Local Science

Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers


I came to know and admire Farmer Vicki because of the outreach she does at Hatch Elementary School in Oak Park. I've also been a big buyer of her stuff at the Oak Park and Green City Farmer's markets because she has some of the fairest prices around. Still, I would not be such a proponent of Farmer Vicki if her produce did not taste good. It does. So, I was a bit surprised to see this is her weekly CSA e-mail:

This year we have begun a new fertility program through AgriEnergy. I have wanted to try this program that is based on scientific data, but never felt we could afford it previously. They begin with a soil sample from all fields. Following analysis they mix specific fertilizers to meet the specific soil requirements. This is a dry formula. Then we have two different liquid mixes that we can run through the irrigation. One is beneficial microrganisms to build soil health and vitality and the other is a fertilizer based in fish emulsion, kelp, guano, and chicken manure. All their products are organic and Omri approved. So, my request is to add your input to my observations on weather our crops this summer are improved as a result. I have always used an organic mix, but never with such specifics. It has always just been a generic blend.

I guess part of me sez don't mess with success. I also applaud her inovation and desire to be the best. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Vital Question

Hi! I'll be travelling through Chicago this summer on Amtrak. I'd love to be able to hop off the train and hit a farmers' market or a restaurant serving local foods. Can you recommend things near the Amtrak station? We won't have a car with us.

Cincinnati locavore Valereee posted this in a comment, but it was in a post from over a week ago, so I'm not sure who will see it. It's a good question, so I made a new post.

Valereee, you will find that the train station is within walking distance of Chicago's downtown ("the Loop") as well as very convenient to public transportation to get you where you need. The key thing would be the day of the week you hit town (and to some extent, how long you have).

There are farmer's markets in the Loop several times a week. I'm assuming that the schedule will be the same as in the past, Tuesday's there will be a market at Federal Plaza (Dearborn and Jackson). Thursday's there will be a market at Daley Plaza (Dearborn and Randolph). There's been in the past, a market at the 311 S. Wacker building; that would be five minutes from the train station, but I am not sure if this market will exist, nor its date. You should be able to find the list of Chicago farmers markets all over the 'net soon (soon, not quite yet).

If it's Wednesday or Saturday, you may want to consider, if you have the time, the Green City Market. It leans more organic than some of the other markets, although some of the vendors at Green City can also be found at the downtown markets. I'm not an expert on the Chicago bus system but I believe there's a bus that goes from Union Station to where Green City Market is located (south edge of Lincoln Park). You can also take the Clark Street bus from the Loop.

In the Loop, there's a Chef, Dean Zanella, that focuses a lot on local food--and word in the street is that his restaurant, 312 Chicago, will be even more local driven starting this Spring. Not quite cheap, but not a fortune either.

If you are looking for a different version of Chicago local food, you may want to consider one of the most local of foods (as in Chicago's about the only place you can find it), and that's the Italian beef--see this link for details. About a mile west of Union Station is Al's Italian Beef. It's about the priciest beef meal, but it's considered one of the top two or three of its genre in the world. I should note that Al's has a distinct (and different from other IBs) that a small but vocal group is not keen for. A lot closer to Union Station is a place I like a lot, but is also a place that shares the distinction of being one of the few places to get turned down for an LTHForum Great Neighborhood Restaurant award, that would be J&C Bombacigno's. TheirItalian beef is more conventional, but the spicing is actually closer to Al's than most IBs. Both Al's and J&C have great versions of fried potatoes.

Finally, if you want something even fancier, there's Blackbird, a small walk from the train station (619 W. Randolph). It's one of Chicago's best restaurants, and there's a strong, but not exclusive focus on local foods. The cooking here is stellar. If it's crowded, you can eat at the bar.

Wait, one more thing. In the Loop, there's a cheese store, Pastoral (53 W. Lake), it's at the opposite end of downtown from the train station. They do not have a very local focus for their stuff, but there will still be a few good Wisconsin cheeses you might not now.
Have fun!

Latest in Vie

Menu Posted a Couple of Days Ago

A brief thrill of excitment hit me as I was looking at the new Vie menu the other day. Frog legs, the menu included frog legs. Did Chef Virant use my idea of watercress coulis for frog legs? Sadly no. Menu still looks good. I look forward to trying the rabbit.

A Box Full of Radishes

Inventory Update

We received the second box of our Spring CSA last Thursday. It came with radishes, a lot of radishes. Two bunches, about fifteen radishes each, with blooming radish greens to use too. It's nice to taste something different. The latest inventory report follows.

(previous update)

Cranberries - Not saved for naught. Plan on making cranberry mostarda for Passover's bollito misto.

Celery - Some

Herbs - Did not do a good job of using up all the basil we had, so had to toss a lot. Still holding strong in the fridge are rosemary, thyme, cilantro, mint, and oregano. The new CSA box included a bag of rosemary. (Unrelated rosemary comment: On Top Chef last week the judges complained about rosemary in the beef carpaccio. Call me crazy, but I always thought beef and rosemary was a pretty classic combo.)

Winter squash - Still have some.

Keeper onions - As I noted last week, we added to our inventory with some local onions found at Andy's in Albany Park. It's vital to keep on top of onion stock as new bulb onions (as compared to green onions/scallions) are still several months away. We also got one red onion in our CSA box.

Garlic - Garlic remains fine, and we should last until the new garlic arrives.

Cabbage - Red head remains.

Sunchokes - "I peeked in on the sunchokes last week, about 25% were going/gone. As I say, tired but eatable"--what I said last week.

Carrots - Another three or so large from the CSA box to add to existing stock.

Parsnips - Remains

Potatoes - In anticipation of Passover kugels, we added some Wisconsin russets. Vicki's last CSA box contained about ten reds. Others left in the Bungalow include fingerlings, purple and pinks.

Apples - On one hand, finally got to some of those hangers-on for pie; on the other hand, added from Andy's supply of Michigan apples (Macintoshes, Red Delicious, etc.)

Lettuce - CSA box included bag of baby lettuces.

Microgreens/Sprouts - Finished one box of microgreens, have one bag.

Burdock root - 1 lb - No change

Arugula - One bag left, holding up quite well.

Beets - A good amount of beets.

Kale - Used last week's kale as a polenta topper; this week's CSA came with two more bunches.

Escarole - CSA box included a head escarole that went into Friday night's soup, so not really part of current inventory.

Radishes - And radishes.

Local Pantry
Cheeses, yogurt, eggs, noodles, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, granola, grains, milk

Local As I Wanna Be

Document It

A while back, my wife made an apple pancake for weekend brunch. Should I take a picture I asked. "Document it" she said. Here's the apple pancake and a few other local meals, giving you all a good idea how we survived the Chicago winter eating local food.












This is a your standard nice piece of fish (Great Lakes whitefish) from Robert's on Devon stuffed with local (frozen) greens and breadcrumbs, roasted on a splayed keeper onion.

Assorted stored roots, boiled (served with corned beef, horseradish sauce)

Local eggs, boiled 8 minutes, greenhouse arugula, green goddess dressing made from first of season, wild watercress.

Eat Local Shabbos

The Versitility of Ground Meat

Buy 1/2 cow and you get a lot of ground meat. At least there's a lot to do with ground meat. When the weather seemed Spring, early in the week, I thought I'd mix the ground beef with some local onions (minced), local garlic (minced) some local herbs and some non-local spices, toss it on the grill and call it kefta. By Thursday, we were thinking spaghetti and meatballs. Friday morning, the weather seemed grillable again.

As I noted earlier today, I cannot just have food. I need food in the proper combination. What goes with kefta does not go with spaghetti and meatballs. Because the morning sun did not fully convince us of kefta, we went shopping for antipasto fixin's. At Caputo's Cheese Market, we did not really buy, and the rain that came seemed not enough to stop the grill.

Indecision brings new ideas. Sheppard's pie my wife suggested. A new way to use the ground beef. By the time the kidz came home from school, we had not figured it out. We surveyed. I mean one of the reasons spaghetti and meatballs was not moving full speed ahead was that I thought the kidz did not like. The survey results came in, and the meatballs, to my surprise/dismay, came in third, ahead of the kefta. Of course, to my real dismay, the write-in, Wingstop, came in first in the survey of kidz choice for Friday Night Dinner.

In second, they picked the devil they did not know, Sheppard's pie.

