Mushroom Agnolotti with Corn and Tomato Pan Sauce

 In the midst of summer what do you have a lot of?  We have a lot of sweet corn and tomatoes so this recipe is fabulous if you have an excess of both!

Mushroom Agnolotti with Corn and Tomato Pan Sauce
(adapted from Better Homes and Garden - Sept. 2012 issue)

2 ears sweet corn on the cob (came from Gorman Heritage Farm)
18 oz. wild mushroom agnolotti or ravioli (we amazingly had one package of this in our freezer but we added another package of three cheese tortellini)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced (Egyptian walking onion from our garden)
2 cloves of garlic minced (from our garden)
2-3 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped (orange paste, ponderosa beefsteak, and Opalka paste from our garden)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp chives, chopped (from our garden)

1. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Shave corn off the ears with a serrated knife and reserve. Add the cobs (to release corn starches and add richness. Les was also making a salsa verde sauce so he boil some tomatillos in the water before I put the past in. You definitely don't need to do this!) and agnolotti to water. Boil for about 6 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for pan sauce, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook until fragrant, about two minutes. 
3. Add corn kernels and garlic to skillet; cook until bright and crisp and tender, 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and toss until they begin to release some juices, about 2 minutes more.
4. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup liquid. discard cobs. Add pasta back to the pot with the reserved cooking water, corn mixture, and butter. Gently toss over low heat to melt butter. (The original recipe put arugula in at this time which would be very tasty but arugula isn't in season right now - way too hot for that). Sprinkle in chopped chives and serve. 

Makes about 4 servings

WINE & COFFEE TASTING - INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OPEN HOUSE

Sunday September 30th: 1-3pm

Indulge your senses with an afternoon of wine and coffee tasting and good discussion. We will be featuring wines and coffees that hold true to Slow Food's values of "good, clean, and fair." Coffee will be provided by Deeper Roots Coffee, desserts provided by Servatii's Pastry Shop and light hors d'oeuvres will also be served to cleanse the palate.

During the afternoon you will hear from Slow Food Board Members with Remo Bellucci about the Slow Food Movement and his experience at the past three Terra Madres


. I will also present on my upcoming trip as one of this region's US delegates to the International Congress and Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto in Italy in October. I will not only be representing the Farm and Slow Food Cincinnati, but our entire region and country and I want to hear from you about what you think the international food community should know about Cincinnati. I hope to see you there!

Suggested Donation: $10 (all proceeds will go to fund my trip to represent Gorman Heritage Farm, Slow Food Cincinnati, and this region at the International Congress)

For more information about my trip and how to get involved please visit: http://gormanfarm.org/slow-food-movement.html

Great discussions on food brought up at Whole Foods Mason

I was given the great opportunity to talk to some great customers and employees of the Mason Whole Foods during their Wine Tasting event this past weekend about Slow Food and my trip to the International Congress. I was able to engage in some great discussions with people who are interested in Slow Food's values and our local food system.

At the wine-tasting, I was asking the question "What would you like to convey to the international food community about our local food system?"  Some of the discussions that happened through this question were:

• The need to "Support more farmers. If they can sustain themselves we can have constant produce." What would it look like for a career as a farmer be as highly regarded as a doctor or lawyer?
• Permaculture principles (below description is taken from wikipedia)
• Permaculture is a branch of ecological design and ecological engineering which develops sustainable human settlements and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.[1][2]
• The core tenets of permaculture are:[3][4]
• Take Care of the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish. 
• Take Care of the People: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence. 
• Share the Surplus: Healthy natural systems use outputs from each element to nourish others. We humans can do the same. By governing our own needs, we can set resources aside to further the above principles.
• Eating factory farmed meat uses up too much energy and natural resources. Should this be allowed? Is there another way to feed the world?

I'm interested in hearing from more people during my journey, and I welcome anyone who is reading this to give me your insights. Thanks to everyone who I met this weekend and please keep in touch. 

Local Food Action Team Presentation

Thank you Green Umbrella Local Food Action Team for letting me present at your meeting today. It was great meeting everyone and seeing some familiar faces. It sounds like everyone is doing some really great things, and I look forward to hearing from you all. I was given the opportunity to  present about Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto and the International Congress that I was selected to be one of the US delegates for.

I asked attendees at the meeting the question, "What would you like to convey to the international food community about Cincinnati's food system?"
Here were some of the answers:

• "Cincinnati has many opportunities for "growth" and expansion in local foods; several corporations are on-board with the movement. " - Jenny Even
• "The need to educate children, specifically in urban areas about the importance of growing and eating healthy food. (Gabriel's Place)" - Donna Odom Lapasky
• "Environmental sustainability in food production - ie Edible forestry and the inclusion of the arts in food production" - Melody Wolf

These are all great topics!  Please share any other topics, stories, traditions that you'd like to share.

Tomato Time!

I'm so so excited that it is tomato time finally!  I just hate that squirrels like our tomatoes as much as we do.  Any suggestions on how to keep them from eating our tomatoes? My favorite summertime salad is definitely the Caprese Salad. Easy easy recipe!

Caprese Salad



Ingredients:
Tomato
Basil leaves
Mozzarella
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt

Slice up some basil (fresh from our garden), tomato (it was unfortunately half eaten by a squirrel. It probably should have stayed on the vine another day, but I didn't want more of it to be eaten), and fresh mozzarella (from Jungle Jim's - made in house). Then just sprinkle a little sea salt, olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar on top. Viola!  You have the best summer easy snack!

