Market Finds- A Purist's Week

Most of you probably feel the same way I do in the summer. I love farmers markets. We even visit them while on vacation if we can find one. Could it be appealing because one can walk amongst natures bounty, memorial's welcoming of summer, possibly meeting a neighbor, or a reason to meet friends out and about? Live music, or not plays while you sit and nibble on a few things you purchased. Enjoying it with a loved one like your children can be educational.

I find that once I see what is available my mind begins to reel with ideas for the weeks meals for hubby and I. My creative kitchen juices begin to flow like coffee houses to the student. The draw back is...seasonal choices might be limited, and it all ends around Labor Day. For years now I have been fascinated with purist's I have met while on my own market quest. My own mother (until cheap can good era hit big time) would feed their families for a whole seven days, and with minimal fuzzy science projects making into the trash. The Saturday morning visit to the butcher for a whole hen, and ground beef would also complete her meager purchases for the week.

I remember we would come home from the Dallas Farmers Market with more than a full basket. The ones they used to collect bushels of peaches, or apples. I believe you could either have them, or purchase them for your return visits. Once home we would sit on the kitchen floor, or out on the porch; then we were instructed to shuck corn, snap peas, and eat a peach or two to hold back the hunger before lunch. Back then of course there were miles of farmers and farms lined up across rural America. No matter how much we want those days back, we have to make due with what is offered.

(Local figs that went into a cobbler...)























Lately you may come home with only a few things due to a lack of vendors and farms in your area. From my experience rules do vary in the markets. Our neighborhood market board committee did only allow the actual farmers living in the area to rent space, and there are less than a dozen of them. Which seems only fair, but the public may find such puny offerings of no interest when they can go to a larger grocer and get everything all at once. Ready made foods have not been allowed in the past, like breakfast, and that could be a great draw. If farm yields are low and you happen to come late morning you might find little or no choices from your favorite vendors.

Between the two in our area you are almost always guaranteed to see tomatoes, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, sweet corn, and some kind of fruit or two, or three. Some of the farmers experiment with crops and I have even found leeks. We have one that opens on Saturday, and one on Sunday, so there are more choices. Local artists could add a flair, and increase traffic to the farmers; allowing them to increase sales, and their farms would continue to thrive without a for sale sign being seen off the local routes.

With my work schedule over the years and not having a Saturdays off, hubby has been the one who would go out to the local farmers markets. He loves the local Griggs Town Farm Poussin, and the odd mystery ingredients he finds now and then. As of late my schedule has allowed me to return to the summer market, and I am enjoying it. Non-produce related item shopping has also reduced greatly over the past months in my house. Not because we need to cut back financially, but because I wanted to add a little something extra to my challenge.

August through September do allow for extra abundance as far as produce yields, but can you feed a family the whole week? I had to try the purist way of life.

(Local organic heirloom tomatoes...sorry bad photo, but too late we ate them!)



















Buying local can be a challenge without supplementing fruits and vegetables from our regular grocery stores, but I managed to cook the whole week with fruits, vegetables, and meats we bought between the two markets. I baked bread, made my own pasta, and even some refreshing limeade drinks.

(Local zucchini that were stuffed, and then stuffed us...)




















I am doing a wine and dinner pairing this Saturday for sixteen, and we intentionally hit Philadelphia this past week so we could visit the Italian Market off 9th and Washington for some choice ingredients (like Wild Game). We made a weekend of it with our friends, Bob and Adrienne. Of course its not all local, organic, or even a purist's paradise, but there are plenty of artisan foods made on the spot. I wanted to see if we could keep up the purist's momentum for my Pinot Noir event, and our own weeks menu.

This would be fun if someone else could do this and let me know how it worked for you...

Farmers Market Roasted Vegetable Medley Salad

2 beets, cleaned and quartered (skins scrubbed well, and left on)
6 small potatoes, cleaned and quartered
1 fennel bulb, cleaned and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 onion, medium slice
1 bunch string beans
1 bunch of wild garlic
fresh chopped herbs of choice

Olive Oil drizzled, and toss
Salt/Pepper to taste

Roast for about 40 minutes, or until vegetables are fork tender. Remove and let cool. Add 2 tablespoons lemon dill vinegar (or vinegar of choice), and place on top of fresh spinach salad.

