MCM is Moving Around the Corner!

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Mercado Plaza, Press | Leave a comment

This Thursday November 21st, join us for another fun-filled market with great music and great food – in our new location!

Our farms and packaged vendors will be located on 22nd Street between Mission and Bartlett, and the hot food vendors will remain on the south end of Bartlett, wrapping around the corner. This move will be temporary, but we still expect it to last a little over a year (for the duration of the construction projects on the block).

Mission Community Market

Mission Local covered this move in a recent story, and everyone is excited to see how this move affects the businesses on 22nd Street with increased foot traffic! Our MCM vendors are excited to get more visibility from Mission and Valencia Streets to bring in new customers and introduce them to all the great local food and community-based programming we have to offer.

Residents of Casa de la Raza and those using the monthly lot on 22nd will still have access to their garages. We’ve hired additional traffic control staff to help things move smoothly during the market. Have a comment, question or concern about the move? Email us or come chat us up at the market!

Spotted at MCM: Three Babes Bakeshop

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Blue House Farm, Happy Boy Farms, Jarred SF Brine, Marla Bakery, Spotted at MCM, Yerena Farms | Leave a comment

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The sassy duo behind the organic, seasonal pies from Three Babes Bakeshop were spotted shopping at the market last Thursday. They picked up delicious berries from Yerena Farms (above) and sugar pie pumpkins from Blue House Farm (below).

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Anna and Lenore can be found shopping at Mission Community Market every week – both for their pie business and to buy groceries for their apartment. They love that they get to see many of their friends from the SF food community there. They have been buying fruit from Poli and Sylvia Yerena since they launched their business, and are so impressed with Yerena Farms’ delicious berries all year round that they usually source all their berries from them. Lenore used to snack on berries meant for their pies, so now they have a rule that every Thursday she comes to MCM and buys her own personal flat of berries so that she can eat as many as she wants! Some of their other favorites at the market include tasty loaves of bread and delicious cookies from Marla Bakery, veggies from Happy Boy Farms, and pickles from Jarred SF Brine.

The berries and pumpkins Three Babes procured at the market are seasonal fillings for their amazingly flakey pie crust. Two of their favorite fall pies are pluot blackberry and pear raspberry.

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With Thanksgiving around the corner, sugar pie pumpkin is very popular. They split and roast the sugar pie pumpkins and then scoop out and puree the flesh to make tasty pumpkin pies. While summer is their favorite season for pie fillings, fall is a close second with sugar pie pumpkins being at the top of their list!

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You can order pies online from Three Babes Bakeshop or through Good Eggs. Get your Thanksgiving orders in and you might enjoy some Mission Community Market produce in your holiday pie this year! The babes can also be found selling their pies at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays.

Photos courtesy of Three Babes Bakeshop

Mercado Kitchen: Chard Sausage Stuffing

Posted on by Mission Community Market in 4505 Meats, Arizmendi Bakery, Blog, Blue House Farm, Far West Fungi, Happy Boy Farms, Mercado Kitchen, Recipes, Winters Tree Fruit | Leave a comment

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This flavorful chard sausage stuffing makes a hearty side dish at your Thanksgiving table. And it’s chock full of amazing ingredients from the market! Like tasty bread from Arizmendi Bakery, sweet and savory chicken apple calvados sausage from 4505 Meats, robust pioppini mushrooms from Far West Fungi, and toasty walnuts from Winters Fruit Tree. Plus look for fresh produce for this dish – swiss chard, leeks, garlic, and herbs – at Blue House Farm and Happy Boy Farms.

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This recipe comes together easily and can even be assembled up to a day in advance to save you prep time on Turkey day. It would also work great to bring to a potluck Thanksgiving. So shop at the market this week (your last chance before Thanksgiving!) and try making a new side dish this year.

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Chard Sausage Stuffing

Adapted from a Sunset Magazine recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 lb crusty bread (we used a sourdough baguette from Arizmendi Bakery)

1 c milk

1 lb sausage (we used 1 package of chicken apple calvados from 4505 Meats)

2 small leeks, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 c fresh parsley, chopped

2 c mushrooms (we used pioppini from Far West Fungi)

1 bunch Swiss chard, stems trimmed, coarsely chopped

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

1 t dried basil (or one handful fresh basil, roughly chopped)

1/4 t dried sage (or approximately 10 fresh sage leaves, chopped)

1/2 c walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut bread into 1/2-in. slices and place in a large bowl with the milk. Mix gently to saturate with milk and let stand about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Slice the sausages into disks and sauté over medium high heat in a large pot, until lightly browned. Add leeks and sauté until slightly wilted. Add garlic, parsley, and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are lightly browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Add chard and 1/3 cup water and cook, stirring often, until wilted, about 5 minutes.

