Anna Blume

Cool, Heather!

How does the market compare to ones you've been to around here?

There's a new volunteer who used to farm in South Carolina. He said that there was great suspicion about organic farming (viewed as Northern & elitist, even though he himself was local born and raised) a decade ago and resistance remains.

At the beginning of the week the Volunteer Coordinator of FRESHFARM Market asked for suggestions for a good place to share a Happy Hour later in the month, preferably one that builds its menus around local foods.

That got me thinking about how frequently Ris Lacoste used to pull up with her truck to the Sunday market at Dupont Circle when she was still at 1789, sometimes bringing gallons of her own gazpacho for the farmers. Nora drops by almost every weekend. I got advice for preparing zucchini blossoms from another chef as he was leaving, bag full of the flowers in clamshells. Now that there is a weekday market, Jose Andres has gotten involved in addition to all the chefs who participate in demos. I imagine similar appearances occur in the farmers's markets in Mount Pleasant, Maryland and Virginia.

QUESTION(S):

Which restaurants in this area are known for kitchens that depend greatly on their relationships with local farms, dairies, etc.?

Is this a valid question--or do virtually all "good" establishments adher to this kind of practice nowadays?

I saw Tiogo in NY at the Green Market at Union Square...

They were in Piazza Santo Spirito this morning...

I spoke to one of the two young men selling Sunnyside's produce at the FRESHFARM market this morning about the sale.

He told me that there have been a few serious inquirires from parties interested in maintaining the property's status as a farm.

Note the one comment, or possibly first comment, added this morning to the online version of the article.

And perfectly cooked tilefish gets an elegant escort of diced lobster, English peas, fava beans and pearls of Sardinian pasta cooked in lobster stock.

Those pearls are "fregule" which ARE traditionally served with seafood, including lobster. !

Also glad to hear rhubarb still matters in the new kitchen.

As for the decor, I do think a little updating is in order without losing the essential character of the restaurant. It's a little too Connecticut/Virginia ca. 1982.

This Sunday, Father's Day, June 18 at 11 am, the author of the post above will be featured in the Chef Demo at FRESHFARM Market at Dupont Circle.

Yes, you're right. The AOL exec who established an organic farm as a useful, interesting thing to do with his money invested a lot more in the property than he is asking for as a selling price. The buyer is free to do with the land what s/he wishes.

Incidentally, the D.C. Slow Food convivium is holding a fund-raiser (?), or at least a tour of the Ayshire Farm in Upperville, VA on Saturday July 8. Click.

One of the SF folks wondered why the Inn at Little Washington hasn't snatched up the property since it's right next door.

Don Rockwell asked if we all could pitch in and do a good deed.

I realize a bake sale is not going to do much.

Starting a commune of Donrockwellians would be a foolish idea even if we did go splitsies on a lottery ticket and win enough millions to buy the place, replenish livestock, pay for medical insurance, overalls, sunblock, full tuition for Noah, et al.

However, does anyone know anything about ways to prevent the redevelopment of an organic farm that has been established over a period of ten years?

What is the manufacturer's name, and did you find this can with the other anchovies and sardines? I was there on Saturday and couldn't find any huge cans around.

You know, the store just rearranged everything, thus dividing up the Italian things. Category of food products vs. origin seems to be the guiding principle, so you'll find these cans virtually obscured on the top wire shelf facing the seafood. Pasta's now over by jams and cookies instead of next to canned tomatoes, prosciutto and wine and less likely to spark inspiration for a quick dinner. Go figure.

I didn't recall brand when I posted. It was a white can, not half as attractive as my "Agostino Recca" (as featured in a photo in Molto Italiano, and emptied, scrubbed and now, odor-free on the top of one of my bookcases). I believe the can at Balducci's was also Sicilian, although I have been told there are some Spanish brands that have been judged as superior. I have no way of knowing if the lower price signifies quality, or one would hope, its newness to the US market and lesser prestige.

I recall the individually sold, pricey anchovies at Dean & DeLuca's as being the best of the two kinds I've purchased here: bigger, fatter and more meaty. However, mine are more than just fine and a whole lot better than the Moroccan pee wees in flat tins, although, quite frankly, I have never met an anchovy that didn't warm my heart.

Also, look in the cookbook section at bookstores for Micol Negrin's Rustico. I've seen it at some of the local Border's. Plan on bringing something to jot down notes.

This fairly recent cookbook is organized by region, offering recipes from primi through dolci followed by recommendations of places to eat and shop for culinary supplies (including food). I'm pretty sure that Abruzzo and Molise have their own, separate chapters even though Anna Del Conte, for example, says that the political division of these two regions is artificial; their cuisines are virtually identical.

