Shooting Stars of Thought

“If you go into a situation with nothing planned, sometimes wonderful stuff happens.” -Jerry Garcia

This weeks meal started with a wish for simplicity. I had just sent off the last of the out of town guests after a week of constant entertaining, and was looking for something no-fuss to prepare. Having missed my weekend trips to the farmers’ markets, I woke up Wednesday planning to head to another neighborhood’s farmers’ market after work (Ocean Beach). I figured I’d just pick up whatever vegetables looked best, grab a dozen eggs and whip together a fritatta or a souffle and call it a meal.

That’s when I picked up the Food and Wine and Bon Appetit issues that had arrived earlier in the week. All it took was one bus trip to work and my head was spinning with ideas. Simplicity flew out the window, creativity flew in right on cue to take its place. The result, I dare say, I’d stake my reputation on.

Instead of one simple fritatta, I picked out three recipes I wanted to try for dinner. (If you ask anyone who’s been a dinner guest of mine, I can tend to get carried away preparing a meal; this was no exception.) All three were do-able with local ingredients, something I was pretty proud that I recognized before even making it to the market.

At the Ocean Beach market, I picked up a few staples and a few new, exciting finds. From Richie’s Roasted Products (no website) I found air-roasted chiles–which were being roasted right before my eyes in the farmer’s market stall. An ingenious contraption that looked a little like a bingo wheel was being turned by hand crank while three fire-spewing valves threw flames onto the contents of the revolving metal cylinder. Bright green chilies danced inside, tumbling atop one another like, well, bingo balls. I picked up a bag of pasillo peppers, enticed by the description of their nutty taste. A caveat here–the peppers are actually from Mexico, so not 100% local, but they were roasted right there in front of me!

I also found another source of potatoes (my favorite potato farmer having finished the season’s crop already): Gama Farms in Fullerton and Arvinca. I couldn’t resist the gorgeous baby yukon gold creamers, and, because the baby potatoes were $4 a pound, also picked up some larger, $2/lb, yukon golds to throw into the mix (my 20-year old brother and his bottomless stomach having consumed much of my food budget earlier in the week). I picked up a red onion from Milagro farm in Aguanca CA, some radishes and cilantro, some vibrant baby yellow tomatoes from Carlsbad, and was off to whip up my meal.

(that rather strange dark mass in the plastic bag is the roasted pasillo peppers)

Waiting for me at home was some leftover zucchini, some darling cipollini onions, and of course my potted herbs and “local pantry”–the cooking staples I had managed to stockpile so far: olive oil, honey, ginger, and jam. Oh, and the stash of frozen fish I had come home with last week.

My trip to Point Loma Seafoods last week had a delicious twist when I walked out the door. Set up on the pier was a long canopy, with a row of ice-filled coolers underneath. It was the World Famous Smoked Fish Co., a stand I recognized from my Sunday morning farmers market but that I had never stopped at. Curious, I went over, and started asking whether any of the fish for sale was local. Mark Stratton, manning the booth, could not have said sweeter words–not only was some of the fish local, all the local fish he had had been caught less than 24 hours ago. I walked away with my arms full of sea bass, yellowtail, and albacore, my mind swimming with future meal ideas.

Here’s what I spun together for this week’s meal:

grilled yellowtail & cipollini onion kebobs with ginger-chili marinade
Ok, this is the dish I’d stake my reputation on. I don’t claim this that often, but one spoonful of the marinade and my tastebuds were blown away. I don’t take credit for it–the stunning flavors of this marinade stem from the individual excellence of the local products I used, particularly the subtle smoky sweetness of the wildflower honey I have from Chrystal’s Pure Honey in Borrego Springs, the slight tartness of Jackie’s Jams Apricoty Jam, and the nutty roasted pasillo pepper from Richie’s Roasted Products.

This recipe was based on a recipe from Bon Appetit’s August issue, Tuna Kebobs with Ginger-Chile Marinade (The 13 Things You’ll Make all Summer, p. 85). The original recipe called for rice vinegar, peanut oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce; to make it local I omitted the Asian ingredients and added local apricot jam. The result was a less liquidy marinade, almost like a wet rub, with the combination of sweet (jam, honey) and spicy (roasted pepper) creating a bewitching combination of flavors. The amount here is enough for two servings–it is easily doubled.

