Local Challenges

Lots of cooking this month; not much posting. Ah, well.

I’ve got my bread recipe pretty much down to a science now, and I’ve been baking it regularly this month. I’ve adapted a recipe that I copied several years ago from one of Beth Hensperger’s bread books, changing it from white to whole grain with the substitution of whole-wheat flour and some ground oatmeal. The loaves develop a nice crust, yet not too tough on the mouth, while the interior has the pleasing springy texture of artisan bread. The recipe has no added sugar or fat (other than what’s in the milk used in the sponge), so the multi-grain version is actually fairly guilt-free (unless I eat several slices in one sitting, which I usually do when it’s fresh from the oven).

Just before Christmas, I suddenly developed a craving for ratatouille—a dish I’ve not made before—so I made a quick trip to Rocket Market on Christmas Eve for some eggplant, zucchini, peppers and canned tomatoes. (I had onions and garlic on hand already.) Between my cookbooks and the vastness of the online world, I read through several recipes, finally settling on Julia Child’s ratatouille recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, available as a PDF here. (Short of getting a recipe straight from Provence, Julia’s the next best thing, I figure.)

I knew the recipe would take some time to prepare, so I postponed the adventure until Saturday, the day after Christmas. There’s nothing difficult about the preparation, except for the challenge of staying focused through all the steps. First, the eggplant and zucchini are cut into slices; then all the slices are briefly pan fried in olive oil and set aside. Then the thinly sliced onion and pepper are sautéed, with garlic tossed in at the last minute. Whole canned tomatoes (canned, not fresh, owing to the season) get sliced and layered on the onions and peppers. Then the whole caboodle gets layered together for what Julia charmingly calls “a brief communal simmer.” My ratatouille’s simmer was somewhat longer than brief, thanks to an unplanned nap, but I’m thinking it allowed the flavors to merge even more thoroughly. The resulting dish—halfway between a casserole and a stew—was rich, earthy and even slightly sweet. Each component retained something of its own identity, and yet the mélange was much more than the sum of its parts. And the flavors have only grown more glorious with subsequent reheating.

Now, clearly, I did not buy locally grown eggplant and zucchini—not in December, not in Spokane—but at least they were organic. They came from Mexico, which at least is closer than, say, Brazil or China. And there’s considerable debate about whether food miles or farm production methods contribute more to a food product’s carbon footprint. (For an interesting recent post on that topic, see “The Main Reason to Eat Local” in the Atlantic Monthly’s food blog, from October 2009.) I remain a proponent of generally eating seasonally—I’ve consumed my share of kale, cauliflower and squash in the last couple of months, not to mention veggies that I stashed in my freezer back in September—but I also see the benefit of an occasional splurge. Had I planned better during the summer (and predicted my unforeseen craving for a French peasant dish during the holidays), I could have made a big batch of ratatouille in August, when local production of eggplant and zucchini was at its seasonal peak (and when it was 90-something degrees in my kitchen) and left several servings in my freezer. But I was neither that clever nor that sainted. So I made the best choice I could make at this time—balancing health, environmental concerns, contributions to the local economy, and my own limited resources of time, money and energy—that would allow me to enjoy ratatouille in December.

Damn, eating has gotten really complicated.

Incidentally, the onions and garlic were both local and organic. The tomatoes came from Italy—non-organic, non-local, but a tribute to the dish’s European roots.

In a quick diversion, I see that Michael Pollan’s newest book, Food Rules, hit the shelves today. In it, he outlines a number of rules to follow when purchasing and eating food, rules drawn from the issues outlined in his last book, In Defense of Food. I plan to check it out sometime soon, even though I believe that eating should be governed more by guidelines than by strictly codified rules. Moderation in all things, and all that.

As a footnote… I used a small amount of the ratatouille to create a knockout eggplant tapanade the next day. First, I chopped two cloves of garlic and set it in about a quarter-cup of olive oil. Then I took about a cup of the ratatouille, chopped the vegetables into much smaller pieces (maybe a half-inch square) and added that to the olive oil. Next, I added a dozen reconstituted sundried tomatoes, also chopped. A squeeze of black olive paste, a teaspoon or so of capers, salt, pepper and a touch of oregano finished the dish. I let it sit overnight then served it with plenty of warm, crusty bread to unanimous raves.

I love playing to an appreciative audience.