Opening Day!

Not the kind of opening day involving balls and bats.

This opening day means our friendly area farmers are seeing plenty of bounty on their properties. It means their nurturing kept spring crops healthy during the recent months of wacky roller-coaster hot/freezing weather.

And it means, for us in Oak Park, that the local doughnut shops have some steep competition, at least they do on Saturday mornings at the Pilgrim Congregational Church parking lot on Lake Street. Oh, and did I mention the live bluegrass jam?

This is the 37th opening day for the Oak Park Market and a market veteran - Herbally Yours, featuring herb-infused, hand crafted vinegar - is being celebrated today as the Vendor of the Week.

This is also a Go Green! day, with earth-friendly guests mingling with the farmers at this week's and next week's market. Participants include: the Environmental & Energy Advisory Commission; Slow Food Chicago; Cheney Mansion; Community & Economic Development Association of Cook County, Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program -&- Low-Income Heating & Energy Assistance Program -&- Home Weatherization Program; Seven Generations Ahead; Friends of Oak Park Conservatory; EcoLogical Products/Electric Car/Bike; and last but not least, the OPRFHS Environmental/Biology Club.

Oak Park Patch has a grid with the full farmer lineup this week here. 

And the Village of Oak Park filmed this video featuring farmer and father of five Scott Koster from Geneva Lakes.



This is my second year as an Oak Park Commissioner and at least the fifth year I've been a market volunteer, helping man the info booth. I'm not working the booth today, but will be there bright and early next week to help answer any questions.

A Farmers Market on Wheels

From The Mobile Market's Facebook page.

Speaking of truck farms and agri-education on wheels...

In D.C., food deserts will be served by a farmers market on wheels. This takes the food truck concept to a whole new level.

The Mobile Market -- yet another program launched with Kickstarter funding -- is a 28-foot retrofitted school bus selling fresh fruit and produce at below-market prices to under-served communities. The bus, lovingly named "Gertrude," began rolling into neighborhoods this month and will keep on movin' on through Oct. 31.

DCist has this post, "Why Go to a Farmers Market When the Farmers Market Can Simply Come to You?" about the project by Acadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture.

Thanks to City Farmer for posting about the project.

Truck Farm Chicago Is Looking for a Kickstart to 'Keep on Truckin' This Season

I'm more and more a fan of the grassroots, Web-based fundraiser Kickstarter. Never more so than with this project, Truck Farm Chicago, which only has 12 days left and a little less than half its goal left -- to raise $4,000 to so that this small group of agri-educators can reach out to 3,000 students, many of them in Chicago's food deserts.

I'm delighted to see a local version of the Truck Farm CSA that Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis experimented with several years ago in Brooklyn.

Here in Chicago, Farmgirls Shari and Syndey and Farmer Tim got a truck, aka Petunia, fueled her with bio-fuel and filled her bed with soil and compost. They drive directly to schools, and show students how to plant, nurture and harvest fresh food along the side of any road. They also teach with cooking demos and nutrition lessons.

As Sydney says in the video, "Truck Farm proves that food can be grown anywhere there's sun, space and creativity."



The way Kickstarter works is that your credit card will only be charged with your pledge if the organizers reach their goal...in this case that's $4,000 by 10 p.m. May 24. Donors can pick any level from $10 to $500 and $1,000. Big donors get tours of the operation, plus a meal and t-shirts.

Pineapple Palooza

The other day my husband, the guy who never comes back from the store with anything that wasn't on his list, surprised me with a pineapple. It was a genuine surprise.

Pineapple isn't a staple around here and I really didn't know what to do with it. So it just sat there, all prickly and spiky.

Then there was a call for volunteers to cook for the teachers' appreciation lunch. Right on the possible menu items was a pineapple upside down cake, made in a cast iron skillet.

Now that's my kind of contribution. [Seriously, I don't think there's an end to the pleasure I derive from cooking in cast iron or Mason jars. Weird. Right?]

It was my first pineapple upside-down cake -- with a splash of dark rum (recipe below). My favorite part, besides getting to use the fresh pineapple, was grinding my own cardamom seeds. Oh how fragrant that made my house.

New favorite banana bread recipe.

After the first pineapple experiment seemed to turn out so well, I started researching other things I could do with pineapple...I mean besides put it on a ham or toss it in a salad. That's how I found a whole category of Hawaiian banana bread with pineapple and tropical nuts and all sorts of deliciousness.

