marketfan

Trust Luke to come up with delicious ideas at North Mountain Pastures. This week their traditionally fermented tomato salsa is ready for market. Luke tells me it has a spicy, deep tomato flavor. He loved the salsa juice and click! realized it would make a great Blood Mary Mix. So, try it out. Great for Virgin Mary's, great for Bloody Marys he says. Garnish it with spicy Kick in the Bean green beans. I use those pickled beans instead of olives for recipes that call for spicy rather than oil- cured olives. Truck Patch has fresh, fat, juicy CAPONS (and fresh chickens) if you pre order. order@truckpatchfarms.com. 8 pounds. I used them instead of turkeys a few Thanksgivings ago. They are delicious and make a great dinner centerpiece. And check the sale on his regular frozen chickens-- $3.25 a pound. NEW AND NOTABLE for the quick scan *Celebrate Octoberfest with Painted Hand's German style BRATWURST made with pastured pork and humanely raised rose veal, organic herbs and fair-trade spices. Serve it with North Mt Pasture's Applekraut. *Freshly Dried Cranberry Beans, Rose Finn Apple (Fingerling) Potatoes, red lettuce and Napa Cabbage at SNOW BEAR *Butternut Squash Soup and MAPLE roasted Pumpkin Tortellini at Copper Pot-- and LAST week for their barbecued Beer Can Chicken Ravioli *NEW JAMS at Reid: Spicy Plum, Blackberry, Blackberry-Peach, Blueberry, Peach plus Apple Butter, Ciders *TRUCK PATCH Heirloom tomatoes, yes. But heavy rains split ripe tomatoes on the vine, and the cold that's coming will probably end the long tomato season we have had.. Japanese and Italian eggplants, okra, a few cucumbers, hot peppers, sweet peppers. Summer squash and winter squash: beautiful- ugly peanut pumpkin, turbans, butternut, neck and acorn squash. Jade green beans, radishes, beets, baby carrots. Salad mix, arugula, spinach, kale and Swiss chard. Cilantro and lots of basil, mint, chives, rosemary. Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins for your porch decor! TRUCK PATCH MEATS: Eggs, pork, beef and poultry. Bryan has fresh capons to first 20 lucky pre-orders - fat, juicy males about 8 lbs each...might be better than Thanksgiving turkey! Fresh cut up chicken. Frozen whole chickens at the sale price of 3.25/lb. Ground beef and patties, ground pork, loose sausage. Sausages: Polish sausage, sage, celery, applewurst, country hot, mild and hot Italian, sweet Italian with fennel, kielbasa, bratwurst. Steaks, chops and tenderloins, spare ribs, baby back ribs, pork shoulder. Breakfast sausage and bacon. Pre-order all poultry at order@truckpatchfarms.com. *DOLCEZZA: Scoops to eat at market, half pints and pints to take home in cold preserving containers. Besides this week’s crookneck pumpkin, Rob will have an assortment of other flavors from local milk and market fruits and veg. Rob is such an imaginative gelato creator. I love his combinations. *GARNER: black eyed peas, lima beans (cook them like edamame), corn, red and white turnips, radishes, green tomatoes for frying up, arugula, lettuce mixes, eggplant, spaghetti, acorn, butternut and carnival squash, summer squashes, red and white potatoes....and MUMS for the Fall garden. *COPPER POT: The weather is cooling down and it is pasta time again if you are looking for a satisfying but quick dish. Duck or rabbit ravioli, grass-fed beef tortellini, black truffle and cheese fondue, Virginia ham and Parmesan ravioli, spinach and ricotta ravioli, sweet potato or regular gnocchi. Sauces: Smoky bacon and parmesan, late harvest tomato, shallot and barolo, arugula pesto. Savory Preserves with attitude: Balsamic Fig, strawberry vanilla sweetened with agave nectar), nectarine and bourbon, cantaloupe and ginger, blackberry and ginger, apple and cardamom, grape and grappa. Think about matching them with roast lamb and roast pork and roast beef... *REID ORCHARD: Apples: Empire, Pinova, Jonagold, McIntosh, Macoun, Cortland, Haralson, Northern Soy, Golden Supreme, Honeycrisp, Ruby Jon, Gala, plus several unusual and antique varieties to consider - Caitlin will help you pick out your favorite. Concord grapes and seedless grapes. A new line of jams include Blackberry Peach, Blackberry, Spiced Plum, Blueberry and Peach. Apple Butter and Apple Sauce. UV treated Apple, Apple Grape, and Apple Cherry Ciders, regular heat pasteurized Apple Cider. *KESWICK: Craft Beer washed Tommes, fetas, 15 varieties of aged raw milk cheeses, quark, great yogurt. We have graduated to two quarts a week and I suspect I will close in on three soon. We have it every morning for breakfast with local fruit and walnuts. Jeff adds it to his oatmeal. And I cook with it constantly because it makes a great simple sauce with vegetables, a good marinade for meats, and I love chopped cucumbers in yogurt seasoned with garlic and mint. I served it sauteed beet greens recently. *SNOWBEAR just emailed me that they had 7 inches of rain over two days. That will be good for their greens and it will make it muddy to dig up all their 7 varieties of potatoes/ The newly dried Black, Cranberry, Tiger Eye and Jacob's Cattle Beans are so much more flavorful than their distant supermarket cousins. They do not need to be presoaked before you simmer them. Flavor them with SB celery or fennel, onions, garlic, tomatoes. Serve them with their Russian Kale, beet greens. Season them with the chopped parsley or basil. You can put together the whole meal right at the stand.. *PAINTED HAND: Besides that Octoberfest Bratwurst, lots of humanely raised pastured rose veal in all their cuts. Eggs. *NORTH MOUNTAIN PASTURES: The new fermented tomato salsa, the Salsa Juice for Bloody Marys, Applekraut, Summer Kimchi, Kick in the Beans spicy beans, cured meats and always some surprises. PANORAMA breads, croissants, sticky buns...

