The combination of beans and greens is a particular favorite of mine, especially when the beans are creamy garbanzos and the greens are young, tender leaves of swiss chard. If I have cooked garbanzo beans on hand, as I did from another meal this week, I know I can have a quick, simple, delicious dinner of beans and greens ready to eat in a matter of minutes.
I chopped up a slice of bacon, and cooked it until the fat rendered. I added a bit of onion — the quarter left over from last night’s dinner — and cooked it until slightly soft. Then I tossed in a bunch of swiss chard, sliced into wide strips, still wet from rinsing. I covered the pan and simmered for a few minutes until the chard was tender, then added the chickpeas and cooked uncovered until the peas were warm. I splashed on a little cider vinegar, added a few grinds of black pepper, and dinner was ready.
Thanks to the local farmers and ranchers who provide the food we eat:
- Sea Breeze Farm, Vashon, WA (14 miles): bacon
- Willie Green’s Organic Farm, Monroe, WA (22 miles): Swiss chard
- Sidhu Farms, Puyallup, WA (31 miles): onion
- Rockridge Orchards, Enumclaw, WA (34 miles): cider vinegar
- Alvarez Organic Farm, Mabton, WA (148 miles): garbanzo beans
Non-local ingredients:
- Black pepper (far, far away)
After a several-week winter hiatus, coinciding closely with my unplanned break* from the Dark Days Challenge, our little backyard flock has begun laying again. This week, the girls have given us 3-4 eggs each day, and although my husband eats an egg or two almost every day, the egg carton has been slowly filling up.
Last night, our dinner was fresh egg fettucine that I’d picked up at the U-District market, tossed with a sauté of farmers market leeks, garlic and carrot, and less local (but still Cascadian) red bell pepper and cremini mushrooms. I added thyme and black pepper, and grated a little parmesan on mine. Simple, quick and tasty… and as usual, I cooked more than than the two of us could eat. While I would have happily eaten the leftover pasta on its own, I was looking for something different to do with our abundance of eggs (there are only so many dutch babies once can eat!), so this morning I combined the leftovers with several eggs in a frittata di pasta. The leeks, mushrooms and peppers added a delicious mix of savory, earthy and sweet flavors to the eggs. I had expected more texture from the fettucine, but the soft, fresh egg pasta provided little contrast with the eggs. However, the frittata was a delicious, satisfying breakfast… a great way to use leftovers and eggs.
* My break wasn’t a break in cooking, eating and even photographing meals for the Dark Days Challenge, just a break in blogging them. The number of drafts I have labeled “Dark Days: Blah blah blah,” containing only a photo and a smattering of words is embarrassing. I’m going to delete them now, but I just thought you should know.
Local ingredients provided by:
- The East Wing ladies, aka our chickens (20 steps): eggs
- La Pasta, Seattle, WA (5 miles): fresh egg fettucine
- Anselmo’s Organics, Snohomish, WA (23 miles): garlic, leeks
- Pipitone Farms, Rock Island, WA (104 miles): thyme
Localish ingredients:
- British Columbia: organic red bell pepper
- Oregon: organic cremini mushrooms
Non-local ingredients:
- Olive oil (from California)
- Black pepper (far, far away)
We’re home.
The cats are staying close. If not on top of one of us, they’re in the same room, talking or just watching. In bed, they’re under the covers, or perched on a hip, and purring, always purring. Looks like they’re glad we’re home. If they missed us, they don’t seem angry about it.
The chickens seem glad that we’re home, too, though it’s harder to know with chickens. They were excited to be let outside in the sunshine for some foraging and flapping about, half running and half flying in that funny way that they have. And they liked the brussels sprouts that I tossed into their coop whole – a combination of food and entertainment. Not that either of those has much to do with me.
We’re home, with our cats and our chickens. I missed them. I’m glad to be home.
At the Houston airport, in a terminal I’d not been in before, stands a giant cowstronaut in a Holstein-spotted space suit, holding the Texas flag. What sometimes passes for art in my hometown is truly remarkable.
