Veggies

After so many months of being cooped up indoors, all I want to do is spend time outside, soaking up the sun.  I'll be wearing 50 spf sunscreen and a hat but you get the idea!  I love to go to the beach with a picnic or spend the day in someone's back yard for a fire and a cookout.  Somehow the everyday stuff of eating is just so much better outside.  I was inspired by a recent article in the New York Times Magazine called "Into The Wild" to make the most out of our first picnic of the season: Summer Sound at Tanglewood.  The article is a little over the top but this quote caught my attention:

"Picnics might be the one activity that Victorian officiousness improved, because the only difference between “picnicking” and “eating outside” — which for most of history was just “eating” — is the pleasurable collision between human refinements and the places and energies in the natural world that have, so far, escaped them."

And it's not just enjoyable to relax and eat outside surrounded by the energies of nature, it's also necessary for your health!  There's that dose of Vitamin D you've been missing since last October and just being outside, even if it's not sunny, can give your brain a boost.  Spending time in nature can help your clear your mind so skip the afternoon coffee and take a walk outside to get energized by the life all around you. 

According to this article by the Huffington Post, "Spending time in nature has been shown to lower stress levels." Says Seattle-based environmental psychologist Judith Heerwagon. "Just looking at a garden or trees or going for a walk, even if it's in your own neighborhood, reduces stress," she says. "I don't think anyone understands why, but there's something about being in a natural setting that shows clear evidence of stress reduction, including physiological evidence -- like lower heart rate."

The lawn at Tangelwood this past weekend was full of families and friends enjoying a cloudless sunny day full of music, dancing and of course, good food.  I bet most of them were unaware that whiling the day away outside was doing good things for their overall health!

Drinks: the one thing you really must keep cold for your picnic, so plan ahead to keep your drinks refreshing.  We packed some beer Dana brewed in a stainless steel insulated growler, which works for any beverage, even carbonated ones!

Eats: On a picnic, anything goes as long it can be served cold-ish.   I decided to try to assemble an outdoor feast featuring some of the best foods made right here in Berkshire county.  First stop, the Downtown Pittsfield Farmer's Market.  Fresh produce makes for colorful, healthy salads.  Here's one of my favorites:

Broccoli Salad

Mix together in a small bowl: 1/4 whole milk yogurt or mayonaise (or a mix of the two), 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar or Fire Cider, plus salt to taste.

Toss together: 5 cups chopped raw broccoli (florets and stems) and 1/4 cup raisins.

Add the dressing to the broccoli and toss well to combine.  Top with 1/4 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds.  Best when made several hours ahead of serving!

Whether you are going to a full day event or just taking a 20 minute lunch break, food is best served outdoors this time of year.  Now that the Downtown Pittsfield Farmer's Market is happening on the Common every Saturday, you can shop and picnic all in one place.  See you out there!

This is my new favorite way to cook and eat leeks.  My Dad made this on a whim, without a recipe, for Christmas dinner and it was amazing, no leftovers at all!  You can easily make double this recipe, which is what I did since I had a whole bunch of leeks from my Dad's garden and wanted to cook them up all at once.  I cooked all the leeks, about 10 cups total, and baked half right away.  The next day I baked the other half for another dinner.  This is a nice addition to a pot luck dinner and if you do have leftovers they are great hot or cold.  Prepping the leeks takes the longest, especially if you are getting them from your root cellar and not fresh from the store.  Leeks are a great storage veggie, as you can easily peel off the less pretty outer layers and find a perfectly preserve leek inside!

Ingredients:

5 cups sliced leeks, white and light green parts only

Salt and pepper to taste

3 Tablespoons pasture butter

1 large egg

a shy 1/2 cup cream or half and half

Method:

Prepare the leeks: strip away any rotten or damaged outer layrs, slice off the root tip and trim the top to the light green part.  Thinly slice all the leeks until you have about 5 cups.

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees.

In a large sauce pan or pot, I used my enamel coated cast iron soup pot, add the butter, sliced leeks and sprinkle with salt, then add as much black pepper as you like.  

Over medium low flame, sweat the leeks until they are just past bright green, cooked though and reduced dramatically in size.

Let the leeks cool.

Whip together the egg and heavy cream.

Combine the egg, cream and cooked leeks in glass or ceramic baking dish, I used a 1.5 liter pyrex square.

Spead the mixture evenly and top with a sprinkling of cheese, Gruyere is my favorite!

Bake the gratin until it's set and staring to brown around the edges, about 30 minutes.  You can brown the cheese under the broiler at the end if that sounds good to you.  Enjoy!