Celery Root Slaw

I once again find myself turning to Jack Bishop in my time of vegetative need. When you get a celery root in your CSA bag you sometimes need some inspiration. Luckily, Jack is usually there for me. This recipe comes from his superb 'Vegetables Every Day' book which I have mentioned countless times on this site.

I wish I hadn't been in a hurry yesterday so that I could produce a photo of the very dirty, very ugly (but very delicious!) celery root I used in this recipe. You probably waltz past its ugliness in the grocery store where it is relegated to obscure status, drying out by the horseradish and taro root (if your grocery store even bothers to carry them!). Fortunately, our farm pops one in our bag as a surprise every now and then and they *are* fun to cook with.

This salad took me all of 6 minutes or so to make last night as a side to go with roasted potatoes and buffalo burgers. Give it a try - you won't be disappointed. I will note here that the recipe does require a food processor (or good knife skills and a LOT of patience). I used to think it was too fussy to mess around with the other blades on the processor but now that I've worked the shredder into the rotation, I don't give it a second thought.

Celery Root and Apple Slaw
Adapted from Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every Day
Serves 6 as a side

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (Bishop calls for lemon juice, but I didn't have any, hence the 'adaptation')
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves or 1.5 tsp minced fresh tarragon leaves (it was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like going outside to find parsley, so I didn't add any fresh herbs. Dish was still great, though undoubtedly could have been even better with the herbs!)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium celery root
1 medium Granny Smith apple

Whisk the vinegar and mustard together in a bowl. Whisk in the oil until the dressing is smooth. Whisk in the yogurt and herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cut a thin slice from either end of the celery root. Place the root on a cutting board and cut around the root with a paring knife to remove the skin as if removing the peel and pith from an orange to expose the flesh. Cut the peeled celery root into chunks that will fit in the feed tube of a food processor. Quarter and core the apple, but do not peel.

Shred the celery root and apple in a food processor fitted with the shredding disk. Place the shredded celery and apple in the bowl with the dressing and toss well with your hands until all is well coated. Adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 hours and serve chilled.

Panzanella

A little bread never hurt anyone. Heck, even a little white bread never hurt anyone...however there's never a LITTLE bit of bread around this house. It's either all or nothing.

That's how I ended up making panzanella a few days ago with (hard to believe) leftover baguette and the freshest ingredients on earth, plucked from my back garden just before assembling the salad.

This salad takes very little time to assemble. Just a bit of chopping and perhaps toasting (or grilling?) if your bread isn't stale enough. You could omit the green beans and substitute something else if you didn't want to go to the trouble of filling a pot to blanch them. Any way you look at it, it's an easy, no heat, low fuss dinner.

Panzanella

Serves 4

Pint (or more) cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

1 or 2 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces

8 oz green beans, blanched

3/4 c fresh mozzarella, cubed

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 day old baguette, white or whole grain, toasted or grilled if not dried out

1 garlic clove

1 medium cucumber, seeded, quartered and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 c very thinly sliced red onion

1/4 c (or more) thinly sliced basil

Basil flowers, for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Halve garlic clove. Rub cut side of garlic on toasted bread. Cut bread into bite sized chunks. Set aside.

Combine vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl or a jar. Drizzle in oil and whisk or add oil, put a lid on the jar and shake vigorously.

Put tomatoes, cucumber, onion bread and basil in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over and toss well to combine. Divide among four plates and garnish with basil flowers.

Did I mention that we had garlic bread as a side? Like I said...it's all or nothing...

Gazpacho Verde

Thanks to my excellent neighbors and their surplus crop of seedlings this spring, I'm growing tomatillos for the first time this summer. They are fairly easy to grow and are somewhat similar in maintenance to a tomato plant. They first show husks, then the tomatillos ripen and fill the husks and are ready for harvest (though I've had to learn when to pick them, as much of my harvesting has been from the ground!).


They seem to do well left on the counter for several days. When you are ready to use them, you remove the husk, rinse them (they are very sticky!), cut out the small core and then use them to your hearts desire. After said excellent neighbors stopped by with a bag of nearly two pounds of their tomatillos, I knew I had enough for a big batch of tomatillo gazpacho, or gazpacho verde as I've renamed it.

