Local food Thanksgiving

For a couple of months we’ve been planning a Thanksgiving meal made up of as many locally grown foods as possible. Thanks to the great folks who provide the CSA this endeavor just got a lot easier.


Let's start with the Thanksgiving centerpiece....turkey. We went looking for a non-industrial turkey after having read about mass production in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle . The great thing about Barbara Kingsolver's book is that even though she speaks to the inhumane side of the industrial food process, she also talks about the alternatives and people who are creating better food options. So we went looking for someone who raises heritage turkeys that were living a good turkey life. I started my search with the Slow Food preservation project called the Ark of Taste. This developed into email discussions with heritage turkey enthusiasts from all over the country who gave me tips on how to locate someone closer to home (I love the Internet!). We found Lisa Leonard at Wind Dancer Ranch. A group of us went in on a bulk purchase and Mark and I will be going to pick up the harvested birds right before The Day. Local food is generally considered to be anything produced within a certain range of where you live, and though Wind Dancer Ranch might not be considered local by the strictest standards the ranch is still within a reasonable distance. It's a day trip! And, this shopping trip will be way more fun than going to the grocery store because Lisa is eager to give us a tour of her ranch where she raises all kinds of heritage breeds. The Wind Dancer Ranch website is beautiful and informative...the attached image is just one of many that chronicle their life with heritage animals. You can still get one of these amazing birds in time for Thanksgiving; if you want the purchase to be cost effective get some of your friends and family in on a group purchase.

Next you'll need all the other dishes that make Thanksgiving and fall meals so special. This 2007 season is the second year for the spring/summer CSA program. The program coordinators and producers are amazing and they have accomplished great things in a really short period of time. As they manage the daily duties, like harvesting and packing, and the emergencies, such the loss of a pickup-spot volunteer, they continue to look for ways to meet the food needs of a diverse and complex demographic...us! With this in mind The Great Basin Basket CSA is offering fall programs this year; a fall basket and a Thanksgiving basket. I won't go into details here because the buzz has just surfaced and there are questions that only Pauline Hamilton at Great Basin Basket can answer. Email her today because you don't want to miss out.


This will be our first ever Thanksgiving planned with an emphasis on using the increasing number of locally produced foods. Those that aren't available through local producers we'll select sticking as close to possible to our food ethic without sacrificing too much. I'm not at all concerned about sacrificing taste, though, because if the turkey and fall CSA produce are anything like the other local foods we've eaten this year it will taste better than anything we've had before.

CSA - the veggies are coming in now!

All along we've been warned that CSAs start off slow in June, with lettuces and the few other Spring-friendly vegetables, then explode in abundance around August. They weren't kidding. I'll keep this entry short because we have veggies to eat. Here are a few of the dishes we'll be making with the produce we received in the last CSA and the beef we purchased from Home Grown Nevada.

Eggplant sandwiches from the Too Many Chefs blog; warm zucchini salad, again from Too Many Chefs; Warm beef salad; Melon gelato from Chez Panisse Fruit.

Slow Food Truckee

What is Slow Food? It is the celebration and preservation of a lifestyle that is intimately tied to good food grown and prepared by people who care, eaten in a mindful and appreciative way while engaged meaningfully with those we love. The movement originated in Italy during the 80's and has spread across the globe. And now there is a local convivium centered in Truckee, CA.


Tuesday night Mark, Dave, and I drove up to Truckee to attend the first Slow Food Truckee meeting. This meeting afforded us the opportunity to meet the people who are at the heart of this movement in our area: Lisa Boudreau of Lisa's Central Market, Mark Estee of Moody's Bistro and Lounge, Billy McCullough of Dragonfly Cuisine, Gary Romano of Sierra Valley Farms, Kaili Sanchez of Project Mana, and Maria Martin of the Nutrition Coalition, to name a few. The local movement is in its infancy but if this meeting was any indicator of the level of community interest and enthusiasm look for great things to happen. To learn more about what Slow Food means go to the Slow Food website or read Slow food nation: why our food should be good, clean, and fair and/or Slow food: the case for taste, both by Carlo Petrini, the father of the Slow Food movement.

