FoodieTots.com

Last weekend, the toddler and I wrapped up the Maryland/WaPo Eat Local Challenge week with a tour of the farmstands and markets of the Chesapeake shores. The husband was away for work, so I thought the boy and I would fake a beach trip with day-trips to the Bay.

On Friday nights, the town of North Beach in Southern Maryland hosts a farmers market and cruise in. The market was fairly small, but there were Harris peaches (so good we stopped at their farmstand off Rte. 4 again this weekend), pesticide-free corn, lots of tomatoes, melons and peppers, cheap blue crabs, and kettle corn. The toddler enjoyed the cars on display at the “Cruise In,” and we topped off our Tastee Freez dinner with kettle corn and dancing to live music as the sun set.

Saturday morning we hit the road for St. Michael’s on the Eastern Shore. Traffic got us into town just in time to catch the tail end of the market, undoubtedly the most scenic of FreshFarm’s eight area sites. There were peaches, Chapel’s Country Creamery raw milk cheese, local lamb and more. A 2-week old calf provided entertainment before the toddler selected his peach and took off to see the boats. We headed over to the Chesapeake Folk Life Festival for seafood, watermelon, Smith Island cake and more dancing.

We stopped at historic Wye Mill for local! organic! cornmeal and buckwheat flour (more on that soon), and the Councell Farms farmstand with grown-on-site sweet corn and melons of every shape, size and color. (I highly recommend this stop if you’re taking Rte. 50 to the shore — they have a farm playland for kids that includes a tractor, combine reconfigured into a slide/swing, John Deere tricycle racetrack and adorable pygmy goats.) Came home with a Blue Bonnet watermelon that is so sweet and flavorful.

I wanted to use the local grains in my meal with all this Chesapeake bounty, so I made buckwheat crepes filled with corn, tomatoes, peaches, onion and Chapel’s crab spice (Old Bay) cheddar cheese.

Recipe: Chesapeake Crepes

Corn & Peach Filling
Ingredients:

• 2 ears sweet corn, cut from ears
• 2 peaches, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 t olive oil
• 2 T fresh parsley or other herb(s)
• salt & pepper
• 1 c grated cheddar cheese

Instructions: Stir all ingredients except cheese together and let stand.

Crepes
Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 c milk
• 3/4 c buckwheat flour
• 1/4 unbleached flour
• 1/4 t salt

Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk eggs, add remaining ingredients and whisk quickly until lumps are gone. Cook in oiled crepe or frying pan over medium heat. Takes about 2-3 minutes per side, depending on the size of your pan. Remove and place on warm cookie sheet. Top each with generous scoop of filling, then cover with shredded cheese. Roll. Cook in oven 5 minutes, until cheese is just melted. Makes 6-8 crepes. Enjoy!

Notes: I made a toddler version by making mini crepes (about 2 inches in diameter), then topped with cheese and corn/peach filling for a mini pizza. This would have been improved immensely with some fresh crab meat (the Old Bay in the cheese was such a tease!), but I wasn’t able to bring back crabs since it would be a few days before I got to cook this. Next time!

This weekend, the toddler and I hit three Northern Virginia markets in honor of Virginia’s Eat Local week (Aug. 3-9) - stay tuned for a report on those. It’s also National Farmers Market Week, so visit LocalHarvest to find your closest market and check it out!

Filed under: market, one local summer, recipes, whole grains | 4 Comments »

While we unfortunately weren’t able to actually eat at Oyamel during their Squash Blossom Festival last week, there was no way I was going to miss Chef Joe Raffa’s demo and tasting at the Penn Quarter FreshFarm Market Thursday evening. I have been going to Penn Quarter on occasion for years - a former coworker and I used to go out of our way to schedule meetings downtown on Thursday afternoons to take a late lunch at the market. Like just about every other local market, it seems to have grown quite a bit from the humble beginning of about three vendors (I remember cheese, bread and soap in the early days). I had read grumblings about DC market prices being significantly higher than those in the ‘burbs, but didn’t really believe it until we picked up blueberries for the toddler at $6 a pint. That would be twice what we’ve been paying in Alexandria. Yikes! (You city-dwellers might find it worthwhile to venture across the river after all … might I suggest the Old Town market, with the free trolley service from the King Street metro.)

