Cook Here and Now

San Francisco Farmers Market Watch: September 27th

Buongiorno. The first organic persimmons (see above) were here today and some plump organic grapes from Benzler farms, who also brought in non-irradiated and not sprayed with propylene oxide almonds from this year's crop (many of you know how hard it is too find these). There's no trace of decent stone fruit to be had at any price, but that's to be expected now that fall is upon us. The consolation: golden light splendor.

What I found this week at the San Francisco Alemany Farmers Markets:

New organic almond crop from Benzler farms.

Autumn Royal seedless organic grapes. Also available were organic Red Flame raisins for $3/lb, which were richly flavored and sweet. I was told they store well long-term in the freezer, so I bought 4 lbs.

The new garlic crop is here!

Fresh peanuts. Remember, these need to be roasted or cooked - they're not ready for snacking or making into peanut butter.

Jujubes are in season.

Brussels sprouts. Spare me the disgusted faces. They are delicious when blanched then stir-fried in olive oil, garlic and hot pepper to get that nice caramelized spicy crust on them. Also tasty with balsamic syrup. Recipes from Allrecipes and Epicurious.

And lastly, beautifully decorative (and tasty) chestnuts in their shell, called 'riccio' (tr. hedgehog) in Italian.

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Sushi guide

Sushi-lover alert: the Monterey Bay Aquarium is launching a sustainable sushi guide. From the same people that brought you the Seafood Watch list we've featured in several of our events.
The color-coded guide takes into consideration the sustainability of each specie, as well as whether the fish is caught or prepared in ways that harm the ocean or pose a health risk to people.

As a frequent sushi eater, I try to select fish that is sustainably caught, but that's not always easy. Finally, this list takes the guesswork out of it. Some of what you'll find out may not please you: some of your favorites may become off-limits (ARGH! No more monkfish liver), but as a sushi-lover, I'm sure you'll want to ensure we can enjoy it for a long time to come.
So download it, fold it, put it in your wallet and take it along on your next meal. We'll all be better off.

Download Monterey_Bay_Aquarium_sushi_guide.pdf

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

 

San Francisco Farmers Market Watch: September 20th

Buongiorno. The first rain of the season greeted me at the market on Saturday. I write this on the first day of fall and the produce reflects the seasonal shift (if you're new to the blog, go read my post about my favorite season). Gone are most of the stone fruits while apples, figs and pears can be found on most fruit stands. See you next week at our dinner. Here's what to look for at the market.

The new crop of organic pomegranates is here.



Olives



Chestnuts



Autumn Yummy plums



Fresh dates



Bartlett pears



Bosc pears



El Dorado Bartlett pears



Dynasty Asian pear



Kikusui Asian pear



Shinseiki Asian pear



Ya Li Asian pear

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

Let's cook and eat together: Sunday September 28th ALL SLOTS FULL

Buongiorno,
Thank you. All our slots are full.
If your name is not listed in the comments section of the previous post, please stay tuned -- we'd love to have you next time. If you wish to be on the waiting list, please leave your email address and name as a comment to this post. I'll contact you if anyone cancels.

Ciao e grazie mille,
Marco Flavio

Let's cook and eat together: Sunday September 28th

Buongiorno. Our upcoming dinner will be our 2nd anniversary celebration! What better ingredient to celebrate with than the tomato. They're finally peaking in flavor and variety and will be the star of our dinner -- think dry-farmed Early Girl, cherry, grape, San Marzano, Roma, heirlooms of all denominations and envision them in every possible course. That's right: even dessert. Check out this fantastic tomato tarte tatin that was written about in this week's New York Times. Who's making it?

For your courses, you can choose the meat, fish or dairy of your choice, just make sure it's sustainable and free-range (I may be tempted to make some of my newly developed fresh organic ricotta and butter). Anybody want to collaborate on a dish?

The other seasonal vegetables will be: corn, green beans and peppers.
Fruit will be figs and melons. 

A presto,
Marco Flavio

The plan
35 of us will cook and eat together on September 28th, starting at around 2:30.

The dinner will be in San Francisco. Jeremy has kindly offered his company's very large, multiple-range kitchen for our gathering at the last event. There will be enough space for us to use the stoves and ovens in a couple of shifts.

I'm letting only 35 people register for this event, so act quickly.
Every person coming (including any guest you bring, or your other half in a couple) will have to sign up for a slot and either cook something or provide local wine and beer (if beverages slots are available, see below).

Since participation is limited, please let us know at least four days before the dinner if you're not going to be able to make it, so we can invite someone else to join us. Emailing me on shorter notice (or not at all) is unfair to everyone, especially the people who wanted to participate and couldn't because all the slots were taken.

