One Local Summer Week 1: Chard and Chevre Frittata

So, One Local Summer 2009 is finally here! Just to recap, the goal is to make at least one meal from all local ingredients (exceptions: oil, salt, pepper, spices) and write about it to share with the world over at Farmtophilly.com (collective posts go live tomorrow!) I am traveling and don't have access to my pictures, but I'll post them in the next day or two.

My menu consisted of:

• Farmers' market greenhouse tomatoes with caramelized-onion-infused oil and homegrown basil
  
• Chard and chevre frittata with caramelized onions
  
• Homegrown green salad with farmers market carrots, radishes, scallions and homegrown basil and mint
• Chateau Lafayette Reneau Seyval-Chardonnay NV from the Finger Lakes
  

For my meal, I utilized a couple of local options - mostly the farmers' market and winter CSA leftovers, but also FreshDirect which has a nice selection from a handful of local purveyors including a selection of NY state wines.

I sauteed one large bunch of green swiss chard with caramelized onions that I had made earlier in the week. When I caramelize onions, I cook them up with olive oil, salt, pepper and a good shake of ground cayenne pepper. I then put the onions, oil and all, in a jar in the fridge. I kept aside some of the oil to use as dressing for my tomatoes (which really didn't need dressing at all!) I put these aside while I beat 8 local organic free-roaming eggs and got them started in the same pan where I'd tossed the greens. Once the eggs started to set, I added the chard mixture and dotted the whole pan with about 2 ounces of chevre (I could have easily used all 4 ounces though...next time!) and finished the frittata in the oven.

The sweet caramelized onions with the tangy chevre and the earthy greens made for a wonderful combination of flavors. The tomato salad served as a bridge into summer which was an interesting contrast to the green salad which held the last bastions of our spring haul. I think the lettuces are just about to be done for the season which is sad because we got them in late and they are already on the tough side.

The one aspect that I didn't love was the wine. I selected it chiefly because it was very inexpensive and fit the bill for local. For the price, it was fine, but I thought it was rather thin with a lot of crisp apple flavors and oak competing with each other at first taste and then just disappearing rather abruptly. I will definitely explore the local vino options more as this challenge goes on.

Farmers' market: greenhouse tomatoes, carrots, radishes, scallions
CSA: yellow onions (which I had caramelized earlier in the week)
Homegrown: red and green leaf lettuces, basil, mint
FreshDirect: Nature's Yolk eggs, Coach Farm chevre, Chateau Lafayette Reneau Seyval-Chardonnay NV
Pantry Exceptions: Olive oil from Provisions, sea salt, black pepper, ground cayenne
Non-local: balsamic vinegar