LOCAVORATIOUS! Adventures in Community Supported Agriculture

Yes.  It's true.  I am now, as of this moment, a True Believer.  Cast forever away from this once shrouded mind are the webs of doubt and fickle uncertainty.  Yea, verily, I shall walk no longer in the shadows of fear and misplaced trepidation - for I have seen the Light, and it's name is Broccoli Rabe!

Ok.  I admit that when Theresa sent out the CSA choices for this week, and I saw that Broccoli Rabe was on the menu, I had absolutely no idea what it was, much less what to do with it.  Truth be told, I didn't even know what it looked like.  So when my wife Karen brought back the CSA box, and unveiled this long, green, and rather leafy set of stalks, I quickly threw my hands up and decided to consult that most sagacious of advisors - the Internet. 

As these things often go, I was soon overwhelmed by a veritable deluge of facts, some useful, some not, including it's alternate monikers, such as the very lovely sounding Cima de Rapa, Broccoletti, and Friarelli, which, especially when rolled off the tongue with romanesque distinction, definitely lends this mystery vegetable an Italian flair.  Which was all very nice, but I still didnt' have a clue what to do with it.  Even mighty Wikipedia was of little assistance. 

However, after a few more intrepid clicks, I stumbled upon the brassican Rosetta Stone.  Gai Lan. 
Broccoli Rabe is related to Gai Lan, also known as Chinese Broccoli. In that instant, with me being the culinary Asia-phile that I am, I was filled with the light of inspiration - and EXACTLY what I should do.  This simple, easy-to-prepare meal is the result.

Afterwards, I rested.  And it was very, very good.

Ingredients (Serves 4)

Organic Stuff

• 1 bunch of leafy, green Broccoli Rabe, bottom end cut off, with the individual stalks and leaves cut into 4-5 inch lengnths. 
• For the Stir-Fry Sauce
• 3/4 cup organic Chicken Stock
• 3 generous shakes Sesame Oil
• 1 tablespoon, Canadian Maple Syrup - sweet, pround, and Free
• 1-1/2 tsp Organic Tamari Soya Sauce
• 1 pound Organic, free-range chicken wings

Non Organic Stuff

• 1.5 cups uncooked Jasmine Rice
• For the Marinade
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
• generous squeeze of lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Corn Starch
• For the Stir-Fry Sauce
• 1-1/2 tablespoon Oyster Sauce (Lee Kum Kee is a good brand)
• 1 teaspoon Corn Starch
• tiny drizzle of Dark Soya Sauce, for colour

Other Stuff

• Vegietable oil
• A slotted roasting pan, the kind the allows fat from broiling to drain off
• A good quality wok
• Searingly high heat
• An epicurean touch of Divine Inspiration

Locavoratious Secrets Revealed!

Secret #7 - rinse rice 3 times
No, this is not some sort of weird superstition.  Rincing the rice multiple times clears off any excess starch from the rice, and prevents it from going gummy.  First rince the water will be cloudy.  Second rinse, a little less so, with the third and final rince being close to clear

Secret #8 - the one fingertip rule. 
How do you know how much water to put in the rice for the rice cooker.  It's easy.  After your third rinse, continue to fill the water over the rice, until the water level is exactly one fingertip above the rice.  Put into the rice cooker, and press the button, and you'll get perfect rice every time.

Secret #9 - sometimes simple is best
I wasn't kidding when I said I played a video game while I waited for the chicken to cook.  Two games, actually.  Point is - less can totally be more - you don't always have to make complex, elaborate meal plans.  Especially with fresh local, organic food, sometimes simpler is better - let the taste of the incredients shine through - everything (especially the broccoli rabe) is packed with flavour - so don't worry, be happy, and let the food itself deliver the miracles.   


Get Cooking!

