26 June 2012

San Diego Food Revolution Day


When you cook it should be an act of love. To put a frozen bag in the microwave for your child is an act of hate. -Raymond Blanc

How was the Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day in San Diego? A huge success! Suzie's Farm had hundreds of visitors picking strawberries, enjoying the live band, eating from the Green Truck and just hanging out being neighborly. I invited everyone I could, I tweeted, pinned, facebooked, talkled to anyone and everyone I could about it and boy did all of it pay off!

Fresh strawberry lemonade from the Green Truck
What was my ulterior motive for all this hoopla? I want families to realize how special it is to have access to farms and fresh foods. We are so lucky to live here where fresh food is grown throughout the year. Fresh foods can be really inexpensive and you don't have to cook most fresh foods -how easy is that?? In my little backyard patch I let seeds go wild and I encourage my budding foodies to taste, smell, and experiment with everything (yes, even the wild purslane).

So what has been my payoff from all this? I've gotten such a thrill from seeing children eat the organic strawberries freshly picked by their little chubby hands. I love knowing that my kids will know what to do with fresh vegetables and they won't be afraid to try even more varieties of vegetables (knock on wood because we all know that they ALL sometimes just say 'NO' to anything new). But, in the long run I think my kids will be healthier, happier and wiser with this type of foodie education.

So in that spirit I'll share with you one of the things we ate last night that the kids LOVED:

Leek & Zucchini (courgette) Frittata
1 leek
2 med size zucchini (or if your English or French courgette)
2 eggs (because I tend not to like it too eggy otherwise do 4)
1tbsp olive oil
5tbsp of herbed feta
salt & pepper to taste

Clean and thinly slice the whites of a leek (make sure you get the dirt and grit out from between the layers). Then saute it until translucent and then add in grated zucchini and let it cook down for 5 minutes on medium low heat -no need to stir. Meanwhile slightly beat teh eggs and feta making sure there are no large chunks of feta. Then add in the egg mixture and cover for 5 minutes under low heat. Now uncover and here is the tricky part: with a large plate over the fry pan flip the frittata onto the plate. Now I like to put it back by sliding it off the plate and back on to pan. You can just forgo all of this and put the fry pan under the broiler for 4 more minutes to finish it.

I served this with a basil & lemon orzo salad and there were no leftovers! :) What is your favorite fresh fast meal in the summer?