In This Issue
• A Convening of Today’s Green City Market Haul
• You Can’t Okra With OK (Andouille Stew Recipe)
• Homewood Bound: U of I Compost Day July 24
A Convening of Today’s Green City Market Haul
When we get to this flourishing point in the local growing season, it gets a bit hard to stack everything from my market hauls on our apartment kitchen counters. So I chose a representative of each item I bought this morning at Green City Market Lincoln Park.
We have sweet corn from Smits Farms (Chicago Heights, Illinois), eggplant from Froggy Meadow Farm (Beloit, Wisconsin), lettuce from Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois), summer squash from Growing Home (Chicago), heirloom tomato from Nichols; white mushroom from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin), peach from Hillside Orchards (Berrien Springs, Michigan), and 50% rye sourdough from pHlour (Chicago).
The sweet cherry and blueberry (Hillside), sunsweet tomato (Froggy Meadow) and green bean (Nichols) are just happy to be there.
You Can’t Say Okra Without OK
Okra is another of those crops that people tend to love or hate. While it has a variety of uses, it is most familiar in Cajun cooking. But these long green pods, filled with white seeds that resemble pearls, are mucilaginous.
This is a polite way of saying they are prone to release a slimy liquid when cooking. This goo helps thicken classic Cajun dishes such as gumbo, but for home cooks with texture issues, the kitchen is a no-okra zone.
There is a trick that avoids the ick factor, which I learned a while back from my friend Tracey Vowell of Three Sisters Garden in Kankakee, Illinois. If you grill or sear the okra pods whole, they produce little to no slime when you add them to a dish. For real. You have my word on it.
The photo above is of the ingredients I used in a from-scratch (no recipe) andouille sausage stew (photo at top of story). I can’t tell you if it is authentically Cajun, but it is authentically tasty. You can mix and match your own ingredients. You’ll notice in the recipe below that there is no added Cajun seasoning; the andouille sausage carries the seasoning load, but feel free to add some spice if you like it hot.
[Note to vegetarian and vegan friends: Plant-based sausage can be used in place of the meat in this recipe. If it is not an andouille substitute, definitely add some Cajun spice.]
Okra also has good nutritional value. It is very high in Vitamin C and has significant amounts of dietary fiber, magnesium, Vitamin B-6 and calcium, plus 1.9 grams of protein per cup.
Andouille Sausage Stew
Ingredients
1 lb. andouille sausage, sliced (or same amount of bulk sausage)
Garlic to taste, minced, at least 2-3 cloves (I used garlic scapes)
1 lg. onion, chopped (I used red but any will do)
1/2 lb. okra, grilled or roasted, then sliced (stems removed)
3 tomatoes, chopped (heirloom if you have them)
Jalapeño pepper to taste (I used a half with some of the seeds)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Cajun seasoning to taste (optional)
Instructions
• Brown the sausage pieces on medium heat, then remove, leaving the fat in the pan.
• Add, in sequence, the garlic and onion, and sauté a couple of minutes until they start to soften.
• Add the okra, continue to sauté until everything is hot and well-combined.
• Add the tomatoes and cook down until the sauce starts to thicken.
• Add the cooked sausage back in, reset heat to medium low, stir and allow to simmer for 15-30 minutes (depending on how saucy you want it).
Serve over rice or by itself.
Homewood Bound: U of I Compost Day July 24
Local Food Forum is happy to share the following press release about the Community Compost Collection event scheduled for next Saturday (July 24) in south suburban Homewood, Illinois.
The event — a collaboration of Homewood Science Center, the Village of Homewood, and University of Illinois Extension Cook County — will take place in the Homewood Village Hall Parking Lot at 2020 N. Chestnut Rd. from 9 a.m. to noon. Households are invited to drop off their yard, garden and kitchen waste to be composted and pick up finished compost to use to improve their soil.
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Exchange your food scraps for compost: an easy way to help our environment
HOMEWOOD, IL- “I think people will be surprised to see how easy and rewarding composting can be!” says Edie Dobrez, Executive Director of the Homewood Science Center. Composting ones’ food scraps keeps them out of the regular garbage and has a positive effect on the environment. When food scraps and other organic material is mixed in with inorganic material such as plastic, glass, and metal, it leads to greater greenhouse gas emission and increased climate change. Separating out your organic material such as kitchens scraps and yard waste is a small change that can make a big difference.
Homewood Science Center, the Village of Homewood, and University of Illinois Extension Cook County are teaming up on Saturday, July 24 to make collecting food scraps even more rewarding. When you bring your collected scraps to this event, you will be able to take a bucket of finished compost home with you for use in your home garden. “By holding this event, the Village of Homewood is ensuring that the materials removed from the waste stream will be sent to a composting facility,” says Allisa Opyd, Events Manager for Village of Homewood. “It gives our residents the opportunity to close the carbon loop.”
Extension Horticulture Educator Nancy Kreith says, “The collection events are a way to make composting accessible for all. Not everyone has a time or space to compost at home, so this is a good alternative. At the event we will also demonstrate various home composting techniques such as using an indoor worm bin. Worm bins, or vermiculture, requires less time and space and is a good entry point for someone just getting started with composting.”
Saturday’s Community Compost Collection will take place on July 24 from 9 a.m to noon in the Homewood Village Hall Parking Lot at 2020 N Chestnut Rd. Households are invited to drop off their yard, garden, and kitchen waste to be composted and pick up finished compost to use to improve your soil. Help us reach our goal of collecting 5 tons of compostable material and enter a drawing to win a home composting bin.
Accepted materials: grass clippings, leaves, landscape waste, and kitchen scraps such as eggshells, vegetable skins and stems.
Not accepted materials: branches over 2” diameter, products containing oil, dressings, dairy, produce stickers, meat and bones.
Social distancing and face coverings are encouraged to participate in this FREE event. Finished compost and other free surprise giveaways are first come first served.
“By diverting organic waste materials from landfills and recycling it into compost we protect our environment by reducing the amount of methane gas released in to the air,” says Kathryn Pereira, Extension Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator for Cook County. “Food scraps, leaves, and grass clippings can be transformed into compost, a valuable resource used to enrich our soils.”
For those who cannot attend the event, composting may still be an option through their local trash provider, private service, or by starting a compost pile. More educational resources will be available on site, and future events around Cook County are in development for the fall.
To learn more, download Composting 101, in English or Spanish.
ABOUT EXTENSION: Illinois Extension leads public outreach for University of Illinois by translating research into action plans that allow Illinois families, businesses, and community leaders to solve problems, make informed decisions, and adapt to changes and opportunities.
If you have questions about our Community Compost Collection events, please contact Sarah Batka.