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| Fresh picked sorrel |
I was a vegetarian for many years – it was an experiment that lasted through much of high school and college. I eliminated chicken, pork, and beef, but I still ate fish and eggs. Now that I cook for my own family, I never feel the need to include meat every night for dinner. No one ever misses it!
Last week, I ordered sorrel through our farmers market delivery – I had never tasted sorrel before but the photos looked great. It was leafy and green. How could it be bad? I did a little reconnaissance before the sorrel arrived – was it an herb or was it a leafy green veggie? Admittedly, I am not certain I remember the answer. Perhaps it is best considered to be a cross between the two. Sorrel tastes like a green that has taken a bath in lemon juice. The flavor is completely unexpected!
For dinner the other night, I quickly sauteed an entire bunch of sorrel in a little bit of olive oil. When I say quickly, I mean 1 or 2 minutes – it wilted almost immediately and lost its bright green color. Sauteeing the sorrel seemed to intensify the citrus flavor. I set it aside and prepared the omelette in the same pan.
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| Maybe a bit too browned… |
To make the omelette … I lightly whisked eight farm fresh eggs with about 2 tablespoons cream. I poured the eggs into a hot pan with the residual oil left over from sauteeing the sorrel. I let the egg mixture evenly cook over medium heat in the bottom of my deep, heavy-bottomed pan, gently pulling the edges of the egg away from the sides with my spatula.
When the edges of the omelette looked sufficiently cooked but the middle was still runny, I placed heaping teaspoons of garlic and dill goat cheese and spoonfuls of cooked sorrel on one half of the egg. Using my spatula, I gently lifted the other half of the omelette and folded it over the filling. I pressed down on the omelette to seal the edges and removed it from the heat.
We served our omelette for dinner with fresh (no spray!) strawberries from Sunshine Strawberry Farm. Yum!
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| Local, North Carolina Strawberries |
So glad you found no-spray local berries. Not all that many out there, but worth seeking out!
Oh, and I meant to say, great to meet you yesterday at Atherton Market. Terrific blog, too!
Hi Diane! Thanks! It was great meeting you at the Atherton Market. Hope you enjoyed your time in Charlotte!
Hi Erin – Where can you buy the “no spray” strawberries from Sunshine Strawberry Farm? Also do you know of any pick your own strawberry fields around Charlotte that follow organic practices (even if they aren’t USDA certified)?
Thanks!
Lisa Leake
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com
Hi Lisa! I love your blog by the way! I order the strawberries through http://www.farmersfreshmarket.org/rutherford/ – we have a “mommy buying group” that orders fresh produce, meats, etc. through this consortium of NC farmers and a refrigerated truck delivers our orders on Fridays to a few houses around Charlotte – mine is one of the drop-off sites now. Let me know if you want more info!
Thanks Erin! I called Sunshine Strawberry Farm and he said the plants were sprayed in the fall when they were first put in the ground although the berries themselves have not been sprayed. This sounds similar to the farm that sells them at the Matthews Farmer’s Market (where we already shop on the weekends) and we were trying to find some that had never been sprayed at all. I am unfortunately finding that this is an impossible task! Poplar Ridge Farm is a USDA Certified Organic farm, but they don’t have any extras this year.
Thanks for the information! Have you been to the Atherton Farmers Market? I *heard* there was someone selling organic strawberries there but they were in very limited supply. I will have to look into that. I wonder if it is the same people at Matthews?
I asked about a picture of strawberries that was posted on the Atherton FB page and they were not organic. Someone just told me on my FB page that Harris Teeter (of all places!) has North Carolina USDA organic strawberries! I just went to my closest HT and they didn’t have any organic in stock. I will just have to keep running around until I find some that fit the bill. It is such a shame b/c we love strawberry season!
Organic strawberry update… I have found NC certified organic strawberries – Jake’s Farm! I am picking them up tomorrow and will report back!