Market Report – Pies and Tart Edition

Portland Farmers Market sends a big hearty Whoo-hoo to Monica, AKA The Tart Lady, who is moving on up to a deluxe bricks and mortar store (In Hood River, but there will really be a piece of pie). Monica joins the 50 or so business who got their start with PFM before moving into to their own permanent space. If you are in Hood River and need some lunch to go with that snow, stop in at 108 Hwy 35 for sandwiches, soup, really good coffee and believe it or not baked goods. Doors open Nov. 16 – Winter hours are Tuesdays through Fridays.

Thanksgiving draws near, plenty of ways to keep your holiday table local – Pies – apple, pumpkin or a local variation on pecan with filberts or walnuts. Cured salmon is cool, served with creme friache is better or visit Simon and take home your own line caught Coho. Wild Rice, cranberries or beets & carrots waiting to get glazed. “Nobody makes mashed potatoes like ______ makes mashed potatoes”, and that is because they use PFM potatoes. Last week Springwater had a sale on Chanterelles, could happen again or you could just pick up enough to go with your green beans or stuffing. And speaking of stuffing – celery, sage, onions, sausage, bacon, butter, oysters and bread; all the things you need to make what our informal survey last week said was the #1 favorite T-day dish.

This time of year, every time you’re in the grocery store, you walk by them. Maybe they are okay, maybe you think they are better than you can do, possibly they tempt you by being there, ready and not requiring any more energy than placing them in your cart. Whatever the case, pie crust isn’t that hard and you ought not to feel the need to buy frozen. You can make your own pie crust, your own pie and a little effort on the pastry side will make you a Thanksgiving All-Star. Still unsure, this Sunday, November 14th, Friend of the Market, the human recipe app, Katherine Deumling will show the pleasures of buttery crust while plying you with bourbon soaked nog. The question is will you remember any of the lesson later. Who cares? Learn more about an afternoon of booze, butter and baking by visiting Katherine’s website here. 
http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com

And if 3 hours of lessons is too much at a time of the year with too little time, you can learn to cook 140 characters at a time: PFM is tweeting T-day recipes from now until the 25. And then we will retweet all of the truncated recipes the day before Thanksgiving in our 1st ever Recitweetathon™. All the fun happens at twitter.com/portlandfarmers.