Five Ways to Make Unprocessed Eating Easier than Ever

"For me, eating unprocessed foods means cooking up and serving the foods grown by my farmer friends, and eating out at restaurants manned by local chefs using those same ingredients. This relationship with food has made eating simple, real foods with the seasons the cornerstone of my community — I am connected to the Oregon soil, the animals that graze, the hands that harvest, the smiles that greet me at the market, and the friends and family that prepare and share the bounty. Over the years, I’ve developed a few time-saving tricks that make an Unprocessed lifestyle exciting, fun, and delicious..."

For my time-saving tips on eating well and close to the source, check out my guest blog post for October: Unprocessed, the national movement to reclaim our right to good, whole food in a world of packaging and chemicals. Go here to find out more and take the Eat Unprocessed pledge. Don’t worry if you missed the start date! You can start your 30 days today, or simply join in for the rest of the month.

Portland Farmers' Market Photos: Saturday at PSU 8/14/10

Chef in the Market with David Anderson of Genoa

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting a demonstration at the PSU Portland Farmers' Market with Chef David Anderson of the newly-reopened Genoa and its sister restaurant Accanto, and we had a really great time. This weekend's weather has been a bit confusing, starting off cool and cloudy and slowly burning off to a gorgeous sunny day, so our audience started a bit on the small side. Once people around the market started smelling frying pancetta and caramelizing apricots, however, we had quite the crowd. David was great, sharing stories from Genoa's past and present and explaining how the menu has been "traveling through Italy" as the seasons change in Portland.

Every month, the restaurant features a five-course prix fixe menu highlighting the specialties of a single region in Italy, and David selects the region based on the pairing of authentic ingredients with what's available in the markets in Portland. This month the menu features Chef David's interpretation of dishes from Abruzzo and Molise, a region nestled at the border of Northern and Southern Italy in the highland foothills of the Apennine mountains. The mouthwatering offerings include:

• Scamorze allo spiedo: Creamy scamorza cheese (a stretched cow's milk cheese similar to mozzarella) skewered on rosemary stems, pan seared and served with marinated baby artichokes and pickled asparagus.
• Farfalline con pisselli e fave: small hand-made pasta butterflies tossed in a savory San Marzano tomato sauce with Viridian Farms peas, fava beans, lemon zest and fresh sheeps milk ricotta.
• Pasta alla chitarra con ragu d’agnello: fresh egg and semolina pasta cut on a traditional chitarra or “guitar” tossed with a ragu of Cattail Creek lamb and sweet peppers.
• Scapece di salmone alla vastese: salad of wild Oregon Sockeye salmon marinated in champagne vinegar, white verjus (a very acidic juice made from pressing unripe grapes), saffron and aromatic vegetables served over baby spinach, sweet basil and Yukon gold potatoes.
• Dentice e calamari in purgatorio: Line caught pacific rockfish and calamari sautéed in a spicy sauce of onions, white wine, tomatoes and dried chiles.
• Coniglio alla grigliata misti: Mixed grill of rabbit; tender loin skewered with house made rabbit sausage and kidney served with airy potato croquettes and caramelized baby fennel.
• Lombatine pepate e fiamma: Grilled Pepper and herb crusted strip loin steak flamed with strega liquor and served with a saffron risotto stuffed pepper and a raw zucchini and mint salad.

David told us that he loves featuring regional cuisines because it gives him a chance to learn about the ingredients, culture, and history of a region, as well as pick up new techniques and traditional combinations. It's great to know that even Portland's top chefs continue to learn about food and regional cuisine long after they've established themselves as knowledgeable and skilled in the kitchen. There's so much rich food tradition out there that it'd be impossible to know everything before you begin - so get out there and start some hands-on learning. You're in good company.

Start your culinary tour of Italy via Oregon's farm-fresh bounty with what may be the perfect summer salad: Crispy pancetta cubes, sweet and tart apricots with a perfect sear in butter and honey, peppery arugula and fresh basil leaves, and a sprinkling of the Oregon favorite, Marionberries, and fresh, creamy ricotta cheese. Chef David provides a step-by-step guide for making this delicious dish, which would make a great summer meal on its own, or serve as the starter for your next five-course supper party extravaganza. Eat well, or perhaps more appropriately, buon appetito!