Summer squash - two standouts from Home Grown Nevada

It's squash season and time to enjoy the wonderful varieties you'll never see at the supermarket. I've said it before but I'll say it again...I've never really been a summer squash person. I've eaten it in restaurants because it was the veggie of the day which included the typical zucchini and some other yellow squash that I couldn't identify either by taste or by appearance. Though the squash was certainly edible it wasn't anything I'd take the effort to cook at home. Then we started getting summer squash in our CSA baskets. OMG!

We've been eating or freezing all the squash that comes in our basket. However two of the varieties are so good we've been picking up extra from the Home Grown Nevada stall at the California Street farmers' market (Saturdays from 8:00-1:00):

Tromboccino Rampacante zucchini and Starship.

Not only are they wildly different in appearance they each have their own distinct taste. Summer squash is surprisingly versatile so the meal possibilities are endless. We ate our last batch in Summer Squash and Corn Pasta (from Chez Panisse Vegetables) while we watched The Fellowship of the Ring with our dogs (they love that movie).

Now that we can get a huge, delicious variety at the farmers' markets summer squash is back on the menu! Woo hoo!

Rediscovered flavors - cauliflower and Sod-Busters' chicken

I stopped eating chicken years ago. Not due to ethical or nutritional concerns but because it was so bland it wasn't worth eating. I found that dishes that included chicken could be tasty but it was primarily due to the numerous other ingredients in the recipe. I figured if I couldn't taste chicken why eat chicken. Sod-Busters chickens changed my mind.


Last Saturday we picked up the first couple of chickens from Deborah and Cliff Shirk's Sod-Busters Farm. I drove up to find them in the yard processing the chickens getting ready for all the people who'd ordered in June. They were friendly and professional, and seemed happy with their first effort with the new chicken breed. I was thrilled to find that these whole birds are nothing like what you'll find in the supermarkets. Huge chickens -- plump, fresh, immaculate, and having lived a "happy chicken life". Deborah and Cliff even helped me pack my family's order into my car as I had neglected to bring my cooler, in spite of Deborah's specific instructions to do so.

Since I'd rarely eaten chicken I didn't really know what to do with a whole one. I'd been on the lookout for recipes when I stumbled across a cocorico roaster in a NapaStyle catalog. It promised to do exactly what I needed. It arrived within a couple of days so we had it in time to cook dinner for our friends that Saturday. The NapaStyle website includes a recipe and instructions for using the cocorico, which we adapted to use with Hearts of Gold cantaloupe glaze from Lattin Farms. The Sod-Busters' chicken was larger than the one called for in the recipe so we added the fresh potatoes and cauliflower about 30 minutes after the chicken went into the oven. These chickens are so juicy it was necessary to remove some of the juice from the cocorico before we put the veggies in to cook.

Peaches and Arugula!

As usual, I went to the Saturday farmers' market to pick up a couple of things. Specifically, any tasty fruit to make a crostata for a friend's baby shower, and anything else that looked good. As it turned out blueberries were available and luscious...so blueberry crostata was on the menu. I conducted my usual produce inventory then stopped by the Home Grown Nevada stall to say good morning to Tina and Ann. Tina's garden has taken off and the stall was full of Nevada grown beef, vegetables, and melons. And she had arugula....I love arugula! This made me remember a recipe I'd seen in the Aug 07 Bon Appetit--Peach and Arugula Salad with Creamy Chive Dressing. I didn't remember all the other ingredients that were necessary to make this dish but figured if I had the best parts, how bad could it be? So I picked up some of Tina's arugula and wandered across the pathway to K & J Orchards to take a look at peaches. They had a small yellow cling-free variety, firm but wonderfully fragrant and, I later discovered, bursting with peach flavor. Nummy! As it turned out the recipe required only a few more ingredients: I had most of them at home and improvised with the others. It was stupendous! Easy and impressive if you're having company. Easy and decadent if it's just you, a loved one, and dinner on the patio in your pajamas.