Squeeze the soaked bread with your hands and break into tiny pieces. Add the cooked meat mixture, parmesan, basil, sage, and walnuts. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to an 8×8 inch casserole dish. For moist stuffing, cover with foil. For crusty stuffing, do not cover. Bake until hot (at least 150 degrees in center) or lightly browned, at least 30 minutes.

Tips for making in advance: you can make the stuffing, put in the casserole dish and chill up to 1 day in advance. Allow about 1 hour to bake.

Stuffing photos by Carletta Wong

Mercado Kitchen: Pear Pomegranate Upside Down Cake

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Great Valley Poultry, K&J Orchards, Mercado Kitchen, Recipes, Twin Girls Farm, Winters Tree Fruit | Leave a comment

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This gorgeous and tasty upside down cake is perfect for showcasing fresh, seasonal fruit. Forget any preconceived notions about upside down cakes – they don’t have to be made with canned pineapple and maraschino cherries. This recipe is topped with delicious Yali pears from K&J Orchards and organic pomegranate from Twin Girls Farm. By decorating with fruit, you can serve a beautiful cake without requiring a lot of frosting or fancy decorating techniques.

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Don’t forget to also pick up eggs from Great Valley Poultry and almonds from Winters Fruit Tree to use in this recipe. Happy baking!

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Pear Pomegranate Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

For topping:

1/4 c unsalted butter

1 c packed brown sugar

2-3 pears (such as Yali pears from K&J Orchards)

1 pomegranate (available at the market from Twin Girls Farm)

For cake:

3/4 c unsalted room temperature butter

3/4 c sugar

3 room temperature eggs, beaten (available at the market from Great Valley Poultry)

1.5 c minus 1 T flour (measure 1.5 c and then remove 1 T)

1/2 t baking powder

1 T ground almonds (check out Winters Fruit Tree at the market for almonds)

1 T cocoa powder

3 T milk

Instructions:

Butter bottom and sides of a 9″ cake pan or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Topping:

Melt butter in a sauce pan. Add brown sugar and whisk until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the base of the cake pan. Peel pears, slice in half lengthwise, and remove cores. Slice each half pear lengthwise into approximately 1/8 inch thick slices. Peel the pomegranate and separate the arils. (It’s easiest to slice the skin of the pomegranate and then place in a bowl of water to peel. The arils should sink to the bottom.) Arrange the pear slices in the cake pan on top of the brown sugar topping, around the edge of the pan pointing towards the center. It’s ok to overlap the slices slightly. Fill in the empty circle in the center with pomegranate arils. One pomegranate will be more than enough – reserve extra arils for another use.

Cake:

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixture with a paddle attachment (or by hand with a wooden spoon) until light and fluffy. Add one tablespoon of flour and mix well. Add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating between each addition until incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine remaining flour, baking powder, ground almonds, and cocoa powder and whisk to mix. Fold dry ingredient mixture and milk into the mix of sugar, butter and eggs. Mix until there are no streaks of dry ingredients but do not over mix. Spread the cake batter over the pear and pomegranate topping in the cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Turn out onto a serving plate by placing the plate over the top of the cake pan, flipping over, and removing the cake pan. Serve warm or cold.

Mercado Kitchen: Pickled Eggplant

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Blue House Farm, Mercado Kitchen, Recipes | Leave a comment

My dad always has a jar of pickled eggplant in the refrigerator, probably because when he was growing up, his parents did too. So when I saw eggplant is still available at Blue House Farm I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Pickling eggplant means I can savor it after fresh eggplant is no longer available, which could be any week now. Get some eggplant while you can and make this recipe so you can keep enjoying it for weeks to come!

Eggplant

When you think of pickles, eggplant might not be the first vegetable to come to mind. But it is delicious and perfect for adding to sandwiches or to an antipasto platter. My dad uses a method passed down from his grandmothers. But after making pickled eggplant for decades, he does it more by feel and experience than an exact recipe. So, in this recipe I’ve used his method but added some structure adapted from David Chang’s vinegar pickles recipe in Alice Waters’ book In the Green Kitchen.

Happy pickling!

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Pickled Eggplant

Ingredients:

3 small eggplants

1.5 c white vinegar

1.5 c water

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 t coriander seeds

Pinch red pepper flakes

Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

Peel eggplant and slice into disks approximately 1/4 inch thick. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, water, sugar, and spices and bring brine to a boil. Let cool to room temperature. Place the eggplant slices in a bowl and pour in the cooled brine to submerge all the eggplant slices. Place another bowl or a plate on top to keep them submerged and refrigerate overnight or for at least 12 hours.

Drain brine and squeeze each eggplant slice gently to remove excess liquid. Stack in a glass jar and fill the jar to the top with olive oil. Store in the refrigerator.