This dinner turned out to be a lot more complicated than I would have chosen. It's in the oven right now, and I'll let you know if the taste was worth the time. While it's cooking, I'll tell you how I did it.
In search of local grains:
Just what is local is a very good question.
Someone told me that PCC Markets had a larger variety of local products, so I drove the 20 miles to Edmonds from Everett to see if that was the case. I didn't find that to be the case But, anyway, as long as I was at PCC I had to buy something - right?
I bought some flour that was milled at Fairhaven Mills in Bellingham. They grow a lot of grains in Eastern Washington - why can't we get a product that is labeled as grown in Washington? I suspect that grains are mixed together randomly and their origin is not something that is noted. I also tried Manna Mills in Mountlake Terrace - I was sure that they would have some local grains since they mill flour there - but they told me they get their grains from Montana.
I think our local Sno-Isle Food Coop has at least as many local products as PCC, if not more - and they are getting better all the time at labeling them prominently on the shelves. Sno-Isle Food Coop is carrying an organic Emmer Flour that was actually grown in Eastern Washington. It's pretty expensive, though.
We just signed up for a grain CSA - Bluebird Farms grows organic grains in Eastern Washington. They have whole grains, cereals, flours and mixes like pancake mix. It sems to be a solution to obtaining locally grown grains. If you've found another source, please let me know!
So here is tonight's menu:
Vegetable pie with biscuit topping
Sprouts (a simple side garnish, grown in our kitchen from organic seeds)
Doesn't sound like much, but think of it as a "one pot dinner." Here is the recipe I started from:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Root-Vegetable-and-Mushroom-Pie-with-Rosemary-Biscuit-Topping-351510
I changed a lot about this recipe. What we basically have is a filling of cooked vegetables in a thickened white sauce, with biscuits topping it as a kind of crust. If there was more broth and we were cooking this on the stove, we would have dumplings.
Here is my variation of the recipe:
2 potatoes, washed, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (from Klesick Farms Organic NW CSA Box)
2 Jerusalem Artichokes, washed, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (also from the CSA box)
2 carrots, washed, trimmed, and cut into chunks (from our garden)
2-8 garlic cloves (from our garden, I used all 8, roasted)
olive oil
salt, freshly ground pepper
3-6 cups kale, thick stem trimmed out, leaves chopped into 2 inch pieces (from the CSA box)
2 cups vegetable broth or water (I made some from the vegetable trimmings)
1 onion, chopped (local to Washington)
3 Tablespoons butter (Golden Glen Creamery, Bow)
herbs, such as fresh parsley, dried oregano, rosemary (from my garden)
1/2 cup flour (I used organic whole wheat pastry flour, milled in Bellingham, Fairhaven Mills)
1 cup milk (Jackie's Jersey Raw Milk, Bellingham)
1 teaspoon salt
Biscuit topping
2 1/4 cups flour (I used the same organic whole wheat pastry flour from Bellingham)
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs such as dill, thyme, oregano etc (optional)
6 tablespoons butter, cut into small chunks (Golden Glen Creamery, Bow)
1 3/4 cups buttermilk (I used a combination of Jersery Farms whole milk yogurt and more of Jackie's Jersey Raw Milk, Bellingham)
Directions:
The recipe says to cook the vegetables in the broth or water in a large pot until they are done. Then put them aside in a different container and use the same pot to cook the onions in the butter on medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Then add the flour and stirring constantly about 1 minute. Dump in the cooked vegetables with broth and the herbs, and add the milk (the recipe calls for cream but I just used whole milk), and cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes.
Here's how I changed it: I tossed the potato, Jerusalem Artichokes, carrots and garlic with olive oil and salt and pepper and roast them in a 400 degree oven until they were done, stirring every 5 minutes (approximately 15-20 minutes). Then I cooked just the kale in the broth, and followed the rest of the recipe. You combine all the cooked vegetables, the flour, herbs, milk and salt, and cook about 10 minutes until the broth thickens, and everything simmers nicely. Then pour into a buttered 9x13 inch baking pan, and top the hot filling immediately with the biscuit topping, see below.
Biscuit topping:
While the vegetables are cooking, mix the flour together very well with the baking powder, herbs and salt. Mix in the butter with finger tips, rubbing them in until it resembles course corn meal. Stir in the buttermilk, or milk and yogurt and mix lightly with your hands. Drop by spoonfuls onto the hot filling, and pop into the oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until the biscuits are done.
I think oven roasting the potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes, carrots and garlic improves the flavor a lot however, it is a lot of work. I'm not sure I would go to that much trouble next time. You can see that you can substitute a lot of different vegetables, depending on what you have on hand - just get them cooked, and hot in the white sauce with some herbs for flavor and top with biscuits dough. You may have a favorite biscuit recipe which would work just fine here.
Now the evaluation: was it worth the 2+ hours of work? (OK, I'm minimizing. I really spent about 3 hours, but I'm reluctant to tell you because I don't think you'll try this!) YES! It's worth it! The Jerusalem Artichokes are sweet and earthy and lend a new flavor to this would-be ordinary potato-carrot filling. The biscuits are crunchy and mix well with the filling. I'll bet the leftovers are going to be great tomorrow, and I won't have to spend any time on dinner! Of course, this dish is a little unusual for me because it's not low fat, and maybe that's why I think it turned out so good!
Not local: olive oil, salt, pepper, baking powder
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