Week Five of Dark Days Challenge

12/31/10
Last day of the year; time for a local feast! I found Emmer flour at the Sno-Isle Coop, organic and grown in Eastern Washington. According to the package, it can be used like rye flour. So I found a recipe for Irish Soda Bread and tried it – delicious. My guess is that this is probably more like the original Irish Soda Bread than what we make with refined white flour. A friend had brought Moroccan Vegetable soup to a potluck and we liked it so much I begged for the recipe. I love the combination of squash and parsnips, although I would not have guessed they would be compatible. I may make a variation next time with curry spices (freshly ground cumin and coriander, and curry powder) and perhaps some ginger. I also added chopped garlic in with the onions because I can’t resist.

Menu
Morocan Vegetable Soup (see recipe below)
Irish Soda Bread (see recipe below)
Slathered with Golden Glen Creamery butter and local honey
Cabbage & kale slaw

OK, I admit, I also added a nice chunk of halibut, which we buy from Troller Point Fisheries right off the boat at the Everett port. It’s so fresh and good it needs nothing on it, just microwaved until just barely done.

Morocan Vegetable Soup
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moroccan-Vegetable-Soup/Detail.aspx

I actually made some homemade vegetable stock because I really wanted to be local with this. For the soup, I used Washington parsnips (unfortunately none of the parsnips I planted came up, maybe they will next year), Washington onion, and a Washington golden beet I had on hand, our own garden carrots, squash and garlic.

Irish Soda Bread
http://www.sodabread.us/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm
This site is actually called Society For the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, I used their recipe for “Brown Bread.” As I mentioned, I used Emmer flour instead of the wheat flour called for. Instead of buttermilk, I used Grace Harbor Farms Guernsey yogurt. It comes with cream on the top, and I scrapped it off and included it in the bread. This made an excellent fresh bread, which I ate entirely too much of!

Cabbage and kale slaw
Use your favorite recipe for cole slaw with local cabbage, and add about 1 cup of chopped very fresh kale into it. Fresh kale is tender and sweet. If you buy it in the store, make sure to use it immediately. Better yet, grow it, pick it and eat it right away. You’ll be amazed at the difference in flavor and tenderness.

Not local:
Oil (I used coconut oil and olive oil), salt, pepper, mayonnaise, baking soda