Grapevine July 30 Market

in this issue

--What's coming to the Market this week?
--Vendor News
--Upcoming Events
--Recipe - Grilled Vegetables

What's coming to the Market this week?

Raspberries and marionberries are pretty much over for the season. The heat and intense sun cut several weeks off the season. There will be Chester and Triple Crown blackberries though. Blueberries should be readily available as should selva strawberries. Cherry season is winding down but there should still be a decent supply. Peaches, plums and nectarines will be available and the first Gravenstein apples will be coming this weekend. Cantalopes including Charentais melons can be found at the market this weekend too.

Pole beans are coming in right now, including Fortex and Kentucky Wonder Wax. Summer squashes of all colors and shapes are coming in now too. Tomatoes will be in good supply with the varieties increasing each week. Salad greens, garlic, shallots, cabbage, kale, chard, radishes, carrots, beets and potatoes are just a few of the other vegetables you'll find this weekend. Check the availability list more information.

Vendor News

Baker & Spice, Cuisine Mentor, Vanveen Bulb, Vibrant Flavors, Salubrious, Sundance Lavender, Little Pots and Pans and Souper Natural are all back this week. After a few weeks out of th market, Stephens Farm returns this week. De Paula Chocolate and Tastebud is off this week but will be back next week.

Upcoming Events

Taste the Harvest August 13
Sample the best of the mid-summer harvest at the Market. Samples of everything from apples to zucchini will be available. Try something new!

Recipe - Grilled Vegetables

Summertime for most of us means outdoor cooking. You can't walk down a residential street without smelling something cooking on a grill. At this point in the summer, there are a lot of vegetables that can be easily prepared on the grill.

Kebabs are an easy way to grill vegetables. Summer squashes and zucchini, asian eggplant, onions and peppers work well. Cut the eggplant and squashes into 1/2 inch thick slices. Cut the peppers and onions into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Starting with the squashes, toss in a large bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper, then thread horizontally onto skewers. Repeat with each vegetable, adding oil as needed in bowl to coat the vegetables. (Keeping the vegetables separate will insure that everything cooks evenly.)

Once the skewers are prepared place them on an oiled grill over medium heat. Grill for 5-10
minutes, turning over once. The vegetables should be lightly browned and tender. When done, remove vegetables from the skewers and place on a platter. Drizzle a little olive oil and basalmic vinegar over the vegetables. You can serve the vegetables warm or at room temperature.

Notes: If you are using wooden skewers, soak them for 20-30 minutes before using.
Medium heat means you can hold your hand about 5 inches above the grill for 5 seconds before it gets too hot.

Grapevine July 23 2006 Market

in this issue
-- What's coming to the Market this week?
-- Cool Salads for Hot Summer Days

It's definitely hot enough for all of us this weekend. We'll have all the canopies and umbrellas out and lots of cold water too. This weekend is the last weekend to donate books to the Hillsdale Alliance book sale. Drop off your books with the Alliance volunteers at the Capitol Highway entrance to the market.

Several vendors are off this week: Cuisine Mentor, Vanveen Bulb, Vibrant Flavors, Salubrious, Sundance Lavender, Oregon Wild Salmon, Little Pots and Pans, and Souper Natural. All will be back next week. Cherry Country will be here for just this weekend with their certified organic Royal Ann Cherries. See you on Sunday!

What's coming to the Market this week?
This weekend's high heat will have its influence on a number of crops this week. The berry supply will be the first to suffer. According to Anthony Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm, photosynthesis shuts down above 80 degrees and ripening slows down. Another problem is damage from ultraviolet(uv) radiation. Moisture in the air normally dissipates the UV radiation but the high temperatures dry out the air. Most berry farmers will be watering from dawn to dinner in order to limit the UV damage.

Other fruit like apricots, peaches and nectarines should be OK. Cherries should be fine too. Apples and melons are a little ways off though there may be Gravensteins next week.

The high temperatures will slow down the vegetables too with lettuce and other leafy greens being the crops most affected by the heat. Still, you should find plenty of vegetables including carrots, beets, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes and cabbage. Check the availability list for details.

Availability List

Cool Salads for Hot Summer Days
Let's face it. When the temperatures get into the high 90s, no one wants to cook. Fortunately, you have a lot of no-cook options with the summer harvest, all of them quick and simple. Here are a few.

Greek Salad
Chop a few tomatoes. Combine in a bowl with sliced cucumbers, red onion, black olives and feta. Add olive oil and chopped fresh oregano or marjoram.

Peach-Arugula Salad
Wash and trim one bunch of arugula. Cut a peach in half and cut into thin slices. Cut 1/2 of a small sweet onion or red into thin slices. Combine 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon balsamicvinegar in a large bowl. Add the other ingredients, toss, salt to taste and serve.

Note: Feta cheese makes a nice addition to this salad. You can also substitute a nectarine for the peach or use a combination of the two.

Grapevine July 16 Market

in this issue
--What's coming to the Market this week?
--Berries

After a rare, rainy July day on Wednesday, we should have nice weather this weekend. If you're in the mood to make jam, you'll have plenty of berries to choose from plus a lot of other good food. There will be a wide variety of perennials and bulbs to choose from too. It really isn't too late to plant.

The Smokery, Little Pots and Pans, Blossom Vinegar and Vibrant Flavors are all back at the market this week. De Paula Chocolate will be back next week. Stephens Farm will be back on July 30th. Don't forget, the Hillsdale Alliance is collecting books for its book sale for the next two weeks. Just bring your books to the Capitol Highway entrance of the market. See you on Sunday!

