Dark Days Challenge: Week 2

The Eco Geek is taking part in the 3rd Annual Dark Days of Winter Eat Local Challenge, November through March. More than 77 families nationwide are participating in the challenge this year. This post is for Week 2. See recaps of all the participants' posts here on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Our cook-local pantry is coming along. (I promise not to write so much about shopping every week, but this week was exceptional!)

After near desperate attempts last week to find a wide variety of local foods quickly at grocery stores, we hit the jackpot over the weekend at the bustling University District and Ballard farmers markets in Seattle.

Though driving around north Seattle may seem not very eco-friendly for an Edmonds resident, it's the best way I've found to find just about everything we could need for eating local in one place in the fall.

Thanks goes to my husband for slogging through the busy markets in the sometimes bone-chilling cold and rain, and our 1½-year-old son, who took in all the excitement while riding on my back in a baby carrier.

We scored big time, getting just about everything on our list and then some, except for tomatoes, which we failed to grab at the U District market, but hope to next time.

Our market bounty included carrots, heirloom potatoes, ground beef, beef bacon (new to us), bacon, goat sausage (also new), turnips, brussel sprouts, soup stock, eggs, cauliflower, squash, garlic, onion, celery, dill and sorrel.




We also discovered numerous new favorite farms along the way, including Stoney Plains Organic Farm of Tenino (90 miles from my house), Olsen Farms of Colville (366 miles away) and Nash's Organic Produce of Sequim, (50 miles away). Nash's also sells numerous crops at the Edmonds PCC, which will definitely come in handy.

At the Ballard market we stumbled on a booth for Quilceda Farm of Marysville, which sells goat meat and milk, veal, lamb and chicken eggs! How am I just discovering this now? That's only 23 miles from my house.


While in Ballard, we also stopped at the Wild Salmon Seafood Market at the Fisherman's Terminal, where we grabbed a fillet for two of Washington wild coho salmon.

Though the local salmon season ended months ago, some fishermen are still bringing in a few, so we went for it. It also gave me hope for other seafoods we can use for Dark Days meals.

I called Everett's Waterfront Fish Market and owner D.J. Peterson said I can hit him up for local clams, mussels, oysters, lingcod and crab this winter.

When it was time to cook the salmon, I slathered it in olive oil, dill and garlic. I let it marinate overnight and baked it to perfection in just 15 minutes. I forgot how easy salmon is to make!

There was one problem: I used way too much garlic, about six minced cloves on 1 pound of fish, which is good for me — I can eat the stuff raw — but not for husband, who is normal. I don't recommend it for general use and I've adjusted the recipe accordingly.
Also: What is the deal with dill? Though it added a lovely generic herbal fragrance to the fish, which tasted wonderfully unfishy, it virtually disappeared in the dish.

How do you get dill to really shine if you're not making pickles? Aioli?

Along with the salmon, I served local roasted fingerling potatoes we got from SPUD, last week, tossing them with local butter, dill, garlic salt and some applewood smoked “Yakima” sea salt from SaltWorks, a Woodinville company.


Wouldn't a quasi-local salt variety pack make a great Christmas gift for your local foodie?


We served the dishes with Carpenter Creek's award-winning Skagit Valley pinot noir. Though Puget Sound pinots can be spotty, this one was spot on!


Next week I'm thinking of doing a butternut squash soup, using a tried and true Herald recipe. I can't mess that up, right?

Garlicky dill salmon
2 half-pound wild Washington coho salmon fillets
2 cloves of farmers market garlic, finely minced
½ ounce of farmers market dill, finely minced
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Using fish-bone tweezers or needlenose pliers, remove small pinbones from the fish. Hold the fillet from underneath to make the tiny bones poke out slightly for easier access.
Place the fillets in a greased baking dish with the skin side down. If you have any leftover dill sprigs or stalks, put them underneath the fish.
Put garlic, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Rub the mixture over the fish and marinate for a few hours or overnight.
Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

For now, please send me your suggestions for eat-local menus, dill tips and beginner cookbooks: I'm considering Mark Bittman's latest edition of “How to Cook Everything,” but I'm not sure I need more than 1,000 recipes from one man.