(Local Sekel Pears that will go into a recipe soon...)

One pear, two pear, and the last pair...

I have been really busy and behind this week, since my van went missing. I am posting this for the weekend, and it is not one of my favorite photo shoots of my food lately, but they were really tasty...

Buying a bag of mixed pears consisting of Basc, Red, and Anjou sounded like a great inspirational idea a few weeks ago; we ate a few in between my 'Caramelized Pear Blondies', and now I found myself with only two pears left. Since Mothers Day I have thought about my mom's ability to bake from scratch on a whim's notice, so I decided to give it another go...
















After thinking about what I could do, and idea came to me. Make a gluten-free dough, and fill it like Rugala (Rugalach). Cream cheese was added to the dough recipe, and I was not sure if it would hold up to a heavy filling- I cut the filling recipe in half.

Combine pecans, pear, brown sugar and cinnamon in mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease baking sheets. Spread each circle of dough with some jam, or I used some pear caramel mixture I had left over from my Blondie recipe. Divide filling among circles, spreading evenly. Cut each into 12 wedges, and begin rolling.

Arrange on prepared sheets, point side down. Bake until golden, about 16-17 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. Cut into pieces, and store in airtight container.

My friend who is Jewish, Gen tried them and said they were great, but they needed more filling. Then they would resemble the true cookie she grew up with.

I saved some dough and made Parmesan bread sticks...
















Photography lessons still proceed, but I will have the 'expert' by my side...Donna Kay in a few weeks in Texas...with tutorials in photo shop on my new lap top I just got for my birthday...

Go over and check out our 'Friday Shoot Out' posts; this weeks theme was 'Red'...

Fiddle-sticks, no...

Fiddlehead Ferns~ Last year I missed these little babies when they hit the market, and we did not have them dining out either. Hubby remembered a restaurant named 'Fiddleheads' a few towns east of us always has special menus during the month of May to June that include them, but we missed it for some reason. Seeing them at a smaller market that does not carry such specialty items I was surprised. I starting scooping up as many as I could.

My friend Gen who was with me when, wanted to split these, some dill and other ingredients for a recipe; then I explained to her how to prepare them. This is what I came up with... Fiddlehead Fern Pasta Salad. She told me they enjoyed them, and it was her first time to eat them.

EVO for sauté
1/4 to 1/2 pound cleaned Fiddlehead Ferns
1 sliced pear, soak in lemon water to keep from turning
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, small chop
1 teaspoon paprika
salt/pepper to taste

2 cups pasta, cooked
4 small red bliss, small chop, cooked
2-3 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Soak in hot water first and then sauté in a EVO/butter mixture, along with onions, pear, garlic, paprika, salt/pepper to taste, and after about 20 minutes. I removed from heat and placed the lid to seal in steam for another five minutes. Once fully cooked, I tossed them in some chopped dill and Dijon mustard. I boiled some small pieces of red bliss potatoes, and added macaroni to the water, and when potatoes are done remove from heat and let sit to finish the cooking process; then drain well after you see the pasta has increased in size. Toss both together and serve.
















HISTORY: Fiddleheads are a world wide spring delicacy now, and run about six dollars a pound at the market. They appear on menus and in markets about three weeks in May. What exactly are these deep green, coiled vegetables, though? Fiddleheads are actually young fern fronds that have not yet opened up. They must be picked during a two-week window before the fern unfurls. You can find many recipes for preparing them. Like many things out there; there are no law or rules in the culinary world that say we can not make something our own, as I did with my 'Spaetzle' post. Only creative license, and that is one thing in life that is definitely free!
















Fiddleheads (mine were confirmed 'Fiddleheads' brought in from Maine) are named for their appearance, which resembles the scroll at the head or top of a fiddle. The ostrich fern is the species that produces these edible shoots; which have a unique texture. I have read that they taste like asparagus or okra. To me they have their own unique flavor.

