Grapevine July 1 2007 Market

this week
-What's Coming To The Market This Week?
-Cooking Ideas - Frikeh Salad

We've a fun-filled market coming up this week. Josh Kadish will be hosting his monthly Market Jam this Sunday. The Hillsdale Alliance will again be collecting books for its summer book sale fundraiser on July 29th. Just bring your books to the Alliance volunteers at the SW Capitol Hwy entrance of the market. Last but not least, celebrate the 4th and berry season with a Red, White and Blueberry Sundae.

See you at the Market!

Eamon Molloy
Market Manager

What's Coming To The Market This Week?
Blueberries showed up in small quantities last weekend. There will be a lot more available this week. Raspberries, cherries and strawberries will be in good supply too. Apricots will be available this weekend which means that peaches won't be too far behind.

New potatoes have been showing up at the market for a few weeks and will be in good supply this weekend. New sweet onions, snow peas, sugarpod peas, spinach and a wide variety of lettuces will be readily available. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, chard and kohlrabi should be in good supply as well. Green beans For the complete list of who's coming this weekend check the availability list.

IN
Ancient Heritage Dairy
Blossom Vinegar
Deep Roots Farm
Flamingo Ridge
Gee Creek Farm
Sundance Lavender

OUT
Ancient Heritage Dairy (back next week)
Cherry Country (back July 15)
Little Pots and Pans (back July 15)
City of Roses Delicacies
Rose City Pepperheads

Cooking Ideas - Frikeh Salad
Ayers Creek Farm first started bringing frikeh and gruenkern in 2004. Norm Goldstein, our old newsletter editor, wrote a nice piece on frikeh which you can read here. Frikeh's smoky flavor works well with meats and vegetables. The recipe below is a variation on tabbouli. You can serve it as is or you can add feta cheese. Enjoy!

Frikeh Salad

Salad
4 cups cooked frikeh
6 medium tomatoes, diced
1 medium cucumber, diced
4 scallions, finely sliced
1 cup chopped parsley
1 1/4 cup chopped mint

Dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, crushed
freshly ground pepper
salt to taste


In a large bowl, combine frikeh, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions, capsicum, parsley and mint. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and add to the salad. Mix thoroughly and let stand for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to integrate. Serve in a salad bowl as a side dish at a barbecue, with grilled fish or cold meats.


Cooking note: Cooking frikeh is pretty simple. The ratio of uncooked frikeh to water is 1:2. Just put water and frikeh into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover the pan and lower the heat. Let the frikeh simmer for 30-40 minutes until nearly all the liquid is gone.

Grapevine June 24 2007 Market

this week
- What's Coming To The Market This Week?
- Cooking Ideas - Quelites

Summer is officially here. The temperature is warmer but we haven't quite shaken off the occasional rainstorm. Despite a shower or two, the summer produce is coming in. Cherries, strawberries, and raspberries are just a few of the items you'll find this weekend.

With summer comes a few Hillsdale musical favorites. A longtime performer at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market, Greg Clarke, will be playing this weekend. The Hillsdale Alliance starts collecting books for its summer book sale fundraiser on July 29th. Bring your books to the Alliance volunteers at the SW Capitol Hwy entrance of the market.

See you Sunday!

Eamon Molloy
Market Manager

What's Coming To The Market This Week?
Raspberries will be in good supply this weekend as will cherries and strawberries (Hoods and Totems). It's a little early for blueberries but a few farms did have a few available at the mid-week markets.

New potatoes have been showing up at the market for a few weeks and will be in good supply this weekend. Snow peas, sugarpod peas, spinach and a wide variety of lettuces will be readily available. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, chard and kohlrabi should be in good supply as well. For the complete list of who's coming this weekend check the availability list.

IN
Ayers Creek Farm
Little Pots and Pans
Rose City Delicacies
Salubrious
Zbeanz (back next week)

OUT
Ancient Heritage Dairy (back next week)
Blossom Vinegar
Cherry Country (back July 15)
Deep Roots Farm (back next week)

Cooking Ideas - Quelites
The word "quelites" in Mexico traditionally refers to uncultivated wild greens. Sometimes called wild spinach, quelites can be an assortment of greens including amaranth, lamb's quarters, spinach, radish greens and pigweed. Like many recipes, the one below is more of a guideline. You can easily substitute other spring greens for a bag of quelites. Feel free to spice up the recipe with a dried hot pepper. Enjoy!


Quelites
1 pound quelites (or any mixture of greens)
1-2 tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
3 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 to 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and stir for a minute or two. Add scallions, tomatoes, salt, pepper and cumin. Raise heat to medium-high and sauté until tomatoes are juice and tender but not soft, about 2 minutes.

Add quelites. Mix evenly with tomato mixture. Stir greens constantly until they barely wilt, a minute or two. Remove from heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Taste and add more vinegar and pepper if needed. Serve hot.

