Posts Tagged ‘local food’

• Cosmic Gazpacho

  Date: 09.03.2010 | Category: Real Food | Response: 0

  Some might call it a gastronomic convergence. All week long we can expect an exceptional alignment of vegetables at produce stands across northern New England. Uber-ripe tomatoes, heavenly melons, red-as-Mars peppers, onions so sweet they don’t bring tears to your eyes . . . they’re all piled high and waiting for the right person to unlock their true potential. Starry-eyed cooks will seize this rare opportunity to make an out-of-this-world gazpacho.

  On a more down-to-earth level, a big batch of cold, refreshing gazpacho is the perfect food to have on hand with the long weekend coming up. You can pack it into a thermos for a picnic lunch by the lake or float a few Maine pink shrimp on top for an elegant dinner starter.

  The almost sweet, thirst-quenching watermelon gazpacho often served at Mirabelles in Burlington, Vermont,  inspires our recipe below. Red tomatoes and red watermelon give it a fabulous nearly infrared hue. For a lovely lutescent variation, substitute yellow heirloom tomatoes, yellow ‘Baby Doll’ watermelon or a Charentais cantaloupe, and a yellow bell pepper.

  WATERMELON GAZPACHO
  from the FarmPlate Kitchen

  About 6 pounds ripe red tomatoes
  1 small watermelon, such as ‘Moon & Stars’ or ‘Sugar Baby’
  2 cucumbers
  2 small onions, minced
  1 red bell pepper, trimmed, seeded and cut into small dice
  ½ cup minced fresh parsley
  ¼ cup rice vinegar or other mild vinegar
  ¼ cup good olive oil
  Juice of 1 lemon
  2 tablespoons Absolut Citron, optional
  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1 or 2 dashes Spanish smoked paprika

  1. Peel and seed the tomatoes. When tomatoes are truly ripe, they’re easy to peel with a sharp paring knife. Or, cut an X on the bottom of the tomatoes, drop into boiling water for no more than 30 seconds. Rinse with cold water, then peel and seed. Put half of the tomatoes into the bowl of a large food processor; slice the other half into tiny dice and place in a large mixing bowl.

  2. Slice the watermelon in half. Scoop half of the flesh into a food processor. Cut enough of the remaining watermelon into small dice to give you two cups worth. Add the diced watermelon to the bowl with the tomatoes. (You can blend any remaining watermelon with juice or rum for a refreshing cocktail.)

  3. Peel, slice and seed the cucumbers. Chop one cucumber and add to the food processor. Cut the other into tiny dice and add to the bowl with the diced tomatoes and watermelon.

  4. Process the vegetables in the food processor until smooth. Pour into the mixing bowl. Stir in the onions, bell peppers, parsley, vinegar, oil, lemon juice and vodka, if desired, salt, pepper and paprika. Chill for at least two hours. Taste and adjust the seasonings before serving.

  Serves 10 to 12 (makes about 2½ quarts)

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Outstanding in a Vermont Field

  Date: 08.30.2010 | Category: The Beat | Response: 0

  Great meals are not out of the ordinary in Orleans County, Vermont’s localvore Mecca. Still, August 17 stands out, even in the minds and palates of Vermont’s hippest foodsters. That was the day the Outstanding in the Field’s red-and-white bus pulled into the driveway at Pete’s Greens at Craftsbury Village Farm to begin assembling one very long table for one unforgettable meal. A touring “restaurant without walls,” Outstanding in the Field brings together local chefs and producers for a special culinary experience in a beautiful outdoor setting. Here, the very two people who made the event possible share their experiences:

  Pete Johnson, owner/farmer, entrepreneur, Pete’s Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont
  The OITF crew was great to work with. Relaxed, organized, they really made it easy for us to
  host them. Dinner was held in our farm field and for a few weeks I had pondered what might be the best location. Most of our field is taken up with ripening crops or is bare, waiting for fall plantings. There were not a lot of open options. Just by luck, we happened to have several acres of three-foot-tall buckwheat in full flower. This is grown as a cover crop, is a bee favorite, has a sweet scent and would make a perfect location for dinner. We mowed a narrow rectangle in the buckwheat for the long table.