Hat Hammond would be proud of the recipe my wife dug up, from Staffmeals, one of her favorite cookbooks; ketchup being the secret ingredient to the ground beef. It did add a touch of sweetness that married well with the frozen peas, frozen corn (all local) sauteed in plenty of local butter and finished with a good splash of local cream.

Before the Sheppard's pie, I made soup from local escarole, a prosciutto end from Caputo's and the rind of some Roth Kase Grand Cru Surchoix Gruyere and a semi-soffritto of local onions, local carrots. Sheppard's pie seemed to demand a cheese plate and we sampled four great local cheeses: (from strongest down) , Hook's Blue Paradise, Hook's 10 year old cheddar, a new wedge of the same Roth Kase used in the soup and Zingerman Creamery's Manchester. We had to drink local. The kidz had Filbert's root beer. Mom and Dad finally found the L. Mawby Michigan champagnes we've been searching (Marion Street Cheese). We had Sex (hahhaha), a fitting Sheppard's pie kinda wine. We digested our food in front of recorded NBC Thursday night comedies, then ate pie.

What's Local Marion Street Cheese Market

Local Coincidence

The meals in the Bungalow, local as they may be, are a constant jigsaw or maybe Rubik's cube. One move, one meal, one dish, leads to another dish, another ingredient. We build from our inventory but embellish constantly. If we make this, it needs that. Take Friday. Pie was planned. Originally, my wife thought maple--I asked her "maple what", and she sez, "just maple"; just maple, think pecan pie without the pecans. She had made maple the week before and was interested in trying it again as last week's was a bit too sweet (who woulda thought). Then, going through some recipes, she finds a maple-apple. Sounds great, we've been carrying these pie apples for months. But here's the thing. Just maple gets garnished with whipped cream (with a hint of maple in the cream). We have cream. Maple-apple needs ice cream. And not just any ice cream. After our visit to Cassie's Green Grocer, we are spoiled to any other ice cream. It must be Trader's Point Creamery Vanilla. It has the further advantage that, when slightly melted from the warm pie, it will make a custard sauce like we dining at Hogwarts.

Friday morning, my wife calls Trader's Point Creamery in Indiana. "Where do you sell your ice cream." I mean nothing against Cassie, but her store's just a bit too far this day. Trader's Point cannot answer. They promise to e-mail.

Friday afternoon, I make the challah run. One bakery in Oak Park bakes challahs for Friday's, Prairie Bread Kitchen. PBK is not the worst bread in Oak Park, but that's one of these tall midget contest kinda things. What I like best about PBK, much more than the challah, is the Marion Street Cheese Market next door. When I make the challah run, I invariably stop at Marion, sometimes just for a taste, but usually something, some pricey cheese for the week.

No e-mail had arrived from Trader's Point by Friday afternoon (in fact as of now, no e-mail yet). I would have to get a non-local, not quite as good ice cream, probably Hagen-Daz. I noticed that Marion Street Cheese had newly displayed (to me), Trader's Point Creamery cottage cheese and fromage blanc (highly worthwhile products). How 'bout ice cream? I asked. It turned out they did. In back. In a freezer. Mostly stocked away for the staff.

The pie came out very fine. As expected, the ice cream complemented even finer.

What's Local Andy's Fruit Ranch

Local Expectations

My wife loves to tell the story about our first trip to the Oak Park Farmer's Market, back in 2000; first market of the year. Just about all flowers. Not even good donuts. Almost lost us as customers on that day. Luckily, we stuck it out. Now, we go to Ann Arbor, 10 degrees below zero, find one bag of lettuce (practically) and are overjoyed. Finding just a bit of local makes us happy.

We did not have much expectations when we went into Andy's today. I had agreed to take my wife to Albany Park for falafal on the condition that we could buy some house made merguez sausage from Sahar Meat to saddle up along side tomorrow's planned kefta. So, in the neighborhood, we ran into Andy's mostly to get a few pieces of non-local fruit. Which we got, a few oranges and tangerines, but we also got some needed local. It made us very happy.

We are not lacking in onions, but neither are we filled up either. If my wife is to make her Jamie Oliver onion gratin next week for Passover, we need lotsa onions (don't tell anyone there's dairy in the casserole). Andy's had three pound bags of, abet small, Michigan onions for $3. They also had 1o lb bags of Wisconsin russet potatoes for less than $2 and 3 lb bags of Michigan apples in multiple varieties (Empire, Cortland, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious) for $1.69 each. Finally, there were Macintoshes without a sign a label. Because they did not have a sticker and were wonderfully imperfect, I'm betting these are Michigan too--betting enough that I bought a few pounds. I was happy to find some local, especially some things we need.

The finds at Andy's also spoke to something else that's been on my mind. When I had my talk local lunch the other day, we talked a lot about the cost of local food. I'm not denying that local food can cost more than conventional food, that there is a premium so to speak, a premium at least on any "fancy food", but it is also true that if you buy what is in season, including local, you will often find produce at its cheapest. Yes, yes (yes!), most people are not going to want to eat as many apples, potatoes and onions as my family did over the winter. Maybe, however, a bit more onion gratin and a few less stalks of Mexican asparagus in the shopping cart? There are ways to save money and eat local. We got local and we did not spend much.

Anyways, let me end by giving another shout out to Sahar. It is right up there, near the top, of my non-local meat stores. There are certain parts of the lamb, that if, if I ever had the need to try, I would want to buy them from Sahar. In the meantime, I'm happy with their sausage, their incredible prices on lamb, or their cut to order veal shoulder.

Andy's Fruit Ranch
4733 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL
773.583.2322

Sahar Meat
4829 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL
773.583.6098

Who's Got Ramps?

A Good Produce Is Hard to Find

I'm generally down with Top Chef (although the Chicago part seems rather missing from Top Chef Chicago). My main bugaboo, especially with the show this year, is the quality of ingredients. As much as I'm a Whole Foods shopper, call me crazy if I think Top Chefs should be shopping there. Do ingredients matter to the Top Chefs? Even when the chefs went to Green City Market, their subsequent creations did not play to the quality of the ingredients. Is this a trend? A sign?

I do think that for the most part, home cooks, let's not call us chefs, have the edge when it comes to ingredients. We can subscribe to CSAs. We can hit the markets. How many Top Chefs are getting access, right now, to crops like I'm getting weekly from Farmer Vicki. But, but, but... but, but, but; there's one thing right now that they have, and I covet. Ramps.

First there was Hat Hammond making us ramp-envious. Now, we got Janet Olvera in yesterday's Sun Times (h/t)

In case you were wondering, the Spence Farm ramps don't make it to farmers markets -- only to select Chicago restaurants and a few grocers in Fairbury, including Dave's Supermarket, to which the farm supplies seasonal produce. After all, keeping it local is a mission for the Travis family.

Of course, there's no farmer's markets right now for Spence Farms to market. Last year, Whole Foods was carrying, for several weeks, ramps from Harmony Valley Farm, but as far as I can tell, they have not shown yet. I'm guessing some ramps will be at the Dane County Farmer's Market when they go outdoors next weekend. Otherwise, for now, it's advantage top chefs.

Do You Want Local Food

Rebecca Gray, in today's Tribune (quite the publicist you have Ms. Gray):

I once read an article that had the rather gloomy title, "Is Cooking at Home a Thing of the Past?" The author cited convincing research from the Food Marketing Institute in Washington, D.C., which reported that with each generation meal-preparation time is being cut in half, that our grandparents spent two hours, including picking their vegetables and killing the chicken, on the evening meal. Our parents spent an hour, we spend half an hour, and our children spend 15 minutes on dinner prep—or sometimes less, depending on how much time speed-dialing for pizza delivery takes. What the author concluded from this was that declining minutes in the kitchen was a sign of an anti-cooking trend. We want to eat; we just want someone else to prepare the food.

Baloney, I say to the anti-cooking thing. Cooking is as basic and central to our being as the fire we use to accomplish it. And if we've really lost interest in cooking, then what's all that foodie stuff—a gadget for every kitchen task, the lessons in Tuscany, the explosive proliferation of food magazines and TV shows—helping us do in our kitchens? I don't deny that we're looking for quicker fixes for dinner—quick is part of the culture now. But beyond that we're searching for novel cooking prerogatives, innovative methods for building good meals—and meals that taste great. For better or for worse in America we no longer eat only because we are hungry.

