Foccacia Bread

Playing around with dough is one of my favorite things to do. I am endlessly facinated at the microbial process that happens when little yeasty bugs are introduced to flours and sugars, and burp out flavorful gasses that give rise (literally!) to all kinds of breads. It can be a time-consuming venture, however, and I haven’t made a lot of bread this year. But with some time on my hands and a brick of fresh yeast that has to be used up I thought I’d get back into a little home bread baking. I mixed and kneaded a pound of flour, some milk, yeast, sugar and salt into a maleable dough, plopped it into a greased bowl and let it rise over the warm oven for an hour until it more than doubled in size and took on a spongy consistancy. I gently pushed on the dough and was rewarded with the poof of escaping gas and the beer-haus smell of active yeast. I folded the dough over a couple of times to redistribute the yeast bugs and develop a little more gluten, coverd the bowl and popped it into the fridge to retard. The cold slows down the yeast’s growth and allows richer flavors to develop. I kept it in there, occasionally giving it a little kneading and turning, for two days. Then I pulled it out, cut the dough in half and returned one half to the fridge (it is destined to become pizza dough later this week), and formed out a loaf into a small square pan with the other half. I let it proof on top of the oven for an hour and a half, until it had warmed, the yeasties awoken and gone about their digestive business, and the loaf had doubled in volume. I brushed the top with olive oil and sprinkled it with crushed garlic, fresh chopped rosemary, and pink Hawaiian sea salt flakes. I put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until the top had developed a nice, toasted marshmellow golden color. I pulled out the pan and let the loaf sit in it for about 5 minutes, then turned it effortlessly out onto a cooling rack. The whole kitchen was filled with the delicious aroma of baked bread. I let the loaf sit for another 30 minutes to set up while I made the rest of dinner(more spaghetti with homemade whole wheat noodles, which came out much better this time, softer with a smoother texture and better flavor).

The loaf sliced without crumbling and the inside was as soft as a pillow while the herby, garlicy, salted crust provided a great contrast.

Home-Made Spaghetti/Tortillas

I’ve had a hard time finding a whole wheat pasta I am really happy with. I have frequently made my own pasta with duram or semolina flour, but S is insisting more and more on whole wheat grains in our breads and pastas. I had some whole wheat flour in the cupboard and a little free time, so I spooned out two cups of flour into a large bowl, to which I added some salt, a little oil, a single egg yolk, and some warm water. I stirred the mixture together until I had a crumbly ball of dough, then worked it on the kitchen counter until it was well mixed. I wrapped it up and put it in the fridge overnight. The next day I took it out, rolled it out again, fed it through the pasta attachment for the KitchenAide until I had long flat sheets, then ran it through the spaghetti cutter attachment. The dough was a bit stickier and tore more easily than I was used to, but it cut serviceable noodles. I dropped them in the boiling water and they only took about three minutes to cook through. Drained, I then ladled a mushroom marinara on top and wah lah! dinner was ready. The noodles had none of the gumminess or “cardboard” flavor I have found in store-bought noodles. They were rougher in texture because of the whole grains, but richer in flavor because of the egg. I’m not sure how well the pasta would have held up with just water. I think I will cut a linguini noodle next time, since the spaghetti was a bit crinkled. This may have been because I did not set the pasta roller thin enough. But it was easy to do, and cheap, given that two pounds of organic whole wheat flour is about $4, while a box of organic whole wheat pasta is around $2.65. I’m going to get some rice flour and experiment with making rice noodles next.

I learned from one of my co-workers how to make corn tortillas and ever since I have been hooked on the home-made thing. My recipe is two cups of masa (harina de maiz), a teaspoon of oil, a table spoon of salt, and 1 & 3/4 cups water (more or less, depending upon the texture). My friend has scolded me for adding oil, telling me it is “no necesario”, but I still do it, it seems to keep my tortillas from sticking to the plastic wrap, the cast iron griddle, and it seems to make them more tender and maleable when rolling enchiladas. Sometimes I even add a little lime juice to the mix. From the mix I roll out several balls of dough and put them into my trusty tortilla press that I bought at the farmer’s market for $6. I want to go back one day and get one of the more authentic ones, hand made of wood and twice as thick, for $20. I press out the tortillas and transfer them to a plate covered by a towel, then slap them on the griddle one by one, about 2 minutes each side, until they just begin to brown in spots. Then onto another plate and covered by a towel. If I am going to use them right away I just leave them on the plate, otherwise I let them cool and then put them in a ziplock bag and keep them in the fridge. The texture and taste between store bought and home-made is incredible. I don’t object to store-bought tortillas since the ingredients generally just list corn flour, salt, water and lime(the mineral, not the fruit), but the flavor is just too good to not go to the extra effort, which isn’t much. I made the tortillas while everything else for the enchiladas was cooking. Then I took my chili-poached chicken and shredded it, mixed it with black beans, roasted corn, sour cream, shredded cheese, scallions and cilantro, and spooned the mix onto the corn tortillas, rolling them up and setting them in the enchilada sauce. The sauce I do insist on making myself, since all the store-bought ones seem to list a pharmacist’s pantry of chemical additives as ingredients. So I make a simple sauce from onions, garlic, rehydrated smoked chilis, and fire-roasted tomatoes seasoned with salt, coriander, cumin, cayenne and jalapenos. Sometimes I make this by the gallon, pouring it into canning jars and sealing them for safe keeping. Tonight I just made enough for the enchiladas we were having. I gave them a liberal topping of cheddar cheese, which I like better than a traditional queso fresco. 15 minutes in the oven and we are ready for Christmas Eve dinner.

Auburndale Farmer's Market

While back in Florida for Thanksgiving I had a chance to revisit the Auburndale International Market. Over the years I have not only witnessed, but been a part of, this market’s growth and change. Barely a weekend went by that I was not a customer, roaming the lanes in seach of cheap vegetables and one of a kind deals. I was once a vendor there myself, renting a conveted space and table to sell my backlog of VHS tapes from my video rental business of days gone by. The people I met, bought from and sold to, reinforced my appreciation for this gathering place of common and odd merchandise.

