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 Wednesday, August 13.

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!

I’ve never been a huge cherry fan, but after getting reacquainted with fresh Rainier cherries I thought maybe I’d give some other varieties another try. This past weekend at the market, I picked up a quart of yellow-tinged Queen Anne cherries, slightly tart like the Rainiers. Another stand had signs saying last week for gooseberries. I’d never had gooseberries, so I snatched them up. Fortunately I read a well-timed post from The District Domestic warning about the tartness of green gooseberries before biting into one too eagerly. I decided to combine them with the cherries for yet another new-to-me experience, a cherry clafoutis. This French baked custard recipe has numerous intrepretations to choose from. I decided to start with The Garden Apartment’s fusion of Julia Child’s and Foodbeam’s recipes… I used buttermilk and more eggs, so it turned out something like this:

Recipe: Cherry-Gooseberry Clafoutis
Adapted from The Garden Apartment and others.

Ingredients:

• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t almond extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups berries (1/2 ea. gooseberries and Queen Anne cherries, halved and pitted)
• 1/4 and 1/3 cup sugar
• powdered sugar

Instructions: Toss berries with 1/4 sugar and let stand (adjust to taste; I’d use less with sweeter cherries). Preheat oven to 350*. In mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk butter, buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, almond extract, sugar, salt and flour. Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter into buttered baking dish and bake 4 minutes or until batter begins to set. Remove from oven and spread berries over batter, then pour on rest of batter. Bake for another 50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, and enjoy! (Makes 6-8 servings.)

Notes: Next time I will probably use less or omit the butter, as it turned out a little oily. Also, I would use a tart pan next time as the pan I used was much too deep. (Didn’t affect taste, but not as photogenic as it could have been!) This not-too-sweet clafoutis would be a great base for other fruits or berries too - I might try it with blackberries later this summer.

Farms/Producers: Ingredients from Dupont Circle Farmers Market, including cherries from Toigo (PA) and eggs from Smith Meadow (VA).

I had been on the hunt for Rainier cherries ever since Ramona reported buying them the weekend I was out of town. I hadn’t realized they were grown on this coast. I finally spotted some at the West End market last Sunday and snatched them up — only to discover another farmer had them cheaper. Oh well, they were worth it. I love the slight tartness and sweet aroma. Which, incidentally, pairs wonderfully with gin.

Other local highlights this week included corn and peaches appearing at our Alexandria markets (Del Ray and West End), flavorful yellow cherry tomatoes, and sweet onions in our CSA bag.

We had cherries twice Sunday, first, brunch of challah French toast with yogurt, honey and Rainier cherries:

And for dinner, grilled pork chops with Rainier cherry glaze and grilled corn-on-the-cob:

Recipe: Sweet Cherry Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 c. slightly tart cherries, Rainier or Queen Anne’s are ideal, halved and pitted
• 2 T honey
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 1 t corn starch
• 1 t water

Instructions: In small saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Dissolve corn starch in water. Gently smash cherries with back of spoon to release juices, stir in corn starch mixture and cook 1 minute more. Serve warm over pork chops, chicken or fish.

In tribute to the beginning of peach season, I bought Dogfish Head’s Festina Peche (DE, 117 mi.), a great summery brew released every year on June 1.

Another local treat was the rich and creamy, organic Moorenko’s Creme Fraiche ice cream, made in McLean, VA (15 mi.), and sold at local Whole Foods.

Other dishes using local produce this week included smashed cherry tomato fusili, and CSA salad with leftover pork, peaches, basil, sweet onions, garlic scape, basil, almonds, quinoa and lettuce.

Farmers/Producers:

• Basil, scapes, lettuce, sweet onions - Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, VA, 23mi.
• Rainier cherries - Westmoreland Berry Farm, VA, 71mi.
• Yogurt, Pequea Valley Farms, PA, 132mi.
• Honey, Toigo Orchards, PA, 114mi.
• Onions, cherry tomatoes - J&W Valley View Farm, VA, 84mi
• Pork chops - Fauquier County, VA, 67mi. (via Let’s Meat on the Avenue)

Don’t forget: share your favorite food memory and help flooded family farms!

This week, with Father’s Day on Sunday, our one local summer “day” was spread out throughout the week. For Father’s Day, the husband and I went out to an Italian cheese and meat course at Cheesetique, followed by dinner at Rustico. Rustico is a great neighborhood restaurant that sources a lot of their products from local farms and producers, and has a massive beer selection. I managed to have a fairly-local meal there, with Chesapeake (Dragon Creek) oysters, asparagus salad with FireFly goat cheese (MD, 173mi.), and the most local beer they had on tap, Southampton Ale (NY, 330mi.). (On tap = less packaging, which offsets some of the miles, right? That’s my story, anyway.)

I visited two farmers markets this week, Alexandria’s West End and Penn Quarter in DC (photos), plus had the CSA bag. We still have a fridge full of veggies to use up before the next CSA delivery on Wednesday as I just can’t pass up all the great summer produce that’s coming into season! Here’s what we cooked this week:

Dad’s Day Brunch: Pattypan squash and Virginia spicy beef sausage hash, chocolate-strawberry stuffed french toast, topped with strawberry red wine sauce. (Non-local but organic chocolate, bread from local bakery.) This squash hash is a great way to lighten the traditional potato-based dish for summer.

