Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Local Food Friday - Week 5

This is harder than I thought.  We found local sources for most of the basic things we need.  We can see spring coming, and know that in a few more weeks we will have a lot more options.  But, the food is boring (at least if we limit ourselves to only local spices etc.) 

This past Friday we just couldn't take it any more.  Everyone wanted something tastier than roast with winter veggies or another take on noodles with sauce.  We wanted exotic.  The orient. Something to light up the taste buds and chase the dull gray of February away.  So, we made bulkogi, a Korean marinated beef that we all love.  The basic recipe looks like this

1 1/2 pounds beef top sirloin, thinly sliced (Local, from our own beef)


2 tablespoons cider vinegar (Local, from Windy Hill Apple Farm in Newark)
1 cup pear puree (Local, pears we canned)

2 teaspoons ground black pepper (Imported)

1/4 cup soy sauce (Imported)

1 tablespoon white sugar (Imported, yes there is Ohio made sugar, but I haven't found anyone who sells it in my town.)

2 tablespoons Asian (toasted) sesame oil (Imported)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (Local, from our garden)

2 tablespoons chopped green onion (Local, from our garden - we used chives from our greenhouse)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds (Imported)

1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, halved (optional) (Local - the last of the mushrooms we harvested from our Local Roots Kit)

1/2 onion, chopped (optional) (Local - from our Local Roots trip)

We served this with home made Kimchee, sauteed garlic blossoms, imported rice and imported seaweed.
 
It was a lovely meal, but not completely local.  The only thing I felt bad about was the rice.  If I'd had more fresh veggies I'd have skipped it, but we needed something to fill that part of the meal. 
 
We are still working on snacks.  I'll be posting some of the things we've found soon.  I'm also adding condiments to this category.  You can live without them, but they make eating so much nicer.  They are also highly processed, and filled with junk you don't need.  This week we will be making mayonnaise and some kind of mustard.  I'll let you know how it goes.

3 comments:

Texan said...

Yep I agree condiments do make a nice tasty extra! I canned ketchup this last summer. We will never buy store bought ketchup again!

Kevin Kossowan said...

I feel fortunate that I'm not a snacky kind of guy, and when I am, tend to cheeses, dry cured salami, etc. Top snack food around here is jerky. Local, wild jerky ;)

Anonymous said...

Pioneer, Penninsular, and Big Chief sugars all come from the same co-op and often move through the silos in Findlay, if that helps you at all.

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