Once a few concrete rows shielded from the Florida sun by aluminum roofing with simple wooden tables piled with rows of fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and citrus… the market is now made up of huge steel buildings, tents and canopied stalls, and areas once for parking converted into rentable spaces. It is a huge, sprawling affair, with a circus tent and native American dance rituals, country music festivals, pony rides and alligator petting zoos. The fruits and vegetables are still there, but they are just an entree to vendors who sell everything imaginable, from purses and wallets to tools and kitchen untensils, to CDs, DVDs, and VHS, to piles of smartass tshirts and cheap women’s underwear, to water softeners and automobile parts, to home made jewelery and bedazzled sweaters. It is an irresistable guilty pleasure to stroll up and down what feel like endless stalls or borderline junk to uncover those few diamonds in the rough. And there are always boiled peanuts, funnel cakes, corn dogs, fresh roasted corn and toasted pecans to snack on while shopping.

We purused the fruits and veggies, buying some plums that were as big as baseballs but not as big on flavor, some local gallberry honey, tangerines, bell peppers, and a huge pomelo that was sweet and tart and just blushed with color. Prices were good, and as always a little price battle could be found going on amongst the marketers. The further we went downt the isle, the lower the price of watermelons became. I haven’t had a good watermelon since August, so I did not buy one. But it was a very nice day for checking out the market, and a nostalgic tour as well.

See more progress on: Visit All My Local Farmer's Markets

Washington DC: The People's Garden Market

Some times I do manage to be in the right place at the right time. We were sightseeing in DC on Friday and left our car at the Metro park-n-ride in Clinton, MD in favor of taking the train into the city. We came up the stairs by the Smithsonian Museum and were greeted to the grand view of the Capitol Building on the right, the Lincoln Memorial in the distant left, the Washington Monument straight ahead, and low and behold, just to our left on a closed off street, a farmer’s market. I spied the tell-tale white tents like a sailor spots a sail on the high seas. S. rolled her eyes and shook her head and followed me as we cut a straight line for the market that just happens to be open only of Fridays from 10am – 2pm.

Before we could get to the market, we encounted a wall of 12-foot tall sorghum plants growing on a plot of land in the center of the nation’s capitol. On the other side of this green barrier we entered the “People’s Garden” an ongoing project by the Department of Agriculture to teach people about local, sustainable, and organic foods. The garden is made up of numerous raised beds and cultivated plots where tomatoes, herbs, corn, lettuces, greens, peppers, squashes and pumpkins grew everywhere. The timbers of the raised beds are recycled from park maintenance projects, and even the composts is local and organic. The USDA donates all the food it grows (and a department rep told me they had collected several hundred pound so far this year) to homeless shelters and food banks, where people can have access to fresh vegetables. The garden has plans to expand and become a huge edible garden. The USDA also has hundreds of “community gardens” around the country.

After walking through the garden we came into the market and in many ways, it was the same as all the other markets I have been to: pickup trucks and trailers backed up to white tents with tables laden with baskets and crates of apples, tomatoes, herbs, eggplants, squashes, beans, and other late summer harvests. There was one vendor there who as quite busy, but I had to wonder if all the food they had was local or organic. Sorry, but it was just too shiny, to clean, to perfectly shaped and too uniformly sized. I wondered if the USDA has rules about such things. Maybe it is the high-tech future of organic foods, or maybe someone snuck in some South American Produce.

The clientele was different from what I normally see. Lots of powersuits and business dresses and high heels. But everyone had that rapt look of attention to the sight, smells and flavors or the plenty laid before them. I thought it was a great thing to find such a market in the center of the capitol, supported by the USDA as they continue to educate and expose jaded urban dwellers to really good foods grown practically in their backyards.

Definite high point of the vacation.

Asheville's Farmer's Tailgate Market

It isn’t local, but while on vacation I happened upon a downtown farmer’s market. The French Broad Food Co-op Tailgate Market is Asheville’s original, all-organic tailgate market, and they just so happened to be operating that Wednesday as they have since 1990. The market features freshly picked organic vegetables, fruits and herbs as well as local honey, wood-fired brick oven breads, vegan and non-vegan baked treats, eggs, pies, goat cheeses and locally raised meats. The market is located at 76 Biltmore Avenue, next to the French Broad Food Co-op, which is kind of like Sevananda here in ATL. The co-op even has a little area for all local organic produce with the names of the farms on chalkboard labels. The market basically sets up in the parking lot of a green building materials store and consisted of about twenty vendors and their iconic white tents.

We stolled around the market, checking out the selections of late summer fruits and vegetables including apples, pears, squash, carrots and corn. We bought some broccoli, eggplant and herbs for our cabin dinner. I talked to the person who was there from the local goat farm selling her cheese. We talked about ash cheese and the various reaction people have to it. We stopped and chatted with the beekeeper who showed us an antique reed beehive he had obtained from England. They used to go into the wild, chop off a piece of the hive(with the queen, I presume), then drop the chunk of hive into the straw basket and the bees would set up nest there and honeycomb it and make honey. The problem was, and the reason it became an abandoned practice, is that the only way to collect the honey was to kill the bees.

It was very much a farmer’s market, with hardly any vendors selling jars of salsa or jelly, or insurance, or hot-water heaters. At it fit perfectly into the small-town, mainstreet ambience that part of Asheville has developed and maintained. And the town seems very focused on green, local, and organic. That is nice to see.

Marietta Square Farmers Market

^{S. joins hundreds of others who come to the Marietta Square Farmer’s Market to check out the local and organic produce}

From May to December the city of Marietta closes off one of the streets alongside it’s historic square and allows market vendors to set up their signature tents from 9am-noon on Saturday. Parking on the streets is free and there is plenty of shade and some of the little shops on the square open early to offer coffee, tea, pastries and sandwiches to the several hundred people who come to visit the 40+ vendors.

It is a good 45 minute drive for us but we went over there to check out the Marietta Square Farmer’s Market. We were able to park on the opposite side of the square and walk through the middle, where the sidewalks were all lined with American flags in rememberance of 9/11. The market stalls were in two rows and we meandered our way up, then down, then up again, comparing, shopping, talking to vendors, and getting a sense of what kind of marekt this was.

