110 replies to this topic

[bookluvingbabe]

crab cakes, hydroponic lettuce only, no radishes but plenty of dairy. spring, apparently, was set back by the weather this week.

i guess i must have just been dreaming about the charcuterie.

No evidence of charcuterie today. I was running late and ran into a friend at Quail Creek so I didn't get a chance to ask anyone about it. Still no gazpacho at Chris' Crabcakes. Sigh....

Not a wasted trip--two kinds of soup at Quail Creek and yogurt from Blue Ridge and an unexpected chat with a friend who works a few blocks away but.... I was hoping for more.

[Anna Blume]

From what I understand, the charcutereur is as anxious to meat you as vice versa. Forces beyond control, the whole bit. Have heard from trusted chefs that the product is really, really good. Cross fingers and toes.

The weather, too, is delaying farmers who grow stuff and have yet to make an appearance. Patience. Before the blink of an eye, we'll be sweltering and complaining about that while picking up Purple Cherokees, checking for blemishes.

* * *
I picked up some of that soup, too, though it will have to be lunch tomorrow since tonight was one of Chris's crabcakes, some tiny, thin-skinned new potatoes rolled in chive butter, cheap white wine and asparagus which should be at a farmer's stand near you in just about a week or less.

[bookluvingbabe]

It was a beautiful, if a bit windy, day at the Market. First asparagus of the season--bought it from both Sunnyside and Black Rock. Now I have to decide if I'm willing to share with my husband and child. Still no gazpacho at Chris' though the Toigo guy promises the hot house tomatoes will be ready next week which would pave the way for gazpacho soon. Blue Ridge had no honey yogurt but said they would have it at Dupont on Sunday.

[monavano]

It was a beautiful, if a bit windy, day at the Market. First asparagus of the season--bought it from both Sunnyside and Black Rock. Now I have to decide if I'm willing to share with my husband and child. Still no gazpacho at Chris' though the Toigo guy promises the hot house tomatoes will be ready next week which would pave the way for gazpacho soon. Blue Ridge had no honey yogurt but said they would have it at Dupont on Sunday.

How much was the asparagus going for?

[bookluvingbabe]

How much was the asparagus going for?

$4.50 at Sunnyside and $5.00 at Black Rock. I didn't count the # of stalks per bunch.

[KMango]

It was a beautiful, if a bit windy, day at the Market. First asparagus of the season--bought it from both Sunnyside and Black Rock. Now I have to decide if I'm willing to share with my husband and child. Still no gazpacho at Chris' though the Toigo guy promises the hot house tomatoes will be ready next week which would pave the way for gazpacho soon. Blue Ridge had no honey yogurt but said they would have it at Dupont on Sunday.

Thanks for the reminder! I'm working a few blocks over from Penn Quarter for the next several weeks. I've marked my calendar for the Thursdays, thanks again for the update.

And I'll keep my fingers crossed that Toigo will have their impossibly tasty bourbon peaches in stock. Yes, preserved, but we're still quite a ways away from the tree-picked goodness.

[dcaCRL]

And I'll keep my fingers crossed that Toigo will have their impossibly tasty bourbon peaches in stock. Yes, preserved, but we're still quite a ways away from the tree-picked goodness.

Toigo had the bourbon peaches at Del Ray last weekend, would assume they have them at all their markets.

[lackadaisi]

How much was the asparagus going for?

$8 for 2 bunches.

[hillvalley]

$8 for 2 bunches.

That's about what they were going for at Dupont last week.

[Anna Blume]

New vendor alert!!! Charcuterie at market! From the FRESHFARM newsletter:

More on Red Apron Butcher from Gut Check (Warren Rojas of NoVa Mag)
http://www.northernv...-butcher-shops/

i guess i must have just been dreaming about the charcuterie.

Red Apron should be there this upcoming Thursday! I don't know what all they're bringing, but I am hoping there will be something along the lines of guanciale. Heard the bacon is amazing.

Mountain View, the second of the three new folk (Springfield Lamb was first) came this past week and seems to offer many of the things that 8 Acres at Wheatland brought: plants for your own gardens, for example. I was happy to pick up my first bag of stinging nettles under their tent.