It's a simple recipe and merely requires a quick saute of some garlic, some chopping and blending in the food processor and chilling in the fridge. It's great for a hot summer day, and is a refreshing change from regular gazpacho.



Gazpacho Verde
Adapted from Eating Well In Season by Jessie Price and the Editors of Eating Well
Serves 4

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 avocado, halved and pitted (*see note)
1 lb tomatillos, husks removed, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chipped
1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped (optional)
2 c chicken or vegetable broth (or 1c broth and 1c water)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz cooked and peeled shrimp, chopped (optional *see directions below Note for use)



Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until just beginning to brown (1-2 minutes). Remove from heat.

Coarsely chop half the cucumber and the avocado and place in food processor. Add tomatillos, bell pepper, jalapeno (if desired) and garlic. Process until smooth (1-2 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl; stir in broth, sugar and salt.


Chill gazpacho for 1 hour (or up to 1 day). Dice remaining cucumber and set aside. Ladle gazpacho into bowls and top with a sprinkling of diced cucumber.

Note: The original recipe calls for avocado and shrimp 'salad' on top. I made my gazpacho ahead of time to chill most of the afternoon and didn't want my avocado to brown, so I just blended the whole avocado into the soup, rather than using half as the recipe stated (the other half being reserved for the salad). I had no jalapenos so didn't use them. I didn't feel like thawing shrimp, so I didn't use that either. I've included additional directions below for using the shrimp and avocado salad on top.
_______________

Alternatively, dice remaining cucumber and avocado and place in medium bowl. Add shrimp. Drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp oil and gently toss to combine. Ladle gazpacho into bowls and top each portion with about 3/4 c of the shrimp 'salad'.

Sauteed wax beans with tomatoes and basil

I am cooking and eating vegetables at rates previously unknown to man. Another Tuesday has arrived and another CSA pickup has occurred. This is our first week for corn and melons (wahoo!). I don't know if the photo above looks like a lot or a little to you, but that's what we got for a 'single' share this week. There are two people in my household. Though we entertain a lot, it still only makes a dent in our weekly share, so we just eat veggies left right and center.

Generally, I like to use the corn the day we get it because it's just SO DANG GOOD, but I wasn't up for shucking and consuming five ears of corn Tuesday night (though now I can't remember why?), so I thought I'd attack squash (I still hadn't finished last week's squash - more on that recipe in a few days) and the yellow wax beans that came in this bag. I had cherry tomatoes from the back garden that needed using, so that along with a few fresh herbs and a bit of onion made up the dish.

We grilled a bit of salmon as our main protein (about 8 oz for the two of us - I'm working on making meat a side dish rather than a main) and I fixed a fussy squash dish that was worth every bit of hassle - will share that with you later - then fixed a little off the cuff veggie medley as our other vegetable melange for the evening.

Sauteed wax beans with tomatoes and basil

Serves 2-3 as a side

1/2 lb yellow wax beans (or green if that's what you've got), parboiled for 2 min, cooled to stop the cooking and sliced into 1 in pieces

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes

1/2 onion (any color), sliced

1 tbsp basil, cut in a chiffonade (or chopped, or torn up, or however you want)

1 tsp olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan with the oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until soft, but with no color. Add the parboiled beans and saute for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and toss; cook for 1 minute. Taste, add seasoning as you like, sprinkle basil on top and serve immediately.

Other fresh herbs would work here - chives and tarragon come to mind as good choices. Use whatever is freshest that's available to you!

Grilled Eggplant with Cherry Tomato and Cilantro Vinaigrette

After some major pruning last week, I discovered I had several eggplant ready for harvest in the back garden. I get so excited to garden, I sometimes don't think about what I will do with all of the veggies I've planted when it's time to harvest. I don't think I have *ever* purchased an eggplant in the store, but I have gotten them from the farm for the last several years. But I always have to go searching for something to do with them when they show up in my produce bag.