It is a little different than the others we have been to. But then, Marietta is a little different. I always feel like it is a town/neighborhood on the verge of progressive-stagnation. They want an upscale lifestyle with small-town charm. They want lots of diverse and unique things to do, but don’t want the traffic or increase in population. They have very affluent people who are sometimes tight with their cashflow. They are very nice people, and I have a number of friends in Marietta. We wanted to buy a house in Marietta initially but could not afford what we wanted. I’m not down or Marietta, I’m down with Marietta. But I have noticed that the character of the farmer’s markets reflects the communities we have been in, and that’s how it was here, too. The square is surrounded by antique shops, knick-knack stores, pubs, retro clothing stores and art galleries. The market has less emphasis on “farm fresh” produce than on breads, pastas, honey, jams, pickles, even some crafts. One stall was for a restaurant that is already located on the square. I still think it is great that they are part of the community effort to support the market, and that by getting a space they are keeping the market alive and active. Yet… maybe they could have donated the space to a farm or local food producer.

That’s not to say there were no farmers or produce. There were several tables loaded with late summer selections of tomatoes, muscadines, squashes, herbs, flowers, apples, pears, even some pomegranates. We were going to get some hydro Bibb lettuce from one guy, but he was sold out. He started selling around 9am and by 10:30 he had sold 200 heads. I got some muscadines from a woman who had grown them in her front yard, some non-homogenized milk to make yogurt (one step closer to real, raw milk yogurt and cheese), some applewood smoked bacon from Pine Street Market’s stall, and some Emily G’s Jams of Love. I got her newest flavor, Apple Pie. It is delicious, especially drizzled over some of the wild pears we picked last weekend. I want to try some with home-made ginger snap cookies.

The Marietta Square Market is a nice place to visit, and given more chances to go I’m sure a person would develop repoires with the vendors. Plus it is a nice way to kick off a pleasant stroll through the historic and commercial part of this unique town.

See more progress on: Visit All My Local Farmer's Markets

Volunteering with Concrete Jungle

^{A successful harvest of unwanted fruit by Concrete Jungle (S. on the far right).}

Sonseeray and I joined up with six other volunteers that comprise the Concrete Jungle, an Atlanta-based organization that helps to distribute unused food to the hungry from untapped sources: the hundreds of residential fruit and nut trees growing in the Atlanta area. Most of these trees are untended and ignored, their bounty being consumed wildlife or falling to rot while only miles away many poor and homeless people struggle to include any fresh produce into their diet.

With the property owner’s permission, the group picks the fruits and nuts from area trees, washes and scrubs them, and delivers them to about five different shelters in the Atlanta area. To date this year they have collected and donated about 1,800 pounds of fruits that would have gone to waste. They have collected everything from plums, figs, and blueberries to apples, pears, peaches and wild grapes. There is a huge diversity of luschious and wild fruits growing within the urban confines and locations are just as different. Homes, parking lot medians, behind furniture stores, abandoned lots, local woods. And a lot of these trees are prolific producers.

We met the other volunteers, led by Craig Durkin, on a shady street at 10am Sunday morning. We brought a couple of wicker baskets and a crate, but found their IKEA bags much better suited to the task. We carried a tarp and walked down the street to a house that boasted two pear trees laden with fruit. These were not well tended trees, and their branches were splayed from not being trimmed, and some were broken, they were so heavy with pears. We spread the tarp and picked the lower branches cleaned, then took turns giving the trees a vigorous shaking, which brought down a rain of fruit. We gathered as much as we could from the two trees, which amounted to about 150 pounds of pears. From there we loaded everything into the bed of a pickup truck and drove a short distance to another home where a couple of apple trees were loaded with small, just ready to turn apples. I don’t know the variety, but we picked and shook and gathered about 75 pounds of apples. The home had a pear tree that was sagging with huge fruits, but the owners didn’t want us to pick them. I said we could offer to pick the fruit and let the people have what they wanted, letting us keep the rest, but Craig felt we had enough pears already, and said sometimes event the shelters will turn away too much of one kind of fruit.

One of the young women I met had just returned from India, where she had been volunteering first at an orphanage, then with a program the provided more efficient cooking stoves to rural villagers to decrease the amount of fire-wood they needed to cook with. She said she would be moving on in a couple of weeks to do more volunteer work (I don’t remember where). I hope to see her again and talk with her a little more before she goes. I really admire people who are able to devote a period of time in their lives to helping others, who travel and participate in humanitarian challenges. I don’t really understand how they do it, how they find the courage to let go of so many material comforts and embark of journeys to remote places. I tend to volunteer places that are convenient to me, unless I get really devoted to something. Even then I tend to work it into my life, rather than work my life into it. Anyway, she was a very nice girl and I admire what she is doing. And we had a very nice time participating in this original and noble effort to close the gap between bounty and need.

Summertime Tomato-Basil Pasta

After prowling the produce stands and farmers markets I gathered enough items to put together a simple, but certainly healthy and gourmet-type meal. This one is a nice, simple, elegant dish that can be made up in about 1/2 an hour.

I started by de-seeding some purple muscadine grapes and heating them on the stove with some honey. Letting them cook on a low simmer released the grape flavors. While that was going I rendered some lardons of Pine Street Market’s delicious applewood smoked bacon and began to boil some garlic flavored Pappardelle’s linguine whole wheat pasta. Before anyone asks… it was a small amount of bacon, locally cured and smoked from hormone free hogs obtained in Newnan, Georgia. It’s damned good.

Meanwhile I de-seeded some scuppernong grapes (and pulled the skins off because S. doesn’t like their thick, slightly bitter taste), diced a fresh peach, and mixed them both with some tiny, tiny, cherry tomatoes I bought at the market. I also diced half and onion, crushed some garlic, sliced some crimini mushrooms, and diced a red and a yellow tomato.

When the bacon had rendered I picked the pieces out of the pan with a fork, leaving the rendered fat in the pan. With the heat on high I dropped in the garlic and onions, sauteeing until just browned(I can offer no defense for the sauteeing in bacon fat… it’s just got an incredible smokey, salty, rich flavor that I cannot throw out). This was followed by the mushrooms, which I let sit in the fat and only turned once one side was nicely browned. I added the diced tomatoes and stirred, letting the whole concoction simmer on a reduced heat.

