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Take the Pledge & Eat Local for Thanksgiving!

When it comes to Thanksgiving, why should your food travel farther than your guests? This year, individuals throughout Washington can join Cascade Harvest Coalition's campaign to reconnect our Thanksgiving traditions with our local agricultural traditions of celebrating the harvest and take a stand for local farms, a healthier environment, local economies, and communities by signing the pledge to Eat Local for Thanksgiving.

We all know Thanksgiving is a holiday marked by giving thanks for the abundance of the harvest and bringing family and friends together in celebration and community. Yet we can also give thanks for the abundance of local farms throughout our region and the food they put on our tables.

All it takes is signing the pledge at www.eatlocalforthanksgivng.org to add at least one locally grown food to your Thanksgiving meal.

While it may seem a simple act, it is one with significant impact for every community because every pledge translates into support for preserving farmland, a more robust economy, and cleaner environment. You're adding your voice to those of thousands of people throughout the region in saying how important this is to our communities, which is central to having a dependable, regional food supply.

Take the pledge today — it's simple, easy, and delicious!

Eat Local for Thanksgiving is a program of Cascade Harvest Coalition and sponsored by Puget Sound Fresh, King County, King Conservation District, PCC Natural Markets, Seattle's Child, Foodista.com, Organic Valley, Sur La Table, edibleSeattle, KCTS 9, Taylor Shellfish, and Klesick Family Farm.

FARM SPOTLIGHT: Interview with Farmer Tristan Klesick and local chef Melissa Peterman

Podcast Interview with Farmer Tristan Klesick
Last week farmer Tristan Klesick talked with Cascade Harvest Coalition about defining "local," Organic certification, selling salsa and other value-added goods, and nutrient dense food. Listen to the recorded conversation here.

At the Table: A Conversation with Melissa Peterman
This is the first in a series of conversations between Cascade Harvest Coalition and local chefs, food writers and assorted foodies talking about, what else? Shopping, cooking, and eating local!

Melissa Peterman is the co-author of Eat & Drink in the Northwest, a quarterly series of innovative food and wine pairing books and an editor with Foodista. She is a graduate of Seattle Central Culinary Academy and The Quillisascut School of Domestic Arts. Her culinary career has included stints at Macrina Bakery, Century Ballroom, The Ruins, and Tom Douglas Catering.

CHC: From your perspective, why does local food matter?

MP: It is SO important to source local foods! As consumers, our direct actions for choosing local fruits, veggies, dairy and meat over a low-grade, low-price product from halfway around the globe affects everyone. The hidden costs behind the "perfect tower" of apples from Chile verses apples grown here in Washington are mind blowing. I think if consumers could watch a fast slide show of the journey the Chile apple took to get to the market, next to a local slide show, more people would see past the rock bottom price tags and wax coatings and go local.

If anything- do it for flavor. If you enjoy high quality food, we have to support the farmers that produce it. As they say, without farms, we have no food. We are extremely lucky to have such amazing ingredients in our backyards; it's a shame not to celebrate it.

CHC: It's time to dish — what are your favorite foods and where do you like to shop?

MP: I'd say that shellfish and soft- gooey camembert cheeses might be my favorite foods. If I am going to a grocery store, I really like Central Market in Shoreline or PCC. My favorite farmers market is the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market, my husband and I equate it to our church- something we go to each Sunday to make us feel great and connect with our community. I'm a big fan or Foraged and Found Edibles, Tall Grass Bakery, Secret Stash Salts and Skagit River Ranch meats- there are so many great vendors that I go to, it's hard to name them all.

CHC: What recipe are you contributing to Eat Local for Thanksgiving?

MP: This is my recipe from Eat & Drink in the Northwest Book 3, but you can find it on Foodista like to use sausage from Uli's Sausage in Pike Place Market, but a number of other ingredients can be sourced locally. The recipe makes 2 large servings or 4 smaller servings and you can pair with a Pinot Noir, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, or Chardonnay.