There were a few things at Penn Quarter we don’t have though, like the squash blossoms Sand Hill Farm brought, and the marvelous gelato by Dolcezza. I bought the lemon ricotta flavor, made with my favorite Keswick Creamery ricotta. The lemon was the perfect touch to keep it light yet flavorful. Cibola buffalo is also absent from the Alexandria markets (though I think they may be down at Kingstowne - Ramona?) See below for photos from the market.

Chef Raffa dished up a delightful squash blossom soup and watermelon agua fresca (also with squash blossoms). He was also handing out a recipe for goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms, which is how I cooked them up as soon as we got home. (No toddler review of this one, as I greedily ate them all myself! The husband was sick and doesn’t eat goat cheese anyway, his loss.)

Recipe: Flor de Calabaza Rellena de Queso de Cabra con Salsa
(Goat cheese stuffed squash blossoms with salsa)
by Chef Joe Raffa, Oyamel

Ingredients:

• Fresh salsa
• 1 lb goat cheese
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and deveined
• 1/2 c epazote leaves (I didn’t read the recipe at the market to know to buy this - so had to substitute parsley. I would suggest cilantro if you can’t find epazote, but parsley worked as well.)
• 12 squash blossoms
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• salt

Instructions: (Prepare salsa first, to allow flavors to meld while preparing the squash blossoms. I was missing several ingredients for Raffa’s salsa, so I made a simple one of corn, tomato, red onion, parsley.)

Preheat the over to 350*. Gently rinse the squash blossoms in a bowl of cold water and lightly pat dry with paper towel and set aside. Combine 1 c of the goat cheese, jalapenos and epazote in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer puree to a mixing bowl and mix in remaining goat cheese. Season with salt. Separate into 12 pieces and roll into 2-3 inch long logs. Gently pry open a squash blossom by pulling back on one of the petals and place a cheese log inside. Lightly pinch the blossom closed around the cheese. Repeat. Place the stuffed squash blossoms on a baking sheet and heat in the oven for no more than 5 minutes. The cheese should be warmed through and the blossoms should soften but not brown. Divide the salsa between 4 plates, top each with 3 squash blossoms and drizzle with olive oil. (Serves 4 - I reduced this for one serving and needed less than 4 oz. of goat cheese to fill my 3 blossoms.

This was by far my favorite meal of the summer. With a simple green salad on the side, it’s rich and creamy yet crisp and refreshing. I loved the jalapeno heat with the sweetness of the squash blossoms. Now I am desperate to get my hands on more squash blossoms to make this again!

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
Food miles: Squash blossoms, Sand Hill Farm, Greensboro, Md. (84 mi.)

Filed under: market, one local summer, recipes, weeknight meals | 12 Comments »

For local readers … if you missed Chef Raffa at market Thursday, head on over to Oyamel this weekend to catch their Sopa de Flores de Calabasa (Squash Blossom Soup) and other special treats featuring this fleeting summer ingredient!

Flor de Calabaza Rellena recipe coming soon!

Filed under: restaurants | 4 Comments »

This week, the Washington Post’s Mighty Appetite blog is hosting an Eat Local Challenge. I signed up, even though we are already doing the One Local Summer challenge, and frankly, at this time of year it’s almost more of a challenge not to eat local — at least when you spend as much time at farmers markets as we do!

The ELC challenge was simply to include 10 local items into your meals over the course of the week. The Southern Maryland “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaign, also this week, suggests adding one farm-fresh ingredient each day. Since we ate 10 local items on Saturday alone, I challenged myself to go further — no chain coffee or lunches, and eliminating some of my usual cheats. While we don’t have true local grains (mills yes, but the grains come from elsewhere), my general rule is to get locally-baked breads and pastas. For other grains, the rule is organic and/or whole grains - and if all else fails, absolutely no high fructose corn syrup. Which meant I made my pie crust from scratch this weekend, since Pillsbury meets none of those standards. I would like to make my own bread and pasta, but it’s hard to find time with a toddler who seems to get clingy whenever I head into the kitchen.

As a “foodie,” there are certain ingredients I could never give up, such as olive oil, olives, sea salt, balsamic vinegar, citrus and my Hungarian smoked paprika. The OLS challenge exempts oil, vinegar and spices, so I permit those. Whenever possible, I follow the Locavore “Terroir” rule — if local olive oil isn’t available, then buy it from regions that specialize in that product (and preferably organic and/or fair trade certified). I also try to buy my gourmet products from locally-owned shops. We have some great bakeries and shops nearby, including Cheesetique in Del Ray and Grape + Bean in Old Town, which make it easier.

