Orono Local Buying Club

Thursday afternoon was the bi-weekly pickup for the Orono Local Buying Club.  The Buying Club is similar to a co-op in that we do order from a wholesaler - in our case it's United Foods - but the original purpose was to support Maine food producers year-round.  Our major supplier, in addition to several local farmers, is Crown of Maine Cooperative.  These folks work exclusively with Maine producers of food and food products and distribute to stores and coops throughout the state. Started in the "crown' of Maine, Aroostook County, COMOC now has a distribution center in Norridgewock.  Products include produce, dairy (milk, cheese, eggs, etc), legumes, grains and flours, oils, meat, fish and value-added products such as jams, syrups, etc. The list is quite long and especially in the summer the choices are spectacular.
We also order from three local farms including the organically-certified
Stone's Throw Farm in Newburghas well as E-I-E-I-O on Pushaw Road in Bangor and Living Land in Winterport.  These folks keep us going with eggs and root vegetables for much of the year.  This week my order included fantastic big white onions from Stone's Throw as well as their
crunchy, delicious sugar snap peas and cucumbers and a dozen orange-yolked eggs.  E-I-E-I-O provided two beautiful heads of new garlic and also had sugar snaps and braising greens available. Many members ordered big bunches of lacinato kale as well.   I  got 6 heads of perfect radicchio from Smith Family Farm in Hull's Cove who provide us with with great plain and flavored yogurts as well.  Flying Pond Farm was offering arugula and I mistakenly thought I was ordering two bunches and ended up with two pounds! (See further!)  Other COMOC farmers provided escarole and summer squash that looks like it came from a food magazine.  From Echo Ridge Farm came a camembert and a coulommiers, again proving that you don't have to go to France anymore to get great cheeses in the State of Maine. From United I ordered an 88 oz can of Zoe organic olive oil so a great meal was in the making.  We bought a quarter of an organic beef critter this year.  Just a small fellow but very tasty and I'm told that Harrington Bros is very careful with the organic side of their abattoir.  One pound of ground meat feeds four very nicely as simple grilled burgers topped with tangy slices of onion.  We ate the snap peas with the cheese instead of bread as some among us are mostly gluten-free. Just wash them and zip off the tough little strip from the stem end.  I washed and quartered a radicchio and let it drain on a kitchen towel.  When the burgers were finished we brushed the quarters with olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and very briefly grilled them - just until grill-marks started to appear.  Grind of pepper and yum!   I had made most of dessert earlier. I crushed up some leftover sweetmeal biscuits (use vanilla wafers or graham crackers if you like) with some sugar, cardamom and melted butter.  Pressed it into a tart pan and baked at 375 for about 15minutes in the convection oven.
I let that cool and whipped together some mascarpone (or cream cheese) with a bit of creme fraiche (or sour cream or yogurt) with a taste of honey and some grated lemon rind.  Let that chill.  When it was time for dessert I spread the cream into the pie shell (just about a half-inch) and topped it with the raspberries my friend brought from her garden that I macerated with a bit of sugar while we ate the main course.   Cookie, cream, fruit, quick!
Now about that arugula.  Of course there is salad but lots of other things as well.  I think I will make about 4 cups of it into arugula pesto - replacing the basil with arugula and - since I left the pine nuts on the boat - some pecans.  Other ingredients are the same: garlic, parmesan and olive oil.  This could be spread on grilled bread or tossed with pasta.
I might make a potage vert (green soup) with sauteed onion and garlic,
arugula, peas, celery, parsley, basil and anything else green I can find.
I blend this with my vertical stick blender (use some vegetable or chicken broth) and you will think you have a cream soup but it is dairy-free.  Serve hot or cold with a squiggle of that pesto.   I might make a frittata with Stone's Throw eggs and a few cubed new potatoes, arugula and some romano. Salad of escarole with a yogurt blue cheese dressing on the side? Folks, there is A LOT of arugula in two pounds.  BTW, you can find info about joining the Orono Local Buying Club at The Store/Ampersand in Orono.  We encourage new members and you can save the surcharge by volunteering for one of the many jobs that need to be done to keep us going.
Next up: lunch on the boat.

