We were honored in June to have as our guests Erik Lyons and Steve Howard of Farmbag of the Lowcountry (aka Local Farmbag). Although there are several local farmer’s markets in the area, I found I was having difficulty making it to any of them. That is where Local Farmbag comes in. They deliver organic and/or locally sources fruits and vegetables right to your front door. You can also include into your bag “add ins” which could be anything from artisan breads and cheeses or free-range eggs. Every Sunday, Erik sends out an email with the contents of the bag for that week and recipes using the fresh produce. I must say, they easily accommodate substitutions. Don’t like cantaloupe? No problem! They even let you choose want produce you want more of to compensate. So Erik and Steve came to our gathering, made a tasty fresh corn salad using, talked about Local Farmbag and answered lots of questions–boy, were there lots of questions! In addition to what they do, these guys know a lot about gardening.
Moving on to the food. Although the food was plentiful, as usual, I do not have a lot of the recipes. I just don’t. One the most talked about recipes was for a Coconut-Gingersnap Sweet Potato Pie. This was not the bland pie commonly found on Thanksgiving tables. This pie was bold, earthy and flavorful. Another dish bursting with flavor was the Plantain and Pinto Stew. In addition to plantains, which I loved, it had mix of tongue tingling smokiness from cumin and heat from jalapeños. Beets are abundant in the lowcountry this time of year. The sweetness of beets, was perfectly paired with a tangy mint vinaigrette and the saltiness of cheese in this Golden Beet Salad with Parsley Mint Vinaigrette. You will see from the pictures that red beets were substituted.
Enjoy the photos and the recipes! See you in July.
Eating Without Meat 