I know this is a family-friendly blog, but sometimes the grown-ups enjoy an adult beverage with their meal. While I have yet to come across Virginia-produced gin, we do have a decent wine and beer selection. (And Delaware’s Dogfish Head is just slightly more than 100 mi. from us.) Virginia wines can be hit or miss though, so I stopped into Grape+Bean to see what local wines they carried.  I was told rather apologetically that they only have two at the moment, but hope to add more soon. I picked up a bottle of Thibaut & Janisson sparkling wine to enjoy this weekend. Definitely an indulgence, but I thought it would be fun to celebrate the best of local drinks along with all our peak summer produce. (Their other pick was Barboursville’s Voignier.) In addition to wine and coffee, Grape+Bean sells fresh-baked bread from Restaurant Eve. I got the most perfectly chewy loaf of olive bread yesterday to accompany last night’s pasta dinner.

Another area where we are blessed with local options is dessert. Of course, it’s not that hard to make your own frozen treats, but we have a number of locally-owned establishments who make scrumptious treats with local, farm-fresh ingredients — the Dairy Godmother, Moorenko’s and Dolcezza, to name a few. With sources like these, there’s no need to rely on those two guys from Vermont.

For those participating in the Eat Local challenge, or just taking small steps, what’s the one non-local thing you can’t give up?

Filed under: eatLocalDC, ingredients, one local summer | 4 Comments »

The first CSA tomatoes of the season arrived in our bag yesterday, which means a quick stop at Cheesetique for pasta and cheese is all that’s needed to put together a fast, fresh pasta dish.

This week, I used red pepper pappardelle. I had orange Roma tomatoes, which I quick roasted in my cast iron skillet until they were just beginning to burst. I sauteed a chopped sweet onion in olive oil, added a handful of green beans broken into 1 inch pieces, then quartered the roasted tomatoes and returned them to the pan. Simmered a few minutes longer, added salt, pepper and fresh basil, then tossed it all with the papardelle and fresh goat cheese. (I used 4 oz. goat cheese which was a little much for 4 servings of pasta - but the toddler and I love our goat cheese.)

Typically I would use garlic, but the sweet onions from our CSA have just been incredible this summer, so I thought I’d give them a turn to star.

Toddler verdict: He slurped the noodles with glee, laughing “bye bye noo-noo” after each one. But when he discovered the green beans at the bottom of his bowl, he promptly requested ketchup. When we said no, he asked for a cup of frozen peas for dessert. Such an odd little kid.

Shared with Presto Pasta Nights, created by Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Thyme for Cooking.

Filed under: pasta, recipes, weeknight meals | 4 Comments »

I have to thank everyone who shared their favorite food memories for our contest. From fresh from the field, or off the truck, sweet corn to blackberry picking in Oregon and the apple orchards of Ojai, Michigan and upstate New York; date shakes from Palm Springs and the cheese of Marin County with a family connection - it was fun to read such an array of stories. I’ve made a contribution to Farm Aid’s Family Farm Disaster Fund (tacked on an extra zero to my pledge), and judging from the number of clicks through to their site, I’m guessing a few of you did as well. So thank you for sharing and supporting our family farming friends in the Midwest!

And without further ado, our free cookbook winner - as decreed by the random integer generator - is … Lelo in Nopo! Who shares the following:

Eating local and supporting local farms was inherent to my childhood. In the fertile valleys of Southern California, some of the very best growing conditions for produce existed. I’ve written extensively about my memories on my blog, but last fall I wrote about a recent trip to an apple orchard, and how as a child, we’d visit Ojai, California, to pick apples. Today that area is so different than it was then, but my memories shape who I am, and where I put my money, today, even though I live in a different state. You can read about it here.

Visit the original post to read the other stories. Thanks everyone!

Filed under: saving family farms | 2 Comments »

Part of our local Saturday Supper, this grilled flank steak is simple, quick and perfect for entertaining. Chimichurri is an Argentinian sauce commonly served with steak. With parsley and peppers, it’s a spicier take on the traditional pesto. It also makes a great marinade to add even more flavor to your steak. Cut the grilled steak into thin slices and serve along or on top of a simple salad, or on rice or grains for a heartier meal.