'Perfect Vegetables' to the rescue. This cookbook is put out by the wonderful people at Cook's Illustrated. Every cookbook of theirs that I've tried as well as every recipe from the magazine have always been successful, and that's obviously because of their methods. They test the heck out of every recipe before publishing. So it takes the guesswork out for you and me. That said, whenever I don't have a specific ingredient on hand, I will change a recipe to accommodate what I do have in the house versus going out to the grocery store to buy a shallot or something.

Faced with the two globe eggplant from out back (wear gloves when you harvest eggplant - OUCH!) and the Japanese eggplant from the farm, I wanted to find something that would be so good that I would eat it all (and use them all up at once). For that I was willing to take a few extra steps to get it right.

I also have a constant stream of cherry tomatoes at the ready; every time I pick one, ten new ripe tomatoes appear in its place. The herbs were also no problem as I've got them growing absolutely everywhere. So this dish was local and sustainable in the extreme and that's the cooking that is the most fun for me.

Grilled Eggplant with Cherry Tomato and Cilantro Vinaigrette

adapted from Perfect Vegetables by the editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

1/2 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, each tomato quartered (about 1c)
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 small red onion, sliced (PV specified 1 shallot, minced)
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons lemon juice (PV specified lime)
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 recipe grilled eggplant (see below)

Mix tomatoes, salt, cayenne, onion, cilantro, lemon juice and oil together in a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature until the flavors meld, about 20 minutes.

Transfer grilled eggplant to a platter. Pour the vinaigrette over the grilled eggplant and serve immediately.

Grilled Eggplant

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp minced fresh thyme or oregano leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-3 small to medium eggplant (about 2 lbs), ends trimmed, cut crosswise into rounds

Combine oil, garlic, herb, salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Place the eggplant on a platter and brush both sides with the oil mixture.

Grill the eggplant over a medium-hot fire, turning once, until both sides are marked with dark stripes, 8-10 minutes. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

*some people insist upon salting eggplant to reduce bitterness. If you use really fresh eggplant, there will be nothing bitter about it!

Vegetables in Thai Red Curry

I recently received a complimentary issue of Vegetarian Times in the mail and browsed through it with excitement about the recipes therein. As I mentioned, I have been recently accosted with veggie abundance via my CSA and have been trying to use as many veggies as possible in everything I cook. There was a section on 'The Zen Kitchen' and cooking the Tassajara way (which means nothing to me because I only read the recipes - so I'll have to go back and read about it) where I found a recipe for 'Vegetables in Thai Red Curry' that I realized could be used as a method rather than strictly a recipe.

I've listed my version here, however you could either go to their website or buy the magazine (it's on page 63 of the September issue) to get their exact recipe or you could just use whatever veggies you have at your house that might be good in a curry sauce. And let's be honest - what *isn't* good slathered in curry sauce??

Vegetables in Thai Red Curry

Adapted from Vegetarian Times Magazine

Serves 4

1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets

5 or 6 small carrots, cut into chunks

1 sweet bell pepper, any color, sliced into strips

1 large zucchini, cut into chunks or rounds

1 tbsp canola oil

1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste, or to taste (I use the Thai Kitchen brand)

1 14oz can light coconut milk

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbs tamari or soy sauce

20-30 fresh Thai basil leaves

Place cut zucchini in a colander and sprinkle two teaspoons kosher salt over it and toss. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Wipe salt and blot dry with paper towels. Set aside until ready to use. You can skip this step, but honestly I think it's worth the trouble. It let's the zucchini release all of its moisture and you can brown it a bit and give it better flavor.

Blanch cauliflower for 3 minutes in a pot of boiling, salted water. Remove with a strainer and rinse under cold water to stop cooking. Repeat with carrots in same pot of water. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini and cook for 5 minutes until nicely browned in spots. Add carrots and saute for 2-3 minutes further then remove the vegetables from the pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine 1tbsp curry paste with a few tbsps of coconut milk. Stir together until the paste dissolves into the milk. In a wide saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut milk, curry slurry, sugar, tamari and 1/2 cup water. If it is not spicy enough for your taste, make another slurry with a bit of water and add it to the sauce.

Add vegetables and 1/2 of basil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Garnish with the rest of the basil. Serve over some type of grain (I used whole wheat couscous).

