A Perfectly Local Valentine Dinner for Two!

All thanks to the diversity of foods at the recent Winter farmers' Market in Exeter this weekend!




Riverside Farm greens dressed in honey cider vinaigrette made with local cider vinegar, sunflower oil, honey, mustard (Reye's from Eastpoint, ME) and herbs from Herb Farmacy.  Apples from Hackleboro Orchards, cheese from Sandwich Creamery.

 

Valicenti Organics farro pasta tossed in their own red gravy, served with Me & Ollie's parisian baguette doctored up with fresh local butter and garlic.



Flourless chocolate torte made with fair trade/organic Green & Black's 72% cacao chocolate, minimal sugar (only 3 Tbsp in the entire recipe!), local eggs and butter, topped with honey sweetened, freshly whipped Brookford Farm cream and decorated with spots of raspberry glaze (from leftover homemade jam) and decorating candies.  Served with Sweet Baby Vineyard raspberry wine....

Ingredients in any of the above that were not selected from local sources:

Salad:
pistachios
sugar
cayenne pepper

Garlic Bread:
flour and yeast in bread
parsley

Torte:
chocolate
vanilla extract
decorating candies

Everything else entirely local!!

Moroccan Fish Stew, New Hampshire cod style

This dish was inspired by a NY Times piece.  With the exception of chickpeas and couscous, and a few spices, the dish can be prepared using NH-local ingredients.  And, it is "wicked delicious."  By far it is one of the most flavorful soups I have ever eaten...and I fancy myself a soup snob.
You'll need to have ample soup stock on hand.  Also have the harissa at your ready (see that recipe post).

Lip-smacking Harissa recipe

The inspiration for this version of harissa came from an article in the NY Times last year at this time.  I've posted the link to the original recipe at the bottom of this entry.

The first time I made this I used small, hot, red chiles that we got from Meadow’s Mirth and a handful of larger, less hot, chilies from Barker's Farm.  This time, with only a handful of Barker's chilies remaining in my pantry, I supplemented with 'new mexico' and 'chipotle' chilies from a small, local supermarket.