Just a quick catch-up: I've made an even more conscience attempt to rid our house and, therefore, our cooking of processed foods. Most of our groceries are purchased at a local farmer's market or an ethnic, locally owned (i.e., non-chain) store in the area. The results have been well worth it, and I call bullshit from here on out for anyone who dares to say buying healthier is more expensive. Because you know what? Our household has already saved about $200 in grocery bills this month alone going the local route. Not only is it more cost-effective, it's also a great way to lose weight. I've lost 16 pounds in the past two months going local and cutting out the grossly overproduced corn products (such as high fructose corn syrup found in soft drinks) in my foods.
I will say that there are a few exceptions to our local rule. Mainly olive oil. You can't grow olives in Southwest Virginia, and I know of no locals who produce it. So, I rely on the aforementioned ethnic store (for those in the area who want to know, it's Oasis World Market) to purchase quality olive oil. I'm learning to weed out the processed staples (e.g., flours, grains and sugar) and sub in quality, organic staples. So far, that's meant using honey in place of white, granulated sugar and whole-wheat flour as a 1:1 substitute for the processed (and exceptionally non-nutritional) all-purpose flour.
No, this way of cooking is not convenient. This way of cooking means that when the tomatoes are done for the season, they are done. If I don't do any canning in time to bottle up the tomatoes, the peaches, etc., then that's it for the year. Which is okay, because after eating local produce for the past two months, I wouldn't look forward to trying to consume what's in the produce aisle of the grocery store, knowing full well it will be far inferior in taste and nutrition. Our house is going local, and it's going seasonal. It's a test, but it's been so much fun for this foodie to find creative ways to cook what's available in-season. It's how our ancestors cooked. Pretty sure it's how my great-grandmothers cooked. I like to think of what we're doing as an homage to them.
Anyway, off the soapbox and onto the recipes. Tonight was a ribeye steak (using, of course, grass-fed, grass-finished beef from our "supplier," Shadowchase Farm). To be honest, grass-fed beef is very tricky to cook. It tastes amazing, but it's also leaner than the "meat" you find in the grocery store. That means it cooks quicker than its grain-fed (inferior) relative. So, cooking grass-fed steaks has really been a learning curve that I can't quite nail down. Therefore, I'm leaving the cooking time out of this recap because I hit it at medium, and that's not the best way to eat a steak. I was shooting for medium-rare, which is the maximum doneness at which you should eat grass-fed steak (anything past that, and it becomes chewy and loses most of its healthy omega-3 nutrients [yeah, you just thought omega-3 came from salmon, didn't you? Turns out it comes from grass-fed, grass-finished beef as well; amazing what corporations can zap out of anything they get their hands on, and amazing what us little lemurs will eat without even thinking about it]).
But, I did like the marinade on this steak: 1/8 c. packed, fresh rosemary leaves; 1/4 c. olive oil; 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; salt and pepper to taste. Place all ingredients in a blender or food process and puree until smooth. Place the steaks (I used two ribeye steaks, so if you have more steaks, just adjust the ingredients accordingly) in a glass casserole dish and cover with the marinade. I let the steaks marinade for about 2 hours because ribeyes are a notoriously tender cut of meat, so they don't need much help in the tender department.
Sides were white corn (from the farmer's market, of course) and a new favorite: stuffed banana peppers. A part of eating local is just grabbing something that looks interesting and trying to figure out how to fix it. I had six medium banana peppers sitting on our counter for about two weeks and wanted to use them. So, I did the following (again this was for 6 medium peppers; you can adjust the amount of ingredients below accordingly):
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-Cut the tops off of the banana peppers and remove the ribs and seeds (you can do this by running a sharp knife around the outside of the rib and scraping out the insides).
-Boil the peppers in water for about 5 minutes until tender; drain and set aside.
-Chop the edible parts of the banana pepper tops and saute in a medium pan over medium heat along with 1/2 c. chopped onions for about 5 minutes.
-Add 3-4 large chopped tomatoes (with juices) and 2-3 minced garlic cloves to the onion mixture; season with salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp. each ground oregano and basil. Saute for about 8-10 minutes.
-Divide the tomato/onion mixture evenly. In one bowl of the mixture, add about 1/8 c. grated (fresh) Parmesan cheese, a handful of Panko crumbs, and about 1/4 tsp. salt to the tomato mixture (the other half of the mixture will be used to top the peppers).
-Place the Panko/tomato mixture in a pastry bag (if you don't have a pastry bag, just place the mixture in a Ziploc bag, close the bag, and cut the tip of one bottom corner of the bag to serve as a makeshift pastry bag).
-Squeeze the Panko mixture into the banana peppers that have been drained.
-Place the stuffed banana peppers into a small casserole dish and cover with the reserved tomato mixture.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (check the peppers halfway through; if they look cooked, just reduce the oven temperature to 275 or 300 degrees).