But there is a solution for fast and good that also gives us a chance to cook the meal. Somewhere between reconstituted mashed potato flakes and Julia Child's pommes souffles is a simple, delicious and very flavorful plate of mashed potatoes—I'd use Wood Prairie Farm's Rose Golds to get there.

Of course I agree with Ms. Gray's basic sentiment (although I bet there are potatoes as good as from Maine around here). Still, this bit dovetails into a big eat local issue. Yesterday, someone bought me lunch so I could talk local (how's that for a treat). She wanted to hear problems with eating local. To me, more than cost, more than availability, more than anything, the problem is time.

Because I work at home and my wife does not work, we have the luxury of working with our local ingredients. The forty-five minutes it took to boil beets to prepare them for a dish; the hour to make good polenta; the surprising amount of work (and time) to prepare a dish as simple as mushrooms with pasta (brush the mushrooms clean, slice, mince garlic, 10 minutes in the pan, turn, another 1o, add the garlic, cook a few more minutes, add some herbs, some butter, some cream, all this while water has come to a boil for the pasta). Now think of this, do you want to eat just mushrooms and pasta for dinner. Some salad? That CSA lettuce does not come triple washed.

As I lamented yesterday, my companion brought up some solutions. Make your local food ahead. She says she makes a few weeks worth of food every few Sundays. Or, make like Rachel Ray, prep your food when you first get it. In other words, some investment in time can allow for much needed time later. Rebecca Gray points out that great ingredients demand less work. My family has found eating pleasure in our local potatoes plainly boiled, baked or roasted. Dinner time does not have to be a hassle.

OK, some hassle. I want you to eat local, so I am not gonna pull any punches. Local takes time.

Local As I Wanna Be

Polenta 2 Ways, 3 Ways

One of my favorite eat local finds has been the water driven Bonneyville Mill in Elkhart County, Indiana. We are still working our way through bags of stone-ground corn meal. And of course to foodies like you and me, stone ground corn meal has a sexier name, polenta. We were saying at dinner the other night, that's a bit odd, with all the corn around these parts, that polenta, however you wanna call it, is not more a part of the local cuisine. For now.

Monday, my wife made some of our local cornmeal into polenta. The key to good polenta, we have learned, is to follow Alice Waters directions. Cook the stuff a long time, an hour. The corn gets so fluffy you could sleep on it. Monday the polenta made a nice bed for the leftover beef carbonade my wife had made over the weekend (chuck roast from our cow, local onions, Leine's Big Butt Doppelbock). The rest of the polenta went on a sheet pan for the next day.

Next day, my wife cut well shaped triangles of polenta. She offered the polenta with three toppings: leftover Wisconsin cultivated mushrooms (sauteed); Farmer Vicki's kale (boiled, dressed with olive oil and a splash of Dane County chili vinegar), and the horribly non-local but awfully delicious burrata we picked up the other day at Freddy's in Cicero.

Rick Bayless Drinks Local Milk

Shake Your Milk Thang

Last night I watched the first episode of a new season of Mexico: One Plate at a Time. Rick did a Mexican take on Spanish food. He needed milk for the flan. I could easily tell from the bottle and a brief glance at the label, that Rick uses the same milk as my family, Farmer's All Natural Creamery. Still, Rick or his daughter Lannie, I forgot who, was adding the milk, did not shake. When you use this milk, do shake as the milk is not homoginized. On the other hand, maybe what happened to Rick is what's happened to me before, all the cream went out in the first (lucky) pour.

Eat Local Fruit

Michigan Blueberries

This little excerpt from American Artisanal: Finding the Country's Best Real Food, from Cheese to Chocolate by Rebecca Gray on e-Gullet will get ya hankering for fruit still a few months away.

A Moment of Triumph

Inventory Update

It's been a bit since I've updated the inventory list. Plus, we got our first Spring CSA box last week, and I have a picture I can post too. Still, I needed to get my Winter recap post up over at the Eat Local Challenge blog.

The latest inventory includes a shopping spree at Robin's last Winter Market and the arrival of our first box from Farmer Vicki as well as a trip to Madison a few weeks ago.

The previous inventory report; from there you can follow the embedded links to all the inventory reports/updates. In addition, you can click the tag for storage to the right.

One very apparent thing, from the reports, is that we never came close to running out of food this winter. Even when it seemed like onions would be our sole vegetable, we seemed to run across stocks of indoor lettuces and such. It gave needed variety to the diet. The family also took very much this winter to mushrooms. We ate a dish from cultivated Wisconsin mushrooms about once a week. Eating local this winter was doable first by the discovery of our attic and the ever staying natural refrigeration. We stocked away enough food, and it stayed stocked away until needed. It was further doable, in a great way, by the supplies provided by Robin and her winter markets, Cassie and her Green Grocer and Irv and Shelly and their Fresh Picks. As I wrote today on the Eat Local Challenge Blog. I am here to tell you it is possible to go all Winter eating local in the Chicago area.

The current inventory/recent changes to the inventory:

Cranberries - They wait for...?

Celery - My plans to preserve the celery, like so many of many preservation ideas, has fallen by the way side. We've been using, a few stalks at a time.

Herbs - rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro, mint, oregano - We purchased everything AquaRanch was selling a few weeks ago.

Winter squash - Our pace right now is: toss one about every two weeks; that still leaves about five. Like cranberries, the problem is, who wants squash now?

Keeper onions - We got got three or four in our CSA box, but have already used them; these stocks are getting pretty low.

Sweet potatoes - Blink and its gone. I thought the remaining sweet potatoes would last until Passover, but low and behold some mold found them. All gone.

Garlic - We are very good here.

Cabbage - A head of red cabbage remains from the winter, tired but eatable.

Sunchokes - I peeked in on the sunchokes last week, about 25% were going/gone. As I say, tired but eatable.

Carrots - The time of carrot restraint has past. We have stocks as well as new supplies from Vicki. The newest, wide "over-wintered" (i.e., stored in the ground) went into one of the trio of Bistro salads I made the other night.

Parsnips -Hanging in there.

Potatoes - OK, plus some reds from Vicki last week.

Apples - All Winter long, Robin's been talking about the apples being stored away by Hillside Orchards. They finally came out at her last market. We got some but have ate them already. We are still working through a big bag of Michigan red delicious from Costco.

Lettuce - Long on lettuce. It took so long to finish the mondo head from Vicki that we tossed before it was over. We picked up the last bags available at Madison; then got a few more from AquaRanch, and we got a head of butter lettuce in our CSA.

Microgreens/Sprouts - At Madison, my daughter took an over generous sample from one bag. After buying that, we had about four bags of sprouts/micro-greens in the bungalow. They go in the kidz lunch a lot.

Mushrooms - We picked up mushrooms both in Madison and at Robin's last market. Most of them have been eaten.

Celery root - I finally used the celery root, with remoulade as part of the Bistro salad trio.

Burdock root - 1 lb - No change, but I'm not quite sure where it is.

Wild watercress - Some, maybe.

Arugula - See lettuce, we keep on getting.

Beets - Local beets from Whole Foods (they swear!) as well as some from Vicki last week. The last of the Bistro salads.

Kale - From the CSA box.

Local Pantry
Cheeses, yogurt, eggs, noodles, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, granola, grains, milk, cream

Gardening, Farming and Foraging Chat

New Sub-Forum Added

The folks at LTHForum have added a new area to their site, focusing on growing food. Read about the launch here.

First of Many

Time Out Chicago 2008 Eat Out Award to Green Grocery Chicago

The envelope please:

Best Localvore Leader
Green Grocer Chicago
Unless you live in some fairy-tale neighborhood whose local market brims year-round with local produce, freshly butchered, grass-fed meat and still-warm bread, you have to expend a lot of effort to be a localvore in Chicago. That is, until Cassie Green and Gary Stephens decided to jam as many local products as they could get their hands on into their five-month-old Green Grocer Chicago. They pack a lot into their small store: Papa Lena’s veggie chips, Temptations soy ice cream, Mu Tofu tofu and tempeh, Terry’s Toffee, Metropolis Coffee, Bennison’s breads…all made right here in Chicago and all finally under one roof. 1402 W Grand Ave, 312-624-9508.

Congragulations!

