A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my commitment to take the "Dark Days Challenge". Basically it's a challenge to all interested to cook a minimum of 4 meals a month (ideally one per week) using SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients during the dark days of winter. Participants then write about their meal and share their experiences.
The challenge runs from December 1, 2010 - April 15, 2011, and while Folks Gotta Eat missed the deadline to sign up and be featured in their aggregator, they still welcomed people to cook along with them and share their experiences on twitter and in the comments of their bi-monthly recaps. I thought why the hell not - while it's pretty easy for me to make local meals during the summer - in winter this could be a depressing thought, but only four meals in a month? Certainly doable and I thought a fun and low commitment way to make me think critically about what we are eating.
Now, I will admit, there has been a lot of root vegetables in these meals and a surprising amount of meat. Since I'm also on a diet, I find myself lost when there isn't a pile of green vegetables on my plate, but finding local hothouse grown greens has posed a problem. I am very thankful for the amount of preserves I put down this summer after loading up at the different farmers' markets. One of the easiest meals so far has been using the salsa I jarred in the summer cooked up with some local eggs poached in it. Eggs have been a lifesaver too - for weeknights one of the easiest meals has been a traditional Spanish tortilla with local eggs and potatoes. Plus, I really enjoy breakfast for dinner at the best of times.
I'm also very lucky that my father is an avid hunter - when the family was visiting for Christmas, dear old Dad filled our freezer with assorted cuts of venison and moose and you cannot get anymore local than that!
Here is a glimpse at one of my "courtesy of Dad" dinners - braised venison shoulder chops with a pile of carrots and onions from the Wychwood Barns farmers market, cloves of the fantastic garlic that I bought from the Ontario Health Coalition during their annual Garlic Sale Fundraiser, herbs from my garden I'd frozen in the fall, and since we had no Ontario wine in the house, a beer I snitched from the hubs. I did of course cheat on salt and pepper again, but I used a tablespoon of local pork lard to sear my meat before work. A note about that - while the Crockpot is a life saver for the working gal, there is nothing quite like searing meat first thing in the morning and then going to work with a certain meaty je ne sais quoi.
So what do you think? Any suggestions for what I should make? Do you have tips to finding something green to serve alongside some of my meatier meals?
Here are the "rules" from the Dark Days Challenge site again:
What does local mean?
Traditionally, local food challenges call for a 100-mile radius. Wintertime is more difficult in many climates, especially if you're new to eating locally, so my default definition is 150 miles. You can choose to make your radius smaller or slightly larger as you need. Typical exceptions are oils, coffee, chocolate and spices. If you're making fewer or more exceptions, please note that on your first post.
What if I can't find every ingredient locally?
That's why this is called a challenge! If you can't find every ingredient or heck even most ingredients, please still write about your attempts. This is just as much about what we learn, the obstacles we find and the decisions we make as it is about cooking with SOLE ingredients.
