Clark Park Market report, 1/5
Saturday, January 05, 2008
On this first Saturday of 2008, I made it to the Clark Park farmers’ market for the first time in close to a month. I was impressed by the continuing availability of apples, cabbage, and kale, among other things, but I was trying to limit my purchases. I bought carrots, onions, and spicy beef sticks from Landisdale Farm, lentils from Margerum’s, apples (Gold Rush and Northern Gold) from Keystone Farm, and spinach from a farm whose name I didn’t see and forgot to ask (oops!).
I also stopped to consider the very nice looking chicken and chicken products (eggs, sausage [turkey or chicken with pork casing], and quarts of soup) from Mountain View Poultry Farm. If I’m feeling brave enough in two weeks, when they’ll be back--they alternate between Clark Park and a market in Phoenixville--I think I’ll buy a whole chicken. (I’m comfortable cooking pieces of chicken, or tofu or seitan, but I’ve yet to do more than watch the cooking of an entire bird.)
Ditto on the bird help--there’s nothing like it! A fun, easily de-fussifiable method is in Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It’s basically a chicken with two pierced lemons inside. It’s unbelievable and uses no other basting liquid/oil. Good luck! Save the bones for stock!
I can’t thank you enough for doing this report - I was just wondering how many vendors are still doing the Clark Park market. Yay!
BTW, if you need help with the bird, let me know - I’ve done it a gazillion times.