Our Locally Grown Meal is one for the books, but the best part of our meal is sharing what we learned with you.

Here are the recipes and a few tidbits I found while sourcing ingredients and taking part in the meal’s story:

Let’s start with the Cranberry Orange Relish.

This was not made with local ingredients, but was a refreshing addition to the meal! (You can see it at the top of the picture).

I like cranberry relish and this one, with the orange, was easy to make and very tasty!

As I mentioned, it was refreshing!

Here’s how Chef Leon prepared it:

Cranberry Orange Relish

Ingredients:

1 navel orange

1 8-oz bag frozen cranberries

Method:

Place 1 whole orange, rind and all, cut into slices into a food chopper.

Add 1 bag of frozen cranberries, chop until coarsely mixed

Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Wild Rice

The wild rice we used was harvested right here in Otter Tail County in West Central Minnesota, but it didn’t resemble the wild rice I purchase in the store!

This wild rice was a grayish color where the stuff in the store is white with black rice kernels. Found out that there is wild rice and then there is wild rice. Some is cultivated meaning it is grown kind of like a grain crop. The wild rice we dined on was harvested, as I mentioned before, here in the county. Paul Shol, who brought it for our meal and was our guest, harvested it with two of his friends. Paul uses a pole to move their boat through the water and rice paddies while his friends harvest the rice.

It’s an interesting process and one that will be defined in future locally grown stories.

Here is Chef Leon’s wild rice recipe

Wild Rice - Easy Cook Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup locally harvested wild rice

Water

Method

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Rinse the rice in cold water until water is clear. Place the clean rice in an oven safe Dutch oven.

Pour 3 cups of boiling water into the pot with the wild rice.

Cover with the oven safe lid and put in the oven on center rack.

Turn “off’ the oven, keeping th edoor closed, let sit overnight or 4-6 hours.

The rice will be cooked perfectly

Refrigerate until ready to use, reheat in saucepan or microwave and serve with seasonings.

Garnish with chives or chopped green onions.

Serve!

Butternut Squash

The butternut squash came from Dave and Janet of the Fergus Falls Farmers Market.

I contacted them specifically for this meal. Originally I sought potatoes. Dave and Janet grow several varieties of potatoes, but they did not have any for sale in February. When I asked for squash, they gave a resounding yes!

Dave and Janet also grow cherry tomatoes during the winter so I get those throughout the fall and winter plus Dave informed me he is growing some green beans! He asked if I wanted to try some when they get ready for picking.

Oh, Dave! Does my dog like her treats?! You bet I am in on this one! I will let you know about the green beans when they are harvested, but let me tell you, this locally grown butternut squash was great!

Here is Chef Leon’s recipe:

Butternut Squash

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash

1/2 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. Course ground salt

1/2 tsp course ground pepper

Method:

Cut the squash in 2 equal halves

Scrape out the seeds, then wash clean

Peel or slice off the outer skin

Cube into 1-inch cubes

Wipe the bottom of a rectangular casserole dish with olive oil

Spread the cubed squash across the bottom of the dish

Drizzle olive oil over the top

Place dish into a pre-heated 400 degree oven

Bake at 400 degrees until a fork can pierce the squash easily which is about 20-30 minutes

Switch the oven from bake to broil

Broil on high (450-500 degrees) for 10-12 minutes or until squash starts to brown.

Season as desired and serve.

Alternative method - sprinkle with brown sugar for the last 10 minutes of broiling.

Pheasant

This was the star of our show.

When Leon and I have talked about Locally Grown Meals, this was one entree he really wanted!

Leon, Lori and I each have our stories of growing up with hunter dads, uncles and brothers who would bag a bird. Pheasant does not have a strong flavor and was a great addition to the meal!

Some fry it. Some prepare it in a crock pot. Leon roasted it, but first, he fried it in his wok.

Leon listens to several cooking podcasts and one cook uses a wok in food preparation. I got the pheasant off to a great start.

We thank Oakwood Game Farm by Princeton for the pheasant we purchased.

Here is Chef Leon’s recipe:

Pheasant

This recipe has been revised from the “meat Eater Cook Book.

Ingredients

2 whole pheasants, cut up as legs, wings, thighs and breasts

1 c. Corn starch seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika or other seasonings as preferred

1/2 c. Cooking oil

1 c. Chopped portabella mushrooms

1 bunch finely chopped green onions

1/2 c. Dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc

4 garlic cloves crushed and chopped

Method

Heat oil in a wok or large pan, dip pheasant pieces in a gallon bag holding the cornstarch and spice mix. Fry in small batches of 4-5 pieces only, not crowding the pan. Once each batch is cooked, set aside and fry the remaining pheasant pieces until done.

Clean the pan, add the chopped green onions, mushrooms and garlic to the clean pan, Saute for 4-6 minutes. Add the white wine and cook on low for 10 minutes

Prepare a ceramic or metal casserole pan by coating with cooking oil. Place all pieces of the pheasant in the pan, add the contents of the onion, garlic, mushroom and wine mix to the pan. Stir just lightly until the sauce mix is evenly distributed.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 60 minutes. The pheasant should reach 180 degrees to be done.

The meal started out with Matthys Kroon’s micro greens served with a caesar salad dressing from The Secret Garden of Park Rapids, MN. The Secret Garden also has a Vidalia onion and peppercorn dressing which I also tried with a salad mix of green lettuce and Kroon’s microgreens. I was told at Dutchmen Organics in Fergus Falls, MN that that particular dressing is quite popular. And the Caesar was a hit the night of our Locally Grown Meal.

We ended the meal with a salted caramel cheesecake from Peney Cakes in Fergus Falls.

Watch for more stories about this meal and about Local Growers in our area.

Help support this page and our work with local growers at buymeacoffee.com/thelocalgrR