Hello

I just want to say a quick "Hello" to everyone, and that I am sorry I have not updated the blog in quite a few days. My whole foods program I'm teaching at Cuesta College just started this week, and I have a few other things going on, so I have had no time to cook or test recipes. I will soon!! Maybe Friday. Anyway, please check back and thanks for your support!

I want to tell all of you SLO county readers about a great local food and living blog. It is called Localette, and is written by Jennifer Olson. She is probably on of the best food photographers I have ever seen. She shares terrific recipes accompanied by beautiful pictures, and promotes local designers, foodies, writers, restaurants, and much more. She did a very nice plug for Seasonal Cuisine, which you can check out here. Thank you Jen for such a great site and taking such gorgeous pictures.

If anyone knows of other great SLO county blogs that focus on food or local living, please share in the comments area, I would love to know about them.

Mini Zucchini-Tomato Frittatas

These little frittatas make a great breakfast, brunch, or lunch item. They are fairly quick to make, easy, and make use of terrific summer produce. This recipe can be adapted to any season. For example, use Swiss chard and fresh chopped thyme in autumn; or green peas,asparagus, and tarragon in the spring.

On another note, I am leaving town for about 10 days. My husband, my daughter, and I are going to Michigan to visit family, so I won't be updating my farmers market picks. I did go this last Saturday however, and it looks like summer is in full swing. All kinds of melons have shown up, and eggplants are everywhere. I am sure August is going to bring lots of tomatoes, corn, okra, and more summer squash and green beans. Can't wait!!!

Mini Zucchini-Tomato Frittatas
Summer, Makes 12 frittatas

-1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
-1/2 red onion, diced
-2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin
-1 large tomato dice, or 10 grape sized tomatoes quartered
-1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
-1/4 cup chopped basil
-8 large, farmers market organic eggs
-salt and fresh ground white pepper

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. When hot, add in the onion and saute until beginning to soften and brown, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the zucchini and saute until just tender. Toss in the tomatoes and season to taste with salt and white pepper. Let cool slightly.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 baking cups with muffin papers. Add the crumbled feta and the basil to the cooled zucchini. Whisk up the 8 eggs in a large bowl and fold in the zucchini mixture. Season with a little more salt and pepper.

Divide the frittata mixture up between the 12 muffin cups. Bake in the heated oven until set and slightly brown on top, about 15-20 minutes. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Welcome Edible SLO

The other day I was purchasing some bulk items at Sunshine Health Food store in Morro Bay and came across a new publication being offered in San Luis Obispo County. Edible SlO, as it is titled, is exactly the kind of local food publication this county has been lacking. I read my first issue cover to cover and am very excited. Edible SLO will be published quarterly and will be covering every aspect of our local food scene such as organic farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), urban and community gardens, chefs that support local farmers, Slow Food movement, Food not Lawn Groups, Farm to School groups, and anything else that supports our local food shed. There is also a section of seasonal recipes (yes, seasonal!)that actually use local foods, along with a resource for the featured ingredient.

I think Edible SLO is just what our local food scene needs to sort of tie us all together. Thank you to Bob Banner, publisher of Edible SLO as well as Hope Dance, for providing a locally published resource that reflects our locavore way of life and beliefs. I am very excited about this and am encouraging you locals out there to check out this magazine. I have included a link under My Favorite Websites, and you can also link to the Edible SLO website via this post. Help support our truly local publications, it is just as important as supporting our local food system. We need local voices.

Warm Apricot and Toasty Goat Cheese Salad with Wild Arugula and Walnuts

Last Saturday some really terrific apricots showed up at the farmers market. They are very small with the largest being about the size of a golf ball. I decided to stuff the apricot halves with goat cheese and then put them under the broiler to slightly brown the top. Paired with some spicy and nutty wild arugula, this salad is probably one of my all time favorites. The arugula is dressed simply to taste with the best quality extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, coarse salt, and fresh ground white pepper.

