quince

Spotted at MCM: Craftsman and Wolves

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Arata Farm, Blog, Hale Apple Farm, Spotted at MCM, Tomatero Farm | Leave a comment

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Chef William and sous chef Connie from nearby Mission patisserie Craftsman and Wolves were spotted shopping at the Mission Community Market last Thursday. They are big fans of the market and can be found shopping at several vendor stalls almost every week. Last week they filled their cart with a variety of seasonal produce: kale and watermelon radishes from Tomatero Farm, apples from Hale Apple Farm, and quince from Arata Farm.

Right now as the seasons are changing there are a rush of changes at the patisserie, with new items in the works. Chef William told us his favorite season is always the next one with all the excitement of new seasonal ingredients becoming available.

What will Craftsman and Wolves be crafting with the produce from the market? Here’s a rundown:

Apples from Hale Apple Farm will be the market fruit paired with ‘damn fine’ granola and strauss yogurt. They are also for this exquisite apple & coconut tart with vanilla on a rye palet.

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Photo by Craftsman and Wolves

Kale from Tomatero Farm is for the savory kale salad with white butter beans, parmesan cheese, and croutons. The watermelon radishes will be dehydrated into pretty pink petal-like chips to top this new root vegetable croissant laminated with harissa butter.

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Photo by Craftsman and Wolves

Quince from Arata Farm is for a new cake being developed. The quince will be cooked sous vide for four hours and then paired with brown butter, pomegranate, and blonde caramel. Sounds amazing! Here’s a sneak peak of the prepared fruit – check back at Craftsman and Wolves for when this new seasonal cake will be available.

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Photo by Craftsman and Wolves

Craftsman and Wolves is located at 746 Valencia Street (between 18th and 19th Streets) in San Francisco’s Mission District. Open Monday-Thursday 7am-7pm, Saturday 8am-8pm, and Sunday 8am-7pm. Stop by and check it out and you might taste some Mission Community Market produce on their menu!

Note: MCM offers a reserved parking space for local restaurants and chefs picking up large orders at the market (at the end of Bartlett near 21st Street).

Mercado Kitchen: Quince Ratafia Two Ways

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

Ah Quince, you perplexing fruit with a storied past. It looks like an apple or a pear, but don’t you dare take one bite of it raw! Supposedly, 17th Century cookbooks contain more recipes for quince than any other orchard fruit, so I wonder what cooks living hundreds of years ago knew that I don’t! But both Arata Farms and Hale’s Apple Farm have gorgeous quince right now at MCM so I decided to go ahead and give a new recipe a whirl.

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Tired of the usual jam and preserve recipes, I decided to try something that’s not for you teetotalers out there–an old-timey infused liqueur known as “ratafia” which is a name given to cordials made of different fruit, one varietal including quince. The recipe I adapted called for two quinces, but by the time I was finished grating the first one I had almost filled up an entire quart-sized jar. So I I decided to try two slight variations on the same recipe, using one fruit per jar. The main difference is that one recipe contains raw grated quince and the other contains chopped quince that I cooked down slightly. I’ll share the results with you in a few weeks when the infusion process is complete–though I feel confident both will probably be mighty tasty. The ingredients I used were the same for both recipes – these quantities will make you enough ratafia for about one quart-sized jar.  Read more