In other Green Grocer news, Cassie e-mailed me this weekend on some of her ever expanding inventory of local stuff:

Fresh lettuces and greens from Windy City Harvest (greenhouse at 28th and Western) [this is a new one for me, very intriguing and exciting]
Tilapia, lettuces and herbs from Aquaranch (IL)
Mu Tofu and Tempeh (Roger’s park)
Rishi Tea (Organic tea, fair trade offices in Milwaukee but tea is clearly not grown locally)
Grass fed, pasture raised beef (steaks and ground beef) from James Family Farm (Sherman, IL)
Grains and flours from Ted’s Grains (IL)

Stop by to try the new products. And give her and her husband to be, Gary Stephens, congragulations.

Eat Old Cheese

Hook's 10 Year Old Cheddar

Sometimes I'm in bliss eating a local cheese that's less than a week old, find some Fantome Farm goat cheese at the Dane County Market. Other times, like today, I get my cheese bliss from the aged. And I mean old, Hook's ten (plus) year old cheddar, which I had for lunch today.

You can read about the Hook's and their aging process here. The Hooks say.

Some people say they don't like aged cheese," Julie says. "They think it's bitter. But chances are they haven't had an aged cheese that's done well.

Well, maybe it's not bitter, but 10 year cheddar is not starter cheese. It does not taste like cheese you may know. For one thing, it is crunchy. Do you expect your cheese to crunch. Hook's 10 year cheddar is not the only cheese to crunch. Most often from calcium lactate, the crunch, or crystals, can be found in other aged cheeses, including English cheddars and older Parmesans. The tiny crystals in Hook's aged cheeses add an unexpected pleasure. The other thing though, that's maybe not as unexpected. That is the funks of aged cheese. OK, it's not bitter, but it aint smooth. Maybe a bit sour, whiffs of ammonia, the taste of aged cheddar is not one of decay or stink like a mold ripened cheese, but it is far from nuanced. It helps to balance a cheese like this against something, some keeper apples, the maligned red delicious add the necessary off-setting sweetness as I had with my local ploughman's lunch.

The Hook's are usually at the Dane County Farmer's Market in Madison, so you can learn about their operations and buy many of their cheeses; they make excellent blue cheeses too. I've heard that some Chicago area Binny's carry Hook's cheeses, but I have not seen them. Keep an eye out. It's a local cheese worth finding.

What's In Season Now - Ramps!

Guest Blogger David the Hat Hammond Blogs the Rampfest

About the first thing to arrive in the ground around these parts are ramps, and man about town, David Hammond happened to be there as they sprouted. He contributed a report to WBEZ's 848 on the annual Rampfest at Spence Farm, and he also agreed to write a post for the blog.

Rummaging for Ramps

Ramps are funny vegetables. They’re the first tender premonitions of springtime, delicate, yet resistant to being torn from the still cool earth. As Marty Travis of Spence Farm explained, “You have to get under them,” with a shovel or spade, and work them up gently, or they break and you’re left with a fistful of greens.

Travis is one of the coolest guys I’ve met in a long time. Supplier to Frontera/Topolobampo, Vie and many other higher-end Chicagoland restaurants, Marty is an unassuming man who speaks with simplicity and gentleness that reflects the rolling land of a farm that’s been in his family since 1830.

Every year for the past few, Travis has worked with Terra Brockman of the Land Connection to host a ramp dig, which is now a major attraction among chefs who come to get their hands dirty ripping up ramps and reconnecting with the source of the food they serve their patrons.

After a few hours of ramping, there’s a farm lunch that’s about as wonderful as one could imagine. Some of the area’s most adventurous chefs bring in favorite dishes in an unspoken, gentlemanly competition to shine in a room of some of the brightest culinary minds. From Frontera, there was incredibly tender and subtly piquant roast pork with fresh tortillas; from Vie, full flavored pate, brilliantly crisp housemade pickles and goat butter pound cake. There were many other miraculous contributions, but perhaps the most memorable sensation was the feeling that these chefs were coming together to make great food but also to rediscover and reconnect with the source of that food.

Like I said, ramps are funny. Fresh from the ground, they are almost unpleasantly strong tasting, a kind of vibrant hybrid of garlic and onion, aggressively green. Cut into, say, an egg salad and kept a day, they lose their anger at being ripped out of the earth so young, and gain a subtle tang that makes them a special and pleasing, though transient, taste of spring.

Some pix from the dig, courtesy of the Hat:

Paul and Janet Virant, ramping

Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago, along with a coterie of other ramp-loving chefs, cleaning the leek-like shoots

Goat butter pound cake

Goat, done birria-style

What's in Season - April

On Your Own

The newest list of seasonal and available local products is below. April's a mixed blessing for the local food lover. It is the first month that this list grew (compare to last month or the month before). On the other hand, the outlets for local food are somewhat sparse right now. Aside from the Geneva local superstore, there's no area farmers markets (that I know of) this month.

Last week, Cassie had Wisconsin potatoes; Irv and Shelly have the ever present sprouts and a few other items, but outlets for local foods are not ample this month. Lucky folks like me have Spring CSA subscriptions. Farmer Vicki made the first delivery of her Spring CSA yesterday. Farmer Vicki, at least, however, has limited space for her Spring CSA. The best place for locavores* this month, for sure, will be a few hours northwest of Chicago, the Dane County Farmers Market in Madison, Wisconsin, which goes outdoors on April 19. I'll be there.

Meat

Beef, lamb, chicken, pork

Fish

farm raised tilapia and trout
trout
smelt
commercial Great Lakes fish - pike, whitefish, perch, white bass, carp

Field crops

asparagus
rhubarb

Greenhouse crops

beets
turnips
spinach
chard and other greens
lettuces
arugula
herbs
sprouts and microgreens
mushrooms
burdock
radish

Storage crops

onions
potatoes
carrots (also greenhouse)
parsnips
apples

Wild and weeds

ramps
morels
watercress
dandelion

*I was using the spelling "localvore" in respect for Drake's site, but since he's gone long dormat (hopefully he'll be up again) I'm going to the more common spelling.

Use Local Dairy

Yogurt, Ice Cream

Earlier this week, I blogged about all the good local milk that goes into local cheese. There's other ways to use our local milk.

I find three ways to make great yogurt. First, drain the stuff. You get a thick spread with a nice mouth feel. Second, use whole milk. In fact, the great yogurt in Greektown is the result of both of these steps. The third way is to use pasture-fed, organic, high quality local milk. There's at least three places around us doing that. There's Sugar River Dairy from Wisconsin, Whispering Meadows Farm from Illinois and Traders Point Creamery from Indiana. The first two are somewhat hard to find around Chicago markets (now), but my sources tell me Sugar River yogurt might be showing up at some markets, including farmers markets soon. Traders Point Creamery yogurt can be found at most Whole Foods and also Fox & Obel.

While Traders Point Creamery yogurt can be found at a lot of places, I do not know many places to find their ice cream. Luckily, it's just another good excuse to visit Cassie's Green Grocer. Her freezer case contains the vanilla ice cream from Traders Creamery, and when I say ice cream, I mean cream. This is an ideal variation on the theme of cream, one in its more solid state.

Discover how our local farmers are putting their milk to good use.

Farmer Blog

Harmony Valley

The farmers at Harmony Valley Farm in Wisconsin have taken to the blogisphere. Some interesting stuff on how organic, year-round farming works. Harmony Valley products, especially their ramps, can sometimes be found in Chicago area Whole Foods. You can also stop by their stand at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

What's Local, Whole Foods, Maxwell Street

20 Varieties of Sprouts, Some Mushrooms

Whole Foods and the rest of the businesses with their complex near Roosevelt and Canal succeeded in moving the Sunday Maxwell Street Market a block away from them. So, if their plan was to keep the Maxwell Street shoppers out, they failed. I stopped in at that Whole Foods last Sunday. With my Maxwell Street bags.

I espied the chalkboard. 26 local items this day it said. My family and I played local hide and seek. Could we really find all 26. It took a few minutes to find something, beets from Wisconsin. We looked more. We asked. We looked. 25 to go? We asked. Someone put the number up, but no one could account for it. We checked for apples. This winter we did once find Michigan apples at a Whole Foods. We looked for potatoes. We have seen organic potatoes from Igl Farm of Wisconsin before. Onions. No. Finally, we made it to the sprouts. Most of the sprouts came from area greenhouses. Maybe if we counted. Then, again, there was at least one pack of Wisconsin mushrooms. 26?

Eat Local Cheese

Continued

Here's Jeanne Carpenter's, of Cheese Underground, list of favorite Wisconsin cheeses. Not a bad list, not a bad list...

