Wednesday, September 2, 2009

slow food

When we travel, as much as we'd like to eat well, we don't. We end up eating more fast food than we would ever consider at home. So this week is all about taking time to create homemade meals.

veggies

These beauties were ready and waiting in the garden. The potatoes were a nice side dish alongside a roasted chicken on Monday night. I boiled them until tender, then drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled on a few herbs and sea salt and crisped up their outer skins on the stovetop. Yummy!

The basil was turned into pesto, which was a nice sauce for our homemade pizza last night. Toppings included carmelized onions, roasted red peppers, sautéed mushrooms, sweet Italian sausage, mozzarella and chèvre cheeses. Whenever pizza is served, a movie night is in order. Last night's movie... Forrest Gump. I had a need to see this after having dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp in California last week. Following our meal, the waiter asked us a bunch of trivia questions about the movie, and I realized I needed a refresher course. I also need another serving of those delicious coconut shrimp. Are those considered slow food?

carrots

These little french baby carrots are the best! The seeds were the only package I purchased from a company called Renee's Garden. They'll be on my list for next year.

I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and it's got me thinking a lot about fresh, local food. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, it's a story of how Barbara and her family were changed by one year of eating only food produced where they lived.

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7 comments:

Susan said...

Oooh, Cindy, those veggies look out-of-this-world good! My carrots ended up being chicken food. They were so tough. I'm not sure what we did wrong. And fresh, new potatoes prepared that way.....yummmmmm...I can almost taste them!

There's no fast food...no, dare I say, no restaurant food that can compare to homegrown and cooked food! Now you're eating healthy!

Lisa said...

Your carrot photo is fantastic! Gardening is delightful in so many ways. I really enjoy Barbara Kingsolver but can you believe I have never read that book? I think I have it. I should really read it....

Cindy said...

Susan, I believe you told me about cooking potatoes this way. I've been doing this all summer. It really brings out all their wonderful flavor. Thanks!

Today I came home to find my chickens lounging in the middle of the carrot patch nibbling on the rest of the carrots... grrrrrrr!

Cindy said...

Thanks Lisa! I think you'd enjoy Barbara's book... very thought provoking. We're reading it in our book club this month. It's been sitting in my pile of "to reads" for awhile, but needed a little push to get through it.

Sharon said...

Hi Cindy!

Your harvest looks way more impressive than mine from our container garden! ALthough I do have a two foot bush of basil ready to be turned into pesto.

I'm been listening to Barbara Kingsolver's book on audio format. It really is food for thought.

Say, what do you mean about "crisping up the potatoes on the stovetop" after you've boiled them? Do you toss them in a skillet or what?

Cindy said...

Hi Sharon, I just found out one of our neighbors is keeping chickens and a goat on her small city lot! Is it a trend? or something more?

To crisp up those potatoes, I toss them into a skillet with generous amounts of olive oil, herbs and sea salt. Flip them a few times so they crisp evenly and don't walk out the back door to tend to chores like I did, or they'll burn.

Sharon said...

Cindy,

I'm jealous! I'd love to have a goat or two. Alas, we are adjacent to Tryon Creek Park and a pack of six coyotes live there. They have already gotten to a neighbor's cat.

Thanks for the info on crisping the potatoes. I'm going to try it soon!