1. Plunk the Chicken wings in a marinating bowl
2. Pour in 2-3 generous glugs of the tamari soy sauce
3. Drizzle on some sesame oil, squeeze in the lemon, add the garlic
4. Mix in the cornstarch, and bung the whole thing up with your hands, making sure to evenly distribute the marinate, and fully dissolve the cornstarch
5. Marinate for 30 minutes
6. Meanwhile, prepare the sauce in measuring cup or small mixing bowl
7. Add in the oyster sauce, soya sauce, maple syrup, corn starch, and organic sesame oil
8. Mix together to incoporate the corn starch - there should be no lumps
9. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (Celsius)
10. Wash and rince the rice, add it to a rice cooker, and press the start button
11. When the oven is pre-heated, place the chicken wings on the roasting pan, and transfer to hot oven, putting the timer on for 40 minutes
12. If you have kids, and they're outside playing with Mommy, play a competitive video game, or two.  Make sure you thoroughly trounce your opponent
13. Set the table.  Or have someone set the table for you, preferably the aforementioned Mommy and kids. Or get your dinner guests to do it - after all, you're treating them to Broccoli Rabe!
14. After the 40 minutes is up, your rice should be nicely steamed, and the chicken wings smelling scrumptious
15. Heat up your wok to scorching
16. While you're waiting, start to plate your rice, and transfer the chicken to a serving plate - keeping it warm in the still-hot oven. 
17. Wait one minute more, and pour in a generous glug of the oil
18. Dump in the Broccoli Rabe into the wok - and revel in the loud crackle of the vegetables hitting the hot oil.  
19. Stir fry constantly, until leaves start to wilt, and the stalks are crisp, just on the edge of tender, maybe about 30 seconds, or slighly longer - don't overcook
20. Pour in the stir-fry sauce, and stir around, making sure the sauce thickens.  Add more stock, if it is getting too thick, and after about 10-20 seconds, transfer the Broccoli Rabe and it's gorgeous sauce to a serving plate.  
21. Serve the whole lot up - spoon in some rice, let people grab their own chicken wings, but make sure you give everyone a generous serving of the broccoli rabe, give them lots of that glorious sauce!
22. Wait for epiphanies, and don't punish anyone for using their fingers to get some more stir-fry sauce.
23. When it's all good and done (trust me, it won't take long), top the whole thing off with blueberries, and fresh organic vanilla ice-cream, and you'll have found a little heaven on earth. 

Ok.  Just to prove that I'm not always going to post asian meal creations, let's talk Salad. 

To be perfectly frank, I've really never been much of a salad fan.  Sure, I enjoy a well fashioned Greek salad from time to time (mmmmm crumbled feta....), and when a Caesar is done up right, with fresh eggs, real parmesan (not the powdered garbage), lemon and anchovies, I too can go gaga over garden greens.  But for my vegetable accompaniment, i'm more a cooked veggie kind of guy. 

That certainly was the case,  until I discovered the sublime joys of organic, living arugula, complimented oh-so-perfectly with the sharp pungency of organic white cheddar. I can honestly say that I think I've had a salad just about every night since the last CSA box.  

And my kids (aged two and four) are even asking for it!  Think about what normally passes for kids' fare in restaurants.  Cheese Pizza?  Bland.  Mac and Cheese?  Creamy, but bland.   Chicken nuggets?  Saved from blandness due only to the lathering of ketchup.   Can you imagine your kids asking for peppery arugula and aged, sharp cheddar cheese?  Well mine did, and it's all because of this salad!

Here's what you'll need. 

Ingredients
Organic Stuff

• 1/2 head of living, organic Boston Lettuce (hand ripped into pieces)
• A cup or two of spinach greens
• 4-5 liberal handfuls of arugula (still on the roots!)
• A more-than-generous scattering of hand crumbled cheddar cheese
• 5-6 strands of fresh, lemon thyme, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon (or more, to taste) of organic 100% Canadian Maple Syrup!
• handful of edible violets - ooooh!

Non Organic Stuff

• handful of sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 clove, garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon whole grain mustard (in wine)
• 2 generous glugs, Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 generous glugs, Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 cup or more of shredded, crunchy Red Cabbage
• Boxed Croutons (yeah yeah, processed, I know!)

Other Stuff

• your hands
• A beautiful Salad Bowl
• your favorite large chef's knife
• a whisk
• clear nasal passages

Locavoratious Cooking Secrets!
Ok on to the secrets...

Secret #4 - use your hands
Don't be afraid to get down and dirty.  What better way to get to know your food than to touch it, feel, it, rip it up.  Toss caution to the wind, and tear into those organic greens with gusto!  Not only is it more fun, but it will look ummm, artisanal.  After all, you're going to eat it, right?  Why does it have to be knife chopped precision?

Secret #5 - smash your garlic
Personally, I can't stand it when I see people gingerly peeling garlic, then mincing it delicately with a paring knife.  It DRIVES ME CRAZY!  Here's how to do it right.  Take your garlic clove.  Put it in on your chopping board, somewhere close to the centre.  Take your favourite large chef's knife, and lay it flat side on top of the poor, unsuspecting garlic clove.  Form a fist with your other hand, and SMASH the knife passionately down onto the garlic.  This will crush the garlic, release the skin, so you can start enthusiastically mincing your garlic. 

