Archive for July, 2009

Good morning, everyone! 

Does anyone else feel full to overflowing?  The garden is bursting forth with produce, weeds and invaders at a rate that is, sometimes, daunting for this part-time gardener.   Juicy summer events are happening everywhere one looks, friends moving, friends passing through, celebrations of every sort.  Summer and sun and ripe blueberries and sunburn and cold lemonade and the smell of bar b q and vacation time…and and and…summer is the time of lots of “ands” but this morning, I smelled it:  Autumn.  Harvest.  The point where the fecundity of the summer meets the turning of the Wheel.  The time to celebrate all of our bounty.

Columbia Farmers’ Market, Sustainable Farms and Communities, the Pavilion Project AND many local restaurants and entertainers will be celebrating the best that this time has to offer at

THE TASTE OF THE MARKET

Check it out: http://www.farmersmarketpavilion.org/tasteofthemarket.html

Mark your calendar!

August 1, 2009 6 pm!!!

 

- The best local foods transformed into culinary masterpieces by the best local chefs!

 

- Music by Ironweed and Northwoods

http://www.ironweedbluegrassband.com/

http://thenorthwoodsmusic.com/fr_index.cfm

 

- Wine and beer sampling

- Children’s Activities

- And an outdoor movie on a big screen!

 

All for only $5!! Kids 12 and under FREE!

 

We look forward to seeing you there.  (If you are interested in volunteering, please reply to this email!)

 

News from the market:

 

Peaches are still available on Monday and Wednesday, as well as Saturday.

Sweet Corn is available on Wednesday and Saturday.

The featured product at this Saturday’s market is BLACKBERRIES!  Other produce on hand this week will include cantaloupe, green pepper, okra, green beans, potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet onions, tomatoes and so much more.  GYRO MEAT, lamb, pork, ORGANIC beef, buffalo, goat cheese, fresh TROUT, honey, eggs, various types of mushrooms, chocolate, granola bars,  FRESH PASTA,  pecans and baked goods will all also be available for your dining pleasure. LIME PICKLES are back!

Also find herbs, cut flowers, bedding plants, hanging baskets and patio pots, for eye and nose nourishment.

Entertainment this week is Columbia Housing Authority Youth Choir, a real treat! AND the always enjoyable MERE MORTALS.

 

For more information on what is happening at the market, check out http://www.columbiafarmersmarket.org/

 

News of our World, large and small…

WHAT?  Columbia Farmer Market only has 139 votes?

 I can’t believe only 139 love you the Columbia Farmers’ Market!  Please visit http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/search/?state=MO to vote for the Columbia Farmers’ Market.  Help us win $5000 toward the good of the market!

 

Urban Hen Website – links available to survey and petition!  http://columbiaurbanhens.wordpress.com/

 

Food, Inc., the new documentary exposé on the perils of America’s industrialized food industry, opens at Ragtag Cinema (10 Hitt St. Columbia, MO 65203) on Friday, July 24.  For showtimes (posted each Monday) and ticket information, please visit Ragtag Cinema’s website at http://www.ragtagfilm.com

 

Former volunteer of the Information Café honored as the Very Best in Youth – http://verybestinyouth.nestleusa.com/Winners/Bio-Detail.aspx?Winner=2765f299-01fa-444a-ba2a-e432a6c4f57b

 

And interesting reading and listening…

Hog Farm Lawsuit settled for $1.1 million, near Kansas City http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1334390.html

And more on the subject…Loathe Thy Neighbor?  http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2009/07/factory-farm.html

Does Gardening Make for Better Sex? http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/does-gardening-make-for-better-sex/

And more on the topic…The Good Sex Diet – interview with Ellen Barnard http://staff.hummingbirddistribution.com/kathleenshow/interviews/Ellen_Barnard2.mp3

 

And for those who love the recipes, please check out this very lovely New York Times link about salads, salads, salads!!  (We tried the blueberry/carrot/sunflower seed…and it was absolutely lovely.)  Thanks, Jim, for the link and the delicious dinner!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?_r=2&em

 

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.

Victoria

Info Cafe Outreach Coordinator

http://www.farmersmarketpavilion.org/

 To get these regular newsletters by email, please contact us at informationcafe@gmail.com

Good morning, everyone! 

What a preciously lovely day out there!  This is my idea of perfection…

The big news of this week is CORN at the Wednesday, July 1^st market  TODAY starting at 4 p.m. AND at the Saturday, July 4^th market starting at 8 a.m.!  Show up early!

