Cape Cod Locavore

From our pals at Cape Cod Today

It’s the second week of the Orleans Farmers Market. For veggies, mostly greens and radishes, some leeks and spring onions. But it’s great to be outside, talk with the farmers and feel that real connection between the food and the earth.

Barb at Orleans Farmers Market

Picked up some young red chard, spinach, bok choy, spring onions, micro radish greens and radishes.

Haul from Farmers Market

“I’ll have the Roasted Tenderloin of Beef with Potato, Fennel, Leek and Artichoke Ragout, French Beans and Truffle Sauce.” This is what dining in the 21st century has become. There is a competition to see which chef can be the most daring, inventive, or at the very least who has the largest culinary vocabulary. I am sure that the dish described above is absolutely delicious and offers the palate a broad stroke of tantalizing flavors.

What is lost is the sustenance and pleasure one receives from simple foods, prepared in such a way as to emphasize the inherent flavor and character of few ingredients. I do not have issue with creative and inventive complex cooking, my issue is with having it every day.

Now that we have multiple channels on TV showing how to create all kinds of complex dishes from around the world, competitions to see which chefs can out cook the other, we have created a sport out of cooking (and, by default, eating). Books and websites are filled with recipes that raise the culinary bar for any would-be creative chef.

We have to ask ourselves if preparing complex meals on a daily basis is sustainable. Meals are often not shared anymore so “single cooking” has become more prevalent, even among families. Simple meals with 3-4 ingredients can be incredibly invigorating, nourishing and, naturally, simple to prepare.

I usually think about the basic building blocks of food—carbohydrates, protein, and fat—when preparing a simple meal. I like to include greens whenever I can. A typical simple dinner might be brown basmati rice lightly sauteed in toasted sesame oil with some collard greens and aduki beans or tofu. The tomato/tofu salad I wrote about a few days ago follows this as well. One of the keys to a successful simple meal, is, of course, using high-quality, fresh ingredients to start with.

For me, there is a real joy in eating food prepared in this way. Perhaps the energy is closer to the earth, perhaps it is like listening to a small group of musicians. We truly are what we eat, and eating simply brings an energy of peace and non-clutter into our usually over-stuffed lives.

Sliced tomatoes, tofu and fresh chopped basil, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Simple. Yum. Tomatoes and basil from the Orleans Farmers Market.

Naturally, some fresh mozzarella in the place of tofu would have been a treat. But the tofu made it lighter, more refreshing, and vegan.

Tomato Tofu Salad

While it is fun to cook and enjoy complex meals, I think that sustaining ourselves centers around good food that is simply prepared. It lets the goodness of the ingredients shine.

It was Plan B. For months Slow Food Cape Cod and the Cape Land and Sea Harvest festival planned a farm to table event at the new Cape Cod Organic Farm in Barnstable. If the weather was nice, we’d be out in the fields enjoying dinner under the autumn sky. In the case of inclement weather, there was Plan B, set up in the greenhouse. Mother Nature chose Plan B, absolute, no questions. In the midst of torrential downpours, high winds and streams of water leaking in here and there, a superb feast was held in the farm’s greenhouse.

Our group arrived early, as we were the entertainment for the evening (Robertchez- Cheryl Kain, Roe Osborn, Bert Jackson). We carried our gear in pouring rain across the flooded parking lot into the back of the greenhouse, where tents had been erected to give cursory protection to the chefs creating our dinner. Smoke swirled violently from the outdoor grills as it whipped about in the incessant wind. Staff with rain-drenched hair rushed between tents and their vehicles. It was amazing that anything could be cooked at all under these conditions.

While guests were arriving we played jazz. The first course was an oyster bar featuring Les Hemmila from Barnstable Seafarms, Julie Winslow from Cape Coastal Farm (Pleasant Bay) and Laura Scheel from Out of the Blue Oyster Farm, Wellfleet. Truro Vineyards provided wines paired with each course and Todd Marcus shared some of his wonderful Cape Cod Beer.

When everyone was seated we started the soup course, prepared by Joe Dunn from the Island Merchant in Hyannis. Featuring Native Corn, Tomato and Local Littleneck Stew with Cape Cod Organic Farm Fingerling Potatoes, Barnstable Seafarms Littlenecks and Portuguese Linguica.

Corn, Tomato and Littleneck Stew

The pasta course was next, by Stephen Skelton from the Glass Onion in Falmouth. He created a handmade Fettuccini using Cape Cod Organic Farm Eggs, dressed with Hubbard Squash, Sugar Dumpling Squash, Acorn Squash, Red Kuri Squash and Sugar Pumpkin, all from Cape Cod Organics. It was tossed with Truro Vineyards Unoaked Chardonnay White Wine Herb Broth. This was a deceptively simple dish that had subtle flavors, especially the in the variety of textures and flavors in the squash. Everyone agreed. More please!