Finally, a regular who waits until the asparagus is ready, Sand Hill Farm, will return. Should be a full plate of a market...just cross your fingers that stormy weather comes to town Tuesday and leaves that night...

[Anna Blume]

Red Apron should be there this upcoming Thursday! I don't know what all they're bringing, but I am hoping there will be something along the lines of guanciale. Heard the bacon is amazing.

While "Anna" is a girl's name, consider me the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Tomorrow come for the bread, crabcakes, asparagus, eggs, tulips, cheese and lamb, but not for the salami.

Stay tuned...

[goodeats]

While "Anna" is a girl's name, consider me the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Certainly, these are circumstances not controllable by you. The company is always great. Perhaps it should be the "Charcuterie that cried wolf??" Patience, right?! Moo, Baa, La, La, La.

[goodeats]

Red Apron should be there this upcoming Thursday! I don't know what all they're bringing, but I am hoping there will be something along the lines of guanciale. Heard the bacon is amazing.

Everything is vacuum-packed and looks great. Bacon looked amazing. They had hot dogs, beef jerky, beef pepperoni, bacon, pate, and some other things that I can't remember.

[bookluvingbabe]

The BLB Family is very happy with the market this week. The toddler is happily downing his first bowl of gazpacho of the year from Chris' Crabcakes--90% of which he ate with a spoon and didn't get more than a few drops on his shirt (where did my baby go??) Actually in the time it took me to write that sentence he has moved on to his second bowl which he is dipping his pepperjack cheese into...

I spent all my cash at Red Apron and also picked up some cheese at Cowgirl so the grownups are going to have a picnic after the little guy goes to bed.

Thinking of hitting McLean tomorrow morning if the weather is nice so the toddler can get a market fix of his own.

[Anna Blume]

I spent all my cash at Red Apron and also picked up some cheese at Cowgirl so the grownups are going to have a picnic after the little guy goes to bed.

Wish I had gone to Cowgirl, but I also got overly enthusiastic and went for the finnocchino (or whatever they called it. Zora, you reading, honey? FENNEL POLLEN salami!!!! Ya-huh); one tiny dried chorizo, big enough for a 2-person paella or some sort of flavoring accent; and most indulgently, a pound-package of what Nathan Andan (? I think), the charcutier [sic in an earlier post, not here] is calling Tesa: essentially slabs of very cured pork belly w Juniper, pepper dot dot dot, so a pancetta sort of thing.

He also had patés, hot dogs, bacon, pepperoni and some serious looking mortadella. Not gigantic like the real deal, but w pistachios!

[Shaw Girl]

The BLB Family is very happy with the market this week. The toddler is happily downing his first bowl of gazpacho of the year from Chris' Crabcakes--90% of which he ate with a spoon and didn't get more than a few drops on his shirt (where did my baby go??) Actually in the time it took me to write that sentence he has moved on to his second bowl which he is dipping his pepperjack cheese into...

I spent all my cash at Red Apron and also picked up some cheese at Cowgirl so the grownups are going to have a picnic after the little guy goes to bed.

Thinking of hitting McLean tomorrow morning if the weather is nice so the toddler can get a market fix of his own.

So is Red Apron now at the Penn Quarter Farmers Market? I didn't go last week, so I wasn't sure if they finally showed up.

[Anna Blume]

So is Red Apron now at the Penn Quarter Farmers Market? I didn't go last week, so I wasn't sure if they finally showed up.

Yes. That's why BLB lists all the things she said she bought at the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM MARKET, under the tent erected by two guys from Red Apron last week. See my post directly below hers for the items I bought from Red Apron; Nathan Andan is the charcutier of Red Apron.

[bookluvingbabe]

Yes. That's why BLB lists all the things she said she bought at the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM MARKET, under the tent erected by two guys from Red Apron last week. See my post directly below hers for the items I bought from Red Apron; Nathan Andan is the charcutier of Red Apron.

