Waters’ program, Edible Schoolyard, Michael Pollan, mentions Wendell Berry, and the first Edible Schoolyard in New York City:

How Alice Waters cooks her eggs!

The cooked egg on toast

I wish I could eat at Alice Waters’ house – not only for the food, but look at those divine plates!

As you read this piece, I hope it will give you a fun opportunity to think about where your food comes from, the current food system and a slower, better alternative.

During a run through Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan yesterday, I noticed a community garden.

An older man tended flowers hanging on until the first freeze. Two women – sisters? mother-daughter? – shot pictures of each other among the fading blooms.

This particular community garden is a slice of green in a sliver of a park in one of the busiest cities in the world. A city that purportedly never sleeps. An information nexus.

The tableaux represents what I wish I had been able to accomplish as a teacher and what I fear is becoming even more challenging in classrooms: providing students with opportunities to become digitally literate and engaged citizens of the 21st century – to navigate busy crowded spaces – while also elevating the importance of smelling the roses. Of knowing where to find roses to smell. Of knowing how to grow roses. Of growing roses.

My friend Allan Hoffman talks about “distracted living” – the inability to focus on enjoying the moment and understanding the critical importance of our human, social networks, as we embrace the power of our online versions.

I feel lucky in that many of the teachers I follow on twitter: Bud Hunt, Troy Hicks, Peter Kittle, and many many other colleagues also live this duality. I see pictures of them with their children at the playground or after anti-hunger road races and am reminded to force myself to become unwired, too.

In fact, I would argue that they’re successful as disseminators of information about social media because they’re willing and able to engage with a wide range of people. Because they appreciate the offline moments.

Robert D. Putnam wrote the seminal book, “Bowling Alone,” about the ways in which our current cultural state can atomize and isolate us.

The health of a community’s bowling leagues, he argued, was a good indicator of its social capital. I’m sure community gardens are also a signal of healthy social capital.

If we can incorporate bowling leagues, community gardens, front porches, with our online communities, so that both not only co-exist peacefully but share an exalted place in our lives, then I’ll know that we’ve succeeded in constructing what I call “slow-cial networks.”

Ieri a fost o zi buna: am depus proiectul cu cererea de finantare nerambursabila pentru masura 112 “Instalarea tinerilor fermieri”. Si am trecut si de primul pas: conformitatea. Mai trebui verificate eligibilitatea, in urma vizitei pe teren, si selectia.  Dupa aproape o luna de strans acte si drumuri facute intre Bucuresti, Valea Macrisului si Ialomita, cu 3 zile inainte de termenul limita, am obtinut numarul de inregistrare si fisa de conformitate.

In alta ordine de idei, se aproapie luna decembrie, cand au loc ultimele targuri de produse pana probabil in luna martie. Drept urmare, pedalez puternic la capitolul gasire/alegere targuri, dar si la pregatirea lor ( conditionare, ambalare, etichetare ).

Ceea ce poate fi confirmat deocamdata este pentru acest weekend, cand vom fi prezenti in doua targuri:

• Slow Food Brasov – Sambata si Duminica intre 10:00 si 16:00, in curtea bibliotecii judetene
• Targul Taranului Roman – Sambata si Duminica, intre 09:00 si 16:00, la The ark – Bursa Marfurilor

Evident, eu voi fi doar la unul dintre ele – la cel din Brasov, la celalat urmand sa participe tatal meu.

ERCOLANO – Saranno di nuovo i saloni affrescati della Villa Campolie­to di Ercolano a ospitare «Ville, vini e sapori». Trionfo di vini, ma anche ottima cucina e buoni prodotti, questi gli ingredienti base di una ricetta che non dimentica gli appro­fondimenti scientifici, le presentazioni di libri e i momenti di spettacolo e di intrattenimento, con un fitto programma che va da domani 27 novembre a lunedì 30.

