Lamb Meatballs with Yogurt Sauce, Roasted Roots

I've always been a fan of local foods. I was raised that way. We ate fresh eggs from Fanello's and would often pick up some other goods, a fresh killed chicken, perhaps. There was Albert's, by the train station, where we would get delicious bottles of milk with cream on the top that us kids would fight over. There were farm stands during the summer to supplement Mom's great garden on our little 1/8th of an acre plot. We had a strawberry patch and blueberry bushes, a mulberry tree that I would climb and hide in to snack for hours in the summer, a Queen Anne cherry tree, and raspberries down the road behind the post office. We also picked mussels and dug for clams at the beach. We bought grass-fed hormone-free meat. We bought freshly caught fish from the harbor (although a dubious practice in hindsight). This was the seventies and eighties in (or on, as the locals might say) Long Island. Amazing, right? I was raised with really good food.

As I got older I stayed close to local food. I worked in the early 90's at a restaurant called Home which was all about locally sourced or foraged foods and wines. I also worked at a wine store that sold only New York wines, Vintage New York. So, I've always been involved in local, as many people have. It's not a really new concept. But it's a concept that has been getting a lot of interest lately, and I think that's amazing. In the past few months of immersing myself in the food blog world, which is dizzying to say the least, one of the things I've most been interested in is the diligence of some locavores. It's been invigorating for me, because it's pushed me to get more involved and be more diligent myself. I work a bit harder to check labels and make sure where my food is coming from. I'm less complacent. One of the things that's hard to swallow for me about sourcing more food locally is the cost. But there are ways. And then there are concessions to be made. They are usually worthwhile. And that feels good.

After I cooked this meal last night, I realized it was mostly local. I didn't even plan on it. But the lamb is from Pine Plains, as are the Pine Island onions and the Veritas Farms celery root and the Four Winds Farm parsnips. The yogurt wasn't, but it very easily could have been (I have a weakness for greek yogurt on sale!). I realized that with just a little more thought and attention to detail, maybe a little more legwork, you can eat a little more local. Which is better than not eating local at all.

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In the name of local foods, would you like to take this short survey that my friend is working on? Here's some information about it:

A small team of people dedicated to the promotion and expansion of local sustainable agriculture and food are looking to better understand food purchasing habits and desires. The team has been assigned a year-long business development project as part of their studies at Antioch New England’s “Green MBA” program. The information you provide will help the team develop their business idea which seeks to connect local sustainable and organic farmers to consumers. At this point the effort is a school project only, but the team believes that it may develop into an actual local/regional business that could be replicated across the country. A summary of their final business plan will be made available later in 2010.

Late Night Chestnut Cake

I know that almost nine p.m. is not really late for many folks, but for me it is just a half hour shy of falling fast asleep. I wake up at about four a.m. due to a certain toddler in the house, so I have an excuse. No more late night partying in this house. So, we do what we can to keep ourselves amused. Like making this cake last night with the sweet chestnut puree I made on Friday married to the yogurt cake I made last weekend. It is very dense and chewy, so I think I need to tinker with it a bit, but it didn't stop me from having two pieces before bed. Quel scandale! It wasn't very sweet, which I like, and the chestnuts impart a slight nuttiness.

2 eggs
1 cup of whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
1/2 cup sweet chestnut puree

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F, grease a round ten-inch cake pan. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, and puree. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together -- don't overwork the dough. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, sprinkle with nice shiny organic cane sugar, and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, run a knife around to loosen, and turn out on a rack to cool.