  

  Pete Johnson, owner of Pete's Greens

  After a reception and leisurely tour, we made our way to the far end of the field and settled into the field of buckwheat. Over the next two hours, the combination of incredible food prepared by Eric Warnstedt of Hen of the Wood, beautiful late summer weather, good company and the fragrant buckwheat made for a magical evening. Dinner featured our pork at every course, including candied bacon for dessert. Eric and his crew can really cook—I’d recommend a trip to his restaurant in Waterbury.

  Eric Warnstedt, chef/owner, Hen of the Wood, Waterbury, Vermont
  Outstanding in the Field represents everything I focus on and get excited about in the restaurant world—a blend of history and tradition, a casual and relaxed vibe, a focused and motivated crew. Most importantly, OITF is all about the food, the wine and the experience.

  

  Hen of the Wood Chef Eric Warnstedt

  Weeks ahead of time, we decided on doing porchetta as a main course. That gave Pete the time he needed to get the pigs ready for the butcher. I knew I probably wouldn’t think about the event again until a few days before. Sure enough, a “few weeks away” rolled into a “few days away” and it was time to start checking out veggie availability and to begin preparations.

  Brining and curing were at the top of the list. A huge plastic bin held all of the porchettas in their brine, taking up way too much space in our little walk-in. The pork was eventually taken out of the brine and laid out, rubbed with rosemary, garlic, salt, fennel seed and mustard. The event was on a Tuesday and all the produce was being delivered on the Saturday before. We made room for five flats of heirloom tomatoes, 20 pounds of broccoli, 20 pounds of Pete’s gold potatoes, 15 heads of radicchio, 2 wheels of Jasper Hill blue cheese, 10 cases of wine and copious amounts of herbs, nuts, salt, oil, prosciutto, bacon, cornmeal etc.!

  The big day: We’re not really prepared for off-site catering at Hen of the Wood, so it was a bit of an ordeal. Sous chef Jordan had made it clear that his brand-new Subaru was not to carry the pork! Long story short, we rolled into Pete’s Greens at about 1 pm. ready to rock.

  The Outstanding crew had already arrived and was setting up the “kitchen.” We were driven down to the dining table, which was about a quarter mile away in a spot more beautiful than any of us could have imagined. A cover crop of buckwheat had been cut out to create a pathway and then a dining area. From a few feet away you would have never guessed there would soon be 80 people dining in the field.

  We got our bearings and started loading the two six-foot grills with hardwood charcoal.  The porchettas, a glass of wine each and a host of random things all laid out in their proper places. The night went off without a hitch. Every few minutes a guest would come by to say hello or take pictures. My mother attended the evening and was glowing with pride and enthusiasm for the whole affair.

  As the sun was setting, the sky turned shades of blue, orange and purple. We all seemed to be feeling the same vibration—smiling gleefully and peacefully, somewhat overwhelmed with perfect weather and the absolutely gorgeous evening just trying to take it all in before nightfall.

  Heirloom Tomatoes with Grilled Prosciutto
  from Pete Johnson, Pete’s Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont

  5 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil
  1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
  1 shallot, diced
  ½ tablespoon kosher salt
  ½ cup basil
  5 pints mixed heirloom tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  6 slices of prosciutto (we use domestic prosciutto from La Quercia), sautéed until crispy and chopped
  1 tablespoon pine nuts
  Pinch of sea salt

  In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, shallots and salt. Chop the basil and immediately add to the dressing to avoid discoloration. Add the tomatoes and stir gently to mix. Transfer to a decorative platter.

  Scatter the prosciutto over the tomatoes, the sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Sprinkle a few flakes of good sea salt on top to finish.

  Serves 8

  See more great images of Outstanding in the Field on our flickr page!

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Build a Table for a Feast

  Date: 08.26.2010 | Category: The Beat | Response: 0

  It was gray and drizzling in Woodstock, Vermont, last Sunday, but the weather didn’t diminish the festivities for the 128 people who gathered just off the Green, under the Middle Covered Bridge, to celebrate a weekend spent hand-building tables and feasting on a lunch made from locally grown foods.

  Bagpiper Tim Cummings blew up a stately march to welcome diners who took their places around the tables, which were hand-built that weekend by 17 individuals and families who participated in the Naked Table Project sponsored by ShackletonThomas.

