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Winter Vegetable Cook-off

Posted at 6:50 PM on January 25, 2008 by Donna McClurkan (7 Comments)

We store our winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share – kale, carrots, onions, rutabaga, Brussels sprouts, etc. – in a cooler in the garage. A quick check of the contents recently, and panic set in: our next bi-weekly share is due in a few days and there is too much produce yet to eat. The solution? A family cook-off challenge.

The rules: No cookbooks, no helping each other, all ingredients must be local except oils and seasonings. Scores will range from 1 (can’t eat this) to 10 (can’t wait until we have this again).

The judge: Anna, age 11 (AKA “The Decider”)

Soup a la Mac: chopped potatoes, carrots, kale, small onion, leftover crumbled chicken (from sausages) and water with these non-local ingredients: salt & pepper, canola oil, vegetable powder for broth. Sauté the veggies in oil, add powder and water, salt & pepper, boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Roasted Veggies a la Donna: large chunks of scallion, apples, rutabaga, and sharp Gouda cheese with these non-local ingredients: kosher salt, olive oil, crushed fennel seeds, powdered ginger. Combine everything except cheese, bake at 425 for about 30 minutes (first 15 minutes cover w/foil). Add grated Gouda just before serving.

The verdict: Mac’s soup earned a “5.” It was good, but he was too heavy-handed with the pepper. The roasted vegetables earned an “8”, though the rutabaga was a bit bland. More grated cheese improved the dish. We decided to experiment with rutabaga au gratin casserole soon.

This impromptu, friendly cooking competition was fun and got the whole family involved in figuring out what works – and what doesn’t – as we adjust our taste buds to new foods, new ways of preparing them and new meal planning routines.

Comments (7)

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Great idea Donna. What a way to involve the whole family.

Posted by Gina | January 28, 2008 10:48 AM

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I wonder what kinds of containers you are finding best to use to store the produce in the garage, in what ammounts, and how long items last before they go bad. A big part of the attraction of chain-store grocery shopping may be that it seems to cut down on the need for storage at home.

Posted by Sherry Maurer | January 29, 2008 8:05 AM

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Whoa! How far is this movement going to go? Here in the Quads where Deere and Co is big I recently heard that they are spending $2 million a day on research. This popped my top. It made me start to think again about all those who have an interest in business as usual. I'm not sure if this is the forum for this discussion but, what if we all start to eat locally? Even if the changeover took several years there would be quite a rearrangement of production and distribution involved. Perhaps decentralized production of goods and foodstuffs might be easier in this age of easy acess to and exchange of information via the internet and forums like this.

Posted by Mike Lawrence | January 29, 2008 5:53 PM

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Mike Lawerence,

I am a fellow Locavore Nation participant of Donna's, and interestingly, I just went to a Local Foods Summit where they addressed such issues as you brought up. Based on what they said, it is mind boggling how eating local would change our present food production and distribution, the environment, and the economy. I would recommend googling John Ikerd-his book "Sustainable Capitalism" addresses these issues. Thanks for bringing this up!

Gina

Posted by Gina | January 30, 2008 2:40 PM

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Donna-
Does your husband do a lot of the cooking? I know that the idea of a "cook-off" would be very challenging to me. Just by comparing the differences in ingredients (him salt and pepper – you crushed fennel sees and powdered ginger) I think that your husband may not have gotten enough credit for his attempt. I know I would have stopped at the stir-fry. Bravo to your husband. He must be a good sport!

Posted by Fred Johnson | January 30, 2008 8:24 PM

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It is very gratifying and exciting to see the comments posted to my blog and those of fellow Locavore Nation participants.

Yes, Fred, my husband is a good sport! Mac rarely prepares our meals, but when he does, he is willing to be creative – a necessity when one’s raw materials are winter vegetables. I would be remiss, however, in not mentioning that he longs for corn chips and canned chili – his planned non-local dinner menu for January 1, 2009.

Mike Lawrence and fellow blogger Gina have scratched the surface of the potential economic impacts of eating locally. I touch on it, too, in my January 30 post, FAQ: How do you define “local?” Thanks, Gina, for the book recommendation. As for Mike’s note about access and exchange of information via the internet, listserves can link farmers, consumers, chefs and others interested in obtaining local food. For example, I belong to a Yahoo Group focusing on food related topics relevant to Southwest Michigan. The group is growing quickly and many connections are being made.

Sherry Maurer asked about storage of local foods. I’ll be tackling that in an upcoming blog, as we will struggle with this when the weather starts to warm up. So far, it’s been cold enough in the garage to store our twice monthly CSA shares.

Keep the comments coming! Your participation makes this process a conversation, rather than a monologue. Thanks.

Posted by Donna McClurkan | January 31, 2008 4:08 PM

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I have purchased veggies, squinted at internet websites, dreamed of the perfect winter day with the soup happily bubbling on the stove, providing us with some humidity in the house and a delicious supper, for several months now (think I've tossed veggies out twice).
Mac's approach sounds much better. Surely a '5' gives one something to build on, and being able to 'do it myself' without a recipe has long been my definition of a good cook.
Bravo Mac!
and bravo to Donna too, because you plunged right in as well.

Posted by Jennifer | March 1, 2008 9:17 PM