Showing posts with label #foodrevonthefarm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #foodrevonthefarm. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Part 5 | #FoodRevontheFarm + The Kitchen Notebook


Dear Terri and Prairie Farm Corps crew,

It is so weird having you all gone. These are my favorite pictures from our celebration dinner cooking marathon and my last day with you guys harvesting vegetables for the Libertyville Farmer's Market.

Now that we have cooked and dug in the mud together, I just want to do it over and over again.

So that's what I have done. Made some videos so we can relive our Summer together whenever we want! HA! I dreamt of making these videos when I started meeting with Eric and Erin over a year ago in the yellow farmhouse. 

...Terri, how many times have we said "we've known each other from a past life"!?  


I could write for days upon days about our 8 weeks together. Terri, I'm looking forward to writing more about the favorite recipes we cooked (I'm going to make these dishes with my kids!) over the next year from The Kitchen Notebook. It'll surely be something to keep us warm when the weather turns cold:) 

OH Crew, what fun we had cooking and eating together! Here is my mini film, made around music in hopes of capturing the magic that grew in each of us. It's my gift to each of the Prairie Farm Corps crew members, for the Liberty Prairie Foundation and for everyone around the globe who is inspired... 

to gather more often at our family tables together,
to cook more often from scratch,
and
to spread farm to table food education.


I give HUGE big love to each and everyone one of the crew. I miss you dearly and I'll be thinking of our Summer together every time I cook, for you are now part of my connected and wonderfully cooked life.

To the mullies we go...


xoxoL



ps

Thank you Food Revolution for the honor of hosting the first #FoodRevTakeOver on Instagram. We had a blast sharing it all with YOU!

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Part 3 | #FoodRevontheFarm + The Kitchen Notebook


7.1 | Part III - Food Revolution Wednesday

.Sautéed Kale with "Aglio e Olio" Pasta
.Pizza Casalinga
.Salad Greens with Dijon-Yogurt Dressing
.Summer Macedonia with Apricots and Mint

"'Aglio . Olio e Peroncino', literally translated as garlic, oil and red peppers is as holy a trinity as the soffritto. Three simple ingredients create an irresistibly aromatic and spicy combination of flavors in less time than it takes to cook pasta or wash a colander of vegetables. In Italy a combination of ingredients is called 'holy' or 'sacred' when they are especially meaningful. Here, food is taken as seriously as spirituality one might say... "

***

Dear Terri,

I don't think lunch could have gone any better last week! I was more nervous about this menu than the others which is so funny as the menu was simply pasta, pizza, salad and fruit. I think it was because I knew how excited the crew would be for homemade pizza. What if the crust didn't turn out? What if we burn the pizza? What if the middle of the pizza is a soggy mess!?  All of those things have happened to me in the kitchen at one time or another making pizza from scratch.

Oh Terri, the entire menu came together like a world series win and I could not be prouder of these three Prairie Farm Corps chefs! Here is how our third Food Revolution Day Wednesday with The Kitchen Notebook went down:


We stretched it out early with some yoga. 


Crew members translate recipes from English to Spanish for farm produce recipients at WIC and Beacon Place.


"Mise en place" - Our honey and vinegar marinade.


The pizza dough balls are ready for the fridge!


Fresh garlic from the farm is a revelation! My new favorite thing.


We added some farm fresh jalepenos to our "Aglio e Olio". The simple trinity of Olive oil + peppers + garlic this week was a revelation to all of us. I could let this sit on my counter all day for a simple, fast Summer pasta dinner. 


Your Olive Oil-Dijon Yogurt Dressing is a huge fan favorite. Measuring out all of the ingredients on the scale is truly the easiest thing in the world. Grams vs Cups = Grams wins! I just found your post on family favorite vinaigrettes and have bookmarked it! 


At home, I usually use leftover pasta sauce for my pizza. Making this raw salsa cruda was crazy fast and simple. We all marveled at how delicious and easy it was to make! 


We used a minimal amount of pressure in making the crust just like you taught us!


Freshly picked purple basil and freshly ground parmesan cheese were the chef's simple topping choices. Check out the crust "pleating". Oh yea!


Your Macedonia with Apricots and Mint recipe was a perfect "uncomplicated" finish.  


Their pizza's came out PERFECT!!!! HURRAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!


The chefs decided to divide the pasta and add the sautéed kale to just one bowl. 


The pizza was gone in 2 seconds flat. There was 7 bites of apricot left in the bowl.

