To Market, To Market

Posted by Jennifer

Despite chilly breezes and threats of rain, everything at the Green Barn farmers' market shouted, "Spring!" A few brave vendors had set up outside.  Inside,.the scent of masses of lilac, honeysuckle, tulips, and lily of the valley permeated the air.  Tables were piled with asparagus and ramps.  Although there was not much rhubarb on offer, I  managed to snag a bunch.  One stall even had cardoons.

What with wind and below normal temperature, it is not really the best time to start planting tomatoes.  However, both Sosnicki Organics and Urban Harvest--among others--had choice heirloom selections including Brandywine and Aunt Ruby's German Green.  Urban Harvest also had other vegetables, herbs and flowers--both seeds and potted plants. At Country Meadows, best known for olive oil, there were more heirloom lettuce plants.

Although Monforte Dairy is not back into production, Ruth Klahsen was at the  market with cheese and yogurt.


Opening Dates

The seasonal markets are about to re-open:

Eglinton/Avenue Road Appletree: Opened on April 22, 3-7p.m.
Distillery District, Sunday, May 2, 10a.m.-4p.m.

Trinity-Bellwoods:  Tuesday, May 11, 3-7p.m.
Sorauren:  Monday, May 17(although the other side of their webpage said May 11)
Riverdale:  Tuesday, May 18, 3-7p.m.
East York: Tuesday, May 18, 9 a.m.-2p.m.
Withrow: Saturday, May 22, 9a.m.-1p.m.
Metro Hall: Thursday, May 27, 8a.m.-2p.m.
Evergreen Brickworks: Saturday,May 29, 8 a.m.-1p.m.
MyMarkets, beginning the first week of June(www.my-market.ca/)
City Hall:  Wednesday, June2, 8a.m.-2p.m.
North York:Thursday, June3, 8 a.m.-2:30p.m.
Guildwood: Thursday, June 10, 2-6:30p.m.
Birchcliff:  Friday, June 11, 3-7p.m.
Stonegate: Tuesday, June22, 4-7p.m.

Bitten: Fiana Potatoes

At the Green Barn I picked up another variety of potato I had never tried before. Fiana is a Dutch variety. At the booth where I picked them up, they were labelled as a mashing potato. They are yellow-fleshed and floury. What I did not expect was their wonderful aroma. One does not usually think of potatoes as having a particularly seductive scent but these filled the house with a really appetizing potato smell. Though they did not have the rich buttery taste of German butterballs, they did have a quintessential traditional potato flavour.

With further research, I discovered that Fiana is also a good chipping potato. Rather than deep frying, I tossed sliced potatoes in oil and baked them in the oven.  They turned a perfect - crisp gold outside, tender within.

I hope these were not the last of the crop. I do not have to wait until next fall for more. To make matters worse, I did not notice the name of the producer.

Can anyone point me back toward them?

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

At the Green Barn, it is pretty much all roots, all the time -- give or take a few apples and cabbages.

Many of the regular vendors are instead selling products made from their crops -- cider, jams, small-batch milled flour. The Sosnickis, who are well-known at several markets for their tomatoes, still have some onions and cabbage, but are also serving up perogies, both cooked to eat on site or frozen to take home. They also offered up news that they are starting to grow more tomato plants in their greenhouse (about 900 plants), so tomatoes will arrive at market sooner this year.

There are more egg and meat vendors than usual at any summer market. Among them, the Belangers (East Lynn, Liberty Village) offer samples of the meat pies they sell frozen. They also have lamb and beef. Green Gate Farm  (Sorauren and others) sells both beef and pork.

ChocoSol, St. John’s Bread, Evelyn’s Crackers and Fish Shack are among the Saturday morning favorites. Lifting everyone’s spirits, there is a great string band.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

The Green Barn, which looks so cavernous in the summer when the vendors are outside, seems so much smaller when jammed with stalls and shoppers once the market has moved inside for the colder months.

After missing Potato Lady (aka Marvellous Edibles) whose once-a-month appearance was mid-November, I am determined not to miss the Stoddarts and their duck eggs on the last Saturday of the month. I get there and so do they. Alas, they have no eggs at all -- just their beautiful wool.

This proves just a momentary setback when there are so many other attractions. With the Christmas baking season already underway,  one wants eggs, eggs, and more eggs. I stock up from Everdale and Highmark Farm, where I also get purple broccoli. Webers also have eggs but this time I get sausage from them.