Eat Local Cheese

NYTimes Highlights Wisconsin Cheesemakers

I bought the NYTimes yesterday, partly for the Spring Travel Mag; then I noticed that part gone when I sat down to read. I found it soaked, this morning, in the backyard. I must have dropped it. Luckily, Daisy on the Mouthfuls site tipped me off to the great spread on Wisconsin cheesemakers in the magazine that I could find online.

The piece gets it pretty darn right. Profiling (briefly) the really famous, Uplands; the almost as famous, Carr Valley; the one known to those in the know, Bleu Mont Dairy; the one who's almost just as known for not being able to have her cheese, Fantome Farm, and the one who's working hard to be known, Hidden Springs Creamery.

It's certainly a who's who of my favorite cheeses, with Bleu Mont's bandaged cheddar and Hidden Springs spreadable sheep milk being about the two best cheeses in the bungalow right now--being given some competition from some Hook's 10 year old cheddar I found hidden in our basement fridge.

Vie, The Menu

No Pork Sausage for You

A day after our Vie meal, Chef Paul Virant created (and posted) a new menu. Unfortunately, it appears you won't be able to try his house made pork sausage. My guess is that he ran out. My further guess is that this menu will soon be ramp-redundant. If you want your baby artichokes, now's the time to hit Vie.

Yesterday's Must Read

3 New Farmer's Markets

Actually this was Saturday's Must Read but I'm just getting 'round to catching up on a lot of things to blog. My friend Monica Eng reports on the good news of three more farmers markets opening, and the especially good news that they will be serving "food deserts", areas generally lacking in fresh food options. The good news is somewhat tapped down by the reporting

Farmers markets sponsored by the city have strict rules that allow only those who grow the food to sell it and prohibit the sale of prepared foods. The new hybrid market in Bronzeville will allow cooked foods, antiques vendors, music, re-sold produce and other items prohibited at regular markets.

As I have become friends with Robin, who did such a fantastic job organizing this season's winter markets (which ended with a bang yesterday), I've learned that there's some tension between antiques, crafts and the what-not and farmers at markets. Essentially farmers don't seem to like the artsy types. Me, I not much for that kinda stuff either, although my wife can spend as much money as I do on food as on home-made earrings, but I think any thing that drives traffic to a farmers market is a good thing. I, obviously, have problems with the re-sold produce.

The rationale for the third party produce is that the neighborhood has such limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables in the first place."We wanted the opportunity to have some resale of things like citrus and bananas," [market manager] Johnson-Gabriel said.

Me, I think that's a recipe for trouble, a vicious circle in the making. Too many market visitors will get tempted by the lower prices of the re-sold produce. Local farmers will give up on the market. I mean during the farmers market season do people need access to citrus and bananas? I would be more sympathetic to that argument if the market ran year round. I also know I'm being overly cynical and perhaps a bit, no it's really not racist because I see all kinds of people sticking to the least local food at the Oak Park Farmer's Market, but what, classist, I do not know, but I certainly don't trust people to make the local choice (always) on their own. I'm an eat local Trotskyite.

Today's Must Read

Factory Farmed

From today's CTrib, a California dairyman looks to bring Cali-style milk farming to the Midwest. The words that give away the game:

Much of the feed for the cows he milks on his dad's land comes from the Midwest, and a good portion of the milk is shipped back to the Midwest. Bos said it doesn't take a business genius to figure out how to increase profits. "It's more expensive getting feed to California and hauling the milk back," he said. "It's more efficient to put the cows where the feed is."

Me, I prefer my milk from cow's that eat grass, on pasture.

Factory dairymen taut the economic benefits they bring, transforming a sagging part of the agricultural economy in Illinois.

He estimated the farm would create 40 jobs, paying about $10 per hour.

Wow

Now, I'm not against business and commerce and success. Farmers should be able to make money and best use their land (cf what's wrong with the current farm subsidies), but there's also good farming and bad farming. This is bad farming. Bad animal husbandry (I know I've toured a factory milk operation in Arizona), bad tasting milk (cows need grass), tremendous enviromental risks (google Smithfield). For forty jobs. Instead, try producing good milk that can demand a premium at the market, local milk.

Eat local encapsulates a lot of things for my family and me. We use local milk--I would say drink, but 95% of our milk purchases goes into morning coffee, so it's more like a condiment than a beverage--as part of our greater commitment to local. Local means supporting good farmers. Local means supporting sustainable agriculture. Local means finding products that tastes great. You can have it all. Here in the Chicago area we can chose from such dairy as Crystal Ball Farms or Oak Grove Organics or the most accessible, Farmer's All Natural Creamery from Kalona, Iowa. (Compare your milk here.) Be willing to pay the small premium for this kind of milk. It's worth it.

The Vie-Dict

Spring Break at Vie

Aside from a quick jaunt to Madison, we did not leave town for spring break. With Trillinesque logic (as well as an about to be expired gift certificate) we planned on visiting Vie this week. The chance to arbitrate between Ulterior Epicure's stellar meal and Abby from Gaper's Block trying experience gave me all the more reason. Fodder, fodder, fodder.

And, as long time devotees of my eating can suss, the winner is Mr. Epicure. This is no offense to Ms. Abby. Bad meals happen to everyone. Our dinner last night met all our expectations for Vie in terms of deliciousness, innovation, ingredient quality, and generosity. I'm just always left ready to return. Is there no better endorsement than that?

My daughters are somewhat reluctant gourmets. In fact they pushed for delivery pizza as this week's splurge. At Vie, both had a hard time deciding what to get, especially the younger who decided she was in a no-split kinda mood that day. Still, after tense ordering, Sophia sez with confidence, "I always look forward to the amuse. I may not like it, but I'll always try the amuse." What a proud papa moment.

The amuse is always good at Vie. Most of the time I am left with the desire to have about five more helpings. Yesterday's meal started with a fritter dotted with green garlic, served over a green garlic mayo. We all picked up a bit of curry of what not. It reminded us of the pakoras we had last weekend on Devon (Da'bomb).

First course for me was a touch choice between house made salami/mortadella and house-made pork sausage. I'm glad I went with the later. One of the best dishes I've had a Vie. For one thing, I loved the sausage with its high funk and lose texture. For another, the garnish really made this dish. It was marinated chick peas (a Virant signature ingredient) with bright preserved oranges (think more than one meaning of bright) and a smoked paprika vinaigrette. Seems like a lot, no? It was a prime example of a Vie dish; the combination of fresh and tang, use of the wood stoked grill, and mostly, the hand, the special taste that only small batch sausage can have. Moreover, not many think molecular gastronomy when they think Vie, but here was a dish were all of those disparate elements (plus some miner's lettuce) combined into something wholly greater than their parts. A true recipe.

My wife's scallop appetizer converted older daughter to a scallop lover; really garlic heavy salad enticed the other daughter (what's that you are always saying about wine friend food Paul?). The New Zealand venison combo I shared with my wife offended my localvore convictions but not my palate. Chef Virant is incapable of sending our an inferior plate of gnocchi. It was nearly all good. Just so you know I am not a shill, I will point out a few things.

My younger daughter, who loves a good amuse, also has a thing for just trying stuff on a menu. Why something appeals to her, I'm not quite sure. In Madison, shrimp de jonge called out to her; last night it was the baked farinata or chick pea cake. She and pretty much the whole table, found it bland (especially compared with so much else on the table). The fresh bacon, crisped on the surface and gooey within, between my wife and I, tasted good, fatty-good, but was, perhaps, just a bit too much fat even for me. Maybe. The house made giardinara helped cut the richness. Fatty or not, we still made empty plate.

We really made empty plate from that venison. The venison itself, seared leg and smoked loin, was somewhat inoffensive, not bad, but on its own probably boring. Chef Virant takes this blank space and fills it with good things: wild rice and preserved pecans and preserved blueberries. He cooks down the juices of the preserved items and makes a sauce with browned butter. With tiny, earthy fried sunchoke chips atop, this was a pick your plate up and lick clean kinda dish. Maybe next time, sticky customer that I am, I might just have them skip the venison and have the wild rice as a side dish.

The rest of the meal proceeded with an array of tasty food. Mid entree, for the table, house manager Jenny brought over a special of ramp cake with fried egg. As much as this is spring and local and new ramps, what made the dish was the perfectly cooked, awash in butter, farm egg. Pre-dessert, the kidz got sorbe made with mandarins, my wife and I got sorbets made from white wine. Like the egg, the fritter, Vie's techniques are so good. The sorbets had that fruitier than fruit quality to them. The kidz shared a creme brule, my wife and I the gooey butter cake, and we split an order of donuts with caramel corn. Our last bites were tiny whipped up nutty meringues. We were stuffed.

