Local food usually means home grown food and Chatham county is rich in both as there are many small farms, back yard gardens and ambitious cooks. – April, 2014
SOURDOUGH – BAKED OR ROLLED
Haruka shared her sourdough starter with Camille, a starter that was given her by a woman who has kept it going for eight years, feeding it only whole wheat flour, measured by weight. The starter has a rich, sour taste which enlivens everything we use it in. Ideally, the starter should be fed once a week which is a good excuse to bake bread or make some pancakes. A pancake wrap makes perfect ‘to go’ food.
HEARTY PANCAKES
These sourdough pancakes are savory and substantial but can be sweetened with honey or jam and/or thinned with milk.
On this day Camille ate her pancake with vegan sour cream and honey. She later found she could reheat the leftover pancakes by popping them into the toaster. Here’s the recipe:
1 cup of starter, either freshly fed or up to six hours after feeding and bubbly
1 Tbs egg replacer or ground flax seed
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup almond milk until batter reaches desired consistency
FARMER’S MARKET
This year the Thursday Pittsboro Farmer’s Market migrated from the fairgrounds to the big lot at Main Street Station.
SCREECH OWL GREENHOUSES
Of course, Camille stopped at Screech and Evan’s booth for some banter and tomatoes.
ASPARAGUS SEASON
This year we ate asparagus several times a week for about six weeks, thanks to our garden and our friendly farmers next door at Edible Earthscapes. And there’s one of Screech’s tomatoes and some arugula from our garden. The easiest way to make perfect asparagus is to bake at 350 for 15 minutes. We lay it in a baking pan, drizzle a little olive oil over the spears and sprinkle a bit of salt and garlic powder. Assuming you have an oven…
WINECAPS, ASPARAGUS AND MORELS
Everything in these two photos came from our property and within 100 yards of our house.
MORE HOME GROWN MAGIC
Asparagus, chard and spinach from Edible Earthscapes with a few stalks of asparagus from our garden on the left. On some nights we were fortunate enough to have both asparagus and mushrooms on our dinner plates.