I pulled the muscadine/honey mix off the stove, added a small amount of rice wine vinegar, pureed and strained, and set aside as a dressing for the salads. I built the salads with a handful of baby spinach leaves, some home-grown broccoli/alfalfa sprouts, the peach/scuppernong salsa, and the muscadine dressing.

I drained the pasta, tossed with a little olive oil(see, no bacon fat!), hit the tomato mix with some capers and a touch of cream, stirred in some chiffonaded fresh basil and seasoned with cracked black pepper, kosher salt and grated lemon zest. I put the pasta on a plate an ladled the fresh tomato sauce over it, sprinkling the bacon on top.

For some reason, S. feels she must have some kind of meat with at least one meal each day, so I diced and sauteed some chicken breast for her. Mine was vegetarian (not counting the bacon/fat).

Tomatoes are loaded with health benefits, the most loudly touted being Lycopene. Lycopene is an anti-oxident credited with staving off all sorts of cancer-causing health issues. It is also a soldier in the fight against heart disease. Dark leavy greens like spinach are high in vitamin K, A, iron and calcium. Fresh sprouts contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals, plant estrogens that increase bone formation and density and prevent bone breakdown or osteoporosis, and are high in saponins which lower LDL cholesterol and fat in the bloodstream. Whole wheat pastas contain much of the nutritious bran and germ, high in B vitamins, magnesium and manganese, and a good fiber source, too.

Piedmont Park Green Market

Having obtained a rare four-day weekend, I took advantage of a sunny, temperate Saturday morning to drive downtown and check out the Piedmont Park Green Market. Every Saturday from 9am-1pm (probably a little earlier, I suspect), about fifteen to twenty-five vendors set up tents just inside the 12th street entrance. They are in their seventh year now, and have been the inspiration for many other farmer’s markets that have started in the last couple of years. Parking off Piedmont Road can be a challenge, so I thought it best to drive to the other side of the park and find a place on one of the quiet residential streets. This also afforded me a pleasant walk through the center of the 188 acre park under shady trees, amidst families out for strolls, dedicated dog-walkers and inline skaters, and what may be the last of long-legged lady joggers in shorts and tanktops.

On this day there were not a lot of “out-of-town” farmers and vendors. There were a few, including a man selling honey, vegetables, and eggs at $5 a dozen. He was sold out, but gave me a card and said I could pre-order during the week and he would hold them for me next Saturday. The search for the $5 egg goes on. Among the people who were there were local bakers, people selling flowers, a food truck featured on Food Channel, a couple who hand-makes their own pastas, and a tent providing produce grown by a local church, harvested by volunteers, and sold to raise money for charity. There was a band playing on the Clara Meer Dock, a pleasing, agreeable jazz number.

Because it is downtown there is a constant flow of people, both dedicated shoppers and people just passing by entering the park. There was little time to chat with the vendors because every few moments someone was ready to make a purchase. I did sample some flavored olive oils with the pasta couple, and bought some whole-wheat pasta (even though it breaks my rule of not buying anything I can make myself). I also bought some tiny cherry tomatoes from the church tent, and some purple muscadines from another vendor. The market runs May until December, but I wonder what the fall selection is going to look like. While it is a great resource for in-town residents who can just walk down the street to the park, it is a bit longer for me and I wouldn’t use it as a regular shopping venue. Except for the pasta, the Green Market carries much of the same items as any of the other markets I have been to. I do like the concept of the church maintaining their own garden and supporting charities with the proceeds. I am less in favor of Kaiser Permanente and the AJC being “sponsors” of the market, but maybe I’m being corporate-paranoid. It’s a nice little market with variety and personality, and it adds to the fabric of the local, organic, and sustainable environment. It’s prominent placement in Piedmont Park demonstrates the conservancy’s dedication to keeping the park a true “common ground” and community asset.

Lucy's Produce

Not “technically” a farmer’s market, Lucy’s Produce Market is a reclaimed gas station on Roswell Road that serves as an outlet for fresh local produce, jams, pickles, fire wood, plants, fruit trees, breads and nuts. The owner, Kim, named the location after her daughter and has been selling to the public for about a year and a half. We were out for lunch and passed by and decided to stop in for a look.

The first thing you come across is a large herb bed Kim planted in the spring. It is where all the fresh herbs come from. You tell her how much you want and she goes out and snips it for you. Even in this past grueling summer she kept a beautiful bed of basil, growing under what was once the awning of gas pumps long ago removed. The cracked concrete driveway is lined with tables heaped with tomatoes, peaches, beans, okra, and squashes. The three bay garage houses bags of organic mulch and potting soil, selections of potted fruit trees and herbs, and other supplies, and a big kettle filled with a bubbling brew of boiled peanuts. In what was once the glass encased office they have converted the beer and soda coolers to hold bags of shelled cowpeas, beans, fresh greens, lettuces, soups that are made and delivered daily, hummus, berries, yogurts and lots of other items provided by local vendors. Rustic wooden shelves display jams, potted succulents and house plants, bags of deep-fried peanuts, olive oil, vinegars, breads from a local bakery, and hand-made dish towels from Provence.

I got some garden-fresh basil, a basket of huge Florida tomatoes, and some South Carolina peaches the size of baseballs that were sweet and juicy. On a Friday afternoon the place was quite busy and we had little time to talk to the owners, except to say what a great selection they had, and what a nice place Lucy’s was. Being open six days a week from 9-5 makes them more “middle merchants” than “farm-to-table” vendors, but Kim and her husband, Richard, and the other woman working there could tell us the source of every item we asked about, if it was organic, how the season for some products was going, and tons of other friendly information I doubt I could have wrung out of a Kroger/Publix employee. And they are a great inner-perimeter outlet for local food artisans to establish a presence.

A little research helped me uncover their website, which looks like it is in mid-growth and doesn’t convey the homey, street-corner vendor atmosphere you find at Lucy’s. This blog from when they first opened is a better representation, but believe me, they have grown from those humble beginnings, but kept all their rustic charm.