Today's Must Rant

Phil Vettel, Tired of Root Vegetables

In today's CTrib, Phil Vettel writes:

No more rutabaga! I mean it. Don't get me wrong; I love root vegetables. Roast me up some beets, throw a turnip in the blender and I'm a happy guy. But it's the end of March. Subterranean vegetables have been a part of Chicago menus since, oh, October. And if I have one more hunk of braised meat on a bed of parsnip puree, I'm going to do something drastic. Like move to Mexico. I've given a name to my pain: Culinary Cabin Fever. It's caused by a prolonged, harsh winter and an endless stream of seasonal menus.

I hear your Phil. I mean who's suffered more from the endless winter then me and my apple loving daughters. I should be like, "right on bro", right? I'm not. Sure, I get the bit of humor in his rant, but frankly, the bit did not ring true. I think the end of the article gives it away.

Chicago's most respected produce wholesaler offers this advice to Phil:

"We're starting to get strawberries," he says, "and the answer is, look to Florida. I love the Florida berry. And in the early spring, first off, we'll see the fiddlehead ferns, morels from the woods, ramps. Green garlic—it's wonderful for soup. Then the rhubarb, and finally the California delta asparagus."

Does that sound like a man living off his root cellar?

Drink Local Water

It Tastes Better

For a while, we were uncorking a bottle of Polish fizzy water per dinner. It had a bright, clean taste. More importantly, it was only about a dollar per bottle (16 ounces). As Mom and I drank wine or beer, the inclusion of bottled water helped make the meals seem a bit more complete for the kidz.* For reasons stated in this Monica Eng piece, we've mostly ditched the bottled water.

*I'm a big believer in the little things make the meal matter; theory of eating at home. We hardly ever allow ourselves to eat dinner in front of the TV; at least two courses helps, a bowl of olives or a plate of pickles increases the pleasure of the meal. Good bread makes a difference and fresh bread is nearly always good bread. Things like that. You cannot eat local unless you make the dining experience worthwhile. And the ephemera of dining makes a difference.

Locally Grown With Love and Dedication

Look Who Has a Web Site Now

My favorite farmer, Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers has gone online. Information for ordering from her CSA is on the site and a nice schedule of her forthcoming crops (pdf).

Site Meter

Turn Over a New Leaf...for Life! Eat More Watercress

The crawler from Watercess.com got my site today. Who knew! I do agree with the sentiment from the banner on their site.

End of an Era/Era Continues

Thai Grocery/Abruzzo's

Just some quick vital info:

Thai Grocery (5014 N Broadway St., Chicago), the source for all things Thai food, and repository of the finest curries (head straight back, choose three from six or so, with rice for $4.50) is closing. They are having a retirement sale now. The always smiling man behind the counter (what's his name Erik M?) will use his laser pointer to show you his favorite fish sauce, sweet chili sauce, mushroom sauce and more amongst the array crammed into his store. While contemplating the curries, other good things you'll find in the back include mash-ups of herbs, spices and peppers called nam prik, battered fried ribs that hold up better to time than someone's corn dogs, and house-made sausage. This is a place who's departure will be sorely missed.

In Melrose Park, at Abruzzo's (1509 Division St, Melrose Park*) when you hear "How ya doin' Bobby", six heads turn. When my wife and I first tried the buffet at Abruzzo's, we were the only ones in the crowd not named Bobby. OK, maybe not everyone was Bobby, but amongst the Tony's, Nickys and such we were the only ones not known to each other. It did not make a difference. The staff appreciated our visit and the food made us return. An Italian wedding spread still exists Monday through Friday, lunch, in Melrose. There's a pasta or two, the lasagna noodles are house-made, the salad has that kinda delicious vinaigrette that I can never figure out how to make myself. Once it was Chicken Vesuvio, heavy with dried spices; another day nearly the same type of baked chicken was smothered with pickled hot peppers, olives and artichoke hearts and called hunters's. There's things like bite sized sausage and simmered greens and beans. The bread from Labriola is amazingly good, and to finish, there's slices of pound cake, three varieties per day. The food is refilled as needed. For roughly $8, a great lunch option in the Near West suburbs.

*Don't let the address fool you. It's the same Division but Division does not run through from Chicago/Oak Park/River Forest. The easiest, pretty much the only way, to get to this place is off of 15th Avenue (see this Google map). It's worth the schlep not just for the classic Melrose Park Southern Italian fare, but it's a short jaunt then to Caputo's Cheese Market on the other side of North Avenue on 15th.

You Know You are a Localvore

Watercress

We worked our dinner last night around a few sprigs of watercress, but before I get into that, let me amend something I wrote yesterday. I said hooray, something grown in the ground, the watercress. Now, there have been all sortsa things local to eat, all winter, grown in the ground, using hoop houses. These polyethylene plastic contraptions trick Mother Earth, keeping the ground from freezing, and allowing for various plants to grow around here in the winter. For instance, all winter long, Paul Virant at Vie has been serving a salad with lettuces from Wisconsin. The frost kissed spinach from Snug Haven Farms is grown ala hoop. Hoop stuff is grown in ground stuff. It tastes real, natural. What I really meant to say is that the watercress is the first thing grown outside in the ground. Nature grown.

It's a great thing watercress, certainly this wild watercress from Wisconsin. When you start nibbling you get a pleasant, anise-ish taste in your mouth, just a bit vegetal. Then, before you know it, the mustard's creeped up on you and soon that pleasant taste in your mouth is not one of licorice but of spice; not habenero hot, but nicely hot. It's worth building a meal around. One of the best ways to use watercress, I think, is with egg salad. Now, being a local eating family but also a snobbish family at that, it cannot just be egg salad. First we have to run to the Dominick's on Lake Street in Oak Park. We cannot have egg salad with mere Hellman's. This store has absolutely one thing we like about it, only one thing to ever cause us to set foot in it: Davidson's Pasteurized Eggs. My wife and I, even with Farmer Vicki's farm eggs, feel safe(r) making our mayo from the pasteurized eggs (of course I say we, but only one person makes the mayo in our house and it aint me). What did we find. Three cartons of Davidson's eggs, two expired and the third with a broken egg. We trucked to the next closest Dominick's, the one in River Forest (an even worse example of the modern supermarket). They had maybe three cartons as well, a few days past their sell-by date, which seemed good enough. So it's a-boiling eggs, whipping up mayo. That's not good enough for our cress. I have to boil maybe twelve red potatoes to make salad to side our egg salad. Dinner came eventually.

Watercress garnish for egg salad sandwich makes little dent in our stash. I went to bed last night dreaming of watercress ideas. One of the most famous dishes in the modern French era was the late Bernard Loiseau's frog legs with parsley sauce. I figured given the natural proximity of frogs to water and water to watercress, would not this dish be more interesting with a watercress coulis? Having also looked at several watercress soup recipes and washed about 10 small freshwater snails outta our cress, I wondered about a cream of watercress soup with snails and garlic croutons. Let me know your watercress ideas.

Winter's Just a Market Away - For One Last Day

This is It

This is your last winter market and also last farmer's market (except Geneva) in the Chicago area until May. Stock up. Market notice/details below.

It’s officially spring, and time for the
F I N A L
Winter Farmers Market
of the 2007-2008 season!
~
Winter Farmers Market & Brunch
Sunday, March 30
10 A.M. TO 2 P.M.
Grace Lutheran Church
7300 Division Street, River Forest, IL (One block West of Harlem & Division)

Plenty of free parking on-street, in the Concordia parking garage just South of the church, or in the Priory lot to the North across the street.

Brunch
will be served while quantities last,
featuring ingredients from participating farm vendors.
Suggested donation for brunch is $8 Adults, $4 Children under 12

This Market will feature:
* Natural, hormone-free meats

* Organic lettuce, kale & chard

* Organic herbs (including basil)

* Micro-greens & shoots

* Tilapia (farm-raised in Illinois –no mercury!)

* Organic potatoes

* Fresh mushrooms (several varieties)

* Onions & shallots

* Michigan apples NEW to the market this week!

