02 November 2012

Little Sprouts, Little House & a Little News

The Market opens at 9 this Saturday – What are we going to do with that extra half hour every week until the market ends on December 15? How dare we take an extra 30 minutes when there are soups and salads waiting to happen: Cranberries, chestnuts, hazelnuts, wild rice, apples, pears, kale, sausages, bacon, potatoes, and cabbages.

Our friend, Elizabeth Miller wrote about cabbages, apples and Little House on the Prairie this week. Two of those three go together and I’ll leave it to you to decide which those are. At the market, you’ll find the standard cabbage, the crinkly savoy, Napa, and those wee cabbages of love, Brussels sprouts. Or as Marven Winter of Winter’s Farms likes to call his,

Sun kissed and SunGold

Troutdale sprouts. I’ve don’t think I’ve ever been to either geographic location, so who am I to judge what sprouts where? Although, maybe we stopped to get gas once on the outskirts of Brussels or possibly Troutdale.

Because they’re in season, we’ve been talking about Brussels sprouts all week at work. Seasonality and the fact I made a big batch of bacon sprouts – and the bacon isn’t the location where they were grown – Two parts sprouts to 1 part bacon by weight  turn on low, cover, come back an hour later and turn the heat up, deglaze and cook until sufficiently browned. People countered with ideas for sprouts and filberts, sprouts and lemon zest, sprouts and caramelized onions, sprouts and roasted fingerlings – kind of a play on bubbles and squeak. I say yes, embrace your sprouts wherever they do grow.

This week it will be bacon free, delicata is the featured veg. SunGold has a lot of them. I’m going to make squash risotto – also a dish that is well served by caramelized onions. Our very own Mona wrote about them in this week’s FOODday and word is our leader, Trudy will have some squash ideas soon. 

Apples are still awesome. Old World Apples who only show up at this time of year is bringing the harvest and Baird Family Orchards is bringing their press to the market this week, last time this year. You can make your own cider.

Two import things:

1) New hours until the end of the season 9-2.

2) The end of the season is December 15th.