Local Seasonal Eats

Sweet Peppers - Photo:Chad

I went to the Dane County Farmer’s Market this week, excited to get home and start the pickles I had been planning on doing since Wednesday.  I knew it would be just me this week, and that our garden was starting to produce some good-looking produce, so I kept it rather light.  I was excited to see the peppers and, knowing mine wouldn’t be ready for a few more weeks, decided to give them a try.  It was also cool to see the Door County cherries and apricots in the stands.  I thought I would continue the weeks intentions of “making the most of” summers bounty, by drying them for easy snacking.

Saturday afternoon was to be a whirlwind of prepping and preserving, so I took a quick jaunt down State St. for Maxwell St. days, and called it a day.

Here’s what I ended up with.

• Prairie Farm Produce – Broccoli and Lettuce
• Palm Mushrooms Cellar – Baby Bella Mushrooms
• Peterson Produce – Multi-Color Sweet Peppers
• Sutter Ridge Farm – Garlic
• Canopy Farm – Grape Tomatoes
• Door County Fruit Market – Apricots
• Grassy Way Organics – Beef Hotdogs

In the next post I’ll tell you about the pickling process and how that went.

Garlic Scapes Photo:Lindsay

Westside Community Market.  Today we went to the west side community market since we were on a bit of a time crunch.  Chad and I got up later (since we got home a little late last night) and were out there around 10:30am.  A lot of the vendors were starting to pack up, but we were able to snag the following:

• Vanilla Yogurt from Sugar River Dairy
• Lemon Dill Pasta from RP’s
• Tomatoes and Dried Beans from Flyte Farm
• Yellow Onions and a Cucumber from JenEhr Farm
• Goat’s Milk Feta from Dream Farm
• Tuscan Dream and Onion Havarti Cheeses from Edelweiss
• Garlic Scapes from Primrose Farm
• Leeks from County Line Plants
• Beef Chuck Roast and Chicken Wings from Jordandal
• Green Onions from Vang Family Farm

We plan on making some pizza this week along with a latin dish with the beef.  We’ll also give the chicken wings a try!

Asparagus and Beet Panzanella Photo:Chad

As we continue to develop this blog, we’re trying to figure out the best way to communicate our story and our project while also being able to balance the amount of time needed to make all of the updates and posts.  As such, I’m going to try to limit the number of individual meal and recipe posts in favor of more unified ‘what we made this week’ type posts.  Additionally, I’ll be directing you to the blog or site where we got a recipe, unless it’s a family recipe, or something not available elsewhere online.

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Now onto this weeks post.  I finished off the end of a travel week for Lindsay with a modification of a recipe for panzanella I had seen on In Jennie’s Kitchen the same day I read about the rhubarb and strawberry jam.

Her recommendation for making a “bread salad” intrigued me.  The skeptic in me said, this is just a salad with homemade croutons, and warm asparagus.  This is both somewhat true and completely false.

Yes, if you were to make this same salad in a somewhat different order the croutons would stay mostly crisp, and the addition of the warm asparagus would just be a pleasant, if somewhat different, take.  However, tossing the crisp bread cubes with the dressing and other ingredients, and then letting the bread soak up some of the flavor makes this dish both comfortable and unique.

I added roasted beets and raw beet greens to mine and served it with a baked piece of salmon from the local fishmonger that I had marinated in a garlic and dill paste.

The meal was perfect in its complexity of both texture and taste, with the sweet salmon balanced with the fragrant dill and garlic.  While maybe better suited to a meal of it’s own, the salad was tasty and unique.  The beets and greens adding that unique flavor that I can only assume people who really love them understand.  I can’t say that I disliked my addition of the beets, but next time will try it as Jennie intended.

Cayenne and Garlic Linguini with Spicy Cilantro Pesto Photo:Lindsay

On Friday we wanted to see what a “processed” meal from the Farmer’s market might look like.  The convenience items you can get at the farmer’s market have very little in common with those mass-produced, artificial ingredient filled items that the modern grocery store is full of.  Obviously, simplicity is something we need in our lives, and having a few ingredients in your kitchen that can be thrown together to make a full meal is both satisfying and comforting.  Knowing that these ingredients are made locally and from local ingredients, and also contributing to the local economy all make the meal even more enjoyable.

We used a package of RP’s Cayenne and Garlic linguini and after preparing it as directed (4 min.), tossed it with some thawed Spicy Cilantro pesto from Renaissance Farm, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes from Don’s Produce and a small handful each of Butler Farm’s Feta and shredded parmesan.  While boiling the pasta I threw a couple slices of the garlic bread in the toasted oven and whipped up a quick farmer’s market salad.  In less than 15 minutes we had a deliciously spicy pasta dinner made from local ingredients and products.  This is what eating local is all about.

Snap Peas Photo:Chad

The dramatic changes I saw at Wednesday’s Dane County farmer’s market really demonstrated how rapidly the food season changes around here.  Where only a few weeks ago spinach, greens, and asparagus were covering most of the tables, this week it was all about the strawberries and snap peas.

