The Good Nosh Girls Web Log

Thank You, Local Producers!

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:36:00 +0000

As Aly and I gear up for our last week at the Market, we're feeling a great sense of gratitude towards all the local producers and food suppliers who helped make our food taste so great this summer. There's nothing that beats food made with love, and we were lucky enough to add our own touch to locally supplied produce, cheese, bread, and meat -- all handled with equal amounts of TLC by our vendors!

Eli of Chispas Farm talking to customers

Carey selling for The Old Windmill Dairy

So, before we even unveil our menu for this week, I wanted to write a thank you to these folks who make local food possible. Our community is stronger because of them, our food tastes better because of them, and our food future looks better because of them -- so support them when you can!!!

Jesse working hard at Amyo Farms

A big thanks goes out to:

Amyo Farms: beautiful produce, fresh eggs
Chispas Farm: amazing sweet onions, spicy garlic, scapes to die for!
East Mountain Organics: tender lettuce greens and spinach
Eco Step Farms: beautiful tomatoes & lettuce
Erda Gardens and Learning Center: wonderful greens
Heidi's Raspberry Farm: organic raspberries and wonderful jams
Holly Adams: home-grown peaches
Kemper Barkhurst: plump apricots
La Plazita Institute: eggplants galore!
La Quiche Parisienne Bistro: best artisanal bread in town!
Lee's Bakery: wonderfully light Vietnamese rolls (perfect for Cubanos!)
Leif Rustebakke: amazing variety of apricots
Lydia Baker: beautiful tomatoes
Macias Farms: wonderful produce served with a smile!
Montoya's Farm: peaches, peaches, and more peaches!
Lori's Farms: free-range eggs
Old Windmill Dairy: amazing goat cheese in amazing varieties!
Sange de Cristo Ag. Producers: Nativo unbleached organic flour
South Mountain Dairy: creamy goat cheese
Sunflower Market Meat Department: all natural, great service!

Maria serving with a smile at Macias Farm

And finally, a great big thank you to Eric Garretson, Manager of the Albuquerque Downtown Grower's Market. Eric and the Downtown Action Team have worked tirelessly to make the Market such a great event for our town. We loved being a vendor there this summer, and Eric played a large part in making that happen. Thank you, Eric!

Our Final Menu for the Summer

So now, to unveil our menu for our final week...You voted, and it wasn't even close in terms of your favorite savory item! We'll be serving up Aly's amazing Cubanos: sandwiches with slow roasted pulled pork, black forest ham, Boar's Head Swiss cheese, thin-sliced premium pickles and Aly's secret mayo sauce, all on fresh rolls from Lee's Bakery.

I'll be baking up an array of sweet goods: mango lime tartlets, coconut bites, mojito bars, and our Death-By-Chocolate drops (yes, you need to stock up!).

This is a crazy amount of food. We hope you'll enjoy it, and come help us celebrate our last hurrah!

-See you Saturday!

The Best of Good Nosh: Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Well we have tallied the 136 votes for the Good Nosh Best of Menus. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Drum roll, please?

Your savory favorites are the Cubano Sandwiches, Pizza Margherita, Mushroom Chicken Crepes, and Greek Lemon Chicken Folds.

On the sweet side, fan favorites are the Death by Chocolate Drops, Fruit Tartlettes, Lemon Thyme Madeleines, Coconut Bites, and Mojito Bar Cookies.

To celebrate our last two weeks at the Downtown Growers Market we'll be reprising several of your favorites. For this week I'll be making Grilled Pizza Margherita once again. I roll the dough on site, slap it on the grill then top it with local basil and tomatoes, fresh natural mozzarella, and an organic tomato sauce. For the omnivores, I can add Boars Head pepperoni.

For the front sweets table we'll be offering our Death by Chocolate Drops - yes everyone, you made it through a week off from drops but we'll have them back tomorrow.

Off of our French menu, we'll also be making the Lemon Thyme Madeleines which use organic lemon and thyme, local flour, and local eggs.

See you tomorrow!

Is it Fall Already?

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Prior Week Wrap Up
Last week was our first week of market during Fall hours. Beginning in September, the market is an hour later (8am to noon). I'm all torn up about the extra hour of sleep - but I'll soldier on. If you didn't make it to last week's market you missed chile roasting and piles of amazing corn. We really are at peak produce; the tables are overflowing will all kinds of goodies.