Caramelized Apricot Salad with Arugula, Basil, Pancetta, Marionberries, and Fresh Ricotta
Recipe courtesy of Chef David Anderson of Genoa and Accanto, 2010
Serves six as a starter or four as a light meal

For the vinaigrette:
1 pound pancetta, cut into lardoons (bite sized chunks)
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar, preferably 12 year
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

1. Place the pancetta and the olive oil in a small sauté pan and slowly bring up the heat to render out the fat. Leave over a low flame until the pancetta starts to color.
2. Drain the pancetta reserving the fat into a separate bowl. Keep the pancetta lardoons warm or at room temperature.
3. Put the pan back over the heat and add the shallots. Sweat for a few minutes until soft then deglaze with the balsamic vinegar.
4. Whisk in the reserved fat and taste for seasoning.

For the apricots:
6 apricots, ripe but firm, cut in half vertically and pitted
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat butter slowly in a wide sauté pan. As soon as butter foam subsides add the aprictos cut side down.
2. Raise the heat and lightly caramelize the apricots. Add the honey and toss well. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
3. Cut into wedges and taste for seasoning.

For the salad:
3 bunches of fresh arugula, washed and stemmed
1 bunch of basil, stemmed, leaves roughly torn
1/4 pound fresh ricotta, crumbled
Reserved pancetta cubes
Marionberries
Apricots
Vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large mixing bowl toss the apricots, arugula, and basil with enough of the vinaigrette to coat. Taste for seasoning and garnish with pancetta, berries, and ricotta.

Market Monday: Grand Opening of PFM at Pioneer

Today marks the first day of the Pioneer Courthouse Square Farmers’ Market, which will fill “Portland’s Living Room” with fresh fruits, vegetables, and artisan foods every Monday from 10 am to 2 pm throughout the season. If you work downtown, skip the food carts and come over for Monday lunch, or pick up some carrots and bread for dinner on your coffee break. Even though I'll likely stick to Wednesday's Shemanski market for my primary PFM outpost, I'm so excited that the market staff was willing to give up one of their only "days off" to start up yet another star of a market. Where would we be without those superstars? I don't even want to think about it.

This addition to the Portland Farmers’ Market line-up means that Portlanders can shop for local, fresh, and organic foods five days a week at six different locations throughout the city, from Southeast off of 20th and Hawthorne, to NW 23rd, to NE at King Elementary (for a list of all locations, times, vendors, and more, check out the PFM website). That means that wherever you live in Portland, you have easy access to the best food in the Northwest. Every quadrant has an opportunity to experience the “best of the country in the heart of the city.”

Pioneer Square Market Dates: June 21 through October 25

Times: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: The Monday Market at Pioneer Courthouse Square is located between SW Broadway & SW 6th and SW Morrison & SW Yamhill.

Check out these photos from this morning's opening, and look for a full market tour video later today (...ok, well, probably tomorrow. What am I, a professional blogger or something?)

Lynne's Farmers' Market Tips

Hi guys! Here are some tips for shopping at farmers' markets from one of my idols, Lynne Rossetto Kasper of the Splendid Table:

The biggest challenge here is always how not to overbuy. Of course, the whole idea of shopping at your local farmers' market is to build what you'll eat for the week around what's in season and looks good. This turns the idea of having a list and sticking to it into not such a good thing. So hold back wherever possible.

Keeping Everything Fresh
• Keep an inexpensive cooler in the car, complete with bags of ice cubes or those frozen blocks.
• Have a big bucket half filled with water in the car to keep flowers fresh.
• Bring your own tote bags to the market. Recycle individual plastic bags by bringing them with you and asking dealers to use them instead of theirs.

Enjoying the Market
• Don't buy until you've walked the entire market to see what's there. This is the time to stroll leisurely, enjoy the light, the sights, and seeing friends. Talk to the farmers. Find out who they are and what exactly they grow. Build relationships; everyone benefits from them.

• Look for organic growers and support them if at all possible. Their work helps the environment, besides often giving us safer and better-tasting food. If you're curious about what it takes to raise organic foods, these are the people who are usually delighted to answer your questions.

• Try new foods. Every week buy one thing you've never had before. Ask the farmer the best way to enjoy it. This way you may find you love the burgers from the dairy woman, or the fresh kohlrabi in mustardy dressing.

Finding the Best
• Taste. Always ask for a taste and offer to pay for it. Buying one tomato may save you from putting up a bushel of tasteless ones. Don't assume that because the food is fresh and local, it's going to be wonderful.

