Wax Beans

Wax beans, the milder cousin of the green bean. I grew up eating canned wax beans, finding the younger, fresh version was a revelation.

Several vendors at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market have them.

This is a salad of tomatoes and wax beans in a simple oil and vinegar dressing which makes it a perfect picnic food.

This week at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market

Early girl tomatoes from Rhodes Family Farm, arugla and basil from Ortiz Bros, apricots and meyer lemons from DeSantis Farms, cucumbers from Bernier, squash from the Patch, saute green mix from Triple T and jack cheese from Spring Hill.

What's inside the box?

No box this year, but I am shopping at the Santa Rosa Farmers Farmers Market.
This week early girl tomatoes from Rhodes Family Farm, tangelos from DeSantis Farms, argula from Ortiz Bros,braising greens from Triple T, sweet white onion from The Patch, a red onion and garlic from Bernier and cosmetically challenged fruit from Nuefeld. and artichoke lemon pesto from Home Maid

Fried Cauliflower

A recap from foobooz
Food and Wine magazine featured a restaurant in Philadelphia serving fried cauliflower. I found a couple of recipes and tried two different methods one cooks the cauliflower and then fries it and the other is one step. There is not any difference in the final outcome. So just heat up some oil, break the cauliflower in florettes and fry away.

This is a recipe from the Leftover queen for a oven fried version.

Whatever method you use -it's good. I served mine with hot sauce. It's good hot or cold. I got my cauliflower from Triple T Ranch at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market

Morels

Morels from Oyster Creek Mushrooms at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market

These are wild morels picked on Mt Shasta. So far, I have had them sauteed and today I'm thinking about a cream based pasta sauce.

"Two mushroom hunters, Pat McConnell and her husband Owen McConnell, a retired psychology professor, helped found the Triangle Area Mushroom Club. They've eaten 20 to 30 different types of wild mushrooms, but the morels are their favorites. Owen is often called upon to identify wild mushrooms for the group.

"I can't tell you what a morel tastes like," Pat says. "It's absolutely delicious." The McConnells like to sauté their morels in butter with a dash of salt. She says they keep it simple because "the flavor is so fantastic, you don't want to miss it."

"I'm often asked what it tastes like," Burk says. "Well, it tastes like a morel because there's absolutely nothing else that tastes like a morel." from A Taste of the Woods

Dinner Party

Seafood Lasagne and Mom's wild blueberry pie hmmmm good
and started with lemon artichoke dip from Home Maid with a wholewheat baguette from Full Circle Baking. Salad greens from Ortiz Brothers Farm and salad dressing courtesy of Pavone Sage Vinegar.

The seafood was tuna caught locally and wild bay shrimp. I bought the seafood at Oliver's and even with the Wednesday senior discount, it would have been cheaper at Santa Rosa Seafoods at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.

The lasagne has five layers noodles, seafood, cheese sauce, ricotta/vegetables, and shredded cheese. Cook the lasagne noodles(you can use no cook too), the shrimp came cooked and I shredded the tuna in the food processor and then browned it. The ricotta has an egg mixed in with sauteed chopped bok choy, capers,and preserved meyer lemon, the cheese sauce was half and half with parmesan,mozzarella.

Flowering collard greens, stinging nettles and mache

Flowering collard greens, stinging nettles " (You’d have to eat a sink full of kale to get the protein in one serving of nettles.)
A handful of nettles provides more than 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, as well as a plethora of minerals that nettles absorb, spongelike, from the soil" and mache- at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.
All three are super vegetables packed with nutritional value --and they taste good too.

It's easy to take the sting out of the nettles -a couple seconds in boiling water and the sting is gone. I used them in some eggs on the suggestion of the vendor Triple S ranch of Santa Rosa and they were mighty tasty --a mild sort of creamy taste. Then a put some in waffle batter --suprisingly good.

I used the mache in a salad with bacon. Mache is at the end of its current run in the market. The flowering collard greens are a milder and more tender taste then mature collards.

My first tomato of 2009

A friend mentioned he had been buying tomatoes at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market from Parson's Hothouse tomatoes. He swore they tasted like summer tomatoes. I had to give them a shot. They are good. At $3.00 a pound they are also a good price.

