Faith in our farmers

"Eating is an agricultural act."
—Wendell Berry

Almost everyone relies on some sort of farmer for almost all of their food. But the degree to which eaters trust farmers varies. Making a grocery list without regard to region or season and fulfilling it at a grocery store requires faith only that farmers grew, packed and shipped something edible. As we've seen recently, even that amount of trust can be misplaced.

When we committed to a CSA, Jamie, Marcos, Patrick and I put a little more on the line, not the least of which was our investment of $500 for a full share to split between our two households. We trusted the folks at Driftless to use it well. So far, I think they have.

Next came the leap of faith that Driftless would stock our crispers with something useful each week. Satisfied with that, this week Pat and I decided to stretch our faith to the next level: We'd let them determine how we prepared the food.

We're pretty picky about recipes, usually working from just a few tried and true cookbooks or putting the onus on ourselves to invent something that will honor its ingredients. Saturday, we tried a recipe for fish tacos that Farmer Mike included in our CSA newsletter.



We set aside all the required veggies. We bought the tortillas, limes, yogurt and jalapeno. We bought the fish—we though a pound would be too much for us, so we used .6 pounds. That was plenty. The tortillas we like are small, so a pound would have overwhelmed us.



Pat loves his multi-pot deep fryer thing. He gets all professional and sets up little stations.

This was a spectacular dinner that could have served four. We wrapped the leftovers in tin foil and they were gone the next day. We still have a little sauce left over, the best part. We're going to try it on portobello sandwiches.

Fish Tacos With Arugula and Carrots (from Driftless Organics' July 24 newsletter)
1 lb. white, flaky fish like cod, mahi mahi, walleye or tilapia, cut into long strips [we used .6 lbs.]
Corn tortillas [we used 12]
2 carrots, grated
2 cups arugula, washed, dried and shredded [we laid the pile on the cutting board and sliced it with a chef's knife]
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced [yum.]
Lime wedges for garnish

Sauce:
2/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream [we used Cultural Revolution yogurt, which is quite tart]
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Juice of one lime
1 jalapeno pepper, minced or 1 Tbsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. chipotle powder (optional)
3 Tbsp. cilantro (optional)

For fish:
Lime juice and salt [because of a typo in the recipe here, we only bought 2 limes and therefore had no garnish]

Squeeze lime juice over fish and salt it.

Whisk sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Either grill or bread and deep fry fish. (Mix 1 cup flour, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt and quickly mix in an egg beaten with some light beer. Roll each piece of fish in flour then dip in breading and slide into a couple inches of 375-degree oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towel)

Warm each tortilla on a hot pan and serve topped with fish, veggies, sauce and lime wedges.