Fifth and Sixth Charlestown Farm Pickups

Thursday, July 02, 2009

I’ve been so busy cooking with the veggies in our CSA shares (and working in the garden) that June just flew by!

Last week we picked up more lettuce (both loose leaf and head), some arugula, some young kale, bok choy, broccoli, garlic scrapes and some carrots. Off to the left you can see some of the strawberry jam we made two weeks ago.

Broccoli was not one of my favorites as a kid, and my husband used to only eat it with cheese sauce.  Actually, it was more like he’d eat cheese sauce with a sprinkle of broccoli.  But last fall we tried out Heidi’s recipe from Super Natural Cooking - and now we both love broccoli and it gets eaten up right away! It’s really hardly a recipe at all, just cut the broccoli into bite sized pieces, leaving plenty of stem. Then toss them with olive oil and a little salt. Grill for a few minutes until they are crisp-tender, then toss with lemon juice and ground flax seeds. Yummy!

This week marked the beginning of summer with our first tomato! I’ve been craving tomato salad for months and I can’t wait to devour this one! The share also had one head of lettuce and some bok choy (boy am I glad to get down to a sane level of greens), broccoli, celery, scallions, beets, turnips, garlic ramps, and herbs. We also got to pick one sunflower and a small bouquet from the u-pick flower garden.

Off to the left is one jar of black raspberry jam that we made last weekend. We went out to Linvilla and picked 7 qts of black raspberries. I’m a huge berry lover - we used two qts for jam, two qts for a crumble and the rest were just for eating straight We also got a few early summer peaches (not nearly as good as the later ones, but still tasty), and about 4 qts of the last strawberries of the season.

CSA Report: Blooming Glen Farm

(Click photo to read notes at flick’r regarding names/quantities of share.)

How excited was I to see tomatoes and potatoes in the share this week?  Very!  We’re growing both at home, but have yet to harvest either.  I put a tomato right to work, as a bright spot in my salad this afternoon and it was simply divine. Maybe it’s all the colors or the fun variety, or simple the thrill of having the first tomatoes of the season, but I’m feeling the urge to simply eat everything raw this week. 

OLS: New England/Int’l Week 4

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Well...still raining!  I can’t believe we’re entering July this week and the weather has yet to show us any real “summer” weeks!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the peeks of sun, but I’d like a whole lot more of them!

We’re still cookin’ in New England despite the rain!

England

Sally at Diario is sick this week...be on the lookout for next week’s OLS meal!  (Hope you feel better soon Sally!)

Vermont

Annika from Northeast Kingdom Localvores made a scrumptious meal of grilled chicken legs, grilled vegetables and browned potatoes.  To wrap up them meal, she made homemade strawberry ice cream.  Yum!

Massachusetts

Leslie at dreams and bones made gorgeous goat cheese pizza.  She used roasted garlic scapes, last seasons canned tomatoes, fresh sliced tomatoes, basil and of course, goat cheese.  That pizza looks so tasty!

Connecticut

Mangochild at Living in a Local Zone also baked a pizza.  She used fresh basil, chives, green garlic, and tomato sauce with a splash of zucchini on top.

Sophie at Late Bloomers Farm had beef tenderloins with grilled garlic scapes with pan-sauteéd spinach and local Connecticut wine.

New Hampshire

Lisa at Notes From Zone 4 made a super sandwich with homemade potato rolls, turkey, homemade mayo, horseradish, cheddar cheese, and greens from her garden.  (Check out last weeks egg noodle casserole that I forgot to post as well!)

Kristin at The Family Kitchen shared a sampling of local fare.  This includes squash sauteed with garlic scapes, boiled lobsters, cheeseburgers and homemade cheese ravioli.  What a delicious week she had!

This week I (at Living the Local Life) was a complete failure and didn’t make much for local food.  (Hangs head in shame!) This week, I promise, I’ll get to it!

Colleen at Penny-Wise People made a simple local meal.  She made a salad from the produce from that weeks CSA share and grilled some kielbasa from a local sausage shop.