Last Saturday we sold out of everything early enough to shut down and pack up before noon. The chicken pita folds were gone by 9:58 am and they got several votes to return on the Best Of menu (see voting section below). People were loving Kei's berry tarts:

Coming this Week
This week, we continue our culinary tribute to the Olympics. Gotta hold on to that feeling, know what I mean? Our second Greek menu draws from our catering items. Kei is using some lovely all natural ground buffalo from Colorado combined with organic tomato and local herbs to make Savory Buffalo Phyllo Rolls. She'll also be combining local spinach and herbs with goat cheese from Old Windmill Dairy in our Spinach Cheese Phyllo Triangles. I'll be making Pecan Baklava - and not using the namby-pamby shortcut of piling all the nuts in one or two thick layers. We'll combine your choice of two baked treats with our tzatziki sauce and a composed Greek salad - so, make it a Pick a Pair Combo Plate. The salad includes Old Windmill Dairy feta, local cukes and tomato, olives, and our own Greek dressing. Local sources for this week include: Amyo Farm, B's Honey Farm, The Old Windmill Dairy, Mike and Lydia Baker, Chispas Farm, Gruet Winery, Lori's Farm, and Macias Farm.

Don't Forget to Vote
Beginning next Saturday, we'll bring back your favorite Good Nosh dishes for our final two weeks at the Downtown Growers Market. It's our Best Of Menu. We have a stack of paper ballots filled out from market goers last week, and hope for another fat stack this week. Please take a few moments to vote online or fill out a ballot at our booth tomorrow. To vote on the web, visit our site and you'll see two polls on the right hand sidebar. You can select more than one item.

Berries, Berries, and More Berries!

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:46:00 +0000

Hope you all had a great Labor Day Weekend! My family always goes up North for this holiday to enjoy a camping weekend with family and friends. This year, our friends couldn't make their usual stop-over in Mora to pick raspberries at Salman Raspberry Ranch since the crop wasn't yet ripe. But for market this week we're lucky that Heidi's Raspberry Farm in Corrales is a-ready-for-the-picking!

We're making summer berry tarts -- light flaky crusts bubbling over with four kinds of berries: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries. If this doesn't prolong the taste of summer for you, I don't know what will! And with a bite of death-by-chocolate, you'll be in pure heaven...

Kei's tart test-run...someone's gotta eat em'!

On the savory side, we're taking advantage of the abundance of veggies still in season. We're going Greek this week, and will be grilling some Lemon Chicken Pita Folds, using local tomatoes, onions, garlic, and cucumber. Our chicken is all natural and antibiotic-free, our tzatziki sauce is made from real Greek yogurt, and we'll be featuring hand-made pita bread from local favorite eatery Yasmine's Cafe (on Central and University).

The following week, we'll continue Greek, but because Aly will be in a weekend triathlon (Go, Aly!), we'll be shutting down the grill so she's not inhaling smoke for several hours. We'll offer some wonderful sweet and savory appetizers straight off our catering menu. Think hand-made baklava and delicate phyllo cheese triangles...

We missed you last week (but loved the break!) -- can't wait to see y'all on Saturday!

Post It Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:57:00 +0000

Labor Day Weekend Schedule
We will not be at the market this Saturday; the Good Nosh Girls are taking Labor Day weekend off. As a former desk jockey, I must say this Labor Day feels like a more deserved holiday than in years past. Nothing like hauling around equipment, producing hundreds of food items, and working a grill for hours each week to make you feel that you have actually labored, at least a little bit. While my typing skills have atrophied some over the summer, I have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the kitchen, our time at the market, and getting to know our customers.

Let Your Voice be Heard
Kei and I will be slinging food at the Downtown Market through September. For the final week or two we'll be reprising the best of Good Nosh fare. Help us decide the menu by voting for your favorite dishes. To the right you'll see two polls, one for our baked goods and one for our savory dishes. Please vote for your faves!

Just What is in the Chocolate Drops?
We are now starting to get dedicated Drop aficionados who are interested in these cookies for dietary reasons. It's often hard to find good food when you can't eat common ingredients. So here's the low-down. The drops do not contain any wheat or gluten though they do have (gluten free) cornstarch. They are dairy free. They have egg whites but no yolks. They do not contain any fats other than from the chocolate itself.