What's coming to the Market this week?
Berries and cherries top the fruit list this week. Expect to find blueberries, black, red and purple raspberries, marionberries, loganberries and boysenberries. There may be some strawberries around but not much. As for cherries, you should find a good selection including Bing, Chelan, Stella and Royal Anns. Peaches and apricots will be in good supply too.

As for vegetables, tomatoes will be much more plentiful. Lettuce and other greens will be in good supply as will green beans, onions, carrots, fresh herbs, summer squash and zucchini. Check the availability list for details.

Availability list

Berries
If you love berries, Oregon is the place to be in July. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, marionberries, olallieberries, loganberries are some of the berries you'll find at
the market this month. Here's an easy recipe from the Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission that uses a variety of berries.

Very Berry Cobbler

5 cups berries (any combination of raspberries, blackberries, sliced strawberries, blueberries,
boysenberries or olallieberries)
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon flour
optional splash of kirsch or lemon juice

Dough:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a 10 to 12 inch glass pie plate (or 2 quart baking dish), mix together the berries, sugar, flour and the kirsch or lemon juice, if using. Bake the berries in the oven for 30 minutes, stirring once during baking. After 30 minutes, remove the berries from the oven and make the biscuits.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and sugar. Cut the butter into the mixture either with a food processor, a mixer or by hand (Tip: try using the large holes of a cheese grater, it works well) the butter should be the size of corn kernels. Stir in the buttermilk just until the dry mixture is thoroughly moistened. With a big soup spoon, drop six large mounds of the dough over the fruit in various places. Brush with egg wash, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes.

Grapevine July 9 2006 Market

in this issue
--What's coming to the Market this week?
--HBPA Pancake Breakfast
--Tomatoes

Despite the cool weather in the middle of the week, it looks like the summer sun and temperatures will return this weekend. There is a lot going on this weekend. Ron Fowler will be playing at the market. We also have the Neighborhood Emergency Teams in SW Portland at the market explaining their role in emergency situations.

One major downside of a successful market vendor is having demand exceed supply. Dave's Killer Bread and Pastrami King both have to pull out of the market for now. We will miss them and wish them well.

In other vendor news, Flamingo Ridge Farm returns to the market this week with their Oregon Star Tomatoes and other summer vegetables. Cuisine Mentor, Little Pots and Pans, The Smokery and Vibrant Flavors are off this week. DePaula Chocolates and Freddy Guy Filberts will be at the market this week. See you on Sunday!

What's coming to the Market this week?

Tree fruit such as cherries, apricots and peaches should be readily available this week. Raspberries in multiple colors (red, purple, black, white) should be in good supply too. The supply of strawberry varieties such as Hood and Totem are winding down but the everbearing variety Selva should be coming in soon. Blueberries, marionberries, loganberries, boysenberries and currants will be readily available.

As for vegetables, tomatoes are coming in now. Cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, lettuce,
potatoes, snap (edible pod) peas, beets, arugula, basil, parsley and cilantro are some of the other items coming in this week. Check the availability list for a farm by farm product list.

Availability list

HBPA Pancake Breakfast
The Hillsdale Business and Professional Association (HBPA) will be holding its 30th Annual Pancake Breakfast on Sunday July 30th in the Casa Colima Parking Lot, 6319 SW Capitol Hwy (across the street from Baker and Spice). The breakfast runs from 8:30AM-Noon.

The Hillsdale Alliance is holding a used book sale in conjunction with the breakfast. The book fair will run from 8:30AM-2PM. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund community building activities and establish a community foundation. Alliance volunteers will be at the market collecting books at the SW Capitol Hwy entrance of the market until July 23rd.

Tomatoes
Tomatoes are a great summer vegetable. Raw, grilled, roasted or cooked there are so many possible ways to prepare them. Tomatoes are often associated with Italy, Spain and France but along with potatoes are actually a New World vegetable. Many recipes call for peeling and seeding tomatoes. Here's how you do it. Set a pot of water to boil. Cut an X into the bottom of the tomatoes. Once the water is boiling drop the tomatoes into the water for about 30 seconds. Remove the tomatoes, drop into ice cold water to cool. Starting at the X, peel the tomatoes. The skin should come off easily.( If not, drop back in the boiling water for 10-20 seconds.) After peeling, cut the tomatoes in half, scoop or squeeze out the seeds. Below are two quick summer recipes using tomatoes.

Tomato concasse
Pasta with tomato sauce is a meal we often associate with Italian food. Tomato concasse (concasse is a chopped mix) is a quick sauce option. It's basically chopped tomato with salt and
pepper. Starting with peeled and seeded tomatoes (see above) chop as fine as you want and add salt and pepper(and basil if you want). Cook your favorite pasta, top with the concasse and serve.

Gazpacho
Gazpacho is a popular cold summer soup from Spain. There are many variations. Below is a pretty simple one.

1 medium cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 medium red onion, peeled
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled
3 medium tomatoes, peeled and seeded
3-4 tablespoons sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

Place the vegetables inf a large food processor. Process at high for 1 minute until you have achieved a smooth sauce-like texture. Add the salt, pepper and vinegar. Pulse to incorporate.
While the processor is running, open the feeder top and drizzle in the oil. Chill soup until ready to serve.