A picture is worth a thousand words, so take a look at all this selection of some of the beautiful, vibrant, tasty produce currently offered by MCM’s awesome vendors. Summer means that local farmers have quite the bounty of ripe, fresh fruit and vegetables including everything from squash blossoms to cantaloupe. Twin Girls Farm has organic Thompson seedless grapes that are incredibly sweet! Happy Boy Farms offer a bounty of deliciousness including Shishito Peppers, gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, and yellow watermelons. Blue House Farm had these lovely purple peppers last week. With such a vibrant colors and flavors, how could you go wrong? Come down to Barlett Street this Thursday to get your hands on some of your own!
Fresh, Seasonal Produce!
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!
Mission Community Market 9/8
Everyone might have been talking about the weather but yesterday was the perfect time to come out to the Market and get all the best local produce! We had peppers from Blue House, figs from Arata, plums from Twin Girls, and much more! Come have a look at our new Facebook album to get an idea of what you would like to pick up next week! It can all be seen Here!
Get your Islander Peppers Today!
Blue House Farm has rolled out their fresh new purple islander peppers! The Islander peppers will be in season for another 1-2 months. Known mostly for their unique color, they have a light, sweet flavor and are best used fresh to bring color to a salad. They lose their color when cooked. More pepper varieties coming this week and the next, including yellow ‘Gypsies,” dark green Poblanos, and huge hot Jalapenos.
It’s all happening at the Market Today! So come on over and pick a color, any color!
Recipe: Caldo Verde (Portuguese Kale Soup)
Next time you’ve got a bunch of kale sitting around and you want to try something different, give this recipe a shot. It’s easy, delicious, and inexpensive. It’s our version of the traditional Portuguese soup with a couple of twists that make it extra yummy. You might want to make extra, as this soup is always better the day after you make it
8 oz Spanish Chorizo, diced (or chouriço, or linguiça, or bacon or guanciale from Hapa Ramen)
2 ea Onions, diced (from Arata Farms)
4 ea Garlic Cloves, thinly sliced (more if you’re using bacon or guanciale)
8-10 ea Small Potatoes, medium dice (nicola potatoes from Happy Boy Farms work beautifully, or any other small waxy potato)
1 bu Kale, stemmed and cut into 1″x4″ strips (from Blue House Farm or Tomatero Farm, we like using green curly kale)
1 tb Pimentón (smoked spanish paprika)
Start by adding a splash of olive oil (from Olive Healthy) into a pot over medium-high heat. Throw in your diced pork product and turn down the heat to medium to let the fat render. After a couple of minutes add the garlic and stir. At this point, we like to add a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes to add some heat, but feel free to leave them out if you don’t like spice (at this point you could also a bay leave or two if you’re so inclined). After another minute or two, add the onions and the pimentón, stir and let cook until the onions have softened. Toss in the potatoes and about two quarts of water (you can substitute homemade stock here if you like, but keep in mind this soup was born out of poverty) and turn the heat up to high to bring to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, turn down to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are completely done, about 20 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, season the broth with salt and pepper. We also like to add a splash of sherry vinegar (you can use red wine vinegar if you don’t have sherry vinegar) and a little bit of honey, about 2 tablespoons, to round out the spiciness of the soup and the bitterness of the kale. When the potatoes are cooked, add the kale and cook for a few more minutes until the kale is tender. Once done, serve with some toasted and buttered crusty bread (hello Arizmendi!) and a little more olive oil on top of the soup. Et Voila!