Episode 288: Easy Eggplant, Brassicas, and Made Fresh

Leigh Belanger
photo credit: Gabi Valladares

 Marisa is on maternity leave. This week’s guest host is Leigh Belanger, a writer, editor, and co-host of the new podcast, Made Fresh.

In Food News, we’re talking a Civil Eats article covering a plan from the World Resources Institute to halve food waste by 2030.

In our What’s for Dinner segment, Leigh tells us all about the streamlined eggplant parm she’s been making. No breading, no messy frying. She doesn’t work from a recipe, but it sounds a lot like this one. (Also it sounds delicious.)

In this week’s How’d You Make That? segment, we’ve got a novel take on cooking brassicas between two skillets on the stovetop.

Just like Marisa and Joy, Leigh is podcaster! Joy asks her about some episodes of Made Fresh. Topics include growing out of alcohol, how to pivot in work or life, and social media.

In the What We’re Loving corner this week, Leigh has a rec all you lunch-packing parents will want to know about. Nature’s Bakery fig bars.

If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe! Bonus points if you rate us or leave a review. Follow us on Instagram and twitter @localmouthful and help us spread the word about the show.

Episode 287: Mushroom Pasta, Biscuits, Climate Repair

Alex Jones likes ice cream.

This week, Alex Jones joins Joy as guest cohost.

In food news, we chew over a Washington City Paper article that examines the trustworthiness of Instagram’s so-called influencers.

In our What’s for Dinner segment, Alex tells us all about a delicious and easy sounding creamy mushroom pasta. (Alex improvises her version, but if you a recipe, this one can’t possibly be bad.)

In How’d You Make That, we look at biscuits, especially how the tall fluffy biscuits of the US South differ from those in the North. Alex was intrigued enough by this Atlantic article on the subject to start working on her own version. If you want to give it a try, remember: White Lily brand flour is 9% protein. According to SouthernKitchen.com, you can make your own self-rising White Lily facsimile by blending equal parts all-purpose and cake flour to get closer to that 9% number. To make it self-rising, add 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoons salt per cup of flour.

 Alex tells Joy about Jordan Fink, a landscape designer and permaculture practitioner in Portland, is trying to do to mitigate climate change. He’s on a mission to recruit volunteers to plant varieties of chestnuts (like chinkapins, something the Experimental Farm Network folks are also into) across the continent (something like a billion trees is his vision) to provide us with a food source that’s an alternative to grains and also sequester carbon. Would love to talk about this a bit and talk about how chestnuts may be used in place of staples like wheat, etc in home cooking. 

Some links if you want to learn more:

https://www.greatitalianchefs.com/features/chestnut-flour-tuscany-dishes

https://www.thespruceeats.com/make-chestnut-flour-from-whole-chestnuts-1338028

https://www.patreon.com/JordanFink

https://www.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/project/3

And finally, in What We’re Loving, Alex tells Joy about the new cheese powders from Old City Cheese Co., which can you use to upgrade the usual boxed mac and cheese!

If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe! Bonus points if you rate us or leave a review. Follow us on Instagram and twitter @localmouthful and help us spread the word about the show.

Episode 286: Chickpeas, Cheese, and Honey

Honey!

Marisa is on maternity leave, so today I’m with guest host, Jenn Ladd, service editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and former managing editor for Milk Street.

In food news this week, we discussed a recent piece from The Philadelphia Inquirer, all about local chefs working with butterfly pea flower. It’s a powder that turns everything a beautiful shade of blue. Read it here.

In our What’s for Dinner? segment this week we are talking about the ultimate pantry savior–chickpeas.

In our How’d You Make That segment, Joy describes her simple method for pan-fried tempeh. Good stuff, couldn’t be easier.

Recently Joy and Jenn worked together on this feature about honey. Trust us, you do not want to miss the incredible burger recipe featured here, which is packed with honey!

And in What We’re Loving, Jenn is smitten with cheese. Especially Montgomery’s Farmhouse Cheddar.

If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe! Bonus points if you rate us or leave a review. Follow us on Instagram and twitter @localmouthful and help us spread the word about the show.

Episode 285: Simplest Salmon, Freezer Chicken Meals, and Food Blogs in 2019

Summer Miller
photo credit: brycebridges.com

Today at the guest host mic, we welcome Summer Miller, author of the New Prairie Kitchen cookbook and associate editor at SimplyRecipes.com.

In our Food News segment, we talk about a very Edible Communities perspective on the Popeye’s fried chicken sandwich phenomenon.

In What’s for Dinner Summer tells us about her dead simple meal of the summer: Broiled salmon with easy-breezy sides.

In our How’d You Make That? segment, Summer talks us through a genius system she has for skillet chicken dinners that will save you from take-out on these busy back-to-school weeknights. Get the recipe and variations here.

Up for discussion: What defines a blog in 2019? Is it different from a website? Is Simply Recipes still a blog? Do you still read any food blogs (other than Food in Jars, of course)?

And in What We’re Loving, it’s all about Dry Cucumber Soda. Cheers!

If you like what you hear, make sure to subscribe! Bonus points if you rate us or leave a review. Follow us on Instagram and twitter @localmouthful and help us spread the word about the show.