Hi everyone, short write up this week because I am in Florida (Tampa) visiting my mother I think that the story this week is Mccleaf's Kiwiberries. They don't look like much:, little round UNfuzzy tiny khaki marbles but they explode in your mouth with real kiwi flavor. Actually better than the usual kiwis we get here and more like the ones I had in New Zealand at a kiwi farm 30 years ago. You eat the whole thing, including the skin but be sure they are soft before you do. The season is short: this week, maybe next. they are quite hard to grow so not many orchards have them. Pecan Meadow is running a sale on their grass fed and finished half Piedmontese beef sirloin -- ten dollars a pound. Garner is running a box sale on sweet potatoes: 25 pounds for just 20 dollars (80 cents a pound) and they will keep for months in a cool, dry place. If you have not yet tasted Mt View's Thelma Sanders Sweet potato squash, you are missing not only a thing of beauty (pale gold inside and out, elongated, ridged acorn shape) but an unusual taste. The skin is edible and I cut them in half, scoop out the seeds to roast separately, cut them in cubes, toss the cubes with olive oil and rosemary and roast them on a sheet pan in a 450 oven until crispy on the outside and meltingly soft inside. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with lime. Eat immediately. Sweet Potato, winter squash, a magical mix of the two . New flavors at Dolcezza this week: Black Mission FIG, Crookneck Pumpkin, Honey Crisp apple Chestnuts at Kuhn plus the last of the peaches, lots of interesting apples, lima and black eye peas,Asian and European greens, winter and summer squash, peppers hot and sweet, plenty of tomatoes in all sizes and colors, eggplant, potatoes, late season strawberries,etc etc.

YES, and at BFM on Sunday at First and R NW

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are back! After their long summer hiatus. Ryan's pumpkins are ready and Lois snatched then up and baked both the cream- cheese icing and the Keswick Quark icing plus three sizes of pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread. No, it is not Halloween, but it is pumpkin patch time in the Pecan Meadow baking kitchen! Of course, there will be samples of everything. Chicken Sale: Daniel has lovely pastured chickens on sale this week. Large Italian breed (long legs, smaller breasts, these chicken have WALKED.), 6 pounds or larger, $3.00 a pound. I roast one nearly every single week and they have real chicken flavor. I usually cut out the backbone and flatten them to roast them spatchcocked. (Even very large birds cook very quickly that way.) I know that some of you are briners but i just salt my birds inside and out the day before I am going to cook them and leave them uncovered on a plate in the fridge. Dry them carefully, bring to cool room temperature and roast. The salt and the cold of the fridge makes for very crisp skin that does not taste salty, just deeply chicken-y. Add a multiply pierced lemon underneath if you are a Marcella Hazan fan, or stuff some herbs under the skin (thyme, rosemary or tarragon?), 450 degrees. I save the backbones and the carcass for soup. I often pile a mass of greens under the spatchcocked chicken and both cook to perfection on a preheated half sheet pan.... This week I used very fresh beet greens... Copper Pot is back from his California vacation with 3 kinds of tortellini (ham, beef or creamy corn), two kinds ofo ravioli (duck or rabbit), both sweet potato and Yukon Gold gnocchi. Cavatelli. His own Basil Pesto recipe. Mushrom ragout, jams a nd sauces. Kuhn and McLeaf Orchards will still have peaches (so, still time to can or freeze some or make some peach pies or cobblers) and white nectarines, Blue Italian Plums for baking, red, orange and yellow watermelons, sweet potatoes, white and red potatoes, eggplant Asian and Bartlett Pears (they were very juicy last week), lots of apples: Honeycrisp, Gingergold, Gala, Liberty Ambrosia, Jonamac, Jonathan, Cortland, Rambo, Jonagold, Idared. yes, she still has both red and yellow raspberries and those small, sweet Seascape strawberries. Heirloom tomatoes, shallots, tomatillos, Haricots verts, red and cipollini onons, okra, cherry tomatoes, Cheese and italian frying peppers (great with Truck patch sausage), 4 kinds of winter squash and pie pumpkins. Red and green Kale. Truck Patch has had excellent string beans and very good spinach, mixed salads, heirloom tomatoes, field tomatoes, and lots of pastured pork, grass fed beef, eggs. Pre order their pastured chickens at market@truckpatchfarm.com. I bought a large cantaloupe from them last week and I was delighted to find that it was sweet and not at all watery. Usually, I prefer the small ones, but these were quite good. I am usually not a fan of acorn sqush, but Mountain View has converted me with two varieties. The Thelma Sanders is a pale gold, elongated acorn sized squash and very much like a sweet potato in flavor. But with tastier- than - acorn squash seeds. First time I have cooked it and it is a winner. I roasted olive oil slicked cubes on a sheet pan. Tossed with salt and a bit of rosemary. Excellent. I have forgotten the name of the other one but it is Japanese, a blue green, deeply ridged, flattened round. It looks like a piece of Japanese folk ceramic and it tastes more like a butternut than an acorn. I baked it whole and scooped it, drizzled some of the chicken drippings on it. Yum. Eggs. Lots of greens and peppers and summer to Fall veg. Garner has lots of winter squash. I roasted three trays of their heirlooms and froze 15 bags for winter use. As Dean has said, the heirlooms have more water, but I saved that for soups all week. Arugula, lettuce mixes. Three kinds of beans. Shelled limas. Eggplant. Cucumbers. radishes, summer squashes, red and white potatoes Dolcezza is both scooping gelato and sorbeto for enjoying at the market and packing in recyclable styrofoam pints and half pints to keep cold while you shop. Methley Plum was good last week. Cherry Glen chevre and their soft ripened Monocracy and other award winners are at market every single week. I like to use chevre instead of cream with cooked greens. And Faucher Meadow Flowers, Chez Hareg, Panorama breads. I had the half baguette last Sunday. It was very flavorful even on a rainy day which does no bread any favors....