Cooking Rockstars...


Cleaning rockstars!


We are beginning the recipe voting for our celebration dinner!

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last Food Revolution Day Wednesday before I pick you up at the airport. I get goosebumps on my arms when I think of seeing you on the curb, in person after all these years of screen time. I might just knock you over with some soppy happy tears.

We'll be cooking and teaching together in less than a week! The anticipation is CRAZY!!!!

Safe travels my dear.

Tomorrow we begin again, cooking farm to table - Part IV.

xoxo
L & the #pfc

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Part 2 | #FoodRevontheFarm & The Kitchen Notebook



6.24 | Part II - Food Revolution Wednesday

.A Garden Vegetable Soup
.Pea shoot and Tomato filled Crespelle with Bechamel
.Kale Ribbon Salad with Marinated Fennel
.Yogurt "Hangop" with Simple Strawberries

"This recipe for garlic-onion broth is one of many quick vegetable broths in my kitchen notebook. It is based upon the Italian principles and kitchen inventiveness because it is made from scraps. The broth can be used as the basis for a tomato sauce, or for a garden vegetable soup. You can even cook your pasta or rice in it. Funny thing is, the necessity for broth cubes suddenly disappears. You can cook it down into a stock as well."
- Terri Salminen

***

Dear Terri,

Lunch was on time and it was glorious! Our time in the kitchen last Wednesday went very fast and my brain only hiccuped a few times. My multi-tasking and teaching abilities are being stretched to the max and this is a very.good.thing. Your menu of soup, stuffed pancakes, salad and dessert was rock solid and well loved! We discussed how a menu can be "fancy" sounding or "simple" sounding depending on the inclusion of words we do not understand. "Mise en place", "bechamel", "crespelle" and "soffritto" can be so intimidating! But not anymore...


No longer just a "garbage bowl" of vege scraps! Who knew carrot peels and onions tops were for making a quick vegetable broth



Rolling and ribbon cutting kale. 

Cooking = art.

  
Notice anything wrong with this pot? As soon as I finished taking these pictures my face went white and I thought, wait, OMG the recipe calls for a soffritto! AHHHHHH TERRRRIIIIIII! I cannot even count how many times I have made a soffritto as the base for soups and sauces. In that moment, I flashed back to my freshman year at NU, losing my head as I ran the bases, mindless of how many outs there were or who was on second base as I was thinking of running as fast as I could.. My coaches would stare me down as I jogged back into the dugout and ask, "Lindsey, what were you thinking out there?"   


Who's on first?!

Thank you for saving the soffritto Mr. Colander. I figured out how to fix it lickity split. 

Sorted vegetables.

And the kitchen dropped perfection just.like.that.

Mistakes turn into magic.


Much much better.


The oregano, mint, lemon and red pepper made for a wonderful spicy herb garnish for the soup. We have some spicy palates here Terri! They want hot sauce on everything! I love it!


I think my favorite part of the day was teaching Eric and Eddie how to make a simple bechamel. Now they know how to make a base for any cream sauce... including homemade mac and cheese!


The guys were pretty darn good at flipping pancakes. We almost got one airborn!


Here is our yogurt "hangop" after "hanging out" in the fridge for an hour. It's amazing how much thicker the yogurt became! 


Lemon zesting for our simple strawberries to go alongside the yogurt "hangop". I just love your strawberries with lemon and lavender that you wrote about too! I have some lavender in my front garden and I have never used it in anything yet.


We take breaks, read your "Food for Thought" and reflect on how the dishes might fit into our home kitchens.


The crespelle is ready!! 

The buckwheat gave the pancakes a much darker color than any of us were used to seeing. They were slower to move off the pan at first, but as soon as everyone tasted them, seconds and thirds commenced until they were all gone




"Hangop" = mega success.  


After lunch, Shannon (one of our crew leaders) reviewed the work done on the farm. 


Then, Eric and Leslie took a thumbs up/thumbs down feedback tally of the lunch menu. I love this so much. It reminds me of what we do at my family table!


Lastly, we had just enough time to fit in Jamie Oliver's TedX speech. Only a few of the crew had ever heard of him before this Summer. It was wonderful to watch him speak about food education in the little blue farm house, to hear his voice, to feel his passion and the Food Revolution's purpose seeped deeper into all of us.

Ignition.

Tomorrow we begin again, cooking farm to table - Part III.

xoxo
L & the #pfc




ps

#demiloveslemons