A recipe for soupe à l'oignon gratinée, or French onion soup, done restaurant Comme Ça-style.
David Mas Masumoto writes about his 80-acre organic peach, nectarine and raisin farm, and shares his lyrical thoughts on peach farming.
Talk about local -- restaurants are starting their own gardens to help supply their diverse menus.
The wine of the week, a 2007 Willi Schaefer Riseling Mosel Qualitätswein, is a prime summer bottle.
Though their city may be warm year round, Los Angelenos also have farmers market fever. The Times checks out notable pre-prepared foods at the markets, provides tips for to creating a meal from a bounty of titillating ingredients, shares a list of current ripe-for-the-pickin' fruits and details the move to bring the markets to hospitals.
CSAs (that's Community Supported Agriculture) are on the rise, supplying members with fresh summer produce in exchange for an initial winter investment.
A dietitian offers some advice on how to read those confusing food labels.
If you dined like Frank Lloyd Wright, would the food look like his architecture?
One maker, one vintage, one grape, one region, one price, and four different pinot noirs from Merry Edwards, plus a mix of Edwards and Ravenswood Winery.
We are now at the point in the summer when I traditionally start to feel a little anxious. You see, while the bounty of the summer growing season is still going strong and the piles of heirloom tomatoes at the farmers markets make it hard for anyone to image a time when such abundance isn't be available, I can feel the end approaching. We've already said good-bye to the asparagus, strawberries, cherries, raspberries and tender greens for the year (although some greens will re-appear in September, when the weather cools down again). I can tell that the apricots are waning and the plums, peaches and nectarines won't be far behind.
I shopped for produce yesterday and today, filling my fridge with vibrant bunches of swiss chard and large bags of local string beans. I've been buying cucumbers, bags of the round lemon cukes, quarts of kirbys and handfuls the prickly gherkins with the intention to make pickles. Instead I just slice them them for snacks or make a quick salad with halved cherry tomatoes and slivered red onion.
Today, when I arrived home from the market, I unloaded my bursting shopping bags and gazed as the stacks of produce in my kitchen. As I put everything away, I mentally mapped out how I'd use it over the coming week. Braised greens with provolone and some leftover brisket for dinner sandwiches. Lightly blanched green beans tossed with goat cheese and a lemon vinaigrette. Chilled canteloupe for breakfast.
How are the rest of you feeling about the summer produce? What have you loved this summer and what foods have already passed out of season? Most importantly, does anyone share this end of season anxiety with me?
Last weekend, one of the stands at the farmers market still had a couple containers of fresh, vividly colored squash blossoms. I didn't discover them until I had done nearly all my shopping (and spend all my money), so I had to pass. They are such a delicious treat and have such a fleeting season, I kept thinking about them for the rest of the day, kicking myself that I hadn't been able to get any.
I know that some of you out there hate it when I feature pictures of vegetables in this column for you to feast your eyes on. However, you can't tell me that you don't think that the colors in this image aren't gorgeous. I'm always impressed at the vibrant colors that can be found so easily in nature. This picture comes to us from Slashfood Flickr pool member clayirving. Thanks Clay, for adding your pic to the pool!
Sunday afternoon, I had more than ten tasks and projects to get completed before the week started up again. However, instead of running around the apartment, marking things off my list, I got completed sucked into a documentary that Scott was watching. Called To Market, To Market, To Buy a Fat Pig, (from the old children's nursery rhyme) it is an hour-long visit to farmers markets all over the country. They take you from New Mexico and California to Ohio and Hawaii.
The only market they visited that I've personally been to is Lancaster, PA's Central Market and, having seen this program, I now have an unquenchable urge to plan my vacations around new farmers markets. I think before the summer is out I'll be driving down to Lexington Market in Baltimore to explore.
If you are a fan of farmers markets, this is one not to be missed. It's on the PBS schedule in various locations for the next couple of weeks.
Last December, while I was in Portland visiting my parents for the holidays, I met up with occasional Slashfoodie Sarah Gilbert at the Park Blocks Farmers Market. We spent some time wandering around, buying up some of the most gorgeous produce I've ever seen and taking lots and lots of pictures. I remember taking a picture similar to this one of a small mountain of turnips.
The thing I especially like about this picture of these parsnips is the contrast between the white of the root and the vivid, fresh green of the tops. I am constantly in awe of how beautiful the work of nature is! Big thanks to Clayirving, for adding this one to the Slashfood Flickr pool!