I picked a recipe from Taste of Home and was not disappointed. The pineapple melts away into the bread, just like the banana, and leaves the slices extra moist.

VFG Test Kitchen Note: For the bread recipe, I used fresh pineapple from half of a medium pineapple. I rough chopped the pieces, the mashed them with a potato masher to get the crushed pineapple consistency.

Here's the recipe for the cake.


Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Topping:
1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored (my pineapple came with a diagram, which was surprisingly useful)
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 to 3 tsp ground cardamom (I ground seeds in an old coffee grinder)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla
1 tbsp dark rum
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tbsp dark rum for sprinkling over cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make topping: Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly. (I really made sure there was plenty of overlap so the bottom of the pan was covered in pineapple.)

To make the batter: Sift together flour, cardamom, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each one. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (The recipe said the batter may be curdled, but I didn't experience this.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet 5 minutes.

Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.

Extra Creamy Chicken, Green Chili & Asparagus Enchiladas

Green chili, chicken & asparagus.

Yes. I said asparagus and chicken enchiladas. Not asparagus as a side dish.

No, these beauties are wrapped snugly along with shredded chicken, cheese and chopped green chili.

When I saw the recipe, I almost passed it up as ridiculous. Asparagus enchiladas. Really? Really.

Try it. I'm glad I did. Because sure enough, it's. Well, it's. Amazing.

I'm not saying that just because I've spent the last few months on a super low-fat diet. This recipe from Recipe Girl turned out the best enchiladas to ever emerge from my kitchen.

I picked this recipe solely because I wanted to use the asparagus picked fresh this week by our farm friends at Sandhill Organics. And also because asparagus, cream sauce and cheese just sounded decadent. I figured a tortilla wrapping surely couldn't hurt.

Here's the recipe complete with a few of my own modifications, little changes to suit what I had on hand and to pay homage to the New Mexico green chili--a pepper that reigns supreme in our household.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
8 ounces Greek yogurt
1/2 cup green chili enchilada sauce or other green chili-based taco sauce [plus 1/2 cup for bottom of pans for baking]
12 flour or corn tortillas [I used both]
3 cups chicken, cooked & shredded with a fork
1/2 cup smoked or canned green chili, chopped
12 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed & blanched [thick stalks cut in half]
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
 
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray two baking dishes with non-stick oil and spread about 1/4 cup of green chili enchilada sauce on bottom of dish.]

2. In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour, cooking for cook and stirring almost constantly for one minute. Add chicken stock and whisk until thick 9about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add Greek yogurt and enchilada sauce.

3. Fill heated flour and/or corn tortillas with shredded chicken, a spear of asparagus, chicken, three TBSP sauce and green chilies.

4. Roll, then place seam down in the baking dish. Place 6 enchiladas (or however many will fit) in each dish. Sprinkle with Jack cheese, sauce and Parmesan cheese.

5. Bake 25 minutes, or until cheese turns golden and sauce is bubbly.

Serve with your favorite Mexican beer, white wine or margarita.

Note: The incredible richness of the creamy sauce is balanced nicely with the crisp, fresh asparagus. Be careful not too cook the asparagus too long. I only blanched it until the stalks turned bright green.

First Harvest Dish: Mashed Potatoes & Dandelion Greens

First CSA share of the season.

Today is a special day, like Christmas or my birthday.

We brought home our first CSA share of the season and I found myself practically giddy examining each bundle of dandelion greens, chives, asparagus, radishes, arugula and bags of yellow potatoes and fresh-cut mixed lettuce.

Next thing I know, I'm making chive butter to freeze for later and trying out a new flavor mixture -- Mashed Potatoes & Dandelion Greens, using a recipe trusted by our Sandhill Organics farmer.

Potatoes & dandelion greens.

It was so spontaneous, I didn't even have a main course. We threw some tilapia fillets in the oven to round out our meal of just-picked salad greens, potatoes & dandelion greens, and heart-healthy fish.

This is a delightfully rustic dish. The greens are mellowed by the potatoes and joined nicely together by the olive oil. I only made minor tweaks to the recipe, adding a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese in the last few minutes of baking and topping the dish with fresh chives and chive flowers

Can't wait until the Oak Park Farmers Market season begins May 19!