  The Naked Table was conceived by well-known furniture maker Charlie Shackleton last year. Shackleton had a vision of people hand-building a table from sustainably harvested wood, a table that would serve as the center of festive meals for friends and family for years to come. It’s a tangible reflection of Shackleton’s passion for handmade things that connect people to each other and to the environment.

  Participants in the weekend’s workshop built tables from maple harvested from land in South Woodstock. “These trees were seedlings 80 years ago,” Shackleton pointed out. “That’s when Herbert Hoover was president and the Great Depression was well underway.” After cutting, the lumber was dried and milled in Hartland. The tables were then assembled by their owners under the tutelage of Charlie and other craftspeople from ShackletonThomas Furniture in nearby Bridgewater.

  On Sunday morning, the tables were trucked into Woodstock and set end-to-end under the village’s covered bridge. Chefs from The Woodstock Inn prepared a feast from locally sourced cheese, meat and produce. Diners started with a roasted beet salad with Jasper Hill’s Bayley Hazen Blue, baby arugula and herb vinaigrette. The main course consisted of slow-poached Misty Knoll chicken with sliced heirloom tomatoes, yogurt and lemon verbena. And for dessert—an array of pies baked by members of the Prosper Community Club.

  The tablemakers were joined by some of the people responsible for harvesting and milling the lumber, by family and friends and by local residents who were lucky enough to cop one of the few available seats. The meals were served by volunteers recruited by Sustainable Woodstock, a local environmental organization and the beneficiary of proceeds from the lunch.

  This is the seventh Naked Table weekend that ShackletonThomas has hosted and the second time the celebratory lunch was held under Woodstock’s covered bridge. For more information, visit The Naked Table website.

  Slow-Poached Chicken with Sliced Tomatoes, Yogurt & Lemon Verbena
  from Chef Jason Lawless, The Woodstock Inn, Woodstock, VT

  

  Woodstock Inn chefs Chris Babbin & Chris Lauinger serving Slow-Poached Chicken

  2 tablespoons butter
  Four 10-ounce organic Misty Knoll chicken breasts
  About 1 quart plain yogurt
  One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  2 stalks fresh lemongrass, tough outer leaves removed and cut into 1-inch pieces
  1 bunch fresh lemon verbena, finely chopped
  2 medium heirloom tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
  ¼ cup pure Vermont maple syrup (try syrup from Kedron Sugarmakers)
  Chopped fresh basil leaves for garnish

  Preheat the oven to 250°F.

  Melt the butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts, skin down, and sear just until the skin turns golden brown, about 1 ½ minutes. Remove from the heat.

  Pour 3 cups of the yogurt over the chicken. Stir in the ginger, lemongrass and one-quarter of the lemon verbena. Cover with foil and bake  until cooked through, about an hour.

  For the yogurt sauce, place the remaining 1 cup of yogurt in a bowl. Stir in just enough maple syrup to balance the tangy yogurt flavor and the rest of the lemon verbena.

  Divide the tomato slices among the four plates. Slice the chicken breasts and arrange on top of the tomatoes. Spoon some of the yogurt sauce over the chicken and garnish with the basil.

  Serves 4

  See more great images of the Naked Table Lunch on our flickr page!

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Pesto – A Rite of Summer

  Date: 08.12.2010 | Category: Real Food | Response: 0

  When pesto first showed up on the American foodie scene in the late ’70s, everybody started growing basil and making pesto. It became a rite of summer, up there with ballpark hot dogs, campfire s’mores and lemonade stands. Pesto’s popularity soon rivaled that of tabbouleh at potluck buffets nationwide. Everyone had the recipe, it was right there on page 80 of the Silver Palate Cookbook. Best of all, pasta with pesto was a great, cheap way to feed a lot of people.

  True pesto cognoscenti have always made their pesto with pignoli aka pine nuts, not the walnuts suggested by the Rosso/Lukins duo. But the price of a pound of pine nuts has recently rocketed past $23. Ouch. I’d always found walnuts to be too strong flavored for pesto but the thought of pouring $8 to $10 worth of nuts onto a spinning food processor blade made me cringe. Hell, that’s the price of a movie ticket or a six-pack of Harpoon’s UFO Hefeweizen (with a twist of lemon, a favorite summer brew).

