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Welcome to Bailey's Local Foods
Do you want to eat more local food in Kitchener-Waterloo but it feels overwhelming and complicated? Whether you are the cook for your family, or an eager eater, We can help you find the local foods you are looking for. We can do this through our buying club for households (with weekly online ordering from May to October and monthly online ordering from November to April). Nina Bailey-Dick and Rachael Ward have started Bailey's Local Foods to make it easier for households to find local foods.
There's an exciting shift in the food system from a focus on cheap and global to a new "re-localisation" (see Next Steps). We don't need to eat 100% local foods - but 50% isn't very difficult and it will have profound positive ripple effects in the health of our bodies, our air, farmers' livelihoods, and our local economy. We're hoping to eat 50% local. What is your hope?
"Whatever you can do or dream you can do -- begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now." -- Goethe
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Favourite Local Food
This is a great dinner recipe that allows for lots of substitutions. It may seem odd at first to cook Boston or Bibb lettuce -- we tend to think of it for salads only -- but the result is surprisingly good.
A good substitute for the shallots at this time of year is chopped green garlic, garlic scapes, or spring onions -- your choice. A decent handful of any of those would suffice. Spinach or arugula could sub in well for the lettuce if that's what's handy.
This recipe comes from the New York Times' Mark Bittman, who consider himself a "less meatarian." Hence the use of just a small amount of prosciutto as a garnish. You could also use bacon or you could skip it altogether if you want a vegetarian meal.
Pasta With Peas, Prosciutto and Lettuce
- Salt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 to 3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
- 1 pound pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 shallot, minced
- Black pepper to taste
- 2 cups peas, fresh or frozen
- 1 head Bibb or Boston lettuce (about 6 ounces), cored, leaves cut into 3/4-inch slices
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock or dry white wine, more as needed
- 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it. Meanwhile, put one tablespoon oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add prosciutto and cook, turning occasionally, until crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes; set aside.
- When water boils, add pasta and cook until just tender; drain pasta, reserving some cooking liquid. Meanwhile, melt butter with remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and sprinkle with salt and pepper; cook until shallot begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add peas, lettuce and stock or wine to skillet and cook until peas turn bright green and lettuce is wilted, about 5 minutes. Add pasta to pan and continue cooking and stirring until everything is just heated through, adding extra stock or some reserved cooking liquid if needed to moisten. Toss with Parmesan cheese, garnish with prosciutto, adjust seasoning to taste and serve.
Yield: 4 servings. |
