Call for Recipes!

Here's the scoop about the Lehigh Valley Farmers' Market Cookbook. You see, Laini Abraham and I are going to publish a cookbook together! I'm the cooking/writing half; she's the designing/publishing half. The recipes will be original and culled from various sources: my own brain, farmers and vendors who know well what to do with their wares; food writers and chefs who shop at the markets and/or collaborate with the markets in cooking demonstrations; and finally—you, the market-shopping public.

To that end, we're officially putting out the first call for recipe submissions for dishes you would typically make from May through August. We will put a second call out for recipes in the middle of the summer, for recipes that suit the harvest of September-November. I hope we receive more recipes than we can possibly handle; at least that's the ideal situation. Here's what we're looking for:

•   Recipes must be complete, clearly written, and include instructions that can be easily reproduced; make sure amounts are specified, cooking temperatures, number of servings, etc.

•   Please write a short statement (a few sentences) about the genesis of the recipe: What's the story behind it? When do you make it? How and why do you make it? The stories are as important as the recipes.

•   We cannot simply reprint established, published recipes. However, if you have adapted a recipe from somewhere else, please explain to us how you adapted it, why yours is different, and please indicate where it comes from, by providing the name of the book, the cook or chef and/or the URL, depending on the source. This is VERY important.

•   Please specify the market at which you shop and identify, in your recipe, the vendors you typically use for each item, where applicable. It’s also fine to just say “fresh spinach” or “carrots” or something of that ilk if that's all you need, but we also would love recipes that specify particular varieties, such as a Brandywine tomato or dinosaur (lacinato) kale, for example. If the ingredients are more specialized, such as pea shoots or fresh chevre, you'll want to tell us exactly from which vendor you bought them.

•   A minimum of 1/2 of the recipe ingredients should be locally sourced. We don't expect you to be able to locally source pantry staples, beans/grains/pasta, lemons, certain cheeses, and spices (salt and pepper for example), so those won't count in that total. You may of course use something you purchased at a local store and in which case (I'm thinking of Seasons in Bethlehem for oils and vinegars), please tell us. Anything that's a fruit, vegetable, or animal product (even honey!) should be available at a Lehigh Valley Farmers' Market. We will of course make exceptions for great recipes that highlight a single ingredient but which may require supermarket ingredients.

•   Please think seasonally! We don't want recipes that are heavy and/or require extensive use of high heat in the oven. What do you eat from May through August? Let that guide you.

•   Please submit no more than THREE recipes per call for recipes. We need to play fair; it's a big Valley with lots of people. We won't likely publish more than one recipe per individual.

•   If your recipe is selected for the book, we will contact you by the end of the market season (fall 2012). The recipe will be printed with your name along with it and you will receive a copy of the cookbook upon publication.

•   Please submit the spring and summer recipes via email to lvfmcookbook@gmail.com no later than August 1, so as to provide ample time for me (and my squadron of testers) to test and photograph those we've selected. The sooner, the better, however, for fruits and veggies that will come and go in May and June.

You can follow the progress on Facebook and Twitter. I'll be making the rounds to all of the farmers’ markets, so stay tuned!

And thank you!