Recipe: Chimichurri Flank Steak

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch parsley, rinsed and coarsely chopped
• 1 or 2 jalapeno peppers, quartered (seeds included)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1/4 t each of salt and pepper
• 1 flank steak (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs.)

Process first five ingredients in food processor until finely chopped. You may need to add additional olive oil to get the right consistency, but it should be fairly thick. Rub several tablespoons over flank steak and marinate for at least an hour. (Optional, pour 1 bottle dark Mexican beer, e.g. Negra Modelo, over steak as well.) Bring steak to room temperature while preheating grill or grill pan. Sear over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes per side for medium rare, 5 for medium. Allow to stand for several minutes after removing from the grill before slicing. Serve with the remaining chimichurri sauce on the side. Serves 4-6. Enjoy!

Filed under: proteins, weeknight meals | No Comments »

Despite the intense heat, the Alexandria markets were mobbed this weekend. I’m actually starting to prefer the West End Market over Del Ray, because DR is just too crowded this summer. And West End has more and cheaper fruit and berries. (Blueberries at Del Ray were $3.50/pt, while Papa’s at WE had them for $3/pt, $5.75/qt. or 2 qts./$11 - a savings of 75cents per pint!) You also get a wider variety by market hopping, as each farm has a slightly different growing schedule. Last week, I picked up Papa’s last two pints of blueberries and asked if that was the last of the season, but he said he’d have them for another week or two. His cherries then were labeled “last week,” so I was surprised that Toigo had them this week. One of the benefits of having farms from all around DC is that we get a longer range for most items — Virginia farms usually have things first, while Pennsylvania farmers keep bringing them for a few weeks longer.

In other Alexandria market news, Tom the Cheese Guy is headed to the Annapolis Great Grapes festival next weekend; his wife will be at the markets with only pre-cut portions of his aged cheeses. The honey stand is only coming once a month now due to winter losses this year, so if you missed them at Del Ray you’re out of luck until the 3rd weekend in August. But, Buzz Bakery keeps Virginia honey in stock in the meantime.

At Del Ray, I picked up white nectarines, peaches, tomatoes and jalapenos (D&S), sweet cherries (Toigo), blueberries, honey mushrooms, mozzarella.

At West End: apricots (last week) and blueberries (Papa’s Orchard, 2 qts./$11), cantaloupe, peppers, orange romas, sweet plums and ramp mustard (Bigg Riggs), waterlemon jelly (Crackpot Gourmet, watermelon & lemongrass).

On the menu - One Local Summer Supper: Saturday night, my in-laws were in town so I cooked a fairly simple, all-local dinner of chimichurri flank steak, buttermilk & herb marinated chicken breast, tomato mozzarella salad and potato salad. I used my patriotic potatoes from Bigg Riggs Farm (WV, 117mi.) in a German-style salad. I picked up Bigg Rigg’s ramp mustard, at Tiffany’s recommendation (check out her story of visiting Bigg Rigg’s last week!), and will definitely try this again using that mustard. Since I made this Saturday, I had to make do with non-local Guldens. Incidentally, red and blue potatoes are more pink and purple when cooked, so this would make a great summer bridal or baby shower dish as well…

Recipe: Patriotic Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 6 cups new potatoes, washed and cut into large chunks
• 1 sm sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/4 c brown mustard
• 1/2 c cider vinegar
• 1 t corn starch*
• 1 t plus 1/4 c water
• 2 T chopped fresh chives or parsley
• salt & pepper

Instructions:

Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and reduce heat, simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are just tender when pricked with fork. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pour olive oil in pan and saute onion over medium heat until translucent. Add mustard and vinegar. Stir cornstarch into 1 teaspoon water, then add to pot, along with additional 1/4 c water. Simmer for a minute until sauce thickens. Return potatoes to pan, stir to coat and add herbs, salt and pepper. Best served warm or at room temperature. Makes 6-8 servings.

*I recently discovered tapioca starch at my local natural foods store, which I used in place of the cornstarch.

For brunch on Sunday, we had the juiciest fruit salad of market-fresh cantaloupe, peaches and blueberries — plus bread with Waterlemon jelly, (deli) chicken salad, and leftover salads from the night before. Followed by … homemade cherry pie. Yum!

