heirloom tomatoes

The Top 9 Things NOT to do at a Farmers’ Market.

by Anne Maxfield on July 9, 2012

Accidental Locavore Tomato Close Up

Because the Accidental Locavore was on vacation last week, and since it’s getting to be peak Farmers’ Market season, I thought it was a good time to re-run my farmers’ favorite posting.

During the taping of a new cooking show the Accidental Locavore was talking to a couple of farmers who have been at the various Greenmarkets in New York City for years. As you can imagine, they’ve witnessed a lot, from drunks, dogs and kids all run amuck, to women with cigarettes demanding to know if the produce is organic, they’ve seen it all. Some of their stories may surprise you and if you recognize yourself…

  1. For example, the Locavore never realized that if you pick up a tomato to see how ripe it is, put it down, someone else picks it up, etc, etc., by the end of the day it’s essentially a tomato water balloon. Not good.
  2. Usually farmers are happy to let you taste berries. However, if you taste a berry and like it, take the box you picked the berry from. Don’t get a new box and don’t add more berries to the box you have.
  3. Accidental Locavore Fresh CornThe Locavore’s pet peeve at any market: shucking corn. It makes a huge mess and nothing else. If you take it home shucked, it loses moisture and flavor (and you’ve got nothing to grill it in, one of the best and easiest ways to cook corn). The way to see if an ear of corn is going to be good is to look at it. It should look fresh and moist, not dried out. If you are a corn shucker, try picking one or two ears that look good to you, take them home un-shucked and see how they compare to the ones you made a mess with. My history shows a 98% success rate just going for the good-looking ones.
  4. One of the charms of any farmers’ markets is the pace. Give yourself time to wander through and see what’s available. Talk with the farmers, they welcome your appreciation of their hard work. In return, they will be happy to help you pick out the best stuff, find something that may not have been put out yet, take special orders, or save you something if you can’t get there early, and often give you tips on how to prepare it.
  5. Remember, all this beautiful food is really labor intensive. It’s planted, weeded and harvested, primarily by hand. Trust me, these guys work hard, harder than you or I. If prices seem higher than at a big supermarket, be thankful you have access to the remarkable taste that only comes from something being picked that morning, at the peak of flavor. Not to mention the variety. Even at the best stores, you never see twenty different kinds of eggplants or forty varieties of tomatoes. Accidental Locavore Mushroom Guy
  6. Even if you are in a rush, hand them the money. If you’re in such a hurry that you feel the need to leave the money on the counter, leave it right in front of them so they don’t have to reach across to get it (or worse, someone else picks it up). And if you’re in that much of a hurry, chill (and stop shucking that corn).
  7. Would you leave an empty coffee cup or other garbage on the counter at Tiffany’s? Then why do you think you can do it at a Greenmarket? Because it’s outside??? All vendors have trash cans, usually behind the counter, just ask nicely and they’ll toss your trash.
  8. If you want cheap prices, to be able to run in and out, grab a handful of plastic bags and toss money on a counter, go to a supermarket (and use the self service line), but then don’t complain that the veggies don’t taste good.  When you go to a farmers market, you should be looking for a more personal experience, a slower pace, an interaction with the people who spend their lives bringing us great food to eat.
  9. And if you want to see if a tomato can actually be a water balloon, just do the one thing that’s universally despised by farmers everywhere…shake your bag in their face…

Don’t say you weren’t warned! Did I miss anything?

 

 

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The Accidental Locavore on the Road: Fall in Maine

by Anne Maxfield on September 30, 2011

Accidental Locavore Carrots

Hurricane Irene put an early (way too early) end to the Accidental Locavore’s farm boxes. Heavily supplied with winter squash and missing the last of the tomatoes, Paul and I decided to put an end to the boxes. I may be the only person disappointed by the lack of Brussels sprouts, but they too, met an early and watery end. If anyone has great ideas for crook-neck, butternut or any other winter squashes, let me know, I’ve got quite the collection (or will swap for some heirloom tomatoes).

So I was happy to find the Rockland, Maine farmers’ market loaded with a diverse selection of beautiful produce. As much as I don’t like beets, you had to stop and admire bunches of multicolored beets next to similarly colored carrots. There were still tomatoes, corn, some bokchoy, cauliflower and that veg from another planet, romansco.

My father made a beeline to the pork lady and we both bought “serious” ham-hocks. He’ll use his to make choucroute garni with local sauerkraut, while the Locavore will probably go for some split pea soup or to flavor a cassoulet (except that d’Artagnan makes such a good kit).

Accidental Locavore ChevreFurther along the market was the Appleton Creamery. They make some great goat cheeses and even though the Locavore thought she would never eat again after some of the best eggs Benedict at Home Kitchen Café, I rallied enough to taste some of their delicious chevre. Amazing that you can always find room for cheese, isn’t it? I bought some of their award-winning feta, a wheel of chevre rolled in herbs and Kaitlin gave me the last half of a terrific goat cheese rolled in lime-pepper. That made me wonder what rolling a disc of chevre in Montreal Steak Seasoning would be like. A project for another day.

