Thursday, April 22, 2010 was the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. I would have written an Earth Day blog the week of, but I was very busy getting ready for my wedding that Saturday.
However, I did get to celebrate and promote Earth Day in a truly unique way. Most of our family members were in Beaufort that day, so we decided to have everyone over to our house for a garden party.
The hors d'oeuvres were made from 90% local ingredients. I define "local" as produced within 100 miles of Beaufort. The few items that we used from the regular grocery store (beer, olive oil, phyllo dough, butter) were at least products of the U.S.A., and even fewer things were imported (sea salt, black pepper). Even the rum in the punch was produced 15 miles north of here, with locally-grown sugarcane.
I had spent hours planning only to discover that the best way to do it was to go to the farmer's market and see what's available.
Please enjoy the recipes that I used for this fun party--you should try it out on your friends the next Earth Day! Those of you who do not live in the Lowcountry, please follow our example and spend some time at your local farmer's market--the creations you can make from just a few ingredients will blow your mind!
Sweetgrass Dairy Green Hill en Croute
- recipe courtesy of the Sweetgrass Dairy, Thomasville, Georgia
Green Hill is a surface ripened, double-cream cow’s milk cheese. If not readily available, any brie or camembert style cheese would be a welcome substitute.
Ingredients:
1 piece Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill, COLD
10 Sheets Phyllo Dough
Butter, melted
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. If you are lucky enough to live where you have access to fresh phyllo dough, then congratulations! For the rest of us, bring phyllo to room temperature, unroll, and cover with a barely damp towel to prevent drying out.
3. Take first sheet, and brush lightly with butter. Repeat 5-10 times being careful not to let raw phyllo dry out in between layers.
4. Place Green Hill in center of phyllo, and cut dough into a rough square that is larger than Green Hill by 3” on all sides.
5. Begin to pull dough to center of Green Hill and continue in a circular fashion keeping dough as tight as possible to the cheese. When all dough has been wrapped around cheese, turn over onto sheet pan or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
6. Brush exterior with butter and place into oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the phyllo is just browned.
7. Remove from oven, let rest for 3-4 minutes.
8. We served it with fresh salad greens (from our backyard!), rice and flaxseed crackers, and honey (Beaufort, South Carolina)
Doug's yogurt dill dipping sauce for veggies:1/2 cup of Doug's homemade Greek-style yogurt (yeah that's another blog)
2 tablespoons of fresh minced dill (Bluffton, South Carolina)
1 garlic clove, minced (our backyard)
2-3 tablespoons of California extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice (my Aunt Susan's backyard...Amelia Island, Florida)
drizzle of wildflower honey (Beaufort, South Carolina)
Whip together until smoothsalt and black pepper to taste
Raw Veggie Tray:
Green baby Vidalia onions (Lyons, Georgia)
Sweet salad turnips (Bluffton, South Carolina)
White and orange baby carrots (Bluffton, South Carolina)
Broccolini (Bluffton, South Carolina)
Red bell peppers (John's Island, South Carolina)
Cucumber (St. George, South Carolina)
Honey Cayenne Grilled local South Carolina Shrimp
This is the LARGE SCALE party recipe, for about 30 people
Combine in a large bowl together:
10 pounds of deveined, shell and head off medium sized shrimp (Beaufort, South Carolina)
1/2 cup of local wildflower honey (Beaufort, South Carolina)
1/4 cup of California extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of Charleston Hot Cayenne pepper (grown in our garden in 2009, dried, crushed)
Sautee in a large pan or place on wet bamboo skewers and grill for 3-4 mintues or until shrimp are pink and shaped like a "C"
*An old trick for cooking shrimp---if they're pink & shaped like a "C" they're cooked, if they're pink & shaped like an "O" they are OVERcooked!*
Dessert:
Strawberries - Fresh picked in Hampton County, South Carolina with
Homemade whipped cream and
Jerri Roth's homemade Pound Cake (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina)
(Jerri is a friend of mine who has 20+ years experience as a baker and in catering)
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