I have read that Fiddleheads can be consumed raw or cooked, but they also say remember to keep them refrigerated until you are ready to cook them. Try steaming them for ten minutes until they become soft, as others say giving them a twenty minute hot soak, and then cooking them once again to remove any toxins.

There have been no tests that I found online or in books proving them to be poisonous, but they must be picked before they unfurl. Some cases of food poisoning have been associated with eating under cooked Fiddleheads, so be cautious when preparing them. Because process times have not been established for home-preserved Fiddleheads; it is not recommended to pressure canning as a method to preserve Fiddleheads. These are popular in Asia,
















The container of Fiddlehead Fern Sauté was even better the next day as lunch!

Turns out these babies are hand harvested, pesticide free, and all natural greens...so, go look for your self @ Norcliff Farms, who provided my grocer with them this year... Whole Foods here in Princeton gets there in from Oregon...

An Unlikely & Wacky Pear

I was reflecting on my mother, and being a mom this past Mother's Day. I thought about how she would just fly off the chair or sofa, or even the front porch as I was a child and go totally into a baking mode. She was well known in our neighborhood, school, family and extended family as the 'Primo Bakeress'. Queen of flour, eggs, and sugar. She could turn a pan of biscuit dough into a work of art. Savory or Sweet, depending upon what you, or her were in the mood for.

We would stand at the stove and watch her magic in action. Sometimes you might end up wearing some flour if she felt whimsical enough. You could not lift a finger to help, as it was her art. Her way of relaxing and forgetting her whoa. My mother passed away years ago, but I think about her often, as we all do in this instance. My mother was a quiet, but artistic soul. Just watching her and my fathers mother for years behind the stove taught me so much.

Mom this one is for you, as we were an unlikely and wacky pair...
















I felt as though she was whispering in my ear "Go ahead Elizabeth, bake something sweet with those pears you have on the counter. You can do it." So I decided to honor her memory by gathering my mise, but I had no eggs. For once I had cream (we do not drink milk), and I only use it for cooking sauces and such. I had brown rice flour, rising agents, brown sugar, and some powder sugar I use for icing. Almonds in the freezer, and that big bag of mixed pears. Okay let's see if I can be as creative as my mom used to be...

I remembered that if you bake with no eggs you must add vinegar to the mixture so it will be moist and help it rise. I substituted butter for oil, and cooked at a low temperature like it said on recipe card, so I guess that might have something to do with helping the process? Here is the old recipe and history of the egg'less cake...

I have this old recipe (from mammaw) called Wacky Cake, and there are no eggs. The story behind the cake (she wrote); during WW2, eggs were scarce so someone came up with this idea, and the WACS (women in the army) used to make this, hence the name Wacky Cake, (I honestly don't know how true the story is, but if anyone has heard this the let us know...). My grandfathers parents had a farm, but it was too far from Ft. Worth for my grandmother to travel to pick up fresh eggs daily.
















Wacky Cake (Caramelized Pear Gooey Blondie)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup water (I replaced it with heavy cream)

3 tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa (I left this out, since I was making a pear topping)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon vinegar

5 tablespoons oil (I used clarified butter)

1 cup cold water In a large mixing bowl mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Put into 8 x 8 pan, and make 3 wells in the mix, in one well add the vanilla, in another add the vinegar, and in the 3rd add the oil. Pour the water all over, and mix well.

Now what I did was turn the oven to 190 degrees, and baked it for 25 minutes; then turning up the stove to 325 degrees, and baked it for another 20 minutes or so. They will rise, and still look uncooked, but when you put a toothpick in them, it comes out clean. My theory is that when I baked them a bit more they became gooey and brownie like, and tasted like heaven!

I cut up pears and caramelized them in 1 cup water, 1 cup powder sugar; let boil for three or four minutes, and then turn down heat; add 3 tablespoons of red wine, pears and almond pieces; cook until just barely drips off spoon (see this is not my forte). Plate and top with pear mixtures.

Voila! Caramelized Gooey Pear Blondie, and it was the perfect gooey and pear texture!