Amy at What Did She Do Today? shared her local meal with company.  She cooked up a very diverse vegetable medley, steamed beets, and some goat meat, kabob cut.

Kim at Yankee Food recapped OLS weeks 1 - 4 in one big post!  Here are some of the meals she’s enjoyed:  Meal 1 - smoked ribs, slow baked beans and an apple-rhubarb pie. Meal 2 - grill-roasted local chicken with zucchini and baked potatoes. Meal 3 - steak with arugula pesto served over pasta.

(If I missed you, please let me know!)

Here’s to a sunny weekend (again)!!

Virginia

One Local Summer: Southern, week 4

Hard to believe we’re already a month in to One Local Summer, but judging by recent heat and humidity levels, I think it’s safe to say summer is well underway. Here’s a look at what we’ve been eating here in the Southeast.

Kentucky

Caroline of Burrow House shares a mouth-watering peach toast, served with sausage and cabbage, and makes her own butter when a trip to the market comes up short.

Tennessee

Kristina the Tennessee Locavore shares a week full of locally-sourced meals, including one entirely local day whose meals consisted of:
Breakfast: local eggs scrambled with feta and local garlic scapes.
Lunch: local beet greens and swiss chard sauteed with local bacon, served with steamed local new potatoes with local butter and dill. 
Dinner: pizza with local potatoes and leeks and local goat cheese (and a sourdough crust to avoid using yeast!)
Dessert:  homemade peach granita made from local peaches (recipe included). Inspiring!

Melissa of Bridgman Pottery cooked up a goat cheese, swiss chard and basil pizza and a refreshing cucumber buttermilk soup; she reports the soup can also be used to make a savory gelato—great idea!

Sarah at A Girl Named Go puts high quality ingredients to use in a breakfast favorite, using fresh bread from a local bakery to make French toast, topped with homemade vanilla yogurt and fresh berries to replace the syrup.

North Carolina

Melissa of Rabbit Hill Farm fortified her family for their “ultimate reuse/recycle” summer project with a warmed tomato and zucchini salad, organic chicken and smashed red potatoes.

Virginia

Elizabeth of Caveman Food shares a meal that looks lovely, even if she wasn’t totally in love with it—green onion burgers, slaw made with kohlrabi and basil, and golden zucchini with basil, sauteed up with a little lard.

Keeping Up With K catches up with a quick report of recent salads dressed up with berries and more from her CSA and markets, including herb-infused salad dressings.

Jasmine of Knitting 40 Shades of Green had a pre-travel, “fridge-clearing" omelet this week of sauteed onions and zucchini, cherry tomatoes, Anaheim pepper, refrigerator dried basil and pickled jalapeno slices.

Nancy of Learning As I Go takes advantage of the abundant summer squash at market now to adapt a Martha Stewart “pot au feu” recipe and came up with quick summer vegetable stew with sauteed honey/red-pepper chicken cutlets. As an added bonus, see her adventures in making homemade ricotta (or paneer).

Nana Sadie got fresh bread, cabbage (for slaw, of course) and the first beets from her CSA, which she roasted for dinner and ate alongside a steamed summer squash.

Carolyn of Walnut Spinney shares her husband’s impressive all-local brown bag lunch, comprised of ruby red beets, steamed and sliced, zucchini and yellow squash in browned butter, sugar snap peas with garlic-soy sauce (recipe included), Harvey House slaw, sliced cucumbers in vinegar and a slice of locally raised and smoked ham.

Here at FoodieTots we enjoyed a “BLT" Fettuccine with local bacon, tomatoes, chard, and a favorite, sun dried tomato fettuccine from Smith Meadows Farm.

Washington, DC

Erin took the plunge and started a blog, New at the Market, to facilitate sharing her local eating experiences. (Congratulations, Erin!) This week’s meal was a fresh salad with ramp vinegar dressing, making use of the fabulous vinegar from West Virginia’s Bigg Riggs Farm.