Parsnips and Scarlet Cauliflower

Parsnips look, smell and taste a bit like a carrot crossed with parsley. I was until today a parsnips virgin cooking wise. I found this recipe on Epicurious but it had too much butter and milk and I didn't have any Brussel sprouts. I did have scarlet cauliflower, roasted garlic and roasted garlic oil. I boiled chunks of parsnips (I scraped off the skin rather then peeling.) Then I mashed the parsnips with the oil and garlic. I pulled the bit of scarlet cauliflower into pieces and sauteed it in butter and then mixed the two together. Pretty and good for you.

The parsnips and cauliflower came from Orchard Farms at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market

Drinking Meyer lemon drops made lemons from a neighbors tree.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Ken from Orchard Farms recommended it for the intense flavor and short season.
I tried a taste of it raw to gauge the flavor -always a good way to start with something new. There is very little waste, the slender stems and tender leaves are all edible.
For my first dish- I sauteed a bit with butter, lemon and anchovy paste. Mighty fine! Clearn by snipping off the very tip of the end of the stalk and chop the rest into 1/2 inch pieces. Using a saute pan, heat over low heat about 1 tablespoon of butter (or live oil) add the chopped broccoli. When the broccoli turns bright green add the juice of 1/2 a meyer lemon and 1/2 a teaspoon of anchovy sauce. Mix together until the broccoli is well coated.

Happy Birthday - Early Bird Special

In honor of the birthdays of two friends (both turning 65) I had a dinner party. It was fun to plan the menu around the Santa Rosa Farmers Market vendors. Of course there were the dietary restriction --no(or low) carbs, heart healthy, and no tomatoes (heartburn), and on and on. The NYTIMES had a great recipe for cauliflower I made a few changes. I used beluga lentils instead of beans and couscous and instead of tomato paste -a sauce of meyer lemon juice, cilantro,garlic and fresh jalapenos. I bought fresh, locally caught halibut and just grilled it. It was expensive at $18+ per pound but well worth it. I started the evening with four dips (not a reference to any guests>) chipotle humus, black olives mixed with oranges(and orange juice) and roasted garlic, blue cheese, ham and cream cheese and hot peanut butter. The big hits the hot peanut butter and the blue cheese.(duh!)
Desserts a lemon meringue pie from Mom's and Indian pudding. I've been making Indian pudding for my friend's birthday for about 35 years. The first time I made it I tinkered with the recipe because I thought honey would taste better than molasses. Everyone thought so except the birthday boy. Ever since I have adhered strictly to the Joy of Cooking version.

What we were drinking: Taft Street Sonoma Coast pinot noir and Menage a Trois from Folie a Duex

And there were also lemon drops made with meyer lemons from my neighbor's tree

One more salsify dish....

Salsify and escarole frittata ...

Salsify --salsifying

Once again Orchard Farms had salsify and I've had it three ways so far....
First I cleaned it and parboiled it. It's really good sauteed in a bit of butter and perserved meyer lemon peel. It's also excellent with chicken stir fry seasoned with worchestshire sauce and chili sauce. But my favorite so far --the salsify croquette with bluecheese --mashed 3 parts salsify with 1 part blue cheese and coated in some sort of crumb or flour and sauteed...yummmy!

Romanesco Cauliflower

I recently had uttapam at Dosa Restaurant in San Francisco.

The challenge to make uttapam at home. It's not difficult but there is a lot of time involved soaking and fermenting. There was a beautiful romanesco cauliflower from Orchard Farms at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.

I made uttapam stuffed with romanesco --pretty good. Of course romanesco can be used in any cauliflower recipe. I also had it simply steamed with a bit of cheddar cheese and a splash of Pavone sage vinegar I think I am officially a sage vinegar addict. I spent the weekend figuring out sage vinegar cocktails --hmmm bloody mary!

Some romanesco facts

A bunch of cauliflower recipes

Dried Figs from Santa Rosa Farmers Market

The Neufeld Farms stand at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market has a wonderful array of dried fruit and they are happy to let you taste. I bought some wonderful dried figs --wonderfully moist and rosy. I stopped at Andy's on the way home and bought a local blue cheese with the Andy's label and made a blue cheese and dried fig open face sandwich on whole wheat.

Willie Bird Turkey Sausage and Blood Orange Panna Cotta

Oscar Night and plenty of good eats --pictured here a vegetable soup with Willie Bird Turkey Sausage and a blood orange panna cotta with strawberry raspberry sauce.
The turkey soup with locally made sausage was made by Susan Bailyn.
I had the strawberries and raspberries in my freezer and the blood oranges came from the Santa Rosa Farmers Market. Panna Cotta is literally Italian for cooked cream but a better description is really cream jello. Whatever you call it --it is pretty darn good - this version has sections from six blood oranges and the juice (except for the lovely color of the blood orange any orange will work well in this dish.) I also used some chopped chocolate as well. The sauce was just strawberries and raspberries run through the food processor.