2 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. apricot jam
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 roasted pasillo pepper, diced
1 tbsp. cilantro, diced
fresh ground pepper
1/2 lb. fresh yellowtail, diced into 1″ cubes
1 zucchini, sliced thick
10 small cipollini onions
1 tbsp. oil
salt
pepper

combine first 7 ingredients and mix well. set 2 tbsp. marinade aside

coat fish in remaining marinade; let sit, refrigerated, for 1/2 hour.
toss zuccini and onions in oil, salt, and pepper
thread fish cubes, onions, and zucchini slices onto skewers
grill kebabs over medium-high heat about 6 minutes.
brush reserved marinade over kebabs and serve

Nicoise Potato Salad
I again modified a recipe in Bon Appetit’s August Issue (Farmers’ Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese Rounds, page 79) to use what I had at hand. The salad, which is essentially a nicoise salad, featured steamed and chilled new potatoes and green beans tossed with kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, basil and salad greens. I omitted the salad greens, resulting in a potato salad of sorts that worked great as a side dish. For lunch the next day, I added a hard boiled egg (local) and some greens and converted the side dish into a suitable entree. The dressing was a simple dijon vinaigrette–red wine vinegar, shallot, fresh thyme, dijon mustard, and olive oil; it was the other component of my meal that was not local (although I do know a source for local balsamic vinaigrette).

Grilled Corn and Radish Salad with Spicy Lime Dressing
I found this recipe in Food and Wine’s August Issue (Zesty Salads and More, page 106) and made only minor modifications. The original recipe called for raw corn; since I had the grill on for the fish kebabs I threw the corn on as well. The recipe also called for Italian parsley, cumin and a jalepeno; I used cilantro and a roasted pasillo pepper and omitted the cumin to keep the dish 100% local.

Oops. I’m a little late this week. Prepared my meal on Monday but haven’t had a chance to write about it until now (family in town, and an annual, albeit not quite local tradition-Thanksgiving in July-took all of my energy). But now that the sea has calmed, I’m finally ready to share last week’s meal.

As I quickly discovered when starting the One Local Summer challenge, I knew of a lot of local offerings in San Diego, but most of them were in the produce realm. So I set out excitedly during One Local Summer week #2, determined to find products that stretched beyond those that just come from the ground. After a week of exploring and investigating, I ended up with a bounty! Coincidentally, all of them happened to revolve around liquids, which in an iron chef-like way, became the theme of this week’s meal.

Water
My favorite discovery of the week was also the most rewarding. Looking at my foodshed map of last week’s meal, the first thing I noticed was how uneven my sources were spread out, always coming from the northeast of my neighborhood. There was nothing from the west, the dark blue mass on the map. Which is how my meal this week led me to the Pacific.

Despite bordering the ocean, I had never really explored San Diego’s seafood supply. In fact, the seafood I had found in the area was always somewhat disappointing, given my the city’s proximity to the sea. It doesn’t cease to amaze me that a coastal town sources most of its seafood from hundreds, nay thousands of miles away. While Alaskan salmon, Thai shrimp, and Maine shellfish are always available, never had I run across a store proudly boasting fish from Southern California.

I can’t remember where I heard of Point Loma Seafoods, but they have become my new favorite fish source. The crowded market, located directly next to one of the city’s many harbors, is little more than one big room, with an enormous counter serving as both store and restaurant. When I arrived, (after calling ahead, and learning they had local halibut), the room was organized chaos, families and tourists hungry for a late lunch, savvy home cooks looking to tote something home for dinner. Lines formed haphazardly clamoring for the attention of the more than 20 employees moving quickly behind the counter. By the time I made it up to the front, it was close to closing time, and the pile of local halibut that had been stocked in the refrigerated case in the morning had dwindled to just one 1/2 lb. piece. Luckily, it was mine.

Proudly toting my local halibut home, I knew there was only one way to prepare it–poached in another local ingredient I had just come across this week: milk.

Milk
Hollandia Dairy in San Marcos is about 45 minute drive from my house. The trip seems a little excessive to pick up a gallon of milk, but not knowing any other local dairy farms, I was willing to take the drive last Saturday. Luckily, calling ahead, I found that the dairy delivers milk to a store a little more than a mile from my house, and hopping on my bike I had local milk in no time. After a quick swing by the farmer’s market to pick up some gorgeous summer cantaloupe, the first corn pickings of the season, some plump zucchini and equally tempting basil, it was time to prepare me some dinner.