Midwest: One Local Summer Week 4

Colorado
Jenny of Nourished Kitchen finished up a long day at the Crested Butte Farmers Market by joining the farmers market table at a local restaurant. Every ingredient served came from the morning market: salad with peas and mint, turnips and greens in broth, elk sausage with roasted onions, skewered beef with greens and roasted potato salad and fresh rainier cherries dressed in balsamic vinegar. View her full post: Sunday Farmers Market Table.

Iowa
Karen of Toteleeding dined on what very well may be the best rhubarb pie, grilled asparagus, slow-baked chicken with barbeque sauce and a great salad.  She even found someone selling local veggies on craigslist! You can view her full post here: One Local Summer - Week 4.

Kansas
Lori of L’aeroport served a beautiful frittata from local eggs, Swiss chard and colby cheese.  She also served fresh, bright orange carrots from her local CSA. You can view her full post here: OLS - Week 4.

Ohio
Becke at Columbus Foodie celebrated week 4 of One Local Summer with a stunning Italian feast complete with a salad of romaine lettuce straight from her garden and served it with meatballs and ravioli as well as some flavorful garlic bread. View her full post here: OLS Week 4: A Local Italian Feast

Seema at Feeding Maybelle prepared a beautiful raspberry clafoutis.  She served the classic custardy cake for breakfast after a trip to the market yielded vibrant raspberries.  You can view her full post here: Raspberry Clafoutis.

Ann at Green Leanings served a brunch of scrambled eggs (beautiful golden yolks!) with herbs from her garden, homemade whole wheat biscuits and fresh strawberries.  She’s exercising a new love of medieval cooking too.  You can view her full post here: One Local Summer - Week 4.

Wisconsin
Jeff of Eat Wisconsin gathered most of his ingredients from his local farmers market to prepare these beautiful vegetable spring rolls.  They included sunflower sprouts, Thai basil, sugar snap peas, carrots, cilantro, red pepper and green onion.  You can view his full post here: Vegetable Spring Rolls.

Week 4: Western Region

Wow, can you believe that we’re almost at the 1/3 way point for One Local Summer already? And we’re just now getting into the thick of the growing season, where everything is plentiful. If the first four weeks have flown by so quickly, I’m almost sad at how quickly this summer will be just a memory.

Anita of Married with Dinner joins us this week with a Mexican egg dish called huevos motuleños, which pairs a bunch of fresh veggies (peppers, onions, tomatoes, and more) with black beans, eggs, cheese and ham on corn tortillas. It sounds like it’s right up my Mexican food lovin’ alley. Yum ^2!

Lauren of Shooting Stars of Thought hosted an all-local feast this week, featuring salad, mussels and clams (although one of the mussels had a hijacker!), Womack chicken, roasted veggies, grilled corn on the cob, local wine, and fruit salad for dessert! Sounds wonderful!

Rounding out this week is Kathleen of Our Life in the Country who has had blazing hot weather this week and has eaten indoors pretty much every day. This week she shares with us a very summery meal of pork chops, a nice butter lettuce salad, and yellow chard.

With the real hot part of summer just starting, I’m looking forward to seeing what is new in the upcoming weeks. I know that I’ve been eating lighter as it gets hotter, I wonder if that holds true for everyone else. We’ll see…

A Pair of Confessions

I have two confessions to make.  First, while I dearly love my CSA, I find the first (and last) weeks rather challenging.  By challenging, I mean that the variety of vegetables is rather narrow, consisting largely of greens.  I know greens are good for me, and that, as one of my CSA members pointed out, a little bacon can do wonders.  However, at some point, you start craving variety –in texture, flavor, and even simply color. 

Second – and this only seems unrelated – while I love Mark Bittman and his cookbooks and columns, I find some of his recipes too simple.  I know he is called “The Minimalist” for a reason, but sometimes I think the more accurate title would be “The Incompletist.”

