The Day of Idaho Food, September 5th, 2011

It’s not easy to eat local food every single day, but on September 5th, a bunch of Idahoans proved it was not only doable, but often delicious.

On Labor Day, September 5, 2011, the Day of Idaho Food  was the first of an annual celebration of the incredible variety of foods grown in Idaho. Those Idaho foods came from gardens, neighborhoods, the farmers’ markets, the grocery story or, sometimes, across the state — but all were grown in Idaho.

Here’s a sample of what people enjoyed on the Day of Idaho Food:

Photo by Ariel Agenbroad

•Enjoyed home-grown grapes, eggs, Cloverleaf milk, and Idaho corn today. Great idea!!– Stephanie Bailey-White

•For me, part of the joy (and challenge) of eating seasonally and locally is not knowing in advance exactly what I’ll be eating…especially when much of it comes  from my own backyard! So on today, the Day of Idaho Food, I took stock, and now submit my Canyon County-based menu for the day…

Breakfast: zucchini muffins made from our over-productive squash plants and eggs from our hens, Hazel and Peggy, topped with raspberry-cranberry preserves I made yesterday from our raspberries. Donut peach from a Sunny Slope orchard. Stoker’s milk in my coffee.

Lunch: Fried egg sandwich (again thanks to our hens) with garden tomatoes on Alpicella sourdough, and some of our sliced lemon cucumbers.

For dinner tonight, I’m planning a roasted garlic, potato and leek soup with baby Idaho reds from Cliff’s Market, our own leeks and garlic, sausage from our Fair pig (raised by a Canyon County 4-H-er and processed at Johnson Brothers in Caldwell), more squash (grilled this time), a local cantaloupe, and perhaps a glass of dandelion wine made by a friend.

I feel so lucky to live in Idaho, surrounded by beautiful food and the amazing people who grow it! And I don’t take it for granted that I am able to have my own big garden, too! - Ariel Agenbroad, U of I Horticulture Extension Educator

•What Anna Wulfsong Belt is having for the Day of Idaho Food: “Heritage breed crock pot rabbit, green and wax beans, heirloom tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and basil and early peaches all raised at home except for the peaches, raised 1/4 mile away.”

•What Billie Ann Farley of Caldwell is eating for the Day of Idaho Food: “Fruit, wine and veggies from Williamson FruitWine.”

•”We’ll be having beef from Homestead Natural Foods and veggies from our garden.” – Teresa Hutton Shively, Caldwell

Photo by Ariel Agenbroad

•”We are going to have a watermelon from Smart Farms in Meridian, pizza made with basil from the garden, and zuccinni cupcakes. Perhaps our late corn will be ready, and we will have that as well.” – Brandi Burns

•”We are having a large gathering of friends & neighbors for a barbeque & potluck. The menu will include Falls Brand sausages & franks, grilled zucchini from our garden, fresh tomato/onion/green pepper salad with veggies straight from our garden, lentil & wild rice salad featuring legumes from the Palouse, Ballard Farms cheeses, growlers with a variety of ales from Sockeye Grill, and local wines including Bitner, Davis Creek, Cinder, and Snake River. Each guest will bring a dish that must include at least one local ingredient, as well as a canned or boxed donation to the Idaho Food Bank. It should be a wonderful celebration of friendship & local food on this Labor Day: a toast to what common laborers & unions have contributed to this great country.” – Pat St. Tourangeau

•Here’s what Chef Lynn Sheehan, owner of Cucina Gemelli Restaurant in Twin Falls is demonstrating and serving at the Twin Falls County Fair Pavilion for the Day of Idaho Food: Seared Pork Shoulder Steak, Grilled Beef Tri Tip with Spicy Herb “Chimichurri” Sauce, Fresh Hummus Dip with Local Chickpeas, Bacon-Wrapped Rabbit on Potato Pancakes, Lamb “Shish Kebab” Skewers, Savory Mint Mayonnaise and Pickled Zucchini on Pita Bread, Pan Seared Herb-Crusted Fresh Trout with Creamed Green Lentil Ragout with Sweet Corn & Tomato.

•”We’re starting things off with an heirloom tomato salad, then featuring a grilled turkey burger with lemon cucumbers, and washing it down with a Buck Snort root beer float with housemade ice cream! Happy Day of Idaho Food!” – Matt Fuxan, food procurer and sustainability expert at Red Feather Lounge and Bittercreek Ale House in Boise on the special those restaurants are serving for the Day of Idaho Food.