Well almost. There was one last ingredient to work into this week’s meal: beer.

Beer
Vermont has its maple syrup and cheese, Georgia its peaches, and Kentucky its bourbon. If there is one thing that San Diego is putting itself on the map for, it is beer. There are over 20 breweries in the San Diego area, with well over a handful of them being consistently award-winning. The brewing culture is so intense (and likes its beer the same way) that it’s created its own style: the San Diego IPA, also known as an Imperial IPA, or double IPA–a high-hops, high-alcohol beer that, while brewed across the state, is perhaps done best by San Diego breweries (I’ve been told this is due to the hard water); excellent examples include Alpine Pure Hoppiness and Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. So, even though I consider myself well aware of the San Diego beer offerings, I set out this week to get as close to local beer as possible.

Saturday afternoon we set out to visit two breweries in the area: Alesmith and Ballast Point, both of which are located in seemingly unsuspecting warehouse/office parks, and both of which gladly offer tastings, tours, and of course, beer for sale. Surrounded by the equipment in which the beer is made, we gladly sampled the breweries offerings, ending up with a growler of beer from each: Alesmith Summer Yulesmith and Ballast Point IPA (the Sculpin was in short supply, and sadly, not for sale). The Ballast Point brewery doubles as a home brew mart, and I also walked away with a vial of California Ale brewer’s yeast, which I intended to use for cooking dinner. The yeast, produced by White Labs, is actually fermented in San Diego, making it local, and I was assured that the California Ale strain was the first produced by the company.

Armed with local yeast and local beer, and a local recipe from another local brewery, I set out to make the most daring kitchen feat in my home cooking career. Spud Buds, as they are called at the Stone World Bistro & Gardens, are essentially fried mashed potato balls, where the potatoes are cooked in beer, whipped with yeast, and dipped in batter made with a second beer. Only in a brewery restaurant, right? (And, only at Stone, the vegetable oil used to fry the spud buds is reused, converted to biodiesel to fuel the company delivery trucks) Since I still had some local potatoes left over from last week, I knew I had to try to make them. The recipe comes from Chef Raymond Scott at Stone World Bistro and Gardens and appeared July’s Beer Advocate magazine.

The Spud Buds were admittedly the only component of my meal that was not 100% local, as the recipe called for flour, baking powder, and frying oil (I could have used local oil but it would have cost me upwards of $30, rather than $3, and I just couldn’t justify it). Ironically, it was the only recipe that backfired on me, as I couldn’t keep the oil temperature high enough and the mashed potato balls, which looked gorgeous pre-fry, disastrously fell apart. (When making, be sure to keep the oil temperature at a constant 350-360 F to avoid the same unfortunate fate.)

Recipes:

milk poached halibut and summer squash with cantaloupe & green tomato salsa

cantaloupe, green tomato & basil salsa

1 small cantaloupe
1/2 green tomato
1 bunch basil

dice cantaloupe, and green tomato into 1/4″ pieces
frisee basil by taking 3-4 leaves, carefully rolling into a spiral, and carefully slicing–slices should be curled.
toss basil, cantaloupe, and green tomato in bowl; chill until ready to serve

milk poached halibut & summer squash

this recipe was adapted from several I found that used milk as a poaching liquid. The closest is from UK chef Ed Baines
others are here and here
1 tsp. olive oil
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp ginger
2-3 cups milk (enough to cover the fish, depending on pan width)
5-10 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
1/2 lb. halibut filet
1 zucchini, halved and sliced lenthwise into 6 slices
4-5 basil leaves, diced, plus more for garnish

rub both sides of halibut with salt and pepper
heat oil in heavy bottomed skillet
saute shallot for 2 minutes, add garlic, and ginger, stir for 30 seconds or until fragrant
add milk, bay leaf and peppercorns, bring to rapid simmer
add halibut, zucchini and basil
cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until fish is almost done and zucchini is tender
remove fish and zucchini; cover with foil and tent for 10 minutes (fish will continue to cook while resting)
while fish is resting, increase heat to high and simmer milk mixture rapidly, decreasing volume by half
using a slotted spoon, spoon shallots & basil over fish, drizzle some of the reduced milk onto fish
garnish with basil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve warm

par-boiled corn on the cob

this is a perfect recipe for absolutely fresh early summer sweet corn, as the corn barely needs to cook. I use the same method for asparagus and it works perfectly every time.

corn on the cob
water
salt

Remove corn from husks. Submerge corn in salted water; bring to a rapid boil; turn off heat and drain corn. Let sit, covered, until serving time. Serve warm

I’ve been fooling around with the new google maps feature, my maps, for a few weeks now. I wanted to add this to yesterday’s post but had to talk to a few farmers today before I could complete it. I hope to do this each week from now on, hopefully getting a bit more elaborate with photos and links and whatnot.

