An essential component of a DC summer, we finally had our Old Bay-doused, steamed Maryland blue crabs* this weekend at Quarterdeck. Nothing like cutting it close; Columbus Day is generally the end of crab season. It was less crowded than at the peak of summer though, and these meaty, sweet jumbo crabs were worth the wait.

The toddler was pretty into the mallets, but stuck to crab balls and fries for eating. Quarterdeck is conveniently located just up hill from National airport, so the steady stream of airplanes taking off helped keep him entertain while we picked crabs. Yum.

* This year’s farm bill contained funds to help farmers reduce run-off into the Bay, to help our endangered crabs. And the environment, too.

Last weekend, the toddler and I wrapped up the Maryland/WaPo Eat Local Challenge week with a tour of the farmstands and markets of the Chesapeake shores. The husband was away for work, so I thought the boy and I would fake a beach trip with day-trips to the Bay.

On Friday nights, the town of North Beach in Southern Maryland hosts a farmers market and cruise in. The market was fairly small, but there were Harris peaches (so good we stopped at their farmstand off Rte. 4 again this weekend), pesticide-free corn, lots of tomatoes, melons and peppers, cheap blue crabs, and kettle corn. The toddler enjoyed the cars on display at the “Cruise In,” and we topped off our Tastee Freez dinner with kettle corn and dancing to live music as the sun set.

Saturday morning we hit the road for St. Michael’s on the Eastern Shore. Traffic got us into town just in time to catch the tail end of the market, undoubtedly the most scenic of FreshFarm’s eight area sites. There were peaches, Chapel’s Country Creamery raw milk cheese, local lamb and more. A 2-week old calf provided entertainment before the toddler selected his peach and took off to see the boats. We headed over to the Chesapeake Folk Life Festival for seafood, watermelon, Smith Island cake and more dancing.

We stopped at historic Wye Mill for local! organic! cornmeal and buckwheat flour (more on that soon), and the Councell Farms farmstand with grown-on-site sweet corn and melons of every shape, size and color. (I highly recommend this stop if you’re taking Rte. 50 to the shore — they have a farm playland for kids that includes a tractor, combine reconfigured into a slide/swing, John Deere tricycle racetrack and adorable pygmy goats.) Came home with a Blue Bonnet watermelon that is so sweet and flavorful.

I wanted to use the local grains in my meal with all this Chesapeake bounty, so I made buckwheat crepes filled with corn, tomatoes, peaches, onion and Chapel’s crab spice (Old Bay) cheddar cheese.

Recipe: Chesapeake Crepes

Corn & Peach Filling
Ingredients:

• 2 ears sweet corn, cut from ears
• 2 peaches, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 t olive oil
• 2 T fresh parsley or other herb(s)
• salt & pepper
• 1 c grated cheddar cheese

Instructions: Stir all ingredients except cheese together and let stand.

Crepes
Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c buckwheat flour
• 1/4 unbleached flour
• 1/4 t salt

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk eggs, add remaining ingredients and whisk quickly until lumps are gone. Cook in oiled crepe or frying pan over medium heat. Takes about 2-3 minutes per side, depending on the size of your pan. Remove and place on warm cookie sheet. Top each with generous scoop of filling, then cover with shredded cheese. Roll. Cook in oven 5 minutes, until cheese is just melted. Makes 6-8 crepes. Enjoy!

Notes: I made a toddler version by making mini crepes (about 2 inches in diameter), then topped with cheese and corn/peach filling for a mini pizza. This would have been improved immensely with some fresh crab meat (the Old Bay in the cheese was such a tease!), but I wasn’t able to bring back crabs since it would be a few days before I got to cook this. Next time!

This weekend, the toddler and I hit three Northern Virginia markets in honor of Virginia’s Eat Local week (Aug. 3-9) – stay tuned for a report on those. It’s also National Farmers Market Week, so visit LocalHarvest to find your closest market and check it out!

A trip to the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market this past weekend allowed us to pick up some treats not offered at our neighborhood markets — including Cibola Farm’s buffalo hot dogs and Chesapeake Bay blue crab (soft shells and lump meat). Paired with fresh produce from the market and our CSA, we had three simple, local dinners this week (and a fourth mostly-local CSA quinoa salad).

Dinner #1: The hot dogs were served on Firehook Bakery torpedo rolls, the closest approximation to hot dog buns we could find, and caramelized sweet onions from our CSA. (Plus a dab of non-local mustard. I actually tried to order local mustard from our dairy, but the ordering system has been having problems.)

Dinner #2: Soft-shell crab sandwiches. The husband, unimpressed by the improvised hot dog buns, went to the grocery store and found that their only HFCS-free buns were also locally-made, Martin’s potato rolls of PA (104 mi.). So he won that round… Quick cornmeal-coated, pan-fried soft shells need little accompaniment other than the first field-ripened tomatoes of summer and some CSA lettuce on the bun.

Dinner #3: Pan-fried crab cakes, and quick ciabatta pizzas. Ciabatta from our neighborhood bakery (Caboose), topped with baby yellow zucchini, basil, sweet onions, and fresh ricotta.

For dessert, local eggs, gooseberries and cherries starred in a yummy clafoutis. And an added treat, our local Buzz bakery was giving away free mini honey cupcakes (with local VA honey) for “Don’t Step on a Bee Day.”

Farms/Producers:

• Buffalo – Cibola Farms, VA (73 mi.)
• Crab – Buster’s Seafood, VA (138 mi.)
• Ricotta – Keswick Creamery, PA (121 mi.)
• Onions, basil, lettuce – Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, VA (23 mi.)
• Baby zucchini – Spring Valley Farm & Orchards, WV (113 mi.

Like food? Help farmers! – Last week to comment and enter to win a free cookbook!