Woolerdale Farm has some of the most appealing vegetables.  I resist the baby beets and rainbow of carrots but give in to Jerusalem artichokes, and several varieties of fingerling potatoes.

Who can resist a stop at St. John’s Bread?  I have not seen their brioche before so I have to try it.  Not overly buttery, and a little lopsided, it does have perfect brioche texture.

Since the Green Barn has a rotating group of vendors to accommodate farmers who are here just for the winter,  I guess I will have to go every week!

Belated Friday Lunch: Mela Vegetarian Italian Café

Posted by Jennifer

There are a few things in life which are both beautiful and virtuous. The food at our neighbouring restaurant, Mela (7A Yorkville Ave), is among those things. Its Italian vegetarian soups, salads, sandwiches, and mains feature vibrant colours.

Three of our four purchases are vegan.  The non-vegan selection is  a lasagne with spinach noodles, ricotta, and a bouquet of vegetables of which broccoli is most prominent.  Unlike most lasagnes, this one is light on pasta and cheese, heavy on the vegetables. A heavier hand with seasonings -- salt and perhaps a shower of herbs would lift  it beyond the ordinary.

A quinoa salad is better. With a high ratio of vegetables to grain, the red cabbage, kale, celery provide great crunch against the tender grain. While many dressings are too acidic, this well-balanced  vinaigrette is a perfect complement to the salad.

The star of this meal is the breaded eggplant and basil panini with a tomato dipping sauce. Grease-free and gilded to a crisp, this is the best panini we have had lately.  The excess dipping sauce goes well with the lasagne.

For dessert, we try the wild blueberry pie -- also vegan.  The filling is good with its intense berry flavour.  The spelt pastry is another matter.  A little soggy yet a little tough, it does not overcome me from my vegan dessert prejudice.

The total for this lunch is $26.08.

Photo by Gina

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

It is a sad sight at the Bloor/Borden farmers’ market. Not only is it gray and wet, there are only about half a dozen vendors left for this last day. For a change, I buy some sheep’s milk cream cheese from the Grevelings. They do not have an indoor spot for the winter. Then it is on for cabbage, yet more potatoes,and a squash from Marvellous Edibles to tide me over until their first Saturday, November 14, at the Green Barn.

As I leave to get back on the subway, I almost trip over two other shoppers who are chatting about the things they enjoyed at the market. There’s nothing to do but join the conversation about the great potatoes, pistachio and cranberry-studded sausages, and heirloom tomatoes we have enjoyed over the summer. One of the women turns around so she can buy some sausages. The other woman, previously unknown to me, walks along with me continuing to talk about produce and cookbooks. On this last day of the market for the year, it is a real lesson in what markets are about: eating well, eating locally, and building community.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

The last Tuesday in October is one of those warm, slightly hazy days that defines Indian summer, a day that makes you forget that slush season is just around the corner. Remember we must, since it is the final day for the Riverdale Farm Farmers Market. There are a surprisingly large number of both vendors and customers including several little children in their Hallowe'en finery.

I stock up on staples—garlic, onions, carrots (fancy red ones from Sosnicki Organic Produce - who are year round at Dufferin Grove and the Green Barn), and more from the Quinte Organic Farmers’ Cooperative. Since I am running out of olive oil, I try a small bottle of olive grower Angelos Kapeleris’s oil. If I like it, it too will be at Dufferin Grove and Green Barn over the winter. I almost resist the urge to buy a jug of cider after trying a sample from Lynn and Ralph Robitaille of Pineapple Orchards in Penetanguishine. I resolutely head for the gates, before turning back for that one last purchase.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

The Bloor/Borden market is not quite so deserted as its sister market at Sick Kids was the previous day -- not even by Bosco/Sweetiebelle farms who claimed they were going home for the season. Leeks, squash, rosemary, and more German butterball potatoes find their way into my bag.

Monckton Organic Farms & Bakery, which is also at the Green Barn on Saturday will be moving indoors at that location for the winter. Potato Lady -- Ayse Akoner -- and her family are bringing their Marvellous Edibles stand indoors at the Green Barn too. Initially, it will be only once a month to see how things go at this much larger market. Their first day is November 14. Meanwhile, there is one more week at Bloor/Borden.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

Although there should still be another week for the markets, the one at Sick Kids is looking like a pretty pathetic shadow of its usual self.  There are only four vendors leftBosco/Sweetiebelle, Loffredo Fruit Farms, Leitchs Honey Farm, and a purveyor of herbal products.

