On the first day of each month, I receive a newsletter from La Bretagne, France. Steven, the founder and author of Mangeons Local, is a great writer and a champion of local food. You do not need to know French to realize that Mangeons Local means Let’s Eat Locally. I have exchange emails with Steven.
Steven explains how every season and every month our shopping baskets can be filled with local food for our dinner table.
I look forward to these newsletters and I always discover a couple of new ideas for the seasonal kitchen.
I recently returned from a month in France and I managed to spend a few days in Bretagne. I discovered some great dishes -some that are unique to Bretagne and revered by the Britons.
Small farms abound in Bretagne to Fresh Fork.
Many of these farms (around Bretagne) have one day each week when the public can come to the farm and purchase products produced on that farm.
In the city of Rennes, the capital, I visited the farmers market on Saturday. OMG! There were hundreds of people there and still it was not crowed. As a cook I felt like I was in Paradise.
Today, Tuesday, 25 October, I just finished an online conversation with my online teacher, Vincent, with whom I spent a delightful visit when I was in Bretagne.
When I then opened this weeks epistle from Trevor, I was reminded of Bretagne and delighted to see the bag contents for this FFM week. It will be a culinary treasure trove in my fall kitchen.
My Take On this Week’s Bag
Salt and pepper pork is so usable. Perfect in your tomato sauce. You can add the seasonings that you prefer. Use it to stuff a hallowed-out piece of squash adding a dash of honey or seasonings of choice.
And who doesn’t long for that favorite fall and winter heap of braised red cabbage sitting next to a pork chop or roast.
Red Cabbage Slaw. If you want a little cabbage crunch from this cruciferous vegetable, shred it and toss it with salt. Place in a colander and let it sit in the sink for an hour with a bit of weight on top. Rinse and rinse to remove the salt. Toss with oil and fresh ground pepper. Add toasted walnuts. Some minced parsley, celery leaves or a touch of minced garlic. A great fall or winter salad.
Don’t pass on the turnip leaves. Both the turnip and its leaves offer possibilities.
Sweated Turnip Greens. Remove the leaves from the thick stems of the turnip. Wash them thoroughly. Place the leaves in a heavy bottom pan and cover with a lid. Place over very, very low heat until the leaves can be easily torn apart. Set aside.
In a small non-stick saute pan, place 2—3 tablespoons of olive oil, a smashed and peeled garlic clove, and three or four red pepper flakes. Warm this oil slowly. It is important that the garlic does not burn. When you can smell the perfume of the garlic, remove the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the turnip leaves to the oil. Raise the heat for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Turnip Greens and Pasta. Adapting from the above suggestion, cook some pasta first. When the greens are done, add the drained pasta and mix.
The classic pasta used for this dish is from Puglia, Italy. It is called orecchiette—small ears. Any small pasta will do. To impress your friends tell them you prepared Orecchiette con chima di rape.
And don’t forget the turnip roots (the bulb). Add the peeled turnip to your potatoes as you boil them. Mash and season, and this will add extra depth to your mashed potatoes.
Parsnips are my favorite root vegetable…especially when served with lamb or pork.
Peel the parsnips and chop them. Boil until pieces are very soft. Strain and keep the cooking water. Return the cooking water to the pan and boil until a caramel like syrup is created. Remove from the heat.
Puree the parsnips in the food process or a food mill. Add the syrup to the puree, and season with salt and pepper. It doesn’t get much better than the transformation of this humble root vegetable to an elegant puree.
And for a future newsletter. A couple of classic Breton dishes that I enjoyed are in my “learning mode” and hopefully I can perfect a special butter and sugar pastry as well a galette that consists of a crepe made with buckwheat flours and folded around a soft cooked egg, shaved ham and grated cheese.