Here is a very good price on excellent chickens Saturday at 14&U FM. Sale on large, pastured, Italian breed of chickens (smaller breasts, long legs) at Pecan Meadow Saturday at 14&U FM. 6 pounds or larger, $3.00 per pound. (The regular price is $3.75 per pound) Reserve by emailing Lois Shirk at bluemountainbeef@juno.com I roast these chickens every week and they have real chicken flavor -- Robin

On Saturday you can hit up 14&U, Mt Pleasant, Columbia Heights and Silver Spring in one long morning orgy of FMing. AT 14&U we will have goat cheeses, whoopie pies and other Pa baking, a sale on chicken legs and thighs, grass fed beef, lamb, goat, pastured pork, chicken, duck. Vegan and Classical French pastries. Dolcezza gelato and Sorbet. Shelled Black eyed peas and limas. Shallots, tomatillos, fennel, leeks. lots of cukes. Very good peppers. Corn, tomatoes and the usual veg....

BFM Sunday the 22nd... I could not say this better so let the blog about preserves, Saving the Season, say it for me.... "August is the season of goodness, of pause and of wonder. Its table is abundant and its vibrant flavors seasoned by the poignant knowledge that September will soon bring apples, grapes, and cool nights—autumn. What's best is that there's nothing easier than eating out of the August garden. I like to say that summer food is less about cooking than it is about cutting up. Recipes take less than a full breath to explain. Corn? Cut it off the cob and warm in butter. Zucchini? Boil little ones whole, cut into rounds and toss with lemon juice. Peppers? Char over a hot wood fire, peel and slice into strips. Tomatoes and melons don’t even need heat, just carve into chunks and serve. The best of August canning is almost as simple. I’ve been talking all summer about white peaches in lavender syrup. Here, at long last, is the recipe. If you do no other canning this summer, will you promise me that you’ll put up a few peaches?" WHITE PEACHES IN LAVENDER SYRUP-- 8 pounds white peaches 8 cups water 4 cups sugar (this is to make a light syrup—something about the weight of raw apple cider. You can add as much sugar as you want, up to 8 cups, for a thicker syrup reminiscent of the heavy sauce in those cans of cling peach halves your mother served you with a scoop of cottage cheese when you stayed home sick from school.) 2 stems of dried lavender flowers (probably about 1 teaspoon of flowerets off the stem. Careful not to overdo it: lavender is potent and all you want in the syrup is a passing thought of the aroma.) (Note from Robin: 1 combine sugar, water and lavender in a heavy pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and hold at a bare simmer. 2 peel the peaches: working in small batches, blanch the peaches in a large pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove and set aside. (Some people plunge peaches in cold water to arrest the cooking and cause the skins to blister, but I don’t find it makes much difference whether you do or not.) When cool enough to handle, gently slip the peaches out of their skins. Half each one, using the edge of your knife to carefully pry it apart at the cut. Remove pits. 3 pack peaches into quart jars: lay in two or three peach halves, seed side down, then ladle in syrup almost to cover. Gently shake jar to settle the peaches into the syrups, then add another layer or two of peaches and ladle in more syrup. Repeat until full. Leave a generous ?” head space. Seal the jars and process in a boiling-water bath for 30 minutes. YIELD 8 pounds of peaches yielded 6 quarts NOTES This are so tasty you can hardly believe it. Next time, though, I’d like to try making better use of shelf space so I think I’ll slice the peaches and pack them in pint jars to see if I can’t get more in. I also want to experiment with cooking the peaches first to make them shed some liquid before packing, thus reducing shrinkage. The incomparable Edna Lewis suggests fully cooking the peaches first, then packing them in carefully sterilized jars so as to avoid subjecting them to further heat in a hot-water bath. My link I can't help thinking about LAMB while I I am here in Provence because lamb is the preferred meat of Provence (along with pork, of course and pork fat! The Med diet has always relied very heavily on pork fat, a point that many of the folks who fear pork and praise olive oil conveniently ignore. Every family had a pig or two they slaughtered in the winter and they eat every bit of it) But lamb is the meat of choice around here in 2010 and it is everywhere. More varieties of lamb cutlets and chops than we generally see in the US, slices of lamb gigot to grill, slices of lamb poitrine (breast) to barbecue (it looks like thick slabs of bacon), lamb sausages (yea, merguez!),, Boned lamb shoulder to stuff and braise.. Kebabs, of course. So, I am very glad that we have New Asbury Lamb every other week at BFM. And they are here this week with coolers fllled with all the cuts from two lambs. (They are also looking into making merguez) MORE new fermented pickles and charcuterie with LUKE at North Mountain Pastures including pink beet kimchi. Reid has Cresthaven peaches, table grapes, blackberries and many varieties of apples. Reid Orchard: This week's new peach this week is Cresthaven , an older variety with good flavor. White Lady peaches, plums, nectarines, blackberries, Aurora blueberries, seedless table grapes, and Concord type Buffalo grapes – with seeds, wonderful flavor, first picking.The dry hot weather makes flavorful heirloom tomatoes. Apples this week: Paula Red, Ginger Gold, Zesta, Summer Rambo, Summer Treat, Gravenstein, Tsugaru. And Garner and TRuck Patch and Snow Bear and Panorama and Chez Hareg and Dolcezza and Keswick!