We'll divide the meal plan this way:

16 participants will make main courses for 3-4 people each (including some vegetarian options)
6 participants will make appetizers for 8 people each  ALL SLOTS TAKEN
5 participants will make salads for 8 people each   ALL SLOTS TAKEN
5 participants will make dessert for 8-10 people each  ALL SLOTS TAKEN
7 participants will bring at least 2 bottles of good *locally produced* wine per person (not per couple) and some *locally-brewed* beer. Consider that most cooks spend $25-50 (and up!) just on their ingredients. If you're not cooking, you should be prepared to spend at least this much on beverages, out of respect for your chefs. ALL SLOTS TAKEN
2 participants will bring non-alcoholic beverages for 20 (sparkling water and juices, locally produced when possible)   ALL SLOTS TAKEN

Please let me know who is coming by name. Once we reach 40 people confirmed (taking into account cancellations), I will close the event and start another post for the waiting list. If the slots are full for what you'd like to bring, please choose something else instead. (Don't worry: There will always be another event to showcase your skills.)

So post a comment on the blog (do NOT email me directly) under the call-for-participation post letting me know the following:
First and last name
Email address
What you (and your guest, if you bring one) will be making (appetizer, main course, etc.) 
If you brought wine last time, you should now cook something (unless you cooked as part of a couple and made a large entree).

If too many people pick the same course, I'll have to assign a different course to the last entrant.
If the votes are tied for ingredients, I'll flip a coin.

This is going to be great! So sign up before the spaces are gone.

A presto,
Marco Flavio

San Francisco Farmers Market Watch: September 6th

Buongiorno. The market has finally started to turn towards autumnal flavors with an abundance of apples, and the disappearance of stone fruit. Proper tomatoes have finally arrived: 2 Dog Farm is finally delivering their trademark spicy, dry-farmed Early Girls (definitely the best Early Girls on the market) and Tomatero farms is bringing my favorite-of-the-market pick this week: Aunt Ruby's German Green (see above).
The last plums are to be had this week, so eat them while you can. King Flavor, Queen Flavor and Flavor Supreme pluots are starting to look like they've spent awhile in dry storage, and peaches are on their way out too. Our next event will be on the 28th, so stay tuned.

What I found this week at the San Francisco Alemany Farmers Market:

2 Dog Farms dry-farmed early girl tomatoes. My go-to tomatoes, with a strong peppery aroma and a powerful, concentrated flavor. You just can't go wrong with these, and I stand by my post about them from two years ago.

There are several varieties of snap beans on the stands. My favorites are the purple ones (though they do turn green when you cook them) and (of course) the Italian ones. Give a new varietal a try for your standard recipes to keep things interesting, and report back - I'll do the same. Recipes from Allrecipes and  Epicurious.

Italian beans

Fresh soy beans (the immature ones are called by their Japanese name: edamame). They're flavorful when steamed and seasoned, as in this great recipe from the Food Network.

Even with the stone-fruit season turning to an end, some pluots are still available for one last week: King and Queen Supreme. Once more with feeling, until next summer...

French (very sweet) sugar plums should be around another week at least. These make for excellent after-a-run snacks, since they're the size of a walnut, sweet, and taste great out of a fridge on a hot day.

And lastly... don't forget your flowers for a little summer color.

Enjoy!
Marco Flavio

Introducing: Foodie Trade

Buongiorno,
Now that summer travels are winding down and Slow Food Nation is over, I've been thinking about what's next, and here it is: Foodie Trade.

Most of us in this group spend more time in the kitchen in a week than most Americans do in a month, and we cook up a lot of food. I don't know about you, but I'm often left with a lot of extra jam or vanilla beans I bought bulk to get a good price. As tasty as it may be, it's more than we can eat, and I don't always have the time to invite people over to polish it off.

"Give it to me!" you're thinking. My thoughts exactly: I'm starting a section in our Forum where you can trade tasty stuff you've made for tasty stuff other people made. This way we can benefit from everybody's culinary skills, and not feel bad at the real possibility of the delicious food we produced going to waste.

Here's how it works: I just cased 30 sausages and I have 10 to spare, which need to be eaten within 2 months after they're frozen. So on the Forum I'll post in the Food Trade section that I have 10 sausages to trade. You can contact me in the Forum and tell me that you have a few jars of home-made tomato sauce to trade, and we'll swap sausages for tomatoes.

I will also post (and encourage you to do as well) ingredients that may be available in bulk, to see if others are interested in sharing the cost - not to mention being more eco-friendly by cutting down on shipping and packaging. For example: I've just been contacted by a woman who sells free-range lambs, but I can't buy even half  by myself. Where would I put it?! Maybe others may want to go in on it,so we can get the absolute best meat directly from the farmer, for a better deal where the producer gets more of the end price.

So let me be the first to start... go check out the Forum and see what I'm trading.
A presto!
Marco Flavio