Linden Hills Farmers Market

It’s a happy day in Linden Hills! I don’t know about you, but walking over to the new market today felt like going home after a long absence. Some of us miss the co-op as it used to be, and now, to take its place is one of the best markets I’ve seen in Minneapolis. I know, I know, the farmers market is not going to take the place of the co-op, but I believe it will foster something that has been missing in Linden Hills since its move a couple of years ago. This little market is sure to bring a crowd of local, veg-loving, farmer supporters to Linden Hills downtown once again. Compared to other markets, this one will act as a not only a catalyst of support for local farmers, but will also bring business to downtown in general. I don’t think many other markets in the metro area have that dual ability. When the co-op was in its old location, community gathered. People walked downtown, stopped by the library and had a cup of coffee at Dunn Brothers. Unfortunately, its new location doesn’t provide that same sense of community. The new co-op tends to be a drive in and drive out affair, at least for me, so I’m elated to be able to return to my old stomping grounds!

Last year when I heard about the Fulton Market I was so excited about having a market within walking distance. I anticipated being able to find a variety of veg from local farmers, but when I got there, I was disappointed to find very few farmers, and an overabundance of breads, pastries, prepared foods and preserves. I ended up spending the summer going to the Kingfield market instead. So, when the announcement came that Linden Hills was planning to start their own market, I was a bit more cautious in my enthusiasm. For the last few months I envisioned a tidy little market with lots of young farmers, a variety of veg, some vendors with heirloom plants, a few purveyors of packaged products like honey and cheese and maybe even somebody selling sprouts. Every time I found myself thinking about the Linden Hills market opening day, I had to remind myself that I may end up disappointed. Boy, let me tell you, this market lived up to my wildest dream! If I were giving awards, I would say it is the best market in the city! Of course, I am biased, but it is true.

I was awed by the number of farmers there today, and thrilled to see so many young start-ups! Perhaps the lack of vendors available for new markets was a blessing in disguise for us, as this market may have pulled a few newbies out of their shells! The variety of veg was not overwhelming, but satisfied my raw food dreams. There were snap peas, lots of salad greens, radishes, spring onions, bok choi, rhubarb, strawberries and hand-snipped-with-a-scissors sunflower sprouts, pea shoots and other micro greens! The amount of respect and admiration I have for a farmer who will do that for me is unquantifiable. In addition to edible greens and other veg, there were quite a lot of plants for sale. I saw a good variety of perennials, herbs and many heirloom veggies. As I tend towards beauty in life, I noticed that many of today’s displays were creative, tasteful and eco-friendly eye-candy! Green was a common theme!

In fact, to my delight, green things ruled today’s market. The balance was not tipped by too many breads or pastries, and I thought there was a nice blend of vendors with value-added products. Packaged goodies didn’t steal the show as they do at the Fulton Market. Star Thrower Farm impressed this vegetarian with their extreme respect for the animal. They brought to vend cheese, meat, soap, wool yarn and sheepskins. The honey vendor, Bare Honey had a lovely variety of herb and spice infused product – something you don’t see much. One of the farmer’s mothers is enamored with drying strawberries – what a delectable treat for a cold winter breakfast over oatmeal or granola! Not that we want to think of that yet.

I just about cried when I saw that Foxy Falafel was only selling sauces today, but then quite relieved to find that Foxy was at her brother’s wedding this weekend and will bring the food truck starting next week. If you haven’t tried Foxy’s Falafel yet, you’re in for a treat!

To those of you who organized this market, BRAVO! To the farmers who chose to vend in this location, A MILLION THANKS! You have returned a missing piece of life to Downtown Linden Hills and can be assured that we will support you!

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Sweet and Sour Sauce

I’ve been in a Spring Roll frenzy as of late. I crave them nearly every day and love the fact that I can load nearly five servings of veggies into just one roll. They are super easy to make, and if stored properly, keep in the fridge for many days. Jeff, on the other hand, is not quite as passionate about them as I am, although he likes them.  After days of enjoying fresh spring rolls with spicy sesame ginger sauce, I offered Jeff the final serving to which he replied, “No thanks.”  Feeling somewhat dejected, I asked why he does not enjoy the spring roll as much as I, and his reply was, “They would be great with Mock Duck and Sweet and Sour Sauce.” Ah hah! Now I am happy because I won’t have to eat spring rolls alone. All I have to do is include the duck and the sauce. It’s a good thing.

