Market News - August 26, 2008
Our sympathy to Faye Omasta from Hickory Dell Farm whose mom died this past weekend.
Thanks to Terri and Roger Chapdelaine and Jan and George Cartier who have recently become “Friends of the Farmers’ Market.” We certainly appreciate their support.
Our support comes from vendors’ fees, the Forest Park Civic Association, Concerned Citizens for Springfield, United Bank, TDBanknorth at the X, and individual contributions. With this money we advertise, have food demonstrations, buy insurance, make a contribution to Trinity Church for our space, pay my stipend, purchase supplies when needed, and as of next week, provide the wireless transfer machine so that we can accept EBT, debit and credit cards. It’s a joint effort to have a successful farmers’ market.
Congratulations to Red Fire Farm who won several awards in the tomato judging contest in Boston two weeks ago. First in the cherry tomato division, and other awards also.
I made the recipe that I put in the crate last week for breaded goat cheese served with marinara sauce. My friends did everything but lick their plates. Use the goat cheese with herbs instead of the plain. I also used Faye’s roasted tomato sauce that I made last year and froze. Delicious!
Recipes—all using produce from the market
Vegetable Party Latke (pancake)1 # shredded peeled baking potatoes
4 oz. shredded peeled sweet potato
4 oz. shredded zucchini
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
½ medium onion, shredded
½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground black pepper
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 T. olive oil, divided
Preheat oven to 350. Combine the first 10 ingredients in a large bowl. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add potato mixture. Press mixture into an even layer in bottom of pan; cook 10 minutes or until golden brown. Place a large plate upside down on top of pan and invert onto plate. Add 1 T olive oil to pan. Slide latke, uncooked-side down into pan; wrap skillet handle with foil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut latke into 8 wedges.
Cooking Light, December 2004
Chilled Cream of Green Tomato Soup
1 ½ cups sliced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 T olive oil
1 ¼ #s green tomatoes (about 5) cored and cut into large pieces
a ½ # boiling potato
2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. dried thyme
1 cup heavy cream
1/8th tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
Cook the onion and the garlic in the oil over moderately low heat in a pot, stirring occasionally until they are softened. Add the tomatoes, potato, peeled and cut into small pieces, the broth, sugar, thyme and 1 ½ cups water. Bring to a boil. Boil covered, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes. Cool. In a blender puree the mixture in batches, transferring it to a large bowl as it is pureed. Stir in the cream, cayenne and salt to taste. Chill the soup, covered, until it is cold. Makes about 9 cups, serving 6-8.
Gourmet, August 1989
Roasted Tomato Tart
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (from a 17 ¼ oz. package)
2# plum tomatoes-about 8 large, halved lengthwise
2 T plus 2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3 tsp. Chopped fresh thyme
½ cup Parmesan shavings plus additional for garnish.
Put oven racks in middle and lower third of oven and preheat to 400. Line a large shallow baking pan with foil.
Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 11” square (1/8” thick) Using a plat or pot lid as a guide, cut out a 10” round. Carefully transfer round to an ungreased baking sheet. Chill round on baking sheet until ready to use. Toss tomatoes with 2T olive oil, 2 tsp. thyme, ¼ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper in a bowl until well coated. Roast tomatoes, cut sides up and in 1 layer in foil lined baking pan in middle of oven 1 hour. Brush pastry round with oil then sprinkle with 1 tsp. thyme. After roasting tomatoes 1 hour, move tomatoes in pan to lower third of oven and put pastry on baking sheet on middle rack. Bake pastry and tomatoes until pastry is golden brown and edges of tomatoes are slightly browned but still appear juicy, about 15 minutes. While pastry is still warm, scatter ½ cup cheese shavings evenly over it. Top shavings with warm tomatoes, cut sides down and in 1 layer, then sprinkle evenly with remaining thyme, salt & pepper to taste and additional cheese shavings if desired.
Gourmet, July 2006
This ‘n’ That
You can freeze peaches easily. Boil a pot of water, put the peaches in for a very short while, remove and place in ice water, then when cool enough to handle, slip the skins off. Then rip or cut apart and freeze either with or without sugar. If you put them into sturdy plastic bags you can freeze them flat. Then you have native peaches to make cobblers, etc. with in the winter.
Please don’t squeeze the peaches; they’re tender & they bruise easily.
There should still be blueberries to pick farther north, so check out buylocalfood.com and look up where to go.
If you have a favorite recipe, please share it and I’ll print it for others to enjoy.
Our Asian vegetable farmer has lost too much of his crop to continue coming to our market. One of his friends was going to come to us, but so far he doesn’t have enough to bring either. The weather has been harsh for farmers this summer.
We WILL have the credit/debit/EBT machine in place for next week.
Take down your tag sale signs please, or rip down ones that have been ignored.
Don’t hesitate to tell merchants that you want them to clean up their property if it’s messy. Don’t let them take your business for granted.
Buy local. Local businesses invest in their communities. Patronize locally owned restaurants also. Encourage them to come to the farmers’ market.