  What to do?

  Unsalted pistachios came to my rescue. They’re buttery like pine nuts and a 7-ounce bag at Gagan Indian Grocery on Williston Road in South Burlington costs just $5.69. Ounce per ounce, that’s a savings of almost half. And their lovely green tint makes my homemade pesto even greener. Bring your friends and come on over for dinner.

  Pistachio Pesto
  from the FarmPlate Kitchen

  Our hot summer days have made the flavor of local basil a bit assertive. Soaking the leaves in ice-cold water for about 20 minutes will sweeten them right up.

  2 big handfuls of fresh-picked basil, stemmed and soaked in cold water
  1 cup (4 ounces) unsalted pistachio kernels
  4 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled
  A pinch of grated lemon zest
  About 1 cup good olive oil (save your best extra-virgin for the salad!)
  2 cups grated Parmesan and/or other hard salty cheese
  Salt and black pepper to taste

  Shake the water off the basil leaves as best you can. Put them in the bowl of a food processor. Add the pistachios, garlic and lemon zest. Pulse a few times to chop.

  With the motor running, pour in the oil in a stream. Turn off the motor and add the cheese, a little salt and a generous grinding of pepper. Process briefly to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Add more olive oil if the pesto seems too thick.

  Makes about 2 cups, enough to sauce at least 2 pounds of pasta. Pesto freezes well.

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Zucchini Omelet

  Date: 08.05.2010 | Category: Recipes | Response: 0

  from the FarmPlate Kitchen

  1 pound zucchini, cut into ½-inch cubes
  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  A handful of fresh parsley leaves
  2 cloves garlic
  4 tablespoons olive oil
  1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
  A big pinch of chopped fresh thyme
  4 large Vermont eggs (try farm-fresh eggs from Berway Farm and Creamery)
  1 tablespoon unsalted butter

  Spread out the cubed zucchini, sprinkle with salt and set aside. Chop the parsley and garlic together until it almost forms a paste: set this “persillade” aside as well.

  Heat one tablespoon of the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly until meltingly soft but not browned, about 20 minutes. Stir in the thyme and remove from the heat.

  Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, season with a generous grinding of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to blend.

  The zucchini cubes will have given off some moisture by this time, pat them dry. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add the persillade and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the cooked onions. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the bowl with the eggs.

  Return the skillet to the heat and warm the butter and the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Quickly pour in the egg mixture and swirl the pan a little to distribute the eggs. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pan and cook for one minute. Nudge the omelet gently with a spatula to make sure it’s not sticking. Fold the omelet over and cook another minute or so to cook the eggs through.

  Slide the omelet onto a serving plate. Serve with sliced tomatoes tossed with basil leaves and a favorite Vermont cheese.

  Serves 2 to 3

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Three Chapters in an Eating Life

  Date: 08.03.2010 | Category: The Beat | Response: 0

  As a lifelong athlete and avid squash player, I have always been conscious of the fuel I put into my body. I grew up on a farm, eating grass-fed beef, free-roaming chickens and their eggs, and fruits and vegetables from the garden. That describes, roughly, the first 20 years of my eating life.

  The next 20 years saw less farm-fresh food and more processed, on-the-go foods. I ate institutional fare at college and grad school, and later, frequent restaurant meals with clients. At home with the kids, quick, processed foods like packaged snacks and instant (oversweet) oatmeal were the norm. We had Popsicles for sore throats and comfort foods like mac ‘n’ cheese. The fridge was stocked with my sports rehydration drinks. I wasn’t much of a label reader, I preferred to spend any free time doing something physically active.

  Two years ago marked the start of a new, entirely different chapter. An unpleasant surprise came in the form of a directive to immediately go gluten-free (for life!) in order to rebuild my previously undetected iron deficiency. I had never heard of celiac disease, a condition where the digestive system cannot tolerate wheat protein.

  I began reading and rereading labels as if they were love notes. Didn’t want to miss a trick. I then realized how dependent I had become on processed, packaged foods, laced with wheat (gluten) as well as the sweet, sinister and sometimes subtle ingredient sugar! I had a fast learning curve, thanks to some patient, celiac veterans and alternative practitioners. A nutritionist urged me to go local, raw and organic. She said that at the time (2008) food labels clearly indicated nut, soy and dairy ingredients but did always dependably identify gluten.