•”We’ll be grilling flank steak from Steve Campbell’s Triangle C Ranch, out of New Meadows. The steak will be rubbed with olive oil and crushed garlic. The garlic and remainder of the menu is from our garden. Beets will be steamed, cooled and sprinkled with balsamic. Small zucchini, sliced in rounds will be sautéed with cut corn and green onions. Nectarines should still be perfect. We will grill halves and drizzle with our Bee’s honey. I’ll be drinking Tablerock gluten-free O’Tay beer while lording over the grill. With dinner, a Koenig Syrah. Yum.” – Bruce and Gail Rankin, Boise

Photo by Guy Hand

•”I’ll start the day with local eggs, then later BBQ made with Idaho’s Bounty sourced hamburger, Bigwood Bread ciabata buns, with lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes and herbs from my own garden. I’ll drink Cinder Wine and make a pie from the fruit I’ll buy at the Hailey Farmer’s Market.” – Dana DuGan, freelance writer based in Hailey

•”I’ve been foraging for food this summer, & fishing and trading as well. Our menu includes an 8 lb. Lake Henry trout I traded veggies from my own garden & the community garden where I volunteer; smoked salmon from a Nez Perce tribal member; tomato-summer squash-swiss chard au gratin; roasted garlic Idaho potatoes; summer fruit salad from Sunny Slope; and sorbet from local peaches. Add St. Chapelle wines and local micro-brewskies and IT’S A PARTY!!! – Susan Carmichael

•”We are hosting a big party for friends and will be serving Vogel Farms Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Homestead Natural Foods Hamburgers, St. Chapelle wine and Grand Teton Brewing Co beer. Friends will bring sides to share – from their own gardens or dishes highlighting other Idaho foods.” – Deb McGrath

•”Gosh, it is so easy to eat a full day of Idaho food at this time of year. Breakfast: local elk sausage and scrambled duck eggs from Morning Owl Farms, along with toasted Cafe de Paris bread slathered with Cloverleaf Creamery butter. Lunch: big salad with lettuce and cukes from Rice Family Farms, along with home-grown tomatoes and local sheep’s milk cheese on top, local corn on the cob. Dinner: chili made with Homestead ground beef and local red beans, onions from Global Gardens, and whatever other veggies look good to throw in, along with a fruit salad of local fruit for dessert. Add some Cinder wine and enjoy!” – Marlene Strong

•”I’m taking a culinary stroll through Downtown Boise to enjoy an all Idaho food and wine dinner at my favorite restaurant.” – Diane Norton, Idaho Division of Tourism

•”Day of Idaho Food cum Labor Day menu: Chicken Etoufee with tomatoes, celery, sweet bell pepper, garlic and chicken sourced from both our home garden and our Morning Owl Farm CSA. Special ingredient available only in Idaho – mountain air sourced somewhere off highway 21 between Boise and Stanley. Yee hah! – Josie Fretwell

•”My Idaho Foods Day event will be a picnic. Nothing fancy, just good old potato salad made with CSA potatoes, hard boiled Ourada eggs, my own chives and herbs; my tomatoes and CSA green bean and basil salad, Ballard cheese, Zepole bread, and I’ll make local peach kuchen with local flour and Cloverleaf Creamery butter and cream.” – Edwina Allen

Photo by Guy Hand

•”We will grill steaks and burgers grown on our parents’ property in Nampa with corn on the cobs and peppers from our CSA near Horseshoe bend. We’ll get some local-grain buns from the Co-Op, and I bet we’ll also devour fresh melons and tomatoes and beans from the CSA too. Bottled home-brewed beer and Idaho-distilled liquors will wet our whistles as we bathe in the sunlight. I still need to figure out some local snacks, so I’ll probably hit up the farmers market that Saturday morning and see what I can find.” – Kelsey Nunez

•”Labor Day is a work day in our family, so we like to celebrate by making a festive but fairly “easy” meal.  This year, we’ll start with pizza crusts purchased at the Capitol City Farmer’s Market, prepared by Le Café de Paris, and made from organic whole wheat from our farmer friend Beth Rasgorshek’s Canyon Bounty Farm.  To this, we add canned tomatoes from last year’s garden, fresh pesto from this year’s basil and garlic, slices of steamed squash also from the garden.  Because the eggplant is coming along beautifully, we just might have to add some of that, too.  While the cheese on the pizza is not from Idaho, the home brew beer and the melon for dessert are.  Supplemented by a pie made from our blueberries (and more of Beth’s flour), life is good.  Happy Labor Day!” – Rochelle Johnson, Associate Professor of English and Environmental Studies at The College of Idaho.

“I plan on eating straight from my garden throughout the month of September. Orient Express Eggplant sautéed with garlic, coriander seeds and pumpkin seeds in Cloverdale butter. My starts were purchased at Capitol City Market in downtown. Thanks to Next Generation Organics (eggplant), organic garlic from the Co-op, Robin at Lazy Dog Farms (cilantro), pumpkins a gift from my neighbor Helene of Boise Contemporary Theater. Thank you to my community for feeding me! – Kim Metez, Realtor at Buy-Boise, a cooperative real estate brokerage, Creator of The Abundance Project

•”We’re going to try a new pizza on the grill. I’ll make the dough with Idaho sourced flour. We’ll slather a roasted garlic paste from our recently harvested crop, load it it with potatoes, onions and lots of herbs from the garden and top it off with Ballard’s Cheddar Truffle Cheese. It should pair nicely with an Idaho beer!” – Jennifer Robbins Smith, a transplant from the South whose childhood memories are inherently connected to food.