* Organic wheatberries; several varieties of milled flours

* Cheese, in a variety of flavors

* Yogurt, in a variety of flavors

* Honey, in a variety of flavors

* Apple & pear butters

* Goats’ milk soaps

* Pet products

* Mead (honey wine) NEW to the market this week!

* Spa & beauty products

* Freshly made basil vinaigrette dressing & pesto NEW to the market this week!

* Infused vinegars & dried herbs

* Wool yarn & woolen goods

* Sorghum syrup

* Beautiful fruit tarts & pastries by the Sisters of Fraternite Notre Dame

* Fair trade coffee, chocolate & tea

* Fair trade organic olive oil from the Palestinian region

* CSA (community supported agriculture) subscriptions for fresh, locally grown vegetables this summer—available for pickup at the Oak Park Farmers Market!

* Free blood pressure screenings and nutrition information by members of Grace’s Health Cabinet

* And much, much more!

What's In Season Now

New Products Spotted!

The localvore has a few new things to try these last weeks of March:

Spinach - "frost kissed" spinach from Snug Haven Farms has been available all winter on and off from Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks. It's on now and should on for the rest of the month. Snug Haven was also selling last week at the Dane County Farmer's Market. I also expect them to be there through the end of the month.

Watercress - Something from the ground! Watercress really is cress from water. It grows right up against many streams and creeks and such in these parts, and has actually peeked its little green heads up out of the ground already. At the Dane County Farmer's Market, there's a man who specializes in these types of things, wild-ish/forest-y kinda products (he got my kids to buy some slippery elm). If you cannot make it to Madison, you might be able to forage some of your own.

The previous edition of March's What's In Season Now is below.

This month, we will not see local asparagus, peas or green garlic [all items on the Chez Panisse menu this month.] We do have a couple of interesting items this month. March is generally maple syruping time in the Midwest. Here's a listing of some maple festivals [most of these are past]. In addition, those little wild onions that gave Chicago its name, ramps (try Google), will begin their short season in March. Read about past ramp digs at Spence Farm here and here, and consider the Rampfest on March 28.

Beef, lamb, chicken, pork - Winter markets; farm direct, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Grains - Winter markets, farm direct
Eggs - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Farm raised tilapia - Winter markets
Farm raised rainbow trout - Grocery
Great Lakes fish - pike, whitefish, pearch, white bass, lake trout, carp - Grocery, speciality stores
Microgreens, sprouts and related - Winter markets, Freshpicks.com, grocery
Lettuces - Winter markets, farm direct
Carrots - Winter markets, farm direct, Freshpicks.com
Potatoes - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery, Freshpicks.com
Apples - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery
Herbs - Winter markets, farm direct, Freshpicks.com
Mushrooms - Winter markets, Grocery, Cassie's Green Grocer, Freshpicks.com
Onions - Winter markets, farm direct, grocery
Burdock root - Freshpicks.com
Horseradish - Freshpicks.com
Radish - Winter markets (limited quantity)

Those interested in February's What's In Season, see here.

Vie Not Bad After All

Hold the Presses

Just moments later, we find a new verdict in, this one from the blogger and poster at various food forum, Ulterior Epicure. He likes Vie.

Vie No Like

Sez Abby

Because I am nothing if not a fair man, I bring you (a link at least) to the most trashed I have ever seen Vie. Abby over at the Gaper's Block finds about nothing worthwhile at Vie. I plan on taking the girlz to Vie this spring break. I am pretty sure I will enjoy my meal more. I'll report back soon.

Local Mystery Meat

We did not fully commit to local when we committed to local. We were just not ready to pay the price of getting all of our meat from the farmers markets. We could get some of our meat there, but given the prices, my wife and I agreed that we could not get all of our meat there. We have since leaped the price hurdle by buying our local meat in bulk. Although we can now comfortably eat local meat, we still face problems.

I've complained before about the frozen nature of our meat. It means that all meat meals must come with a bit of fore-planning--in fact I could not quite understand how the Top Chef chefs bought meat at the Green City Market and then used it shortly thereafter????? [ed. TV Magic?]. The other problem with local meat, one I'm sure I've mentioned before, especially local bulk meat, is the mystery of it all. One never know quite what will be in side the white paper packages until they are unwrapped. It happened the other day when I decided to cook skirt steak or as I'll call it, "skirt steak".

I could tell from the feel of the package that it was not a big steak. It was not to be an Atkinsesque meal. Instead, I planned on making big salad with the steak and some our mondo lettuce head. I did not expect to find steak pinwheels. Inside my package marked skirt steak were two rolls of meat, each pinned in place with wooden skewers. The meat itself was about the size of a garter snake all rolled up. They were perhaps the skirt or from that part of the cow. Perhaps, they were surely quite fatty but also with the livery-ish flavor of hanger steak. I pan grilled one rolled and one unfurled (the kidz like their steak more well done).

Like all of our meat, it featured the sweetness of our cow's diet of surplus fruits and vegetables. It may have been too fatty. How it got packaged as a skirt steak, well that's a mystery.

Da' Inventory

Spring Has Not Sprung

Updates from the last inventory are marked in italics.

Cranberries - two packages, amazingly these seem to be holding out. What they are for, I have no idea. - No change

Celery - Farmer Vicki gifted us with a brand new, simply enormous head of celery. It looks like those vegetables that grow in Alaska. We plan on freezing and drying much. - No change

Herbs - rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro - In addition, now have mint and even more basil

Winter squash - Our pace right now is: toss one about every two weeks; that still leaves about five. Like the cranberries, we are gonna have to find a use soon. - No change

Keeper onions - we are very good on onions. We added about ten the other day from Farmer Vicki. - While we make great use of onions in our cooking, we are fine on stocks

Sweet potatoes - I thought we were low here, but found a stash. These are mostly holding up well. Some have been used in my wife's famous sweet potato kugel. - No change

Garlic - like onions, we are holding fine and should have enough garlic to last us through until the new crop. - See onions above

Cabbage - I finally tossed the ugly head of white that has been in the basement fridge, but we still have a head of red. - No change

Sunchokes - 2 lbs - Our emergency food - No change

Carrots - We were running out, but I got about five pounds a few weeks ago at the Geneva Winter Market. - Have used about 25% of current stock, should be enough to last until newest harvests soon.

Parsnips -We have used some, but parsnips like the sweet potatoes keep magically re-appearing - No change

Potatoes - Dwindling but fine. All of the bigger russets have been baked, but there's still a good amount of odds and end sized; the 1o lb bag of reds is hardly touched and the heirloom types are partially there. - Using, but also obtained some (5 lbs of pinks--also, we'll be able to add from Robin's forthcoming Winter Market this Sunday)

Apples - These are about gone. We have about five yellow delicious. The rest were dedicated to baking, Granny Smiths, Rome and a bag of seconds. We might need to dip into the Granny Smith's for kidz lunches. - All of our yellow delicious are gone; obtained a five lb bag of Michigan red delicious from Costco, noted but did not buy Michigan yellow delicious at Fresh Farms market on Devon (da'bomb)

Lettuce - Alaska sized head of leaf lettuce from Vicki - Gone through about 1/2 of that lettuce, obtained a bag of mixed lettuce

Microgreens/Sprouts - When I went foraging with Robin, I got a big container of peashoots in Elburn. We have been working our way through them since. - We have this up the wazoo. Using but but getting new

Mushrooms - No current crop of mushrooms - Obtained one lb of shitake and one lb of oyster

Celery root - 2 lbs - no change - No change

Burdock root - 1 lb - No change

Additions since March 17, 2008
Wild watercress
Arugula
Spinach

Local Pantry
Cheeses, yogurt, eggs, noodles, pork, beef, lamb, bacon, granola, grains, milk, cream

Every Week NOT a Market

Winter Market Update

Do note, Robin's got no markets this weekend. Stay tuned for her final extravaganza. Details to be posted next week.

In the meantime, go shop at Cassie's Green Grocer or order from Irv and Shelly.

What's Not Local

Eat Local Wishlist

Mike Sula, in this week's Reader, reports on an Uzbek [ed. is that Uzbeki?] restaurant in Buffalo Grove that I've been meaning to try. The women behind Chaihanna lament their vegetables:

"In Uzbekistan, she says, the carrots are light yellow and taste better."