  My first homemade dishes were summer squash and winter squash — probably because I so loved the sport, not so much the vegetable itself! I needed some familiarity in this time of uncertainty! I became obsessed with trying to clean up my act in terms of what I ate and what my kids ate as well as what products we used on our bodies and in our home. I was fortunate to find resources like FarmPlate for local, raw, organic, sustainable foods, products, ideas and a community of like-minded people. It’s certainly a lot easier to enjoy a healthy diet this way.

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Chard Times

  Date: 06.23.2010 | Category: Real Food | Response: 0

  There’s Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, Swiss Army knives. But what’s so “Swiss” about chard? It’s a mystery. That’s not the only curious aspect of chard. Why does chard, especially the ruby-red variety, taste a lot like beets? And, most importantly, are Swiss CSA-members as inundated with Swiss chard at this time of year as their Vermont CSA counterparts?

  Renowned produce expert Elizabeth Schneider is even mystified by the “Swiss” in chard. In her Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide (William Morrow, 1990) she speculates that “Swiss” could be a long-forgotten seed variety name that stuck to chard, aka Beta vulgaris, subspecies cicla. Which leads us to the next conclusion: Chard and beets (aka Beta vulgaris, subspecies vulgaris) aren’t just cousins, they’re practically clones. Somewhere along the way, plant breeders encouraged one plant to put out fleshy leaves and thick stalks, while other breeders encouraged a second plant to develop roots the size of tennis balls.

  While we don’t know of any Swiss CSA-members or FarmPlate followers in Switzerland, we can imagine that a number of Swiss-French vegetable lovers are buying chard at this time of year for a lovely gratin de blettes topped with Gruyère or a tourte aux blettes, a rough pie filled with chard and currants.

  We find that a lot of chard preparations benefit from a hint of sweetness to counteract the dominant flavor of the vegetable. When you’re stir-frying chard, for instance, add a teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar or pomegranate molasses (available at City Market and Middlebury Co-op) to balance the flavors in the dish. Slow-cooked Vidalia onions or a handful of dried currants do the job as well.

  Check out a farmstand or farmers’ market near you for fresh Swiss chard. Or, you can always beg a bunch or two from a friend whose CSA share has had a lot of chard in it lately.

  Swiss Chard Stuffed with Spicy-Sweet Rice
  from the FarmPlate Kitchen
  

  Larger chard leaves are good for stuffing like the grape leaves in Greek dolmades. Plan ahead for this recipe—the peas need to soak overnight.

  5 tablespoons olive oil
  1 medium onion, minced
  ¾ cup white rice (Texmati or basmati)
  1½ cups water
  1 teaspoon salt
  ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  A big pinch ground cardamom (optional)
  ¼ cup yellow split peas or chana dal (split chickpeas), soaked overnight in water
  About 20 stalks of white Swiss chard with large leaves
  1/3 cup dried currants
  ¼ cup chopped fresh mint
  ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  Freshly ground black pepper
  Juice of 1 lemon
  Greek yogurt for serving
  

  Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook a minute or two until the rice grains are slightly translucent. Add the water, salt, cinnamon and cardamom. Bring to a boil. Drain the split peas or chana dal and add to the pan as well. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook for 20 minutes.

  Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Cut 15 to 18 leaves from the chard stems. Stack the leaves in a colander. Pour the water from the kettle over the leaves followed by running cold water. Spread the leaves on paper towels.

  Chop the stems and the remaining leaves. Set aside a couple handfuls of chopped chard. Sauté the remainder in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil until it wilts. Add the currants and cook for a minute or two. Add the chard mixture to the cooked rice/split pea mixture. Stir in the mint, parsley and a generous grinding of pepper.

  Drop about 2 tablespoons of stuffing onto the center of one leaf. Fold the wider end up over the stuffing. Fold in the sides, and then roll into a tight cylinder. Repeat with the remaining filling and leaves.

  Spread the reserved chopped chard in the bottom of a deep (not cast iron) skillet. Set the chard packages on the chopped chard, seam-side down. Combine the lemon juice, the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons of water in a small cup. Drizzle over the chard packages. Cover the pan tightly and cook over very low heat for 30 minutes. Transfer the packages to a serving dish and chill.

