Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary

cooking up a storm at the edge of the world

Shop Local #8

Published on March 31, 2014 • Last updated July 22, 2017 by
Shop Local is a food blogging challenge created to help food bloggers showcase the wonderful local produce available to them, where ever they are, world wide. This is the eighth round up of this challenge, and I am delighted with each and every entry which has been shared with it so far. The food stories are fantastic! You can see all of them over on the Shop Local Pinterest Board, if you like!

So without further ado, here is the March Shop Local round up. If you fancy joining in yourself, scroll down to the bottom to find out how.  Many thanks, once again, to all you fantastic bloggers who have shared your recipes and beautiful photos!
Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours kicks things off this month with her gorgeous rhubarb compote made with British rhubarb from Kent. I noticed my own garden rhubarb starting to force its way upwards this morning while out in the garden, and I can’t wait to start eating! This compote is flavoured with Thai ginger and some citrus zest, ideal for topping yogurt for breakfast.

These heavenly real chocolate brownies by Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog uses local happy duck eggs and half wholemeal spelt flour for added depth of flavour. Don’t you just want to take a great big gooey bite!

Choclette has also shared her deliciously golden Cornish Saffron Buns. Did you know saffron has long been associated with Cornwall? Choclette says, “It is said that the Cornish traded with the Phoenicians way back, exchanging tin for saffron and it’s been used here ever since.” These saffron buns are a traditional Cornish bake, and I certainly wouldn’t say no to tucking into a few!

In the first of two entries this month, Alexandra, The Lass in the Apron (from Pennsylvania, USA, who is currently writing a cookery book!) shares an absolutely perfect Ukranian Pagach. Alexandra says, “Pagach is simply two rounds of bread dough sandwiched around a filling and then baked.” She made this incredibly tasty looking dish with a potato, cabbage and local cheddar cheese filling. Oh yes please! This looks perfect for a picnic!

Tina over at The Worktop transforms leftover crusty sourdough bread into these delicious red pepper butter infused croutons, the ideal complement to any soup or salad. She makes her croutons from perfectly crafted sourdough made by one of London’s best artisan bakers, grabbing the ends of the loaves that would otherwise have been thrown out at the end of the day in the coffee shop she works in. You simply must read how she does it, it’s so easy!
In her second entry, Alexandra, The Lass in the Apron, makes this deliciously decadent German Chocolate Cake for her mother’s birthday. Look at those perfectly crafted chocolate roses! She made those herself!! This cake is her own eggless adaptation of a traditional recipe. Alexandra says there are “three layers of cake, two decadent frostings, and a bouquet of hand-molded chocolate roses for decoration, is certainly a showstopper of a cake.”
Corina, fellow ex-pat Canadian living in the UK over at The ProWare Kitchen blog whips up this gorgeous creamy broccoli soup with almond rocket pesto using the purple sprouting broccoli from her veg box delivery.  Corina says the pesto in this recipe adds a lovely punch of flavour to the soup. An excellent way to serve broccoli, I think! Yes, I could go a bowlful of this for lunch for sure!
Sustainable Mum shares a very seasonal carrot and celeriac remoulade made with vegetables from her veg box. She says, “A remoulade is a sauce or condiment and this is a wonderful addition to a meal.” and she served hers with some broccoli fritters. Sustainable Mum’s blog post on seasonal eating is very thought provoking. I urge you all to pop over and read it.
Using golden beetroot and a giant leek from her local Farmer’s Market in Australia, Johanna over at Green Gourmet Giraffe made this vibrant Golden beetroot nut roast. Johanna says, “The nut roast inspiration came from Sam Stern’s Eat Vegetarian. It was his ‘classic’ nut roast with a tomato sauce that is mixed in with almond meal, breadcrumbs and chestnuts. I had golden beetroot from the farmers market, I had a gluten free mixture of crumbs (including gomasio, besan and coconut flour), a packet of rice crumbs that has been spilling in my freezer for too long and no chestnuts within cooee. I used cashews instead of chestnuts and made do.” I love these sorts of recipes!
Chef Mireielle has been sharing recipes with Shop Local every month since it started, and this month she shares this Fish Biryani & Purple Carrot Raita. The colourful raita is made with purple carrots she picked up, along with a selection of other rainbow coloured carrots, at the Union Square Farmer’s Market in New York!
My own contribution to the Shop Local challenge are these Gourmet sweet chilli Shetland raan patties, made with local Shetland grown potatoes and served with a delicious mixed salad leaves from my veg box. Many of my local produce posts are being written for other websites besides my own these days, but I wanted to share this one with you all as it describes how one minute I’m sitting eating a fish supper at Scotland’s #1 chippie and the next I’m climbing the side of the fishing vessel to meet the skipper who caught my lunch! You can read all about it on the Fish on Friday website.

THE RULES:

1. Write your blog post showcasing an ingredient sourced locally (no supermarkets please!) and post your recipe url to the Linky at the bottom of the appropriate month’s challenge, including your email and the title of your recipe or post. Tell us a bit about where the ingredient came from, with a link to the producer too, if available.
2. Display the Shop Local badge (as shown above) on the relevant recipe post, with a link back to the monthly challenge post.
3. Add as many recipe links as you like, there’s no limit! Share the local producer love!
4. If you tweet your post, please mention #ShopLocal and @TangoRaindrop in your tweet – I will retweet all that I see.
5. The recipe can be one of your own or one you’ve seen elsewhere, but make sure to credit the source. You are very welcome to republish old recipes/posts but please add the information about this challenge as listed above with the Shop Local badge.
6. All entries will be added to a Pinterest Group Board – Shop Local Please give an indication of where in the world you are so I can add it to the photo information.
7. The challenge runs from the first day of the month (or thereabouts) to the last. A new challenge Linky will be added to the end of the round-up blog posts near the first day of the month.
8. As of March 2014 this challenge will now be a Blog Hop, so feel free to grab the code below and share the #ShopLocal love!



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About Elizabeth

Solivagant. Foodie. Calls Shetland home.

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Comments

  5. Alexandra

    Thanks for a lovely roundup, as always, Elizabeth. Really enjoyed your article on Frankie’s, too. What a beautiful setting, and so encouraging to read about the use of substainable fish!

    Reply

    • Elizabeth S

      So glad you enjoyed both the round up and the Frankie’s write up! I had so much fun researching that piece! 🙂 Thank you for joining in with your fantastic recipes again this month Alexandra, I always love your stories (and I can quite nearly spell Pennsylvania without having to use spell check now!) 😀

      Reply

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