I will add that the hot dogs were insanely good. Sunday night when I mentioned I was making them for dinner, Mr. BLB demurred and said he would have soup instead. Then he saw them. Not the usual wimpy turkey dogs I've been buying. He was in for two for dinner.

(He then whined that we had no mustard in the house. I can't win...)

The pork liver terrine was quite good too but the hot dogs won the day at our house.

[bookluvingbabe]

Has anyone else tried Springfield Lamb? I made braised lamb shanks from there two weeks ago and while it was tasty, one of the shanks was tougher than any lamb I've ever eaten. Sort of like what I imagine really old mutton would be like.

[Tweaked]

strolled through the Penn Quarter Market last night around 6pm. decent amount of people wandering around, many of the vendors appeared to be low or completely out of goods, esp. veg and cheese vendors and the quesadilla guy. Picked up a tomato plant.

We then walked past the Zola Wine and Kitchen shop and popped in for a small wine tasting featuring New Zealand's Yealands Estates Wine (http://www.yealands.co.nz/default.asp).

Made for a lovely evening down in Penn Quarter.

[bookluvingbabe]

Blueberries in at Black Rock Orchard. BLToddler is eying them suspiciously right now--I think they are a bit tarter than what he is used to from the grocery store. Sigh...

Cherries at several stands and at least two stands still had strawberries (one of which was actually tasty!).

Wes at Quail Creek is killing me--two weeks in row without chocolate croissants and no salmon chowder for Mr. BLB. Doesn't he know we're addicted.

[goodeats]

Wes at Quail Creek is killing me--two weeks in row without chocolate croissants and no salmon chowder for Mr. BLB. Doesn't he know we're addicted.

I was sad too about the croissants. Was told that they baked a lot less in anticipation of potential downpour/torrential rains. Most everything but a few loaves were sold out at 6pm there. I'm glad it was busy though. Chef Nathan at Red Apron said the downpours caused a leak at his walk-in. Rain, rain, go away...

[sandynva]

Has anyone seen tuberose flowers here yet this year?
thanks!

[Anna Blume]

Has anyone seen tuberose flowers here yet this year?
thanks!

Not sure. When does it usually grow around here?

* * *
While it will still be quite some time before the new summer crop of heirloom field tomatoes, there were lots of absolutely beautiful beets--golden and garnet--at the market yesterday at Farm at Sunnyside, Mountain View Farm and Anchor Nursery.

With weather as hot as it got, they would be wonderful in salads dressed, say with Blue Ridge Dairy's whole milk yogurt if you want to do something other than blue/goat cheese and walnuts.

Sand Hill Farm brought green beans for the first time which would be heavenly with Charlene's gorgeous heads of fresh garlic, maybe some potatoes (also at the market) in a quick vegetable stew a little greenhouse tomato from Toigo thrown in.

There were also lovely zucchini and other green and yellow summer squash (patty pan, for example) to pan-fry with cumin.

Mint and cilantro as well as basil, red scallions, orange-yoked eggs to curry in a salad with plump globes of blindingly white onions so sweet and so fresh, their tubular green tops were still attached.

Probably the last of the strawberries, alas, but the raspberries were glorious!

[Anna Blume]

If you can't make the special dinner on July 12, or just to say hello and congratulate the author and learn how to do something different and Indian with roasted beets (hint: NO walnuts! no blue or goat cheese!!), please come to the market around 4:00 PM this Thursday, July 2.

Monica Bhide will be on hand to sign copies of her new cookbook, Modern Spice, and to demonstrate one of its seasonal recipes. You can pick up both main ingredients afterwards, if thus inspired.

[hillvalley]

[Anna Blume]

First, thanks Hillvalley for the beautiful array of photographs from last week's market! As delicious and beautiful as the beet salad was, I mostly enjoyed meeting the author herself. And her amazing son: very proud of his mother and a genuine omnivore who will try anything at least once.

* * *
Today's Chef at Market features a chick, no a plane, no...: Soupergirl! who prepares mostly-plants soups with ingredients grown by farmers many of you know. 4:00 to 5:00 PM on what looks like a rare, stunningly comfortable summer day!