These two confessions came to a head one recent Sunday when my wife and I were faced with a refrigerator full of kale, swiss chard, spinach, and green onions.  Knowing that the greens would soon be headed for the compost (and feeling extraordinarily guilty about that), we turned to Bittman’s The Best Recipes in the World.  Not surprisingly, given the encyclopedic nature of the book, we found a solution: croquettes.  The fried texture, coupled with the cheese, provided welcome relief from all of the simple, sauteed greens we’d been eating lately.  The recipe seemed simple enough, but we were forced to make several adjustments as we went. 

Early- and Late- Season Croquettes

2 lbs. leaves of mixed greens (Spinach, Kale, Swiss Chard, etc.)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cow’s milk cheese, grated (I would use a raw-milk cheddar)
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs, plus extra
Salt and Pepper
Oil or butter

1.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Salt the water and then add the greens.  If you are using a mix of greens, add them in order of coarseness (i.e., start with kale, end with spinach).  Cook until just wilted, no more than a minute or ninety seconds.  Drain thoroughly, gently pressing the leaves against the sides of the colander.  Allow the greens to cool, and then roughly chop.
2.  In a mixing bowl, combine the greens, onion, eggs, cheese, pepper, and approximately half of the breadcrumbs.  If the mixture is too wet to form cakes, gradually add more bread crumbs until it is possible to mold the mixture.  Form small patties, roughly the size of a small hamburger, and set aside.
3.  Put a plate in the oven and set the oven to low heat.  Over medium heat, cover the bottom of a cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan with oil or butter.  Add a few of the cakes to the pan, being careful not to overcrowd it.  (The amount of cakes you add depends on the size of the pan.) Cook for approximately five minutes, or until browned, flip the cakes and cook an additional five minutes to brown the other side.  Remove the cakes to the plate in the oven and continue with the next batch.  Repeat until cakes are cooked.

One Local Summer Week 4: Northeast

Monday, June 29, 2009

Leslie from CCDwell has been experimenting with new ingredients including rhubarb, something I’ve always wondered about. She picked (yes, literally picked) out some rhubarb and strawberries to make a sweet, tart and tasty pie. She also shares an easy recipe for stewed rhubarb.

I am very jealous of Mama Urchin who had the opportunity to dine at her CSA farm with dozens of other local diners, farmers and chefs. Sounds like a magical event! She dined on a beautiful salad, mixed grill, potato salad and of course dessert, with plenty of local wine to wash it down. What a perfect way to celebrate the summer solstice, although I think every day should be a day to celebrate great food and where it comes from.

Sandra was still celebrating her recent trip to Rhode Island with a bi-local dinner of trademark greens and goats milk feta from Rhode Island served with local PA turkey tenderloins. What a great way to appreciate regional specialties.

Melissa made a full dinner for two after returning from the Anselma Farmer’s market with pork chops, potatoes and blueberries paired with other local goodies like maple syrup and wine. Her maple glazed porkchop is a neat idea and the meal is absolutely stunning.

Portabello mushrooms have such a great meaty taste and texture and Ami made great use of them with an Open-faced Portabello Stack with Chevre spread. I love that she started with an idea but modified it with what was available at the market. Her open faced sandwich sounds like it would satisfy even a burger lover, so what a great thing to keep in mind for something to throw on the grill at your next Bbq.

Our South Jersey Locavore, Robin, has hit on a local favorite in her house - her bacon-wrapped scallops.  This week she served them with a summer vegetable salad with squash, onions, zucchini, and a salad of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. 

Regina continued her quest for local seafood and got two local meals together in the process. She made sauteed soft shell crabs, pasta with garlic scapes and olive oil, and carrots and broccoli sauteed with rosemary from her garden. The leftover pasta made a second meal of sauteed asian greens and pan-fried pasta. 

Erica, at The Brave Potato, also used leftovers creatively to make a summer grain salad with wheat, radishes, cucumber, turkey and parsley with a light dressing. 

