Dark Days Challenge Recap - Week 4

Woo-eee! We're having us a little winter here in the Northwest. Snow coming down for most of the morning. And, unusually for us, it seems more like the Michigan- type snow that Grady and I remember, very dry and light. Lucky me, I got to drive in it because I had several things going on at church this morning and I wanted to give it a try. Getting there was no issue, but coming home was a long slow affair. My knitting studio is going to offer a make up session, so I'm glad not to feel a need to get to that this afternoon. But, Portland Center Stage does not cancel. So, this evening, we'll probably put on the traction devices and head out just like people who are used to living in winter climates. Looks like we'll be watching "A Christmas Carol" and heading out to something looking more Christmas-y than usual.

Meanwhile, it's time for the weekly update on a mostly local meal from the week.
My From Farm to Table Cookbook was the inspiration for dinner last night and the night before. Last night's meal was closer to the 90% goal because we had pork loin chops from a local farm as the main entree, in place of the Alaskan salmon that we had on Friday night.

The remaining parts of the dinner were made from Chef Ivy Manning's recipes:
Cinderella Pumpkin Risotto with Fried Sage - pumpkin from our CSA, Farmer's market onions, northwest white wine, vegetable stock I made when the garden was about done producing, the arborio rice came from California (but that was at least closer than the last batch I bought which had originated in Texas)

Braised Lacinato Kale - see the last post for a description of getting this from an Oregon farm, rather than one in California

Fresh Cranberry Chutney - cranberries grown in Bandon, farmer's market cilantro and onion, chile out of our garden, pear that we got out near Hood River, plus a lot of seasonings that were not really local at all

I thought the combination of the pumpkin risotto, the kale and the chutney were wonderful with both the salmon and the pork chops. I was quite pleased with my planning. :) And all three were delicious. I'm not so great at creating recipes out of my head, but my skill in choosing other people's recipes has been increasing!

After the first night, Grady combined the leftover kale with the risotto. So, this picture from the second night has both mixed together. The other dark green that you see in there is some of the fried sage.