Anway, here’s where my meal came from for One Local Summer Week #1 meal.

My day started out with a potato. Well, okay, one potato in a two-pound bag of potatoes that I had toted home from the farmer’s market the day before. It was gorgeous, in fact, I’d been admiring its beauty for the past 8 weeks, when I started buying its brothers from Mary at my local farmer’s market. But yesterday morning, Mary told me it was probably the last week she would have potatoes, and, after scooping up three baskets of blue, gold, and red tubers, I knew I needed to pay homage to the harvest. My first One Local Summer meal, I decided, needed to prominently feature this potato.

A laudable decision, yes, but one that caused me to spend, I’m not kidding, at least 3 hours of the day contemplating how to properly do justice to this potato. My respect for this particular crop runs deep–it is the only local starch I’ve found in the Southern California spring, and has become a staple of my meals these past few months. Mary is also the first local farmer I’d forged a relationship with, so part of my determination to properly celebrate this potato was for her. It was a strange feeling–I’ve never wanted to pay homage to one food product before (save for my favorite comfort food, the jalepeno cheese bread at the Liars Club, which needs little more preparation than a light toast) which is I guess why I found myself unable to decide on how to cook the damn roots. I pondered and pondered, and finally decided I was stumped. I’d already shaped these babies into every form I could think of–home fries, hash browns, two types of potato salad, even semi-successful gnocci. I wanted to do something different, something more.
(a tray of not-so-successful gnocci–I later learned the secret: freezing)

But the more I pondered the more I realized that what makes Mary’s potatoes special is that they’re good–far better than any I’d sampled before, and since. I realized that what I really needed to do was prepare them simply, to let them showcase their own flavor. It must have been a comical moment, me jumping up from amid a pile of cookbooks on the floor, excited by a sudden realization that I was going to roast some potatoes whole. I suddenly got inspired–not only would I roast the potatoes but I’d roast them with local olive oil from Petrou foods, local garlic from the farmer’s market, and a bit of fresh rosemary from my garden. My mouth was salivating already.

This, however, spurred on pondering session #2, as I was now stumped as to what I could possibly serve with these potatoes to do the decided-upon side dish justice. As I’ve mentioned earlier in the week, my options were limited, and because I was determined to make this meal 100% local, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would be preparing a vegan meal (if anyone knows of any dairy or meat farms in San Diego, I’m actively seeking options!).

Luckily, in addition to some gorgeous, inspiring potatoes, I had a few other treasures piled on my kitchen counter. I was particularly fond of the blue lake green beans I’d been getting all spring, and was eager to mingle them with the bewitching dragon beans that Carlsbad’s Valdivia Farms had at their farm stand last Saturday. I decided to feature a bean salad as a side dish, especially after stumbling across this one on Simply Recipes. I had peppermint growing in my garden and had some clementines from Polito family farms I could use in the dressing, along with oil from Petrau farms. Side dish #2, down.

Now for the main course, something that I passed up a Morley Field frisbee golf session to work out the details of. I had gorgeous summer squash, even more beautiful red peppers and some enormous rainbow chard that I was determined to weave together. Wanting to capture the essence of summer and the spirit of celebrating the food I was eating, I decided something elaborate was needed, and so it became: a terraine of summertime grilled vegetables.

I found a basic recipe in the America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (aka my kitchen bible), as well as a similar one on epicurious to base the dish on, and, pouring myself a glass of (local) San Pasqual Wine, I took it from there. There were some improvisations as I went along–I threw in some potatoes for good measure, I realized I didn’t have any local white wine so substituted Stone Beer (and the 2007 Vertical Epic at that!). Oh, and I cheated twice: at the very beginning, deciding to use chicken stock I had made and frozen earlier in the year–the chicken wasn’t local but it was free-range; at the very end, adding breadcrumbs from locally-made bread that was, alas, made with non-local flour.

