Friday, August 31, 2012

Second Call for Recipes for Lehigh Valley Farmers' Market Cookbook: Fall!

If you've just stumbled upon this page, welcome. Thanks for stopping by. You must like good food, such as these roasted brussel sprouts from Salvaterra's Gardens.




But I digress! 

Here's the scoop about the Lehigh Valley Farmers' Market Cookbook. Laini Abraham and I are going to publish a cookbook. 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. We want your delicious recipes.

To that end, we're  putting out the SECOND call for recipe submissions for dishes you would typically make from September through Thanksgiving. Now that the Easton Farmers' Market is staying open through the winter, and many other markets in the valley are doing the same, we're going to put a THIRD call out for winter recipes later in the fall. 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. If you don't know for sure, please try to make an estimated guess.
   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.
   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” 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, or Jimmy Nardello red pepper. If the ingredients are more specialized, such as pea shoots or fresh chevre or elephant garlic, 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, wine, or animal product (even honey!) should be available at a Lehigh Valley Farmers' Market.
   Please think seasonally! Think about what you're trying to do these days with all the remaining peaches, tomatoes, and corn, and how exciting it is to see the cooler weather crops return, such as greens, broccoli, and fall/winter squashes. What do you eat from September through November? Let that guide you.
   Please submit no more than THREE 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 (Winter 2013). 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 October 19, 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!
You can follow the progress right here on this blog, and also on Facebook and Twitter.
And thank you!

Thursday, August 16, 2012

High Season Testing

We're in high season recipe testing mode here. I've got recipes for the following dishes: egg and veg bread volcano (a.k.a. bread bowl quiche) which I adapted from a conversation I had with Jesse at Primorida Mushroom Farm; a three-cheese quiche from Jo at the Quadrant in downtown Easton; fruit cordials from Sue Newquist; French potato salad; Panzanella (bread salad with tomatoes); Scholl Orchard cobbler (which I think I might call an inside out cobbler); and, my personal favorite for its name alone, Mexylvania Dutch Hot Bacon Dressing Salad, from my food writer friend Lenora Dannelke.

I also have three great looking recipes--one with kale and spicy bison sausage; one with steak and a mint salsa verde; and a black-eyed peas salad with lots of fresh summer veggies.

In the meantime, here's a photo of the Egg and Veg Volcano. I call it a volcano because it oozed egg lava a couple times during baking. It's basically a quiche baked in a bread bowl. It turned out to be a great way to use up both stale-ish bread and veggies at the end of the week, when you want to clean out before your new CSA pick-up.


If you want to get on board and test some of these using produce from any of the farmers' markets here in the Lehigh Valley, please email me at lvfmcookbook at gmail dot com --and happy eating! I'm looking to get these tested by August 31, so there's a bit of time. Thanks!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Testing, 1, 2, 3-- Coming Soon!

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm writing to say that I've got a stockpile of recipes here (probably about ten) that I'd love to get rolling and get tested.

I took a brief hiatus after the last round (spring rolls, cole slaw, peach cobbler) because many of my faithful testers have been on vacation. But we're looking at the following, roughly speaking:

Bread bowl quiche, panzanella, three dishes from another cookbook author in the Lehigh Valley that are surefire winners and which include meat from Breakaway Farms, cucumber salad, potato salad....

In the world of baking and fruits, I've got a fruit cordial that needs testing and can take any summer fruit you want, a peach cobbler recipe we need more feedback on (from Scholl Orchard), and a zucchini-carrot bread recipe.

Here's the preliminary look at the peach cobbler, which is unusual, my friend Martha and I agreed, because it's got the peaches on the top and the batter on the bottom. It's old-school, to be sure, and comes from June Scholl via her daughter-in-law Sofia. I'm guessing it goes back even further than that, to June's mom, but I haven't done full reconnaissance on the recipe's genesis yet!


We've got even more to come, as I'm working with many restaurants and chefs and known foodies in the Lehigh Valley to get their recipes for beautiful summer produce. I don't want to spill it until the recipes are in hand--but please stay tuned.

If you would like to test any of these recipes, please email me at lvfmcookbook at gmail dot com. I'm aiming to have a handful together no later than August 8.  I kindly request that you do not share the recipe with anyone because I don't want these circulating before the recipes are tested and finalized, and the book is published. Let's keep it special, shall we? 

And please, enjoy your farmers' markets. They need all the love we can give them. The future of delicious, sustainable food depends up on us. We can do it!