• Know when it was picked. With foods such as corn and peas that can lose their appealing sugars quickly, always ask when they were picked and always taste them raw before purchasing. Store in the refrigerator.

• Look. Know that often the prettiest peach or apple may not be the tastiest, but if anything is bruised, wilted, or tired-looking, don't buy it.

• With peaches and apricots, once the area around the stem is no longer green, the fruit is ready for picking. A few days at room temperature will soften them slightly and bring them to good flavor. The darker the yellow portion of a peach, usually the sweeter it is.

• Size isn't everything. Often the smaller ear of corn, zucchini, or green bean is sweeter. Remember, pickling cucumbers can be delicious eaten raw. They often have a distinctive, especially appealing character.

• Compare prices. The best buy might be down the next row.

Once You Get Home
• Store everything green in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
• Always keep tomatoes, garlic, onions, peaches, nectarines, and apricots at room temperature.
• If you have completely lost your head and bought far more than you need, get on the phone with friends and invite them to a cook-it-yourself farmers' market party. Have everyone bring an apron and a knife, and make it an evening of cooking together. Just keep the dishes simple - with the gorgeous flavors of just-harvested foods, you don't need to do much. Make sure to have some good bread, iced tea, and maybe wine. These are usually the best parties.

Market Photos: Wednesday PFM at Shemanski Park

Full disclosure: the Wednesday installment of the Portland Farmers Market at Shemanski Park is less than a block from my apartment. Nine flights of stairs and half of a Park Block are all that separate me from fresh Pearl Bakery baguettes, Gathering Together greens, Willamette Valley Havarti and Springwater Farms shrooms. I'm so spoiled.



It was POURING on Wednesday morning, so I put on a sweater and a hat (a full blown winter hat, on June 2nd... come on Portland, seriously?) and skipped up to the smiling and/or tired faces of the market staff and farmers. I picked up some garlic scapes, crazy delicious strawberries, breakfast radishes (which I'm enjoying right not on the aforementioned baguette with butter, salt, and pepper), new potatoes, and my first market tomato of the season. Then I suffered the long and tortuous trek back to my apartment, cradling that yellow tomato like a baby chicken, shielding it from the rough and tumble world of my market basket to keep it from bruising.

Less than five minutes later, I'm back in my kitchen, slicing her up for the first taste of Portland "summer", glancing out my window at the rainslick streets of downtown. You can't beat that first bite of a good tomato, especially when it was picked hours before by the smiling from man who sold it.

It's a rough life, this Portland living.

Ultimate NW Farmers' Market Map

Check out this great map from Good Stuff NW, compiling all of the farmers markets in the Portland Metro area. You rock, PDX.


View Portland Farmers' Markets in a larger map

Memorial Day BBQ

There's nothing I love more than lounging in bed going through photos and video clips the morning after a really great party. My eye makeup is more than a little smeared, the sink is overflowing with baking pans and mixing bowls, and it's STILL raining outside, but I can cocoon into my comforters and pillows and scroll through hundred of pictures of my friends faces, relive the good food, and hear again the laughter and jokes of the night's misadventures. With Gillian Welch singing to me from the record player, and my socked toes all comfy under layers of cool cotton, I've spent a few blissful hours cropping, rotating, and sharpening these memories...

We had amazing weather for one of Portland's favorite holidays - the Rose Festival was lightly toasted by warm sunshine and high clouds, the river looked beautiful as I crossed over to the east side, and our humble little BBQ in the big, beautiful orange house known as Crib Largo went off without a hitch. I was in an extra-fantastic mood because I just got a new job (!!!) and a summery white dress, two factors I'm relatively sure had a direct impact on the good weather... We even played a little frisbee in the intersection, yelling "CAR!" (or, just as often, "BIKE!") and skittering to the side of the road to let passersby pass by. Chess games were played, Jim Beam and Icelandic Schnaps were sipped and shot, and somehow most everyone ended up in random articles of womens clothing...



Anyway, the food. Oh, the food. The boys got started on the brisket pretty early, smoked it to perfection. Honestly, it was the best meat we'd ever had at a Family Dinner^® gathering (aside from Travis' Dancing Ladies Chicken, of course...). Meatmaster Jesse made the rub from the scrappy spice collection of the Largo kitchen, set up the Weber for success, and painstakingly monitored the smoke levels over the course of a few hours. Damn, that was good brisket. We also had a huge pile of variously-flavored sausages, grilled veggies, roasted kale, confusingly good pickles, Sweet Tea, watermelon (both in cocktail and analog form) and my contribution, strawberry shortcakes and strawberry thumbprint cookies. In the past four days, I've eaten at Kenny & Zukes, Hash, Foster Burger, and Tastebud... but the dinner we had last night topped them all.



