CrankyCakes

If there’s anything better than living in the food center of the known world, it’s got to be having new food-lovers to introduce.  So I jumped at the chance to give food blogger Jenn Campus and her husband Roberto a foodie tour of the area after their recent move to Vermont.

Deciding where to go was a delightful distraction for a few days.  A walking tour in town was tempting, but I wanted to give them a broader view.  We could have done a strictly grazing tour, eating here and there, but that was going to get too expensive and fattening in a hurry.  And since what’s really awesome about our food world is how close we are to where the food comes from, I went for a mix of farm and store and table.

We met here at Burlington CoHousing (by the way, a dark horse in the Burlington food world called the “best deal in town” in this 2009 Seven Days article.)

From here it was north across town for a stop at Sugarsnap.  Fabulous always, and where else are you going to get take-out food grown right in their own backyard at the gateway to Burlington’s new Food Hub, cooked so creatively, and served to you by a not-quite-able-to-retire Spanish professor?

I had a piece of quiche (huge, delicious, $4.50), Jenn had half a chicken-salad sandwich, and Roberto had a “Dark and Stormy.”  It was a good kick-off.

We drove through the Intervale, waving at Gardener’s, at the amazing piles of compost, at the Intervale Community Farm, Half Pint Farm, Arethusa, and Adam’s.   Next time we’ll park and walk, but we had more stops to get to.

From here it was off to City Market.  I love that we have a locally owned store with such a commitment to selling local products as our downtown market.  While Jenn and I poked around and looked at bulk stuff, and veggies, and cheeses, crankyGreg and Roberto geeked out over having comic art in common.

Then, with purchases in a cooler we had packed, we ate the outrageously delicious Nepali takeout potato salad I had bought to share, and we zipped over to August First for a cup of coffee.   Before we knew it, a scone and a baguette had found their way to our table and we mellowed out on their patio.

Greg had to go home to draw, and we headed over to Red Wagon Plants (a client and a fabulous, fabulous source of food plants).

On the other side of their Hinesburg farm is the Family Cow Farmstand, with their beautiful valley pasture, and the most adorable calves.

From there we headed over to Shelburne Farms and visited the animals at the Farm Barn.  The piglets were incredibly adorable, and I couldn’t believe how big the lambs had gotten since our last visit.

I had wanted to head to Shelburne Vineyards to show them the beautiful tasting room and had crazily hoped for a quick visit to Village Wine & Coffee but we had run out of time.  So it was straight to our last stop, meeting Lara for dinner at Bistro Sauce on the final night of Vermont Restaurant Week.

We all ordered permutations of their Restaurant Week menu.  I had a Bibb lettuce salad with white anchovies, a somewhat deconstructed take on the Caesar.  I liked the touch of using a dusting of bread crumbs instead of croutons.

Here’s a picture of Roberto taking a picture of his olives and grilled bread.  I was so, so impressed when our waitress individually identified each olive for us.   Mmm … cerignola.

Then risotto with guanciale, pheasant back mushrooms, fiddleheads, and shaved Ayr cheese.

Jenn got the brandade fritters.  And what is that on top of the impossibly crispy, light and creamy fritter?  Why that would be a tempura ramp.

The buzz was that the local pork was the right thing to get, and so we all did.  Instead of the pork loin on the menu, the cut they were offering was shoulder, and it was grilled.   More fiddleheads, pepita romesco, mashed potatoes, tastes of root vegetables accompanied.   It was fab.

We all tried a scoop of a different flavor of homemade ice cream or sorbet for dessert.  I had the coconut sorbet.

Jenn tried bay leaf ice cream, and Lara had cucumber sorbet.  It was a beautiful green but really tasted like cucumber, which for me is not a good thing.

And then we had to leave, so we took a long-arm picture and went home, feeling smug and full of good food and conversation and Vermont.

Now I’m pondering what the next tour should include.  CSA pick-up, sure.  Thursdays at the Intervale.  The Burlington Farmer’s Market.  And where else?

