dark days challenge

Yesterday I made what was almost chicken piccata.

I pounded the heck out of the chicken breasts from the North Market (they were a little too thin for butterflying) and dredged them in flour, cooked them to a lovely golden color, then made a sauce with the stock from the North Market, butter from Hartzler's and a lemon (not local, but from a local grocer.) I was set to add the capers when I decided that they looked... overly funky. They'd been in the fridge a very long time, and there wasn't much liquid, and they were strangely mottled. So I decided against using them, which was a shame because the sauce could have used the bite. The chicken was still lovely, the sauce good, and the mashed potatoes and green beans tasty. The potatoes, chicken, stock, green beans, and butter were local. Flour, salt and pepper, olive oil and lemon were not. I did really enjoy the thinness of the chicken breasts - I will have to beat the heck out of them more often. Of course I usually buy whole chickens, so this means my raw meat preparation skills must improve.

Tonight is another local meal: pork chops marinated in apple cider, cooked in the cider with apples and onions; roasted redskins with rosemary; and the second-to-the-last package of corn from the freezer. It's hard to believe that all of the corn I cut off the cob is almost gone! I'll be using some non-local salt and pepper and olive oil.

Okay, now I'm hungry! I thinking I'm going to declare it "close enough to dinner time" and get started on those potatoes.

Oh, and the deviled eggs were wonderful! I've finally found a way that I can tolerate the taste/texture of egg yolks. I couldn't find the older batch of eggs so I ended up using most of the fresh dozen (SO hard to peel!) but as I was putting them in the fridge I found the older eggs. So I made a second batch. I'm amazed at how quickly they disappeared at the potluck! At least now I understand the allure (I ate my first deviled egg ever on Saturday night, right after I finished the first batch.)