Grapevine May 3 2009 Market

this week
- What's Coming To The Market?
- Cooking Ideas - Nettles

The Market's 8th season starts this Sunday. The market season ran for 22 weeks back in 2002. We started adding winter dates in late 2003, adding months and market sessions through the years. This upcoming season will run 30 continuous weeks until November 22nd. We'll move to our twice monthly schedule in December.

There are a number of events happening this weekend. There will be free plant starts for the first 500 customers this Sunday. Josh Kadish is back for Jam Day with Josh. Rieke Elementary will be holding its annual Art Fair down in the gym. Finally, our neighbor, Food Front Cooperative Grocery, will be holding an event, "Gear Up For Gardening" with helpful tips, information and recipes to get your garden going. They will be featuring an interactive planting table geared toward inspiring younger gardeners.

See you on Sunday!

Eamon Molloy
Market Manager

What's Coming To The Market This Week?

Asparagus, fiddleheads, morels, nettles, radishes and rhubarb top the list of seasonal vegetables being harvested this week. You will also find kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, raab, broccoli and cauliflower. Apples and pears will be available as will kiwi.(Small amounts of greenhouse grown strawberries MAY be available. Check Twitter feed on Sunday morning for an update.) For all you gardeners, there will be a wide assortment of vegetable starts, perennials and trees.

Check the availability list for the complete list of who's coming this weekend and what they expect to be selling. The list is posted Thursday afternoon and updated through the weekend. You can find Sunday morning updates on our Twitter feed located in the right column of the list page.

IN
Chanka's Catering
Deep Roots Farm
Red Dragon Nursery *NEW*
Salmon Creek Hydroponics
Salvador Molly's
Savory et Sweet

OUT
Ancient Heritage Dairy (back May 10)
DeNoble Farm (back May 10)
Garden Color (back May 10)
Kookoolan Farms ( back June 28)
Vanveen Bulb (back May 17)


Cooking Ideas - Nettles

Springwater Farms has been bringing nettles to the last few markets. Several people stopped me at the last market and asked how to prepare nettles. Here's is a recipe from Deborah Madison courtesy of Culinate.com. Enjoy!


Nettle Soup
From the book Local Flavors by Deborah Madison and Culinate.com

Ingredients
6-8 oz. nettle leaves (a plastic vegetable bag, filled)
1 cup sliced fresh onions, green garlic, plus greens, or scallions
1 small potato, thinly sliced
6 cups chard leaves, thinly sliced
~ Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
6 cups chicken stock, water, or vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream, hopefully organic cream from a dairy near you

Steps

1. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Using tongs or wearing gloves to handle them, plunge the nettles into a bowl of cold water and swish them back and forth, then drop them into the boiling water for two minutes. Drain and coarsely chop. Discard any large stems.

2. Melt the butter in a wide soup pot and add the onion and potato. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the chard, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and the stock or water. Bring to a boil, add the nettles, and simmer until the potato is completely soft, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Puree the soup until smooth, then return it to the stove. (If the nettles were stemmy, pass the soup through a food mill.) Add the cream and taste for salt. Season well with pepper and serve plain or with whole-wheat croutons browned in butter.

You can find a printable version of the recipe here.