All across the country, farmers markets and CSA programs are gaining popularity. This year my boyfriend and I are splitting a CSA share with a friend of ours and I try to get to at least one farmers market a week. However, I often come home with bags overflowing with food, only to be confronted with the challenge of how to best use these new fruits and veggies. While many are old friends, I've frequently found myself purchasing kohlrabi or foot long Chinese beans without any clue as to how to prepare them. Luckily, Deborah Madison has stepped up with a beautiful book called Local Flavors that often bridges my personal knowledge gap.
Madison opens up the book with a introduction that describes the journey she's been on for many years now, visiting and sampling farmers markets from all over the country. Madison presents information from farmers, market managers and others who are involved in local growing, talking about the ways in which buying food directly from the people who produced it is a huge boon to your local economy. Just before heading into the recipes, she offers ten market tips that are great for people for whom shopping at farmers markets can be a little intimidating.
The recipes included in this book are, for the most part, both deeply simple and totally delicious sounding. Madison demonstrates how if you are using fresh, seasonal food, you don't have to put energy into covering up flavors. Instead, you can add little touches to bring out the inherent goodness of what you have, making meal prep so much easier. One recipe that leaped off the page at me was the one for Spaghetti with Overgrown Arugula and Sheep's Milk Ricotta. The arugula that's been showing up in my CSA share has been getting larger and leggier with each week and this seems like an amazing way to use it up.
If you are a devoted farmers market shopper who is in need of a little inspiration, this would be an excellent cookbook to add to your collection. Same goes for those newer CSA members who keep receiving veggies that were previously unknown to them. Deborah Madison has created a beautiful cookbook that will be of use for years to come.
These late spring weeks mean lots and lots of fresh, young greens at the Farmers' Markets and in CSA shares. Wandering my local market yesterday, the tables were bursting with the vivid colors of arugula, tender spinach leaves and lots and lots of salad mixes. One of the things I love about this bounty of greens is the knowledge that they are super fresh and very close to the soil from which they came.
Recently, as I was washing a batch of soft baby lettuces, I found a tiny, curled up pill bug. A bowl of arugula yielded the blade of grass you see above (it was actually one of five long, grassy bits I found in that bag). If I had found grass in the soulless bags of spring mix I sometimes buy from the supermarket, I would have been irritated, thinking it meant that their cleanliness standards weren't up to snuff. In this situation, instead of being annoyed, I was instantly charmed, because I could imagine the earth, water and sun that had worked together to produce those greens.
When I was growing up, we ate a whole world of vegetables. Artichokes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, onions, potatoes, cabbage, string beans, beets, spinach, squash and mushrooms regularly crossed our plates. Because of this early initiation into the world of veggies, when I moved out into the world on my own, I cooked for myself happily and with great variety.
However, as I started shopping at Farmers' Markets and local produce stands, I discovered that for as many vegetables that were old friends, there were still just as many I had yet to explore. So I made a point of trying out new veggies, trying not to be turned off simply because things were unfamiliar (my grandmother Bunny would have been so proud).
Earlier this week, I decided to take on the fava bean. Favas first entered my awareness when I was nine, because that was the year that Silence of the Lambs came out and even though I didn't see the movie until years later, it was hard to avoid the infamous line in that movie that includes a reference to fava beans. I'd seen the beans, in their huge, fuzzy pods, at my local produce market for the last couple of springs, but I'd never purchased them, mostly because I had no idea what to do with them. But on Monday, I decided to be brave and bought two pounds.
On a recent trip to the farmer's market, sunflower sprouts from Claverach Vineyard and Organic Farm were one of the only local greens we could find . My husband and I had never had sunflower sprouts before, but we were determined to use them. We asked the grower for some advice on what to do with them. She suggested a salad with the sprouts, some avocado, and some lemon.
We followed her advice, plus we added some goat cheese, garlic, and truffle oil and had an incredible salad. This worked much better than our plan before talking to the grower (to cook the sprouts with some pasta). Apparently, you should eat sprouts raw. I know, I'm a food blogger, I should be aware of these things. However, I don't know it all. I'm constantly learning.
Moral of the story: Don't shy away from items you are not familiar with at your local markets. If you see something and you're not sure what to do with it, ask the grower. They are full of great ideas!
Beth D'Addono writes about becoming a compassionate carnivore (one who makes sure to only buy and consume meat from producers who raise their animals in a humane manner). Challenges include the fact that she isn't able to buy meat at regular supermarkets, limited availability and higher prices.
Farmers' Market season kicked off early in the Philly region this year, and while prices are higher than they were last year, there are still good deals to be had.
All across the country, farmers markets and 
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