I'm Getting There. Locally.

All the way home from my errands and Costco, all I could think about was Mighty Fine Burgers.  There is a specific taste and smell to the entire place, just the right size burger, no cheese required, crispy crinkle fries, salt and pepper on the tables.  Now, even the quickest glance at the QC will tell you that we have hamburgers quite often here at Casa O - they're easy, they're quick, they're tasty.  And with the lean beef or ground sirloin, not all that bad for you.  But they never quite measure up to Mighty Fine. So, what is the magic to eating out?

I don't know the answer to that question, but it pervades.  G was telling me last week that she dreams about eating out in class.  When I asked her what restaurant she dreams about, she said, "all of them.  I think about it all the time.  Texican, Dan's, Maudies, Taco Cabana.  I spend whole classes thinking about it."  Now, she's the one that wasn't going to be in love with the idea of the project from the get-go, but I have to say that even I can kind of get what she's saying.

Because fast food/restaurant food is absolutely pervasive.  On my circle trip of errands while the kids are in tutoring, I pass the following:

Taco Bell
Chipotle
Mama Fu's Chinese
Subway
Schlotzsky's
Mighty Fine Burgers
Carino's
River City Coffee and Bakery
Zen Japanese
Longhorn Steakhouse
BJ's Brewhouse
Doc's Backyard
Which Wich (I think)
Dickey's BBQ
Wendy's
Serrano's Mexican
Potbelly Sandwiches
Mandola's Italian kitchen
Taco Cabana
Wings To Go
Chuy's Mexican
Cheddar's
Firehouse Subs
Kerbey Lane
P Terry's
And that's just the ones I can think of right now.

All of these are located on the maybe two mile loop.   And they were mostly all busy, or at least occupied to some degree.  This business makes money, and a lot of it.  It also, to be fair, employs a lot of people.   Here's the reality, according to the restaurant industry themselves:

2012 RESTAURANT INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

• Sales: $632 billion
• Locations: 970,000
• Employees: 12.9 million — one of the largest private-sector employers
• Restaurant-industry share of the food dollar: 48%

TOP TEN FACTS IN 2012

• $1.7 billion: Restaurant-industry sales on a typical day in 2012.
• 1.4 million: Number of positions the restaurant industry will add in the next decade.
• Restaurant-industry job growth has outpaced the national economy in 12 consecutive years, from 2000 through 2011.
• 93%: Percentage of eating-and-drinking place businesses that have fewer than 50 employees.
• 7 out of 10 eating-and-drinking place establishments are single-unit operations.
• 66% of adults say their favorite restaurant foods provide flavor and taste sensations which cannot easily be duplicated in their home kitchen.
• One-half of all adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point in their lives, and one-third got their first job experience in a restaurant.
• 80% of restaurant owners said their first job in the restaurant industry as an entry-level position.
• $2,505: Average household expenditure on food away from home in 2010.
• 38%: Percent of adults who said they would be likely to utilize a smartphone app if it was offered by a quickservice restaurant.

Get more details in our 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast.

Source:  http://www.restaurant.org/research/facts/ (highlighting is mine)

All that food, with all that salt, all those calories, all those preservatives, or not, as far as you know.  I'm not sure if it's a plus or a drawback that you don't know what's going into your food when you eat out.  And maybe people don't care.   If that many people think they can't replicate the taste at home, maybe that's a tradeoff that they're willing to make.  And how can you not think about outside food when you're bombarded with it all the time?

And I'll be honest, I almost packed it in today.  Not for any real reason other than I really, really wanted an over salted, over greasy, over large meal.  But I didn't do it.  Mostly because today was LOCAL DAY!  Well, that, and I'd already made dinner.

Okay, there's no such thing as local day.  I made that up.  But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't kick some locavore ass today.  I started the day with R. at the market day at Boggy Creek Farm where there was chard!  And eggs!  And spring onions!  And little, bitty, baby squashes!   There's only one thing you can do with that:  Quiche!  Squash and onions!

Other than the whole wheat pie crusts from Central Market and the low sodium bacon and parmesan from the Costco, everything in our dinner tonight was local.  The eggs were from JFTB's sister's chicken, the leeks from the farm box and the chard from Boggy Creek.  Our veg was tiny baby zucchini and yellow squash and spring onions sauteed in olive oil.  We did have some multigrain toast from the La Brea bakery, but that's usually a breakfast item, so I'm letting it ride.

T. was home, and we actually sat around the table, all four of us, and ate our local meal at our local home.  And it was wonderful.  But does that mean I'm not going to miss the Mighty Fine?

No, it does not.

Dammit.

Really? And recipes.

So much for feeling like a bad-ass.  I had it all together yesterday.  Yoga'd when I was supposed to yoga.  Shopped for the entire week.  Had the kitchen cleaned and ready for my two-meal cooking session.  And just so you can experience my bad-ass-ness with me, here are the recipes, so you can follow along.  Pay close attention.

