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.

spring onions, originally uploaded by foodietots.

The market was in full swing this past weekend. A warm, sunny Saturday morning brought out summer-like crowds. The first strawberries were available from Virginia’s Three Way Farms, where I also picked up asparagus, spring onions and white radishes. Maryland’s Toigo Orchards was back with hot house tomatoes and baby cukes, plus ever-popular apple and cranberry cider samples. (One of the few times we allow the toddler to have juice.) I got a bag of arugula from another Maryland farm, and wood ear mushrooms from the mushroom lady.

For our (local) Sunday dinner, I made a spring onion potato gratin to accompany our grilled NY strip steaks (first grilling of the season!), and roasted asparagus. Friends brought a Barboursville Cab Franc (2005 Reserve) that was excellent. Dessert was the strawberries, macerated in lemon thyme, lemon zest, a pinch of sugar and balsamic vinegar, alongside creamy cambozola cheese and Ficoco (fig and cocoa spread).

The gratin was adapted from an Epicurious recipe. It is a lighter version that doesn’t have the usual cream and cheese, but was still wonderfully creamy and rich. (It does have a lot of butter, so not entirely low fat by any stretch.)

Recipe: Spring Onion Potato Gratin

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 bunch spring onions, bulb and bottom inch of green stems, thinly sliced (tops of stems reserved for later use)
2 T fresh lemon thyme (or regular thyme)
10 T butter
2/3 c dry white wine
2/3 c water
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400* and lightly oil a large shallow (13×9) baking dish. In saute pan, melt 6 T butter over medium heat. Add shallot, spring onions, thyme and a pinch of salt and cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high; saute until onions are tender and begin to brown. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, water and wine to skillet; bring to boil then remove from heat.

Toss potatoes with onion mixture and another pinch of salt, making sure potato slices are coated with liquid. Spread evenly in baking dish. Cover with parchment paper (press down on top of potatoes) and then foil. Bake 50 minutes, then remove foil and cook another 15-20 minutes, until top is golden.

honey mushrooms, pa., originally uploaded by foodietots.

Our local farmers’ market kicked off the ‘08 season this past weekend. Now that the toddler isn’t up by 6am in the mornings, we weren’t there when they opened and missed the first spring asparagus. But, our cheese guy Tom was there - he brings the creamiest Jersey cow’s milk yogurt, great cheeses and Amish baked goods fresh from Pennsylvania. And we picked up a pint of these lovely little honey mushrooms, also from Pa. I sauteed them with onion in olive oil and butter and tossed with the fresh chive pappardelle pasta from our cheese shop (see pic below). Served along side the fresh, cut-to-order beef filet from our brand new butcher shop. Rounded out our fresh & local dinner with challah from the bakery.

Needless to say, we love our neighborhood!

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This week’s market bag: ground beef, boneless pork shoulder, gouda, zucchini, red peppers, staymen & jonagold apples, romaine lettuce mix.

On the menu: tricolore beef & rice pilaf, roast pork, apple pie, grilled gouda & apple sandwiches.

Recipe: Tricolore Beef & Rice Pilaf

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This week in the market bag: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, pears (Asian, bosc & Bartlett), broccoli, heirloom tomatoes, quince, eggs, sweet potato ravioli, pumpkin butter, mozzarella and seven-cheese macaroni. (That’s right, seven!) We were busy pumpkin picking and farm visiting this weekend, so the prepared pastas came in handy.

Saturday supper: sweet potato ravioli with mascarpone pumpkin sauce*, heirloom tomato, mozzarella & arugula salad. This is not exactly a health-conscious main dish, but we compensate by eating a big helping of salad.

Sunday supper: seven-cheese macaroni with tomato & broccoli salad.

*Recipe: Sweet Potato Ravioli with Mascarpone Pumpkin Sauce

This is a really quick and simple no-cook sauce. While the ravioli boils, stir together 2 T mascarpone and 2 T pumpkin butter in a serving bowl. Scoop the ravioli out and straight into the bowl and toss gently to coat. (Add pepper & fresh parsley to taste.) If you don’t have pumpkin butter on hand, you could also quickly brown 1-2 T butter, and stir in 2 T pumpkin puree, a pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon, and 2 T mascarpone.

(Makes 2.5 servings - double these quantities for larger batch of ravioli.)

Toddler Verdict: Unfortunately the boy was battling a stomach bug and didn’t have much appetite this weekend, but he’s never turned down ravioli otherwise. And he did enjoy the macaroni.

On the menu this week: I’ve never used a fresh quince before, but am thinking of making this quince & cranberry sauce to serve on pork chops. The butternut will go in soup with something pear-related on the side.

(Enough preaching - now on with the recipes!)

Autumn means two things at the farmers’ market: apples & squash! This week’s shopping bag contains 5lbs. Jonagold & Staymen apples, pork chops, spaghetti squash, arugula & aged cheddar, plus a loaf of sourdough and wedge of Smoky Blue cheese from the local bakery and cheese store. On the menu this week:

• spaghetti squash with mascarpone
• 5-spice pork chops with cider jus
• harvest salad (recipe below)
• apple-pumpkin muffins

Harvest Salad: For a quick lunch, I tossed arugula and a chopped apple with balsamic vinegar and topped with crumbled Smoky Blue cheese. The spicy arugula was a nice balance to the intense, nutty cheese. It would have benefited from some chopped hazelnuts, to complement the cheese which is cold-smoked over hazelnut shells.

Toddler Version: My kid has a pretty good appreciation for gourmet cheese, but even still isn’t quite ready for blue cheese. So for an easy kid’s plate, I serve chunks of apple, cheddar & gouda, and sourdough toast.