In a different approach to local eating this summer, Rae was on the road and had a great local meal at a brewery.  She had a burger and fries made from locally grown beef and locally baked bread, along with fries and a locally brewed beer.  It’s great to see summer travel making local eating even more fun and interesting!

Lexi the Lighthearted Locavore hunted down some apparently huge (!) local fluke fillets which she served with an asian-style slaw with cabbage, radishes, and apple.  Her dressing even used a locally-sourced vinegar and local honey!  She includes a yummy recipe for the Asian Cole Slaw.

Erin, from veggicurious, cooked up multiple local meals this week.  She created a late spring Pho with tofu, snap peas, carrots, mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli and jalapenos.  She also had a last minute meal, made from the benefit of a well-stocked local pantry, with rainbow chard, a fresh egg, heirloom tomatoes and garlic scapes.

And finally, Kristin the Brooklyn Forager pulled together a small cocktail hour with local vegetables including radishes, a rainbow of carrots and garlic scapes, locally-made hummus, several local cheeses and a local baguette. 

Two quick Milkalicious photos

Here is some raw milk we picked up at Willow Creek Orchards.  I’m afraid I don’t remember which farm it comes from, but I know that M turned it into fabulous yogurt.  Willow Creek’s dairy case is not huge, so it should be easy to find. 

If you look closely, you can see the yellow cream start halfway up the bottle.  When I was a girl, we would visit my grandparents in England, and Pip (my grandfather) would let me pour off the cream from the bottled milk that was delivered every day.  That would go in a separate pitcher, and then in the evening, I would be sent out to the netted “room” in the garden to pick raspberries.  We would eat them for dessert, the red raspberries making pink streaks in the thick cream. 

As you can see from this picture, they had a variety of other great products at Willow Creek, including the best raisins I’ve ever eaten (and the first that actually made me think of grapes!), a couple of good red sauces, parmesan, and peanut butter.  All local, local, local!

Keystone Farm CSA Update Week 4

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Can it really be the fourth week of this CSA? Is this the last week of June? The days are flying by, but thanks to all of the rains we HAD (they are over now right? From now on the sun will consistently shine? Please?), the growing season is a bit behind. This translates into a no fruit week. The strawberries were done at Keystone, but the next set of berries and melons wasn’t quite ready yet.

This week’s half vegetarian share included a big head of lettuce, two tomatoes, a crookneck yellow summer squash, new red potatoes, shelling peas, cheese (I swapped my garlic cheddar for xx-sharp cheddar—my favorite amongst their selection), half dozen eggs, and granola.

I really hope watermelons make an appearance before the 4th of July....

Market Report: Headhouse Square

Headhouse Square Farmer’s Market was lovely this morning.  After weeks and weeks of rain (including Headhouse’s opening day last month), it seemed almost decadent to have such a beautiful Sunday.  I arrived early - a few minutes before the official opening at 10am - and it was already hopping.  By the time I left around 10:45am, the place was absolutely packed.

Blooming Glen Farm had gorgeous displays of fantastic-looking produce.  I loved the basket full of arrowhead and purple cabbages, and could not resist taking a photo.  I bought zucchini and fresh garlic from the stand, but I wanted to buy a lot more.  With just two of us in the house and my limited time for cooking, I have to be smart about not overbuying.  I was sorely tempted by the squash blossoms.  Last year I bought some and made great cheese and pesto stuffed blossoms.  Blooming Glen also had some pretty good-looking tomatoes, but I’m wary of tomatoes this early in the season.  Hydroponic or not, the flavor always seems off to me.

The best deal of the day for me was the four pounds of fava beans I got from Queen Farm for a mere $2.00.  I’m not sure what I will do with the fava beans yet - suggestions?  They also had lots of Asian greens and great-looking mushrooms.

Three Springs Fruit Farm had tons of cherries, both red and white, as well as early apples, black and red raspberries, and blueberries.  I’m always so tempted by their fruit stand.  I bought cherries (they were $4 per pint), and they are some of the best cherries I’ve ever eaten - perfectly ripe with a deep, lush sweetness.