News from the market:

Do YOU LOVE your Columbia Farmers’ Market?  Would you like to see an easy $5000 go toward the Pavilion Project and related events and projects?  Check out http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket , put in Missouri, then search by “C” for Columbia, choose Columbia Farmers’ Market.  You can vote anonymously but you must list your name, email and zip code.  Also you will be asked to tell WHY you support Columbia Farmers’ Market so POUR IT ON!!!

 The featured product at this Saturday’s market is PEACHES.  (see recipes below for Savory Stone Fruit Salads)

 Other produce on hand this week will include CHERRIES, green beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, Swiss chard, beets, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, sweet onions, broccoli, new potatoes, yellow potatoes and CORN!!   Spicy lamb sausage and other lamb products, pork, organic beef, buffalo, goat cheese, fresh trout, honey, eggs, PASTA, various types of mushrooms, chocolate, granola bars, pecans and baked goods will all also be available for your dining pleasure. PLANTS PLANTS PLANTS and CUT FLOWERS are also available.

Entertainment this week will be the toe-tapping Curreykorn Family Band. 

July 18^th – CORNFEST

July 28^th – Crepe cooking demonstration.

August 1^st – 2^nd Annual TASTE OF THE COLUMBIA FARMERS’ MARKET

 News of our World, large and small…

 Urban farming movement “like a revolution” http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/06/29/bia.urban.farming/index.html

What is HR2749?  Here is one point of view – http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum996.php

Do you know about yard sharing???  Find out more at http://hyperlocavore.ning.com/

Check out one woman’s adventure with “Cooking Away my CSA” http://flourgrrrl.blogspot.com/

(and thank you Leslie Conn for the great link suggestions this week!)

 

 

This week’s recipes below come from our friends on the West Coast at the San Francisco Chronicle.  Hope you enjoy!

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.

Victoria

Info Cafe Outreach Coordinator

http://www.farmersmarketpavilion.org/

 

Savory Stone Fruit Salads

By Olivia Wu, former Chronicle Staff Writer

You can woo a woman in many ways. Jeremy Fox, former chef de cuisine of Manresa in Los Gatos and now executive chef of Ubuntu restaurant in Napa, did it with a panzanella that contained honey-sweet grilled peaches.

“I made it for Deanie’s family the first time I went over there to cook,” says Fox, who is the chef at Ubuntu, the vegetable-focused restaurant in downtown Napa.

So there he was, cooking for Deanie’s father, mother, grandparents and brothers and sisters at their home in Sunnyvale. No pressure, right?

Fox created the recipe shortly after he and Deanie Hickox met in the kitchen of Rubicon in San Francisco. She was working in the pastry department; he was a new arrival from Atlanta. He still remembers the menu that day six years ago — squash blossoms stuffed with chard stems, a chicken galantine, boned and stuffed with green garlic, and the grilled peach panzanella.

The recipe worked. He got the girl (they are married), and now, “Every time I visit, they want me to make this dish.”

Using stone fruits in a savory context comes easily to Fox. He creates dishes such as Green Bean & Santa Rosa Plum Salad, and Roasted Chioggia Beets with Nectarine Juices for Ubuntu’s small-plates menu.

Stone fruits are eminently versatile, he says. “You can eat them raw or grilled. Those grilled things are really good with a little bit of sea salt to counteract the sweetness and tartness.” And now, at the height of the stone fruit season, you can’t get enough of them.

Fox should know about peaches. He grew up in Georgia. “I remember the peach blossoms in spring all around Atlanta.” His grandmother and aunts would drive from fruit stand to fruit stand, looking for the ripest stone fruits.

“It was a big deal if they found a new stand for riper peaches. They would go to one stand for plums, another for peaches, and they would drive an extra 15 miles to get to another stand,” he says.

His grandmother would simply eat the peaches and plums fresh. Occasionally she would turn a bumper crop into jams and conserves.

He, however, was more of a fast food fiend through high school — until he went to Johnson and Wales Culinary School (then in Charleston, South Carolina). When he graduated and returned to Atlanta, he worked under an ingredient-driven chef who would have the kitchen staff stay late at night pitting fresh cherries after dinner service.

What still gets him about a peach is “the whole package — the sweetness, acidity, texture, the juiciness of it, the appearance inside that’s not like outside, and the difference in the color, near the center,” he says.

How to select:If you expect to enjoy peaches or nectarines within a day or two, look for fruit that gives slightly when gently pressed and give off a pleasingly sweet aroma. If you are purchasing fruit to eat later in the week, look for fruit that is firm to the touch; it will ripen within three to four days. Choose plums that are firm but not too hard.