Mama Mia! The Week That Was
Last week was our third and final week of Italian food. We bid Italia off in style with Grilled Pizza Margherita. Local basil and tomatoes, joined natural fresh mozarella, and Boars Head pepperoni, all on a crust that was cooked to order. High quality ingredients, simply prepared. Here's an in-process shot of a vegetarian pizza:

Here are a couple tips if you want to try your hand at making grilled pizzas:

Roll the dough quite thin and make sure it's got plenty of olive oil on both sides.
Cook the first side on medium heat, flip and move to lower heat to finish cooking (covered).
Top pizza in the opposite order from normal: cheese, meat, then tomatoes and sauce (if using basil, add it off the heat after the pizza is done).
Don't overload the pie.
Use wet ingredients sparingly.

We're Expanding our Horizons!

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:17:00 +0000

It's hard to believe that in three short months, our little company is getting known around town! Many of you have asked us if we have a bakery, restaurant, or store front of some kind. Ummm, no. Many more have asked if we PLAN on opening such a venue in the future. Well, maybe...but not any time soon. Aly and I are still happy testing products each Saturday at the Market to find those items we can put into production in the fall.

But to reach a happy medium, we're pleased to announce that we're taking limited requests for catering. That's right! We've already started filling orders, offering both sweet and savory goods, and continuing our commitment to using as many fresh, local and organic ingredients as possible. For more info, you can email us at kei@goodnoshfoods.com or aly@goodnoshfoods.com.

Peach Tartlet & Cannelé Catering Order

This week at Market, you'll get a chance to taste items that have prooved popular both for market-goers and catering orderers: our Peach Tartlettes (yep, local peaches are still in full swing) and our Death by Chocolate Drops. Aly will be firing a special item for our final week of Italian food: grilled pizzas! She'll use fresh dough - baked right on the grill and topped with local tomatoes, local basil, organic tomato sauce, and fresh mozarella. Omnivores can get this Pizza Margherita with pepperoni.

[Ok. Now let me digress with a little apology to all our loyal customers who came by for our Death-By-Chocolate drops last week. So many of you asked for them, but before the market opened, Aly and I made the decision NOT to serve what we had baked the night before since a combination of a new brand of suger and a wonky oven rendered our creations a little harder than usual. Simply put, they weren't up to the Good Nosh standard. We put them aside, but we were touched that so many of you were willing to buy even our seconds! Now, that's loyalty!!! I've worked out the kinks for this week and promise a truly decadant death this time around...]

Our minds are spinning with product ideas for the fall. We're excited about our new catering menu. And we love the fact that you're helping us get our name out there. Thanks for supporting our little company and for being such loyal customers! We'll see you Saturday...

Cheers!

P.S. As true laborers this summer, Aly and I are taking the Labor Day Weekend off--our first break since we started!--but will be back at Market again on September 6th. See you then!

Italia Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:47:00 +0000

Well last week was certainly the most exciting market day so far - if you don't count our butterflies on the first day of business.

Thousands of people and dozens of extra booths were on site for the We Art the People folk art festival. Along with many other sights and sounds, there was a parade - complete with dancers, giant puppets, and drummers - that wound through Robinson park. You can see photos on Adelita's blog at Duke City Fix.

To kick off our Italian menu we made a triple nut biscotti:

I used my treasured, well-seasoned cast iron skillets to press down our capicola and ham paninis:

For this weekend I'll be putting together another sandwich. This time we'll be making a seven layer pressed focaccia sandwich with turkey, lettuce, mozarella, roasted red peppers, local basil, local tomatoes, local onion, all on local bread. Italian pressed sandwiches are large cold 'wiches weighed down to compress and meld together the flavors, then cut into smaller portions to serve. When sliced, the ingredient colors make beautiful tight layers.

There's just one issue... the sandwich doesn't involve the grill in any way. Gasp!

I'm worried about how I'll acclimate to a day without live fire.

Perhaps I'll help Kei serve up her new addition for this week. We're serving almond chocolate sticks that are thin, crispy, and packed with flavor. Our baked item table will also feature crowd favorites, the Death by Chocolate Drops, peach tartlettes and peach buttons.

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:39:00 +0000

A Market Addiction: The Death by Chocolate Drops
I wanted to highlight what is arguably our most successful item, Kei's chocolate drops. We keep making more each week and we keep selling out long before market close. The drops are made with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and cocoa powder, egg whites from local sources, and powdered sugar. They're flourless - because, hey, that just makes more room for the important part - the chocolate.