Quaranta aziende espositrici, oltre 300 etichette di vino in degustazione, laboratori e as­saggi guidati che culmineranno le sere di domani e sabato nelle ormai tradizionali cene ambientate nelle «Sale del Gu­sto», il percorso enogastronomico che permette di assapo­rare ottimi piatti presentati con una scelta di vini eccellenti secondo accoppiamenti ideali elaborati con la consulenza dell’Accademia di Degustazione Mediterranea. Si comincia venerdì 27 con l’apertura al pubblico e percorso di degustazione dalle 10,30 alle 19,45 e dalle 20,30 alle 23,30. Alle 10,30 la cerimonia inaugurale alla presenza delle autorità. A seguire: «Quando bere, quanto bere, perché bere», incontro con i giovani e con le scuole, con la partecipazione di docenti della Facoltà di Agraria dell’Università Federico II. Alle 12,30 «Delizie dei formaggi» degustazione a cura di Gabriele di Vico Equense. Alle 16,30 nell’aula Master Forum scientifico con la partecipazione di docenti della Facoltà di Agraria dell’Università Federico II e di studiosi sul tema: «Basta la pasta? Le graminacee, la produzione regionale, la difesa, e la commercializzazione, utilizzo e gastronomia». Alle 18 nel Salone delle Feste presentazione del libro di Alessandro Borghese «L’abito non fa il cuoco», editore Rizzoli, incontro con l’autore condotto da Antonio Fiore del Corriere del Mezzogiorno. A seguire Alessandro Borghese si esibirà in una Cook Performance realizzando, dal vivo, una delle ricette contenute nel volume. Alle 19,15 nella cappella Gentilizia di Villa Campolieto Laboratorio del Gusto a cura di Slow Food. Musica dal vivo con Lorenzo Federic Jazz Trio. Sabato 28 dalle ore 11,00 «Cucinar mi è dolce»: la pasticceria lombarda e napoletana si incontrano. Alle 16.30 nel salone delle feste «InnoWine»: dialoghi su vino, territorio, marketing e turismo. Alle 17 nell’aula Master «Il bicchiere da non perdere», degustazioni e vitigni a confronto a cura della rivista Porto di Bacco. Alle 17.45 nel salone delle feste presentazione del libro di Gimmo Cuomo «Campania da bere 2010. Piccola antologia critica dei vini regionali». Alle 18,30 «Dialoghi di origine controllata» a cura di Book Factory in collaborazione con Penguin Cafè. Poi, dalle 20,30, «Le sale del gusto»; ospite della serata Radio Monte Carlo e Musica dal vivo con il duo jazz di Rosario Volpe e Elvira Ramo. Domenica 29 novembre apertura al pubblico e percorso di degustazione dalle 10,30 alle 14,30.

l’Ora Vesuviana on-line

redazione@loravesuviana.it

Just submitted my recipe for the Squidoo Thanksgiving Charity Cook Off.  However, they are not taking any new entries. I put up some pretty cool “to drool over photos” too. OH well.

I planned on entering an Apple and Celery Root Soup. Here it is.

Apple and Celery Root Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium celery root (peeled and chopped)
4 peeled and cored apples (Granny Smith and Gala mix works best)
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 small potato (peeled and chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 tsp garlic powder
3 tbs olive oil
1 quart and half low sodium vegetable broth or water
*1 tbs butter
*2 tbs turbinado sugar
* rosemary sprig
salt to taste

Heat olive oil and cook onions until clear. Stir in garlic, garlic powder, and salt, then coat potato and celery root. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add apples and stock or water.

Bring to a soft boil, add salt, cover, and cook at medium heat for about 20 minutes or until everything is soft. * Optional, now add sugar and butter. Let cool and blend in blender or emulsion blender until smooth. Garnish with rosemary sprig.

Vegetarian. that is the question. sort of.

i have been vegetarian for 19 years. part of that time i was macrobiotic. and also vegan. now i am self described as whole food, local, goat lacto-ovo veggie. and for 19 years i have felt like i thrived with this diet. but recently i have been given pause.

while i was pregnant, i came up against my hunger. My Hunger. i was a hungry, hungry hippo, hungry all the time, hungry like the wolf, hungry like oh my freaking frack do i really have to eat AGAIN, i just ate 45 minutes ago. this isn’t unusual in pregnancy, regardless of one’s diet. but i began to wonder if i was to begin eating a denser protein source, would i be able to feel full, for longer? i solved this dilemma by eating a lot more tempeh (fermented soybean cake that is deeeeelicious fried). now that i am nursing, i am still hungry. and literally tired of eating. and i’m sick of soy.