Yellow summer squash and shrimp whole wheat couscous

It's very suddenly become the season of abundance. Well, perhaps not suddenly, but I very recently spent three weeks in winter in the southern hemisphere which has thrown off my internal calendar completely.

I picked up our weekly produce share from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) the other night and had to heave the bag into the car. We get a single share, which theoretically is enough for 2-3 omnivores or 1-2 vegetarians. I would agree with the omnivore statement if you eat a LOT of vegetables. Which we've been doing more and more of since we 'joined' the farm.

It's also suddenly the season of massive, shocking quantities of summer squash. In the last week, I've made squash bread, squash cake with cream cheese frosting (yum), roasted squash and the dish I'll share with you below that I made last night. I still have enough for grilled squash as a side with dinner tonight, and a really nice summer squash gratin that I will make this weekend. By God, I hope that covers the squash. I still have a lot of other veg in that bag to eat.



I picked up a cookbook I have called 'A Passion For Vegetables' by Paul Gayler. It was a gift from a friend in London and I haven't used it nearly as much as I should have. Paging through, I found a recipe for 'Yellow Courgette and Prawn Couscous with Preserved Lemon and Olives'. Inspiration enough, I got down to business.




Courgettes (zucchini) were no problem - I have dozens of them stuffed into every crevasse of the refrigerator. But I didn't have preserved lemons, or a red chili, or sultanas. The last thing I can bear to do during the summer when I have so many veggies around I'm about to go mental is go to the store and buy additional things just to make a recipe work. So, I had to figure out how to make it fabulous with what I had on hand.



I did have an overabundance of green beans and fresh picked cherry tomatoes (harvested from my garden plot just prior to starting dinner). Also, while I love leftovers and not having to think what to make for lunch, I didn't need 8 servings, so I sort of halved much of the recipe and nearly doubled the veggies (because it's healther and I have so dang many of them!). So here's what I made:

Yellow summer squash and shrimp whole wheat couscous with lemon dressing
adapted from A Passion for Vegetables by Paul Gayler

Serves 4

4 servings of cooked whole wheat couscous (follow the directions on the box)

1 tablespoon olive oil (more if needed)

12 medium shrimp

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 medium yellow summer squash, sliced into rounds

1.5c chopped green beans, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes

1 c cherry tomatoes

2 tablespoons of blanched, slivered almonds

8 black olives, diced

1 red chili, deseeded and sliced (optional)

1 tsp chopped fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:

2 oz olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp chopped fresh mint or Italian parsley

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the sliced squash to the hot pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes and and chili and saute for a further 2 minutes. Add shrimp and saute until pink and nearly cooked. Add remaining ingredients (including cooked couscous) and toss to warm through.

Whisk dressing ingredients together and season to taste. Pour over couscous mixture, toss and serve warm. If you're serving it to my husband, make some garlic bread to go with it.

Green madness

Three weeks on holiday and I come back to a garden that is totally unrecognizable. Did someone put crack in the water? The large planter out back had some small, tidy tomato plants, some herbs, greens and beans. I came back to a forest of green broken only by the smattering of tomato blossoms and the occasional marigold peeking through. I have enough epazote to supply Rick Bayless' restaurants until year end. (In fact, I whacked a bunch of it out and took it to my favorite local restaurant where it's in their walk in until the chef can figure out how to use it).

Who knew what three weeks could do??

I went over to my community garden plot prepared for the worst, or so I thought. I literally couldn't recognize my plot when I arrived. Nor could I figure out what had happened to all of the vegetables. I couldn't see them for the weeds. This is the challenge of the first year in the plot that was previously abandoned. Three weeks of rain and untamed growth made it scary enough that I considered giving up then and there.

But salvation came in the form of little boys (and their mom!). The garden leader's boys to be more specific. Just my luck that they wanted to start a weeding business to suppliment their allowance. I became their first customer right there on the spot. It's got to be the best $12 I've ever spent. Those kids should be charging more; it must have taken them all weekend!