I think the magic of these cookies is that the outside is crispy and the inside stays soft. If you pop them in the microwave for a couple seconds the chips will remelt, ratcheting up the intensity with a molten chocolate drop.

We've noticed people that tried a Drop in previous weeks come back and buy a bag full! This week we even did our first special order of chocolate drops for a local party.

We tested some chocolate drops using white chocolate and found out that the market goers are largely true chocolate lovers. They want their chocolate, and they want it dark, bittersweet or semisweet; none of that white chocolate or milk chocolate nonsense!

What's up for Saturday
Welcome to our first of three Italian menus. For this week's offerings, we'll be holding over the Chocolate Drops, Peach Galettes (shown below) and Peach Buttons. The local peaches from Montoya Farms are still just too good to pass up and we're pretty sure that there would be an outcry if we stop making chocolate drops.

New to the baked item menu is our Three Nut Biscotti, which combines pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, and chocolate. Now I don't drink hot coffee, so I'm pretty picky about biscotti. If it doesn't taste great without a coffee dunk then I'm not interested. Kei did a great job with these; I've been happily nibbling on our test batches sans java for the past couple of days.

On the grill we're going back to sandwiches, with the Eggplant Capicola Panini. I'm using local eggplant and onion from La Plazita Institute and Erda Garden along with hot capicola and mozzarella cheese. This is all layered in ciabatta from La Quiche Parisienne.

Eggplant Spreads
We'll be making a simple roasted eggplant spread for our paninis this week. Both Asian and standard eggplants are in the market this week, and a roasted spread is a great option for a simple summer appetizer. You don't need to slice the eggplant or weep out bitterness - this is pretty much the easiest thing to do with an eggplant.

Here's your market shopping list: eggplant, onions, a head of garlic, and some fresh bread. Set your oven to 450 degrees, pierce the whole eggplants with a fork several times, lightly coat with oil, and put them on a baking sheet. Roast until they are soft and the skin begins to blacken. Meanwhile, slice the onions thinly, and saute on low heat with a pat of butter and a drizzle of olive oil. As the onions caramelize, slice the bread, rub with a peeled garlic clove, and lightly brush with olive oil. When the eggplant is done roasting, let it cool, slice in half lengthwise and and scoop out the inside. Combine in a bowl with your caramelized onion and add salt and pepper to taste. Toast the bread (on your grill is a nice way to go). Then top toasts with the spread or put the spread in a dish and let guests scoop or spread on their own.

Variations: Top toasts with goat cheese, like the sun dried tomato from Old Windmill Dairy. Amp up your eggplant spread with some briny ingredients like diced olives or capers. Other good spread adds are chopped fresh tomatoes or roasted garlic. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar over the finished bruschetta is a nice and easy variation. Instead of using toasted bread this also goes good with pita wedges.

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:35:00 +0000

The Week that Was
Whew... after dire warnings of hurricane moisture raining down upon Albuquerque, we had a gorgeous day at the market last week. Not to knock all the rain we've been getting; my garden loves it, I love it, we need it. However, a nice mild day brought out hundreds of people to Robinson Park. Dale and his dachshunds know how to spend their Saturday mornings:

We made the most chocolate drops we've ever baked - and sold out by 9:30. We had some ribs left over but got lots of compliments from those who tried the Vietnamese treats, and we traded babybacks for some great bread and a pie. Hooray for the great group of vendors!

The Market to Come
We'll be wrapping up our tour of Southeast Asia on Saturday. I'll be tossing marinated all natural chicken and flatbread on the grill to make a Thai Chicken Wrap. The wrap will include peanut sauce, local cucumbers, local carrots, organic lettuce and scallions. Kei just bought a case of local peaches to make galettes:

And, by popular demand, we will have our Death by Chocolate Drops.

And Then?
In August we'll be starting our Italian menu. With local tomatoes and peppers popping, we'll be making some great savory fare. Plus we'll be back in a culinary region with a strong dessert baking legacy so expect our sweets to switch around.

Ciao!

Scrumptious Summer Ribs...Vietnamese Style!

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:59:00 +0000

Summer's heat is in full swing, and many grills are a-grillin' -- so we thought for this week, "let's put some ribs on the menu!" Nothing beats finger-lickin'-good ribs in the summer. But of course, in Good Nosh "savor the world" fashion, our ribs aren't just any ribs. Our all natural pork babybacks will be slow braised in a Vietnamese caramel sauce until tender then crisped up on the grill.