Filed under: market, one local summer, recipes, salad | 7 Comments »

When last we surveyed the DC-area farmers market cooks, strawberries were center stage. Now that summer is heating up, we’ve been finishing off cherry and lettuce season, and tomatoes, squash, peaches and corn are on the horizon. It’s no surprise given DC’s steamy summers that the common theme this month seems to be refreshing salads. Here’s a look at what’s locally fresh right now:

• The Food Scribe shares a summery Sugar Plum, Salad and Sorrel Salad, with Licking Bend Creek Farms’ produce from the Historic Brookland Farmers Market (Tuesdays, 4-7pm).
• The Garden Apartment dishes up a fresh and colorful Summer Salad with Herb Vinaigrette, featuring beans, potatoes and tomatoes from the Foggy Bottom FreshFarm Market (Wednesdays, 2.30-7pm).
• Knitting 40 Shades of Green scored some early blackberries for her Salad with Fennel and Blackberries, with fennel from her Food Matters CSA (VA).
• Delicious served hot or cold, don’t miss the hot pink Summer Borscht by The Houndstooth Gourmet, featuring beets from the Kingstowne Market (Fridays, 4-7pm).
• With lots of fresh eggplant at market lately, ratatouille is also popping up on the local blogs. The Arugula Files tops this one with a pesto vinaigrette and local favorite FireFly Farms chevre.
• For those wondering how to cook okra at home (like me), The Slow Cook shares a Smothered Okra recipe with okra from the Chevy Chase Market (Saturdays 9am-1pm).
• There’s so much more than just cherries out there. Check out the Wineberry Tart by FoodRockz, with berries from the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market (Sundays, 9am-1pm).
• And my recent Peachy Pork Quinoa Salad featured D&S Farm’s first peaches from the Del Ray Farmers Market (Saturdays, 8am-noon).

You’ll be amazed at the things these cooks have been doing with cherries and berries, so go check them out! (P.S. Some of you might want to check out the Sugar High Friday Berries round-up over at FoodBlogga; enter by Aug. 3 to be included.)

Join in for August! I’ve decided to make this a monthly feature. If you’re in the DC area and want to share what you’re cooking, leave a comment or email me at foodietots AT gmail DOT com. (Blog not necessary, but photos are encouraged!) Deadline for the August round-up will be Monday, August 11.

Looking for a farmers market near you? Check LocalHarvest.org. And to see what’s on the table in your area, check out the One Local Summer regional round-ups at FarmtoPhilly.

Like food? Help farmers! - Last week to comment and enter to win a free cookbook!

Filed under: eatLocalDC, market, recipes | 3 Comments »

A trip to the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market this past weekend allowed us to pick up some treats not offered at our neighborhood markets — including Cibola Farm’s buffalo hot dogs and Chesapeake Bay blue crab (soft shells and lump meat). Paired with fresh produce from the market and our CSA, we had three simple, local dinners this week (and a fourth mostly-local CSA quinoa salad).

Dinner #1: The hot dogs were served on Firehook Bakery torpedo rolls, the closest approximation to hot dog buns we could find, and caramelized sweet onions from our CSA. (Plus a dab of non-local mustard. I actually tried to order local mustard from our dairy, but the ordering system has been having problems.)

Dinner #2: Soft-shell crab sandwiches. The husband, unimpressed by the improvised hot dog buns, went to the grocery store and found that their only HFCS-free buns were also locally-made, Martin’s potato rolls of PA (104 mi.). So he won that round… Quick cornmeal-coated, pan-fried soft shells need little accompaniment other than the first field-ripened tomatoes of summer and some CSA lettuce on the bun.

Dinner #3: Pan-fried crab cakes, and quick ciabatta pizzas. Ciabatta from our neighborhood bakery (Caboose), topped with baby yellow zucchini, basil, sweet onions, and fresh ricotta.

For dessert, local eggs, gooseberries and cherries starred in a yummy clafoutis. And an added treat, our local Buzz bakery was giving away free mini honey cupcakes (with local VA honey) for “Don’t Step on a Bee Day.”

Farms/Producers:

• Buffalo - Cibola Farms, VA (73 mi.)
• Crab - Buster’s Seafood, VA (138 mi.)
• Ricotta - Keswick Creamery, PA (121 mi.)
• Onions, basil, lettuce - Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, VA (23 mi.)
• Baby zucchini - Spring Valley Farm & Orchards, WV (113 mi.

Like food? Help farmers! - Last week to comment and enter to win a free cookbook!

Filed under: one local summer, proteins, seafood | No Comments »