Market to Table - September 24, 2009

I know. I know. With last week's Market to Table post usurped by the Recipe Index, I owe you two weeks worth of food porn. I promise. You will NOT be disappointed. I've been hard at work in the kitchen. So let's get right to it!

Mexican Soup and Whole Wheat Crackers with Herb Garlic Jelly

This is the mexican soup I made a few weeks back (aka my last canning expedition). I made two different pots of soup that day (one mexican and one italian). Both turned out beautifully.

On the side are some of my whole wheat crackers (whole wheat and honey are local) topped with some of Jammin' Granny's herb garlic jelly (from the farmers' market).

In leu of sharing leftovers (sorry, not a drop left now), I'll share the recipe...

Mexican Soup

• 1 jar of Two Brothers salsa (farmers' market)
• 1 pint of corn (home-canned with corn from the farmers' market)
• 2 cups pinto beans, soaked overnight, but not yet cooked
• 2 large cucuzza squash, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces (from a neighbor's farm)
• okra, cut into bite sized pieces (farmers' market)
• mushrooms, sliced (local - about 40 miles away)
• veggie broth (I use the reserved broth from steaming farmers' market veggies earlier in the week)
• olive oil (farmers' market)
• water (um, yeah, that's pretty local...)
• salt

Saute the mushrooms, okra, and cucuzza with olive oil in a large soup pot. Add salsa, corn, beans, and veggie broth. Add enough water to fill the soup pot. Simmer for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours, seasoning with salt to taste. Enjoy!

Yeah, soup is THAT easy! What are you waiting for?

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Stir-Fry/Stove top Casserole

Seriously, this has to be my most interesting stir-fry yet. I held nothing back. It was Friday. I had a bunch of random veggies in the fridge and I dug every last one of them out to clear the way for Saturday's farmers' market haul. To be honest, the whole thing sounded a bit strange to me as I was cooking it, but as is often the case with local food... it's so good, you just CAN'T mess it up.

I started with the 1/2 quart of leftover mexican soup (salsa, corn, beans, cucuzza, okra and mushrooms) and used it to cook 1/2 cup of brown rice (local). While it was simmering, I chopped up the rest of the sweet potatoes I dug out of the backyard garden, the green and red bell peppers (some from the farmers' market and some from the backyard garden), and the last of the okra and black eyed peas (farmers' market). The veggies were stir-fried in olive oil (farmers' market), covered (but stir occasionally to keep it from burning) until everything was cooked through.

Then I tossed in the stir-fry veggies with the souped-up brown rice and Voila! I wasn't sure I'd like sweet potatoes and rice in the same dish, but it was really good. Ok. Scratch that. It was AWESOME! Clearing out the fridge has never tasted so good!

PB&J and Fresh Veggies

Ok. This one, I threw in for no other reason that it looked really interesting on the plate. That's my homemade whole wheat bread (wheat and honey are local), slathered with my homemade jam (from local blackberries) and some organic peanut butter (not local). On the side, I just washed off some raw okra and sliced red and green bell peppers (all from the farmers' market) for a nice crunch alongside the smoothness of the PB&J. I love easy dinners...

You know, looking back at these photos, I'm totally making myself hungry. Thankfully, I still have plenty of goodies in the fridge and pantry, and of course, I'll be restocking on Saturday at the farmers' market. You gotta love a town where there's no end to the fresh produce - summer, fall, winter, or spring. We're always growing. So what's made it from the market to your table this week?

Happy (and mindful) eating!