"Vietnamese caramel sauce?" -- I can hear you asking already! If you've never had a "kho" dish before that features this sauce, you'll be in for a great surprise. Both sweet and salty, the sauce is created by caramelizing sugar to a dark brown and adding fish sauce and other flavors. The result is a rich, dark red sauce that adds color and incredible smoky flavor to the ribs.

(I wish I had a photo to share with you, but when I served these recently to friends, they were gobbled up in no time flat. Two people who had spent many years in North Carolina -- home to some GREAT pork ribs! -- said they were to die for! Can't beat that...)

The ribs will be served with some wonderful jasmine rice, steamed on site, and a fresh cucumber and nectarine salad -- a great summer meal to enjoy at the market or to take home.

On the baked goods front, we'll be featuring a new tasty Vietnamese mango and macadamia nut cake, courtesy of Aly, and we'll continue with our coconut bites and death-by-chocolate drops. These two items start flying off our table as soon as we open our booth, so we promise to make more this week!

Our Southeast Asian theme continues one more week when we'll unveil a chicken wrap with peanut sauce. Thai, anyone?

Enjoy!

On To Southeast Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:48:00 +0000

The Meal to Come
We are switching cuisines again, leaving the warm waters of the Caribbean for the warm waters of Southeast Asia. Early summer crops like cucumber, basil, cilantro, mint, salad greens, onions, and carrots are a natural fit for foods from countries like Vietnam and Thailand.

This Saturday, we'll be making Beef Satès with a Tamarind Dipping Sauce served with a Cucumber, Carrot, and Daikon Salad. We'll be using natural beef along with local onions, garlic, cilantro, mint, carrots and cukes (Amyo Farms, Macias Farm, Chispas Farm, and Erda Gardens).

To sate your sweet tooth, our pastries will be Mango Lime Tarts with Old Windmill Dairy goat cheese. We will reprise the crowd favorite Death by Chocolate Drop, this time adding a dusting of green tea for an Eastern flair. We'll also be serving our Coconut Drops, which are made with organic coconut.

The baked goods will use organic butter, local Nativo organic wheat, and Amio Farms eggs.

At the Market this Week - Salad Showdown!
The Downtown Growers Market holds a special event each month and this one is great if you're a fan of things like Iron Chef or secret basket cooking challenges. The market is hosting a cooking competition with local chefs. The event, dubbed The Salad Mixer, will take place from 9 am until 11 am. The chefs will create salads using market produce and their own secret ingredient. Throwing down for street cred and bragging rights are the culinary masters from:

The Grove
jennifer james 101
Slate St. Café
Artichoke Café
Sunshine Café

It will also be a fun jump week for the kiddies. As usual, there will be live music. So come on down to cheer on your favorite chef, bounce around, dance to the music, sit in the shade, buy some great veggies, and visit the Good Nosh girls.

The Great Cubano Experiment
For those of you that tried our Cubanos, please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can leave one here on the blog or on our Cubano thread at Duke City Fix. For the uninitiated, the Cubano is a pressed sandwich with ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese, and pickles. We did two weekends with Cubanos. I think we really hit our stride in week two. I swapped out the traditional mustard for a habanero, lime, scallion mayo and added some Chimayo red chile to the roasted pork. I also got a lot better at cooking those gooey, crispy devils (yes, it is more challenging to cook a perfect 'wich on a propane grill than a panini press or griddle). Judging from the 7am Cubano orders (!!), this sandwich seems to be well-loved in 'burque.

Apricot Aspirations...

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:54:00 +0000

It’s apricot season, as many of you know who are lucky enough to have your own trees laden with fruit. Walking to my childrens' school, I always pass a little apricot tree. There’s a part of me that sighs when I see its fruit spilled on the ground. Birds will feast, but I keep thinking I could be making a mean apricot crostata with them! These velvety golden fruit with a hint of blush, when ripe, have a delicate sweetness. But did you know that even those fruit that are still not quite mature will transform into intense flavor when baked?

The perfect complement for apricot is the earthy goodness of almond, and this week I’m experimenting with a frangipane (a kind of creamy almond filling) to smear on the bottom of my apricot tartlets.