Of course, you could still find a vendor selling greens, asparagus, and spinach – you just had to really look.  Which was exactly what I did.  You see, I was on a mission to find and preserve some asparagus, since the season is coming to an end.

I found the process for raw pack canning this low-acid vegetable in the Bell Blue Book.  I’ve learned that because of its low acidity, it needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 240 degrees, which a traditional boil cannot accomplish.  This means I get to play with a borrowed pressure cooker.

As for other things market related, I saw my first beets of the season, and seeing as I’ve always disliked them, I forced myself to buy some.  By doing this, I have to make something I’ll enjoy, and hopefully in the process can change my opinion about these bright red roots.

Here’s a list of what I ended up with:

• Salad mix – Prairie Farm Produce
• Beets – Deforest Family Garden
• Sweet Peas & Radishes – Mcfarland Family Farm
• Whole Chicken – Pecatonica Valley Farm
• Dill – Lee Family Garden
• Potatoes – Heck’s Market
• Asparagus – Lost Lake Acres
• Beef Tips & Greens – Green Barn Farm Market
• Strawberries – Sue Vang Farm
• Cucumbers & Tomatoes – Don’s Produce

As an interesting side note, Summit Credit Union was doing a community service / marketing effort during the market giving people $10 if they promised to “Pay it Forward”.  A few friends and I took them up on their offer.  Stay tuned to find out what we did.

Asian Beef Salad Photo:Lindsay

On Thursday night, having just had the beef roast the night before, we wanted to try to use some of it up, so we made an Asian salad with roast beef, cherry tomatoes from Canopy Farm, Australe lettuce from Snug Haven, salad mix from Black Earth Valley, and spicy Asian radishes and sugar snap peas from Roots Down Farm. We made an Asian-style sesame dressing which accompanied it, but since the dressing wasn’t very good, we’re not going to share it with the masses.  We’ll have to come up with a better sesame dressing for next time.

Beef and Dill Potato Pasty Photo:Lindsay

Then, on Saturday, we decided to use up the rest of the beef by making and freezing some individually sized Cornish pasties.  We wanted to use the dill we had gotten at last week’s farmer’s market since it was going a bit limp in our refrigerator, so we started scouring the internet to find a recipe that would include the beef, potatoes, and our quickly diminishing dill.  There really wasn’t a recipe that satisfied him, so we kind-of mashed a bunch of them together to make these Dill Potato and Leftover Beef Roast Pasties.

If you’re not familiar with pasties, they’re traditionally a little dry, so you’ll want to eat them with some sort of sauce.  Lindsay prefers ketchup, but Chad likes his with Sriracha sauce. Also, if you’re in the mood for a history lesson, the origins of the Cornish pasty are also quite interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty.

Our pasties came out crispy, but firm enough you could eat with just your hands, like you’re supposed to.  The dill was subtle, but present, and the beef stayed tender, even through it’s second cooking.  We’ve already reheated a few of these and will look forward to pulling them out of the freezer for a quick meal.

Strawberries Photo:Lindsay

We returned to the Saturday Dane County Farmer’s Market on the square after what had seemed like a very long time.  Of course, the weather was pleasant, and our continuing attempt to arrive early enough to avoid some of the crowds failed miserably.

Right away, something on one of the tables caught my eye.  There were strawberries, ripe strawberries!  We picked up two quarts, and went on our way, buzzing about dessert ideas and plans of sweet summer salads.  Although not generally available till the first or second week of June, these early berries are great.

With a roast still waiting to be cooked, and a few other meats in the freezer, we focused primarily on veggies. The exception being the last two ingredients we needed to make a batch of French onion soup: Gruyere cheese and a French baguette.  In a world of a thousand cheese curd vendors, finding a local cheese vendor with Gruyere, was harder than expected.  But in the end we succeeded.  Here’s this week’s bounty:

Lindsay told me about a Thursday market she heard about in Fitchburg, so I think I’ll be checking that out this week. Have any experience at the Fitchburg market?  Tell us about it.

Tomato Seedling Photo:Lindsay

Lindsay’s employer has always been supportive of local agriculture, allowing the farmer who it purchased its land from to continue farming on the unused portions, serving produce from local CSAs in it’s cafeteria, and offering a modest community garden.

This year, they expanded the garden to allow anyone who was interested to have a plot.  We found some coworkers who were interested in helping, (to share in the bounty) and set off to grow some tasty produce.

I convinced my grandmother to start our seedlings with the ones she would be growing for her garden this year.  So when the garden opened for planting on Friday, I got a delivery from her: three varieties of tomato, two kinds of cucumber, leeks, zucchini, eggplant, jalapenos, green peppers, lettuce, cantaloupe, and kohlrabi.  I also went out and picked up some hearty onion sets, green bean seeds, and a squash.

Oh, did I mention the plot was 10 foot square?  For some reason, I guess my eagerness to garden distorted my perception of dimensions.

We walked down to the garden with more than enough produce for 3 plots.  In fact I ended up giving some away to another gardener and still left without planting the cantaloupe, kohlrabi, beans, and with quite a few seedlings of the other plants.