Maybe, perhaps, there is no carrot grown around here that tastes as good as Uzbekistan, but I tend to doubt that as carrots are especially suited for our Northern climate. In fact, when the ground thaws just a bit more, Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers is gonna remove the carrots that have been whiling a way in her ground growing ever so large and ever so sweet. See the thing is, I doubt very much that Chaihanna's cooks buy from Farmer Vicki. Neither do the cooks at any Thai, any Vietnamese, Middle Eastern or Mexican place that I know. Wait, scratch the Mexican. Rick Bayless may not buy from Farmer Vicki, but what he does not grow himself, he buys from other local farms (in season at least). These cuisines centered themselves so much around great produce. Imagine your fatoush, your orange curry, your quesadilla de flor de calabeza made with local, farm fresh stuff. When an "ethnic" foods tend to get spruced up, your Pasteurs, your Alhambras, most of all, your Arun's, there's a tendancy first of all to dicker with the recipes; more important, most of the extra money seems to go into the decor. Why not the sourcing?

When I dream local, I don't so much dream about fresh produce in March, year round markets or a chicken that can be had non-frozen (although these are all on my wishlist), what I really dream about is a person running a little ethnic joint that is working hard to find great ingredients for his or her food. My dream faces five challenges. First, there is time. Sula's Uzbek ladies were so busy baking their breads and pickling their watermelon, did they possibly have time to shop the markets. Second, even if, per chance, they could hit the market, what would they do come winter. Even Paul Virant sneaks stuff in sometimes. Third, there is cost. Can many of these places recover the higher food costs for local food? Fourth, there is the is the menu problem. Bayless uses local farmers when. All of these places have their near set menus. Menus based on expectations for that food, best sellers if you may. Do any of them adjust their menus seasonally? Finally, and probably most pervasive, there is no infrastructure in place to get these people local foods. Some of that dovetails to the first issue, time to shop, but I think it's more. Like I say, do those woman even know such a carrot can easily be found. Really, these issues are near impossible to overcome. I can dream.

Eat Local Lamb

Try Locally Raised Lamb for Easter (or Passover)

Good article from today's CTrib on local lamb.:

"When you're buying from a local grower, you're buying from someone who really knows his own land. Many revel in the uniqueness of the flavors of regional lamb,"

The article includes a small sidebar on buy-direct sources for local lamb. The article also mentions Marion Street Cheese Market as an outlet for local lamb (Country Cottage). A couple of other places for local lamb are Cassie's Green Grocer and the Inglenook in Geneva. Both of those places sell the lamb from Mint Creek Farm.

What's Local, Costco, Down by the Riverside

Apples are Always

Big ol' bag of Michigan red delicious apples for sale today at the Costco on Damen, just north of Fullerton, Chicago. To think we were running low. (Unfortunately the one thing we needed, turns out to be a seasonal item. Anyone know a good store for a keyboard?)

Eat Local Disscussion

Chicago Green Drinks

I wish I could attend this event tonight at Jefferson Tap & Grille (325 N. Jefferson Chicago), but alas I am needed at PADS.

Save This Restaurant

Orange Garden Chop Suey

Putting my palate on the line, I eagerly signed up for Gary Fine's Orange Garden expedition. You can read about our meal at the end of this thread.

For those wondering why the hell Orange Garden Chop Suey is showing up on this blog, I'm a long time "fan" of this place. I believe strongly that it needs urgent landmark protection. Really!

Also, to address a something that's come up a few times in recent days, both in seriousness and last night in mockery: I am perfectly happy with my eat out exception to our eat local rules. I believe in local, try to eat local, but I also thoroughly enjoy eating out. I am not gonna give up one for the other. Still, as I have said before, we eat in much more than before. Hat Hammond asked me for the 848 segment, what about the cost of eating local. I conceded that our food costs were probably higher than before, in house, but we were still spending less on meals because of the decrease in restaurant meals. Eating out is expensive, a family outing to the World's Greatest Hot Dog Stand approaches a twenty these days. We do, however, go out a few times each week. For the variety, for the convenience, for the company, you will still find me and my family at restaurants, including restaurants that don't serve local.

Orange Garden Chop Suey
1942 W Irving Park Rd
Chicago, IL 60613
773-525-7479

Eat Local On Air

848, Friday

Listen in this Friday as David Hammond discusses eating local, cooking local and all things Virant on his segment for WBEZ's 848. 848 airs from 9-10 AM. I do not know when in the broadcast the eating local segment will appear. Podcast will be available here.

PS
Pay heed to a certain higher pitched but yet bellowing voice here and there in the segment.

Vie Menu, a Day Later

Latest in Vie Menu's

Believe it or not, it took me a whole day to notice Vie's new menu. He's still in artichoke mode. When I was schmoozing with him last week, Chef Virant noted that he's a bit more willing than usual to stray from his Midwestern farms. The kitchen's a bit tired of cooking from winter products. So he's getting his hands on things like the baby artichokes and stinging nettles and using them in his current menu. I'm happy to cut him some slack. In fact we're going next week with the $$ from the CTrib article. I got my eye on the fresh bacon with house made giardiniera.

The Color of Local

Color Your Way to Health

They, those guys, they say that you should eat colors. Healthy food is colorful food. The more colors you see, the healthier you will be.

One of the first things you learn if you attend farmer's markets regularly is that color changes. Each week brings a new dominant color. Early on, the color is primarily green; at the height of summer, the market radiates gold from the corn and peaches. There's a time when it's all red, peppers and tomatoes. It would follow that a localvore's plate would be so colorful. Then.

Around the start of March our plates had a color: brown. Baked Wisconsin russet potatoes stuffed with Wisconsin mushrooms, brown. RP Pasta with mushrooms, brown. Pizza with long cooked onions, brown and brown. So, let me tell you it was a real treat last night.

A simple dish, par-boil some purple potatoes; take the thaw off of a bag of frozen broccoli, drain; cook an onion until soft in a cast iron pan, season the onions with garlic; add the potatoes and broc, a bag of peas from the freezer, all of that stuff to the pan. Stir up good over medium heat. Open a package of firm tofu, dice and include. Finish with your secret sauce (my wife's had soy, tamari, hoisin and some other stuff; as I have said before, she will not reveal her exact ingredients for the blog). When the tofu comes to temperature find yourself with a pleasant break from drab food.

Cook's note: the peas can be added frozen, but the broccoli throws off too much water. A minute in the microwave and a strainer will keep your stir-fry from getting too diluted.

Current Inventory

An Apple a Day Means They Will Eventually Go Away

Localism makes you loopy. As everyone else curses the weather getting cold again, I rejoice in another week of storage. There is, however, a dwindling supply of food, especially apples. We plan a foray to Madison this weekend to stock up a bit.

(last inventory report)

Cranberries - two packages, amazingly these seem to be holding out. What they are for, I have no idea.
Celery - Farmer Vicki gifted us with a brand new, simply enormous head of celery. It looks like those vegetables that grow in Alaska. We plan on freezing and drying much.
Herbs - rosemary, thyme, basil, cilantro
Winter squash - Our pace right now is: toss one about every two weeks; that still leaves about five. Like the cranberries, we are gonna have to find a use soon.
Keeper onions - we are very good on onions. We added about ten the other day from Farmer Vicki.
Sweet potatoes - I thought we were low here, but found a stash. These are mostly holding up well. Some have been used in my wife's famous sweet potato kugel.
Garlic - like onions, we are holding fine and should have enough garlic to last us through until the new crop.
Cabbage - I finally tossed the ugly head of white that has been in the basement fridge, but we still have a head of red.
Sunchokes - 2 lbs - Our emergency food
Carrots - We were running out, but I got about five pounds a few weeks ago at the Geneva Winter Market.
Parsnips -We have used some, but parsnips like the sweet potatoes keep magically re-appearing
Potatoes - Dwindling but fine. All of the bigger russets have been baked, but there's still a good amount of odds and end sized; the 1o lb bag of reds is hardly touched and the heirloom types are partially there.
Apples - These are about gone. We have about five yellow delicious. The rest were dedicated to baking, Granny Smiths, Rome and a bag of seconds. We might need to dip into the Granny Smith's for kidz lunches.
Lettuce - Alaska sized head of leaf lettuce from Vicki
Microgreens - When I went foraging with Robin, I got a big container of peashoots in Elburn. We have been working our way through them since.
Mushrooms - No current crop of mushrooms
Celery root - 2 lbs - no change
Burdock root - 1 lb

As always, there's stuff (meat, veg) in the freezer. We have some local grains but would kill to find a source of local all purpose/white flower. Riddle me this: what kinda flour did the pioneers bake their pies with?