“We want to eat as much local food as we can," Kathy Cooley urged a dozen attendees at a “Tasting the Harvest” cooking demonstration at Oldenburg Franciscan Center Sept. 17.

They picked up recipes and tips during the two-hour Food and Growers Association of Laughery Valley & Environs event.

Most of the food cost just $9 at the Batesville Farmers’ Market the previous Saturday. Cooley, FGA’s president, and Patty Reding, its vice president and a farmers’ market master, paid $6 for onions, peppers, cucumbers and other produce and $3 for green beans.

To show how to make Baked Pears with Streusel Filling (please see box), Cooley began by peeling some pears from her backyard, noting they can be stored in cold water to prevent browning.

She mused, “A lot of folks don't eat them. Pears are wonderful for you. We try to promote diversity.” The Hansen Center registered dietitian said eating a variety of foods insures the body gets all the nutrients it needs. Food is best when eaten just after it is harvested with minimal preparation, she believed.

Adam Israel, who worked at Lil' Charlie's since 10, earned an associate degree from the Culinary Institute of America and returned to Batesville to become a chef there, was removing gills from portabella mushrooms. Next he tossed them with onions, colorful peppers, green beans and fresh thyme, parsley and oregano, splashed on extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper before roasting the vegetables in a cast iron skillet for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. “It's a great way to use vegetables you can find in your garden ... Portabella has a great, great mushroom flavor to it.”

Cooley explained why roasting vegetables is preferred: When they don't get exposed to water, they retain more nutrients.

Also on the menu were Stuffed Bell Peppers, Chopped Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette and Marinated and Roasted Herbed Chicken.

The chefs noted that cooks should decide what goes in a dish, not the recipe. Making the dessert her own, Cooley sprinkled an extra ingredient into the streusel. “I think it's great to put in some oats. It adds a little texture.”

Again, she stirred oats into the pepper stuffing “to add fiber and flavor.” Israel said that recipe is flexible. Cooked rice or orzo could replace some or all of the crumbs.

The dietitian reported parsley is very high in vitamin C. According to Israel, “Rosemary goes really well with meats.” Potatoes, too, Cooley observed. She said herbs should be added at the end of cooking to retain nutrients.

Two men discussed their separate meat initiatives. Paul Anderson of Hoosier Hills Homegrown Natural Meats said the nonprofit cooperative was started in 2006. “Our goal is to bring local farmers in direct connection to consumers,” not just families but schools, hospitals and other institutions. “How can people here support your program?” asked the president. “Patronize restaurants that carry Hoosier Homegrown Meats, such as Bonaparte's Retreat,” he answered. “I get compliments about the quality of the meat.”

Joe Hartman, a farmers’ market master and pasture poultry producer with parents Dave and Deb Hartman, Batesville, said their chickens live not in a building, but a 10-by-12-foot pen that is moved to fresh grass daily. The chickens also eat various grains. Because of the different diet, it’s a denser taste than store bought. Cooley advised cooking them slower for more tenderness.

Reding noted, “The FGA is supporting an initiative to establish a community garden” at Southeastern Indiana YMCA so residents without outdoor space can still have that experience. For it to become reality, people have to express interest by completing a survey that is due Nov. 1. It can be found at the Web site www.foodandgrowers.org.

“Everybody in Indiana thinks we can only eat local food in the summertime,” Cooley reflected. She is urging growers to plant successively and choose crops that tolerate cooler weather. “I plant lettuce about every two weeks starting Aug. 1. I also planted kale and Swiss chard. That will even survive a frost.”