How to store: If your kitchen is cool (between 50 and 77 degrees), keep peaches and nectarines stem-end down on the kitchen counter. They will ripen at the higher end of that temperature range; once ripe keep at the cooler part of the temperature range but avoid refrigeration, which causes mushiness. Plums can be refrigerated for several days.

Grilled Peach Panzanella

This is the dish that chef Jeremy Fox used to court Deanie Fox’s family. For gardeners who grow many basils, Fox suggests, “The more varieties the better.” The Acme Bakery herb slab is an important part of this recipe specified by chef Fox. In a pinch, another herb bread may be used.

INGREDIENTS:

4 peaches, halved and pitted

1/2 loaf Acme Bakery herb slab, halved lengthwise

About 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt to taste

1 shallot, minced (root end reserved)

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

2 to 3 tablespoons minced basil

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 bunch arugula

1 large ball fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch dice

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare grill. Lightly brush peaches and bread with about 1/3 of the olive oil and season with sea salt. Over a light to medium fire, grill peaches and bread. Look for peaches to loosen from their skins, about 30 minutes. Remove the bread as soon as it is just toasted, about 3 minutes per side. Rub the reserved root end of the shallot on warm bread.

Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and allow to cool slightly. Cut 4 of the peach halves into 1/2-inch pieces. Mince the other 4 halves quite finely.

Pour remaining olive oil into a large salad bowl; add minced shallot, vinegar, basil and fine chopped peaches. Stir to form a vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with arugula, bread, peaches and mozzarella. Serve family style.

Serves 6-8

PER SERVING: 290 calories, 7 g protein, 21 g carbohydrate, 20 g fat (5 g saturated), 17 mg cholesterol, 201 mg sodium, 2 g fiber.

 

Green Bean & Santa Rosa Plum Salad

Chef Jeremy Fox plays with the salty-sweet-acid dynamics of plums and pesto.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound green beans, trimmed

5 Santa Rosa plums

Parsley Pesto:

1 clove garlic

Sea salt to taste

15 Marcona almonds, toasted and lightly salted + plus additional, chopped for garnish

1/2 cup parsley leaves

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 ounce Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, half grated fine + more shaved for garnish

1 lemon, zest and juice, to taste

Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS: Blanch beans in boiling water until just tender, then remove and plunge them into ice water. Drain and set aside.

Slice plums 1/8 thick and arrange on individual plates with slightly overlapping slices, carpaccio style, on 4 individual serving plates.

For the parsley pesto: Using a mortar and pestle, crush garlic with a touch of salt. Add almonds and crush. Add parsley and olive oil and pulverize. Fold in cheese. Season with salt to taste. Alternatively, you may do this in a food processor.

Toss green beans in 3/4 of the pesto, lemon juice and salt. Spoon dollops of the remaining pesto on the plums. Arrange beans in a pile over the plums. Top with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano, chopped almonds, lemon zest and cracked black pepper.

Serves 4

PER SERVING: 270 calories, 6 g protein, 22 g carbohydrate, 19 g fat (3 g saturated), 5 mg cholesterol, 120 mg sodium, 6 g fiber.

 

Roasted Chioggia Beets with Nectarine Juices & Marjoram

If you can find baby Chioggia beets and nectarines at the same time, this is a sublime dish. Chef Jeremy Fox likes it served warm.   (note from Victoria – anyone know what Chioggia beets are?)

INGREDIENTS:

20 baby Chioggia beets, washed

2 nectarines

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

8 ounces fresh squeezed orange juice, or as needed

4 to 6 sprigs fresh marjoram, leaves stripped and stems reserved

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Marjoram leaves, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In an 8-by-8-inch ovenproof dish, place whole beets, whole nectarines, olive oil, orange juice, 4 ounces water, marjoram stems and salt, making sure that the liquid goes halfway up the beets. Add more orange juice and water if necessary. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake until beets and nectarines are tender, 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove beets while still warm, saving roasting juices.

Peel beets, slice in half lengthwise and place in medium bowl, and toss with champagne vinegar. Set aside.

Discard marjoram stems. Pit nectarines. In a blender or food processor, place nectarines and roasting juices. Blend until smooth. Strain through a sieve. Place warm beets on a serving plate, top with warm nectarine puree and season with salt and pepper. Scatter with 1 teaspoon of marjoram leaves.

Serves 4

PER SERVING: 210 calories, 3 g protein, 27 g carbohydrate, 11 g fat (2 g saturated), 0 cholesterol, 234 mg sodium, 4 g fiber.