My challenge to you this week is to make a meal using only local ingredients. This shouldn't be too hard during the summer months especially if you are a home gardener or have local markets like we do here in Denver. I've posted before how I love going to the Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings and then cooking something with what I brought home.
While my own chickens have not started laying yet, I buy locally sourced chicken eggs at the market. $6 for a dozen and each time they are a mix of Easter Egg'ers (blue or green eggs!), as well as Brown and White. I'm always excited to see what I get.
Unfortunately due to a crazy work week I did not get to eat all of last week's eggs and I know that this week I will be wanting to get more. Fresh pasta is always a great way to use eggs.
I have posted many times before on how to make pasta and won't go into the steps again but you can reference one of the archived posts for reference here.
This alone used 4 eggs and I was able to make enough bowtie pasta for this meal and freeze two more batches to use later.
My tomatoes are not quite ready so I decided to make an easy Olive Oil and garlic sauce along with some fresh beans and basil that is ready in my own backyard garden. The great thing about a pasta recipe is that simple is better.
One of the market vendors always have fresh garlic well into the summer so I always grab a few heads every week. It's strong and fresh and tastes a million times better than anything I can buy in a store.
Cooking the homemade pasta, sauteing some garlic in olive oil, tossing them together and topping them with fresh backyard garden herbs made a quick and completely locally sourced meal that tastes amazing.
What local dish can you come up with this week? Let the ingredients dictate what you cook and you will not be disappointed.
