NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

To promote slow foods and local eating, Vic and I threw a “locavore” dinner early last month for friends and wrote about it in our column. Locavore is a term coined by a group of people in San Francisco who are promoting eating locally grown foods. We enjoyed our first feast so much we decided to do another.

We invited Dave and Margaret Carlberg, local bird artist Tom Anderson, and his partner Brian Westcott to this dinner. Dave is president of the Amigos de Bolsa Chica. Tom is immediate past president. Brian is past secretary and current treasurer. While the conversation tended to focus on environmental topics, amazingly we didn’t dwell on Bolsa Chica issues.

Instead of serving a locally grown, naturally raised, Rainbow Ranch Farms heritage turkey as we did for our first locavore dinner, we picked up a California-raised, grass-fed bison hump roast at the Long Beach farmers’ market. I chose the hump roast because it’s a cut of meat not available on a cow.

California bison is a more environmentally sound entrée choice than corn-fed beef from the Midwest for two reasons. First of all, California-grown meat doesn’t have to be transported as far as meat from the Midwest, and this saves fuel. Second, no energy is expended in growing corn and transporting it to a feedlot for grass-fed beef or bison.

I don’t like feedlots. The cattle raised there have to be fed antibiotics to keep them from getting sick in over-crowded conditions. The poor cows have nothing but manure to stand on. The stench of a feedlot can be amazingly bad. If you think California cows are happy cows, you should visit a feedlot some summer. Those conditions are pretty unnatural.

These days, when we’re not having a vegetarian entrée, we usually look for grass-fed beef or bison (or fish, shellfish or poultry, which are other environmentally sound choices).

Vic and I started cooking the feast the night before. While Vic was stirring and heating the milk to make cheese, I stuffed Indio-grown Medjool dates with organic California walnut halves and mascarpone cheese. Then we made ice cream, sweetening it with local cactus honey instead of sugar.

Next, I dredged the bison roast in flour and browned it in bacon grease. I put the roast in the crock pot with one cup of Merlot from Orfila Vineyards along with two cups of water. Then I browned an onion and three cloves of minced garlic in the bacon grease and added that to the crock pot.

I seasoned the mix with two bay leaves from Shipley Nature Center and a teaspoon of Dijon mustard. (OK, the mustard was from France, but it was a just a little jar.) By morning, the house was redolent with the smell of bison, onions and garlic stewing in Merlot. I wish I could incorporate that magnificent smell into the newspaper. You’ll just have to try this recipe for yourself.

I selected dairy products from Alta Dena, a local dairy, and olives and olive oil from Adams’ Ranch, available at the Long Beach farmer’s market. At Trader Joe’s, I found some crackers made at Ak-Mak Bakery in the Central Valley. That wasn’t as local as the flatbread crackers made in Santa Ana that I found at Wholesome Foods in Irvine, but going to Trader Joe’s meant less driving for me.

Vic and I had picked up some Orfila Vineyards and Pamo Valley wines from San Diego County on our last trip through the Ramona and Mt. Palomar areas. Dave brought some fabulous Zinfandel he had made himself. Brian and Tom went to Temecula and asked the folks at Wiens Cellars what kind of wine they would recommend to go with bison.

The recommendation was a bottle of Crowded, which is made from six different grapes: 33% Petite Sirah, 22% Syrah, 12% Zinfandel, 11% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot and 11% Sangiovese. The flavor was incredibly complex and a perfect partner for the bison.

Before our guests arrived, I baked a loaf of challah, a delicious egg bread. I also made a quiche with leeks and homemade elk sausage, and a salad with home-grown ingredients. Margaret brought some delicious sunchoke fritters. She and Dave grow sunchokes every year in their garden. Margaret’s treatment of the sunchokes in an egg batter with bell peppers and onions was beyond compare. They also brought some watermelon they had grown themselves, and homemade jams and marmalade.

Vic’s skill with a large knife was needed to cut a Queensland Blue pumpkin into serving size chunks to go onto the grill in a pan with potatoes, onions, whole cloves of garlic, rosemary and olive oil. That pumpkin was a beast. The heavy blue-green skin of this heirloom variety pumpkin is harder to cut than a typical pumpkin, but that baby sure was delicious after it was roasted. I saved the seeds so I can grow some Queensland Blues next year.

While the veggies were roasting on the grill over indirect heat, I gave a “farm tour” of our yard. Vic and I now have 17 semi-dwarf fruit trees, an herb garden, and several patches of vegetables growing here and there. One of our goals is to show people how easy it is to grow food, even in a yard as tiny as ours. We also like to show off our composters.

We believe it is up to each of us to do as much as we can to live sustainably and to combat global climate change by altering our lifestyles. With a lifestyle that includes a menu like the one we had with Dave, Margaret, Brian and Tom, it’s no sacrifice at all.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.