The result? The potatoes were oh-so-perfect, the green beans light and refreshing (although the color faded from the dragon beans). And the terraine? From a foodie standpoint there were things I would have added if I could find them locally–a layer of goat cheese definitely, and if not some sort of protein at least some hearty mushrooms (which are available locally, I just hadn’t planned ahead). From a locavore standpoint, however, I was pretty pleased. The leftovers held up well (I drizzled on some leftover homemade pesto the next day), and, if you’ve got some meat in your foodshed I think this would make a great side dish (although a time-consuming one!).

Here are the recipes:

Roasted smashed potatoes with garlic & parsley

1/2 lb new potatoes, preferably 1 1/2 inch diameter or less
olive oil
salt/pepper
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 sprig fresh rosemary, diced

scrub potatoes well, let dry
preheat oven to 400 F
rub roasting pan with 2 tsp olive oil, place potatoes in pan and toss to coat
sprinkle with salt and pepper
roast in oven for 30 minutes, rotating after 15
take potatoes out of oven, let rest for 10 minutes
while potatoes are resting, heat 1 tsp oil in pan over medium heat, add garlic and rosemary, salt, and pepper and sautee for 2 minutes, stirring often so as to not let the garlic burn.
plate potatoes, smash each with large mallet
spoon rosemary and garlic mixture over each

mixed string bean and mint salad

(sorry for the blurriness–I was eager to eat!)

1/2 lb mixed green, wax, dragon, or other string beans
olive oil
handful fresh mint leaves
1 clementine

dice the mint and mix with olive oil
zest one clementine, add zest to olive oil
squeeze juice from clementine and add to oil mixture. let stand at room temperature until needed.
cut ends off beans and steam for 2-5 minutes over boiling water
rinse under cold water and place in fridge to stop cooking process.
mix beans and mint mixture and let stand in fridge until ready to serve.

zucchini, chard, blue potato and roasted red pepper casserole

2 red peppers
5 blue potatoes
4 medium summer squash
1 bunch swiss or rainbow chard, stems and leaves separated, both diced
1-2 red onions, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, diced
olive oil
garlic
2 tbsp. fresh italian parsley, diced
1 tsp. fresh oregano, diced
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup good beer (the better the beer the better the flavor!)
2-3 thick slices fresh bread
olive oil
salt/pepper

note: this recipe took me 2 hours from prep to table, and involves grilling, stovetop & oven time. Broiling could be substituted for the grilling if needed; improvisation in any of the steps or layers would also work fine, as long as all components are cooked prior to the dish going into the oven.

light grill, let heat for 15 minutes
stem and seed red peppers, slice into 4-5 flat pieces
slice zucchini into 1/4 inch strips
grill pepper and zucchini slices over open grill for 4-5 minutes per side, until peppers are blackened and zucchini have grill marks. Remove from heat. set zucchini aside

Place peppers in paper bag for 10 minutes. using a vegetable peeler, gently remove blackened skins from peppers. dice peeled peppers and set aside.

saute onions and chard stems with 2 tsp. oil over medium high heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are browned and soft. be careful not to burn. set mixture aside.

while onions are cooking, blanch chard leaves in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

heat garlic in 1 tsp oil over medium heat for 1 minute. add chicken stock, beer, oregano, and parsley, bring to simmer, cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat.

slice potatoes into 1/4″ slices. toss with 2 tsp oil and salt and pepper. line bottom of glass casserole dish and bake in 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

while potatoes are baking, place bread in food processor and pulse until bread is chopped into course crumbs.
place crumbs on cookie sheet in one layer and cook in oven for 5 minutes. remove from oven and set aside.

remove potatoes from oven (keep oven on) and carefully layer onion mixture, zucchini slices, blanched chard, and roasted red peppers over potatoes, in that order. pour stock and beer mixture over casserole dish. top with breadcrumbs and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

I signed up to take part in Pocket Farm’s One Local Summer, which starts, officially, today. The idea is to make one meal entirely out of local food once a week, for each week of summer. The idea is a strict one, with the only caveat allowing oil, salt, pepper, spices and herbs. Everything else for this one meal a week must be acquired, not to mention grown, raised, or harvested, locally.