I was really excited to see Mark from Natural Meadows Farms selling his eggs.  Since I’m not volunteering at Fair Food Farmstand right now (on an unrelated note, Fair Food has started construction on their new home in Reading Terminal!!  I hear it should be another four or five weeks until they can move in.), I haven’t seen him in a while.  I do love his eggs.  If you’ve never seen them, you must get your hands on some - they are blue, green, brown, pink, and all colors in between from a variety of heritage breed chickens.  I had a nice chat with Mark today, although I was horrified to hear how much professional processors are charging to slaughter his Tamworth pigs.  While I realize federal regulations exist to protect the consumer, they also make it very difficult for small farmers like Mark to make a profit.

Margerum’s was selling their usual selection of dried beans, herbs and spices, preserves, etc. Bags of red lentils and cannelini beans came home with me today.  With so much great produce available, a good white bean salad with vegetable and vinaigrette will make a nice lunch one day.

Weaver’s Way had some great-looking red and white kohlrabi (and lots of other beautiful stuff) that I bought for my husband.  Now that I’m working at Awbury Arboretum, I see the folks from Weaver’s Way hard at work at the farm on a regular basis.  Their fields look amazing - very healthy and productive.

A bunch of golden beets caught my eye, I think at either Culton Organics or Yoder Heirlooms.  I just made a really great salad (recipe will be forthcoming this week) out of them, and I’m debating with my myself about how I want to use the beet greens.  Beet green risotto is always delicious!

Happy Cat Organics was selling a lot of vegetable plants along with some nice looking produce.  I was tickled to see that they are selling shiitake mushroom logs.  I’ve always wanted to grow my own mushrooms, so I’m hoping they still have them next time I make it to Headhouse Square.  Something else at the market was the first of Jersey sweet corn, although - like the tomatoes - it seems awfully early for good sweet corn.

Along with a few flatbreads from Wild Flour Bakery, I managed to buy nearly everything I needed for the week and didn’t spend a ridiculous amount of money. 

Red Earth Farm CSA weeks 2, 3, 4

Friday, June 26, 2009

I’m not doing too well with the CSA updates! I tend to get repetitious with the vegetables I order so that I know that my 3 year old will eat at least some of them. Over the past 3 weeks we’ve gotten:

3 bunches Swiss Chard
3 small yellow squash
4 medium zucchini
2 bunches green onions
1 bunch green garlic
4 red tropea onions
3 pints snap peas
1 bunch red russian kale
1 bunch beets
1 bunch basil
2 bags garlic scapes
3 heads of baby Pak Choy

We were supposed to get cherries and a dozen eggs through our fruit and egg shares last week but didn’t. Hopefully they’ll make up for that later in the season. We also ordered two quarts of Pequea Valley Farms Yogurt- plain and strawberry through the buying club, and now that it’s summer we can pick up our meat order from Meadow Run at the same site as our Red Earth Farm pickup in Roxborough instead of driving to Mt. Airy to get it.

To make room for the new vegetables I made Zucchini Fritters with a side of snap peas for dinner the other night. The zucchini fritters are a summer favorite since they don’t heat up the kitchen too much. The snap pea recipe is one I modified from the recipe I submitted to the June/July issue of Grid Magazine. I substituted green garlic for the green onions.

Zucchini-Bacon Fritters

1 medium zucchini, grated (Red Earth Farm)
2 spring onions, chopped, including 1-inch of the green parts (Red Earth Farm)
Six slices thick cut bacon (Meadow Run Farm)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg, slightly beaten (Meadow Run Farm)
1 and 1/2 tbs. maple syrup
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

Use a kitchen towel to squeeze as much of the moisture out of the zucchini as you can.

Pan fry, or cook the bacon in the microwave between paper towels to soak up grease, for about five minutes or until crisp.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Crumble the bacon into the mixing bowl adding the other ingredients. Mix to combine. Mixture will not seem like it will hold together, but it will. I forgot to drain the zucchini and the mix was very wet, but it still worked.