I know that apricots are hardly Caribbean (they were actually first cultivated in China in 3000 BC – who knew?), but they will go fabulously well with the new cubano Aly is perfecting. We’re holding over our Caribbean theme this week, but veering away from the traditional. Aly is playing with a chile spiked cubano that sounds to-die-for! We just couldn’t let this week go by without paying homage to the little apricot before its season disappears…. Enjoy!

The Great Cubano Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:55:00 +0000

The Cubano sandwich... Trendy? Yes. Overplayed? Perhaps.

Still, we couldn't help taking a crack at this sandwich during our Caribbean menus. For neophytes, the Cubano is a sandwich with Cuban bread, ham, pork, pickles, cheese, mustard, and in some areas, salami, all pressed and heated in a plancha. Of course, chefs and restaurants have changed up the dressings, fillings, and the bread.

When we decided to do Cubanos, the main questions were "how traditional?" and "how do we perfect it?" This week we're going old school - using standard ingredients and flavors. As for the perfecting, we have gone through five hams, five cheeses, two mustards, three breads, two pickles, and four different ways to prepare the pork. While we didn't test the 1,200 possible combinations of those ingredients, we did make a lot of different combos. (Thanks to my friends for tolerating an evening of noshing on 1/12 of a Cubano over and over.) So here is the result:

We start with all natural pork roast, rubbed with spices (including ones from local faves Bueno Foods and Loma Vista). Later we marinate the meat in more Cuban spices, juice, and local onions and garlic. The next day, it's low and slow cooking until the meat is tender, tasty, and as moist as your Fourth of July watermelon.

We haven't forgotten the vegetarians and pork-avoiders. For you we have a Vege-Cubano. Instead of meat we have made an organic black bean filling that is flavored by sofrito and Cuban spices.

At the market we'll be layering the beans or pork and Black Forest Ham with Boar's Head Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard. Sandwiched between fresh loaves from Lee's Bakery, the Cubanos will go on the grill for heating and pressing.

So come on down and tell us how we stack up against the other Cubanos in town! And take our poll at right to tell us how you really feel about these sandwiches.

As with last week, our Caribbean baked goods include Coconut Bites, Mojito Bar Cookies, and the market favorite Mango Plantain Tarts.

Aside from local sources mentioned above, we're also using mint and eggs from Amy O Farm, Nativo wheat, goat cheese from South Mountain Dairy and lots of organic ingredients.

Hello July

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:36:00 +0000

This post is a bit of a hodgepodge, a tossed salad of thoughts if you will....

Garden Daze
You know the old saying about corn? It's supposed to be "knee high by July." Well my corn isn't nearly that big - perhaps "shoe high by July." Starting a business caused a bit of planting gap between my healthy spring crops and summer's corn, beans, squash and melons.

If you are likewise *way* behind on summer crops, may I suggest a great seed source? Native Seeds/SEARCH carries heirloom crops from the southwestern US and northern Mexico. Many are traditional strains from New Mexico's Pueblos and northern towns. I've done beans, squash, peas, corn and melons.

By using sources like this you not only get unusual crops that are well suited for our climate, you also help to preserve the agricultural and culinary heritage of our area. I know that in my family, and many other long-of-tooth NM families, these foods have been lost through the generations.

Alternatively you could leave the produce to the pros at the Growers Markets. Notably, tomatoes and peppers are trickling in to be snatched up by eager market early birds.

Weekend Recap
We switched from French to Caribbean food this past weekend. Kei made some nice mango and plantain tarts, coconut bites, and - my favorite - mojito bar cookies.

I was on the grill cooking jerk chicken wraps that had coconut turmeric rice, cucumber, salad greens, sour cream and avocado spread, all nestled in our own roti wraps (photos courtesy Mikal Altomare).

Market goers embraced the menu with enthusiasm, leading to another sell-out day! (OK, we did get some wistful complaints about the French items.)

Chicken Chardonnay
While we still have leeks around, here is one of my favorite non-soup leek dishes. I don’t follow a recipe for this so the directions are… ahem… rather informal.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Salt, pepper
Flour
1 T Olive oil
1 T Butter
2 cloves garlic
Bunch leeks
Bottle of chardonnay (about a cup for the chicken, the rest for the drinking)
Chicken stock (1 can or 1 ½ cups homemade)
Dry pasta, enough for four servings (I especially like radiatore with this recipe)

Salt the water for pasta and put it on to boil in a large pot.