Hi everyone, What's beem popular in Provence this year? Both the spicy pink beet and tomato gazpachos have been a bit hit this year. The new Cucumber-grape Gazpacho (on our facebook page) seduced a tableful of dinner guests. The baked eggplant fans are always a success. They also like my zucchini “faux pasta” made from strips of squash. And this year I have been wowing people with a new appetizer: smoky eggplant cream bruschetta. Grill Eggplant until the skin blisters and the flesh collapses. (At the same time grill a whole big head of garlic until blackened.) Scrape out the flesh (discard the blackened skin) and puree the eggplant with the now soft roasted garlic, olive oil and a touch of lemon, salt. This makes a very smooth, smoky topping for grilled bread or slices of cucumber. Top with a bit of crushed black olives or pimenton. Try a CRUSTLESS ZUCCHINI QUICHE; I grated a mountain of zucchini and yellow zephyr zucchini and cooked them slowly in olive oil with one garlic clove until the water evaporates and they nearly dissolve.. This will net you a bit more than a pound of caramelized zucchini.) I beat 8 farm eggs with 1/3 cup of whole milk and a bit of cream, add some herbes de provence. Mix in the zucchini and then poured the mixture into a round gratin dish that you line with parchment pepper. Into a 450 oven for 35 minutes until the custard set and browns on top. Unmold it and put it on a large white platter. it looks lovely NEW this week: 4 Different Sweet Potatoes at Mountain View. Grill them in slices or whole. Season with lime and cumin, salt and pepper. Seriously good. And they make wonderful fries… Fingerling potatoes at MtV. The French answer to steamed potatoes. Top with olive oil and chopped parsley. Try some tarragon with it and chives… Lamb Sausage and Sweet Italian Sausage at Pecan Meadow Muscovy Duck for the first time this year -- whole and breast Chicken – whole and in parts -- pre order at bluemountainbeef@juno.com HOW DOLCEZZA CONCOCTS THEIR GELATO AND SORBETO. When I made my official visit, they were cutting up bushels of local white nectarines. It was quietly impressive to see how those hundreds of pounds of fruit were “spun” into their profoundly flavorful gelato and sorbet. Last year they created 375 different seasonal gelatos and sorbets, inspired by the best fruits and cheeses and even some veggies of our region week by week. Now they are scooping for eating at the market or selling take home gelato in sturdy, cold proof containers that will last for two hours. Speaking of fresh fruit: Recipe Tips for Peaches: l. Here’s a great white peach salad with scallions, mint, caramelized walnuts and baby arugula. Dressing: lime juice, rice vinegar, walnut and olive oil, salt and pepper.. 2. Joshua Whigham used to make this dish at Bar Pilar: dice ripe peaches and tomatoes with a splash of vinegar and olive oil and serve with green beans! MOUNTAIN VIEW (No Pesticides—ever. Their farm is on an environmental preserve and they use very ecological growing techniques) Be sure to come earlyish for their Grass Range Eggs. My favorite eggplant is their violet Rosa Bianca. It has a mild, creamy consistency and is never bitter. Asian eggplants. Swiss Chard, Tons of beautiful heirloom tomatoes and Cherry Toms. Peppers: Hot Peppers, of course, Hungarian yellows wax, Jimmy Nardellos,Bulgarian carrot, Super Chilio, Thai. Beets, Cucumbers, Squash, Leeks, Storage and Bunching Onions. Basil. Robin’s Provencal Cooking Tip: Slice Rosa Bianca eggplant into 1/3 inch slices. Brush with olive oil and bake on a cookie sheet or hotel pan until brown on both sides. (400 degree oven). Sprinkle with cut herbs and serve. ADDICTIVE. Top with yogurt or cheese or diced tomatoes or a combo of fresh tomato sauce and cheese. Makes great sandwiches, too. Pecan Meadow: Daniel’s half- Italian Piedmontese beef is grass- fed and finished and has a deep, beefy flavor. Excellent steaks, hamburgers, and all cuts of roasts. GRASS RANGING Eggs. Look out for Lois’ wonderful traditional Pennsylvania baking. KUHN: peaches & nectarines, yellow and white, flat peaches, three plum varieties, blackberries, raspberries tomatoes, cherry tomatoes. tomatillos to make your favorite Mexican Salsa Verde, onions, shallots, fennel, edamame, basil, cucumbers. NEW- Ginger Gold and Zestar Apples MCCLEAF: Try your own taste test among McCleaf and Kuhn’s yellow and white nectarines and peaches, donut peaches, red and new potatoes, kale, cucumbers, plums, green beans kale, Swiss chard, heirloom tomatoes, okra, eggplant plant, onions - yellow and red, beets, squash - yellow and green, green peppers, and ginger gold apples. COPPER POT: Stock up for the next two weeks. Stefano is going on vacation The Jams: cherry bourbon, red beets and rhubarb, Bellini (peach and proscecco), apricot rosemary, strawberry vanilla, blackberry ginger. The sauces: Virginia blended tomato sauce and smoky bacon and Parmesan sauce, Shallots and Barolo. The pastas this week: duck ravioli, rabbit ravioli, beer can chicken, eggplant/ricotta ravioli, creamy corn tortellini and gnocchi. TRUCK PATCH: Lettuce, arugula, red chard, curly green kale. Slice some pesticide-free rainbow tomatoes on top of those greens. What a choice of colors: Aunt Ruby Green,, Black Krim, Striped German, Amana Orange, Great White Green Zebra, Black Prince, chocolate cherries, sungold. Truck Patch tarragon is the secret ingredient in my three bean salad from their beans: green beans, purple beans and yellow wax beans here. My favorite pale green Kousa squash. Mint, Chives, Dill, Basil. Brian is breeding juicier and juicier pork. Try his fresh chops and roasts, both with and without out bones. And of sausages: sage, Italian, Bratwurst, Kielbasa, Country. Grass fed Angus beef, too! EGGS. FAUCHER MEADOWS: Tuberoses, hydrangeas, zinnias from just a few miles away in Great Falls. PANORAMA: Rustique bread, Olive oil buns, rye, pumpernickel, whole wheat, sliced and whole. Sour dough, French, baguettes and whole grain rolls. Croissants, sticky buns. Muffins should be back this week. Loic has been tinkering with them.... GARNER: Make 3 bean salad with green beans, yellow wax beans, roma. Red King Arthur peppers and Yellow Early Sensation peppers sweet corn this week. Okra and onions, too. Tomatillos for salsa. Plus sweet corn, cherry tomatoes: minicharm, chocolate cherry, grape, sun gold, green beans, yellow wax, roma; white superior potatoes, eggplant: big purple, ghost buster, neon, bega; peppers and squash of the rainbow hues, okra, squash, , cantaloups, watermelons, cukes. CHERRY GLEN: Want a little taste of Provence? Try Cherry Glen’s chevre or aged goat cheeses with a tomato salad! Bread and Saute a round of chevre. Serve it over arugula. We eat goat cheese with every lunch and dinner here. CHEZ HAREG: Where Classic French pastry and Vegan meet. Try both versions of their cult classic Lemon Bars. ______________________________________________________________________

