Bucatini with Lemon Parsley Pesto and Sorrel

This post is borne out of necessity, and comes with the hope that it will inspire you to seek out the lemony-sharp green sorrel, wherever you may be--Lehigh Valley or not!

A couple weeks ago I made something on the fly, and I've learned something about these on-the-fly dishes. They garner lots of Facebook traction. People ask me for the recipe usually, and then invariably want to know how I get my kids to eat such things. I just put it in front of them and have been doing so since they were able to eat solid food. I think it's all about exposure. Sometimes they balk. (Usually Miles, but then he usually backpedals and declares me in his four-year-old sensibility as "the best cooker ever.") So here I am offering you a recreation of the recipe, and the promise that I am going to bring you more farm-fresh recipes as the season progresses.

I don't hold hard and fast to the idea that you should use bucatini or indeed long-noodled pasta exclusively here, but we happen to like bucatini, thanks to the regular employment of it by the fabulous chef Mike Joyce at Molinari's in Bethlehem. I'm also a fan of seeking out that which is slightly unknown to the masses, in case you haven't figured that out, so I accept any opportunity to use a less familiar food item. (It also pleases my children immensely to receive yet another different pasta shape at dinner time. So you live and you learn). If you don't know what it is, think of a spaghetti with a little hole in it (buca means mouth). How can that NOT be a good time for all involved?

Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 pound bucatini (or other long-noodled pasta)
2 cups parsley, with stems (no need to discriminate in favor of leaves)
1/2 cup walnuts (preferrably toasted in a dry pan for 5-7 minutes until fragrant)
Zest and juice of two lemons
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Two really good pinches of kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 handful of sorrel, chopped (I honestly didn't measure it, I just used the entire package as Pheasant Hill Farms sells it at the Easton Farmers' Market. I estimate it's probably about 2 cups' worth.)
1 cup chopped grape tomatoes (Disclaimer: It was May when I made this; therefore, the tomatoes did not come from the farmers' market. This is life, people.)

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, scooping out 1/2 to 1 cup of cooking water and reserving for later use.
2. Combine the parsley through salt in the food processor and blitz until it's all combined and the parsley is chopped into small bits. Add the olive oil through the chute and process until you reach your desired consistency. Pesto is one of those things that people are particular about, in terms of consistency, i.e., chunky vs. smooth. I wouldn't intrude upon your personal preferences.
3. Add the pesto to the pasta in batches, and taste. Add more if necessary. Add the chopped tomatoes and sorrel; the heat of the pasta and the next step--adding 1/2 cup of water--will help wilt the everything a little bit.
4. Serve immediately with more freshly grated Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

When I first made this, I sauteed the sorrel in a little bit of olive oil, and chopped it after I'd removed it from the pan, and so the photo reflects that. You could certainly do that. Just be aware that it will turn brown pretty quickly. I thought I was being vigilant, but I think the heat was a tad too high. If that's not a desirable outcome, make sure the heat is low and remove it quickly. 

2013 Market Season: The Kickstarter Year is Here!

It's almost June. The markets are slowly opening up, one by one, and with them, a plethora of farm fresh goodies. I'm so excited to get back into this time of year, with growth in full swing. We get wrapped up in each item, squeeze all the usefulness out of a vegetable or fruit, and then it's time to say goodbye. (Luckily, this happens at just the right moment, when we've exhausted all the options for, say, zucchini. I never have a problem with too many tomatoes, but I digress..) For this year, we've seen some additions and subtractions to the market scene (SteelStax and Historic Bethlehem Market are gone), but no matter: we're in for another great year. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate with those desires.

I'm especially excited because I've decided that this is going to be the summer for the Kickstarter campaign to raise money for this book's publication. You see, this book is a little too niche for a traditional publisher, so it will make the most sense to take a DIY approach. It's going to be a really long haul, and I'm going to need all the help I can get. I haven't worked out all the details yet with my pal Laini Abraham, but it's going to happen this summer, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Honestly, I'm so inspired by the successful campaigns of both Two Rivers Brewing and Nurture Nature Center, I figure that I should be able to pull it off, right? Right? Who's with me?!

What kind of fun incentives do you want for participating in the effort? A copy of the cookbook is a given, but what else? Leave a comment. Inquiring minds wanna know.

And one other thing: would you want to see recipes throughout the season if I posted them with some regularity on this blog?  Would you try them? Would you still buy the cookbook even if I debuted some of them here? Am I cutting off my nose to spite my face---so to speak? You get the idea...

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!

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!

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!

Farmers' Market Debut

Today was a hot one!

Laini and I sat under the shade of an oak tree in Center Square and did our small part to help celebrate the 260th anniversary of the Easton Farmers' Market.  Megan McBride generously offered us table space so we could promote our project and get people to send us recipes and so forth. We met lots of great people; one woman even wrote a recipe for "Awesome Salsa" right off the top of her head, and her son vouched for its awesomeness.

I was downwind of Scholl Orchards' amazing peaches: they're completely symmetrical, the size of baseballs, and truly picked at the peak of perfection. They look like an agricultural textbook (does this even make sense?) version of what a peach should be. Seriously. When I asked, Sophia Scholl told me they went through 30 bushels in less than two hours. If you have never had them before, I can't endorse them highly enough. Local food is the way to go, but there's something extra sweet and beautiful about local fruit.

The other part of my view? Gorgeous bounty from Blooming Glen Acres, in Bucks County. Check out the heirloom tomatoes--notice how they are displayed in such a way that bruising of the tomatoes is kept to a minimum.

Special thanks to Jeff Gilbert for selecting some beautiful tomatoes for me while I was at the table.

 

If you're reading this, and you want to submit, check out this earlier post--it highlights all the things we're looking for in a good farm-fresh recipe. What did you enjoy today about the farmers' market celebration? What did you buy, and what are you going to do with it? Inquiring minds wanna know! 

Not Your Mother's Tuna Salad

I've been telling people how much I a. dislike cold salads with mayo and b. I don't really like tuna that much but c. I really like this salad.  It came as a result of necessity--isn't that how the best things come about?--when it was nearly 90 degrees and John wanted a cold salad to with the sausage from Saylor's and Company we were grilling. It was too late to start a potato salad, so I looked in the fridge. And then I saw the radish dip from Salvaterra's Gardens. And then I thought, couldn't we use this in a tuna salad, instead of mayo?

And I did. I tried a small sample first, of elbow macs and some good quality tuna packed in olive oil, and it was good. Bright with the herbs parsley and dill and with chopped radish and green onion, this dip just screams spring. Chill it in the fridge for a couple of hours and then zest a lemon on top, and toss to combine. My friend Lenora says it begs to be eaten with smoked salmon. Oh wait. Maybe this should be used in a salmon salad. Oh, this is getting interesting......

I'm fairly certain that this one is going to be in the cookbook. But now I'm wondering if it's worth exploring with good canned salmon. What do you think?