Superbowl snack ideas - a day late

We had a beautiful little head of Wakefield cabbage in our box this week, and I still had half a head of Savoy left from last week holding up nicely! Cabbage plus fresh carrots = coleslaw time. I got a little carried away and have enough to last us for probably a week's worth of lunches. Oops.

We made a jaunt to the Marin farmer's market this morning to get a few supplies. In the pouring rain, we stopped by Prather Ranch and grabbed a package of beef ribs. Did you know how easy it is to make ribs? There is nothing better for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

1. Take ribs out of package and place in roasting pan.
2. Season well. We used a rub, but we couldn't even taste it after they were done. Weird.
3. Add some liquid. I have read people use apple juice - we just used water. Put enough in to just cover the bottom.
4. Wrap tightly with foil.
5. Put in a 250 oven for 3 hours.
6. After this, let them rest a little...then put them on a grill, under the broiler, or in a hot oven with your favorite barbeque sauce. Ours happens to be flown in fresh, c/o Mom, from here.

My coleslaw recipe is based on the one in the Gourmet cookbook:
1 lemon - half the rind (grated) and all of the juice
1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, diced
3-4 tbsp mayonnaise (mix with sour cream or creme fraiche if you have it)
bit of water - 2-3 tbsp
sprinkling of sugar
salt & pepper
coarsely grated carrots (2)
sliced cabbage (1)

The kids were not big fans of the coleslaw. I can't wait to use Ruth's sneaky kale-vitamins-in-the-soup method tomorrow night!

Pretty Darn Local Dinner Party

Well, maybe 'dinner party' is a bit of an exaggeration. We had dear friends over for dinner last night (newbies to California!), and I am proud of the menu that got whipped together...especially since I realized that so much of it was local! I didn't even do that on purpose. My pantry and refrigerator are just becoming more and more locally sourced as the months go on. Here's the menu with local products marked with an *. Some of things are unique to California, but I truly believe that similar could be done almost anywhere!

Appetizer:
Figs* & blue cheese* wrapped in prosciutto and broiled

Main:
Ribeye on the grill

Sides:
Potato* salad (made with a mustard vinaigrette. mustard from France ;))

Tomato*-Melon* salad made with a honey*/lemon verbena*/yogurt vinaigrette. The recipe was care of Eatwell Farm and I would like to reprint it here because it was really delicious!

Dessert:
Ollalieberry*/Rose Geranium* pie with creme fraiche*


Melon & Tomato Salad with Lemon Verbena

1/2 sm. melon, cut into 1 in pieces
3 sm tomatoes, cut into thin wedges
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. finely minced lemon verbena
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Combine melon, tomatoes, and cucumber in a large salad bowl (I used a platter so as not to disturb the produce by mixing it too much). Whisk the remaining ingredients in small bowl. Pour dressing over melon salad and gently toss. (Honestly, I still have half the dressing leftover. Half of the amount would have been plenty).