  Serve chilled or a room temperature with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

  Serves 6 to 8 as a first course or 4 as a main course

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• From Chef to Sales Dude

  Date: 06.11.2010 | Category: The Beat | Response: 0

  The other day a chef asked me, “What’s it like on the other side?” I guess I can take his question in a variety of ways: First, I don’t cook in a restaurant anymore and now my brothers with pots and pans in tow see me differently. Second, he’s not only my friend now but also a customer. Now I need to think about his business–not just selling to sell but providing him with products that will help him succeed and keep his margins where they need to be so his business remains viable. And third, now we share a mutual envy: At the end of the day, I head home to be with my family while he fires up the range and puts beautiful handcrafted food on plates, and smiles on people’s faces. Even though we’re both happy to go our different ways, we also for a moment secretly want to be in the other’s shoes, just for one night.

  I left cooking a couple of months ago to go into sales with Black River Produce, an independent distributor in Springfield, Vermont, that prides itself on the long-standing relationships it has developed with local growers. It took a lot of soul searching to find that this was the right decision for me. I love to cook, I dream about food, I love celebrating the season’s harvest, and I love the intensity. I’ve always embraced the complete commitment to a dinner service where, at the end of the night, you sit there completely drained, eating leftovers out of a mixing bowl and retelling the evening’s  stories. Being proud of the food you serve is the goal of any chef; knowing who raised your lamb or planted those carrots is something most chefs celebrate. What I loved most was celebrating the story of our food, and I loved working on how to get it from a farm to my customer.

  Fortunately, in my new position, much of my time is spent finding ways for each of my customers to incorporate something from our community into the food they serve. My favorite unnamed lettuce man once asked me what I wanted to do. My response: “Get one more person to think about where their food comes from.” I’m not saying that I’m an absolute purist—I believe in balance and I believe that every dollar you put into a local farm or producer is one more dollar that keeps our landscape, economy and heritage in existence. I’m fortunate to live in the place I’ve spent my whole life searching for . . . a real community of people with a strong connection through the food we all share.

  I’m delighted that my two girls will call themselves Vermonters, know when strawberry season starts and value artisan cheese before they go to grade school. And I’m very fortunate to be a sales dude where they pay me every day to go out and celebrate the food system we are all proud of.

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• A Summer of Fruit Tarts

  Date: 06.02.2010 | Category: Real Food | Response: 1

  The shutters are off the camp windows, the lightning bugs will soon be out in full force and the lake temperature is already 58 degrees. The long days of summer are here. This is no time to be fussing with tricky or sticky pie dough.

  Yet there’s a whole progression of summer fruits and berries to be picked, each one begging to be baked into pie. Right now there’s rhubarb in the garden, and once that gets too woody the strawberries and cherries will be ripe and ready. Then raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and gooseberries come into play before the plums show up. A free-form tart, sometimes called crostata or galette, is the perfect way to show off summer’s best, and it’s quick to mix and shape even in a hot and humid kitchen.

  You’ll need a reliable crust recipe for warm weather baking, one that comes together easily and bakes tender and flaky. This recipe relies on a few tricks to achieve that: a little cornstarch, vodka and lemon juice all work to keep the dough tender. Rolling the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper makes it easy to transfer.

  You’re sure to find plenty of fresh-picked rhubarb at the Capital City Farmers’ Market and other local markets this weekend. If you’re lucky, there might be a pint or two of perfect strawberries as well. They’ll make a lovely strawberry-rhubarb tart, a perfect way to start your summer of fruit tarts.

  Summer Fruit Tart —A Basic Recipe
  from the FarmPlate Kitchen

  For super-juicy fruits like cherries or berries, sprinkle 3 or 4 tablespoons dried, unsweetened tart cherries in the bottom of the tart before adding the rest of the fruit.