Grapevine June 17 2007 Market

this week
- What's Coming To The Market This Week?
- Cooking Ideas - Freezing Berries

If it's Father's Day then it must be time for chocolate covered strawberries at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market. A tradition at the market, we'll be handing out chocolate covered strawberries this Sunday. So come on down, enjoy a few berries and the best food the Northwest has to offer.

See you on Sunday!

Eamon Molloy
Market Manager

What's Coming To The Market This Week?
Cherries are here. You'll find Chelans and Brooks this weekend. If you like to make your own jam or freeze strawberries for mid-winter smoothies then this is the weekend for you. Strawberries (Hoods and Totems) are readily available. Raspberries showed up at the market last week. It's still a little early for raspberries but you should find some this weekend too.

Asparagus season is winding down but you should find some this Sunday. Snow peas, sugarpod peas, spinach and lettuce will be readily available. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, chard and kohlrabi should be in good supply as well. For the complete list of who's coming this weekend check the availability list.

IN
Ancient Heritage Dairy
Blossom Vinegar
Rick Steffen Farm

OUT
Cherry Country (back July 1)
Little Pots and Pans (back next week)
Packer Orchard/Market Fruit (back next week)
Rose City Delicacies (back next week)
Zbeanz (back next week)
*UPDATE* Salubrious is out this week but will be back next week*

Cooking Ideas - Freezing Berries
June may seem an odd time to think about winter. Yet wasn't there a time in January that you really wanted to taste Hood strawberries or Triple Crown blackberries or marionberries? Making your own jam or preserves is one way. Freezing is another way to save summer fruit for winter eating.

First, wash, hull and halve the berries. At this point, you could simply stick the berries in freezer bags and place in your freezer. But there is a good chance that the fruit will suffer freeze damage and pick up other flavors from the freezer. Packing the fruit in a sugar syrup will protect the color and flavor of the berries. To make sugar syrup pack, heat 4 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

To freeze with syrup pack, spoon two cups of prepared strawberries into a one quart zipper lock freezer bag. Add 1 1/4 cups of syrup. Seal, removing as much air as possible. Freeze until solid.

If you're interested in freezing and other food preservation methods, visit Oregon State University Extension Service's Food Preservation Publication Page.

Grapevine June 10 2007 Market

- What's Coming To The Market This Week?
- Cooking Ideas - Zucchini Pancakes

Last week was one busy market session. I think everyone who wanted strawberries got them last week. There will be plenty of strawberries this week too. Weather permitting, we may see some cherries at the market this Sunday too.

George Wolff will be performing this Sunday. There is a chance of showers this Sunday but we'll have canopies and umbrellas up so you can listen to the 2007 Oregon High School classical guitar winner.

See you Sunday!

Eamon Molloy
Market Manager

What's Coming To The Market This Week?
Hood strawberries will be available of course. There is a chance that cherries may be available too. Cherries are notoriously vulnerable to the weather so we will just have to wait and see. Blackberries (greenhouse grown) should be available too.

As for vegetables, asparagus, snow peas, sugarpod peas, spinach and lettuce will be readily available. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and kohlrabi should be in good supply as well. For the complete list of who's coming this weekend check the availability list.

IN
Little Pots and Pans
Salvador Molly's

OUT
Ancient Heritage Dairy (back next week)
Cherry Country (back July 1)
Packer Orchard/Market Fruit (back next week)
Rose City Delicacies (back June 24)
*UPDATE* Rick Steffen Farm (back next week) *UPDATE*

Cooking Ideas - Zucchini Pancakes
Zucchini started showing up at the market a few weeks ago. The first zucchini of the season is always so tender. Zucchini can be used in many ways from salad to soup to bread. Chef Robert Reynolds of the Robert Reynolds Chef Studio posted a nice recipe on his blog. Enjoy!

Crepes Aux Courgettes (from Robert Reynolds' Trou Food blog)

Zucchini pancake

1 cup grated green zucchini
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon thyme, freshly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Garnish

2 vine ripened tomatoes, peel, seed, dice
1 ear of corn, blanched, shucked
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped coarsely
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper

Drizzle of excellent olive oil

Put the zucchini in a 1 quart work bowl, sprinkle with flour, and toss to distribute the flour. Add the beaten egg, mixing, then the cream and thyme. Season with salt, mix again.

Heat the two oils in a skillet large enough to make 4 'crepes' about 2 inches across. Heap zucchini so that it is about an inch thick, it will collapse as the crepe cooks. Cook the zucchini for 1 or 2 minutes, until the bottom develops uniform golden color. Turn the crepe over, turn the heat down, and let the zucchini cook slowly for 3 or 4 minutes until golden.

Remove to a plate, give a grinding of pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and a few additional grains of salt to make the oil more flavorful. Garnish with the tomatoes and serve as a course by itself, or to accompany any meat or fish.

To prepare the tomato garnish, mix the tomatoes and corn, with the garlic and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and mix well.

Note: There isn't any fresh corn available at the market yet. You can substitute 1/2 cup of frozen corn, blanched and cooled or skip the corn altogether.