Saratoga Farmers' Market

Lewis Waite Farm

Winter Time Is Stew Time

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By Mary Pratt

In the cold of winter, it’s time for the comfort of warm savory stews. The Saratoga Farmer’s Market has the needed ingredients and ideas from different cultures to spice your stews up. 

Arnold Grant, of M & A Farm, is celebrating his 20th year at the market. Although most known for his family’s delicious breakfast sandwiches, he also raises and sells pork. Stewing pork is versatile; it can be used for Indian curry or French stew. Longlesson, Lewis Waite, Moxie Ridge, and Mariaville also raise pork. Pork butt (a shoulder cut) makes an excellent stew, as does fresh pork leg.

Christophe Robert, of Longlesson Farm, grows weaned piglets on pasture from spring until the snow falls. He also raises grass-fed beef until they are three to four years old to insure flavorful and marbled meat. Since Christophe is from France, he recommends making boeuf bourguignon, a stew with red wine and vegetables including onions and mushrooms, or a Flemish stew, boeuf carbonnade, with dark beer. He offers cubed beef for stew, but suggests that chuck will make stew that is more moist and flavorful.

Lewis-Waite Farm also raises grass-fed beef. Janet Lampman, who works for owners Nancy and Alan Brown, said it’s important to stew or oven-braise grass fed beef very slowly. She likes shanks or round roast. 

Ann Carnes, of Ramble Creek Farm, offers a variety of chicken. She finds the best cuts for cooking a chicken stew are thighs or drumsticks. Squashville Farm’s Himanee and Jim Gupta-Carlson offer fresh heritage-breed roasting chickens, from which they use leftover meat for soups and stews. In the last ten minutes of cooking, the chicken is added to warm through. Most recently Himanee made a Peruvian stew called Cazuela (casserole). 

Bob and Mary Pratt, of Elihu Farm, have raised lambs for over 30 years. After weaning, lambs graze for three seasons, and eat hay or baleage in winter. The best stew cuts are shoulder, shanks and neck. They enjoy making Moroccan tagine, Indian curry, and osso bucco. 

Come talk with the farmers at the market to get recipe details and other ideas.

Garlic Tomato Short Ribs

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Recipe courtesy of Lewis Waite Farm
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons sea salt
1 Tablespoon fresh ground pepper
6 – 7 short ribs
3 Tablespoons olive oil
5 carrots
2 onions
16 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons savory
1 teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon dried lavender heads (optional)
3 Tablespoon all purpose flour
3 cups dry red wine
3 cups beef broth
1-28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
¾ cup of pitted black olives

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Spread salt and pepper over ribs and set aside.
Heat oil in 8 quart oven proof pot that can be covered later, brown seasoned ribs and set aside.
Cook 2 finely chopped carrots and onions, cook until tender. Toss in garlic herbs and flour. Stir well. Add wine and broth. Bring to boil. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and return to boil for a minute.
Add ribs, cover pot and bake for 3 to 4 hours or until fork tender.
Remove from oven and set aside Add 3 carrots, sliced into 2 inch strips, and olives to sauce and simmer on stove, uncovered for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.
Return ribs to sauce and serve.

Planning a Summer Supper on the Grill

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

A great perk of summer is eating outdoors. My husband and I do this as often as we can manage. About 7 p.m., he gathers up wood and gets a fire going in our old charcoal goal. As the wood burns down to coals, I prep. Then, we cook and eat slowly, sipping wine and beer, watching the sunset and sky darken to dusk.

What goes on the grill? Where does it come from?

Most of what we eat comes from our farm or the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. What goes on the grill depends on what’s in season at the market.

The centerpiece of most of our meals is a meat, farm-raised and brought to an ambient temperature, maybe brushed with a bit of Dancing Ewe Farm’s olive oil, maybe sprinkled with black pepper or garlic, maybe topped with finely chopped rosemary or sage.

The “maybes” are truly that. Options. The meats our farmers bring to market come from animals that feast on the flavorful bounty of outdoor pastures, and rarely require much to enhance their flavor. We rotate between chicken, goat, pork, fish, lamb, and beef, and often grill double portions so as to have leftovers for the next day’s breakfasts and lunches – or an indoor stir-fry or stew for dinner if it happens to rain.

While meat is the main course, the real stars are the sides: vegetables in all shapes, textures, and tastes.

I plan a supper’s vegetables around three basic cooking styles: roasted, sautéed, and right on the grill. Roasted is usually a starch – such as hakurei turnips, trimmed, wrapped in foil and cooked until fork-soft and slightly caramelized. For sautéing, try a bunch of seasonal greens such as tatsoi, tossed into a frying pan or wok with olive oil, lemon juice, and maybe chopped onion, green garlic, or chive. Stir fry the greens for 2-4 minutes until they have wilted. Right on the grill is anything that likes a slight singe. For instance, asparagus, cooked to a bright green, about two minutes.

Summer supper possibilities on the grill are endless. Try your own combinations and stop by the market to share your results.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park. Find us on Facebook Twitter, and Instagram, and check us out on the FreshFoodNY app. E-mail friends@saratogafarmers.org for volunteer opportunities

 

Beef Sausage and Kale Soup

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Recipe courtesy of Lewis Waite Farm

 

Ingredients

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

  • 1 pack of Chorizo Sausage Links*
  • 1 onion*, sliced
  • 5 cups stock
  • 2 carrots*, cut into bite-sized chunks      
  • 1 cup uncooked pasta or rice
  • 1 clove garlic*, chopped
  • Parsley or cilantro*, chop finely
  • 4-6 leaves of kale* torn to bite size

 

Instructions

  1. In a Dutch oven, on medium heat, sauté onions with a little oil, until soft.
  2. Cut the sausage links into 1” length chunks and add to the onions. Stir frequently until the exterior of the sausage is browned.
  3. Add garlic and carrots, cover and let sit (called sweating) for 5 minutes.
  4. Add stock and bring to a boil.
  5. Add grain or pasta and simmer until soft. Timing on this will vary quite a bit depending on the grain chosen.
  6. Prior to serving, add the kale and parsley and let them wilt, but do not overcook. Salt & pepper to taste.
Saratoga Farmers' Market