Rereading that last paragraph, I just realized I ate a LOT OF FOOD this weekend. Which is likely why I'm drinking tea and eating cucumbers while digitally thumbing through my photo uploads. A girl needs balance. A girl also needs great friends, and this girl has them, and how. Summer may still be a few weeks off in this crazy town, but I can already tell it's going to be a good one.

Eat well.












Strawberry Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (Or more, if you want. I always up the kosher salt in cookies... it's kind of my thing...)
  
• Good Strawberry Jam
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place the balls on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and press an indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool and serve.

Memorial Weekend Market

The market was already packed when the opening bell rang at 8:30 this morning, and the wood-fired oven was already sending fragrant campfire scents into the air. In the mood for a bagel, I popped in line and checked out the offerings of the day. It was hard to pick which toppings I wanted - check out this selection: asparagus and bacon? hummus and radish? pork shoulder with jam? YES PLEASE.

There was a bit of a strawberry explosion, as last week one or two farmers had berries for sale - this week, the flats were out, the tables were piled high, and there was a definite smell of strawberry fever mingling with the Tastebud bagel smoke.

One farmer bragged that her strawberries were "Picked at 6 A.M.!" so I started off the morning with a fresh-baked sesame bagel with cream cheese, rhubarb, and fresh sliced strawberries.

I had just purchased a big bunch of basil, and snuck a few leaves onto my bagel. I'm a sucker for herbs in sweet foods - like the famous herb iced tea from last summer. Something about the fresh, complex flavor of basil, thyme, and mint set off fruit really well. I suppose it's a bit like when my parents put salt on papaya, mango, and melon, or the strawberry and balsamic phenomenon. Savory flavors punch up sweetness, and the result is an unexpected treat.


Speaking of herbs, a lot of farmers were featuring gorgeous chives, almost two feet long with pretty purple tops. I bought a bunch, along with my basil, and both are sitting in my kitchen in a vase of water - an herb bouquet. Beautiful and edible... the perfect combo.



Scanning the market, it was a pleasure to see summer veggies starting to appear. Amongst the standard spring fare of rhubarb, greens, and beets, farmers have been laying out baby summer squash, broccoli, and of course, strawberries. It's funny to hear little gasps of disbelief, along the lines of "Isn't it too early for strawberries!?" before grabbing a flat of fragrant Oregon reds. Groundwork Organics had a huge selection of berries and both spring and summer veggies, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that the line stretched away from the booth about a hundred feet. At least it gave me a good chance to snap a bunch of photos.



My roommate Greenbriar's parents are in town from North Carolina, and we're planning on having a BBQ on Monday. They are a pair of die-hard foodies (and loyal Lemonbasil readers, too!) so I'm sure it will be incredibly blog-worthy. Until then, have a great weekend, and eat well!

Last Market of April

I love how the farmers' market brings color to an otherwise drab and dreary Portland Saturday. The market was packed despite the gray weather, and it was pretty depressing to see everyone bundled up against the chill when, less than a week ago, we were all walking down the street in shorts and tanks and lying about in our underwear in our backyards. Just a bit of a wake up call that this is Spring, not yet Summer - even though I have ONE WEEK of classes left!

This summer is going to be epic. I received a grant to travel around Oregon painting around the State Parks in a van. I'll be seeing the best of the state, and hopefully checking out more markets outside of Portland. One hitch - I've signed up for my CSA which starts in 6 weeks (woo!) so I'll have to be popping in and out of PDX.

I'll still be blogging - think Lemonbasil meets On The Road - but the focus will shift to fresh, mostly raw uses of the goodies in my weekly CSA box. It should be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to show you the adventures I'll surely be finding.

For now, here are some photos from today's market - including my bounty, which I got for under twenty bucks. It's a fun challenge to see how much delicious produce I can get while keeping within my budget - I'm never disappointed!

Eat well - and here's to hoping the sun comes out again soon!


A gorgeous Snow Morel


So many vendors are selling starts this year, which means a lot more people are starting their own gardens. Awesome!


Beautiful bouquets in the making


The belles of the market - the red ladies.