Red Snapper Ceviche/Pan Seared

While at the market I saw an ice filled bin stacked with red snapper that was on sale. Normally I steer clear of discounted fish but these had clear, bright eyes, crimson gills, a clean smell and firm texture. At $3.15 a pound it seemed more like a bargin than a discount. I pulled a fish out of the bin and had it bagged with ice. For about $6.50 I got the head, I got the tail, I got the whole damned thing(minus the innerds, of course).

I got the fish home and gave it a good rinse in the sink and scraped the scales off the sides. With my sharpest filet knife I cut along the head and down the backbone, letting both sides fall away. The head, backbone and tail went into the compost, buried about halfway down. My grandmother used to bury her fish carcasses in the garden, covering them with about a foot of soil. Fish will break down pretty quickly in a hot compost heap where the temp is between 104 and 160 degrees, and it provides good nutrient to the soil. It has to be buried in the heap, or else it will stink and draw insects and scavengers.

S. is skeptical of most fish. She only began to eat salmon and tuna after she met me and I prepared it correctly for her. She was unsure of this snapper business but I convinced her that snapper is a clean tasting, mild fish with a good texture that holds up to frying, baking, broiling or smoking. It is not as high in Omega 3’s as salmon or herring, and the mercury content is a bit higher, but very safe when eaten in moderation.

I looked at the filets and decided to do an double entree. I cut filets from the head end, each about 6 ounces. I scored the skin with little cuts and dredged the filets in cornmeal. I took the tail parts, removed the skin and diced up the flesh. I mixed the raw fish with some diced sweet gaya melon, red onion, red pepper, cilantro, basil, garlic, cracked pepper and sea salt. I made a dressing of lime juice, honey, tequila and rice wine vinegar as tossed it all together. I filled two martini glasses with seaweed salad, the ceviche mix, sliced tomatoes and sunflower sprouts.

I cut up some purple potatoes I bought at a farmer’s market and mixed them with some olive oil and garlic and rosted them in the oven. I cut up some asparagus and my market fresh chantrelles and quickly sauteed them in a skillet until they just sweated. I put a pan of olive oil on the stove and brought it to just smoking and laid the fish in, skin side down. The skin crackled and curled, but the little slits allowed the skin to draw up without buckling the flesh. Olive oil is not the best choice for pan frying. It is very heart healthy but it has a low smoke point and will break down quicker that a soy, canola or peanut oil. After a couple of minutes the skin was quite crispy and I turned the filets over, letting the cornmeal just brown. I put everything on a plates. By now the vinegar and the citric acids had “cooked” the fish. We sat down with both and ate. The ceviche was very good, being sour, sweet, a little salty and herby. I wish I had some habeneros to add. That would have brought it up even more. The asparagus, chantrelles, and potatoes were very good but seemed like a kind of “forest” plate, better suited to beef or roast chicken or venison. The fish was very mild and moist, and flaked away easily under our forks. The plates were very pretty, too. I have to get a better camera or more light for these pictures.

S. cleaned her plate and emptied her martini glass, and this is testament enough for me.

Red snapper is a great source of low-fat calories and protiens. It contains selenium which is touted as good for the blood and an agent in fighting cancer and depression and aiding in mental alacrity. The mercury issue means it is best not to eat snapper with great indulgence, and larger fish are subject to ciguatoxin, but that is rarely a problem in store bought fish. Red snapper are not farmed, they are caught from marine environments and their stocks have been severly depleted by overfishing over the years. There are special laws to regulate the fishing of snapper. It is also important that we take care what we put in the ocean, lest it find its way back onto our dinner plates. Seaweed contains B12, iodine, iron, aids in brain development and helps hair become thick and lusterous(no kidding, that is what my research says). Seaweed is both farmed and harvested from natural sources, again prompting all of us to become more aware of our enviroment.

East Lake Farmer's Market

^{LefTeas combines aromatic teas with a sense of humor and wit}

Just inside the Atlanta city limits is the East Lake Farmers Market, located off Memorial on the corner of 2nd Ave and Hosea L Williams Dr. in the East Lake neighborhood. They are in their second year of having a farmer’s market, and hopefully will grow and expand. They are set up in a 150X100 foot fenced in abandoned parking lot, and there are about a dozen vendors under what is becoming trademark folding white canopies. They are on site from 9-1 on Saturdays, but many of the vendors have websites, email addresses and operate buying clubs to broaden their access to customers. Many of them state they have tables at at least three other markets. I am certain as I work my way around I will see them again at other venues.

The Saturday we went was overcast and not too hot, which was good since the market is set on asphalt. Everyone was very friendly, though not too many got out of their chairs as we came to the tables. Produce was very sparse. I wonder if local farmers are having issues because of the heat and lack of rain lately. The tomatoes available were only grape and cherry sized and not very pretty. Same with the bell peppers: all the fruits were small and gnarled. There was a vendor selling free range chicken at $6/pound and eggs at $5/dozen, but she was out of eggs. She said the heat had led to the hens laying poorly and the supply was stretched thin between the buying club and the four markets they attended. I guess I am going to have to do a real side-by-side taste test to justify eggs at $5 a dozen when organic, cage-free, free-range eggs are still $3.15 in the supermarkets. I get the part about supporting local farmers, and it’s not like I eat a ton of eggs a week. I’m glad the USDA has certified them to candle their own eggs and slaughter their own chicken, but I’m not sure it explains why a chicken breast from a local source is 3X the cost of chicken in the stores, and even more expensive than organic, grassfed bison.

What ended up drawing us in, and where we spent our money, was a stand with various succulents run by Kurt Straudt, a self-described garden artist, who also offers classes in making pots and planting and taking care of succulents. He had about thirty kinds of plants for sale and we ended up buying the one we were least likely to kill.

We also bought some herbal tea from the LefTeas stand. The woman manning the spot let us taste the “tea of the day”, Communi-Tea Service, and had sample tins of other teas for us to sniff. They all smelled great, even the one with coconut and vanilla. All her teas are hand blended with organic ingredients. All seventeen “varie-teas” have a left-leaning, tongue-n-cheek theme and a cute image on the bag. I bought a bag of Balanced Bill for $12, which seemes like a lot until you realized you forgot someone’s birthday and you run to Teavana in the mall and end up paying $50-$60 for half a pound of some exotic fruit tea that no one ends up drinking anyway. I’m now thinking ahead to getting gifts of bags of tea with flavor, and political humor.