Chinese green beans

I was wandering around the Tuesday market even though my basket was already full because I love to watch people interact the way it happens at farmers markets, between producers and the people who love their food. There is one particular stand (if there was an identifying sign I didn't see it) that is there every week, operated by an Asian family, typically an older gentleman and two younger boys. I love this stand in particular because the boys are the ones we get to interact with. There's something about a ten year old boy who knows about vegetables that I find heartening. There were the beans: super-long, plump, dark green, and frankly...different. Had to have them! Long ago Mark got used to unpacking the groceries to find some unfamiliar fruit or veggie. To his often asked question "What is it?" I'd reply "I have no idea but how bad could it be." I've rarely been disappointed and was not this time.

Mark cooked dinner that night, Gorgonzola raviolis and the Chinese green beans. He prepared them simply: just cut them into manageable pieces, then sautéed them in olive oil, butter, and garlic just until they'd lost that fibrous texture. Though Mark will eat green beans he is not a fan, but he really liked these. They still had that green bean taste and texture I love, but were a little nutty and a bit sweeter, which Mark enjoyed.

Next time you're at the market and are so inclined, try them and see how wonderful they can be.

Dinner at the Cheese Board

Yes! Dinner at the previously-solely-lunch-and-catering Cheese Board! Last Wednesday night Mark and I went to the first in a series of monthly dinners at The Cheese Board. The food and service was so good we made reservations for the August dinner before we even got to dessert.

The first great thing! When we walked in we were greeted by the usual friendly people...they always seem happy to see us and make us feel welcome. Gigi Werbeckes and the dedicated Cheese Board staff did a wonderful job creating an atmosphere that was comfortingly familiar but altered in a way that made the room feel like a restaurant ready to serve a casual, but nice, dinner...large flower arrangements strategically placed, tiny candles on the table, and subtle lighting.

We started our dinner with the signature cocktail, a cucumber, basil, ginger, gin martini. We really like martinis and are endlessly fascinated by the flavors mimicked in the hands of a talented and creative mixologist. And really, you can't eat (drink?) too many vegetables. I was delightfully surprised before the martini even hit the table...by the cocktail napkin! Katlin dropped the bright-yellow napkin on the black and white restaurant background and I was instantly tickled by the effect. Don't know why...I just loved that napkin. And the martini was superb...just a little sweet, tasting of all the ingredients but none overpowering the others. Delish!

Next we moved on to the food. I won't go into tremendous detail because I'm not a food critic, I just love to eat tasty, inventive, whole foods, and when I can get it at a restaurant that buys local produce I want to spread the word. Suffice it to say that every course was delicious and we would have eaten seconds if we'd had any room left. We started with fresh summer corn soup and a mesclun salad with watermelon, shaved red onion, and a balsamic reduction. Then moved on to spicy baby back ribs so tender you wonder why they put knives on the table; Yukon mashed potatoes with cilantro and fresh corn; polenta cake with summer berries and peaches topped with mascarpone cream and honeyed almonds. All yummy!

Kaimi Coonrad, the Executive Chef, uses fresh ingredients to create dishes with clear yet complex flavors that entice with waves of depth in each taste experience. We had a wonderful time and meal, and look forward to the next experience in August. Only one thing would make it better...a Cheese Board in Sparks!

Home Grown Nevada - Grass finished beef and our first venture into local food

The other day I was sitting here, wondering what great northern Nevada food thing I could write about next. Now that I might be called a "blogger" I was feeling the pressure to write about some newly discovered source. I've been really busy with other things (weddings, Artown, eating) and haven't had time to personally pursue and vouch for new (to me) local food leads. And then it occurred to me that I hadn't written a thing about our first foray into eating locally...grass-finished beef.

