Locavore and yard to table dinner.

The eggplant, bell peppers, onion, garlic and green beans we grew. Your local Farmer’s Market, or Co-Op should have these fresh in season now.  The tomato sauce was cooked down, again in our case tomatoes grown  from seed in our garden, but also very available fresh and local, often now in heirlooms.  The lard is mine home-made, from clean pork fat, and the beef bone broth also home-made from clean beef knuckle bones.  The olive oil is from a local maker.   All the meats, are form a local meat processor, Rawhide* the bacon is celery cured, and the ground beef is their Grass-fed/Grass-finished, as were the beef bones, and of course clean pork fat for the lard.  I topped this with my cheese, and local cheese too.

Eggplant with vegetable grass-fed/grass-finished meat sauce

• 1 med bell pepper
• 1/2 small sweet onion
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon clean home-made lard
• 1/3 cup beef bone broth
• 1/3 cup home-made tomato sauce
• unrefined sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 lb. grass-fed/grass-finished ground beef
• 1 med-large round eggplant
• olive oil
• 2-4 oz. grated home-made &/or local cheese
• olives

Chop vegetables, melt lard on medium, add vegetables and brown them.  Add broth, cook 4-8 minutes, then tomato sauce, and do the same.  Add salt & pepper to taste, then beef, stir and break up, let simmer very low, while cooking the eggplant.  To cook the eggplant use medium heat, place sliced eggplant in pan drizzle with oil, a bit of salt, cover and cook 5-8 minutes until browned, repeat on other side.  Eggplant is done when tender.  Cover with vegetable meat sauce, top with cheese, and whatever you like, I added crushed olives, and fresh chopped chives, but fresh basil & oregano would be another option use your imagination, and what you have.

Fresh green beans with bacon

Cook bacon in the pot you will be cooking the beans in, remove when done.  Add the beans to the left over bacon fat, with a little water, and unrefined sea salt, the fat and water will steam and sputter up.  Cook to tender, but still bright green in color.  Heat very high flipping often, you just want to get a bit of char on the beans, remove and add the crumbled bacon.

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