We stopped by the popsicle man who had all natural, homemade popsicles. S. got a buttermilk/lemon and I got a watermelon/strawberry and they were delicious. They really tasted like summer, full of fruit and sweetness and the delightful contrast of hot and sweaty with cool and refreshing.

Last year the East Lake Farmer’s Market claimed to average 100 people a day. We were there about 30 minutes and saw about 15 people come and go. They boast how the market has helped what was once a crime-ridden area, and I’m not so sure that is the best way to promote your market, but there is no doubt it is a crucible for change in the area. This interview gives some idea how challenging it was to get the market started, and how much local support it needs to grow and thrive. It was a nice place to check out with friendly people and more great local products to try that we would not have found had we not ventured downtown.

Home Made Yogurt

^{All the basic elements of making yogurt: milk, sweetener, vanilla,
and a starter mix.}

For about a month a few years ago I was obsessed with making all things sour and creamy. I experimented with ways to make sour cream, buttermilk, creme fraiche, kefir, farmer's cheese, and the queen of cultured milks: yogurt. The idea of consuming a container of dairy made sour by billions of creepy-crawlies, and of that being good for you, facinated me endlessly. When I learned that yogurt could be made with the simplist of ingredients I set out to make it as simply as I could. I cultured my yogurts in clay jars in dark, warm corners, in glass jars set in pans of warm water, and in primitive yogurt makers constructed of plastic quart containers and a heating pad.

I have made yogurt regularly for years, and only rarely buy a plain yogurt when I need a new starter strain. I’ve eaten commercial yogurt a couple of times, and it was absolutely horrible. Except for a greek-style yogurt called Cultural Revolution which is OMG delicious! In my yogurt I control the thickness, the sweetness, the basic flavors. I mostly do vanilla yogurt which helps me work through my supply of vanilla beans my friend Mark keeps foisting on me. This summer I have made blueberry, peach, strawberry and lemon-zest yogurts, and used them for salad dressings, frogurt, fruit topping, and yogurt cheese. Tonight I made a simple vanilla yogurt to combine with my fruit and green smoothies.

I always start with whole organic milk. One day I am going to start with raw milk to gauge the difference, but I use whole milk vs skim or 2% because I like the creaminess the extra milk fat provides. I heat the milk on the stove to 175 degrees as a safety precaution (although I am not sure with pasturized milk it is necessary). This kills any bacteria swimming around that would compete with my yogurt germs and turn my tart curdles into rancid goop. I toss in the sliced vanilla bean and let the mixture cool to 112 or 108 degrees. This is the perfect temp for my next two ingredients; yogurt starter and honey. I only sweeten my yogurt with raw honey which is loaded with phytonutrients that high heat will destroy. The honey will melt into the milk at 108 degrees, unlike sugar, which needs a higher heat to melt from it’s crystal form. And the live lacto-eating organism in yogurt thrive in the steamy bath between 112 and 108.

I wisk in the honey and yogurt starter (usually just a spoonful of store-bought organic yogurt will suffice) and strain out the vanilla pods. Then I pour the mix into my chosen yogurt brewing container. Tonight I decided to use the electric yogurt-maker S. bought for me last year. It’s not as rustic but it produces consistant results. In about 6 hours I will have eight little containers of thickened milk which I will move into the fridge for another 24 hours. The cold will put the yogurt bacteria to sleep, and the yogurts will be good for about two weeks, although I never have any last that long. About 10 minutes of work and lots of unsupervised waiting. Perfect.

Yogurt has lots of health benefits. It is easier for lactose intolerant people to consume, aids in digestion, promotes good gut cultures, provided calcium, potassium, and B12, and is cooling and refreshing on things like cold blanched carrots, cucumbers, fish, and fresh berries.

Refreshing Sorbets

^{Black Cherry Sorbet and Pickled Watermelon Rind}

I have a list of things I am vowing to never buy again. On that list is sorbet and ice cream. I know how to make about six different kinds of ice cream, including frozen yogurt (I call it “frogurt”!) and raw vegan ice cream. Sorbets are really easy, too, in fact much easier than ice cream. So when I happened to come across a sale on black cherries and watermelon, I made a couple of quarts of sorbets.

I pitted the cherries and put them in a blender with a red wine, honey, and spice mixture and pureed them smooth. I poured the mix into a ceramic bowl and tucked it into the freezer while I peeled, diced and pureed the ruby-red watermelon. Normally I would run the diced pieces through a food mill to separate the seeds, but this melon was seedless. I added a little reduced bourbon with some honey, lemon juice, cloves, nutmeg and stick cinnamon. This I strained to catche the spices and worked it into the pureed watermelon. I poured this into a plexiglass dish and it joined the cherry mix in the freezer.

I cleaned up the left over watermelon rind and diced it into small chunks. I made a brine of salt, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, cloves, stick cinnamon, nutmeg and mint. I brought the mix up to a low simmer. When the ingredients had been allowed to seep for about an hour I strained out the spices again and added the rind, putting it back ont the stove and letting it cook until it was translucent but still firm. I tossed in some lemon slices and a couple of maraschino cherries, poured it off into sanitized jars and sealed them. After they cooled I moved them to the fridge because they were going to get eaten soon anyway.

I opened the freezer and gave the sorbets a stir with a fork, breaking up the sheets of ice forming into little shards. I did this a couple of times over the next several hours. The watermelon sorbet froze harder than the cherry, so I had to pull it out and really scrape and chop it up until I had a redish pink pan of flavorful ice. The cherry sorbet shredded much easier and stayed an amazon crimson color. The next day I took the watermelon sorbet and a jar of watermelon pickle to lunch with some friends. We ate outdoors in their garden and the sorbet went quickly. It didn’t have a really distinct watermelon flavor, but was still pretty good. We put the watermelon pickle on just about everything, from bread to apple slices to sorbet to our martinis. I came home empty handed.

The cherry sorbet I have kept for myself. Nothing sooths and cools as well as a rich, sweet, ice cold snack topped with tart-but-sweet watermelon pickle, especially after mowing the lawn, tending the garden, or walking the dog. The season for these fresh fruits will soon be at and end but I can extend these summer pleasures with a little effort.