so glad to hear you liked the beef tesa. And with all the rain my market managers emailed me about today, I thought that there would be tons leftover, so I am glad that people braved the rain to try Luke's fabulous new products. And I am REALLY glad you found cilantro because it is not always available as you found at Dupont. It is hard to grow, for some reason. Robin

"Cured meats are like aged cheeses. They have distinctive flavors based on their curing environment. Our bresaola today had a deep nutty flavor similar to a great aged cheddar. Our dry cured beef pairs well with Keswick's carrock and a great red wine!" From North Mountain Pastures FB page -- by Luke Hall who is working on the farm and making the pickles and cured meats. He will be the sales staff at the stand on Sunday and can tell you everything about the pickles and charcuterie.

If you missed the introduction of our new producer last week, do stop by on Sunday to try their traditionally fermented pickles, kimchee and cured meats! Garlicky Dill pickles, Lardo, Salo, Italian cured Beef or Pork Tesa at North Mt Pastures. Create an interesting Cheese & Charcuterie Platter for lunch or pre dinner or a picnic with a selection of Keswick hard cheeses, NMP’s pickles and Copper Pots Savory Jams (Apricot and Rosemary, fx) and some cured meats, too. Don’t forget to add some Reid Grapes to it. Purple Lovers: Color-coordinate a meal with purple potatoes, purple peppers, eggplant, Prudence Purple tomatoes with purple basil and blueberries. Snow Bear’s German Butterball Potatoes might make you forsake Yukon Gold. Dolcezza is scooping gelato at market as well as sending it home in a heat proof recyclable styrafoam package. 100 ways to use Tomatoes at http://www.endlesssimmer.com/2010/08/09/100-ways-to-use-a-tomato/ LUKE, THE PICKLE MAN, is at the new North Mountain Pastures stand with Garlicky Dill pickles and A Kick in the Pickle cukes (spicy!), Kimchi, and more pickled beets. In their cured meat department (pastured beef and pork) are lots of new choices: lardo, salo (a ukrainian cured fatback). In Italy they smear the lardo on bread like butter. Use the salo as you would a ham hock. Excellent with beans. Luke sautes salo with eggplant. chicken, and other leftovers for a real tasty summer stir fry. The cured dry beef Bresaola is back (remember to serve it spread out on a platter and drizzled with olive oil, lemon and crushed black pepper. Add a few curls of parmesan as well. And now there are two kinds of rosemary and red wine- flavored Italian Tesa – beef or pork. Tip: The pickled beets will be perfect for making that Polish beet gazpacho, Chlodnik -- and you should use Keswick yogurt (recipe on our facebook page) Other ideas for the pickles: Cheese and pickles sandwiches, perhaps. KESWICK: feta to go with all the tomatoes, beer washed artisanal tommes, cheddars, vermeers, dragonsbreath, my very favorite yogurt, Austrian style quark (what cream cheese should be). 15 or 20 different cheeses every single week, all from the Jersey cows that Melanie and her family have been raising for 30 years. Painted Hand: Sandy has the goat, the rose veal, eggs -- all pastured or browsed in the case of her exceptional goat. DOLCEZZA: Did you know that Dolcezza is now scooping at market for your pleasure? No more worries about melting the Lemon Opal Basil Sorbet before you get it home! They come in a recyclable styrofoam package now that keeps it frozen for two hours. Take that, Dog Days of August! REID: This week's harvest of peaches: yellow peaches "John Boy" and white peaches "White Lady." A variety of European and Asian rootstock plums; yellow nectarines; yellow donut peaches; blackberries; seedless grapes; "Aurora" blueberries; a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes. The onslaught of apples has begun : Reid has both heirloom and modern varieties -- a huge selection throughout the season starting now. Apples: Paula Red, Ginger Gold, Zesta, Summer Rambo, Summer Treat, Gravenstein, Sansa, Tsugaru. SnowBear -- Organic (certified naturally grown). New this week: Arugula. German Butterball Potatoes might make you forsake Yukon Golds. Dark Red Norlands. Did you know that the Purple Potatoes may have the same protective phytochemicals as blueberries? Sweet yellow and red sweet onions. Spicy Chesnok Red garlic and German Porcelain, fresh green, purple and yellow eans okra, Mountains of tomatoes, tomatillos, cukes, fennel, beets, orange carrots, big white scaliions, red, yellow and white chard. GARNER's PRODUCE: Corn, tomatoes both heirloom and field, cherry and not, red, orange, yellow, purple peppers, sweet and hot green as well. Eggplants: Asian, Italian, Japanese, White. Cukes. Red and White New Potatoes. 6 varieties of summer squash in shades of yellow and greens,okra and LOTS of tomatoes. Truck Patch Farms: They should be certified Organic later this year. A rainbow of heirloom toms: Cherokee Purple, Amana Orange, German Stripey, Black Krim, Pruden’s Purple, Aunt Ruby Green, Wapsinki Peach, Great White. Chocolate Cherry, Sungold, and Sweet Millionaire cherry tomatoes. Bryan farms the tomato plants dry for a intense flavor. (This will be the closest we get to the California dry -farmed tomatoes I raved about last October from Santa Cruz. ) Sugar Baby watermelons, red seedless watermelons, and cantaloupes. Regular slicing and pickling cucumbers, long skinny Asian cucumbers. Black, purple and white eggplants, both Italian and Asian. Hot peppers and bell peppers. Summer squash and green and yellow beans. Greens: salad mix, arugula, spinach, kale, Swiss chard. Radishes and beets with their greens. Cut herbs –lemon basil (which I dry quickly upside down in a closet and use within a few weeks), purple basil and te traditional Pesto basil, Genovese and mint, chives, garlic chives, oregano, sage, thyme. Sunflowers. Truck Patch Farms Meats: Eggs, pastured Pork and grass fed Angus beef. Chickens if you pre-order at order@truckpatchfarms.com. Ground beef and patties, ground pork, loose sausage, and ground ham. Sausages: Polish sausage, sage, celery, applewurst, country hot, mild and hot Italian, sweet Italian with fennel, kielbasa, bratwurst. Steaks, chops and tenderloins, spare ribs, baby back ribs, pork shoulder. Breakfast sausage and bacon. PANORAMA: baguettes, breakfast breads, pumpernickel, whole wheat, rye, rolls, brioche, muffins. CHEZ HAREG: Not just a French baker, but also a French VEGAN baker. Try the new Vegan version of her cult classic, Lemon Bar. COPPER POT:Stefano has a cucumber soup with a spicy oil to give it a kick. Bruscetta. Salsa. Caponata Eggplant Salad. Barbecued Ber Can Chicken. Corn, Duck, RAbbit pastas. Jams with that Italian attitude that he crafted to pair with Keswick Cheese and our local meats. . Sauces from Garner tomatoes. FREE FM BIKE CLINIC WITH DAN FOR KIDS AND ADULTS– Sunday will be a good day to tune up your bike and ride in the temperate weather