soy used to be my friend, as it is for all vegans/veggies. you got your soy milk, your soy bacon, your tofu, tempeh, miso, your soy chorizo and your soy creamer for your coffee. there is no social meat problem or craving that soy can’t solve. at a barbeque? bring along the boca burger. envious of the smell of sausage in the morning? there’s always gimme-lean, or yves veggie saug. and if you don’t want to pork out on cheese and nuts, soy is a low fat alternate.

but the thing is, soy just isn’t that good. not for one’s health, and not for the earth tilled under by soy agriculture. soy products do not fit into any definition of simple, whole foods. beans and legumes are best eaten sparingly, and when they are eaten, they need to be cooked correctly…cooked at a high enough temp to get out the toxins and anti-nutrients. soy in particular not only needs proper prep, but shouldn’t be eaten unless fermented or sprouted…otherwise the list of yuck is pretty long: phytoestrogens, protein uptake inhibiters, phytates etc. etc.. and forget the “facts”. i just don’t feel that good after eating soy. how i do feel is bloated and gassy. also, the large scale production of soy is a mono-crop nightmare, taking up valuable land, both here and on foreign soil, like brazil. (lots of research has gone into soy…look it up, i’m not listing it here). basically, for someone invested in keeping it local, small scale and organic, soy does not fit the bill. if i was trying to live off my own land, i would not be planting soy crops to make fake bacon. so how is soy, with it’s cost of resources to grow, ship and process, any more ethical and earth friendly than eating an animal i raised myself? there goes my protein source.

and here comes my dilemma. i couldn’t, wouldn’t and will not, kill and eat an animal i raised myself. i couldn’t and wouldn’t go hunting for it in “the wild” either. i also cannot pass the buck and leave the raising and killing up to someone else, no matter how humanely they do it. there are folks who can raise their own…visit ashley at twwly.com…she has struck a beautiful balance between animal husbandry (wifery?), befriending her dinner on her little farm, and then consuming her critters in a life and death completion cycle. my hat is off to her, because i just can’t do it.

it’s not an ethical or moral issue. it’s not based on ideals or philosophy. it’s based on my heart. it’s based on my perspective and my literal inability to view the meat on my plate as anything but as an individual, sentient being who’s life was cut short and who’s own free will was stolen. it’s how i cannot reconcile a deep knowing that the hamburger on my plate came from an animal who would have been my friend, and the grief that comes with that perspective. i have raised, known and loved many animals, and i have experienced all of them to have individual personalities, as unique, delightful and ornery as you or i. i suppose i also am lacking in the perspective that the sustenance of my life gives me ownership of another’s. i’m not being romantic, i know it’s a predator eat prey world. i have respect and love for life as well as death. if we were still living in balance with nature, if i was a hunter-gatherer from long ago, it would be a different story. i just cannot get past the deep sorrow that arises for me when i contemplate eating animals. it’s the same sorrow that caused me to cry over the bacon on my plate at 13, and it’s the stunning realization that stopped my tracks at age 9 when i was holding my pet chicken, smelled dinner floating through the window and made the connection. meat eating advocates, “omnivore dilemma” fans, and health gurus all have compelling arguments that could probably blow any sort of fact based justification i might try to make out of the water. but i gave up being righteous and justified a long time ago, and i have never needed facts to make a decision. i have my heart. when it comes down to it, it’s the only thing i truly trust.

so for now, i am cutting out over-processed soy, looking for a source for raw goat milk, still buying eggs from backyard sales when i can, taking my vitamins, eating a rainbow of foods, and hoping that i meet someone who butchers road kill and can supply me with venison salami. because for this softy, i think that’s the only way meat and my dinner will ever be reunited.

(pic by craig morse at culturesubculture@yahoo.com)

I post a lot of newsy things I come across on Facebook, so I thought I would try to, every so often, gather those things here on ye ol’ bloggo. I’ve done it with my kitchen hates a few posts back and have decided, in the spirit of hating Thanksgiving, to do it with food consciousness.

The first link I am depositing here is for a brilliant NYTimes.com Op-Ed by Gary Steiner.