I promised I would let you know about Orono Farmers' Market finds from Saturday.  OFM also holds market on Tuesday afternoons from 2pm to 5:30pm with many of the same vendors and a few who only come on Tuesdays.  Lobster Shack had some fresh bluefish that we grilled  brushed with olive oil and lemon.  Fresh dill from the market blended with creme fraiche (or sour cream), horseradish and a bit of mayo made a great sauce for both the fish and some lovely new red potatoes.  High Lonesome farm had thin green beans that asked for nothing more than a quick steam to keep them crunchy.  I wandered the market planning dinner for friends arriving Sunday afternoon.  I bought fresh peas, yummy cherry tomatoes and Mark Guzzi's (Peacemeal) sharp arugula.
I also bought a combination of squash - zucchini in three varieties, pattypan and bright yellow summer - plus a plump eggplant from Kousky and fresh garlic from Peacemeal.  These I made into classic ratatouille by layering the cubed eggplant overnight with salt, adding it to the cubed squash, two medium onions, chopped and about 6 (yes, 6) minced cloves of garlic.  Saute these in good olive oil until tender but not mushy and add lots of freshly ground black pepper, salt if needed and handfuls of chopped parsley, basil and oregano from the garden and a bit of tomato sauce or paste.  Claire Ackroyd gave me a "conical" basil plant with small leaves that is the best ever.
Don't worry about how many herbs you add - just go for it.  This can be served hot or lukewarm but on these hot summer days I opt for ice cold.
Made a salad with arugula, cherry tomatoes and shaves of parmigiana reggiano dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.  The maple syrup man at OFM sometimes has rabbit for sale ( please don't stop reading! ) Italians love their coniglio and for Sunday I made coniglio pepperonata.
Make a "soffrito" of finely diced carrot, minced sage and minced rosemary and saute in a combo of butter and oil until lightly browned.
Add the rabbit cut into about 8 pieces and brown on all sides.   Add 6 Tbsps water and 6 of white wine vinegar and simmer on low for about an hour until the rabbit is tender.  In a separate pan, saute red and green pepper slices until just tender and add some chopped tomato or passata.  Add to the rabbit, mix gently and season to taste.   Bring up to heat and serve. I served this with a chilled French rose`.
For dessert I made tiramisu but not the normal chocolate, coffee, marsala version which I find too heavy.  I make mine by dipping the
savoiardi in a simple syrup made with orange liqueur.  The filling is fresh farm eggs separated, yolks beaten with sugar and mascarpone with a touch of vanilla.  Beat the whites with some sugar and fold into the yolks. Spread half over the savoiardi and then add Schartner's sliced strawberries and raspberries macerated with just a touch of sugar.  Top with remaining mascarpone, cover and chill.  Before serving add shaves of chocolate and sliced almonds if you like.  Light and cool.  The Captain snapped a picture of the table.  See what you think.

A Maine Vacation

We are just back from almost two weeks of vacation on and near the ocean.  We spent the first week in SW Harbor as we do every year.
Lots of company, lots of good food.  Then a few days on our sailboat to Roque Island and back again to spend a couple of days with friends on Great Cranberry Island. Packing and planning meals for this combination was fun and challenging.  It's not that we spent a great deal of time out of reach of good markets.  The challenge is to pack a few good food "tools" so that whatever comes your way can be turned into dinner for two or twelve on a moment's notice!  So I baked before going to SW - lemon yogurt poundcake, an apple pie for Miss Amelia even though apples are not in season, piles of chocolate chip cookies and a Maine blueberry pie from the last of the frozen organic blueberries.  Those went pretty quickly!  I made a batch of barbecue sauce with my own frozen passata
(unherbed thick tomato puree), mustard, brown sugar, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and bit of peach preserves to be used on baby back ribs and chicken wings.  I froze small containers of "pate pas raffinee" for cousin Eike, carrot-cashew pate and provencal tapenade to stave off hunger while dinner was being prepared.  I went to Sawyer's Market and Little Notch bakery for good greens, vegies and ciabatta.  Add some great prosecco from State Street Wine, a couple of batches of gin punch
and some homemade strawberry lemonade and everybody seemed pretty happy.  We didn't dine out too often.  However, if you are in SW and headed on 102A towards Bernard and West Tremont (the really quiet  side of the Quietside) do not fail to stop at the food truck called Keenan's Kitchen.  Best fried clams ever as well as incredible fish tacos and a Greek-street-worthy gyro.  Prices are extremely reasonable and the food is worth waiting for the owner/chef to make everything to order.  Fish tacos were crispy bites of fish deep-fried with homemade salsa, guacamole and sour cream along with a portion of smoky rice and beans and crunchy coleslaw - all for $8.95.  We also snuck in for a late dinner at the bar at XYZ.  Janet and Tom have been serving authentic Mexican (forget chips and salsa) for years in Manset and on the night we went they were incredibly busy.  The margaritas are legendary.  Entrees come with warm soft tortillas, an array of hot sauces and a Triple Chick Farm lettuce mix with olive oil and lime to add yourself.  I had my customary chiles rellenos - anchos filled with corn and cheese and cooked in cream and The Captain chose chicken mole. Watch out for the dot of red sauce on your plate - this is the real thing!  Thanks for squeezing us in.  There is a Farmer's Market in SW on Friday mornings and one in NE Harbor on Thursday morning.  Naturally, I went to both.  We saw old friends (Farmer Bob and Schartner's).  Young Mr. Will is partial to chocolate along with little cousins Adam and Garland.  I bought some North Star sour cherries from Schartner's and made them into a quick sauce with turbinado sugar and a bit of lemon rind.  I had made chocolate sauce to bring and baked up two my-mix chocolate cake layers.  Cutting each layer in two, I put a slather of chocolate sauce on the top and bottom of each layer and filled the middle with the cherry sauce.  Chilled the whole thing for a couple of hours and added a dollop of whipped cream for serving and there's dessert for 12 that encourages children to each their vegetables.  At NE I picked up merquez sausage and Farmer Bob's lamb chops to cook on the boat grill.  Roque is a private island off of Roque Bluffs State Park - between Jonesport and Machiasport.  The owners are protective of their environmentally fragile island but allow boaters to visit the unbelievable powdered sugar beach on the outer shore of the island.   I thought I was in the Caribbean and so did the dog who breaded himself in sand every time we went ashore and then wanted to sleep in my berth!  Sailed back to Great Cranberry to stay with friends and cooked up some wonderful meal thanks to the Great Cranberry General Store.  Home on Friday and I was off to the Orono FM today!
We'll talk about that tomorrow.  Let me know if you ever have questions
or comments - especially the person who is reading from Indonesia!