Quick Crock Pot Garlic Chicken Thighs

(from Williams Sonoma New Slow Cooker Cookbook)

3 to 3.5 # skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs

salt and pepper

olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, diced

15 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole

1/3 (who are we kidding? 1/2) cup white wine

3 stems thyme

3 bay leaves

Pat thighs dry with a paper towel and cover both sides with salt and pepper.  Add olive oil to coat the bottom of a heavy skillet and heat on high heat.  Working in 2 batches (my 3.5  pounds was 8 thighs), place thighs in skillet and brown - skin side down.  Leave them where they are to brown for about 4 minutes.  Do not turn over.  Once skin side is well browned, put thighs in crock pot.  Repeat with second batch of thighs.

Once chicken is browned, pour off any accumulated fat and recoat skillet with olive oil.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add onion, garlic, and thyme and allow to soften and turn golden (6-8 minutes).  Add wine and bayleaf, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring wine to a simmer.  Pour onion/wine mixture over chicken in crock pot.

Cook on low heat in crock pot for 3 hours.  Recipe continues below as noted.

Hear strange noises from the oven - sort of like a clicking noise that seems to be coming from the control panel.  Pay no attention.  Wash pot from chicken to use to prep quiche.

Quiche with Leeks and Greens (makes 2)
(I never make just one of these - pie crusts come in packs of two and we always want the leftovers for lunches.)


2 frozen whole wheat pie crusts
6 slices low sodium bacon
olive oil
1 bunch leeks (usually two large or three small) (No leeks?  Use one yellow onion)
2 bunches greens (usually chard or kale, but use anything you have - spinach, even mustard or collards although they will need a little more wilting time; heck, you can even use leftover broccoli, asparagus or other cooked veggies that you have around.  This is a kitchen sink kinda meal).
1/2 to 2/3 c. shredded parmesan cheese (or jack or swiss or cheddar or whatever you like)
12 eggs
3T skim milk
salt and pepper


Preheat oven to 350.   Prick pie crusts with a fork and prebake while prepping other ingredients (about 15 minutes - I like my crust pretty dark).


Chop bacon into small pieces.  Place in cold skillet and bring skillet up to medium high heat.


Notice that burner on stove does not appear to be working at all.  Notice that no lights, time, or other evidence of life is coming from the control panel.  Become concerned.  Because you have no back up plan.  Turn on burner again.  Notice that turning on burner appears to cause control panel and oven to turn on, but burner does not turn on.  Turning burner off appears to disconnect oven.  Become very concerned.  Attempt to use oven by turning on burner which does not heat.  No heat in oven either despite promising beeping and lights on control panel.  Become hysterical.  Call neighbors and see if you can use their stove. 


Give up on bacon temporarily. Pull only partly prebaked pie crusts out of broken oven.  


Prep remaining ingredients:  cut off all but white and light green of leeks.  Halve leeks and then chop into small pieces.  Place chopped leeks into deep bowl filled with water.  Swish leeks around and then LEAVE.  Sand will fall to the bottom.  Take stems off of greens and roughly chop.  Place in colander and rinse very well with cold water.


Take large pile of chopped up stuff across the driveway.


Chop bacon into small pieces.  Place in cold skillet and bring skillet up to medium high heat.  Brown until crisp.  Remove bacon pieces to paper towel and drain bacon fat out of pan.  Leave brown bits on bottom of pan.  


Reduce heat to medium.  Pour a touch of olive oil in, just to cover the bottom of the pan.  Remove leeks carefully from water, leaving grit at the bottom of the bowl (use slotted spoon) and add to skillet.  Saute until very tender (5-6 minutes, depending on the size of the chop).  Damp leeks will pick up some of the color from the bacon bits on the bottom of the pan.  When leeks are soft, add greens and a couple of pinches of salt (I use kosher) until wilted and very tender (this will take next to no time for spinach and leftover cooked veggies, a little longer for chard and kale, and quite a bit for mustard and collards.)  Once greens have fully wilted, mix bacon pieces back into greens.


Run back to the house carrying large skillet to prep eggs and finish quiches.


In a large bowl, crack 6 eggs.  Separate remaining 6 eggs, keeping egg whites and discarding yolks (Ooooh, or save them for lemon curd.  Mmmmmmm.).  Add milk and salt and pepper and whisk together.


Assemble quiches:  place half of greens mixture in each pie crust.  Sprinkle half of cheese on each quiche.  Pour half of egg and egg white breakfast over each quiche.  Place quiches on sheet pan.


Run back to neighbors carrying sheet pan and two pies to use oven.


Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until slightly golden and just set in the center.  They will continue to firm up as they cool - this is a matter of taste and also will depend on how much water your vegetables contain, so keep an eye on them.  Allow quiches to cool slightly before serving.


Run home to finish chicken.  Realize that you can't cook noodles.  Run back to neighbors to boil noodle water.  Run home to finish chicken.


Chicken Thighs (continued)
After three hours, pull chicken out of crock pot and reserve on a plate, covered with foil.  Strain cooking juices through into a small sauce pan.  Reserve garlic cloves and keep warm with chicken.  Discard all other solids.  Cool liquid for a few minutes until fat rises to the top and skim the fat.


Run back to neighbors with chicken juices.  Run back to house to get noodles.  Cook noodles at neighbors while gravy is reducing.


Bring chicken juices to boil and reduce to simmer.  Simmer until reduced to a thickish gravy (I didn't let it go all the way to thick because I wanted a little extra to serve over the noodles).


Run back home with noodles and gravy.


Pour gravy over chicken and serve.


Collapse.