I’ve insisted before that eating locally should not be viewed as a challenge, and for the same reasons I’m weary of calling my participation in One Local Summer a challenge. Rather, I’m hoping it will be a learning opportunity, giving me reason and inspiration to explore, to expand my horizons, and to find more farmers and purveyors than i would otherwise know about. I’m hoping I’ll know a lot more at the end of the summer than at the start, and maybe even think a little differently about how we eat. So I thought it would be a good idea to preface my first One Local Summer meal with a summary of sorts, so I could look back at the end of summer and see where I started.

Since committing last week, I’ve been spending a large part of my free time thinking about what eating locally means, and what my options are. I’ve been to 5 different farmers’ markets, spent a solid amount of time looking up local products (although have been disappointed not to find one solid resource of San Diego-area foods), and spent a bit more money than I usually would on a few staples. Here’s the results of a week’s worth of preparation:

First, I’m in great shape in terms of seasonal produce. Southern California is surprisingly bountiful, with over 200 agricultural products and over 2,000 small farms. Right now tomatoes, avocados, strawberries, leafy greens, summer squash, citrus, bell peppers, and string beans are heavily in season, and we’re just starting to see stone fruits (apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines), sweet corn, cantalopes, and other summer bounty. I’ve also found several farmers that allow me to stock up on what I consider staples of many meals–garlic, onions, and fresh herbs (I recently found ginger and bay leaves, both of which I’m excited about). So fruit and veggies promise to be the easy part.

I’ve also got my own garden to source from, although right now it is in a bit of a state of transition–I’ve harvested most of the swiss chard and all of the romaine that was planted earlier in the season, and I’ve just planted some soy beans, cantaloupe, and bell peppers but won’t see any fruit for weeks. I do have some lipstick peppers that I’m leaving on the vine until they turn red, and my two tomato plants are healthy and strong, with tons of small green fruits starting to appear. I just discovered that someone, probably the gardener my landlord hires to keep our bouganvilla under control, butchered and destroyed my dill, so I’m a bit disappointed about that, but I’ve got some healthy rosemary, sage, and oregano, and I just added some basil and mint to a planter in the shade.

I’ve also found some local gems that I think will help and probably guide the local meals I prepare this summer. I’ve stocked up on Wildflower Honey from Chrystal’s Pure Honey in Borrego Springs, and found Jackie’s Jams, which makes jam entirely from local produce and which I hope to use as a rub or marinade later in the summer. I snagged a jar of apricot as it’s in short season and she often sells out, but am enticed by pomegranate, strawberry, and chipotle peach too. I’m most excited, however, about the bottle of olive oil I bought today from George Petrou, who has been making olive oil in San Diego for over 20 years. The olives themselves are from Central California–he used to grow them in San Diego and Mexico but recently moved the operation. Still, it means I can cook with semi-local oil, making my meals that much more local. With fresh herbs and locally produced olive oil, I’m going to aim for salt and pepper to be my only outside-the-foodshed ingredients.

That said, I am also struggling with a few major food groups. I have yet to find a local source of meat, and although I know of one dairy (Hollandia Dairy, in San Marcos), I have yet to make the visit and don’t know what products they have. Because I don’t want my defintion of “local” to have to mean “vegetarian,” I’m determined to explore the options in the area. I have found local yellowtail caught off the shores of San Diego, and also local eggs, but do want to find what else is out there in terms of the animal kingdom. I also think I may have trouble with grains. There are local potatoes and sweet corn that I can use as starches, but rice and wheat I think are only produced outside my foodshed. I’m going to explore to see if there is any local grains, but also intend to do more research on using corn as a grain.

Oh, and how could I forget the last important component of a meal? I am excited to be able to celebrate San Diego’s wealth of local (and award-winning) breweries as well as at least one local winery that operates out of a warehouse less than 2 miles from my house. So drinks to accompany dinner promise not to be a problem; I also am excited about cooking with beer & wine.

One thing that I’m determined to do, since I am having so much trouble myself finding what San Diego has to offer, is to compile a list of local foods that I find and use. I’m experimenting with the format, but think a combination of lists and customized google maps may accompany this blog throughout the summer, hopefully culminating in a solid directory of San Diego-area local food.

And now, because it’s 5:00 and I have dinner to prepare, let the One Local Summer begin!