Here is an explanation of panna cotta from Mark Bittman

And not all panna cottas are sweet - this for a savory one based on the French Laundry's cauliflower panna cotta

People were drinking Taft Street Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

Broccoli Rabe ..the mustard family and Pavone Sage Vinegar

No excuses for eating not seasonally and locally along the Russian River in Sonoma County, California. A big bowl of broccoli rabe from Orchard Farms -purchased at the Wednesday Santa Rosa Farmers Market and seasoned with Pavone Sage Vinegar (pineapple sage grown along the Russian River in Forestville.)

As a member of the Brassica (cole) family, broccoli rabe's kin include cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, rutabaga, turnips and broccoli. Actually, broccoli rabe and broccoli are more like distant cousins many times removed. At harvest time, the only physical resemblance between the two is the unopened broccoli-like buds that form on broccoli rabe. It's closely related to the turnip and often referred to as a turnip green. It's also referred to as a member of the mustard family, which all Brassica are.

To make matters more confusing, broccoli rabe, like an aunt who marries often, has several monikers. This peppery plant is also called broccoli raab, rapini, rappa, Italian turnip, fall and spring rabe and broccoli de rape, among many others. Confusion arises when Italian sprouting broccoli is referred to as broccoli rabe. The Italians introduced broccoli to the United States almost 100 years ago, and sprouting broccoli (Brassica oleracea) is simply broccoli to us here.

I met Jane and Don Pavone mixing up a new batch of their award winning vinegar. They are a welcome addition to the Russian River artisan food community. Their vinegar won a gold medal at this year's Harvest Fair.

I sauteed the broccoli rabe and added some cooked cannellini beans and finished it with sage vinegar. Add a soft cooked egg and it could be the West County version of salad lyonnaise. Salad Guernnaise perhaps :)))

The PavoneSonoma web site offers interesting serving and recipe suggestions for vinegars as does this article from the LA Times

wine recommendation for the broccoli rabe: a pinot grigio is a good choice

The sage vinegar is also a good ingredient to use in cocktails

A sage vinegar Bloody Mary sounds great to me!

Sour Orange and Sweet Limes

Sour Oranges are indeed sour! I got these at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market.
This is a great marinade from 3 Guys -Cuban. A mojito works fine for a drink.

This was my favorite Special Hot & Sour Orange Soup (Geng Som Pla) from about.com Wine Recommendation Pinot Grigio

Sweet Limes are sweet! From Amy's Pickles

Another great recipe from About.com for a thai style roast chicken.

Kohlrabi

February at the Santa Rosa, California Farmers Market has a lot of fun and interesting looking vegetables including both the green and purple kohlrabi. Kohlrabi is a good vegetable to purchase if you want to support increased crop diversity and have something good for you and that is very versatile.

Kohlrabi is a good source of vitamin C and potassium. It is low in both sodium and calories. One cup diced and cooked kohlrabi contains only 40 calories and 140% of the RDA for vitamin C. You can eat them raw --turnip-y, boiled, roasted just about anyway you can think of..

Here are a couple of sites with kohlrabi recipes. Cook It Simply also has advice on purchasing and storage

Fom Simply Recipes a very eclectic collection of uses

Just vegetables has another good list.

Homemade, easy condiments winter ingredients

Eating less salt is easier if you use less processed foods. Homemade condiments are easy and better for your. Here are ingredients available in the winter months.


Winter citrus salsa has a lot of uses and no special equipment is required. Chop up the supremes (sections) of a grapefruit and a tangelo but you can substitute your favorite winter selections. Add 1/4 onion (any kind -red onion is especially colorful), a few tablespoons if cilantro leaves, garlic, jalapeno (if you like it hot) or bell pepper for a milder flavor, and a splash of vinegar.
Let it sit for a fifteen minutes. It can be served cold with chips or heated as sauce for an entree.

Chili sauce is an easy winter pick-me-up. Dried chilis toasted and rehydrated and then combined with the citrus of your choice, some garlic cloves, chopped fresh cilantro, 1/4 cup no salt canned tomatoes


Update an article from the LATIMES --a splash of seasonings