Dunwoody Green Market

The Dunwoody Green Market is located just off Chamblee Dunwoody Road, on the black-top of a parking lot between an office strip center and a bank. They are only open on Wednesdays from 8-12, and have about been around about five years. They are a “producer only” market, meaning that only vendor who actually produce the foods and goods can sell at the market. So, no middlemen or resale vendors, only the people from who’s farms, kitchens, craft shops, or gardens the product actually came. They also organize a CSA program that supports local farmers. The CSA is not overseen by the Dunwoody Green Market, but is provided by their most senior members. Like Morningside Farmer’s Market, all sellers must provide USDA certified organic produce.

I guess I had thought most of these markets were basically like the old farmer’s market I used to go to in Auburndale, Florida. It is a huge, sprawling, ecclectic market with over 300 stalls that sell everything from fruit and vegetables to clothes, CD’s knives, and sunglasses. If you wanted to rent a stall, you went to the office, gave them $35 and they gave you a 12X12 square of concrete in one of the football-field-length wings, and you set up you stuff to sell. Kind of like a high-traffic garage sale. But the markets I am going to around here are very organized with many rules about who can and cannot be a seller. And still many of the sellers come in from two or three hours out of town.

I was off work Wendnesday in order to take care of the kind of government stuff they aren’t available for after 5pm and on the weekends. I happened to be in the area and stopped at the market, which was actually pretty busy. There were about 20 vendors set up, some selling produce, some soap, some bread, some meats and eggs. I talked with a woman who sells soap, and she explained to me all the different varieties she offers, how they are made, and how she has a relationship with a sponge diver in Florida who sustainably harvests natural sponges for her. I talked to a man who owns a 178-acre farm past Clarksville. He had pretty decent produce and a basket of fat, golden, delicious-looking chantrelle mushrooms he foraged off his property. The season for fresh chantrelles is coming to a close, so I bought a pint that was probably over-priced, but worth it. I also bought a loaf of freshly baked, rosemary-onion ciabatta from a bread guy I know. Even with conversations it took me about 20 minutes to work my way through the market, and I was going slow. They had pretty good foot traffic while I was there, and I am sure there are lots of people going to work in the am or making special stops by these sellers to fill their pantries with organic, local, hand-harvested foods.

Snellville Farmer's Market

^{S. is “a buzz” with interest over bee-keeping}

Snellville is doing its first farmer’s market this year. The city launched it concept this past June, and will have it run until October. It is open every Saturday from 8-12 and is located in a large open field across the street from the city hall. Booth space is $10 and there are as many as 50 vendors. No one is requied to be a “producer”, nor organic, but all that is encouraged, as is sustainabilty and green practices. Local vendors are the focus.

S. and I went out there and walked around on a misty gray Saturday morning and saw many of the same things I have seen at the other markets: Flimsy white tents, folding tables stacked with rough-looking fruit, people with that farm-fresh, folksy charm letting people sample and taste, and explaining with knowledge and passion (such a rare combination!) about what they are selling, how it was created, and why what they are doing is important. I saw my biscotti guy, and he gave us samples of his chocolate mousse biscotti which was very good.

We talked for quite a while with a couple who own a 45-acre farm on the other side of Monroe. She is taking orders for holiday turkeys but is almost at her limit because predatory hawks have been grabbing the chicks. Right now at twenty pounds the turkeys are just about too heavy for fly off with. Also they told us the trouble they are having with racoons and possums getting into the henhouse and killing the new chicks. Rather than trap or poison they are doing what I suspect people have been doing for thousands of years to protect their livestock: they are using predators of their own, their big family of dogs who run down and run off assorted intruders.

I talked with a young man who was selling organic, fresh, natural chicken for $20 each. $10 for two thighs. $15 for two breasts. I asked him about the prices to be certain I was reading them correctly and he verified that yes, he was selling his chicken for around $10 a pound.

“Chicken…” I said.

“Organic chicken,” he corrected me. He then told me he still had a cooler full, and last week he had some left over, too.

“Why do you think that is?” I asked him. He said he really didn’t know, maybe the market just had too many vegetarian customers. I agreed that must be it, wished him success, and moved on, thinking about how I bought organic natural chicken for about $3.50/pound in the grocery store. I’m sure it wasn’t local, and I was supporting an evil corporate giant with my dollars, and thought it was unfortunate that is took less money to support something I wanted to get away from than it did to support something I was in favor of.

There was a woman selling flowers in arrangements with stalks of fresh herbs worked in. More people selling bread than the other places I have been to. We stopped and had a very detailed conversation with a man who turned out to live only a couple of miles from us who raises bees and collects their honey. He has been doing it for four years now and this year he collected over 80 pounds of honey. He gave my wife a very thorough lesson in starting a hive and keeping it healthy. She came away excited about being a beekeeper. She’s always been a fan of bees, even as a child. She doesn’t relish working in the garden, planting, weeding, harvesting… but she thinks if she raises bees that woud be a good contribution. We bought some wildflower honey.

We met a woman who makes wine jellies and we bought some of these, my favorite being the pommegranate-zinfindel. She doesn’t really have a “product line”, she just takes a few sips of the wine in question and makes a jelly based on how that wine resonates with her. She has some sugar free jellies made with Splenda, but we did not buy any of these.

On our way out we passed a family that had pumpkin plants for sale. She was selling them one pot for a dollar. I bought two and since it was so close to closing time she told me to just go ahead and take them all so now I have eight pumpkin plants.

I liked the layout of the market and the variety of vendors, but I can imagine in the open fiels with no trees or buildings to block the sun it can get quite hot. I think it will be a pleasant stroll in late September, but I don’t know what the vegetable and fruit selection will look like. But I would say this market is worth going back to and supporting, and I hope they have a really good first year.

Herb Oil Poached Salmon

I bought a piece of wild-caught sashimi grade salmon at the market. I clipped some herbs from the garden and dropped them in a pot of olive oil, which I put on a low flame. I checked the temperature with a thermometer and when it reached 140 degrees I eased the fish into the oil, letting it seep for about twenty minutes.

