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Strip Steak with Yogurt and Radishes

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Photo by Pattie Garrett

Recipe by Andy Baraghani, Bon Appetit, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table
Serves: 4

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market
● 2 1-inch boneless New York Strip steaks*
● 2 Tablespoons olive oil*, plus more for drizzling
● Kosher salt
● 3 Tablespoon unsalted butter
● 4 sprigs thyme*
● 2 garlic cloves, crushed
● 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
● 1½ teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
● 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
● 1 teaspoon plus 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
● 1½ cup plain Greek yogurt*
● 8 ounces radishes*, cut into wedges and slices
● 1 cup parsley* leaves with tender stems

Instructions
1. Let steak sit at room temperature 20 minutes before cooking.
2. Heat a dry large skillet over medium-high. Rub steaks with 2 Tablespoons oil. Season generously with kosher salt. Cook, turning several times until lightly charred 6-8 minutes. Pour off excess oil from the skillet. Add butter, thyme, garlic, and cardamon, and cook steaks, tilting skillet and basting with foaming butter, until medium-rare, about 3 minutes. Transfer steaks to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes before slicing. Reserve pan drippings.
3. Mix lemon zest and 1 teaspoon lemon juice with yogurt in a small bowl, season generously with kosher salt.
4. Just before serving, toss radishes, parsley, and the remaining 1 Tablespoon lemon juice in a medium bowl. Season with kosher salt, drizzle with oil, and toss again to coat.
5. Swipe plate with seasoned yogurt and top with steak and radishes and sea salt.

Smart gardening with starter plants

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Green Jeans Market Farm, photo by Pattie Garrett

By Julia Howard

With spring’s last projected frost date safely behind us, gardening enthusiasts take out their trowels and prepare garden plots for planting. But if you’re new to gardening, the process may seem overwhelming. We spoke with Susan Beebe, Assistant Director/Agriculture Issue Leader of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County, to understand the basics of gardening with starter plants.

To begin, determine where you would like to plant. Perhaps you have space for a garden or raised beds in your yard, or maybe planting in containers seems more feasible. If planting in the ground, Susan Beebe explains that the first and most crucial step is to determine the pH of your soil. “Soil pH is important because it will help you prepare to plant your garden,” explains Beebe. To collect a soil sample, walk through the area that you would like to plant and collect soil samples from various places. Dig 3” to 8” deep and scoop about ½ cup of soil into a clean container. Soil samples may be brought to Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener table at the farmers’ market on the third Wednesday of every month or directly to their office.

Balet Flowers & Design, photo by Pattie Garrett

If planting in raised beds, Beebe recommends combining potting soil and compost to hold water and prevent moisture from draining out. “Soil is alive and full of microorganisms that plants need to survive,” says Beebe. “Adding green manure, compost, or even a cover crop can keep soil healthy while planting in raised beds.”

If planting in containers, Beebe advises using soilless mixes rather than potting soil. “A benefit to the soilless mixes is that they are much lighter than potting soil and allow you to move your containers around. The counterpart is that these mixes have a tendency to dry out, so depending on the location, you may have to water your containers more,” explains Beebe.

Once your soil is ready, it’s time to buy plants. Several vendors offer various herbs, fruit, and vegetable starter plants at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. These plants are typically several weeks old and have been nurtured through the most delicate early stages of growth by professional growers in a greenhouse. If you have questions about what to plant, ask the growers; Balet Flowers & Design, Burger’s MarketGarden, Gomez Veggie Ville, Green Jeans Market Farm, Leaning Birch Farm, Old Tavern Farm, and Scotch Ridge Berry Farm.

Burger’s MarketGarden, photo by Pattie Garrett

Now it’s time to plant. Once you’ve popped the first plant out of the container, pull the roots apart with your hands gently; you can look to see how tightly wound the roots are. “You need to pull the roots apart with your hands gently,” Susan Beebe instructs. “You may even use a little knife to break the roots because the goal is to stop their circling motion so that they can spread into the ground,” she adds. When planting, maintain the level it was grown at rather than planting deeper. “The only exception is leggy tomato plants that you can bury deeper,” says Beebe.

Once your starters are planted, water generously and ensure 6+ hours of sunlight a day. Some leafy crops like spinach can thrive with less sun; however, vegetables like carrots, beets, and peppers need 6+ hours a day.

Fruit and vegetables thrive and produce more with light fertilizing at planting. The appropriate fertilizer depends on how you’re growing and what your growing. Beebe recommends side-dressing again with fertilizer 2-3 weeks after planting to ensure healthy, productive plants.

Get to know greens at the farmers’ market

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Fiddleheads, Ramble Creek Farm, photo by Madison Jackson

By Madison Jackson & Julia Howard

Spring is finally bringing warmer weather and with it an abundance of much-anticipated seasonal produce to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. Greens, in many forms, including perennials, hearty cold-weather crops, and greenhouse-grown, have been catching our eye, and we invite you to try some fresh new flavors of the season.

Several farms at the Wednesday and Saturday farmers’ markets offer varieties of greens. This includes red romaine, baby spinach, radicchio, green romaine, red leaf, arugula, mustard greens, red chard, and tatsoi. These greens offer distinct fresh flavors and textures, and they are high in nutritional value, too. Depending on the green, some may be cooked, wilted, or enjoyed fresh as a salad.