Ms. Negrin is married to an Italian-born chef and runs her own culinary tours that feature different regions of Italy. I've tried only a couple of recipes (literally) and one is something I will make again and again until I get sick of it.

Here's the link to her web site. I've clicked on the page for Abruzzo where the bottom of the page probably has the same info you'll find in her published chapters. Look for the list of regions at the top of the page and you can switch to Molise yourself.

From the Dupont Circle Farmers Market : escarole, kohlrabi, peas, Italian Dandelion. Aren't dandelions

those things that grown in abundance along the roadside?

The people with the morels and other mushrooms ... I had to zip past, or $20 gone.

You know, I don't ever recall seeing those Italian dandelion greens in Italy. Does anyone know their name? The ones Heinz had today were puny, they grow a bit more expansive later and are quite assertively bitter, requiring blanching before sauteeing if you prefer a silky (vs. tough) texture.

New Morning's snap peas were great...but Mrs. B, besides tee-hee, I haven't seen pea shoots at the market for two weeks.

Someone else had some intriguing looking zucchini called Italian Largo, but after the Chef Demo, there were only two sad looking suckers left. Will try searching for them next week since they have alternating pronounced dark green stripes with recessed pale green stripes. When cut, each slice looks like a star- or flower-shaped cookie.

Eli's had PURPLE cauliflower that looked very pretty.

Todd Gray prepared an amazing salad with "wild" mushrooms, alas not morels, but I posted the recipe in the Restaurant section under Equinox.

Adam promised to bring buttermilk for me next Sunday. It is not something he automatically carries, but now he responds to special requests on a regular basis.

* * *

FYI dried morels are $199.99 a pound at Whole Foods. Makes you feel a leetle better about the temptation at the market.

Todd Gray, his wife Ellen and their adorable, helpful son, Harrison, were featured in this morning's Chef Demo at the Dupont Circle FRESHFARM market. Since the recipe was handed out and I am waiting for my oven to heat up, I thought it would be okay to post it here, especially since there are so many avid mushroom lovers in the membership. I only got a forkful, but as Spencer Tracy would say, it was choice!

GRILLED WILD MUSHROOM SALAD W/ FRISEE, TOASTED WALNUTS & MUSTARD SEED VINAIGRETTE

Serves 6

For the Vinaigrette:

1 T whole grain mustard

1/4 c sherry vinegar

1/3 c olive oil

1/3 c grapeseed or canola oil

S & P to taste

For the Salad:

2 Oyster mushrooms clusters

2 Maitake mushroom clusters

12 Shitake mushrooms

1/2 c olive oil [it does say "good" but...]

S & P, to taste

2 c frisee

1/2 c red onion, finely sliced & pickled*

1/4 c toasted walnuts

12 pear tomatoes

6 basil leaves, chiffonade

6 roasted garlic cloves

1 T chives, minced

1/4 c parmeson, grated

1/4 c spring onions, sliced on diagonal

To Prepare Vinaigrette:

Place mustard & vinegar in small mixing bowl; whisk to combine. Slowly drizzle in oils, creating an emulsion. Season & refrigerate.

To Prepare Salad: Toss mushrooms in olive oil, season, grill till just cooked, cool and cut off stems; combine mushrooms w all the other ingredients, season well. Mound salad in center of six large plates, drixxle additional dressing around and sprinkle with parmesan and spring onions. Serve immediately.

*Pickled Red Onions

1 quart water

1 c red wine vinegar

1/2 c salt

1 c sugar

1/4 c pickling spice

4 red onions, thinly sliced [his were quartered first]

Bring all ingredients EXCEPT for onions to a boil. Add onions and simmer until tender, approx. 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely. Refrigerate and store onoins in liquid for up to a month.

N.B. I overheard him telling the crowd SOMETHING about making sure the mushrooms were moist before tossing them on the grill---or in the cast iron skillet---to avoid charring them since they burn quickly. However, I did not catch whether or not he marinaded them (didn't seem to be) or if he just dumped them in water for a second.

Simple and incredibly delicious.

(And Giant Shrimp, that's a helluva review!)

Over at eG, you're contending with the fact that the same sort of request comes in regularly, so even the most knowledgeable folks don't bother to reply. On top of that, Alberto, the only one of the two hosts who was ever active on the forum, has resigned after a long period of being too busy or completely without a computer. So nothing gets pinned anymore.

I'd advise you to just plod through those pages upon pages in the Italian forum, including a recent "Cooking and Cuisine" thread on Lazio**; if you have the wherewithall, I am pretty sure there are restaurants there. Andrew Fenton, an archaeologist living in Rome, links his own blog to his posts and some are about food, though I don't know that he goes to restaurants much. (Molto Mario has some good info, too, and cf. travel recommendations on the Babbo web site.)

