Tomatoes – Groundworks literally had crates of roma tomatoes at their booth and the price is right at $1.00 per pound for bulk purchases. If you are planning to can tomatoes this season, Groundworks is your best bet for good quality romas at a great price. Other than the romas, tomatoes are still fairly green and I have come to accept that this year’s tomato season is almost over. A few farms were selling tomatillos.
Chilies and Peppers – Both are very abundant right now with great quality. Not to be missed are the freshly roasted poblanos. Available for sale, these hand roasted peppers will make a great addition to your next Mexican culinary creation.
Corn – Corn has greatly improved in quality and next week should bring us some of the best corn of the season. Make sure to cook fresh corn right away while the sugar levels are still high.
Berries - Berries are still hit or miss, but the
strawberries at the market today were surprisingly good. And with fall officially here huckleberries
made their first appearance today with a couple of booths selling wild black varieties. The next 2 weeks should bring an abundance of
huckleberries, so now’s the time to buy them in bulk and freeze them or make
jams.
Hazelnuts – I stopped by and talked to Barb and Fritz,
owners of Freddy Guys Hazelnuts. They
had good news about this year’s hazelnut harvest. They were both very excited and looking
forward to a bumper crop this year.
Great news for them and even better news for hazelnut lovers. If you haven’t tried their hazelnut products
make sure to stop by for some samples!
Chop – For the past 2 weeks Chop has been selling an outrageously
delicious chicken liver mousse.
Apparently the secret to their mousse is lots of mascarpone cheese and
bacon. Whatever the secret is, I must
confess it is some of the best chicken liver mousse I have ever tried.
Tails & Trotters – If you haven’t tried Tails &
Trotters pork products you are missing out!
Still a relatively new operation, they are gaining respect in the animal
husbandry world. Their pigs are raised
humanely and they never use GMO feeds, wheat or corn. While traditionally pigs for prosciutto eat
acorns to add flavor to the meat, T & T takes a different approach,
utilizing Oregon hazelnuts to finish their pigs. The result, well, you’ll have to stop by their
booth and sample some of the products to experience a whole new level of bacon
love!Nectarines – The nectarines from Baird Farms are juicy, sweet and packed full of flavor. Probably the best stone fruit at the market today. Other than nectarines the peaches are still juicy, but not real flavorful or sweet.
Winter Squashes – Just as autumn is getting started, so are the winter squashes. A few farms were selling the first squashes of the year and they all looked great. With all the different ways to prepare winter squashes, my favorite is to make soup. Below is a link to my recipe for Thai Red Curry Butternut Squash soup. The recipe works best with butternut squash, but any variety will work well. The soup is rich, velvety, creamy and finishes with a delightful note of spice.
Chef Jeremy’s Weekly Cooking Tip - When is a pan hot?
You see recipes requiring a hot pan, but how do you know when a pan is hot? For most cases, such as pan searing and sautéing, you can test the hotness of a pan by dropping a few drops of cold water into the pan. The water should form small balls that dance and race around the pan. If the water splats and sizzles the pan is warm, but not hot. This technique is great for testing a hot pan, but sometimes a warm pan is sufficient, such as when you are sautéing with butter, which will burn in a hot pan.
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