By the time the locally grown salsa ingredients were ripe last year, I had already grown completely sick of canning.  After the strawberry jam, the blueberry jam, and the apricot jam, even the thought of washing the jars and the lids and rings made me shudder.

But then it was late summer and the bounty was in and I was confronted with the memory of running out of homemade salsa mid-winter.  I faced off with a countertop full of fresh-from-the-CSA pick-up onions, tomatillos, and plum tomatoes in September, but just couldn’t rally.  Sighing, I stuck them in bags and containers in the freezer with the hopeful thought that I’d get around to making salsa over the winter.

I have not made salsa this winter.  It’s made me sad on occasion, but it turned out to be good news when we had a friend over for dinner last night and I was able to grab those frozen containers, defrost them, and then with CrankyGreg turn them into something really good.

Oven-Roasted Chicken with Mediterranean Vegetables
Serves 4

Pat dry:

• 8 chicken thighs

Mix together in a bowl:

• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 1 t. fennel seeds (lightly crushed with a mortar and pestle, or the back of a spoon if you have time)
• 1/4 t. cayenne powder
• 1/2 t. lemon or orange peel
• 1/2 t. garlic powder

Rub the chicken with the mix, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400.

Here’s the list of what we used.  Pick and choose as you like.  Either chop fresh into 1 1/2″ cubes (large because they’ll shrink as they cook), or thaw frozen:

• 4 plum tomatoes
• 3 c. tomatillos
• 1 eggplant
• 1 bulb fennel
• 2 small zucchini
• 2 cups  green beans
• 2 large onions

Coat a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil and spread the vegetables in a single layer.  Mix in with a wooden spoon or your hand:

• 1/2 t. kosher salt
• 4 cloves sliced fresh garlic

Now it’s time to stop and assess the situation:

• Are you starting with fresh vegetables and chicken?  If so, place the chicken pieces skin-side up on top of the vegetables and put in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear when you pierce a thigh with your knife.
• Are you starting with thawed frozen roasted vegetables like we did?  If so, put the chicken on a greased baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes, then add the pan of roasted vegetables and cook for 20 more.  You could even put the chicken on top of the vegetables and pour the pan drippings on top if you want to get crazy.

On the side, we had baguette from August First, and some good red wine.

And then dessert was Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra ice cream floated in a chocolate stout.  (I’m not mentioning which one only because it was far too bitter/hoppy to be perfect for the job.  Had I looked into it more, I’d have ended up with Magic Hat Howl or Guinness or something else milder.)  Why is this picture so much bigger?  Because I like it.

And then I fell asleep on the couch.

[originally posted at EatLocalVT.com]

Well, “brain hurts” seems crazy on a day that includes this apple galette from August First (local flour from a Quebec miller and Canadian farmers, local Pippin apples).

But you know, it’s true.  And while eating this most excellent pastry was a ridiculously wonderful experience for the senses, there were worries like this:

“There are almonds in here.  They make it delicious.  I’m not supposed to be eating almonds this week.  What kind of phony faker am I?  Ooh, that was a good bite.  Oh hell.  I’m no good for this.  But the apples and flour are local and Jodi and Phil sure are doing what they can to support local farmers and businesses.  Mmmm.  I really love almonds.  How did my galette disappear already?”

There’s so much good food in Vermont, and such an incredible community of people who produce it.  Who can help wanting to be part of the localvore movement?  But I’m finding that trying to adhere to a strict dogma about it is just making me crabby.

I don’t want to be crabby.  I want to cook great food for the people I love, and I want as much of it as possible to come from people around me.  I want my food choices to reflect my caring for people near and far, and for this beautiful place we live.

Yesterday I had this wonderful moment.  I was out in the garden picking tomatoes to have on our pasta, walking past the giant yellow marigolds still going crazy out there.  Every flower seemed to have an ecstatic bumblebee in it, wiggling and searching for nectar and just dancing there in the late afternoon sun.   I want to be that, I thought, that pure and that present, right here and now, up to my elbows in all the bounty that Vermont can provide.  Not quibbling with myself over an almond or two when there’s so much to dig in to.