Vermont with a Tropical Twist
We have beautiful ginger from Biker Dude in the store right now. For those of you who don’t know Biker Dude, he’s an organic farmer in Hawaii who cultivates a somewhat unconventional image, and he supplies us with fresh ginger with funny names during the growing season. Our Produce Buyer, Mary Manghis, even went out and visited his farm two years ago and cemented our connection.
Here’s his website: http://www.hawaiianorganicginger.com/.
While ginger arrives on our snowy steps along with a wave of tropical fruits, I think of it was a warming spice, wonderful for hot tea, carrot ginger soup, and chutney. A trick with ginger: It can be a bit cumbersome to peel and grate, because of its unique combination of juice and fiber. Throw ginger in the freezer before you plan to use it, and keep any leftover ginger (wrapped in plastic wrap) there, as well. I don’t know why it works, but once you take the ginger out of the freezer, it’s easy to peel the skin off (I use a paring knife) and you can grate it effortlessly. Just don’t let it thaw while you’re working on other things, because the magic wears off!
Chutney goes wonderfully with local meat (like roasted chicken or turkey, beef, or pork), or with vegetarian Indian dishes, like lentil or vegetable stews and rice. We served this with pork chops and a side of sweet potatoes and kale. Any leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks or frozen for several months. We will probably eat the leftovers with some Indian food this week.