I am in Provence for a few weeks and I just came back from the localish market 20 kms away. Five goat cheese stands and long lines at each of them. Everyone eats goat cheese all summer long here. There are no cows in our region and goat cheese is the local cheese. Fresh, cremeux, affine -- various degrees of maturity. I always wonder why Americans don't eat more goat cheese and I am glad we have Cherry Glen at 14&U. The other day someone served a tomato "crumble" baked in the oven with parmesan and with it fresh chevre whipped with some cream. It was quite good. Chevre is baked and drizzled with lavender honey for dessert, it is sauteed and served on salad, it is eaten after every meal as part of the cheese plate. KUHN'S ORCHARDS: Bounty Peaches, 'Sugar Giant' White Peaches, Redgold and White Nectarines, Saturn and Yellow Flat Peaches Satsuma Plums, Fortune Plums (SYDNEY SAYS; BEST PLUMS ON THE FARM, Long John Blue Italian Plums for baking (I just had a plum tart tonight at dinner), Gingergold, Zestar and Rambo Apples, Red and Yellow Raspberries, Blackberries...and they are bringing back the strawberry season with seascape Strawberries. Tigger, Canary and Snow Leopard Honeydew Melons. Mini Watermelon and mini Cantaloupe for single servings On the Veggie side, Heirloom tomatoes, shallots, German White Garlic, French Filet Beans or Haricots Verts as we call them in Provence, Tomatilos and cilantro, Carrots, Baby Artichokes, Cippolini, Candy and Red Onions, Bitter Melon for Indian curries, OKra, Cherry MCCLEAF ORCHARDS: red and green kale (Dino's has been buying for the restaurant -- try some and find out why), swiss chard, red and white onions, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red and white potatoes, seedless watermelons, cantaloupes, white and yellow peaches, white nectarines, green, white and yellow donut peaches, cameo, ginger gold, and zestar apples, okra, blackberries, sweet corn, cucumbers, eggplant - ghost buster, heirloom and dark purple, summer squash. MOUNTAIN VIEW: CERTIFIED Naturally grown, an organic designation for small farmers. Check out the table of their cherry tomatoes. They are like rubies. Attila is a pepper maven. Eggplants. Unusual varieties of squash. Chards. And lots more. PECAN MEADOW: Chicken and Duck Eggs. Lois' Traditional Pennsylvania baked goods and cookies and sweet breads. Grass -fed -and -finished half Piedmontese Beef, Lamb, Goat. You can pre order Italian Chicken (including boneless, skinless breasts, legs &thighs, wings, backs), Duck. TRUCK PATH: Grass-fed Angus beef in all cuts, pastured pork (sausages, ribs, ground, chops), eggs, goat and salad greens and even more TOMATOES. Bryan waters them very little to get a concentrated tomato flavor. It is not quite the famous California dry farming, but the closest we get on the East Coast. Should be certified organic later this year. GARNER's PRODUCE: Corn, tomatoes both heirloom and field, cherry and not, red, orange, yellow, purple peppers, sweet and hot green as well. Egplants:Asian, Italian, Japanese, White. Cukes. Red and White New Potatoes. 6 varieties of summer squash in shades of yellow and greens, okra and LOTS of tomatoes. DOLCEZZA: Now scooping at market for your pleasure and protecting your take- home gelato and sorbet with new recyclable styrofoam containers that will keep them solidly frozen while you shop. No more worries about melting the Lemon Opal Basil Sorbet before you get it home PANORAMA: baguettes, breakfast breads, pumpernickel, whole wheat, rye, rolls, brioche, muffins. CHEZ HAREG: Not just a French baker, but also a French VEGAN baker. Try the new Vegan version of her cult classic, Lemon Bar. FAUCHER MEADOWS: Long-Life Meadow flowers from a Great Falls Garden: Celosia, Hydrangeas, Sunflowers and Zinnias. COPPER POT: Stefano has a cucumber soup with a spicy oil to give it a kick. Bruscetta. Salsa. Caponata Eggplant Salad. Barbecued Ber Can Chicken. Corn, Duck, RAbbit pastas. Jams with that Italian attitutde. Sauces.

