Free Cooking Class on 3/26/14: Garden to Table Cooking at Yorba Linda Public Library

Wednesday March 26th 2014 at the Yorba Linda Public Library!

Don’t forget! This Wednesday, OurLocaltopia is teaching another free cooking class at the Yorba Linda Public Library, as part of the “Food For Thought” series. This week’s class focuses on Garden to Table Cooking and will cover how to make the most out of your backyard edible garden or your weekly farmers market spoils. The Jonathans will provide up close demonstrations of at least four unique dishes, with samples and recipes available to the audience. Class will be held in the Library’s downstairs community room and will run from 7pm to about 8:30pm. Bring your friends, and enjoy a free night of delicious culinary education! See ya there!

~ OurLocaltopia

Elegant Strawberry Conserve

Strawberry Conserves.

Strawberry season comes early in Southern California and is just around the corner for the rest of the country! We wanted to post about this AMAZINGLY EASY Strawberry Conserve recipe, inspired by one of our go-to books, Canal House Cooks Everyday.

Jonathan Duffy Davis’ Pickled Green Beans: Recipe and Method

Most vegetables are takers but bean give back. Along with the rest of the legumes beans have formed an amazing symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium). These bacteria that call the roots of legumes home are capable of taking the inert nitrogen gas (n²) that constitutes almost 80% of every breath that we take and turning it into a form of nitrogen that plants can use. Nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient to plant growth in the garden. The more nitrogen your soil contains, the better your garden will grow. Thus, beans nourish not only the gardener but the garden as well.

Stick To The Recipe! A Primer on Canning Pickled Vegetables, Jams & Jellies

Autumn is a perfect time to learn how to can in Southern California. The bounty of summer is quickly fading but there is still time to pick up the end of the stone-fruit and warm-season vegetable harvest and preserve the last of that summer sunshine. Learning how to can now will also enable you to make all of the fantastic pickles that are possible with winter vegetables.

The Great Squash Soup Duel: Davis vs. Dye

Squash Soup Duel:

The Jonathans Throw Down.

 

As most of you know, the Jonathans are the creative culinary force behind OurLocaltopia. They are each extremely talented cooks, with divergent styles that inform and strengthen each other. Occasionally their differences come out in epic Iron chef style duels, like the one detailed below. I was lucky enough to experience this duel in person, and while I could never pick a decisive winner, the  process was educational and, of course, delicious! Read on for details on two seemingly similar dishes,

Ask and You Shall Receive: How to Prepare Cranberry Beans

Cranberry Beans from the Orange County Great Park Farmers Market

On a recent trip to the Orange County Great Park Farmer’s Market, Evelyn and I stumbled upon a stall which had produced a great stack of beautiful, vibrant and completely fresh cranberry beans.  The 10:00 AM sun was bright and direct and shone the variegated beans in vivid glory.  I became too excited; I had seen cranberry beans in a few books and recently in Living Magazine, but to tell the truth, I’d never cooked a fresh shell bean in my life!

An OLT Field Trip: Farmers Market at The Orange County Great Park

If April is the cruelest month, Sunday may the cruelest day. Mixing relaxation and subtle dread of the coming work week, stirring that border between living and making a living. Luckily, Orange County is ripe with Sunday morning activities that can wring every last drop out of your weekend. The Farmers Market at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine is just such an activity. Held on Sunday mornings, this food, farm and crafts market is worth the trip… a trip that OurLocaltopia recently made. Check out our Great Park Farmers Market report, the edible booty we plundered and the meal it inspired.

Join OurLocaltopia for a FREE “Tailgating” Cooking Class at the Yorba Linda Public Library

Join OurLocaltopia this Thursday evening, September 12th at 7pm at the Yorba Linda Public Library for a FREE “Tailgate Party” themed cooking class, part of the Library’s ongoing NiteLife series.

SoCo Farmers’ Market

We are lucky to live in Southern California. Most of us know that. But one of the many reasons the “best coast” really lives up to its namesake it the accessibility and variety of locally grown, sustainably produced, easy to access food. As most of us know, farmers’ market are one of the best sources for fresh, local produce. Orange County has a number of farmer’s markets… Enough to quell that old “it’s only once a week” excuse. One of the newer farmers’ markets in the county

Our Localtopia is just getting started!

This vibrant purple cauliflower is growing in Fullerton, CA, on the Fullerton Arboretum’s two acre produce farm.

Our Localtopia hopes to explore the plentiful resources for locally grown or produced artisan and ecologically minded food in Southern California. Check back soon for information on what’s in season, where it is available and how to prepare it!