Once they were done, I was able to see what was going on underneath and it's all very exciting. Winter squashes, eggplant, loads of different (still green) tomatoes, herbs, greens and beans galore. And the bees are busy pollinating everything, bless them. I even found a few errant strawberries and popped them in my mouth, dirt and all. There's nothing better than a sun warmed strawberry straight off of the vine! So I'll need to go back to weeding every few days. Also, being mid-July, it's time to plant my fall crops of lettuces, onions and cruciferous veg. Heaven knows I could use the distraction after coming home from a really great vacation and being faced with sitting behind a desk for 10 hours a day.

Here's to the joys and challenges of nurturing plants. And eating them!

Growth

That's a photo of a butternut squash seedling pushing its little self out of the earth. It's a pretty neat thing to watch over a few days.

I can't express what a pleasure it has been to learn to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers from seed. Last summer I started small with a few seedlings and some container gardening. This year, I've gone full bore with a Denver Urban Gardens allotment a few blocks from home that I've split with neighbors, as well as the large (3'x9') raised bed I have out back.

I'm growing a variety of veggies and herbs, but the focus was to grow things we don't already get through our CSA, or things we get from them that we could always eat more of (let's just say that we're not growing extra cabbage).

I've planted the following in the big garden:

Radishes (which I've already pulled, eaten, and planted something else in their place)

Tomatoes (8 varieties!)

Peppers (5 kinds)
Tomatillos (thanks for the seedlings, my good neighbors!)

Pickling cukes

Armenian cukes

Broccoli rabe

Broccoli

Persian Garden Cress

Strawberries

Butternut squash

Hokkiado squash

Beetberry (this should be interesting!)

Beans (three types including one soup bean!)

Okra (this is something of an experiment!)

Kale

'Little Caesar' lettuce

Weirdly, I could go on, but I just realized how long this list is already. Anyway, a few things I did from seedlings, but the rest I did from seeds. Every day that I go visit to weed or water, things look different. I kneel down to pull a weed or check a plant, and suddenly realize how alive the garden is. There are bees buzzing around all of the flowers, ladybugs crawling around, weeds growing at a rate so fast you can nearly see them get bigger...it's amazing.

If you've never cared for a plant from the moment you place it into the earth and give it a bit of water, you should try it. It's interesting and satisfying. If nothing else, it will give you a significantly greater appreciation for the labor that goes into producing the food that you eat.

Breakfast in my belly! (oatmeal, skigirl style)

I learned to love oatmeal after my first cholesterol test as an adult. I didn't want to take drugs to combat elevated LDL (though the rest of my numbers were just fine and nearly brilliant, thank you very much), so I decided to take oatmeal and beans and cinnamon and whatever other food might positively impact my LDL reading.

It started with packet oatmeal. I look back on it now and even the Kashi in envelopes is really not very good at all compared with taking 5 minutes to make some in a little pot on the stove. I graduated to cylinders of Irish or Scottish oats in the oatmeal section. Eventually, I just bought big bags of rolled oats in the bulk bin.

Whether bought in bulk or in a carton, the rolled oats really do only take a few minutes of effort. Boil some water, add the oats, simmer for 5 minutes and viola!, you're done. You can top with fruit, honey, nuts or whatever strikes your fancy.

If you're willing to spend a little more time, I would highly recommend steel cut oats. They look like little pellets (like tiny pet food or something) and take rather longer to cook but are well worth the effort. I swear some days it takes 15 minutes and some days it takes 25, but it probably has more to do with what texture I'm looking for that day. As with anything, taste as you go, and it's done when you think it's ready.

Really healthy (and yummy!) breakfast for two

1/2 c steel cut oats
1 c water
scant dash of salt

Optional:
chopped nuts
yogurt*
honey**
sliced fruit (banana is probably my favorite here)
cinnamon

Bring water to boil in a 2.5 - 3 quart saucepan. Add salt. Slowly stir in oats. Reduce heat to a less vigorous boil and stir oats fairly constantly for about 5 minutes, or until you notice them thicken (whichever comes first). Do pay attention; you are at risk for the oats to boil over if you walk away to get something out of the refrigerator.

Reduce heat to medium low or until you have a slow simmer. Let the oats simmer, stirring occasionally for 10-20 minutes. If the water gets low and you think the oats are still too chewy for your taste, add a little hot water and cook longer. If you think they're spot on but they have too much liquid, serve with a slotted spoon. This really is a matter of taste. I like mine sort of al dente, with some chewy texture left.

