Category Archives: farmers markets

buy fresh, buy local, cook deliciously

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Sundays invariably become a cooking day for me. I often get things lined up for the week ahead. Today I made another batch of fresh Gazpacho and put a small beef roast and chicken breasts into marinades for cooking over the next couple of days.

I toss the meat and chicken into their own (as in individual) ziplock bags with either a homemade or semi-homemade marinade which includes fresh herbs out of my garden, garlic cloves peeled and sliced.

Marinades are easy. There are tons of recipes out there, or you can use a prepared one and tweak it. I like Stubb’s marinades and Pete’s Produce has their own line of marinades too which are very good, and KC Masterpiece has a couple which aren’t bad. I seem unable to use these marinades on their own, I tweak them to what I want. I never add more salt, but I might add herbs, spices, lemon juice, lime juice, fresh ginger, and so on.

We buy our meat and poultry from a local Chester County butcher who in turn buys from a lot of local farms. We use Worrell’s Butcher Shop on King Street in Malvern (Borough). You can’t beat the quality, and truthfully their prices are competitive with supermarket chains. If you have never tried them, you should. They will prepare custom freezer orders for customers too.

Since I have moved to Chester County I have made an effort to source our food locally. I love the East Goshen Farmers Market and West Chester Growers Market, but am becoming increasingly fond of Pete’s Produce on 926 because they pull in from a bunch of local farms, including for dairy products. Also on my list is Sugartown Strawberries and Strattons’ Wynnorr Farm. Also to be included in the rave category is the Phoenixville Farmers Market.

The locavore movement is continuing to grow in this country and there is more than a little truth in local food is better on so many levels. In Chester County we are lucky to have so many farms and farmers markets, so why not support the local farm economy?

Buy fresh, buy local, cook deliciously.

Thanks for stopping by!

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fresh pasta sauce with eggplant and mini meatballs

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1 can chopped Italian tomatoes – 35 ounces

2 chopped fine large fresh tomatoes

1 6 ounce can of tomato paste

1 eggplant peeled and diced (if you use a traditional deep purple eggplant, choose a medium-size one)

1 large onion diced

1/2 head of garlic diced

fresh herbs to taste – basil and oregano and parsley

2 small hot peppers, diced. Mine are from the garden, and are cayenne peppers. This is not a recipe for jalapeno peppers. I would say little fresh cayenne, which are skinny red hot peppers. My hot peppers were maybe an inch and a half each, if that. So if you have one hot pepper and it is about 2 inches long, you’re good with that.

Salt-and-pepper to taste

1 bell pepper diced preferably any color but green

Toss into a crock pot on high for 3 hours and switch to low for 3 or 4 hours and stir once an hour and be gentle especially when you add the meatballs.

Put the lid slightly askew the last hour to hour and a half that you cook so the sauce cooks down properly. I put a splatter screen for a frying pan on top of the open cooking sauce and put the lid on top of that slightly askew.

Here is how you make the mini meatballs:

The mini meatballs consist of a pound and a half good ground beef , a half cup of breadcrumbs, a few dashes of milk, and one egg, four garlic cloves minced, two shallots minced, a third of an onion minced, tons of fresh herbs minced (parsley, oregano, basil).

Mix all the meat together and form into tiny meatballs a little over an inch in diameter.

Roast in a preheated 350° oven on a baking pan that has an edge (like an industrial baking or jellyroll pan) to catch any extra grease that might run off on parchment paper for about 35 minutes.

Allow meatballs to cool about 15 minutes on plates lined with paper towel to catch any extra grease, then toss into the crockpot and continue cooking.

You can serve the sauce over whole-wheat pasta, or mini ravioli. We used whole-wheat penne last evening. We dusted the top of each plate with shaved fresh Parmesan.

Enjoy!

summer luncheon

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Today I had a very dear friend over for lunch whom I hadn’t seen in forever. One of my favorite people, she is actually a mom of one of my friends. (And I love that my friend will share her on occasion!)

I wanted to do something special so I had a lot of fun playing with Depression Glass today for my table setting. I have collected this stuff over the years at church sales and flea markets and the Smithfield Barn. The cute napkin rings are a bit of vintage fun and came from Garage Sale Chic Chester County which is now part of Home Eclective in Downingtown.)

