Market Report for May 17th

A nice and breezy morning.  Sunny with just a threat of rain.  I got up really early to get to Worthington because I got a few emails about Pop & Judy's farm and their dried beans.  Unfortunately, Pop & Judy had a little car trouble this morning, and they only had rhubarb and popcorn.  No worries, we just ran out of popcorn here at Chez Widow, and I need a lot of rhubarb for my RW Sunday Supper!  (don't get scared, you'll like it, I promise!)

I stopped by Up the Lane Cattle for some hamburger patties (it is grilling season, after all).

and then it was off to the North Market.  Where I forgot it was Race for the Cure day.  It was impossible to get a car within 7 blocks from the Market in any direction.  After a very roundabout trip, I found a parking space.  The Market wasn't exactly hopping.  This is the third of forth time I've gone to the market on Race for the Cure day and I don't remember it ever being so crazy.  At any rate, I was very happy to see Fresh Water Farms were back this week! I picked up a pound of smoked trout (swimming & smoked all within the past 48 hours, thank you very much), and discovered that they will be there on their free Saturdays; the next one will be June 14th, so mark it down and be there! 

I also stopped by a new vendor this year, Blue Jacket Cheese - they make three kinds of cheese; squeeky, salty cheddar curds (confidential to Chef Ben - any chance you'll teach me how to make putine?), tasty fresh mozzarella (somewhere between fresh in brine and sliceable; certainly a good pizza mozz), and the cheese I purchased - Gretna Grillin' Cheese, a pleasantly salty Greek-style cheese (like halloumi) which also has a slightly squeeky texture and doesn't melt.  For this reason, it goes great on the grill and also makes a really nice vegetarian entree.  It is really good with lemon juice and/or chili flakes.  The folks from Blue Jacket were very nice, offering me sample after sample of their cheese with various condiments.

Next week my mom will be joining me for my adventures!  She can't wait to buy some rhubarb of her own!

And what did you get this week?

And now, I'm off to get ready for the Aprong Gala!  I'll see you there!

Comments

[Amber]

I didn't get to do the race this year but the route actually went down Vine Street, Park Street and then Goodale. It usually just stays on High and Neil.

[Uhockey]

I've a buddy just outside Montreal who swears by poutine as the food of gods. I asked him for his family recipe and here is what I got:

Poutine is about as authentic a Canadian recipe as you can get.

1 quart peanut oil (for frying)
(1/2 cup au jus, 1 cup water, 5 Tbls. flour,
1/4 tsp. pepper, salt to taste)
5 medium potatoes, cut into fries
2 cups cheese curds

Heat oil in skillet to 185 degrees C.
Place potatoes in oil and cook to desired doneness.

Bring au juice and 1/2 cup water to a boil. Add salt/pepper to taste.

Stir flour into the other 1/2 cup water until the lumps disappear.

While still stirring slowly pour in the flour/water mixture. Allow gravy to thicken.

Remove fries to paper town plate or rack to drain.

Place the fries in a large bowl/serving dish and sprinkle cheese curd over them.

Ladle gravy over the fries and cheese, and serve hot.

He suggests this be served with Moosehead Lager, or Molson, for the "true" canadian experience.

[Bear]

Me: "They have more morels this week."

Colleen: "Do we really need them?"

Me: "Before long they'll be gone and we'll have to wait another year for more."

Colleen: (shocked expression)

So, two pints of morels. And some of that Blue Jacket mozzarella, and a couple dozen Toad Hill eggs. Guests tonight, so the morels and cheese went to a good cause.

Then we walked home with our Omega Bakery croissants, ducking through the Race for the Cure throng and desperately hoping that we don't show up on the front of some newspaper tomorrow, strolling along and munching while all those good people huff and puff past us....

[Anne]

Now I am sad that we didn't go to the North Market today!

We went straight to Worthington and picked up rhubarb (my partner tells me you were behind us in line), lettuce, bread, a giant hunk of beef from Long Meadows, asparagus, morels, homemade caramels, and some of the grilling cheese. Plus eggs and boneless skinless chicken breasts from Speckled Hen (who are doing some custom order packaging of chicken parts this year.)

My mom keeps begging me to bring her rhubarb from the market. Moms love their rhubarb!

[Marisa]

I scored some of that smoked trout too! It's delish. Also the first of the asparagus (which was AWESOME), greens, and enough basil to make a nice pesto genovese. Mmmm.

I think I was so early that I didn't see Blue Jacket Cheese. I will keep an eye out for them next week.

[Libby]

If you get a good poutine recipe, you'll have to post it here. I made it for Super Bowl Sunday last year, but I was sort of winging it. Most of the sites I found said that the gravy was like beef gravy with a bit of barbecue sauce in it, so that's what I did. I thought it was delicious, but I have no idea how authentic it is because I've never had the real thing.

[JoeV]

We went pretty late this week so we could scope out the deals at Village Valuables in German Village. We missed most of the outdoor vendors, but got shallots, asparagus, a big beet and potatoes from the Greener Grocer.