My one local summer meal for the week is a simple meal that started with local ingredients both old and new and a crockpot. I started with:
- 1 whole chicken purchased from Farm Direct Meat at the Chesterton European Market that was taking up fart too much needed space in my freezer.
- the last of the garlic (two heads) purchased last season from “The Garlic Guy” at the Chesterton European Market
- 1 onion grown in Michigan City, IN and purchased at Chesterton European Market
- a handful of parsley, sage, rosemary, parsley, and spicy oregano from my own container garden
- the last half a cup container of tomato sauce that I frozen last summer (tomatoes from my garden)
I covered the bottom of the crockpot with onion slices, placed the chicken on top, added a a pint of water and the tomato sauce. Next I tossed the whole garlic cloves and freshly picked herbs (left as whole stems of leaves) on top of the chicken and set the pot to cook on high for 3 hours.
Yesterday I dug my potatoes and I had a few handfuls of smaller than golf ball sized spuds. After the chicken had cooked for about 2 hours, I gave the mini potatoes a quick wash and tossed them into the crockpot. After that it was simply a matter of cooking until the chicken was done and the potatoes tender. The hardest part was having to wait when it smelled amazing.
To accompany the chicken I sliced a zucchini squash from my garden and sauteed it it lightly. Just before it was done I added some halved cherry and grape tomatoes and let them warm through. The squash and tomatoes were from my garden.
Things were so tasty that I didn’t even need to add salt, pepper, or other seasonings which means I managed a 100 percent local meal. Local as in less than 40 miles for the chicken , less than 20 miles for the garlic and onion and less than 100 feet for everything else.
No photo this week.
1 Comment
August 4, 2008 at 7:29 am
Sounds delicious!