Brown (DDELC #7)

Tonight was one of those nights that I really didn’t want to cook. I wanted someone else to be in my kitchen when I got home, frying up some chicken and making me some sweet tea (I’m not sure where this came from. I’m not from the South, nor have I ever fried chicken on my own, and sweet tea isn’t a December drink, but it was how I felt, so I’m not judging, only accepting.).

Turns out, though, after dragging myself to the fridge, I had the makings of a pretty easy, local meal. Chicken sausage and potatoes, browned in a saucepan with onions (we eat a lot of onions around here), along with baked delicata squash and a salad! Nice!

Even though it wasn’t fried chicken, as I went to photograph the main dish, I realized what it did have in common with the comfort food I had been craving – it was brown (or at least, mostly brown and yellow).

Not eating from the rainbow tonight, no. But it was done quickly, and with very few pans to clean up. I’m glad I didn’t stop at the store for an industrial rotisserie chicken. Phew. And, lest you think it was all brown:

Yes, that’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Lettuce. Honest to goodness, local lettuce. From a man from Sandwich, NH, I’ve never met, but for whom I am oh so thankful. He grows lettuce in a greenhouse and sells it to Moulton Farm, where I bought it and then brought it home. Thank you, sir.

Besides the mushrooms, I think lettuce will be my first big, non-local produce need. A big salad, made on Monday, relieves many dinner pressures for several days throughout the week. It’s an issue of survival, damn it.

The wrap up, then:

• Chicken Sausage – Al Fresco (about 125 miles)
• Onions, Potatoes, Carrots (enjoyed with the lettuce) – Seacoast Farmer’s Market (50 miles)
• Delicata Squash (sliced, tossed with olive oil, baked, then sprinkled with brown sugar for the last five minutes of baking) – Community School CSA (8 miles)
• Lettuce: Moulton Farm (8 miles)
• From away: salt, pepper, olive oil, brown sugar