Despite the table heaped with potatoes, cabbage, squash, onions, cucumbers, shallots and even some tomatoes, Bosco/Sweetiebelles Bozidar Toic says it is the last day for him although he might try to go to Liberty Village on Sunday. While frost has worked its evil magic on some of the crop, the tomatoes still look decent. Vowing one more sandwich before they are all gone, I have to buy a basket.  The Green Zebras are still tasty, the red tomatoes a bit cottony and bland.  Knowing its the last of the season, I savour the sandwich to the last bite.

To Market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

When the autumn chill descends, a market which is partially indoors offers a certain appeal. After a long hiatus, it seem like the perfect time to revisit the north building of St. Lawrence Market.

At first, the venerable market is a disappointment. After a summer of feasting on heirloom potatoes, baskets labelled simply red, white, or even Yukon Gold, just do not cut it. Although Rowe Farms has a large presence, the words that are so important at the newer markets: pastured, organic, humanely raised, heirloom are not so lavishly displayed here.
Just as I am about to give up and go home I spot something I have looked for ever since I first set eyes on Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook -- purple Brussels sprouts. Across the aisle, I also see the Holy Grail of apples, Cox’s Orange Pippins. Finally, the Mennonite farmer from whom I used to buy cream has a selection of potatoes that includes several I have not tried. I buy the Dutch Bintjes. Finally, I score, excitingly, with some local walnuts. So I leave loaded down after all.

The Bintjes make fluffy mounds of pure white mashed potatoes but they lack the buttery richness of German butterballs--even with lots of added butter. Supposedly a good frying potato, I will attempt French fries with the rest. Unlike purple beans which lose their colour when cooked, the sprouts retain much of theirs. To my taste they seem a little sweeter, a little less cabbagey than regular sprouts.

The Cox’s orange pippins? Just the sort of crisp, tart apple I love.

St. Lawrence Market has won me back.

Celery root ice cream with fenugreek, herbs, flowers and candied celery root

"Fossilized" salsify with hake roe and chives

The signature 80 ingredient salad

Carefully composed and assembled, element by element, with mini raw and cooked vegetables, edible herbs and leaves foraged from the restaurant gardens and the adjacent forest, all dressed with an emmenthal infused vegetable broth. What an explosion of flavours, like fireworks, going off in different areas of my palate in a planned and composed way, and experiencing all the while, alternate textures.

Chef Anduriz' signature edible clay-coated potato served with aioli.

Grilled zucchini flowers, Bresse chicken and fava beans in a Bresse chicken broth.

Carrot and dried "choriccro" pepper, from the garden, with carrot juice and grilled mussels. The mussels were ever so slightly smokey and extremely sweet.

Grilled white ventresca (belly) tuna with tomato from the resto garden. One of the best tomatoes I have eaten!

The signature dish of warm vegetable hearts salad, with seafood. Apparently 10 people work on the preparation of this one dish.

Fennel in 3 textures: ribbons, gelee and foam

To market, to market

Posted by Jennifer

The number one reason that I make to effort to go to the Sorauren market: De La Terre Bakery. Located in Fonthill, it makes superb sourdough breads. While some of the artisanal sourdoughs can be heavy on the inside with such hard crusts that they are a danger to unsuspecting teeth, the breads from De La Terre have risen well but still have great body and lovely chewy crusts. My favourite is the Pelham sourdough with the honey/walnut a close runner up.

I went thinking I would only buy the bread. Instead, I left with a full shopping bag. One of my prizes was, at last, some decent peaches. From the Oso Leo stand, I got Red Havens and Loring varieties. If I have had a Loring peach before I was not aware of it. Given the opportunity, I will have one again. Usually peaches just
register as “sweet”. However, the Loring has a hint of both the tart and the floral along with the expected sweetness.

At Cutting Veg, I was seduced by perfect red onions, and bags of heirloom tomatoes for only $4.50. I also got zucchini to make Rose Murray’s zucchini almond cake. Even the zucchini-hating males in my household gobbled it up.

The Singhs, whose beets I have enjoyed, also had irresistible shallots, and the first Cortland apples I have seen this year. Usually when I leave a market with a bag this full, my wallet is empty. This time, even after buying meat, and two more Preston empanadas (beef, peach), there is money to spare.