Gary Steiner: Deeply Philosophical

The slow food movement has given way to a kill-your-own mentality as a feel good way to know your dinner, as if slaughtering the animal yourself somehow makes taking a life for your supper unproblematic. Steiner confronts this much neglected moral dilemma, which has fallen out of fashion amongst thinking eaters. His piece, Animal, Vegetable, Misserable, can be found here.

PETA serves up an impressive Thanksgiving grace in it’s current Thanksgiving ad campaign:

You may have noticed that I am still working on my sidebar links. Did you see the new blog linked under Edibles: Scott Winegard? Scott is a real life NYC veritable vegan chef and has lots of fun food stuff going on in his life.

How Very: Hubba Hubba

Jessica Claire Haney’s Washington Times Op-Ed had some Facebook friends all in a dither about the merits (or lack thereof) of processed vegetarian food touted as healthy alternatives to meaty school lunches. Sure, I get the point, but if one sees nutritious choices as a continuum of bad, good and better choices, as opposed to a dichotomy of good and bad, then I don’t see the problem with Michelle Obama’s soyburger idea. Again, check out Steiner’s piece and add ethics of eating to the discusson.

Finally, I want to clue you into two things that are not necessarily related to conscious vegetarian living/eating (wow, that sounds so hokie pokie!) but, in the way I live my life, totally related. Like, totally.

Stephen Bezruchka’s Health & Capitalism addresses not health care necessarily but rather the issue of taking car of one’s health. I especially appreciated his appraisal of the role of the stay at home parent: way important. Thanks, Stephen, for giving us SAHM’s props.

Taking that idea and Googling it, here is a link estimating the monetary value of stay at home mothers. Sure, depending on how you look at it, it can be either right wing Christian or post-feminist. Hey, whatever gets you through the day.

Lately, I have been basking in my stay at home mom-itude (yes, based on the word “servitude”), despite not having a new kitchen. Hopefully I will post soon on the sheer pleasure of my son’s recent birthday party and all the warm happy fuzzy mommy realizations the event spawned in me.

Feel free to add your vegetarian friendly news finds in the comments section below.

Whoa!  So I don’t mean to start a Mission Mission sausage fest, but I came across an ad for this and got stoked:

Union SF Presents: The Classics: Makin’ Bacon and Sausage 101!

Let us demystify the process of curing and smoking your own bacon. We will also demonstrate sausage blending, and provide some simple tricks that can transform a basic cut of pork into something to savor.

Led by Rick Abruzzo and organized by members of Slow Food, this intimate workshop will first focus on the basic bacon-making technique of flavoring, curing, and smoking your own slab of pork belly. We’ve selected a savory dry cure recipe, and Rick will lead a demo and tasting of two bacon recipes.

Yep.  It’s Sunday, December 6th from 1-4 p.m. at $25/person.  2125 Bryant Street between 19th and 20th.  More info here.

Good idea or bad idea?:  Make this a swine flu benefit with the tagline “Cure swine flu by curing swine.”

Hoping to spend tomorrow discussing sustainable & safe food systems? Well, you have *two* intriguing events to choose from December 1st 2009.

The first promises some controversy. Our friends at Slow Food SF are organizing a panel discussion featuring panelists from both sides of the food movement aisle.

The Slow Food SF Eat In, September 2009

Starting at 6:45pm at the S.F. Public Library’s Koret Auditorium (100 Larkin & Grove) the panel will feature Douglas Gayeton (author of the book Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town),  Sarah Rich, Sam Mogannam from Bi-Rite, farmer Casey Havre, chef Michelle Fuerst, and Slow Food SF’s very own  Dava Guthmiller. After this spirited debate Slow Food will be hosting a book signing/exception/reception at 18 Reasons in the Mission. (Via Mary Ladd & SFoodie)

Looking to learn more about Permaculture in the Mission tomorrow? Look no further! December 1st 7-9pm Movie Night @ The Red Poppy Art House (2698 Folsom Street @ 23rd Street) will be showing the Geoff Lawton  film, Introduction to Permaculture Design (What I’m sure will be)  a spirited Q & A will follow the screening with Kevin Bayuk and David Cody answering your questions.  Given David Stockhausen’s recent and very positive experience with Permaculture this event is too tempting for us to pass up. Hope to see you there!