Rinse chicken and cut breasts into several large strips – or don’t if you’d rather have them whole. Dry meat, season with salt and pepper then lightly coat with flour. Add olive oil and butter to a large sauté pan and heat. When pan is hot enough to sizzle your bird, add the breast, patting off excess flour before adding to the pan. Don’t crowd them, you want them browned, not steamed. Work in batches if needed. Brown chicken on both sides and remove to a plate.

Prep your leek/s by lopping off the root, slicing them in half lengthwise and rinsing them well (pull apart leaves, there’s often soil in there). Shake off excess water and slice the leeks across (about ¼ inch slices). Mince your garlic. Add leeks and garlic to your sauté pan and cook until they soften. Deglaze the pan with about a cup of wine. Let the alcohol cook off for a minute or two. Add the chicken stock.

If you haven’t already added your pasta to your boiling water, add it now.

In a small cup, mix a few tablespoons of water with a tablespoon of flour to make a smooth slurry. Add this to your leeks and stir. Return your chicken to the pan, laying pieces on top of leeks. Cover the pan and simmer on low until your pasta is cooked.

Drain and plate paste. Spoon the leeks, chicken and sauce over pasta. Enjoy with a nice glass of Chardonnay.

Goodbye Cannelé...Hello Mojito Bar!

noreply@blogger.com (Kei Tsuzuki) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:36:00 +0000

Well, this past Saturday was the last week for our Cannelé Bordelais (sigh!) -- we're starting a hot new Caribbean menu on Saturday. But I thought some parting thoughts were in order for this amazing confection...

I admit, I didn't even know what a cannelé was until last summer when I tasted my first one on Salt Spring Island at their amazing grower's market. One bite and I knew I had to have the recipe. Little did I know that the brotherhood of patissiers in Bordeaux had taken an oath in the 1980s to safe-guard the "true" recipe of the Canelé de Bordeax (they even dropped the second "n" in the name to distinguish their version from copy cats!).

No, we didn't use white beeswax; we couldn't afford to buy the individual copper molds (beautiful but eye-poppingly expensive!); and we didn't torch the cannelés on site (as they do at some French pastry shops) for fear of breaking fire codes! But I hope we did well by the brotherhood. Michele, who was at Saturday's market helping out the great guys at The Old Windmill Dairy, told us that when she took a bite, it brought back happy memories of her time in Bordeaux -- the highest compliment!

This week, to take the cannelé's place, we'll unveil our new Mojito Bar (as in cookie, not a drinking establishment!) -- lots of local mint with a tang of lime, and, twist my arm, a splash of rum! Can you picture the Caribbean now? Enjoy...

Musings on Current Produce

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:27:00 +0000

We're in that time of year before the color splashes of summer heavyweights like tomatoes, peppers, and corn grace the grower's market tables. There are still some of the sturdy cold crops like beets, carrots, cabbage, and chard around.

I find it tough sometimes to mentally switch gears on these veggies; change from thinking of hot and soul-nourishing preparations like stews, braises, and curries to something brighter like salads and slaws. Oooh, but a salad with roasted beets, feta, pecans, grilled sirloin, and vinaigrette sure does make a nice meal this time of year.

We're in the seasonal produce twilight zone. It's Green Time. We still have cooking and salad greens while spring onions, scapes, and green onions vie for attention with herbs like mint and cilantro. Farmers expected to have tomatoes by now but the hot and cold weather of this year's spring - and even the night to day temperature swings - had young crops sending their energy towards surviving, not setting fruit. Green, green, everywhere - how often is that true in New Mexico?

Here's a great green recipe. It uses several spring greenies and a grill.

West Indies Grilled Chicken
Adapted from The Barbecue Bible by Steven Raichlen

8 pieces bone-in chicken
1 bunch spring onions*
* more if you want to throw some on the grill as a side dish, and who wouldn't want to grill up onions like the ones below from Amy O Farms?
1 shallot
4 cloves garlic
1 scotch bonnet pepper, stem and seeds removed
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup dark rum

Roughly chop veggies and place in blender or food processor. Add rum and oil and process until smooth. Rinse chicken and place in a bag or dish suitable for marinating. Add the veggie paste, toss chicken, and marinate, preferably for 12 hours in the refrigerator. Cook chicken on a medium heat grill starting skin side down.

