Printer friendly version | help

Weekly Market Notes Library

< May 14-2015 | Notes Library | May 28-2015 >

Weekly Market Notes for May 21, 2015

Hello Market Friends:

Spring harvests give us both the assertive flavours of tart rhubarb, pungent wild leeks and pleasantly bitter greens, and the more subtle, hard to describe flavours of early crops such as asparagus. Soon we'll take all the green around us for granted again, but for now it's nice to pause and savour fresh new growth and all these fresh tastes.

For the past couple of weeks, Marvellous Edibles has had bunches of sorrel on their tables, another wake-up-the-tastebuds food of the season. Here's a tangy spring green soup recipe featuring sorrel alongside wild leeks, which should be in good supply this week. Lots of variations using the same approach could be made; try more leeks for a stronger flavoured soup, 'domestic' leeks instead of wild, and/or spinach or nettles instead of sorrel (though you'd want to add those other greens to the soup at the same time as the peas, to cook them a little).

Spring Soup

• 1/4 pound wild leeks, washed, drained, and chopped (greens and bulbs)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
• 2 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 cup water plus additional to thin soup
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1 bunch sorrel, washed, spun dry, and cut into thin strips (about 3 cups *loosely packed)
• 1/3 cup half and half or sour cream
• additional salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon if desired

Sauté leek bulbs gently in oil or butter with salt and pepper to taste, stirring, until soft. Add greens and cook a little more, then add potatoes, broth, and 1 cup water, cover and simmer until potato is tender. Stir in peas and simmer briefly.

Purée leek and potato mixture with sorrel in batches until very smooth. Whisk in cream and add a bit of water to thin soup if desired. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot or chilled.

Garnish soup with any of: chopped chives, sliced hard-boiled egg, thinly sliced strips of sorrel or edible flowers.

In vendor news:

"Brixton Grill is mad stoked to be back at Dufferin Grove starting this Thursday the 21st May! We’ve got Peanut Satay Tempeh rolls with sesame-maple slaw and candied smoked-peanuts, Bourbon BBQ Seitan ‘Wingz’ with garlic-chive dip, Grilled Asparagus salad AND five flavours of vegan ice-cream in bowls/cups/cookie sandwiches/bon-bons! Come on over!" Jacob and Erica

Knuckle Down Farm will be absent this time.

LAST CALL for soil mixes and worm castings from Gro4 Organics to make your garden or houseplants grow beautifully. This is their final day at the market for this season. Delivery for larger orders is available.

Looks like Friday night is the last of the chilly ones and it will be a great weekend for planting, so now's the time to load up on plants from Urban Harvest (seeds too!), Country Meadows, Wildlife Gardening and Floralora Flowers.

Prince Edward County Hot Sauce is coming back again this week, yum!

Did you know you're buying groceries from award winners? Here's an example:

"Best Baa Dairy is one of the proud recipients of The Big Carrot's Nature's Finest Fund for 2015.

The Nature's Finest Fund is awarded to high quality Ontario food producers who are seeking assistance in growing their business. Best Baa is using these funds to complete and implement off-grid milk cooling systems for five Amish family farms. Two will use solar power, and three, engine drive. This project is crucial for our farmers so that they can continue to provide us with the best quality sheep's milk to use for our cheeses. These farmer-dairy relationships are extremely important to us. Some of these farms have been supplying us for over a decade. We're thrilled to have the support of the Big Carrot for this project."

Kind Organics is another of this year's winners, for their Sprout Expansion Project, which will add another 4,000 square feet of sprout production space to their growing operation. A prize to the first person to figure out how many sprouts that adds up to....

Congratulations all round! We're being fed by some of the best producers in the land.

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

Vendors this week:

• Akiwenzies Fish (fresh, frozen and smoked Georgian Bay fish)
• Alli Harris (fish sandwiches, fritters, hemp pesto, beverages)
• Bees Universe (honey and bee products)
• Beretta Farms (organic and naturally raised meats)
• Best Baa (sheep's milk, cheeses and yogurt)
• Brixton Grill (vegan barbeque and ice cream treats)
• ChocoSol (coffee and chocolate)
• Country Meadows (olives, oil, eggs, cheese, vegetable and herb seedlings)
• Culture City (fermented condiments, tempehs, gluten-free pasta)
• DeFloured (gluten-free baking)
• Dufferin Park Bakers (wood-fired oven breads, soups,and snacks)
• Earth and City (raw foods, smoothies)
• Evelyn's Crackers (baking made from ON whole grains)
• Floralora (fresh farm-grown cutflowers)
• Forbes Wild Foods (wild leeks, dried mushrooms, nuts, maple syrup, preserves)
• Gro4 Organics (worm castings and soil mixes) LAST WEEK
• JK Fries (freshly made french fries with assorted mayos)
• Kind Organics (sprouts, salad mixes, teas, chocolate)
• Marvellous Edibles (organic vegetables, meats, poultry, baking)
• Pine River Organic Farm (organic vegetables)
• Plan B (organic fruits and veggies)
• Prince Edward County Hot Sauce (sauces and rubs from farm-grown ingredients)
• Spade & Spoon (jams, pickles, soups, maple syrup)
• Tapioca Gourmet (gluten-free Brazilian pancakes with seasonal fillings)
• Urban Harvest (plants, seeds, body care, soil amendments)
• VQA Wine (Frogpond Farm this week)
• Wildlife Gardening (native species perennials and shrubs)
• Ying Ying Soy (tofus and miso from ON organic soybeans)
• (Knife Sharpening by Mike Fohr the first market of each month.)

hosted by parkcommons.ca | powered by pmwiki-2.2.83. Content last modified on May 20, 2015, at 09:10 PM EST