Dark Days Challenge - Week 16 Report

For our Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal this week, our closest effort is today's dinner - a rather traditional meat and potatoes kind of meal. I went down to survey the freezer and we still have a fair amount from our Kookoolan Farms beef share. So, I pulled a sirloin tip steak.

Our dinner was the sirloin tip steak grilled on the back porch, a potatoe casserole, and some sauteed chard with garlic.

the steak - Kookoolan Farms in Yamhill
potatoes - Washington was the closest I could find for the russets
cream - Tillamook
Chicken broth - made from the last whole chicken we cooked
cheddar - Provvista Organic sharp cheddar. Unfortunately, this probably is not made locally, just imported or distributed by a local company. Not enough information on the label. But, the cheese tastes very good.
Red chard - part of it came from somewhere in Washington, but, believe it or not, we also had some growing in our pot in the backyard - same one we planted last spring. Woo-hoo!

Creamy Potato Casserole
8-10 servings
2.5 lb russet potatoes, scrubbed, skins left on (about 5 medium)
1 C whipping cream
1 C chicken broth
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/4 C unsalted butter
3/4 C grated parmesan
3/4 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1.5 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese

boil potatoes until just barely tender, 15-17 minutes. Drain. when cool enough to handle, peel and shred. Place shredded potatoe sin large bowl and set aside.

Bring cream and broth to simmer in saucepan. remove from heat and stire in garlic, butter and parmesan. Pour cream mixture intow bowl with potatoes and stir. Stir in salt and pepper. Scrape into 2 qt. oval baking dish and sprinkle with cheddar. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until top is nicely browned, 20-25 min.
from Cook's Country magazine, published in The Oregonian