[Anna Blume]

I'm not saying this only because I share the chef's preference for crispy squash blossoms.

I'm saying this because last year's Squash Blossom soup and agua fresca were so amazingly good and being a kindly soul, I want to give you a heads up:

At 4 pm, the Chef at Market event tomorrow features Oyamel's talented Joe Raffa in honor of the restaurant's ongoing Squash Blossom Festival.

(I couldn't find this year's special menu on the web site, but the link is to an offer of a free cocktail now through July 26.)

Farmers should be bringing squash blossoms to market should you care to try one of the recipes at home.

[Tweaked]

I bought some salami from Red Apron a week or two ago, $4 for about 8 slices or so, comes in a vacuum sealed pouch. Solid, nothing mind blowing but good. My biggest complaint was it was virtually imposible to seperate the slices without them tearing, where they overlap became one big glob of stuck together salami.

I would try some of their other cured meat product.

[laniloa]

My biggest complaint was it was virtually imposible to seperate the slices without them tearing, where they overlap became one big glob of stuck together salami.

I had this same experience and wondered if it was an off batch. I dubbed it shredded salami.

[bookluvingbabe]

New vendor alert:

Copper Pot is now at Penn Quarter.

Not sure if I'm going to share the rabbit ravioli with Mr. BLB.

[bookluvingbabe]

It was great to have Penn Quarter back last week. I need a little mid week pick me up and a stop there on my way home always cheers me up.

I hope more vendors will pick up as the season warms up. Missed Chris' Crabcakes and Farm at Sunnyside. I still wish there was a milk vendor -- Clear Springs will be at the White House again this year but I really prefer the Penn Quarter market.

[Anna Blume]

I hope more vendors will pick up as the season warms up. Missed Chris' Crabcakes and Farm at Sunnyside. I still wish there was a milk vendor -- Clear Springs will be at the White House again this year but I really prefer the Penn Quarter market.

Three farms will be returning once more is ready for the plucking in the fields: Sand Hill, Mountain View (this Thursday, I think) and Farm at Sunnyside (which only had enough for Sunday this past week).

Chris is in Colombia and unfortunately doesn't have the help to get him to Penn Quarter until April 15.

[hillvalley]

Did anyone get asparagus from Farm at Sunnyside?

[bookluvingbabe]

Did anyone get asparagus from Farm at Sunnyside?

Two bunches! Cooking after BLPreschooler is asleep and not sharing.

Also picked up buffalo yogurt at Blue Ridge.

I got there about 3:15.

[Anna Blume]

A couple of you at least were there, one a bit disgruntled because she was in search of Rainer cherries, claiming that they weren't at the White House market and didn't see them here.

Hope she went all the way down to the end to Toigo (which is also at the White House market) since that's where they were. (I think of them as Queen Ann's vs. Rainer whenever I see them.)

[Anna Blume]

What have I just finished simmering? Mississippi cowpeas from Sandhill Farm.

If you're in the vicinity tomorrow, drop by to see if the farmer, Charlene, managed to bring some for a third week. If she did, grab!

These are of historical as well as regional significance and damn good!!! Indigenous to Africa, the vegetable also known as crowders was brought to this country to ensure the nutrition of slaves. They're the original, featured ingredient in Hoppin' John, not black-eyed peas, according to one of my sources, a legume some resemble.

They come in long, purplish or speckled pods which are indeed crowded with the little suckers that range from pale green to tannish brown in color. The cowpeas come out of pods easily, but there are so many of them per pod that it takes a long time to shell.

How I prepped them, based on Charlene's recommendations:

Chopped up a small yellow onion and sautéed that with pieces of a really good, sugar-cured ham steak, including the bone. Added one chipotle in adobo, poultry stock, beans, a stalk of parsley, bay leaf and large garlic clove, halved. Took only about 25 minutes (when first checked) or less to soften. They're in that broth cooling, allowing some kosher salt, just added, to soak in. (Waited due to salt in ham.) So glad I put in too much liquid since I'll use this broth to cook up some collards or grains to go with. Umm!