Secret #6 - wake up and smell the arugula
Smelling my organic arugula does something funny to me.  It seems to click on this weird part of my (reptilian?) brain, I swear I get this little twitch when I do so.  Maybe it's not arugula after all? :)   Anyways, when you rip into your living arugula, make sure you take a good whiff, i'm sure it will excite something!


Start your Salad!

1.  If you haven't already, wash, spin (wheee!) and pat dry the Boston Lettuce
2. Admire the crystalline beauty of your salad bowl
3. Stop admiring your salad bowl and dump in the Lettuce, then the Spinach
4. From its still living root system, tear the aromatic handfuls of your gorgeous, organic Arugula
5. In a reverent motion, cup your hands together, raise the Arugula to your face, and inhale deeply
6. Do it again
7. Toss in the arugula into the bowl.  Notice how the light catches the bowl just so?
8. Add in the cabbage
9. Crumble in the oh-so-glorious cheddar
10. Throw in a few handfuls of the croutons.  If you have kids, give them a few to munch on, but be prepared to tell them they can't have any more
11. Add the toasted almonds
12. Finish off the salad, lightly scattering the edible violets strategically for maximum floral effect 
13. Now make the dressing - in a mixing bowl, or measuring cup, pour in the glugs of olive oil
14. Add the glugs of Cider Vinegar
15. Drizzle the maple syrup slowly and sensuously into the mixture
16. Plop in the mustard, garlic, and lemon thyme
17. Whisk the whole lot together, until smooth, then call your guests to table
18. Transfer the dressing into something dramatic, and with a flourish, pour it slowly over the salad
19. Bask momentarily in the "oohs" and "aahs"
20. Toss the salad, serve, and enjoy!

On a personal note, I would have added some sliced red onions to the mix, as it would have provided yet some more purple power, but my wife's not big on raw onions.

When I first approached Theresa about blogging for her CSA, I told her that I would keep things clean, and not use profanity. Friggin’ in this particular case is not profanity. According to the Almighty Wikipedia, for something to be profane, it needs to be “interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, descrecrating, or showing disrespect”.

My use of the term here is the complete opposite. So when I say “Friggin’”, I really mean Sacred (and that’s a Capital S). To again paraphrase Wikipedia: “considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion…inspiring awe or reverence”. One taste of this fried rice, and even the most jaded of atheists will be singing praise to the high heavens.

For the fried rice purists out there – you’ll probably notice that I’m using Basmati rice, not the more typical Jasmine, or long grain rice that you might find in most recipes. That’s because I’m hopelessly addicted to Basmati, but also because it’s drier, less grainy texture is perfectly suited to fried rice. Ultimately, feel free to use Jasmine – it’s a perfectly acceptable substitute.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients
Organic Stuff· 2-3 stalks of green garlic, or green onions, thinly sliced
· 1 white or yellow (cooking) onion, diced
· 2 cups, square-cut spring harvested bok choi
· 2 thin carrots, peeled, crunchy and sweet - chopped
· 3 gorgeous, farm-fresh eggs, scrambled

Non Organic Stuff
· 2 cups white basmati rice
· 2 cloves garlic, minced (didn’t have any organic ones!)
· 3 tablespoons, vegetable oil
· 2 generous glugs of Soya Sauce (Superior Brand Chinese Soy)
· A few quick shakes of Oyster Sauce (about a tablespoon)
· Pinch of salt
· Pinch or more of white sugar
· Light drizzle of sesame oil

Other Stuff· (Optionally), a dried thai chilli pepper, crumbled
· Bowls to put your Organic Stuff in
· A good quality Wok
· Very very high heat
· Ideally, a receptive and open attitude towards the divine

Locavoratious Cooking Secrets!
Ok, on to the cooking secrets!

Secret #1 – cold rice
First, the rice you use has to be cold, and dry. Whatever you do, don’t scoop the rice right out of a rice cooker, or steamer. Use leftover rice that you’ve prepared from a previous meal, ideally rice that has been refrigerated, for at least a day, so the rice has been given a chance to dry out. This is critical. If you use freshly cooked rice, the results will be gummy, and nowhere near the sacred.