Luckily, we found out the garden ended up having a few unused plots, and were able to pick one up and trade it with the neighboring plot we had planted.   We’ll be going out today to plant that one and check on the damage caused by the hurricane heavy rain we had Monday night.  Here’s hoping the flooding on the site was minimal, and that the roots had some time to grab on to something before the waters came.

Combined with our porch garden, I’m hoping for quite the bounty this summer.

Jumbo Leeks Photo:Chad

So I’ve been to the Saturday and Wednesday Dane Country Farmer’s Market, the Saturday Westside Community Market, and Saturday Hilldale Farmers Market, which made my next obvious choice the Wednesday Hilldale Farmers Market.

I set off to the market around lunchtime and found the market to be similar in both number of vendors and customers as their Saturday market.  There was a great coffee van, providing both a cool aesthetic and delicious coffee to the shoppers.  Even live music was there again during the week.  I just needed a few things so I picked up:

• Radishes and Lettuce greens – Thor Farm
• Brown Eggs – Hammerand Farm
• Leeks – Happy Valley Farm
• Cucumbers and Tomatoes – Don’s Produce

I had no intentions for these ingredients until I saw an America’s Test Kitchen recipe for butterflied Chicken with Leek and Mushroom stuffing.  I’ll be rehydrating morels for this and using the liquids in the stuffing… Stay tuned!

Pork Chop and Sides Photo:Chad

I ended up being surprisingly busy last week, and didn’t get to post some of the simple meals I put together while Lindsay was out of town.  So here’s a couple of the hits of last week that I cooked up for myself.

I wanted to use the sorrel I had picked up, but didn’t feel like doing anything too fancy, so adding it to some mashed potatoes sounded like a reasonable option.  The meal ended up being a pan-fried pork chop, steamed spinach with sauteed garlic, and a side of sorrel mashed potatoes.  This meal featured pork chops from Pecatonica Farms, spinach from Prairie Farm Produce, garlic from Country Line, and sorrel from Cook with Herbs.  The potatoes ended up having a unique flavor.  I would call it almost sour, but not in a bad way.  The steamed spinach was flavorless, and I vow to go back to my traditional method of cooking it up in oil, even if it isn’t as healthy.

Carmelized Onion Pizza Photo:Lindsay

Friday, Lindsay rubbed in that she would be having some great sushi for dinner (third time that trip), so as a form of childish revenge, I decided to make a kitchen sink pizza, which just happens to be one of her favorite meals. I started with the frozen pizza dough from last time, topped it with a “sauce” of caramelized onions, leeks, and garlic.  Then I added sliced orange tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, blue cheese, and pepperoni.  I used onions from Black Earth Valley, leeks and garlic from Country Line, Orange Tomatoes from Don’s Produce, mozzarella from Crave Brothers, blue cheese from Hook’s, and even the Pepperoni was “local” coming from Patrick Cudahy Deli from Cudahy, WI.

I made this pizza in the oven on the new pizza stone, instead of on the grill.  Except for being a little “wet” from the high-moisture mozzarella, it was amazing.  I even saved a few slices for Lindsay.

Bok Choi Photo:Lindsay

After visiting the Saturday Hilldale Farmer’s Market 2 weeks ago, I got a great recommendation from Nichole over at Madison A to Z.  After reading about my disappointment regarding the lack of coffee the week prior, she suggested the nearby Westside Community Market, where there was FREE coffee.

With the new knowledge of another biking distance market, and this one with free coffee, I was sold.

While we had planned on trying to get over there early, Lindsay’s flight didn’t come in until very late Friday night.  Letting her sleep in, we didn’t get to the market ’til almost noon, missing the free coffee by almost an hour (it’s available until 11, or whenever it runs out).

The farmers and vendors still had plenty of goods available, and much like the Hilldale market, the reduced crowd made for a very pleasant experience and plenty of time to talk to each seller.  We saw some familiar names from both the downtown and Hilldale markets, as well as some new ones.  Here’s what we ended up with:

• Red Onions – Ka Vang Garden
• Pork shoulder and Beef Soup Bone – Jordandal Farms
• Bok Choi – Primrose Community Farm
• Country Sourdough – Madison Sourdough
• Tomatoes – Flyte Family Farm
• Yogurt  - Sugar River Dairy

In addition to picking up our week’s goods, I also got to talk with one of the market’s board members about the history of the market.

As Lindsay and I found out, the Westside Community Market, sometimes mistakenly called the Hill Farms Market, was started back in 2005 when a group of longtime Hilldale Vendors decided they wanted to move locations in response to the new location set out for them at Hilldale.  The vendors established a board made up of member-vendors, and set guidelines mimicking the rules of the Dane County Farmers Market.  This limits the vendors to selling only goods they produce or grow.

The market is car, biker, and pedestrian friendly, with plenty of free parking available.

Overall, we really enjoyed the market and all the great vendors we got to talk to. We’ll definitely go back to the WCM again – but this time I’d make sure to go early enough to score some of that free coffee!