Anyway I wanted to make a ladies who luncheon kind of lunch, so I did. I started with Kendall’s Gazpacho, and also served my twist on chicken salad and a new potato salad in a mustardy dressing.

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And yes….approximate recipes are right here:

Chicken Salad with a Twist

Boil 3 bone in chicken breasts in water and sea salt. ( when cooled, I put the broth in small containers and freeze for later use).

When chicken is cooked, allow to cool. Remove skin and bones from breasts and discard. Next chop up the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Then, chop fine: 1 medium sized or small red onion, 3 stalks of celery hearts, fresh herbs (I used dill, tarragon, basil, Italian flat leaf parsley.)

In a bowl whisk together mayonnaise to taste, olive oil, red wine vinegar, a couple dashes of Garam Masala, salt and pepper. Also add a tablespoon of orange marmalade with any peel minced fine. (For me this was easy because my friend Sara had given me homemade orange marmalade that is not dense so I was able to spoon out a tablespoon of the jelly without the peel. The olive oil and wine vinegar is not so much, about 3 tablespoons each and maybe 1/2 cup of mayonnaise. Whisk together.

Combine all in a bowl and toss in a 1/2 cup of black or white seedless raisins. Mix and chill.

 

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Roasted Potato Salad

Roast 1 1/3 pounds of small or new potatoes in a 400 degree oven with 1 head of garlic whole but topped (drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste) for about 30 minutes give or take a few minutes.

You only want potatoes cooked and firm, not super crunchy and overly brown. I picked potatoes large enough to slice in half, did not peel them, and cooked them in a flat baking pan lined with parchment.

Meanwhile cook 4 oz of pepper coated bacon and crumble.(They have this amazing bacon at Pete’s Produce in Westtown that I used.)

Dice three stalks of celery heart stalks, 3 shallots, and one cucumber peeled and seeded. (Some people are cucumber sensitive so I have taken to scooping out the seeds as some have told me they like that better.)

Chop fine a bunch of fresh herbs- I used tarragon, chives, basil, dill, and Italian flat leaf parsley.

In a small bowl put half of the cloves on the head of roasted garlic minced, grainy mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a little mayonnaise. Whisk it together and add a little salt and pepper to taste.

Combine everything, toss, and refrigerate.

 

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pete’s produce

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I had never been to Pete’s Produce on 926 until today…no wonder that place practically has a cult following! Amazing!
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marinated green bean salad

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This salad couldn’t be more simple to make! It is my own recipe, and it is inspired in part by the spicy green beans you can order hot at my friends the Foos’ restaurant called HuNan in Ardmore, PA.

I had bought a quart size container of fresh green beans at the farmers market. I blanched them in a couple of inches of boiling and salted water so they were still crisp, yet had a pleasing bright green color. When I am blanching vegetables like fresh green or string beans, I not only dunk them in cold water to cool, I put them in a bowl of ice after I finish cooking as well.

I put my beans aside in their own bowl (drained and de-ice cubed) and took another bowl out to prepare the dressing:

– first I minced fine a long hot pepper from my own garden. I believe it is a cayenne pepper it’s a little over an inch and a half long. I allowed some of the seeds to get into the bowl but a lot of them I removed.

– next I chopped fine a third of a good sized sweet onion

– step number three is to finely minced two cloves of fresh garlic

– step number four was grating the four small, young carrots that my friend Elizabeth gave me out of her vegetable garden. I ended up with about three quarters of a cup of grated carrots.

To these vegetables I added equal parts seasoned rice wine vinegar I purchased at a local Asian market, regular red wine vinegar, juice of one fresh lemon, and a few tablespoons of olive oil. To that I added some fresh salt-and-pepper and whisked together. It is not a lot of liquid in the salad dressing, we are talking a few tablespoons of each liquid ingredient. The idea is to coat the vegetables not immerse them completely in liquid.

Next I tossed everything together with the beans and put in the refrigerator to chill. Because I’m working with fresh garlic and onion here, I use a bowl with a lid that seals.

What you have in the end, is a very nice summer salad of fresh vegetables that many people have in their garden this time of year, or can purchase from a local farmers market!