While that was going on I melted some butter, whisked an cage-free organic egg yolk with a squirt of lemon juice and ground mustard. I slowly added the butter to the egg yolk, whisking until I had a passable hollandaise. I set this aside on a warm part of the stove and cooked some Georgia organic stone-ground grits, smoked some yellow tomatoes with applewood chips, and blanched stalks of asparagus.

I cut up a couple of kumato tomatoes and sliced disks of organic raw mozzarella balls. I stacked these alongside some sunflower sprouts and grilled some whole wheat bread slices, which I cut into sticks. Then I sprinkled the salad with Pink Bolivian salt and aged Balsamic vinegar.

I scooped the grits onto two dinner plates and made a small well, filling it with the hollandaise. I laid out a raft of the asparagus, piled the smoked tomatoes next to the grits, and topped with the poached salmon. The advantage of poaching in the oil is that the flesh remained beautifully orange-pink but was cooked through, flaking away but with the flavor and moisture intact. I’d like to try this with a really red piece of sockeye salmon or ahi tuna. I wish the picture had come out better, showing the bright colors.

Substituting olive oil in the diet has many health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, reducing cholesterol in the bloodstream, leveling out blood sugar, and inhibiting cancer cell growth. Salmon is rich in Omega-3 fatty acid, and wild caught salmon has a higher percentage of Omega-3 than farmed salmon. Asparagus is known to be a blood cleaner and detoxifier, it contains viatmin K and folic acid, is a renowned aphrodisiac, and reduces inflammation. Tomatoes are also viewed as an aphrodisiac, the French called them “pomme d’amour”. They are high in vitamin C, lycopene, and contain 7percent the RDA of iron for women.

Morningside Farmer's Market

Morningside Farmer’s Market sets up every Saturday from 7:30am – 11:30am in a parking lot on Virginia Highlands Ave, and has been in operation for fifteen years. It started as a place where local organic farmers could offer their excess produce to the general public. There are about 10 or 12 farms that come from no more than two hours distance with bushels of assorted, seasonal vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. There is a guy there that does knife sharpening, and someone who sells homemade soaps and lotions.

Any vendor at Morningside Farmer’s Market has to be certified organic. The market is situated in a kind of bohem neighborhood, where the clientel is relative affluent, but socially conscious. It has a comfortable, relaxed pace, and you can find people walking their dogs, having coffee with friends at the local coffee shops, jogging, or just out with their canvas grocery bags and hemp sandals, purchasing bruised, bug-nibbled, and knobby fruits and vegetables.

I went around to all the stalls and observed that everyone had a lot of the same stuff. I think the trick is to arrive early, as early as 7am, to get the choicest selections. I arrived just after 9:30 and a lot of stuff seemed picked over. I bought some red baby carrots, some lumpy “True Blue” potatoes, a bunch of basil, and a loaf of whole grain sourdough bread from the Magnolia Bread Company. I admit I felt a little compelled to buy the bread, since they are a vendor we use where I work, and I have eaten tons of their breads for free. They are a wholly organic and local bakery owned by a very nice woman who used to be a nurse. All their bread comes from one master sourdough, and all loaves are shaped by hand and baked in a wood-fired hearth. It is awesome, delicious bread.

Across the street from the farmer’s market is a bakery-market called Alon’s. I stopped in and bought some Vermont cream artisan’s butter to go with my bread. The clerk gave me the eye for coming in with someone else’s bread.

By complete contrast I then went to the new Super H Mart that opened a couple of weeks ago. I have a Super H Mart near where I live, and it has never impressed me that much. It is not my “go-to” place for unique and interesting foods. For that I still go to the Buford Farmer’s Market and Dekalb International Market. But everyone at work has been going on with much gusto about how great this market was, so I decided to check it out. It is a good place to save money on seasonal items: $2.99 for big, seedless red watermelons and quarts of strawberries, and $1.49/pound for brilliantly red vine-ripe tomatoes. Otherwise, I was not particulally impressed. Seeing their piles of produce, knowing only a small percentage was local and nearly none raised organically, drew a sharp line between the market I had just come from, where you could ask the man or woman who actually grew the vegetables to tell you about them, and this place, where the origin and treatment of the food was difficult to determine. I did buy a piece of sashimi salmon and a whole red snapper, thinking of ways to marry my market purchases.

The Morningside market is small and doesn’t take long to go through, but they are busy and have a dedicated client base. Being as they are local and organic, it is even more important for the community to support them where it can.

Georgia State Farmer's Market

Claiming to be the largest open air market in the world (I cannot verify that). It has been open since 1958, sits resplendent on 150 acres with nearly 600 stalls, has a garden center with a nursery, wholesale and retail sales, and is a major distribution point for fresh produce in the Southeast and throughout the country. All my fresh produce vendors have offices very near the GSFM. I went down there on a Saturday, which, ironically, is not one of their busiest days. They do a lot of business, though. Something like 3,500 people a day work deals with vendors, and it adds up to about $500 million a year in sales.

With such large clientele its no wonder the market is open, rain or shine, 364 days a year, Mon-Sun, closed only for Christmas. The vendors are allowed to set their own hours, so there’s no telling when you go just how many people will be there. There are good deals to be had, but don’t be afraid to shop around and haggle. They claim to have a very large supply of Georgia grown foods, but I had a hard time finding anything outstanding, other than what was typically seasonal, like peaches and tomatoes. I think small farmers have a hard time being represented there. Organic specialties are not to be had at all at the vendor stalls. A large number of the vendors are Latino-owned, as are many of the customers. It is a great place to get produce by the case, or just by the pound. But it is not a homey place. I don’t think this is the place I will go to build repoire with my local farmer or market vendor. Even though it is huge, it doesn’t take long to exhaust the variety of what is available, either. They have a nursery and garden center at the end of the stalls, with tons of plants and fruit trees and herbs and flowers. There is also a restaurant at the entrance, but we didn’t go in to eat. It’s location in Forest Park makes it tough for me to get to, but might be worth the effort around Christmas time when the trees go on sale. They sell thousands of Christmas trees in Decmember. And the Pumpkin Master has pallets of multi-colored pumpkins and gourds in the fall.

Not some place I would go out of my way to frequent, but definitely a resource for certain things.