  For the dough:
  2 cups King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour
  2 tablespoons cornstarch
  2 teaspoons sugar
  ¼ teaspoon salt
  1½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  1 tablespoon vodka such as Sunshine Vodka from Green Mountain Distillers
  1 tablespoon lemon or orange juice
  Ice water

  For the filling:
  3 cups fresh fruit, diced or sliced if fruits are larger than your thumb
  ½ cup light brown sugar
  1 to 2 teaspoons instant tapioca
  1 tablespoon lemon or orange juice
  Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

  In a food processor, combine the flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt. Add the butter pieces and process in bursts until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

  Measure the vodka and orange or lemon juice into a measuring cup and add enough ice water to make ½ cup. With the machine running, add the water in a slow stream and pulse until the dough just comes together.

  Dump the dough onto a pastry marble or clean countertop. Bring together into a mound about 9 x 9 inches. Starting at one corner, use the heel of your hand to smear a small amount of dough against the work surface (French pastry chefs call this le fraissage). Press and smear the whole mound of dough, then gather it up into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for one hour.

  Just before rolling out the dough, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Toss the fruit, brown sugar, tapioca and lemon juice in a bowl.

  Dust a work surface with a little flour. Place a 12 x 12-inch piece of baking parchment on the work surface and dust that as well. Place the chilled pie dough on the parchment. Roll to a large circle whose edge extends about 2 inches beyond the edge of the parchment.

  Transfer the circle of dough with the parchment stuck to the bottom to large tart pan or baking sheet with sides. Mound the fruit in the middle. Fold in the dough edge to cover the fruit part way. Sprinkle the exposed fruit with Demerara sugar.

  Bake until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly and fragrant, 45 to 50 minutes.

  Serve summer fruit tarts with dairy-fresh vanilla ice cream such as that handmade at the Mountain Creamery.

  Serves 8 to 10

  Tweet this Share on Facebook

• Trek to Taste

  Date: 05.28.2010 | Category: The Beat | Response: 0

  Combine exercise with healthy, locally grown food and you have a good start on a healthy lifestyle. Everyone can join in learning what this means in practice by visiting Woodstock, Vermont, on Saturday, June 5, for “Trek to Taste,” an event that combines outdoor exercise with enjoying a variety of seasonal, local foods.

  According to Peter Allison, Trek to Taste’s coordinator, the event has grown from its origins several years ago as a series of walks designed to showcase the network of 30-some miles of hiking trails around Woodstock to one that showcases a host of local farmers, food producers and food products. Last year, some 400 people participated in various treks and tastes. This year, organizers have expanded the range (and ambition) of the food offerings and expect a larger crowd.

  “I think it’s just a fantastic event, especially for families,” Allison said. “We made a real effort this year to connect it to local foods and to the Mount Tom Farmers’ Market.” This 25 year-old farmers’ market operates every Saturday through the fall and features local producers selling vegetables, prepared foods and crafts.

  The “tastes” might be more obvious than the “trek” part of the event. Organizers created 3 walks to various locations in the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. As each walk offers a different level of challenge to participants, each destination will offer different tastes and experiences to those who reach it.

  The event will run from 10 am to 3 pm. Participants may pick up a map and choose any —or all—of the three walks, or join guided tours at 10:30 am and noon. The first walk, an easy 1-mile loop, will travel the Stewardship Trail to Purple Crayon and the Mount Tom Farmers’ Market. Children can jump into art projects and meet local animals at Purple Crayon. Farmers at the Mount Tom Market will offer samples of their foods—and visitors can purchase produce and other goods to take home.

  The second walk heads from the Market to the Nordic Cabin in the National Park where the Woodstock Union High School Farm to School team, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, the Agriculture Exploration Club and other high school groups will make wood-fired pizza and offer samples of other local foods. There will also be music and family activities at this location.

  Those ready to tackle a longer walk can continue on the 4.5-mile loop to Mount Tom’s South Peak for a sampling of foods from local farms prepared by Sustainable Woodstock and Hand-to-Hand, a nonprofit that sponsors a free dinner in Woodstock on Thursday nights. The menu still hasn’t been set. One planner said, “We’re waiting until after the weekend to see what some of the local farmers are harvesting and we’ll cook based on what they can sell us.”

  All walks begin at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park’s Forest Center, where an Ice Cream Social, featuring homemade ice cream from Woodstock’s Mountain Creamery, will begin at 1 pm.

  Trek to Taste is entirely free. For more information, visit the Walk Woodstock website.

  See more great images of last year’s Trek to Taste on our flickr page!

  Tweet this Share on Facebook