Last weekend we drove out to our CSA, Red Fire Farms in Granby, MA, to take advantage of their pick-your-own offerings. We had a narrow escape with a drenching thunderstorm, but we came away with a huge bag of shelling peas, and another bag, even larger, of strawberries. That made for a lot of produce to deal with - I spent more time shelling peas and hulling strawberries this week than I even want to talk about.

After all that work, I really wanted to create some dishes that would showcase these seasonal stars, but I didn't manage to do so with all-local ingredients. One of my favorite early summer dishes is green garlic and pea soup, and it seemed like the perfect thing for all those peas. I had lots of green garlic from the farmers market, and also a pile of garlic scapes from Red Fire. The only problem was my homemade chicken stock from the freezer, which was not made from local ingredients. In fact, I made it long enough ago, I don't even remember what the ingredients were! But I used it, along with some non-local wine and butter, to transform my peas into a creamy soup. (I used this recipe as a starting point.)

It can't be coincidence that the strawberry season coincides with a heat wave - strawberry ice cream is the only logical conclusion! And while the milk, cream, eggs and strawberries are local, the sugar and vanilla bean... not so much. To make matters worse, instead of corn syrup, I used Lyle's Golden Syrup, all the way from the UK, for its superior flavor. The custard and strawberry puree are in the fridge now, awaiting the ice cream maker, but I'll be sure to show off the result soon!

So thats two swings and two misses for the challenge, but two hits for peas and strawberries!

Ingredients:
Milk from Oake Knoll Ayreshires in Foxboro, MA
Cream from Hatchland Dairy, Haverhill, NH
Eggs from Chip-in Farm, Bedford, MA
Green garlic from Kimball Fruit Farms, Pepperell, MA
Peas, garlic scapes and strawberries from Red Fire Farms, Granby, MA