Summer fruit is here and we can’t get enough strawberries at the market. It is important to know, however, that not all strawberries are created equal. A quick stop by our market and you’ll see 3-4 varieties of strawberries varying in shape, size and sweetness. How do you know which one to pick? Yerena Farms, challenges you to their Strawberry Taste Test! Compare three varieties side by side and let your taste buds decide! Not only are Yerena’s strawberries delightful, their business practices are also impeccable: Yerena Farms was awarded with the 2012 Outstanding Small Business award from the Monterey Business Council! Come check them out this Thursday at the market!
Not your Grandma’s CSA
Thanks to the good people at GoodEggs we are very excited to bring you our second Chef’s Market Box at the Mission Mercado available for pick up this week! The Chef’s Market box features fresh ingredients that have been carefully selected and sourced from the Mission Mercado vendors. What makes our Chef’s Market Box Special? Also provided with your produce is the personal recipe of a Bay Area rock-star chef and everything in the box is perfectly portioned for you to make this recipe at home.
Our first box featured a delicious farro salad from Chef Jake Des Voignes of Local: Mission Eatery. If you missed it, read about it here. This week Eskender Aseged of Radio Africa is providing us with his own Alicha and Couscous recipe. Also new this week: A protein add-on brought to you by 4505 Meats. Order a box before they are gone!
Try This Recipe with Fresh Berries from MCM!
If you’re looking for a tasty, easy dessert to serve at your next dinner party, look no further than this deliciously sweet-but-not-too-sweet treat. The salt in the ricotta offers a beautiful balance for the sweet fruit, resulting in a perfectly-flavored finish to your meal. This dish is also great because it’s equally yummy if you serve it warm or chilled, making it an easy dish to bring to share at a potluck.
The original recipe that I used called for blueberries, but it’s equally amazing with raspberries or strawberries like the perfectly plump ones that are available right now from Yerena Farms at the MCM.
Lemon-Ricotta Soufflé with Raspberries
1/2 cup sugar, preferably organic washed cane sugar
6 large eggs (grab some fresh, local eggs from Tomatero Farm if you can!)
grated zest of one lemon
1 pound whole-milk ricotta cheese (If I can find it, I like to use a fresh farmer’s cheese instead)
1 pint raspberries (if you substitute strawberries, be sure to cut them up into 1-inch pieces)
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch pie plate or baking dish. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the sugar.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, remaining 7 tablespoons of sugar, and lemon zest. Add the ricotta and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the pie plate and bake for 15 minutes in the lower third of the oven. Top with blueberries, sprinkle with the last tablespoon of sugar, and bake until just set, about 15 minutes more. Serve warm or chilled.
- Enjoy!!
Recipe adapted from Fresh Food Fast: Delicious, Seasonal Vegetarian Meals in Under an Hour
Fun Day with Carrots
As spring teased us with open skies and misty tufts of fog yesterday, a clear vision of Spring (and..wait for it… Summer) shone through on Bartlett Street. Baby carrots – awesome, tasty, orange – flew off the Happy Boy Farms table, just as delectably tangy raspberries made their first showing from Yerena Farms. And did someone say peaches?! Boom! The first crop from Twin Girls Farm is here! Don’t forget the Basil Menagerie by Lee Farms – brand new to MCM with cucumbers, mint, and FOUR types of basil from the Central Valley. Who knows what’s in store for next week…
And nothing like a little visit from the kinder. Nice to see Karen Solomon out with Urban Sprouts‘ Audrey Roderick, showing some good green time to youth from Buena Vista school, just down the block. Thanks you guys!
See you at Sunday Streets at Valencia and 22nd this Sunday, May 6th, 11-4! Thank you to Boogaloos for donating coffee and cake to the cause. All proceeds go to health education + play with Urban Sprouts and CARECEN.
Impress with Breakfast! Sourdough French Toast with Summer Berry Compote
Photo Courtesy of Matthew S. Cain
Try out this sweet summer recipe next time you’re looking to impress with breakfast! Start by slicing a loaf of sourdough from Arizmendi Bakery into 1″ to 1.5″ slices and placing them either on a sheet tray or a baking dish (something with sides). Next, beat together 3 eggs, about a 1/2 cup milk, a tablespoon or two of sugar (depending on how sweet you like your toast), a teaspoon of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, and a dash of cinnamon (or cardamom, or clove, or nutmeg, or whatever you especially enjoy/have on hand) and pour it over the sliced bread and let sit for a few minutes. While waiting for the bread to soak up the custard, make your compote.
For the compote, add a tablespoon of butter to a pan preheated over medium heat and then add most of your berries (let’s say 2/3 of your carton of raspberries, blackberries, tayberries, blueberries, strawberries, any berry you can find from Yerena Farms, Tomatero Farm, or Blue House Farms) and cook for about a minute before adding either a dash of maple syrup or sugar (if you wanted to, you could also add some lemon zest, orange zest, or baking spice). Then turn down the heat to low and let cook while you take care of the toast. Of course, if you wanted to skip this step all together you can pick a delicious jar of Emmy’s berry jam and proceed to the final step.
To finish up, Add some more butter to another pan preheated over medium high heat. Put in as many slices of the soaked bread as will fit (you might have to do this in batches depending on how much toast you’re planning on serving) and cook till brown. Then flip and do the same for the other side (you can throw these finished pieces into your oven set at 250º until they’re all done). When all the pieces are almost done, add the last 1/3 of your berries to the compote and toss to coat. Plate a couple pieces of toast with some of the compote on top. You can finish with powdered sugar, maple syrup, freshly whipped cream, whipped creme fraiche, yogurt, or nothing at all. Et Voila! Mimosa Time!