UPCOMING EVENTS: Farmers Market Shopping for Thanksgiving

Buying Local for Thanksgiving

Now that you've taken the pledge, (www.eatlocalforthanksgiving.org) it's time to start thinking about the locally grown food you'll be adding. You've done your part, now it's our turn to help with what's fresh and local for Thanksgiving and tips on where and how to shop.

Although many farmers markets have closed for the season, there are over a dozen (including Pike Place Market) that will see you through Thanksgiving. You can stock up on produce, as well as cheese, bread, dairy, preserves, nuts, honey, cider, meat, herbs, seafood and more.

Hands-down, farmers markets are the best way to shop local. Your food is fresher, more money goes to the farmers, it's a smaller carbon footprint (less transportation/fuel costs/packaging), you'll find items unavailable at retail grocers and you have direct interaction with the farmers who grow our food, who like to hand out delicious samples and make sure you get the very best for your table.

Ballard Farmers Market, Sunday, 10 AM — 3 PM

Broadway Sunday Farmers Market, Sunday, 11 AM — 3 PM

Pike Place Market, Weekly, 9 AM — 6 PM

University District Farmers Market, Saturdays, 9 AM — 2 PM

West Seattle Farmer's Market, Sunday, 10 AM — 2 PM

Anacortes Farmers Market, Saturday, 9 AM — 2 PM

Bainbridge Island Winter Market, Saturday, 10 AM — 3 PM (starts November 21)

Bellevue Saturday Farmers Market, Saturday, 9 AM — 2 PM

Bellingham Saturday Farmers Market, Saturday, 10 AM — 3 PM

Keyport Farmers Market, Friday, 10 AM — 2 PM

Olympia Farmers Market, Thursday-Sunday, 10 AM — 3 PM

Pt. Townsend Farmers Market, Saturday, 10 AM — 1 PM

Port Angeles Farmers Market, Saturday, 10 AM — 2 PM

Tacoma-Proctor Farmers Market, Saturday, 9 AM — 2 PM

Vashon Farmers Market, Corner of Bank Road & Vashon Highway SW, Saturday, 10 AM — 2 PM

RECIPE OF THE WEEK: Local Sausage with Spice Pears & Slow Cooked Apple & Sweet Onion Savoy Cabbage

3 tbsp. olive oil

4 links sweet Italian style sausage (pork, chicken, or turkey)

¾ cup diced sweet onion

½ cup low sodium chicken or vegetable stock

Coarse salt and cracked black pepper

½ tsp. fennel seeds

5 tbsp. butter

1 Bosc pear, peeled, cored and sliced thin

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. allspice

½ tsp. sugar

1 freshly peeled and grated Fuji apple

½ head of Savoy cabbage cord and finely sliced into shreds

2 tsps. cider vinegar

1 tsp. loosely chopped parsley

Step 1
Add 1 tbsp. of olive oil to a large sauté pan over high heat. Once pan is hot, add the sausage links and reduce heat to medium. Cook 3 minutes and then flip. Add onions and cook for another 3 minutes. Add ½ cup of stock to the pan and stir onions. Flip sausages again and cook another 2 minutes. Check the doneness of the sausage (they're done when juices run clear and there is a faint shade of pink in the middle). Cook for a couple minutes more if this is the case. Remove sausage links, set aside, and cover with bowl or lid. Add fennel seeds and reduce stock and onions for another 2 minutes. Turn off heat; remove the onion sauce and reserve.

Step 2
In a medium mixing bowl, mix cinnamon, allspice and sugar. Add pear slices and toss to coat. In another sauté pan, add 2 tbsp. butter and melt over medium-high heat. Add pear slices to the pan, keeping them separated. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and sauté for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside.

Step 3
Add 2 tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. of butter to a large sauté pan, preferably with high sides, over medium-high heat. Add cabbage and grated apple and sauté for 4 minutes. Add cider vinegar, a pinch of salt, and pepper and stir. Add onion/stock sauce, parsley and stir. Sauté another 3-5 minutes; add remaining butter and check for seasoning. Divide cabbage and sausage among 2 or 4 plates and garnish with sautéed pears.