Recipe: Squash and Sausage Hash

Ingredients:

• 1 large pattypan squash, diced (any summer squash would work really)
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 sausages, sliced
• 1 t olive oil
• 2 T parsley, chopped

Heat oil over medium high heat. Add sausage and brown. Reduce heat to medium and add onion and squash. Cook about 5-7 minutes until squash is tender and golden. Remove from heat, add fresh parsley and serve.

(Toddler tried to like this, but the spicy beef sausage was just too spicy! Will make sure to get a sweet sausage for him next time.)

Dinner 1: garlic scape pesto-marinated flank steak and golden zucchini on the grill (non-local brown rice).

Dinner 2: leftover steak and zucchini salad, with a side of roasted asparagus, egg, and shaved Everona Stony Man cheese.

Dessert: previously mentioned Summer Solstice Shortcake with Basil-Infused Berries. (non-local flour, baking soda and salt)

So far my only local grain find is Maryland corn meal. I need to find some other grains, but I have a feeling whole grains like brown rice are not going to be possible.

Farmers/Producers:

• Parsley, scapes, lettuce - Potomac Vegetable Farms CSA, VA, 23mi.
• Asparagus, berries - Westmoreland Berry Farm, VA, 71mi.
• Stony Man (aged sheeps milk) cheese - Everona Dairy, VA, 83mi.
• Squash, onion - J&W Valley View Farm, VA, 84mi.
• Organic eggs - Hilldale Farm, VA, 111mi.
• Sausage, flank steak - Fauquier County, VA, 67mi. (via Let’s Meat on the Avenue, 1.1mi.)

I got thrown off my food blogging game by our two-day power outage followed by a weekend trip to NY. But we are back and slowly refilling the fridge, so it’s time to catch up!

I wrote previously about our June 1 Del Ray (VA) Farmers Market dinner for Week One of One Local Summer. The star of that dinner was the fresh WV morels. We were a little late to market that week, and as I got in line behind a couple at the Mushroom Lady’s stand, I noticed one last box of morels labeled “Sale! $15.” I waited anxiously as the couple in front of me debated which to pick, and remarked “$15??” when looking at the morels, clearly unaware that those same morels had been $20 the week before. After what seemed like an eternity, they settled on something else and I snatched up the box. Mushroom Lady kindly topped off my pint with a few last stray morels from the box. Per her instructions, I simply cleaned them and sauteed them in butter. They were without a doubt the most intensely flavored mushrooms I have ever eaten. The deep, earthy flavor is hard to describe … suffice it to say that I will not hold off until the end of morel season next spring to pick them up again!

The following weekend we checked out the Port Washington Farmers Market, on Long Island, NY. According to the Local Harvest listing, it is the only all organic market in NY. It was not, however, all local. There was a booth selling Croatian olive oil, and a failure to read the label carefully led to us later opening our “all local” lunch spread and discovering the goat cheese was in fact from Massachusetts. I believe the market was just getting going for the season though, as most of the NY seasonal markets don’t open till June. There was a great Nordic organic bread booth, where we got wonderful cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and the one true farmer had a basket full of beautiful garlic scapes. Here she’s trying to convince a hesitant customer to give them a try.

While our neighborhood farmers market is great for the basics (fruits and veggies, salad greens, mushrooms, cheese & yogurt, baked goods and meat), we don’t get the more adventurous offerings of a larger market. When rhubarb was absent yet again this week, it was the last straw and I ventured all the way into the city to visit the mecca of DC-area markets, Dupont Circle’s FreshFarm Market. I used to go from time to time, but am somewhat ashamed to admit I haven’t made it since the FoodieTot arrived on the scene. With so many wonderful and tempting choices, only a strict timetable kept me from over-burdening my market bag, as I had to get home and prepare brunch for the in-laws. I will definitely be returning more frequently this summer!

In the Market bag: The haul this weekend included real baby carrots, eggs, yogurt, sweet potatoes, zucchini bread, parsley, mixed braising greens (Del Ray) and rhubarb, scapes, chive blossoms, tatsoi, red asparagus, chocolate mint, sweet spring onions, basil, matsu apples, Keswick Creamery Wallaby, peonies (Dupont).

Sunday Brunch: In high school, I once volunteered as a cook on the junior class retreat and the highlight was making quiche each morning. We started with the basic egg/milk/cheese blend and mixed up whatever crazy vegetable and meat combinations we could think of. Ever since quiche has been my go-to brunch main course, as it is such a low-maintenance (and vegetarian-friendly) egg dish. Fresh chives were a bright touch to this asparagus quiche. I was disappointed to discover the red asparagus turns green when cooked, but it still had a sweeter taste than your traditional green stalks. The Wallaby cheese, an aged Monterey Jack-styled offering from Keswick Creamery was a flavorful but not over-powering cheese. I accompanied this with rosemary sausage hash browns and minted strawberries in a honey-balsamic dressing. Read on for the quiche recipe. (more…)

One of the primary reasons I started this blog was to log our farmers market and CSA-fresh produce finds and the recipes we use them in, and I enjoy reading what others make with their farm fresh produce to get new ideas each week. Eat.Drink.Better has a weekly compilation from around the country. FarmtoPhilly is a wonderful, informative and inspirational local foods site from just up north. I thought I would check out some DC-area food bloggers and see what they’ve been making lately. Not surprisingly, strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus are the hot ingredients.

