Garden On, Vashon
Gardening, cooking, building, designing, dreaming…
Recipes for a local-source Thanksgiving
November 17th, 2009 at Tue, 17th, 2009 at 7:29 pm by Karen DaleI confess: this blog isn’t what I hoped it would be. That’s probably because I started it, like, hours ago. Let’s call it a Work-in-Progress.
I started with the inspiration to find islanders that plan to make their Thanksgiving Day feast purely from Island-grown ingredients—a “Locavore’s Thanksgiving.”
I thought the hard part would be finding somebody who was growing their own turkey for the table. And the email grapevine (thank you K. Gilligan) DID tip me off to somebody: Gary Headley of VI Horse Supply.
I called him right away. Gary has a little family of wild turkeys that he has raised and yes, he’s going to have one for Turkey Day—the one that’s “cranky”, he said.
And yes, he’s going to have an all-Island Thanksgiving: he’s got people who barter for things with him, so he’s got greens coming, a lady who trades with Yellow Finn potatoes, another lady who’s bringing him a pumpkin pie.
“What about cranberries?” I asked.
”I don’t LIKE cranberries,” he said. And then he invited me to come meet Ichiro, his pet tom turkey who can play “catch.”
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Final Farmer’s Market is this Saturday morning, 11/18
I’m looking forward to meeting Ichiro, someday… and I’m looking forward to hearing from some VIGA folk who might share with us their Thanksgiving recipes. This weekend, after all, IS the final Farmer’s Market, on Saturday morning, Nov 21.
After Saturday, if you want to get Island-grown produce, see today’s article (11/18) by Kathryn True in the Beachcomber that tells which Farm Stands are committing to remaining open this winter, as long as they can. The link under “today’s article” will get you to the article: there’s another link within it (“showing the art of the land”) that takes you to a map of farmstand locations.
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Meanwhile, while I await others’ recipes for the Turkey Day Feast, I’ll share with you a couple dishes I’m considering serving, full of things I grew or gathered myself.
So: let’s start with what’s still out in my vegie patch: plenty of cabbage.
A Scandinavian red cabbage dish
This side dish is sweet, delicious, and screaming magenta (Turkey dinner needs as much color as it can get!). And it uses up a LOT of red cabbage—yet another reason to be THANKFUL.
You’ll need a big skillet or iron pot that can go in the oven, including its lid, and a box grater or mandoline. And start 2.5 hours earlier than you want to eat it! (but it’ll hold very well)
Heat oven to 325° Into a big bowl, shred half a large red cabbage to make 5-7 cups worth (Basically, enough to fill your pot loosely to the brim. It’ll “melt down” by half. Makes a side dish for 4-6 people.) Into your ovenproof skillet or pot, put— a pat of butter or margarine 1/3 cup water 1/3 cup apple or white vinegar 1 T sugar 1 teas. salt When this water mixture is hot and the butter is melted, put in the shredded cabbage, toss to moisten, then clap on lid and put in the oven for TWO HOURS. Yes, that’s right: the longer it bakes, the more tender the cabbage gets. When that time is up, take from oven WITH OVEN-MITTS, remove lid and add one apple, shredded or chunked small, skinned or not 1/4 cup or more of applesauce (optional) 1/4 – 1/2 cup red currant jelly (any TART berry jelly makes a good substitute, though a jam with squished whole strawberries would be a little weird…) Mix and taste for sweetness: add more sugar if you want. WITH OVEN MITTS ON (I say this twice because it’s easy to forget —as my husband did— that this pan on your counter is scorching-hot) put on lid, put the skillet back in oven and bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven: serve warm. You may want to serve with tongs as it’s drippy. Reheats easily and keeps fine in frig for a week. Also good with white sausage like weisswurst or British bangers, heated up separately and served with dijon mustard.My Maple Waldorf Salad
Since I made this recipe up, my measurements are approximate and to taste. This is enough for two people, so for Thanksgiving you’ll need to bulk up the ingredients.Into a medium-sized mixing bowl is mixed together to make a sauce: — 1/4 cup (or big heaping soup-spoon full) of Mayo or Mayo substitute — 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice — 1 teas. sugar or splenda — 1 teas. (1 glug) of maple syrup (you may want more of the sweeteners to get that “sweet-tangy” effect you want. — S & P to taste
On top of that sauce, into the bowl shred: —hunk of White Cabbage, about the volume of a fist
— 1 apple — add a diced, single stalk of celery — sprinklings-on of dried zante currents (raisins or sultanas are fine substitutes: I just think the smallness of currents goes best. Dried cranberries, possibly???) Toss, taste, add more maple, lemon, or sugar to adjust, and serve cold. YUMMM!
Thanksgiving is, in part, a giving-thanks for community that works. So I invite you to send me your local Thanksgiving recipes for dishes made with stuff grown on Vashon, and we’ll share them here, with everybody. Email recipes to karendale@centurytel.net.
Good holiday to you and yours.
Karen Dale gardens on the south end of Vashon Island, on a sandy hilltop overlooking Quartermaster Harbor. "Garden On, Vashon" shares what the Island has to teach us about gardening HERE—from making soils to sowing seeds to raising plants to harvest, cooking, preserving, and designing new ways to cultivate your little chunk of Vashon Island. To contact me, email karendale@centurytel.net, or leave a comment.
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