Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary and Thyme

I've noticed that my cooking interests rotate with the seasons. During summertime when there are so many wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables available, I find my recipes highlighting simplicity. Just like with my last recipe on Fresh Tomato and Red Onion Salad, today's recipe doesn't involve a lot of complex dressings or spices. Instead, it relies on the starchiness of the potato combined with the slight tartness from the apple cider vinegar to create a flavor that, when joined with salad and burger, rounds out a meal perfectly.


Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme leaves
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 quart new red potatoes, washed and cut into chunks
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and cut in half
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
•  In separate bowl, combine oil, vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and pepper.
• In 13 x 9 baking dish, combine potatoes, shallot, garlic, and onion.
• Pour oil mixture over potato mixture. Stir well.
• Bake at 450 degrees, uncovered, for about 45 minutes. Stir at least once while baking.

Changing the Way You Eat

eggs from a local farm

If you're reading a food blog, you probably have some interest in the quality of your food. On the surface, this might mean that you want to make meals that taste good. You might also consider what is nutritious for you and your family. 

Does it go deeper than that? For quite some time, I have been learning more about the food industry and how it works. I am not going to gross out anyone but I will say it was very enlightening to learn about the way animals and crops are treated to get the "best" product. 

As I mentioned in my entry on food goals for 2010, one of my goals is to find local sources for more of my food. Since reading books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver) and Eating Animals (Jonathan Safran Foer) and seeing documentaries like Food, Inc., I have been working toward becoming more of a locavore - that is, eating more locally made and locally produced foods. My list below is based on my location ( Delaware / Chenango counties, southern tier of New York state)

Some changes in my food purchases:

• eating more locally raised meats, (through farmers' markets and Chenango Bounty's website). If not locally raised, then organic, hormone-free and antibiotic-free. (My new favorite at the grocery store is Meyer's angus beef.)

• our yogurt at home is now Chobani greek yogurt (produced in Norwich, NY without the use of rBST-treated milk) 

• anytime we need sour cream, we buy Friendship brand, to the delight of Dan the Man (produced in Friendship, NY, near his hometown, about three hours from us)

• our eggs now come from a local family farm (Guilford, NY) 

• I still make my own jams - 2010 jams are blackberry and concord grape. This year both fruits were grown locally. (I picked the blackberries myself!)

As winter sets in, it can be more difficult to find local fresh produce in New York. I hope to provide more recipes using winter produce, like potatoes, winter squashes, carrots, and apples.

Have you made any changes in your food habits, whether toward becoming more of a locavore, trying to eat more meals made at home, or purchasing less junk food?

Wild Mushroom Soup

I've photographed a moon crater!

Not really, but I did win the mushroom lottery.

This week, I was gifted with delicious wild edible mushrooms. The most interesting one was the giant puffball. It was the size of a volleyball, and from reports I've received, that is a "normal" size puffball.

What do you do with an enormous puffball and approximately one-and-a-half quarts of beautiful wild, flavorful mushrooms? Make soup!

I developed this recipe to work with mushrooms from the grocery store if you don't have a mushroom fairy-godmother like I do. For the puffball, you'll want white, starchy mushrooms like button mushrooms, although you'll probably need to trim the stems. For wild mushrooms I suggested porcini mushrooms but any tan mushrooms will work, even baby bellas.

By using the mushroom puree to thicken, this recipe stays pretty healthy, but more importantly has a prominent but not overbearing mushroom flavor. The fresher the mushrooms, the better this soup will taste. And by fresher, I mean as close to home as possible. Regardless of the source of your mushrooms, be sure to wash them well before cooking.

Ingredients (serves 4)

for a vegetarian recipe, be sure to use vegetable stock instead of beef stock.

for a vegan recipe, use vegetable stock and replace the butter with olive oil.

for a gluten-free recipe, use gluten free stock.

• 6 Tbsp butter (divided use)
• 1/2 medium immature giant puffball, chopped, or 2 packages white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 lb or so wild mushrooms, sliced, or porcini mushrooms, sliced
• 5 cups beef or veggie stock (divided use)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried thyme (use less if ground thyme)

Directions

1. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in a large stockpot over medium heat.
2. Add puffball / white mushrooms and stir.
3. When mushrooms are browned, add 1 cup of the stock.
4. Simmer over low heat 5-10 minutes.
5. Pour into a separate mixing bowl and puree using an immersion blender. The mixture will be somewhat thick.
6. Return saucepan to medium heat. Melt remaining 3 Tbsp butter.
7. Add onion, garlic, and thyme. Saute until onion is translucent.
8. Add wild / porcini mushrooms. Stir well and cook for about 5 minutes.
9. Add remaining 4 cups of stock and cook until liquid begins to bubble, about 4-5 minutes.
10. Turn heat to low. Stir mushroom puree into soup and cook for another minute.
11. Serve with bread or rolls.

Comments

If you make this recipe vegan (replacing the butter with olive oil), you may need to season with salt and pepper. However, with beef stock it was perfectly seasoned for us.

The soup was light but fairly filling. We had it for lunch with some rolls and everyone seemed satiated. I was pleased that because of the lack of cream or milk, the mushroom flavor stood out. After all, why eat mushroom soup that doesn't taste like mushrooms?

2010 Food Goals

(image by danielflower)

Food Goal #1 - Make Julia Child's Beef Bourgignon

I'm sure many of you have seen the movie Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. One of the challenges Julie faces while attempting to make every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is beef bourgignon. I'm not a big fan of beef but it seems like a fun challenge, especially after watching what happened in the movie!

Food Goal #2 - Make Borscht

It's one of those things I've always wanted to try, and as of this week I can check this off my list! I'm not a fan of cold soups so I served it hot, and actually really enjoyed it. Recipe to come soon.

Food Goal #3 - Find an easy and delicious smoothie recipe

I love the idea of smoothies - fresh fruit, yogurt, maybe some honey or ice - but have yet to find a recipe that feels easy. Part of it is that I'd like to use ingredients I normally keep around. No weird protein powders for me. Perhaps I just haven't looked hard enough?

Food Goal #4 - Make my own yogurt

My friend Jen posted a recipe for homemade yogurt back in January and I have been waiting for some time to really try it out. I think August will be that time!

Food Goal #5 - Find local sources for beef, chicken, eggs, and cheese

After seeing the documentary Food, Inc. and reading books like Animal, Vegetable Miracle (by Barbara Kingsolver) and Eating Animals (by Jonathan Safran Foer), I've been a lot more conscious about many of the ingredients I purchase for meals. Barbara Kingsolver's book was her record of their family's challenge to eat only locally produced foods for one year. For them, this included growing their own vegetables, raising their own turkeys, learning to make their own fresh mozzarella, or purchasing foods from sources within 100 miles. 

Beef and chicken - still working on these. Any suggestions?

Eggs - currently purchasing them from the local Mennonite farm stand on Route 7 in Bainbridge, NY. Not sure where I'll go when they close for the winter season.

Cheese - I believe the Masonville General Store in Masonville, NY carries cheeses made local to the area. I know for sure they carry locally made yogurt and fresh local vegetables. I will report back on my findings.

A great general source for locating products local to you is Local Harvest. Additionally, Kingsolver's site provides recipes for eating produce at its freshest - when they are in season.

What are some of your food goals or interests this year?