• The Houndstooth Gourmet posts weekly updates full of luscious photos of her weekly market finds, usually visiting two markets each week. This week, she made a lovely Balsamic Strawberry & Rhubarb Cobbler. I’ve always found balsamic a great way to bring out the sweetness of strawberries.
• Counter Intelligence recreated Buzz Bakery Josh Short’s Strawberries with Angelfood Cake and Virginia Honey Ice Cream - we enjoyed this at the recent SlowFood DC dinner as well and loved the honey ice cream.
• For something a little more exotic, the Food Scribe made a Chicken & Cardoon Tagine with cardoons (a relation of the thistle, apparently) from the Dupont FreshFarm Market.
• Eat & Smile shares recipes for garlic scapes found last week at the Dupont market; I can’t wait to try pickled scapes!
• Not from a DC market, but Cookthink’s Brys brought back local peas from Birmingham, AL, for this appetizing Whole Wheat Penne with Feta, Peas, Tomato and Basil.
• It’s not homemade, but Metrocurean shares a photo of a tasty-looking Buttermilk Pecan Pie from the 14th & U Farmers Market.
• One last recipe, in preparation for this weekend’s many strawberry festivals, a classic Strawberry Shortcake from the District Domestic.

* Fresh from the Farmers Market badge courtesy of A Veggie Venture.

Fresh off a week of rain, the strawberries were shiny, bright and juicy, definitely the star attraction this week at market.

In the market bag: 2 qts strawberries, spring onions, cremini mushrooms, Toigo chipotle salsa, tomatoes, English peas, red Russian kale, mozzarella, and green garlic pesto. (I’m envisioning a garlic-tomato-shroom pasta this week.) The spring onions were used in my peanut satay chicken for Sunday’s (indoor) barbecue (yes, more rain!). The strawberries were featured in strawberry rhubarb crisp this week - a quick and easy dessert perfect for entertaining.

Recipe: Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients:

• 3c rhubarb (about 6 stalks), ends trimmed and sliced about 1/4″ thick
• 2 c strawberries, sliced
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/3 c each sugar and honey
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1 c flour
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 c oats

Instructions:
Toss rhubarb, strawberries, cornstarch, sugar and honey and pour into lightly oiled rectangular baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients and spread evenly over fruit mixture. Bake at 350* for 45-50 minutes, until fruit is bubbling and top is golden. Best served with vanilla ice cream, but a glass of fresh milk will do.

This post is my entry in the “Make it from Scratch” carnival hosted this week by Surely You Nest.

This week at market: strawberries, honey mushrooms, English peas, asparagus, rhubarb (finally!), spring onions, apple cranberry cider, yogurt, smoked gouda, rosemary sausage. Plus boneless pork chops from the butcher, pasta and honey goat cheese from Cheesetique, and a loaf of challah from the bakery.

As a Mother’s Day treat to myself, I made an all-rhubarb meal Sunday evening. Dinner was pork chops with rhubarb barbecue sauce, and roasted peas. To drink: rhubarb collins with the last of my beloved Cascade Mountain (OR) gin. And dessert: strawberry rhubarb goat cheese tart. It was divine, and a cheery taste of spring despite the pouring rain outside. The rhubarb barbecue sauce was the perfect sweet and sour counterpart to the pork. Aside from the gin, vinegar, olive oil and salt, this was an all-local dinner as well. Click below for the pork recipe, & beverage and dessert photos. (more…)

wood ear, originally uploaded by foodietots.

I was overwhelmed by the variety at the mushroom lady’s stand last week at market, so grabbed the Wood Ears because MamaBird had recently mentioned them. The description noted they were good in stir-fry, so I put together this dish with the bunch of white radishes I just couldn’t pass up. The husband isn’t a big radish person, but ate this without complaint.

About Wood Ear Mushrooms
Wood Ears look a bit like giant, wrinkly ears, growing out of trees, hence the name. They are mild flavored, firm and chewy when fresh, but soften when cooked. Often used in Asian cooking, they are also believed to have medicinal (blood thinning) benefits.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Wood Ear Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 pt. wood ear mushrooms, tough spots removed
1 bunch white radishes, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly slices
handful spring onions or chives, cut into 1″ pieces
approx. 1 t freshly grated ginger
2 T butter
1/3 c dry white wine
2 T soy sauce
kosher salt & pepper

Instructions
Melt butter in saute pan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and radishes and cook until radish begins to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add ginger, spring onions, wine and soy sauce, cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook about 8 minutes, until liquid is absorbed and mushrooms are tender. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Served with arugula salad and grilled buffalo steaks.