Salad with ramp vinegar dressing (One Local Summer week 4)

Salads seemed like easy and natural meals that could be made with 100% local ingredients. After all, salads are flexible enough to include many different vegetables. And salad greens have been plentiful lately—I heard one farmer tell someone that all the rain we've been having lately has been very good for lettuces, though not as much for strawberries and cherries.

Where I was getting stuck was with the dressing. Oil is allowed in the challenge, but I needed a local acidic ingredient to mix with it. I'm sure I could have gotten away with using store-bought vinegar, but I managed to find ramp vinegar from a farm in West Virginia (Bigg Riggs Farm). Now, I'm sure that the vinegar they used to make this was store-bought as well, but it just seemed a little more in keeping with the challenge. Plus, I've never had ramps before. The purchase even seemed predestined since the vinegar expires on my birthday in 2011.

I started with a salad mix from my favorite produce vendor at the Mt. Pleasant farmers market, Tree and Leaf Farm in Loudon County, VA. I added some diced red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced hard-boiled eggs (still warm from the pot, my favorite way to eat them), and some chopped sweet Italian peppers (which I actually thought would have a bit of a kick, despite being called "sweet," simply because they look like banana peppers, but no luck).

The dressing was very simple—three parts olive oil to one (more like 1.5) part ramp vinegar, plus salt and pepper. It was very flavorful despite the simplicity of the ingredients because of the oniony/garlicky flavor of the ramps.

You can see more pictures here, including a shot of the eggs before they were hard-boiled. One of them has a bluish-green shell! The vendor told me which kind of hens lay eggs of that color, but unfortunately I forget. Anyone know?

Local meal #3

All right, finally starting the new content! Though the meal I am about to describe was technically eaten on June 16.

I was determined to use the fava beans I bought the previous Saturday at the U Street market. Frankly, they were starting to get a little wrinkly. My plan was to make another, well, tartine, using roughly this recipe from Epicurious. However, I forgot that, for all of its convenience and charms, the Crystal City market has no dairy, therefore, no ricotta.

So, I improvised. Instead of ricotta, I used goat cheese. Instead of garlic (since there isn't really garlic at the market yet), I used diced red onion. And, I added golden beets just for fun.

What I ended up with was a colorful, messy group of open-faced sandwiches. They look lovely in this picture, but trust me, I was a mess by the time I finished. The beets were a little too bland just roasted and plopped on the sandwich, but otherwise it was a delicious meal that gave me an opportunity to use fresh fava beans for the very first time. Mission accomplished.

Oh, and I had a bowl of cherries for dessert--I believe they were from West Virginia. Here are a few more pictures.

Local meal #2

(This was originally posted on Facebook on June 13.)

Technically, this is local meal #3, but since I neither photographed nor wrote up a description of my last meal, I'm thinking it doesn't count. (In case you're curious, though, it was another tartine--same Atwater bread, same delicious goat cheese, but this time with sliced tomatoes and a side of strawberries.)

Today, I made a very simple potato salad with baby red potatoes, yogurt from Blue Ridge Dairy, chives, salt, and pepper. I had that with a slice of country white bread from Atwater, toasted with some butter from Blue Ridge.

And, I had a bowl of strawberries. I've learned my lesson about strawberries--eat them the day you get them, on the way home from the market if possible. They go bad so quickly...

I was able to visit two farmers markers today--Mt. Pleasant and U Street. At the U Street market I picked up some fresh fava beans, which I am so excited to use (any ideas?). I'm actually looking forward to the labor-intensive shelling, even. I just hope I got enough. I also got some kale that I am planning to saute with garlic and white beans sometime this week. That will definitely not count as a local meal, though, what with the canned beans.

Local meal #1

(This was originally posted on Facebook on May 30.)

Today was my first of (I hope) many meals made with 100% local ingredients. I am taking the One Local Summer challenge sponsored by Farm to Philly. Participants from across the country (and the world, apparently) are committing to make one meal each week that uses only local ingredients (exceptions: oil, spices, salt, and pepper). Oh, and then we write about it, and every Tuesday Farm to Philly posts regional summaries.

Though the challenge doesn't officially begin until Monday, I realized my lunch plan for today already met the criteria and so I am counting it. Perhaps I will make a bonus all-local meal later this week, but just in case I don't, I have this one in my pocket.

So for lunch today I had tartines (open-faced sandwiches) on toasted sourdough rye bread from Atwater's, goat cheese from Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Co. (which was so freaking good), thinly sliced radishes, chopped chives, purple chive blossoms, and salt and pepper. It was so pretty and colorful--I only wish my camera was working right now.

And, it was delicious. Sourdough rye was not my top choice of bread, but I got to the Mt. Pleasant farmers market too late to be choosy. I think the tartines would have been better with a milder bread like ciabatta. Between the bread and the fairly strong goat cheese, the radishes did not have the starring role I thought they would. But it was still tasty.

The goat cheese really was amazing. I chose Cherry Glen's Monocacy Silver variety, which comes with a "white mold exterior." I am not normally one to eat rinds, but this one was so good. I'm already thinking about what I will use next as a goat cheese delivery system.

Standard introductory post

Over the past couple of years, I have become a farmers market convert. I go to farmers markets not only in the summer, when they are awash with fruits and vegetables, but also all winter, when all you can get are potatoes, apples, and onions. This summer I have started going to between two and four markets a week in the DC area (it helps that I live within a block of the Mt. Pleasant farmers market and walk right by the Crystal City market on my way home from work on Tuesdays).

So, why is it that my reusable shopping bag is always full of such predictable produce? Tomatoes, berries, carrots, cucumbers, onions... I look longingly at other vegetables, from the rather exotic (fava beans, bok choy, garlic scapes) to the ordinary (cabbage, turnips, pattypan squash), but I almost never try anything new.

No more! I've started this blog in a way to publicly shame myself into trying all of the more interesting vegetables and other farmers market goodies. Also, I am participating in Farm to Philly's One Local Summer challenge, and I think I may be the only one without a blog, which is inconvenient. I had been posting on Facebook, but it's just not the same. To be honest I am also just looking for a summer project. I've never been able to handle free time very well.

By the way, I am not married to the name of this blog--any suggestions?