Warm Apricot and Toasty Goat Cheese Salad with Wild Arugula and Walnuts
Serves 2-4
Mid Summer

-3-4 apricots, halved and pits removed
-2 ounces goat cheese at room temperature
-1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
-1 bunch wild arugula (also known as sylvetta), washed and spun dry
-Best quality extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
-handful of toasted and chopped walnuts
salt and fresh ground white pepper

Pre-heat the broiler on high

Place the apricots cut side up in an oven proof baking dish. Mix the teaspoon of olive oil into the goat cheese and season to taste with salt and fresh ground white pepper. spoon the cheese into the apricot halves. Place under the broiler and cook until warm and the cheese has begun to brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a large bowl, dress the arugula to taste with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and fresh ground white pepper. Arrange onto plates. Scatter a few walnuts onto each plate and divide the apricots accordingly. I like to drizzle a little more olive oil onto the plate.

A Bought of Inspiration

I just finished reading the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover (published in 2007; I know, I know, I just now read it!). What an amazing story. Like Barbara, I grew up in a rural area. I have lived most of my life at the base of the Sierra Nevadas, appreciating and adoring wide open spaces and small town life. I too grew up eating from a large family garden. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the story of Barbara Kingsolver’s (and her family) journey to eat almost all of their food from local sources for one whole year, with most of their food coming from their own garden. They even raise chickens and turkeys for meat and eggs. If anyone of you out there is interested in eating local, this book is for you.

Though this book is quite interesting, I didn’t read it because I thought I would learn something knew; I know and understand our conventional food system, which is why I stay away from it. It is why I became a vegetarian (I will not eat meat from CAFOs, but home raised and organic is a different story). I read this book because I knew it would tug hard at my soul; and it did! This book spoke to me in ways many books can’t. Since I was a young child, running down rows of green beans, hiding in tall rows of corn, and picking off tomato worms to give to chickens, I knew I wanted to garden, and to garden on a large scale. I read this book to remind myself of my future goals and aspirations; to homestead with my husband and daughter, and to live a simple, productive life (and to hopefully write cookbooks and teach culinary arts).

When I first moved away from home at age 17, I lived in a little house in Morro Bay with a tiny yard. I set to work growing snow peas, broccoli, and lettuce, and eventually potatoes and garlic. My first attempts were not so good; I had picked a low sun area of the yard, not to mention the unreasonable amounts of fog. But since then I have made a habit of always having a garden. Even now, surrounded by concrete, I keep quite a few wine barrels where I grow zucchini, tomatoes, three kinds of beans, cucumbers, mint, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, chives, winter savory, oregano, Thai basil, lemon basil, and Greek basil. I just got another barrel yesterday to start my lettuce, carrots, and broccoli. Point is, even in small concrete covered areas, fresh homegrown produce is possible. Along with the terrific and productive Central Coast farmers markets, about 80% of my family’s food comes from local sources. My husband and I have been this way for over 6 years now, and anyone can do it. We have been planning for a while now to hopefully move back to the Sierra Nevadas and start our homestead. We want our daughter to not only grow up knowing where her food comes from, but to actually know how to grow it herself. Most people do not know where it is their food comes from, and how much work is involved, nor do they have the common sense to even care. And why should they? Our culture places no value on knowing these things. A tomato is a tomato, right? Why should I care about where it comes from?

I worry about our food security and food supply, with GE ingredients constantly threatening diversity. I want my daughter to have the practical sense and know how to grow her own food, to have that security. I also feel a civic duty to protect heirloom seeds and to hopefully raise heritage breeds of farm animals. This has always been a goal of mine, and the above mentioned book just furthered my inspiration. I am someone who truly loves to dig in the soil, so why not put that love to use and help to protect our future food shed in the process?