It’s funny how when you buy things from the store and never have a tradition of cooking the item from scratch, it can seem so mysterious and intimidating to think about recreating it.  I don’t think I could have listed the ingredients of sweet and sour sauce before yesterday. I just assumed it was a flavor infused syrup of some sort. The fact that it’s thickened with cornstarch and can be made with fruits and vegetables really surprised me. I loved the idea of sweetening the sauce naturally with pineapple and its’ juice in order to keep the sugar content a little lower. Considering such a small amount is consumed in one sitting, I am not going to feel as guilty about feeding this to my family as I would have had it been a commercially processed product.

I searched through at least a million recipes until I got the general gist of the sauce. There’s an amazing rendition on Tastes Like Home that I would have preferred, but the boys like their chunks smaller, so I went with a grated version. In fact, I sent the onion, carrot and ginger all through the grater attachment on the food processor which made this really easy to whip up. It’s still got quite a lot of sugar, but at least it has some fruit and veggies as well. Making it from scratch is also very economical. Using all organic ingredients, this project cost perhaps six dollars and yielded about five cups of sauce.

By the way, I found these wonderful jars at Ikea today. Since I’ve been into making refrigerator pickled peppers, I was really psyched to find the jars!

Ingredients:

• 1 can crushed pineapple
• 6 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 medium onion, grated
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 inch piece of ginger, grated
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. chile flakes
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. soy sauce
• 3 Tbs. corn starch dissolved in 4 Tbs. cold water

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a sauce pan except the corn starch mixture. Let the ingredients simmer for five minutes or so, then add the cornstarch to thicken. Let it cool a bit and pour into glass storage.

Pickled Peppers

Today I had one of those “Duh” moments in life. Jeff and Max and I are huge fans of pickled jalapenos. Jeff loves them on pizza, finely chopped in his burritos, or the standard American form, scooped up with a plate of nachos, and I love to add them as a garnish for soups. Neither of us likes, however,  when they are mushy, and the brand they carry at the co-op is terrible. As I rarely shop elsewhere, we unfortunately go without our pickled jalapeno fix more often than not.

I have canned jalapenos in the past, and was sad to discover that they also turned out mushy. Because of this, I have given little thought to any DIY approach as of late. The “Duh” moment came when I realized I could make them as a refrigerator pickle. In this manner, they spend less time in the heat thereby retaining their crunch. Ah ha!

The “Duh” moment came together as a little vision. I have a couple of these glass jars that are normally used to store nuts, but one of them had been empty for a few weeks alone on the counter looking silly. Then I came across a sale on fresh jalapenos and suddenly had a vision of them floating in the empty jar in brine as a refrigerator pickle. A little on-line research proved my idea was possible, and this is what appeared on my porch!

Note: I took this photo on the front porch as the morning sun was coming up with the hope that perhaps the heat of the jalapenos would appease the kitchen gods, and they in turn, would speak to the sun god to bring Minnesota a little more heat on this first day of Spring!

I followed David Lebovitz’ recipe mostly, but added two white onions and five cloves of garlic. This recipe fits my jar, but it may not fit yours. The Purple Foodie directed me to a Michael Rulman hint to size brine to the container. He suggests packing the jar with whatever you plan to pickle and then fill it with water. Dump the water out into a measuring container, and then remove half of it. Replace the water removed with vinegar. So smart!

Pickled Jalapenos

• 1 pound fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
• 2 medium white onions, sliced
• 2 3/4 cups water
• 2 3/4 cups vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns

Directions:

Pack the jar with onions, garlic and jalapenos. Bring the water, vinegar, sugar, salt, coriander seeds and peppercorns to a simmer in a non-reactive pan. Allow the mixture to simmer for about five minutes. Pour it over the veggies, cover and let cool on the counter. Once the mixture is cooled it can be moved to the fridge. It sounds like these are better after a few days rest and can be kept for many weeks.

