With everything I’ve written about factory farming and fisheries, you might think I’d caution against eating fish. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we do enjoy a relative abundance of some species of marine fish—some so fresh we can eat it as sushi. As I talk about in FoodWISE, sustainable fishing is a big issue for…
Category: FoodWISE ideas
FoodWISE cheesemaking in the summer months
The recipes for cheesemaking are simple—and eerily similar. You warm milk (and maybe add microbial cultures…I get mine from New England), add a coagulator (usually rennet of some sort from a reliable company), perhaps heat the milk some more; then, after a half hour or so, cut the solidified curd that has separated from the…
A month of good food—good to think and good to eat—in Tuscany
Actually, I should say, “months” of good food in Tuscany— a week in June and several weeks in July. This year, 20 of us enjoyed the adventure—18 students, able-bodied and brilliant assistant, Chloe, and myself. The weather cooperated, and, mostly, we kept Covid at bay. We enjoyed the food—its provenance and terroir, the locale, the…
Sustainable Food–Living off the land, the garden, the ferment
Now almost a month after our Western Washington University “cook-in” and “dig-in,” our class is finally over and I’m posting a few pictures of sustainable food. Below, “natural” yoghurt drains, releasing its nutritious whey (for other lacto-fermentation projects), with soft cheese remaining (for spreads). Many recipes for this can be found in both FoodWISE and…
Sorrel soup!
Make delicious sorrel soup, sautéing spring onions, then adding freshly-cut sorrel and broth. Just salt, pepper, and a little thyme creates a delicious meal, especially with some of that bread in the previous post! Now, for a heavier version, one with vegetables and potatoes, more in the Ukraine style, see here.
Fermented bread, Tassajara style, requires a sponge first!
My favorite recipe is from Tassajara….but it’s the fermented grains that make it a whole food…..You can buy them, or just soak the wheat berries overnight, dry, then mill. The sponge is created with gentle stirring and kneading, creating a wet mixture, ready for rising. Add the rest of the rye and wheat flours, oats,…
The easiest cheese…Feta
On many small farms, practical wisdom encourages an entrepreneurial spirit, wanting to do more than the minimum required. Farmers understand the need to balance the restrictions of food safety rules (like the sixty-day minimum aging requirement for raw milk cheeses) with their other aims, like producing the highest flavor. Rules talk needs to be tempered…
Spring lambs
It’s another lambing season and we’re fortunate that our first ewe, Lily, lambed just in time for Easter. Here I am, holding her 10-pounder, Josefina. They’re both a handful. Josefina is an E Friesen-Tunis-Finn cross. Beautiful wool, creamy milk.
How to cook a wolf….
I think a lot about my mother when I’m in the kitchen, and whenever I’m exploring the larger world of food. I’m reminded of her when I read works by people like food writer and gastronome extraordinaire M. F. K. Fisher, with whom I share my no-nonsense approach to cooking. I love this quote from…
Glorious vegetables
Here’s a few favorites of mine—carrots and broccoli. FoodWISE, it helps to harvest at the peak of maturity—roots having been fed with nourishing manures and/or composts, maybe even with a celestial connection as in biodynamic practice. Understanding when and why and how our food arrives on our table really matters in the case of vegetables—…