Last year, in reaction to what Mark and I had recently learned about how mass food production really happens, we went looking for a better way to buy our food. It was winter 2006 so we knew veggies were out of the question so we turned to the Internet to research other alternatives. We found Tina and Jim Smith of Home Grown Nevada. Though I was pretty proud of myself for "thinking" of buying beef locally they had already had a client base, a delivery system, and a website. Many of my friends, with and without children, are concerned about the way beef is produced on CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feed Operations). So when it was time to find families interested in trying grass-finished beef many were ready to sign on. So many, in fact, that we purchased an entire beef the first time out. Buying locally has changed the way we think about eating all meat and how I cook it.

When I was little we often ate cuts other than New York, Tri-tip, and Filet Mignon, but as I started cooking for myself and fell in love with the Bon Appetit style of cooking, I was drawn away from the cuts that were actually tastier but required longer cooking times, or cooking methods that were more complex than simply "start up the coals". As it turns out my family used to eat grass-finished beef all the time. Though it was no longer available in the supermarket, our rancher/farmer uncles kept our family supplied, so going back to GF beef held for me the unexpected pleasure of a lost family connection. GF beef does taste and look a bit different than corn-fed/finished beef and some of us were concerned we might not think it tasted like beef. Just one taste and we set those fears aside: it had the beefy taste and satisfying mouth feel we all love, and another quality that can only be attained when cattle are raised eating their natural diet, grass. For lack of a better description, terroir, the flavor imparted to food as a result of the regional environment.

It's been a few months since our first purchase and we are still excited about purchasing beef locally. We've eaten everything from hamburgers to filets and it's all been delicious. In September all the families will gather together to share a meal and an afternoon while we cook up the two Tri-tips (one on the grill, the other in the oven for hours at 200 degrees). We'll talk, share, laugh, and enjoy our time together. And talk about our next community-based beef purchase and which of our other friends and acquaintances might want to come along in 2008.

Suntara Farms - beautiful eggs from box to dessert

Michelle at Suntara Farms in Cold Springs raises hens that produce beautiful eggs, and now the average person can have some for their very own. We received our first dozen eggs a couple of weeks ago and, eager to experience the taste of fresh eggs, immediately made scrambled eggs. They were delicious! The rich egg taste brought back memories of the eggs we ate as children on grandma's Yerington farm. We could hardly wait for the next delivery! Based on our scrambled egg experience I had already decided that the next batch would go to the next-best egg-based food on the planet...double-vanilla ice cream.


The second dozen eggs created an even better sensory experience. The eggs came to us in our Great Basin Basket CSA delivery, held in a beautiful purple box labeled Suntara Farms. I opened the jewel-colored box to find perfect mid-sized eggs in colors ranging from familiar, comfortable brown to luminous ivory in hues of blue and green. I cracked the sturdy shells you'd expect to find in healthy eggs to find plump, deep golden yolks that separated easily from the whites. Ten minutes later the pre-ice cream was ready for the refrigerator. I knew immediately that if the color of the mixture was any indication of the taste, we were in for a wonderful treat. This batch of ice cream was intended for a casual dinner at the home of our best friends and their two boys, so we we're hoping for something special. And we were not disappointed! I've made this double-vanilla ice cream a couple of times, always with tasty results but this batch was stupendous. It was rich, creamy, with a decadent golden color that is indicative of the texture only great eggs can produce. We got what we'd hoped for, the best vanilla-ice cream we've ever tasted! You can get these eggs directly from Michelle at Suntara Farms. Her contact information is included in the producer list.

We were there but the market was gone!

Looks like the Saturday Sparks farmers' market is no more. Admittedly, the selection and the patronage were minimal so we were not surprised to find the parking lot empty when we pulled in to do our Saturday shopping. The good news is that fresh, locally grow produce can still be had at the Tuesday and Thursday markets.