Whole Wheat Bread - one more hour of house work for Les!

 I also got the urge to bake some bread. Nothing better than fresh bed with cheese, tomatoes and basil. Yum!  This is a whole wheat bread - No Knead from Jim Lahey.  I recommend his book so much especially if you are busy and don't have time to knead. You just have to let it rise for about 18 hours.

 

Carrots and so much Red Russian Kale I don't know what to do with it!

We also have carrots ready and so so much kale. If you would like some kale please let me know and I'll be sure to pass it on!

Garden - June, 2012

Garden -  July 15, 2012 - I can't believe how much it has grown

Sunflowers are coming quick

Tomatoes - trying something new. Let's see how this method works.

Latte Tastiness from the Les-meister

Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto and the Slow Food International Congress

I'm incredibly excited to be selected as one of the 200 US delegates to go to the International Congress and Terra Madre this year!  Whoo hoo! While I'm there I will be using this blog as a way for people in the US to see what I'm learning and experiencing. I will also be posting what people would like for me let the International food community to know about Cincinnati, it might be suggestions on how to fix the food system, food policy, traditions, stories, dreams, etc. So please let me know what you would like for me to relay about our food culture.

Here's a video that gives you a taste of what this conference is all about:

Thanks Slow Food for giving me this opportunity and all of those to helped and continue to help me get there!

To read posts specifically for Terra Madre bring your cursor to the right hand side of this webpage. It'll have a Categories section. Select Terra Madre and you will be able to see all of the posts pertaining to Terra Madre.

Weekend Cooking - Sole with Rhubarb sauce, Puffy pancakes with a port blueberry sauce, and grilled pork chops with homemade BBQ

This was one great weekend for cooking at the Stoneham residence. Our wonderful friend Laura Robinson of Dandelion sadly for us just moved to Boston. We will miss her tremendously! She was so sweet to allow Les and I raid her refrigerator and fridge the day before she left so she wouldn't have to throw out her condiments and frozen items.  Wow, it sure is a treat raiding a chef's kitchen! We came home with bags, and coolers, and bags of great items like: port, marsala, sherry, miso, anchovies, tomato paste, frozen basil, homemade cranberry sauce, truffle oil, nasturtium capers, bread, and the list goes on and on. Thank you, thank you Laura.

With all this great food and sadness with our friend leaving, Les and I got inspired to do some serious cooking. Les started the weekend hickory smoking some of Gorman Heritage Farm's pork spare ribs on a cast iron filled will carrots from GHF and potatoes and marinated with Laura's homemade BBQ sauce. I don't have her BBQ sauce recipe, but I'll try to get it. (that pictured to the left.)

Then, the next morning I made puffy pancakes with a port blueberry sauce, and freshly made whipped cream made with Snowville Creamery's Heavy Cream.

Port Blueberry Sauce
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen blueberries (found in the freezer at GHF)
1/4 c Port wine (from Laura)
1/2 juice from a lemon
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one lemon (I didn't do this but after I tasted it I think this would have been a good addition)

Directions:

1. Heat saucepan on medium heat. Toss in blueberries, sugar and port wine.
2. Simmer for about 2 minutes.
3. Gradually add in cornstarch until evenly combined
4. Heat for another 2 minutes.
5. Take off heat and add in lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Puff Pancakes 
(from Best of Quick Cooking which I got from my grandma-in-law)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Place butter in a pie pan and place in a 425 degree oven for 4-5 minutes or until melted. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk eggs and milk. In another small bowl, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon; whisk in egg mixture until smooth. Pour into prepared pie plate. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until sides are crisp and golden brown. (I did this type of recipe again and I used a frying pan instead that has rounded sides. It worked a lot better). It'll puff really high on the edges so make sure you don't have it too close to the top of the oven. It'll fall quickly once you take it out of the oven. The next two photos are from another attempt of this at my parents house later. The filling this time was peaches and a cinnamon simple syrup with  berries adorning it. 

Then the next day for lunch we made...

Grilled sole with Rhubarb Fish Sauce 
(I got the idea for this recipe from Jason Neumann (experiential educator at Cincinnati Nature Center - I highly recommend this place!) who did a class on Rhubarb at GHF. I couldn't remember his recipe but tried to recreate it.)

1 lb of fresh sole (bought at Luken's at Findlay Market)
3 tbsp flour
pinch salt and pepper

1 1/2 cup chopped rhubarb (from Gorman Heritage Farm)
2 tbsp honey (from Gorman Heritage Farm)
3 tbsp red raspberry vinegar (next time I'd try apple cider vinegar instead. It was a little too berry)
1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
3/4 cup water
2 tsp flour

Directions:
Mix together the flour, salt and pepper and lightly flour the sole. Heat cast iron on grill with a little oil (something that can get hot like safflower oil). Place sole in the cast iron pan. Once it starts to get slightly golden flip. Don't cook too long or it'll dry out.

Meanwhile make the rhubarb sauce. Place the vinegar, ginger, water, and honey in a small sauce pan on medium heat. Gradually add the flour to the liquid to thicken the sauce. Stir to combined. Once it is about to boil toss in chopped rhubarb. Let the rhubarb cook for about 3-5  minutes or until it's tender. smash some of the rhubarb but leave some chunks too. Then put in the lemon juice and serve over the fish. I put all of this on top of a bed of Isreali couscous. Yum yum. (I'd recommend for looks putting it on maybe a tri-color couscous because all of the colors kind of ran together. I mean remember the sense of sight determines a lot about how you taste something.)