Heat a non-stick skillet on medium heat, sprayed with cooking spray. (Or use the pan that you fried the bacon in.) Spoon batter into the skillet about a tablespoon at a time for small fritters. Flatten slightly to cook. Cook each batch about 2 minutes per side, til golden and cooked through. Makes about 10 small fritters or 6-8 medium. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

Sugar Snap Peas with Bacon and Green Garlic

4 slices thick cut bacon (Meadow Run Farm)
2-3 spring garlic, chopped small (Red Earth Farm)
1 pint sugar snap peas (Red Earth Farm)
1/4 cup cold water
Salt and pepper

Brown bacon in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel. Crumble when cool. Remove all but a tablespoon of drippings from the pan, add garlic and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add sugar snap peas and water to the pan, lower heat to medium low, cover and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover and cook off most of the remaining liquid. Stir in crumbled bacon and remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Indian Valley Farmers’ Market Opens in One Week!

The Indian Valley Farmers’ Market will open at the Telford Train Station on Penn and Main Streets on Saturday, July 4 at 8:30am for the 2009 season. 

Rumor has it that this year, we can expect the best selection of vendors ever featured at the market!  Locally grown fruits and vegetables, locally produced wine and locally roasted coffee will all be available, making it a great place to start weekend grocery shopping.  Additionally, each week, the volunteers of the market’s Promotions Committee have special events planned, the first of which will be on July 11, the 2009 Field To Table Food Festival:

“The purpose of the Field to Table Festival is to help promote the Indian Valley Farmers’ Market, Pennsylvania agriculture, local businesses and service organizations as well as to have a fun day with our families.  In addition to the Farmers’ Market, we will have exhibits from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 4-H, the Searching for “Berried” Treasure Contest, music, menu samples from local restaurants and activities for children.”

Keep an eye on their website for all upcoming events:  http://www.ivfm.org/ See you July 4!

CSA Report: Dancing Hen Farms Week Three

I want to be raving about my farm share this week, but instead, I just feel sort of disappointed by it. Looking at the picture, you might thing it looks lovely, but each week, I’ve noticed that the portions of veg are getting smaller. The farmers at Dancing Hen have been very upfront in their weekly newsletters, admitting that they’ve had a tough season, including burnt down greenhouses and health problems and I feel for them, I really do. And yet, I can’t help but be a little bummed by the shares I’ve gotten so far (it might be that I’ve just spent too much time looking at Mikaela’s shares from Blooming Glen Farm).

That said, there’s still some good stuff there. I’m delighted by the garlic scapes and I love both kale and swiss chard, so those are easy for me to use. The lemon basil is amazingly fragrant and I am more than ready for the onslaught of summer squash. I haven’t used my beets from last week either, so I’m going to combine the two weeks of beets for a quick pickle. And the salad greens always disappear quickly.

Here’s hoping that Dancing Hen shakes off their spell of bad luck and finds their groove soon!

Green Pea and Pecorino Custard

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Green peas have been plentiful this rainy, early summer. Looking for a classy first-course recipe, I adapted the Green Peas and Parmesan Custard from Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian to make it bit lighter, but still full of flavor. A good quality pecorino will make all the difference!

Green Pea and Pecorino Custard
serves 6

1 1/2 cups shelled fresh green peas
1 1/2 cups milk or rice milk
1/2 cup grated pecorino
3 local, organic eggs
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint (from your garden, if you have it)
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300F, and a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Combine the peas, pecorino and milk in a small food processor and pulse until the mixture is primarily smooth.

2. Place the eggs, mint and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined. Slowly add the milk mixture while whisking to blend. Pour the mixture into 6 small ramekins (about 4 ounces each).

3. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and pour in the boiling water to surround the ramekins withing 1/2 inch of the ramekin tops. Bake until the custard is almost completely solid - 45 minutes to one hour. Cool slightly, and garnish with fresh peas and pecorino shavings. Can be served warm, cold, or at room temperature.