Mercado Kitchen

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!

YaliPears

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!

PickledEggplant

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.

Mercado Kitchen: Tarte Tatin

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Hale Apple Farm, Marla Bakery, Mercado Kitchen, Recipes | Leave a comment

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Try this sophisticated French twist on an apple pie and wow your guests at a dinner party! The tarte is baked in a skillet and turned out fresh from the oven onto a platter and voilà, dessert is served. This fun recipe is courtesy of our very own Mission Community Market vendor Marla Bakery. If you’ve tried the hand pies they sell at the market you know how wonderfully flaky the crust is. Here is your chance to try your hand at that flaky goodness yourself using their recipe!

Visit Hale’s Apple Farm at the market to find a delicious variety of seasonal apples organized from sweet to tart. They recommend baking with a variety of apples – we used Sleeping Beauties and Romes! Happy baking!

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Tarte Tatin
Recipe by Marla Bakery
Yield 12″ Tarte Tatin
Ingredients:
For Pastry Dough:
1 lb pastry flour
1 tsp salt
12 oz (3 sticks) unsalted butter
1/3 c ice water
1/3 c bourbon
For Tarte Tatin:
7-9 good baking apples (e.g. Sleeping Beauty, Rome, etc from Hale Apple Farm)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
2 Tbl unsalted butter
Instructions:
For Dough:
Mix salt and flour together. Pour out onto a table and cut in cold butter, until very small pea sized chunks. Mix the ice water and bourbon together. Pour over dry mixture and work in with a bench scraper or pastry cutter. Try not to use your hands, this will warm the butter. Mixture will be very dry and crumbly, fold and press until you have a shaggy, cohesive mass. Wrap in parchment and chill at least 6 hours.
For Tarte Tatin:
Preheat oven to 375.

To make the Tarte Tatin, roll out dough to a rough circle about 1/4″ thick. Take a cast iron skillet or saute pan and trace the circumference of the pan onto a piece of parchment. Cut this out and use as a guide to cut a circle in the dough. Mark the middle of the dough with four small cuts and chill dough round. Meanwhile, peel apples and cut into quarters, slicing out the core. Mix apples, sugars, salt, and lemon juice and let sit until apples release their juice, about 20 mins. Strain apples and reserve juice. In your skillet or saute pan melt butter. and pour in sugar/apple juice mixture. Bring to a boil and stir until mixture begins to caramelize. When mixture is a golden brown color turn off heat and carefully place apples cut side up in pan. Don’t burn yourself! Apples should completely cover the bottom of the pan. Bring back to medium high flame and cook for 10 mins, covered with a lid to tenderize apples. Turn off heat, and carefully place your dough round on top of the apples and slide into the preheated oven for 25 to 30 mins. When done, pastry should be dark golden brown and you should see caramel bubbling around the sides of your pan. Pull out of the oven and let cool for 7 mins.

Tarte Tatin in skillet
Carefully place a sheetpan or large plate over the top of the pan and quickly flip over to release your tarte tatin. If any apples are stuck to the pan, you can remove them with knife or spatula and place them on the pastry, no one will mind! Cool to room temp and serve with sweetened creme fraiche, ice cream or whatever your heart may desire. Enjoy!
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Photos by Carletta Wong

Mercado Kitchen: Roasted Delicata Squash

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

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Delicata squash are available at Tomatero Farm and Blue House Farm! These striped beauties are sometimes referred to as sweet potato squash because they taste sweet and creamy. As the name suggests, Delicata squash have delicate, edible skin making them very easy to prepare. No need to remove a thick skin like other squash varieties. Simply slice in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, roast with the skin on, and enjoy!

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The simplest preparation for Delicata is to slice each half into pieces approximately 1/2 inch wide and toss with olive oil to coat, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then roast at 400° F until tender and slightly browned and caramelized, about 40 minutes.

Another option is to cut into quarters, brush with cream, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and sage. See the full recipe after the jump.

Both versions make a delicious addition to a fall meal, and they are also vegetarian and gluten-free which makes this dish great for bringing to holiday potlucks.

Delicata Duo

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Mercado Kitchen: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

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

**This awesome recipe was submitted by our wonderful volunteer Dena!

Fall is a fantastic time of year. Even though we don’t get the drastic and beautiful color-changing leaves that we can sweep into a pile in our lawns here in San Francisco, we still get all the pumpkin-spiced lattes and crisp fall winds that encourage us to cusp that latte tighter in our cold hands. As we welcome this new season and mourn the passing of summertime, pick up a few of the last tomatoes of the season this week from Blue House Farm and try out this simple recipe!

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The Mission Community Market is adorned with twinkling lights and the delicious fall veggies are pouring in. Inspired by autumn, this hearty recipe features a Thanksgiving staple, but not in any way you’ve likely seen it before. Ditch the processed marshmallows and welcome in… the sweet potato gnocchi.

The thing I want to mention about this recipe is how easy it is and how delicious the result is. The spices and fresh tomatoes in the sauce elevate this simple recipe into a gourmet dish.

Full Recipe after the jump! Read more