Dining Local

We went to the local farmers’ market yesterday and it inspired me to make a meal in which each of the components included at least one local ingredient (grown or made within 100 miles of our home).  Followers of the 100 mile diet would likely not approve of my menu because it includes ingredients from outside our area but I’m not a purist.  I think it’s okay to include other fine ingredients as well. 

I served a tasting platter and then a dessert.  Our meal included:

• Spinach salad made with spinach and kale flowers from Alderlea Farm, in Glenora.  The mushrooms were not grown here on the island but they are grown in BC, in the Fraser Valley.
• Cucumber and golden tomatoes from Gamboa Greenhouses in Cobble Hill.
• Devilled eggs made from Alderlea Farm organic eggs.  The mayo was made from them too and the green onions come from Alderlea Farm as well.
• Highland beef sirloin from Birds Eye Cove Farm.
• Cognac sausage from Ravenstone Farm in Qualicum Beach.
• Sweet tomato and jalapeno pickle made from vegetables purchased at the farm market last summer.
• Zucchini relish and green tomato relish also made from vegetables purchased at the farm market last summer.
• Red Dawn cheese, flavoured with blackberries and port, made by Hilary’s Artisan Cheese in Cowichan Bay.
• Foccaccia crisps (not pictured), that I baked myself using Sunset Bay honey from Nanaimo and dried oregano from Providence Farm here in Duncan.
• Rhubarb and apple crisp, made with Sunset Bay honey and rhubarb from my brother’s garden.  The apples are not from the island but they are from BC.  They were grown in the Okanagan.

All in all, it was a mighty fine meal.  Kudos to our local farmers; I appreciate their hard work.