Shop Local, Eat Fresh at the Saratoga Farmers' Market | Food, Crafts, Music in Saratoga Springs

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

holiday feast

Creating a holiday feast at the farmers’ market

By

by Julia Howard

 

Enjoying a festive meal with family and friends is at the heart of every holiday celebration. But before serving up a crowd-pleasing feast, planning is required, and the Saratoga Farmers’ Market can help.

Local farms and businesses have delicious, flavorful products to consider when brainstorming dinner ideas. We recommend finding fresh ingredients at the farmers’ market before gathering recipes so that your meal comes together quickly and effortlessly. Let’s begin with the main course.

Longlesson Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

The main course should be a show-stopping dish, and local farms have various options. Grass-fed and finished beef roasts, brisket, and classic cuts like NY strip steak and ribeye are available, as well as veal cutlets, steaks, and roasts. Beefitswhatsfordinner.com has many recipes, like a maple-glazed rib roast, round roast with chocolate-port sauce, and classic braised beef brisket.

Goat roasts, rib roasts, riblets, chops, and shanks are available at the farmers’ market, making goat another delicious main course option. 

For poultry, whole turkeys are available, half turkeys, and parts for smaller gatherings. Farms bring whole chickens for roasting, and seasoned chickens are available from King Creek Farms. Squash Villa Farm brings fresh ducks, and they recommend preordering. Ask the farmer for the best cooking methods and cooking time per pound.

Pork makes an excellent holiday main course, and pasture-raised pork tenderloin, roasts, and chops are available from Pork and Greens and Jireh Farm. 

Gomez Veggie Ville, photo by Pattie Garrett

For mouth-watering side dishes, we look to healthful, locally-grown produce packed with flavor. Farms are bringing everything from fresh salad greens and herbs to root vegetables, and options are boundless if you create a menu from what’s available at the farmers’ market.

You can make latkes with russet potatoes or sweet potatoes and onions. Roasted carrots are easy to prepare and pair well with any main course. Parsnips and rutabagas make creamy purees that can be enhanced with garlic and fresh herbs. A tray of crispy, savory smashed potatoes is easy to make and a holiday favorite. Even local apples and honey can make a sweet rice kugel side dish.

Photo by Pattie Garrett

Shaved carrots or Brussels sprouts sing with simple vinaigrettes for light side dishes. Salads with bitter greens balance rich meats and starches. And microgreens and shoots offer a refreshing burst of flavor to holiday foods.

Other must-haves for the holiday table are kimchi and pak dong from Puckers Pickles, artisan sourdough bread from Night Work Bread, and applesauce from Saratoga Apple, just to name a few.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Wilton Mall Food Court. Find us online at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org, where you can sign

Traditional Holiday Turkey and Duck Fresh and Sustainable from the Farmers’ Market

By

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

The season of feasts creates a reason to focus on holiday birds such as turkeys and ducks. This fresh and sustainable poultry can now be found at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. 

For turkey, check in with Ramble Creek Farm and Mariaville Mushroom Men. For duck, speak with Squashville Farm. All of these farms encourage advance orders.

In an era of convenience cooking, the prospect of roasting a bird as big as a turkey (10 pounds at a minimum) or a duck (six to eight pounds) might seem daunting. Why do it? And how? Let’s start by looking at what makes these poultry so flavorful.

Ramble Creek turkeys grazing by their mobile roost.

Ramble Creek owner Josh Carnes explains, “our turkeys arrived on farm as little poults on July 18, and grew to maturity on pasture.” He adds, “Turkeys forage a lot, way more than chickens. If moved to fresh grass on a regular basis, they get a large amount of their diet from the land.”

Squashville Farm owner Jim Gupta-Carlson notes that all of the animals raised on his farm – chickens, ducks, and goats – play a role in supporting the health of each other as well as the soil and vegetables that the farm cultivates. For example, “Ducks are particularly vital to keeping the populations of snails, which are pests to goats, under control.”  Additionally, Gupta-Carlson says, “Because the ducks are raised outdoors, they run and they fly, and they live and eat like ducks.”

All of these local farm animals live to near-maturity and are processed on site. According to Carnes, this eases stress on the “one bad day” and helps create “an extremely high quality and flavorful finished product.”

As for cooking, simpler is better. Our accompanying recipe shows that there is no need to do such things as piercing the skin, parboiling in advance, or adding a lot of seasonings because, as Carnes notes, “the flavor of pastured birds truly stands on its own.” The basic steps involve roasting for 15 minutes at a high heat, then lowering the heat to continue cooking. Let the meat rest about 15 minutes before serving. 

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays in the Lincoln Baths Building, Saratoga Spa State Park. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the FreshFoodNY app.