Dean, and you have been buying seconds in bulk, right?

r, Thanks to everyone who came to market today to see the new producer. Luke tells me that they sold out of all the pickles they brougth to market. More next week if you missed them.

Glad you did so well, Dean! And you are doing exactly the right thing-- buying in quantity what is at peak season and in glut. And buying good quality seconds for sauces and preserving. That is the way to get good stuff at great prices. Garner is offering incredible deals on those tomatoes. McCleaf has a green thumb for Kale, indeed. I keep asking Corey what they are doing to grow such flavorful kale, but he says there are no secret ingredients in his patch. So, I don't know WHY his kale is so good, but it is. I saw it in the field and it looked like everyone's else's kale, but it sure tastes different.

The Crazy Tomato Sale continues at Garner (see details in last week's post) but the big story THIS week is our new producer, North Mountain Pastures. Luke will be bringing an excellent Kimchi, pickled turnips, pickled beets, spicy cucumbers, plus two kinds of cured meat. Braseola and a Italian style bacon cured with rosemary and red wine. The pickles are fermented the old fashioned way -- no vinegar. ALSO NEW: Dolcezza will be scooping two flavors/two scoops "for here at the market" for $4.00 Pints "to go" for $11 packed in recycled styrofoam containers so they last 2 hours featuring Lemon Opal Basil sorbetto, Santa Rosa Plum sorbetto, White Peach Prosecco sorbetto, Blackberries and Cream gelato, Lemon Ricotta Cardamom gelato and Valrhona Chocolate Amargo gelato. New Asbury is running 10 pound lamb shoulder on sale (think pulled, smoked lamb)for 9.50 a pound. They will NOT have this size ever again. And several 7.5 pound legs for $10 per pound. Reserve one by email to info@newasburyfarm.com Reid: yellow and white peaches, nectarines, a variety of plums (santa rosa, shiro, methley, duarte) blackberries, a handful of blueberries, raspberries, apples (summer treat, ginger gold, paula red, zesta, and rambo), andlots of heirloom tomatoes. SnowBear (same as last week) Copper Pot: Duck, rabbit, Barbecued Beer Can chicken, corn, eggplant and ricotta ravioli plus fondue and truffle beef tortellini gnocchi Jam and sauces, Caponata, tomato bruschetta, marinated red peppers and basil pesto ,Cold creamy corn soup with spicy oil. Plus Chez Hareg and Panorama's baked goods Truck Patch: LOTS of hybrid tomatoes that have never seen as spray. Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Pruden’s Purple, Amana Orange, German Striped, Aunt Ruby Green, Wapsinki Peach, Great White, and more. Chocolate Cherry, Sungold, and Sweet Millionaire cherry tomatoes . Bryan keeps the tomato plants dry for the most intense flavor. . Regular slicing and pickling cucumbers, long skinny Asian cucumbers. Black, purple and white eggplants, both Italian and Asian. Hot peppers and bell peppers. Summer squash and green and yellow beans. Greens: salad mix, arugula, spinach, kale, Swiss chard. Radishes and beets with their greens. Cut herbs – lemon basil, purple basil and more intense Genovese and big leaf Italian, and mint, chives, garlic chives, oregano, sage, thyme. Sunflowers. Truck Patch expects to be certified organic this year. Also, lots of pastured pork and grass fed Angus beef. e

14&U FM Saturday of Dog Days August 8th Sidewalk Sale 9-1 14th and U Streets NW (sidewalk of the Reeves Center) At the market the DC Food Bloggers will be doing back- to back -Cooking Demos all day from 10-1! Here is the program: * 10 AM Olga Berman - mangotomato.blogspot.com will create a Raw Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese. * 10:45AM Alejandra Owens - alejandraowens.wordpress.com has Goat Cheesecake and No bake Lasagne. * 11:30 Tammy Gordon - Floridagirlindc.blogspot.com is on with a Farmers Market Summer Confetti * 12:15 Sylvie Nguyen - Thriftydccook.com is doing a delicious Thai Beef Salad DOLCEZZA will be scooping gelato and sorbet to enjoy while you shop. And to take home, they have new containers that will keep your frozen delights really COLD for two hours while you shop. LIKE CHICKEN WINGS? Pecan Meadow has a HUGE Sale. Buy a pound, get a pound free. WANT TOMATOES FOR 50 CENTS A POUND? Reserve a 25 pound box for just 12 dollars at dboyle AT garnersproduce DOT com. (Make Bloody Marys, blend up Gazpacho, Roast tomatoes and freeze them or can your favorite sauce. Sweet Tooth? Chocolate Chip Cookies, Molasses Cookies, Carrot Cupcakes, croissants, muffins, Vegan and Classic French cookies, lemon bars.... Try Kuhn's favorite "REDGOLD Nectarines"--Sydney says it is the best fruit on the farm. Plus: Duck rabbit BBC chicken corn eggplant and ricotta ravioli plus fondue and truffle beef tortellini gnocchi Jam and sauces, Caponata tomato bruschetta marinated red peppers and basil pesto, Cold creamy corn soup with spicy oil Tons of tomatoes of all pedigrees, cherry and heirloom, peppers both hot and sweet,chard, garlic, onions in rainbow hues, shallots, leeks, French filet beans, Fennel, baby artichokes, potatoes, basil, leek, okra, bitter melon summer squash,carrot pecan bread, zucchini bread, lisianthus, hydrangea, zinnas, celosias, sunflowers, Basil, Cilantro, Dill.... White, Yellow and Saturn Peaches, Red and yellow raspberries, blueberries, Early eating Apples like GingerGold and Zestar, 4 types of plums,Seascape Strawberries, melons and watermelons,