Cranberry Spice Yogurt Cake

As I went for this morning's walk, which was truncated due to the nip in the air, I could smell winter lurking. The leaves are all down, smoke is churning out of a few chimneys on this quiet Wednesday morning, and the wind is blowing the water on the pond making it choppy and gray. The smell is welcome, really, because it's new and it made me excited about the holidays coming up, mostly for the food. Gravies and creamy potatoes, and all sorts of heavy things. I'm never able to fit too much dessert in because the main course always ruins it, doesn't it? So, I'm making some holiday cake a little early so I can enjoy it while it steams away in my hands, not ruined by a crispy pile of turkey skin (yes, I can't resist it) or a gratin of some sort. I'll still make it for the holidays though because it was one of the easiest recipes around, somewhat good for me (yogurt and whole wheat flour! Come on, give a girl a break!) and looks just so homey and pretty with it's sparkling cranberries and crisp layer of brown sugar crust. Visions of sugar plums, indeed!

This is based on the yogurt cake I wrote about here. I tweaked it to make my own slightly tart, not too sweet, holiday version. I also made some cranberry sauce with cranberries, sugar, orange juice and zest to plate the slices with, but I'm not sure I'll get that far today!

2 cups of whole wheat white flour

1 tbsp. baking powder

1 cup brown sugar, and a handful extra for topping

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 cup of whole milk plain yogurt

1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves--yeah, I'm lazy, so sue me! I got this at the health food store in the bulk section to save me some time this season. Also, it's fresher!)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. spiced rum

Preheat the oven to 350° F, and grease a ten-inch springform pan. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil and rum. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and spices. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and top with cranberries--as many or as little as you like. I didn't pack them in so they could have space to mix with the handful of brown sugar that you need to scatter over them. Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is crispy brown, the cranberries are popping and oozing their tart goodness, and a knife comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, run a knife around to loosen, and turn out on a rack to cool.

P.S. I entered my Cranberry Spice Yogurt Cake in the Bon Appetit Holiday Bake-Off contest. You can vote here.

Baby Bread

This is my favorite quick bread to make for baby. And for me, too! This time we baked it together--thirteen months and he's already baking. I'm so proud. What's great about this bread, aside from being quick, easy and delicious, is that you can play around with the ingredients ad infinitum. I've used all kinds of flours, all kinds of grated fruits and veggies, all kinds of sweeteners. What doesn't change is that I always use yogurt. The recipe is from Bittman's Bitten column, Quick Whole Wheat and Molasses Bread. He goes into the other things you can use besides yogurt. Funny that the first comment is from someone who likes to make this for her toddler. Below is yesterday's take. I added milk because the batter/dough was a tad too dry.

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 2/3 cup whole milk yogurt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

I added wet to dry, put in a greased pan, and baked for almost an hour at 350.

We had it with butter and this year's currant jelly, hot out of the oven. Do you have an easy go to bread?

Yogurt Cake

I was so excited with this cake that I took a bunch of pictures, cooing over it like a little baby. Once I ate some of it, I ran to take more pictures, thinking in some way that would document the deliciousness. To me, cake is the sine qua non dessert. It's the spongy, chewy texture I'm after. Something to bite into and fill the mouth. I'm serious. I love ice cream, but I get sick of it. Chocolate is incredible, but I don't indulge every day. Sweet breads (the breads, not the glands) must be what I crave. That carbohydrate loaded softness. Oh! And this delivered in just the way I like it. It was easy peasy and the texture made me purr. I ate it plain, and by evening there was only a wee slice left. I didn't eat it all, mind you, I did share. A little.

I got this recipe from my friend Eve, who knows my predilections for easy and sweet. I resisted the urge to mess around with it, for example, when I saw it asked for a tablespoon of baking powder and that it didn't ask for salt?? But I reigned myself in and trusted in the recipe, and lo, it repaid me twentyfold. Or, something like that. Actually, not entirely. I used vanilla sugar and omitted the vanilla extract. And I didn't use the rum, although next time I will. I'm such a rebel.

Gâteau au Yaourt

2 eggs
1 cup of whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon light rum

Preheat the oven to 350° F, line the bottom of a round ten-inch cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, oil and rum. In another bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and blend together -- don't overwork the dough. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, run a knife around to loosen, and turn out on a rack to cool.