Kept refrigerated, the salad will last few days.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by today!

summer salad x 2 = delicious

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I purchased some amazing produce at the West Chester Growers Market yesterday. So I decided to share with you some simple summer recipes to turn farm fresh veggies into delicious salads that were inspired by what I purchased and by the herbs growing in my garden.

Before I begin I am going to add a footnote about the parking. Last year, the lot adjacent to the market was open for parking. This year a lot of the spaces are marked off reserved….and are always empty. I don’t know whose parking lot that is adjacent to the public lot which the market sits upon but it would be nice if the Borough of West Chester maybe helped a bit more in the parking cooperativeness on Saturday mornings? After all, this market brings people to town every week.

Anyway, at the market I found the most beautiful red and yellow beets that were small and firm. I also found terrific young onions (sometimes known as spring onions) , and fresh cucumbers.

These ingredients have made two summer salads: old fashioned cucumber salad and mixed beet salad.

Mixed Beet Salad

2 bunches of smaller sized fresh beets
(Trim the tops and root ends off the beets after washing any dirt off the beet. Roast them at 350 degrees in a foil packet on a baking pan. All you do is salt and pepper the whole beets and sprinkle with olive oil. The beets take 30- 40 minutes to roast.)

1 red onion or large red spring onion chopped small

1 clove garlic minced fine

Dill (fresh), salt, pepper

4 tablespoons of olive oil

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar

After beets are roasted and cooled, peel them. Slice into thin, uniform slices. Add the onion and rest of ingredients and toss and chill.

Cucumber Salad

2 Cucumbers peeled and sliced thin

2 teaspoons of white sugar

Salt, pepper, fresh dill

1 red onion or large red spring onion chopped fine

7 or 8 tablespoons red wine vinegar

After you peel and slice the cucumbers dress with salt to taste and sprinkle the sugar over them. Toss.

Add the onion and dill to taste, add salt only if you think you need more and crack some fresh pepper over everything. Toss and chill.

Both of these recipes can be increased proportionately. Keep refrigerated and these salads are good for a few days.

Enjoy!

june field, chester county

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This field is just so beautiful and lush.  There is no substitute for natural beauty like this.

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no one here but us chickens….

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(Sorry, I couldn’t resist)

chickens

simple summer suppers

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When the wether gets warm I like things like simple and fresh pasta salads for supper. So that’s what I’m having this evening and it couldn’t have been easier to make.

I got some beautiful vegetables at the Thornbury Farm CSA Saturday including what I like to call lollipop, or large spring onions and fresh snap peas. I already had some beautiful bright sweet bell peppers in the refrigerator at home and a lot of herbs in my garden and some celery.

All I did was cook a bag of regular frozen cheese tortellini, boil up a couple boneless skinless chicken breasts, steamed my snap peas, chopped up the other vegetables, and tossed together with a honey-herb-mustard vinaigrette that I made. The main herb in the vinaigrette (which also had garlic and a shallot in it ) was fresh dill, but I also to the salad added chopped fresh fennel tops, fresh flat leaf Italian parsley, and basil.

Summer dinners are meant to be easy!

couscous tabouli-style

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Remarkably I couldn’t find tabbouleh (tabouli) at my local grocery store. Near East used to sell it and they had every other Near East product except that. I decided to improvise and work with the plain couscous I had in the cupboard.

Basically I just made the recipe the same way:

One and a half cups of dry couscous

Two cups boiling water

Salt for the water

Put the couscous in a bowl that can stand hot water – like a mixing bowl.

Pour the salted boiling water over the couscous and cover with plastic wrap. A few minutes later the couscous will have absorbed the water and you can fluff it with a fork.

Put it aside to cool to room temperature.

When the couscous is room temperature take another mixing bowl. To that second bowl add:

5 tablespoons of olive oil
3 lemons, juiced – fresh squeezed only
Lemon zest of one lemon
Garlic powder, salt, fresh ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar

Whisk this salad dressing of a fashion together and into it add one sweet onion, medium-sized, diced.

Next add four medium to large tomatoes finely chopped, and two bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley chopped fine. Next toss this together and add to the couscous which is cooled.

Give it a taste to see if the seasoning needs any adjustment and cover-up and keep chilled until ready to serve. This salad is good for about two days- but it has to be kept refrigerated.

Enjoy!