Secret #2 – prep bowls
Prep your ingredients in bowls in advance. Do a proper mise-en-place, and have everything ready to go, before you start to heat your wok. Cause once you get started, things will move fast, especially with high heat. You don’t have time to go looking for things like the soya sauce, or to chop the garlic.

Secret #3 – use real soya sauce
Please please please don’t use crappy soya sauce, like the stuff that is flavoured with artificial caramel colouring. Get the real thing. Real soya sauce is fermented, and has wheat in it’s base. Look for brands like Lee Kum Kee, or Superior Soy, or even Kikkoman.

Start Cooking!
Prep done? Mise-en-place accompli? Great! You’re ready to start cooking:

1) Heat wok over high heat. Let the wok heat up, until it is close to smoking. You’ll know it’s hot enough when you flick a few beads of water into the wok, and it instantly vapourises.
2) Add about ¾ tablespoon of the oil
3) Pour in the scrambled eggs, swish it around to form a big pancake at the bottom of the wok
4) Cook for about a minute, then flip the “pancake” over, cook for another minute. The eggs shouldn’t be runny, if they are, cook a little bit longer. Remove from wok. Clean and dry the wok.
5) Cut the eggs into squares, or small rectangular strips, whatever suits your fancy.
6) Re-heat the wok, again over high heat.
7) Wait a few moments longer, to let your wok heat even further
8) Add 1 tbsp of oil, then stir fry the vegetables, in the following order:
   a. Add onions, stir frying constantly, for about 20-30 seconds
   b. Add garlic and green onions/green garlic, for about 5 seconds
   c. Add the carrots, for about 30 seconds
   d. Add the bok choi, for another 30 seconds – don’t overcook, it should be crisp, on the edge of tender
9) Add the oyster sauce, and sugar, and mix together quickly, only a few seconds. By now an irresistible aroma will fill the room.
10) Maintain your self control, and transfer the veggies into a side bowl.
11) Again clean and dry the wok, and again reheat, same as before.
12) Call in the people you’re going to feed, and get them seated and ready to eat
13) Add the remaining oil, and then the rice
14) Stir fry the rice, breaking up any clumps, adding extra oil if needed to keep things from sticking
15) Add in the salt, and then the soya sauce. Combined with the oil, this will moisten the rice, making it easier to stir-fry, and combine together. Heat the rice completely through, probably a good 3 minutes or so
16) Add the veggies back in, mixing them throughout the rice
17) Drizzle on the sesame oil, garnish with any remaining green onions
18) Serve immediately and enjoy!

Ok. Truth be told, I’m using the moniker Locovoratious primarily because it sounds cool, and (surprisingly), because no one’s taken it. Although obviously supporting Local food is important to me (otherwise why would I be doing this?), but I honestly have issues with going 100% Local.

My beef (pun very much intended), as it were, with 100% local, is that this approach, in effect, institutionalizes culinary xenophobia, which in turn, begets social and ethnic xenophobia. In a diverse and multicultural society (such as Canada’s), the most immediate and effective way to understand and connect with the Other is through exposure to ethnic food. Witness the explosion of Indian, Thai, Greek, and Middle-Eastern cuisine that’s taking place everwhere, not just in major metropolitan centres. Raw Fish? Sushi? It’s defacto mainstream now, compared to say, thirty years ago, when the most exotic thing on the menu might have been a slightly spicy barbeque sauce to put on your hamburger.

To me, going 100% local would be a horrible regression to that earlier time, not just from a food perspective, but from a socio-cultural one as well. Do you really want to be part of that world? I, for one, do not.

With exposure comes appreciation. With appreciation comes understanding. With understanding comes - wait for it – Global Peace, and the shared prosperity that comes with it.

So if not 100% Local, then we have to compromise somewhere in between, creating a realistic, and balanced perspective. So don’t cook Local. Cook Locovoratiously !

What the heck does this mean?

· Use the 80/20 rule – try to, as best you can, use ingredients that are 80% from local, preferably organic sources.
· Ideally, reserve the remaining 20%, reserve for non-local spices, condiments, and staple foods, such as grains, rice, etc. I mean do you really want to eat 100% potatoes, all the time?
· Above all, stay flexible, and don’t burden yourself with guilt over not eating everything local – after all, if you’re already making a choice to support CSA’s you’re already making a difference, and having a direct impact in terms of your food supply, if not your health and the environment.
· Instead, celebrate the local, organic food you ARE using, and revel in it’s capacity to transform your meal from the ordinary to the extraordinary.