Report on Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Wow! We did it. After an early start on Saturday we set up our booth in the center section of Robinson Park. Perhaps predictably, our brand new 10'x10' canopy was missing a frame screw. Luckily it held up.

I set up the portable 90,000 BTU grill. While unassuming in appearance, this grill is a turbo-charged, modular transformer-ific, take-no-prisoners thing of beauty. I had to get a special valve for the propane line since normal valves peter out at 40,000 or 60,000 BTUs. For comparison, the two heaters that warm my parents' entire adobe home total fewer BTU's. Nice....

Here the grill is cranking out flatbread and chicken:

Once we got the booth set up we had a chance to scan the park. Downtown growers really is a great market. There is space to sit down and enjoy the scene, plenty of diverse vendors, and live music like last week's group playing umm... wooden box thingies... that sounded like the best, deep toned wind chimes ever.

Here is a shot of Kei's son, Elton, with last week's menu board:

And here's a shot of the menu board later in the day:

Yep, as the photo shows, we sold out! We got quite a few compliments on the food and a few repeat customers. The day went pretty smoothly - thanks in large part to our two volunteer assistants Lionel Betsch (Kei's husband) and Andrea Plaza.

Here are a some shots of the flatbread items (photos courtesy Mikal Altomare):

What's Up for This Weekend
We are doing a French theme again for Saturday, June 21. Madeleines and canneles will be back.

We'll also have sweet and savory crepes made with local ingredients from Nativo Organic Wheat, Rasband Dairy, and Lorie's Farm. The Raspberry and Cream Crepes feature Heidi's Raspberry Preserves, fresh whipped cream, chocolate, and Erda Garden mint over two folded crepes. The Chicken and Mushroom Crepe is a rolled crepe with organic chicken, Chispas Farm garlic scapes, and crimini mushrooms in a Gruet wine veloute sauce:

Photo courtesy Mikal Altomare

A Taste of Things to Come
For June 28th and July 5th we'll be cooking with flavors from the Caribbean region. Jerk chicken, cubano sandwiches, and other dishes will take advantage of spring onions, scapes, and herbs.

It's "Go Time"

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Kei and I are making the final preparations for our first market day, Saturday June 14th. The past few weeks have been a great experience. We've had an excuse to get to know area farmers (nice to know my garden isn't the only one that had a sluggish Spring). We've learned our way around the South Valley Economic Development Center's business incubator kitchen. We've cooked for friends and family (there seems to be no shortage of willing "testers"). We've done more shopping than I care to recall. Now... it's time to lift the curtain and "break a leg."

For this week's market, we're doing some French cooking:

Chicken Provencal Flatbread Folds
We'll fire up the grill to cook these sandwiches. Organic chicken breast marinated in herbes de Provence joins South Mountain Dairy chevre, Alcalde tomatoes, caramelized organic onions, and Chispas Farm lettuce. This all gets folded up in fresh grilled flatbread.

Cannelé Bordelais
A modest looking confection, these small cakes appear a bit overly toasted when properly prepared. The caramelized, dark brown shell belies a creamy interior. After crunching through the burnt sugar crust, you get to the rum and vanilla flavored filling.

Lemon Thyme Madeleines
With roots in northeastern France, madeleines are small shell shaped cakes. We're going with spring favors of fresh lemon and Aroma Fresca local thyme to brighten up the rich madeleines.

The baked goods use local Nativo Organic Wheat, local Rasband Dairy milk, organic butter, and local Lorie's Farm eggs.

Sounds good, n'est-ce pas?

We hope to see you Saturday. The sidebar shows what produce will likely be available this week. It's not too late for a good roasted beet salad or some chard sauteed with garlic and olive oil. The alliums are representing this time of year making it a good time for roasting garlic for a nice spread or soup, grilling spring onions to top off your tacos or steaks, popping chopped scapes on your omlette, and caramelizing onions.

Paint Splotches and Printmaking

noreply@blogger.com (Aly Sanchez) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:58:00 +0000

Yesterday Kei and I screen printed our logo on some items. Everything went pretty smoothly and I learned about the advances that have happened in screen printing since the 1970's. While the basics are the same, the new emulsion screens are a lot easier to use than the cut-out shapes her parents used in t-shirt making, back in the day.

We had several logo sizes on screens so we printed a few things...

The Banner:

Hand Towels:

Mascot:
(just kidding...)