[Anna Blume]

José Andres was in the market again today with a Spanish camera crew.

Afterwards, he comes up to introduce "his friend from Barcelona". "Oh, what restaurant?," I ask. "I don't have a restaurant," he replies. Andres smiles. "You don't have a restaurant...!" He turns, "He's from El Bulli!"

Never got a name during the conversation, but afterwards, talking to someone who made a delivery to Café Atlantico, I learned that I had met Ferran Adria's brother, Alberto, who runs the kitchen. Cool.

[Anna Blume]

Responding to a personal message on the board: farmers markets are open rain or shine!!!!

Farmers and salumi makers work hard to get there. They set up in wind and rain and hail and stand in the damp in the cold for hours, spend hours driving here, spend hours breaking down and driving home. Driving rain and misery in Penn Quarter usually means less than 1/6 of the normal foot traffic. Be a radical and change that pattern.

You? You spend a whole lot less time getting your selves out onto the street where you are rewarded with less competition for the foods you love. You might get soaked, but moisture's good for the skin. You make a farmer grateful and happy and you walk home with some beautiful pumpkin, Brussels Sprouts on stalks, yummy cheese, warm soup, crisp apples, tart yogurt, cider to mull...

Get thee hi and hither!

[Anna Blume]

Another place to find oysters for the holidays and parties ahead:
Here's the Catch will be joining the Penn Quarter FRESHFARM Market for the remainder of the season (till December 23; closed only on Nov. 25 for Thanksgiving).

[Anna Blume]

Bye-bye Farm at Sunnyside which will focus on Dupont Circle's year-round market and their own neighbors during lean months ahead.

Bye-bye, Mountain View, till spring.

Hello, Garners!

For the last three weeks of the season, the fabulous produce-growers will be joining us to satisfy those craving a little something green. Anchor Nursery and Endless Summer will also bring vegetables to 8th Street.

[porcupine]

Forgive me the sin of redundancy if this has been posted upthread, but I just found out that Floradise Orchids (Gordonsville, VA) will be at the Penn Quarter market this season. I am both elated and terrified. Seriously, though, if you're really into orchids, check this place out some time, because they grow some really unusual plants.

[bookluvingbabe]

Any word on 2011 opening dates? The Fresh Farm website hasn't been updated yet.

[cedarbrookfarm]

2011 opening date is March 24

[Anna Blume]

Any word on 2011 opening dates? The Fresh Farm website hasn't been updated yet.

Thanks, cedarbrook for piping up. If you look at the Calendar of Events on the website, you'll find all the opening & closing dates there. Just click month by month.

[Anna Blume]

I got to meet Diane Kennedy here today, escorted by Joe Raffa. Very charming. Cool, especially since I was so disappointed not to be able to go to her talk at the Archives.

[Anna Blume]

Got game? KCC Farm does. Today!

[bookluvingbabe]

Today only?

Fresh or frozen?

[Anna Blume]

Today only?

Fresh or frozen?

No, not today only. Oct. 6 next. However, the lamb guy (Springfield) seems unable to find a new farmers market sales asst., so he is not coming back for the foreseeable future. In his place, this new farm will be coming every other week. Kenny has quail and chicken eggs and pheasant he processed on the farm where the birds are raised, inspected by Maryland's state agriculture (and approved).

He can only sell it frozen, so baby steps. We ain't Europe where you can see the birds hanging by their feet, feathers intact at the market...and given food safety legislative patterns it looks like we're not going to get there any time soon.

The farmer also raises a number of European heritage breeds of chickens that cannot cross state lines for sale since they are not USDA inspected. From what I hear, chefs can place pre-orders of anything this guy raises, but I don't think we the common people have that privilege. This venture to the farmers market in D.C. is new for KCC Farm, so the people who run it need to investigate regulations further, but it's Kenny's understanding that he has to limit sales to eggs and pheasant.

[Anna Blume]

Mountain View is now selling organic lamb and rose veal, including VEAL BONES!!!

*************
The farmer behind KCC Farms had knee surgery, so appearances at market were limited to one this season.