Fettuccini

The fish course was prepared by Raina Stephanie, Seth Bateman and Liam Luttrell-Rowland of Terra Luna in Truro. The Fried Chatham Cod was served over five shades of Autumn (we identified chard, watermelon, and cloves of garlic) and finished with a Pink Finishing Salt.

Fried Chatham Cod

Next we moved on the chicken (at this point we were starting to wonder if we were going to make it through the whole dinner without exploding). Prepared by Peter Hyde of the Blue Moon Bistro in Dennis, the Mesquite Barbequed Misty Knoll Chicken was served with a Late Harvest Tomato BBQ sauce. The chicken on the bone was cooked perfectly, tender and moist. The sauce was more along the lines of a sophisticated smoky jazz club, rather than an out-of-the-bottle tailgate party.

Mesquite Barbecued Misty Knoll Chicken

Who knew potatoes and carrots would draw raves from our group? After tasting the Blanched Herb Coated Carrots and the herb Roasted Potatoes prepared by Jerome Watkins of Lyric in Yarmouthport, the verdict was in! The baby carrots from Cape Cod Organics were sweet and tender. The potatoes rich, moist and creamy. These seemed in a bit short supply and we were hard pressed to share.

Carrots and Potatoes

Jerome also prepared a salad of mixed greens and Pepperade, tossed with a garlic Vinaigrette with Shy Brothers Hannabell Cheese.

Salad

And finally, when it seemed there was no more room, no possibility of another course, we were treated to the creation of the savant confectioner, the Mad Hatter of the truffle, the guru genius of dessert, Chef Paul Olaf Lively. Dashing about the greenhouse in his custom made blue linen chef’s coat (with tails), Chef Paul first served a chocolate beverage that defies description. Thick with chunks of sweet vegetables, it was almost a cocoa soup. This would have sated most human needs for dessert after such an incredible meal. Paul, his status as mere-human in question, then regaled us with an architectural confection that featured a Bittersweet Chocolate Cake Tower with Black Mission Fig-Red Onion Jam, Bittersweet Chocolate Peppermint Infused Mousse, and  Strawberry-Passion Fruit Syrup. All topped with a Blood Orange Heirloom Smoked Tomato Truffle. The collision of flavors and sweetness was wonderful, intoxicating, and overwhelming. A flamboyant finale to an amazing meal.

The Chef Paul Experience

The event was attended by over 65 people, and it shows what can happen when passionate producers such and the farmers and chefs who provided tonight’s meal host a willing, open, committed group of consumers who revel in good (great) food, grown with care in our own community (clean) by farmers who receive fair compensation and recognition for their work.

Visit the web site for more information on Slow Food Cape Cod.

Getting to feel like Fall and I had a craving for some lentil soup. I make a mean lentil soup but as is my way, it is never the same way twice. I like using soups to help clean out some of those veggies in the fridge that are starting to get a bit tired. So for this project…

Started in my fav Le Creuset French Oven (pot):

• Heated some olive oil and tossed in some whole cumin seed. Let them sizzle a bit.
• Sautéed 2 onions
• Added a handful of chopped baby carrots from last week’s farmers market
• Chopped a few of Julie Winslow’s shiitake mushrooms
• Added some cooked collard greens my sister-in-law gave me (she gets veggies from a CSA in Boston and sends me overages)
• Rinsed and added a cup or two (I don’t measure, I wing it!) of green lentils
• Had half a can of organic coconut milk left over from a recipe the night before
• Added some water to cover and then some
• Simmered for a couple of hours
• At the end added about a teaspoon of sea salt and some picked (but not chopped) flat leaf parsley
• Impatiently waited for it to stand for a half hour or so and then had a bowl. Yum. And other bowl…

Dr. Kumara Sidhartha will present a talk on “Getting the Best Out of Plant Food”. He is part of the medical revolution and will share recipes, great information and, of course, healthy food will be provided. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about staying committed to taking care of ourselves and the planet.

Friday, Oct 2 from 5-7 PM

All are welcome. Donation scale for talk and dinner.

Please RSVP to 508-896-9118 or licia2@verizon.net

33 Smith Lane
Brewster, MA

A reader from NH posed this question which I did my best to answer:

My family is researching the possibility of commiting to our local economy by becoming locavores.  Currently we live in NH, my question is how healthy is this prospect for New Englanders? with 2 growing boys, fresh fruit and veggies from fall to late spring are hard to come by locally. What are our options?

I won’t comment on the health aspect of this as I am a student of this subject, and not an expert, and certainly not a nutritionist. That said, I think any approach to locavorism needs to be reasonable. I often look at it as doing what is reasonably best. Living on Cape Cod in the winter presents challenges. There is little local food grown (though I did just discover that kale will grow in winter). People who lived in these regions prior to modern times relied heavily on hunted game and dried and/or preserved foods. This isn’t practical or even palatable for most of us today.