Otherwise, look for Slowtravel, a branch of Slow Food where members post responses to restaurants.

I picked up a remaindered copy of Fred Plotkin's "gourmet" guide to Italy after the Buford signing at P & P last night. Title of the book aside, Plotkin's someone I trust. Book's divided into Italian regions with lots of info on each, including Abruzzo & Molise. PM me if you can't find a copy (the PB was remaindered since a new version is out, or due, I suspect. Warning, it is nearly a decade old and I just consulted someone else who said that when he used the book 1 1/2 years ago, many of the places listed had closed). Also, David Downie's cookbook, Cooking the Roman Way has much fairly recent info. There's also a Gourmet issue devoted to Rome, March 2003.

Not the same as personal recommendations from DonRockwellians you trust, but there are posts here on Rome. ETA: I just looked at your eG post and I suspect silence may be due, instead, to focus on Abruzzo & Molise. Any particular interest in that region?

**Note the links at the beginning of the thread since there are tons of Italian web sites devoted to regional food. About.com is not tourism-driven and may include suggestions for places to eat.

Thanks for all the earlier, relevant links concerning future plans.

I am one of the women who stopped daily delivery because of NPR & online sources. However, I always used to buy the Post on Wed & Sunday. Now, there's a reason to buy the paper once a week and a hard copy of the NYT on Wednesday.

I am all for serious articles on food appearing on a daily basis in the other sections of the paper and do understand how the dire straits of print journalism affected the decision to cut staff and eliminate special weekly sections.

However, I am still quite perturbed that after feminism, when even the NYTs started use "Ms." and found the concept of the "women's page" no longer viable, these newly named sections of the paper--Home, Food, Health--retained a status baser and separate from Real News.

Yes, panels of amateurs sipping wine are not as significant as the graver issues of the political, social and natural world, but look at the role that human-interest stories play as hooks on the front page. How we eat IS important, and obviously not just to women. Where and how we live ARE important. Who dates and dines with a Bush twin DOES matter.

Ravioli di Carciofi al Profumo di Timo (Linguria)

Pollo con Finocchio, Olive e Vino Biano (Sardinia)

Patata Sfondato colla Forchetta

Rioja

Melone d'Atene

(Leeks were pureed with artichokes for the filling of the pasta that were, in turn, sauced with crushed pinenuts colored lightly in butter with fresh thyme.)

Does anyone here belong to the local convivium of Slow Food?

I've heard they have a version of Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard. Considering it's the height of the growing season, they might do something with kids in the summer.

Farmers' markets do attract the types of folk who are earnest about and active in environmental issues. Your wife would probably receive tons of wonderful tips by visiting several of the different local markets if she has the chance. You'd think being in Washington, D.C. would be an advantage in finding people at non-profits or federal agencies who are keen on talking to impressionable young children long before they are old enough to buy cars, groceries or air conditioners. I still remember that elementary school trip to the nuclear power plant.

At Dupont Circle this morning, Heinz Thomet had his first batch of fava beans for sale.

I confess I have had my share for the growing season.

While Eli's did have small summer squash and a few tiny zucchini last week, this time there were more at various stands.

Plenty of beets, too, and strawberries everywhere.

New Morning had some beautiful, small pale green snap peas.

The Greens Lady (with galvanized buckets, what's the farm's name?) has a wealth of herbs now: lemon thyme, spearmint, tarragon, chives, parsley, basil, oregano...

Asparagus should be around for a few more weeks.

Local breads?

Who's baking the bread?

According to the web site of Econ4U.org, April was the month for an ad campaign that posed the question that appears as the title of this topic.

The answer provided is $5 and is supplemented by the claim that servers earn roughly $15-$20 per $100 taken in on the meals at their tables.

Have you seen the coasters, ads on Metro, etc.?

Reactions?

Arriving in the afternoon on a Saturday, I missed a few of the better venders outside at the market, though my main goal was simply to scout out the place since I haven't been to Eastern Market for a number of years. Around me were lot of tourists, young people who don't get up early on weekends, and locals lining up for fish sandwiches. The soft-shell crabs looked good.

What I discovered much to my delight was cured pork jowl at Union Meats. No sign of a juniper berry on it, but I picked some up to try out on spaghetti carbonara as a surrogate for guanciale. I also bought a little bacon, the real, cured thing which I haven't bought for years, both produced in Pennsylvania. The poultry looked really good across the aisle.

Pam the Butcher, formerly an icon of Cleveland Park, was there selling cheese and doing well.

As far as the produce sold inside goes, I was surprised by the high prices and mediocre quality. Same with most of the stuff outside, shipped from Florida, etc. I am sure this has been said before.

