Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Market Report: Citrus and greens abound in Santa Monica

You could probably find a couple dozen different varieties of citrus fruits in the Santa Monica farmers market at this time of year. But on my visit today, I buy only one type: satsumas.

I can't handle more citrus fruit on this particular trip because my shoulder bag is already stuffed with greens, including collards and lacinato kale. And the multi-colored carrots at one farm stand looked so nice that I bought a bunch of all three, some of which I'll roast together with the beets, Tokyo turnips and German Butterball potatoes that I also purchased today.

Read the full report on my Nov. 30, 2005 visit to the Santa Monica farmers market.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Market Report: Catering to low-income clientele in Richmond, Calif.; Plus, recipes for two Italian specialties

The 21-year-old farmers market in the San Francisco suburb of Richmond offers Asian vegetables such as gai choy and taro and also a selection of vegetables that our Bay Area correspondent, Victoria Slind-Flor, carries home and turns into a couple of Italian specialities. With eggplants and tomatoes, she makes a Sicilian relish called caponata. And with these fresh-shelled cranberry beans, some chard, a leek, and other vegetables, Victoria makes a hearty Italian soup called ribollita.

Here is Victoria's report on her recent visit to the Richmond, Calif., farmers market.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Market Report: Autumn is in the air at New York City's Union Square Market

Denise Matychowiak, Seasonal Chef's New York City correspondent, finds a Hen in the Woods mushroom -- and a tip from the "mushroom lady," Judy Chen, about how to use it to make a tea that fights colds. She also picks up a stem of brussel sprouts -- along with a new idea about how to prepare that vegetable. Braise them with tart apples, advises the vendor, from Yuno's Farm in Bordentown, New Jersey.

Read Denise's most recent report from the Union Square Greenmarket.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Seasonal Chef: Annie Somerville, of Greens, San Francisco's acclaimed vegetarian restaurant

The San Francisco Bay area is a nirvana for vegetarians, a fact nowhere more apparent than at Greens, a restaurant founded by the Zen Center in 1979. In the decades since then, dozens of small farms and dairies catering to the city's sophisticated gourmands and bustling farmers markets have sprung up within a couple hundred miles of San Francisco, a region blessed with a phenomenal variety of growing climates. In a profile by Victoria Slind-Flor, Seasonal Chef's Bay Area correspondent, Annie Sommerville, the head chef at Greens, describes her mutually beneficial close relationship with her suppliers, who farm in areas ranging from the foggy coast to hot, dry inland valleys.

Sommerville also shares with Seasonal Chef a recipe for kabocha squash soup. Infused with Asian flavors, the recipe is from Sommerville's most recent book, Everyday Greens: Everyday Cooking from Greens, the Celebrated Vegetarian Restaurant.