Part of my food background includes a period of time studying macrobiotics. Now this can be a pretty extreme diet and I do not follow it these days (one look at my photo will confirm that!), but there are some principles that I still take to heart. One is to eat foods for the season. This means more salads and lighter foods in the summer, more squashes and heartier foods in the winter. My menus in winter tend to focus on more fish, squashes, potatoes, dried grains and hearty greens (like kale and collards). We do stray outside of this depending on the occasion, but this is the heart.

When sourcing food “off season” when local growers are dormant I try to do the best I can. I have an informal hierarchy of quality. Local organic is best. Then regional organic, followed by national organic (grown in the US). I almost never buy produce grown outside the US for a couple of reasons- I have no assurances of what “organic” means where it is grown, and I think food loses energy when transported long distances (hence regional is better than national).

We are fortunate here in the lower Cape area to have a great produce shop, health food store and butcher/deli with quality meats. So off-season when the farmer’s markets are closed, we can get produce and meats that are more lo cal than what is in the super market, though certainly not grown up the street. My personal mission is to buy no food from the chain supermarket. I’d check around your neighborhood and region to see what’s available. Also check to see if there are any organic/vegetarian groups in your area.

You may also wish to check out Slow Food, which is a worldwide organization that promotes clean, fair and good food. There is a NH Seacoast chapter, they may have more ideas, plus they have an active blog: http://slowfoodseacoast.blogspot.com/

If you haven’t already I suggest reading two books by Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

Hope this is helpful. Best of fortune moving forward!

OK, so what’s this about. The first post on a Cape Cod blog comes from Hawaii. Well, the truth is that this vacation is the first chance I’ve had to get this thing rolling, so even though Thanksgiving dinner was not made from Cape Cod local ingredients, there is a connection.

If you read the About page you’ll get a sense of where this whole “eat local” thing started with me. So after spending a good part of the summer and fall becoming more and more of a locavore on Cape Cod, I decided to apply some of those principles while vacationing in Hawaii.

I started by Googling “Hawaii farmers market” to see what I would get. On Kauai, there is one just about every day, and a big one on the Monday after I arrived. Great. Having been to the island many times before, I knew where it was and had a sense of where to park. I was not prepared for the turnout.

If you’ve been to the farmers market in Orleans during the summer, you know that at 8am the bell rings and there is a mad dash. On more than one occasion I have been nearly run over by determined octogenarian ladies bent on getting to the best produce first. I thought this would prepare me for the Knudsen ballpark market in Koloa. I was wrong.

I missed the opening bell (or whatever they do here). I think that was just as well as I fear I may have been crushed. Let me tell you, the word is OUT. There were perhaps a dozen or more vendors. Crowded around each were a couple of dozen locals and tourists. One had to change one’s perspective from “spirit of aloha” to “getting on New York subway”. I managed to elbow my way in to one booth and got a sense of the fare. Lots of local fruit- bananas, papaya, lychee nuts (or something similar, we called them gnips in the Virgin Islands), limes. There were local sweet potatoes, corn, herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, plus a host of things I didn’t recognize. And it was too crowded to strike up a conversation with the booth owner. I thought there was going to be a stampede when one Hawaiian lady, who was selling chilled coconut water (she was pulling the coconuts out of a cooler and lopping of the top with a machete) announced that there was only one left.

I ended up with a huge bunch of apple bananas (short very fat stubby bananas), some lychees, limes, scallions, tomatoes, lettuce, avocado (nicely labeled for the novice as to what day it would be ripe), cilantro, and a nice bouquet of Hawaiian flowers for the table.

Later that day I was speaking with a very informative local at Pohaku Ts, they sell shirts and other local crafts. They also self-publish a little guidebook for the area that is not based on advertising, but on their personal favorites. In there I found a local farm that sold meat, poultry and eggs, Medeiros Farms. I was hatching my plan for a mostly local Thanksgiving.

Since there were just two of us, a traditional bird with leftovers made no sense (we are off to Kona two days after T-Day). I did some hunting around on the Internets and found the blog of a Hawaii resident who made a local T-Day meal on Oahu. Now Oahu has many more resources than Kauai, as it is the most populous of the islands. But it gave me ideas.

I decided on beef. We don’t have beef very often. If it were just me I would probably never cook it just for myself, but my better half is a meagan by nature. Vegetables must be cooked creatively if I expect them to be eaten at all. So I ordered a couple of small filet minion from Medeiros (and they were cheap!). This completed my plan, so the menu for today is:

• Filet minion with hollandaise
• Avocados stuffed with curried lime bananas on a bed of local greens
• Local sweet potato baked in butter (the butter isn’t local, never found a local dairy)
• Local corn on the cob
• Fried bananas (yea, I had a lot of bananas)

So just about everything is sourced locally, except the butter and the curry. Eggs came from Medeiros, marinade for the beef was made from limes and macadamia nut oil, and just about everything else came from the farmers market. I start cooking in a couple of hours (the curried banana lime stuffing is already done). I’ll let you know how it comes out.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Addendum: The meal turned out great, but the potatoes were a bit dry (shoulda made poi, I guess).

Kauai sunset, after dinner…