Serve in two bowls topped with whatever you'd like. I like to stir in cinnamon, then top with a big dollop of full fat yogurt, sliced banana and then drizzle it with wildflower honey. YUM.

*We are lucky enough to have a source for locally made full fat, raw milk yogurt. A good substitute for this would be (full fat - come on, give it a try) Greek yogurt. Or if you just can't cope with the thought of full fat dairy you could use reduced fat Greek yogurt. But I promise you, it won't be as tasty!

**Heat kills the good bacteria in honey (I assume (but have not researched) that is true for yogurt as well). Honey is a living food. I would advise drizzling it on top of the yogurt if you're using it, not directly on the oatmeal. If you do put it directly in the hot oatmeal, enjoy it anyway...just realize that you're not getting the full benefit of the magic of honey.

Glazed radishes

Last night I was too lazy to make anything very complicated, so to accompany our mostly from-the-freezer dinner, I made some glazed radishes. It isn't always easy or intuitive to eat seasonally, what with strawberries and asparagus basically available all year long in your local store. However, radishes are no-brainer spring crop. Cooking them isn't something most people think of though.

If you think radishes are too spicy, or even if you don't like them at all, definitely give them a shot cooked. Here's a very easy recipe for glazed radishes.

Glazed Radishes
Adapted from Vegetables Everyday by Jack Bishop
Serves 2

1 bunch radishes (any color is fine)
1/4 red onion, diced
1/3 cup stock or broth
generous splash of white wine
1 tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley

Trim greens from the radishes and compost (or discard if you must). Clean the radishes and slice in half or in quarters for large (golf ball sized) radishes. Heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add red onion and saute 3-5 minutes until quite soft and it loses some of its color. Add the radishes and stir to coat with the butter (add more butter if need be).

Add stock and white wine, reduce heat slightly and put a tight fitting lid on your pot. Simmer for 10-12 minutes. Remove lid and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring heat back up to medium and reduce remaining liquid for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley and serve as a side to any wonderful springtime dinner.

Recipe can be easily doubled.

All I can hope for at this point is that the radishes I planted in the raised bed before all this freaky spring snow came out of nowhere decide to sprout in the next few days of warmth, or I'm back to the spring gardening drawing board (and to more supermarket shopping - ugh).

Bon appetit!

Italian...and local

So I've read two books set on Italy in the past week and I have a hankering for a bit of Italy in my tummy (since I won't be there any time soon). Tonight we're going to try the quietly touted Osteria Marco in Larimer Square. I'm really looking forward to it and to quenching the Italian craving that's been eating at me. Looks like they're fairly casual, which is what I'm in the mood for tonight. They make many of their cheeses in house and they also locally (and where possible organically) source many of their ingredients. Well...except for the imported Italian meats (YUM - guilty pleasure!).

I'm always more willing to give a business my hard earned cash when they in turn support local farmers and food artisans. Not to mention I think that it shows a deep appreciation for food and very often a deep commitment to the environment. I'm ahead of myself on Osteria Marco, but certainly there are a lot of restaurants in Denver that are making the extra effort. Two I think of immediately are Black Pearl and Gaia over in Platt Park. Black Pearl does it's best to buy sustainably raised meats and fish and also buy locally when possible. Gaia goes even further and grows many of their vegetables and herbs in their back yard, bakes their own bread (well, one of the owners also owns Pajama Baking Co which provides their bread), gets eggs from a smaller producer in Boulder and they're even taking a stab at growing grapes to make wine. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Want more local food in your life? Check out these websites to learn more or find a farm in your area:

http://localharvest.org/

http://monroefarm.com/ (this is the CSA I belong to. Great eggs and great veggies!)

http://100milediet.org/


Another website I *have* to mention is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My brother introduced me to it back when we actually had an aquarium in Denver. Remember Ocean Journey? And now a restaurant chain owns it...well anyway. This website can help you to make sustainable seafood choices when you eat, which is more important than you might realize. More on that later - that's a subject best explored on its own.

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

Will report back on Osteria Marco soon.