We are going to visit family for Fourth of July, and I am hoping to meet with a woman who makes fresh goat cheese from her very own goat’s milk. She is a friend of my moms, and has offered to show and teach me. These are our first steps toward self sufficiency, though it will be awhile before we even move, but the plans are in the works. The pictures connected to this post are of my gorgeous little daughter Ellissa playing with our first harvest of Yellow Romano beans and zucchini from our garden. She already loves to dig in the dirt, and I think she will be all the better for it.

Fava Bean-Basil Pesto

Here is a terrific puree to use on crostinis, in a sandwich, as a dip, of even as a pasta sauce. In the picture, I slathered my Fava Beans-Basil Pesto on garlic rubbed crostinis and topped it off with thick slabs of sheep milk feta and sliced Early Girl tomatoes. We ate plate fulls of these for dinner! To learn how to use fava beans, see the recipe Sauteed Zucchini and Fava Beans with Mint and Taragon.
Fava Bean-Basil Puree
Makes 1 ½ cups
Late Spring, Early Summer

-2 pounds fava beans in pods (1 ¼ cups shelled and peeled)
-1 ½ cups packed basil leaves
-1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ small yellow onion, diced
-2 tablespoons vegetable stock or water
-Salt and fresh ground white pepper to taste

Shell and cook the fava beans until tender according to the instructions in the Sauteed Zucchini and Fava Beans with Mint and Tarragon recipe.Peel the fava beans and set aside. You should have roughly 1 ¼ cups peeled beans.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Dunk the basil leaves into the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove and immediately shock under cold running water. Squeeze out any extra liquid and set aside.

Heat ½ tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add in the diced onion. Cook the onion until it begins to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the 2 tablespoons of liquid and cook until the onions are tender and the liquid as evaporated. Set the onions aside.

Set up a food processor fitted with an S-blade. Add in the fava beans, basil leaves, sautéed onion, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Process until smooth. Season to taste with salt and fresh ground white pepper.

Zucchini Fritters with Greek Yogurt, Tomatoes, and Oregano

I am just going to post a recipe today featuring the great zucchini that has been at the market. This can be made with green zucchini, golden zucchini, or a mixture of both. Use a really good full fat Greek style yogurt for this, it is delicious!

Zucchini Fritters with Greek Yogurt, Tomatoes, and Oregano
 Makes 12 appetizer size fritters
 Summer

-4 small zucchini or 2 large (about 10 ounces)
-¼ of a yellow onion
-1 tablespoon chopped oregano
-1 egg
-2 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
-Salt and fresh ground white pepper
-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-9-10 grape sized tomatoes, quartered
-4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
-Oregano leaves for garnish

Shred the zucchini and onion using either a food processor fitted with a shredding blade, or by running them over the large holes of a cheese grater. Combine and place into a bowl, sprinkle with a good pinch of salt, and let sit for about 10 minutes to draw out the zucchini and onion’s water. By the handful, squeeze out any extra water and place the dry zucchini and onions into another bowl. Discard the water or save to add to vegetable stock (remember, it’s salted).

Combine the zucchini-onion mixture with the chopped oregano, egg, flour, and fresh ground white pepper. Mix well with a fork to form a thick paste (this paste should be mostly zucchini and not too much batter).

Heat the two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Fry a small bit of the fritter paste to taste for seasoning. Adjust seasoning with salt and fresh ground white pepper as necessary. Drop 1 tablespoon sized balls of the paste into the hot oil, flattening each one a bit as you go to form small 1 ½ inch cakes. Do no more than 4-5 at a time. Brown well on one side, flip over, and brown the other side. If the fritters are browning or burning very quickly, turn your heat down a bit. If they are taking a very long time and seem to be soaking up a lot of the oil, turn your heat up. Each batch should take about 5 minutes total. Remove from the oil onto a plate with paper towels to drain. Top each fritter with 3 pieces of tomato, a small dollop of the Greek yogurt, and a little oregano leaf. Serve immediately.