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Something About (Stuffed) Tomatoes, A Recipe

by Anne Maxfield on August 26, 2011

Accidental Locavore Heirloom Tomatoes - CopyMost of the year, the Accidental Locavore wishes it was summer, so when it’s actually upon us, it’s time to enjoy everything the season has to offer! Probably the big winner, food-wise, is tomatoes. There is very little that can beat a fresh tomato, perfectly ripe and smelling like the essence of summer.

While most of the time, I’m content to just cut them up and toss into a salad, or mix with some local mozzarella and basil from the garden, occasionally the Locavore yearns for an old French favorite, stuffed tomatoes. Now, I’m not talking about breadcrumb stuffed tomatoes, or a tomato gratin, but what I fell in love with in Paris so many years ago, the sausage stuffed ones you find in every boulangerie in the summer.

Accidental Locavore StuffingIt’s one of the key recipes I look for when perusing French cookbooks, rarely found. Even the Internet, that seemingly inexhaustible source of information, has been less than forthcoming. That’s actually not true, it’s just that none of them are the “right” recipe.

When the Accidental Locavore was up in Maine, last month, my mother had an old French cookbook from the sixties and I copied that recipe for stuffed tomatoes, because it had a simplicity that seemed more authentic than most. I had made merguez, with homemade green harissa and thought that might be an interesting (but not traditional) sausage to use. Here’s the recipe for two people:

  • 4 firm tomatoes (I used two really large German Stripe)
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tablespoon butter (olive oil is fine too), plus more for the tops of the tomatoes
  • ½pound sausage, generally pork (if you’re using links, remove from casing and crumble the meat)
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs,  plus more for sprinkling on top
  • 2 tablespoons juice from the tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons parsley

Slice off and reserve the smooth ends of 4 firm tomatoes. Scoop out the centers of the tomatoes and reserve them, discard the seeds. Warm the butter in a medium sauté pan, add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft (but not browned), about 5 minutes. Mix together the sausage meat, bread crumbs moistened with the juice from the tomatoes, the sautéed onion and garlic, the tomato centers and parsley. Stuff the tomatoes with the mixture, sprinkle them with fine breadcrumbs, dot each with a small piece of butter and replace the caps. Bake in a lightly oiled baking sheet at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. Serve and enjoy.Accidental Locavore Tomatoes Stuffed

My verdict: The tomatoes tasted good and we ate all of them, however they’re not quite French enough. Because I tried to get a finer grind on the merguez, there wasn’t a noticeable textural difference between the sausage and the breadcrumbs. Next time, I’m going to use a good pork sausage, maybe even a breakfast sausage. Panko breadcrumbs might be an interesting substitute for the standard ones, or I’ll just pull out the food processor and make my own. Unless my husband decides he’s had enough stuffed vegetables, there’s still plenty of time left to perfect this. Stay tuned!

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The Accidental Locavore Has a Perfect Lunch

by Anne Maxfield on August 19, 2011

Accidental Locavore Leeks

This time of year the Accidental Locavore finds that cooking one thing invariably leads to another (and another…). For the recipes, just click on the links. I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous leeks from this week’s farm box and knew there were potatoes in the fridge, so it seemed like a perfect excuse for vichyssoise. The Locavore used the fingerlings from Paul, even though peeling potatoes the size of a thumb was not my idea of fun, but luckily some people’s thumbs are bigger than others.

Taking an idea from Chef Kerry of Café Miranda, the vichyssoise got potato “croutons” in the form of tiny fingerling potato chips (his were French fries tossed on top of fish chowder) and snips of fresh chives from the garden, a more traditional garnish. Tasted great, although next time I may make a vegetable broth from the potato peelings and green part of the leeks, to heighten both flavors, instead of the traditional chicken stock. What do you think?Accidental Locavore Vichyssoise

Paired with the vichyssoise, a BLT. What better to do with local bacon, tomatoes at the peak of ripeness and great lettuce from Stokes Farm? Oh, forgot about the homemade mayo. Hungry yet? If, like the Accidental Locavore, you haven’t had a BLT in a long time, you owe it to yourself to remember how good they can be, especially with great ingredients.

What else did the Locaovore cook? With the summer squash, I made stuffed squash with yogurt sauce. It’s essentially an easy dish (to mess up), just time consuming. First you have to hollow out the squash, stuff them with a lamb and rice mixture, and slowly cook them in yogurt without breaking (separating) the yogurt. However the end result is delicious and well worth a little effort.

Accidental Locavore Fresh Cranberry BeansThen, Farmer Paul asked for some recipes for cranberry beans. The Locavore had some that I had dried last summer, so I soaked them and then cooked them, getting ready to do a gratin I had come across. When I went to the farm to return my box, Paul gave me a bunch of fresh beans, which tonight will be a salad, or a riff on ful medames to go with pork chops. They’re so pretty, it always seems a shame to cook them because they lose their speckles.

Accidental Locavore CantalopesOn the uncooked front, a pair of beautiful, perfectly ripe, little cantaloupes, or “candy-lopes” according to Paul, just cut up, made a delicious breakfast. A watermelon the size (and weight) of a large bowling ball was just amazing and reminded me how much I really like watermelon. And the first of the heirloom tomatoes, when they weren’t gracing the perfect lunch, were great in a traditional salad with mozzarella and basil.

Don’t you just love summer?

 

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