Frozen Garlic and Onion Puree

Onions and garlic are rolling out of the fields and into our kitchens, and school is about to start. What do these two ideas have in common? Kids, shortcuts and planning ahead. Here’s the kid part: I am fortunate to have a child who is proud to tell anyone that he likes onions, but I know lots of families with picky eaters who will go through great pains to avoid these foods. My Brazilian aunt couldn’t stand that her daughters wouldn’t eat onions or garlic, so she began to puree them with olive oil. When she cooked, the flavors were there, but no visible remains were to be seen or picked out by the girls. The adults in the family no longer had to suffer through a bland meal and the kids were happy too.

I’ve made pastes like Thai curry and roasted chile and frozen them successfully before, so I thought I’d see what happens with the onion garlic combo in the freezer. I wasn’t sure what freezing onions and garlic would do to their flavor, so I did a little test run, and I think I’ll be very happy having two containers of this stuff when it comes to whipping up quick soups and other one-pot meals in the fall when I’m busy with teaching. That’s the short-cut and planning ahead part.

I have an automatic ice-maker and no ice cube trays so instead I use a cake pan to freeze my purees.

Once the paste is a little frozen, I score it with my pastry blade then pop it back into the freezer to firm up.

After it freezes a little longer, score it again on the lines. Now the squares can be removed and placed into a freezer container for later use.

Next fall and winter when using the frozen puree, just start with some oil in a hot pan and drop one of the squares in. Once you break it all apart, lower the heat. You’ll want to just let it cook enough to release the flavors, but not burn the garlic.

Frozen Garlic and Onion Puree Recipe

Ingredients:

3 large onions

3 whole heads garlic, peeled

olive oil

Directions:

Peel the garlic, chop the onions and puree them in a blender. You will need to pulse and push the vegetables down. Add only enough oil to make the mixture smooth. Follow the directions above for freezing, or spoon into ice-cube trays. Once the cubes are made, they should be kept in a good airtight freezer container. I’ve used both freezer bags and the new ziplock brand freezer containers. I like the containers better because they can be reused many times.

Note: I have a Breville Blender with a wide bottom base. It works great for jobs like this.

Pickled Cabbage

I know all of you looked at the Pupusas and thought they looked interesting, but you weren’t ready to take that one on. I know. But, I gotta tell you, they are so utterly satisfying, and so unbelievably tasty with this side of curtido – pickled cabbage. You don’t know what you’re missing! Jeff and I had Pupusas for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday. Not only did we load them up with the curtido, but also some cotija (Mexican dry cheese a little like parmesan) and a little bit of crema agria (Mexican sour cream) – amazing!

I made the curtido on Thursday last week, and it just keeps getting better in the fridge. Next time I plan to serve Pupusas, I’ll make sure the curtido is at least a few days old. It will keep in the fridge for about a month!

Ingredients:

1 head cabbage thinly sliced

2 red onions thinly sliced

2 jalapenos minced

5 cups boiling water

apple cider vinegar

2 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. sugar

Mexican oregano

Directions:

1) Slice the cabbage and onions and place is large bowl or big flat baking dish

2) Mince jalapenos and mix in with cabbage and onions

3) Boil water – when it comes to a boil, pour it over the cabbage mixture. Mix the water into the cabbage for a minute, then dump the water off

4) Add enough vinegar to almost cover the cabbage

5) Sprinkle salt, sugar and oregano over cabbage and mix

6) Place cabbage in a glass container. Push the cabbage down so that it is mostly covered in vinegar. Place a plate on top with a weight to keep the cabbage pushed down. Refrigerate.

Pickled Vegetables

Pickled Vegetables (To serve on Bahn Mi sandwich)

1 bunch radishes

2 purple kohl rabi

2 carrots

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

Direction: In a saute pan heat vinegar, sugar and salt until dry ingredients dissolve. Grate or thinly slice vegetables. Put veggies and brine in a covered glass container to steep for a few hours in the fridge.