The Willits News - All-day Harvest Festival on October 21

This is something that is going on in my little rural town next Saturday.
The Willits News - All-day Harvest Festival on October 21
I am volunteering two dishes for the 100 mile dinner.
What is really interesting to me is how very challenging it is to make a meal in which everything in it comes from within 100 miles. We will have a table with dishes; soups, salads, main dishes, vegetable side dishes and desserts that come from within 100 miles, sans an ingredient or two. In front of each dish will be little placards that name the things in them that do NOT come from within 100 miles, like salt, flour, breadcrumbs. Here are my dishes, with the not within 100 miles things bolded in the recipes:

Corn, Zucchini and Tomato Pie
(Posted by Caraflora on the Weight Watcher's Veggieboard, July 2004)
3 cups fresh or frozen and defrosted corn kernels
5 small zucchini, cut into matchstick pieces
2 tsp salt
1-3 T fresh dill weed
1 T olive oil
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a 13 x 9" ovenproof baking dish, combine the corn, zucchini, 1 tsp of salt, the dill and 1 T of olive oil, tossing to coat the vegetables. Cover the vegetables with the tomato slices. Sprinkle with remaining salt.

In a small bown, combine the cheese and bread crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture over the tomatoes and mist the top with olive oil, using a Misto. Bake the pie for 30 -50 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and starting to carmelize and cheese is bubbling.
Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Provencal Butternut Squash Gratin
(adapted from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, adapted to omit nutmeg and pepper which are not locally grown. The recipe has been doubled from how it was written in the book.)
2 butternut squashes (about 6 lbs), peeled, seeds and membranes removed, coarsely chopped
2 cups packed fresh parsley chopped (I will use 1 cup dried parsley)
6 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground sage (I will use fresh, finely minced)
salt
1/2 cup vegetable broth (made with collected veggie trimmings)
4 T extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 35o degrees. Lightly oil a 9x13" baking dish or 5 qt gratin dish.

In a large bowl, combine the squash, parsley and garlic. Sprinkle with the flour, sage and salt; toss well to combine. Add the broth and 2T of the oil; stir well to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and drizzle with the remaining oil.

Bake for about 1 hour, stirring halfway through the cooking time, or until the top is nicely browned and the squash is meltingly tender.


I am very excited to live in a town that has a whole, vibrant organization in place to create a sustainable Willits.
I will report back next Sunday with pictures and a story.