However, it strikes me how Eastern Market's web site boasts of the age of the civic institution and the fact that it has been continuous. Yet it does not really offer the neighborhood what residents of Philadelphia or St. Louis (this the one contrasting example most familiar to me) can expect from their city's counterparts, especially in terms of economy.

I spoke to someone from Maryland who sold me a quart of his farm's small, ripe strawberries for $5, or $2 less than at Dupont Circle ($1.75 less than Heinz's organic ones). He's been coming to Eastern Market for only three weeks and so far it's been worth the trip. He usually sells in Baltimore.

"See this?" he said picking up a bunch of scallions with enormous bulbs. "$2.00! In Baltimore, I get 50 cents."

"These here," pointing to the strawberries," $3.50."

I second the kudos, Mrs. B.

When I mentioned rather vaguely that I don't shop at places like D & D and Balducci's all that much, it was essentially for a reason I would have attributed to class. However, you are both more direct and more accurate.

I DID ask about Balducci's many posts ago, but the ensuing discussion has been primarily about the availability of Prosciutto San Daniele and Whole Foods instead.

Thanks for drawing my attention to two posts I overlooked, this being the first:

Balducci's carries some high quality products, but it has to have the most obnoxious, arrogant, and customer-unfriendly staff that I have ever encountered in a food store. I have always found what I needed there, but experiences at both the New Mexico Avenue store and the Old Georgetown Pike store deter me from shopping there except in dire necessity. We went to the New Mexico Ave store to buy pastries for a dinner party, only to have the two employees behind the counter barely make eye contact and then return to their (overheard) personal discussion; they never further acknowledged our presence until I was forced to raise my voice in amazement. At the Old Georgetown Pike store, I stopped in to get get some steaks from the meat counter. The four people behind the counter ignored my obvious presence, preferring instead to stay engaged in an animated discussion about a posted notice of a prospective employee meeting. Good luck.

I rarely shop at Balducci's, but now, like Joe H., make trips for specific items, such as Le Valle's canned tomatoes.

I have never had problems with surly staff, only with the fact that the store has been understaffed during my occasional trips, so finding someone to slice the San Daniele has been a problem.

I am going to look through past threads, but I think it might be useful to devote a new one exclusively to good places to find Italian items.

This is my understanding of the situation:

At least until fairly recently, most WF stores in this area carried only one imported prosciutto from Parma, that is, the ham that requires slicing. There may be different varieties that are pre-sliced and packaged.

The OT store, according to Annette (? maybe), has made a concerted effort to expand in this area. She had just come back from a workshop, which suggests to me, that all the region's WF stores are being educated and given the incentive to expand in this category. However, it sounded to me as if Annette's team was trying to distinguish itself from the other WF stores in this area. Thus, the proud description I received when it comes to the department's nifty old slicer.

* * *

As I mentioned, this impression is based on experience in trying to source the product on my own. When I tried finding Montasio*, I had no luck at D & D, Balducci's, Cheesetique (name?), Litteri, etc., though Cornicopia (Bethesda) said they would have some the next week. Kevin the Cheesemonger at WF/TT offered a frank, knowledgeable explanation of the difficulty of finding this particular cheese and the ordeal he has to go through in seeking approval for a new product, special orders, etc. He thought Montasio simply wasn't available anymore as an aged cheese. However, I called the larger dept. at Georgetown and was told they just ran out. The team leader initially balked, saying no one ever bought it, and hurried off to get coffee. The coffee worked. He ordered it. It sold out again before my second trip back. I don't know why one store would be more savvy than another when it comes to the availability of an item, especially given the expertise of a person like Kevin.

*A DOP cheese sold in three different stages. I bought Montasio 2, aged to some degree, perfect for making frico, i.e. a fried wafer made exclusively of cheese. Fantastic stuff.

Apples are not better than oranges.

Cake is not better than pie.

Food is not better than sex.

They're different, though overlapping in both categories and degrees of pleasure.

This recipe is one of those thing that overlaps in a serious way: Scalloped Potatoes and Ramps.

I've reported it elsewhere, but have to tell you just in case Eli's comes through with a miracle next Sunday at Dupont Circle, or if this thread gets revived next spring. I used fresh thyme, omitted the Cheddar topping, sprinkling Gruyere on each layer, sliced each ramp, including greens. Then I brought lots of stock to a boil before mixing it with a little heavy cream and popping the dish into the oven where the perfume of the pungent ramps became an almost unbearable, prolonged test of endurance. Talk about the Pleasure Principle!

I whined in the Ramps thread that I liked the new discovery, but didn't find the flavor as powerful as I had expected. This dish complements the potency of ramps more than the other combinations and preps I have tried.