I recommend it to people all the time but they hardly ever go. Is it the location, the name.? People always tell me that they think it will be stodgy food, but it is quite the opposite. Tony Conte is very inventive.

they seem to be testing flank steaks instead of the hanger steak. I had that Thursday night and it was very flavorful.

Garner told me today at market at BFM that he WILL definitely have 25 pound boxes for 12 dollars = tomatoes for people who email him this week. dboyle AT garnersproduce DOT com. Be sure to add WHICH market you want to attend, 14&U Saturday or Bloomingdale (BFM) Sunday. It WAS hot and I think it felt even hotter today at BFM. Truck Patch is running good prices on heirlooms, btw.

The big story at BFM, as at 14&U, is Garner's crazy cheap sale on sauce tomatoes, ie good quality seconds. 12 bucks for a 25 pound box so that you can gazpacho, slow roast, can, freeze, jam, chutney to your hearts content for pennies.Just promise me you will not put them in the fridge before you cook them. Why Gazpacho tastes better cold even though tomatoes should never be cold is a mystery to me. Maybe we will have to ask Harold McGee or Herve This or Shirley Corriher to figure it out for us. Also, New Asbury Lamb is back this week with their coolers full of every cut of lamb because they somehow got their butcher to agree to process 7 lambs weeks before he said he would. So, now is the time to stock up. I am very partial to their shoulder chops and their butterflied leg of lamb for the grill. As you all have read too many times, they are a very tiny farm and they can only come twice a month, but they raise the best lamb I know. (Ask Stefano, he uses their lamb all the time in his pastas.) And special treat for Heather and other fans of pickled foods. We are adding an new producer next week but he will have some previews jars of his superb kimchee and fermented traditonal "pickled" vegetables. He will be at Painted Hand's stand. The kimchee is wonderful, fx. So, come try. I am sure that I am not the only Donrockwellian who would sneak her finger repeatedly into the pickle barrel to suck up that juice while she waited for mother to buy white fish and bagels on the Upper West Side. This is the same kind of pleasure. In the Apple world, Reid will have the first of the Early Gold eating apples and I fell for the Ginger Gold like Pristines last week. Don't miss them. On the other hand, her yellow peaches were, indeed, fantastic. This insane heat and drought does alchemical magic with our stone fruit. Apricots have been very good and they can be pretty boring in a normal year. Otherwise, the market will be brimming with all the summer fruits and melons and vegetables. And lots of pork, beef, goat and lamb. Eggs if you come early because no matter how many we have, they always sell out. Keswic's yogurt has become a summertime necessity. I used to buy one quart a week but I need at least two now for all the fruit salads and soups and just because yogurt makes the base or addition to some many summer meals. Chez Hareg has local blueberry pies and peach cobblers and her very good lemon squares (see the link to a rave review from an Eckinigton customer over at this week's 14&U post.) And I end with a mountain of colorful heirloom tomatoes at Truck Patch, Reid, Sun Bear and Garner. I will miss them in Provence where I am heading next week. The tomatoes are not as good and not as colorful. So, slice some tomatoes, toss with minced shallots, salt, drizzle with olive oil, scatter on the basil. I will be doing that in Provence, but you will have the better salad platter if you buy them here. (yes, I will continue to post weekly from Provence. Still working on the markets, just in a different house far away).

The story this week has to be the HUGE Tomato sale on sauce tomatoes -- ie good quality seconds.--I will be making gazpachos, slow roasting them and freezing them Sunday or Monday. Can them, Make sauce. Cook them into tomato Jam. etc. A 25 pound box for 12 dollars, which is amazing. Less than 50 cents a pound. Email Garner RIGHT NOW if you want them although I am sure he will have extra boxes at the market anyway. dboyle AT garnersproduce DOT com. If you don't get them on Saturday, then order for Sunday pickup at BFM (Bloomingdale Farmers' Market at First and R Streets NW) A few highlights from this week's market. Otherwise, we will be awash in a rainbow: of brightly colored heirloom tomatoes (black Krim, Prudence Purple, Amana Orange, German Striped, Chocolate Cherry, Sun Gold and Sweet Millionaire Cherry Toms); red, yellow, orange, white, green peppers: green, yellow,purple beans, many colors of onions. All those Asian and Euro eggplants from white to pale green to deep aubergine. Lots of corn, of course and mountains of peaches and nectarines and apricots. Local Blueberry pies and local peach cobblers at Chez Hareg Oh, and please read this charming story of how one Eckington woman discoverd Hareg's lemon squares: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eckington/message/16936 There is so much more from shallots to fennel to leeks, tomatillos, baby artichokes, beets, radishes, 5 kinds of basil, mints, sage, oregano, thyme, chives.

And if you would like to have food trucks make foods from local foods and serve them at farmers markets, be sure to tell them that -- Robin

Bernard had them the last two weeks but you can email to find out: dboyle AT garnersproduce DOT com