When my parents came to town this past weekend, my husband and I prepared a meal worthy of the very people who first nurtured my love for food. We grilled grass-fed burgers from Over the Moon Farm, tossed a salad with lettuce, carrots and scallions from Tait, and topped Clare Traynor‘s lethal sour cream apple pie with Creamery vanilla ice cream. The wine from our friend’s wedding in Montauk completed this perfect, yet simple summer meal.
With the exception of the wine, each of the main ingredients was grown in Centre County.
Summer is the ideal time to eat local. The stands at the local farmers markets are as abundant as the produce aisle, offering goodies most of us eat year round, yet enjoy infinitely more throughout the summer. Watermelon tastes better when you’re sweating. Crisp lettuce belongs on a backyard cheeseburger. And just-picked tomatoes may be happiest in a fresh tomato Bloody Mary, poured into glasses on a mosquito-less porch.
While I’m obsessed with food all year long, summer makes me giddy. My recipes are spread out on the counters and taped to the kitchen walls. I go to bed thinking about what I’m going to eat the next day, and read food magazines at the kitchen table. In the process I’ve learned plenty about making the best of the season’s bounty.
The following are my tips for buying, cooking and eating your way through (the rest of) a Happy Valley summer.
Eat like it’s your last meal.
My advice for the next few weeks is nothing short of complete indulgence. With September only five weeks away, now is the time to take advantage. Splurge on a summer barbeque. Defrost that pound of Over the Moon bacon, and break out that bacon-bourbon brownie recipe you’ve been saving for a special day. (There’s nothing particularly seasonal about that dessert, but it’s the best use of culinary alliteration I’ve ever seen. And I can’t imagine anyone – with the exception of your vegetarian friends –thinking it was a bad addition to a summer BBQ.)
Beat the heat and turn off the oven.
On a 100-degree day, the last thing you need is a space heater for your kitchen. Fortunately the best summer dishes don’t require an oven. All you need is a cutting board and your grill.
Just about any summer vegetable can be thrown on the grill with olive oil, salt and pepper. All you need is a grill basket or a few pieces of hefty aluminum foil to make a packet. Monday night I tossed some local basil and oregano with olive oil and salt, then scattered them on some grilled zucchini slices, marinated in more olive oil. The dish is just as delicious with sliced beets and eggplant.
Too hot to even turn on the grill? Make a meal out of salad. Toss in any combination of beans, nuts, dried fruit and seeds and you’ll get a healthy, surprisingly satisfying meal. (Check out ‘101 Simple Salads for the Season’ for some ideas.)
Visit every local farmers market between now and the end of the summer.
You’ll find beautiful fruit and vegetables at every area farmers market, but each of them offers a few unusual treats.
The Boalsburg farmers market is definitely my family’s favorite. My 6-year-old son digs the tank, and I love the prepared food at Eden View Organics. Located in Warriors Mark, Huntingdon County, on a parcel of a fourth-generation family farm, Eden View is known for its sprouted whole grain breads. I buy the flat bread whenever I can, then top it with Meyer Dairy mozzarella and grilled or sautéed local veggies for a quick and easy pizza. I also recommend the energy bars for an on-the-go breakfast that will undo any damage inflicted by the aforementioned bacon-bourbon brownies.
Show your love for local.
The Central Pennsylvania Local Foods Week and Farm Tour is a week-long celebration of local food that includes a behind-the-scenes look at where your food is grown and produced. The event is the perfect opportunity to show your appreciation for the farmers, chefs and businesses who care deeply about how and what we eat. (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture needs volunteers for the tour, so if you’re interested, send an e-mail to buyfreshcc@pasafarming.org.
Get inspiration and a good meal from chefs who cook local.
Harrison’s Wine Grill, Elk Creek Café + Aleworks, and Otto’s all cook with vegetables from local farms. (Last week Otto’s featured sautéed sugarsnap peas and string beans from Tait Farm that were just as tasty as the main dish.) You can also get some of the best meals in town at the farmers markets. The Sustainable Kitchen is cooking delicious burgers, egg sandwiches, veggie side dishes and homemade muffins at the Tuesday Boalsburg market and the Saturday North Atherton Market. And I have a tough time leaving the Boalsburg market or the Friday Downtown State College Farmers Market without a pie from Gemelli Bakers, which arguably makes the best pizza in town.
Learn to love your freezer.
I’m still a bit terrified by the prospect of canning. (To those friends who are planning to spend a summer day surrounded by Ball jars, I salute you and hope you’ll have me over for dinner in February.) Still, I freeze just about anything. I chop up basil and oregano, then stick these summer herbs in ice cube trays with a little bit of water. Once they’re frozen, the cubes go into plastic bags, which chill until winter, when I break out my winter crockpot recipes. Squash also preserves well in the freezer. In August, when I’ve exhausted by zucchini recipes, I’ll shred a bunch and stick them in bags for winter zucchini bread and muffins. I coarsely chop up tomatoes and freeze them for tomato soup, and even freeze a few Ball jars worth of heirloom tomato sauce. Whatever freezer space remains is designated for the blueberries I’m hoping to pick in the next week or so.
Share the bounty with friends and neighbors.
Peach cobbler and just about anything else made with local fruit and veggies is made for sharing. After all, by November we’ll be back in hibernation, thankful for the additional heat coming out of our ovens.