Life (and lunch) is good! The Cheese Board and local food.

A couple of weeks ago while shopping at the Sparks farmers' market I was wandering around, checking out what was available that week, when I noticed one particular stall. All the produce was nicely displayed in baskets, the signage said "organic", and the farm name, Watanabe Farms, rang a bell. Where had I heard that name before? It took a few days but then I remembered. I'd seen the name on the lunch menu at The Cheese Board.

Last summer The Cheese Board served a delicious salad that included tomatoes grown by Watanabe Farms. Great tomatoes are unforgettable, as are really good meals, so the connection stuck with me. It seemed reasonable to assume that the Watanabe Farms selling produce at the farmers' market is the same one the Cheese Board purchased from, but I wanted to make sure the connection was real before saying so here.

So, yesterday I stopped by The Cheese Board for lunch hoping for an opportunity to speak with someone who could talk to me about the bistro's philosophy regarding local farms and producers, the restaurant's purchasing practices, and whether or not my assumption about the Watanabe connection was correct. I know a guy who knows a guy who said the person to talk to was Dave. And, Dave Kidder was the guy. He very generously took some time to visit with me, even though the lunch crowd would be coming in soon. And he told me what I'd hoped to hear: the Cheese Board is dedicated to the local food ethic and purchases whatever they can from local producers. The Watanabe Farms on the menu and at the farmers' market is one and the same. The Cheese Board and Heidi at Watanabe Farms have developed a very successful partnership and anyone who's had one of Cheese Board dishes made with Watanabe produce knows how that success tastes....Delicious!

Dave returned to the back of the house and I stayed in the dining room to eat my lunch. As usual the meal was stupendous. Baby greens with Heidi's Watanabe beets, roasted, served with a balsamic reduction and little toasts slathered with tangy, creamy goat cheese. And, even though I knew it would be too much for me to eat I couldn't pass up the artichoke Parmesan soup...yummy! If you're a soup lover, Dave's soups are heaven, year round.

Stop by for lunch and bring your friends and family. I’m sure you’ll find something to love. We always do!

Sparks' farmers' market - get there early!

I usually shop a the farmers' market located near Prater and Oddie in Sparks, which is open 8:00-1:00 each Tuesday. Yesterday I was on my way to lunch and thought I'd pop by the market to pick up some fruit for the week. I got there about 11:30 to find the parking lot filled with vehicles (though there were still parking spaces available), as usual.

To my surprise and delight (OK, I admit it, and disappointment) much of the produce had already been sold. I was still able to find the fruit I came for, but was unable to find the veggies I usually buy on impulse. Our family participates in the CSA so we get Nevada grown veggies each week but we also often buy from the farmers' markets.

It must be a sign that the demand for local produce has increased and we've shown there is a market in Sparks for good food produced off the grid. Woo hoo! But it also means you might need to get to the market early if you want to get everything you came for, and some things you didn't.

Where can you get eggs?

This year it is possible to get eggs through few different providers/producers.

If your family is participating in the Great Basin Basket CSA you will be able to order eggs through Pauline and pick them up with your weekly produce basket. If you're interested in the CSA program contact Pauline Hamilton at 843-6402.

The second option is to contact Michelle at Suntara Farms in Cold Springs. Order your eggs for pickup at the farm or arrange for pickup elsewhere. Better yet, if you have friends who are also interested in local, farm fresh eggs, order as a group and have one family pick-up and arrange for distribution. Contact Michelle at 972-5176 or 223-0258.

And finally, I've been told eggs are available at the Great Basin Food Co-op on Wonder Street. I have not yet had an opportunity to verify this but plan to stop by the co-op tonight to check it out. The co-op is a membership based operation so you'll need to pay a small fee to shop there.

More info to come.

About this blog

Finding, eating, buying, growing, and cooking local food.