•”I like the idea that several restaurants have embraced about celebrating the Day of Idaho Food all weekend. Why not? In fact, I’m going to start on Friday when I attend the BSU symposium on the Intersection of Art and Food. In addition to listening to ethnobotonist and food scholar, Gary Paul Nahban, among other dynamic speakers, I will partake of the local food lunch provided by the B22 food truck. Plans for Saturday, include going to the downtown farmer’s market to buy local sweet corn, returning home to make coleslaw from my cabbage and carrots, and then grilling local Homestead Hot Italian sausages. YUM. Then, on Sunday, I will join friends on what we hope will be a successful huckleberry picking venture. The menu feature that night: homemade ice cream (using Cloverleaf milk and cream and local honey) with huckberry sauce. YUM YUM. Finally on Monday, the actual DOIF, I will join friends in Garden Valley for their big Day of Idaho Food shindig. There will be so much Idaho grown and produced food and drink there that I couldn’t possibly begin to list it all. YUM YUM YUM.” – Amy Hutchinson, Member of the Treasure Valley Food Coalition

• Our Day of Idaho Food Menu: G&Ts: Bardenay gin; Salad: Greens, tomatoes, herbs and purslane from the garden and CC Market; Pork loin: Double XL Ranch, Melba / morels: somewhere local; Potatoes: Mike and Marie Heath, Buhl; Dessert: Custard (backyard eggs, Clover Leaf milk, Buhl) OR Clover Leaf vanilla ice cream w/ backyard raspberry-rhubarb compote. — Erik Kingston, co-coordinator, Boise/Eagle Tour de Coop and member, Idaho Community Review.

• “For the day of Idaho food I am going to eat a bear meatloaf stuffed with garden chives and tomatoes. I will also use some wild gathered Idaho currants and then I am going to wrap the whole mess in some Falls Brand bacon. Mmmm…meatloaf.” – Randy King, chef, outdoorsman and writer.

• “I enjoy cooking on the holidays. I usually buy food to barbecue and make numerous side dishes. My wife does the grilling, I do the cooking in the kitchen. This year I plan to source as much as I can from right here in Idaho. I will develop the menu from what I am able to procure at Boise’s East End market on Sunday, September 4.” – Dave Ficks, Executive Director of Sustainable Community Connections of Idaho.

• “Here’s what I’m eating: Sweet Dakota Rose Watermelon, Pomodorini di Piennolo Tomatoes, Santa Fe Grande Chiles, Middle Eastern Prolific Cucumbers.” – Janie Burns, sheep farmer and local food advocate.

Photo by Janie Burns

• “My Idaho Food day will begin with breakfast of eggs from my chickens scrambled with onions, tomatoes and peppers from my garden.  Bacon from the 4-H pig I bought at the Canyon County Fair last year and toast from Zeppole Bakery’s bread will complete ‘My Idaho Breakfast.’” – Leah Clark, Idaho Preferred.

• “Café Vicino won’t be open on the Day of Idaho Food, but we will celebrate Friday and Saturday night with these specials: Purple Sage Farms spring mix, Global Gardens Chioggia beets & Rollingstone Farms Fromage Blanc; Matthew Farms slow-roasted lamb ribs with cinnamon-cumin rub, fingerlings & zucchini flan; and Sweet Chèvre Peach Tart. And of course a nice selection of Idaho Wines!” – Richard Langston, Owner/Chef, Cafe Vicino.

• “After retiring from commercial farming I realized my grandchildren didn’t have a clue where their food came from or what it should taste like.  We (my three angels and me) now have a garden and those three little girls know exactly what fresh vegetables and strawberries ought to taste like.  They also have an idea about the work required.

We will be eating fresh tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peas out of the pod, some green beans, cantaloupe and watermelon, crook neck squash, carrots and a salad right out of the garden.  Perhaps even an Idaho grown steak on the grill.  More is possible but we will be full.  We will eat Idaho cheese and I will drink a little Idaho wine, strawberries for desert.” – Idaho Senator Tim Corder.

• My Day of Idaho Food Recipe:

1. Lace up shoes, head to garden and pick ripe tomatoes, squash, herbs, etc.
2. Review list of remaining foods from week’s CSA pick-up.
3. Consult cookbooks and internet for ideas to prepare day’s ingredients.
4. Cook.
5. Enjoy meal, something similar to the one pictured here and prepared using the same “recipe.”

– Jennifer Miller, Sustainable Agriculture Associate, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides