OLS Week 4: Local Hors d'Oeuvres

This week was another hectic week that culminated in a lovely evening with girlfriends in front of the television. I was too crazed to cook, but came up with a spread of hors d'oeuvres that served us well and were about 98% local.

In order to stock up on snacks at the last minute, I explored a new farmers market - the Fulton Stall Market (that will probably be a post on its own coming shortly). I picked up an organic multigrain baguette from Bread Alone, a rainbow of carrots and the first cucumbers of the season (for me), and a locally-produced hummus (as you might expect, the chickpeas were not so local).

I pulled this together with a cheese plate of the local pecorino-style cheese that I tried last week, Yancey's aged cheddar, and a blue cheese spread which family brought down from VT on a visit the previous week. It was local to them, so it counts as local to me!

The piece de resistance (although now getting to be a regular treat on my weekly menus) was a set of crostini featuring the Valley Shepherd fresh ricotta and garlic scapes from the farmers' market sauteed in a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The wine we drank was from Portugal, and so I didn't go the full nine yards on this one, but I enjoyed the wine quite a bit and will be looking further into one of the wines in particular (I didn't drink them with reporting back in mind, but the Portuguese red table wine was probably review-worthy and certainly budget-friendly. I will make a point to get it again and see what I can do).

FreshDirect Local: Yancey's Fancy Cheddar
Brooklyn Farmers' Market: garlic scapes, radishes, pecorino cheese
Fulton Stall Farmers' Market: baguette, carrots, cucumbers, hummus
Local gift from out of town: blue cheese spread
Pantry staples: olive oil, black pepper, balsamic