l10n is geek shorthand for localization, which is what the Eat Local movement is all about (…except in the context of food and not software).

Anyway, you better fill up the tank and hit the farmer’s markets early this week: the local-vores will be swarming! Well, maybe not those particular vores, unless you’re within 100 miles of the bay area.

Yep, today marks the beginning of the month-long 2007 Eat Local Challenge. Apparently it’s the third year in a row. Depending on your level of commitment, you can participate in many different ways and at many different levels of effort; everything from “take photos of local food”, to “Can, freeze, or dehydrate your local summer bounty”.

First on my agenda is roasting 10 lbs of San Marzano tomatoes, just procured from my farm around the corner as part of my CSA share.

I started with a recipe from here, but I left out the butter and added two slices of pancetta, diced. Also, in addition to the porcini I added some fresh, sliced criminis. It came out really rich and dark looking from the liquid used to soak the porcinis. It was good, but not fall-off-your-seat good. I think next time I’ll use butter.

There’s this perception (myth?) that to make risotto you basically have to be standing over the pot stirring constantly as the rice absorbs your broth in small batches. But I remember a section of Bill Buford’s Heat where he says that’s basically bunk and that so long as the heat is low you can dump all the liquid in the pot, cover it and walk away, and still get the expected result. I did a little of both–stirring a lot, but also walking away to work on a salad occasionally.

Speaking of mushrooms, Wilson Farm now has an array of oddball varieties, but I was too afraid I wouldn’t know what to do with them. For instance,

I probably would have cooked these velvet foot mushrooms, but Cook’s Thesaurus (which calls them enoki) says, “They’re usually served raw.”

The dried morels were about $16 for a 1 oz package. Yum but ouch.

Thanks to Danielle at Habeus Brulee for posting about these tasty looking thing-a-bobs. They look a bit like tomatillos, which Jenny & I have been growing successfully for a few years, but taste more like a tropical fruit I guess. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen seedlings for sale around here, so I’ll have to look into getting some seeds.