Pea & sunflower shoots, Leaning Birch Farm, photo by Madison Jackson

Vibrant sunflower and sweet pea shoots are available at Leaning Birch Farm on Saturdays. Pea shoots have the sweet, grassy flavor of snap peas with a refreshing crunch, and sunflower shoots have a nutty taste with a similar crisp bite. According to Nic Fera of Leaning Birch Farm, both are a year-round crop for their farm. “They are great to add a little fresh accent to dishes,” says Fera.

Capital Greens NY brings varieties of microgreens to the Saturday farmers’ market, including the mixes like their Signature Gourmet, Thai Basil, and Gourmet Fiesta. Microgreens are young vegetable greens packed with nutrients and are easy to incorporate into many dishes or used as a garnish. Try them on sandwiches, in salads, on pizza, or blend them into a smoothie.

If you’re a fan of fiddleheads, stop by Ramble Creek Farm this month while they’re in season. Fiddleheads are young shoots that grow from the ostrich fern, and with a very narrow harvest season, you can only enjoy these shoots in the early spring from around late April to early June. With a nutty and sweet flavor reminiscent of asparagus, fiddleheads may be steamed, braised, or sauteed, as they contain a trace amount of a toxin and cannot be consumed raw.

This week, we encourage you to try something new, whether it be a new product or shopping with a new vendor at the Wednesday or Saturday markets.

This week’s recipe: Spring Vegetable Pasta

Spring Vegetable Pasta

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Photo by Pattie Garrett

Recipe by Simply Fresh Dinners, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table
Serves: 4

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market
● 14 ounces pasta* (use tagliatelle, fettuccini, or your favorite pasta)
● 2 cups fiddleheads* (in cold water, rinse and remove the brown papery husk on the fiddleheads, do this several times)
● 1 ½ Tablespoons olive oil*
● 1 garlic clove, minced
● ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
● 1 cup asparagus*, rinse, cut off woody ends, cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
● Juice from one lemon, zest from half the lemon
● ½ cup cherry tomatoes*, halved
● 2 scallions*, sliced
● ¼ cup fresh basil*, chopped
● Garnish with pea shoots*

Instructions
1. Cook pasta according to directions on box until al dente. Save 4 Tablespoons of cooking water. Drain and rinse.
2. Cook cleaned fiddleheads in boiling water (a rolling boil) for 5 to 10 minutes, until tender. Drain and place in ice-cold water. This will shock the fiddleheads and stop the cooking process, leaving them bright green.
3. Heat olive oil in skillet on medium-high heat. Add garlic and red pepper. Cook for one minute. Add asparagus, juice, zest and pasta water. Cook on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add fiddleheads and cook an additional 2 minutes.
4. Add cooked pasta. Toss well until coated. Top with tomatoes, scallions, basil, and pea shoots.

Spring invites new flavors from local farms

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By Julia Howard

Gomez Veggie Ville, photo by Pattie Garrett

It felt so good to feel sunshine on our faces this past Saturday at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. From now through the end of April, the farmers’ market will be outside, weather permitting, in the Bon-Ton/Bow Tie parking lot at the Wilton Mall on Saturdays, 9:30 am to 1:30
pm. Current COVID guidelines still stand, so mask up, bring your shopping bags, and remember to social distance as we continue to ensure the safest (and freshest) shopping experience.

As we eagerly anticipate spring perennials like asparagus and rhubarb, they are still much too young to harvest as vibrant shoots have just recently broken through the earth. Even fiddleheads are weeks away from emerging. However, early spring offers an opportunity to savor the first tender greens that are getting their start in greenhouses and the last of stored crops like beets, kohlrabi, and radishes. Innovative farmers are also bringing hydroponically grown produce like cucumber, watercress, and herbs. And, some farmers work tirelessly to bring crops that grow year-round, like mushrooms.

If you are eager to make spring meals, there are plenty of flavorful ingredients available at the farmers’ market. We feel inspired to share recipes for a fresh herbed salad and seared pork chops this week. Combining stored fruit and vegetables with freshly harvested greens, fresh farm eggs, and heritage meats is what spring cooking is all about.

Herbed Spring Salad with Egg and Walnuts

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iStock

Adapted from the recipe by David Tanis
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 1 hour

This bright, herby, fresh-tasting salad makes a very nice accompaniment to a seared pork chop. The components can be prepared in advance, but wait until the last minute before dressing and serving.

Ingredients:
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE:
● 2 tablespoons finely diced yellow onion*
● 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
● 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
● 3 tablespoons lemon juice, plus more to taste
● ½ teaspoon grated garlic* (from 2 small cloves)
● Kosher salt and black pepper
● ¼ cup walnut oil or extra-virgin olive oil

FOR THE SALAD:
● 4 cups lightly packed watercress* or a mixture of salad greens*
● 3 medium beets*, cooked, peeled, and cut in wedges
● ½ cup thinly sliced radish* (6 to 8 medium radishes)
● ½ cup thinly sliced turnip* (or use small kohlrabi*)
● ½ cup thinly sliced cucumber*
● Kosher salt and black pepper
● 2 tablespoons roughly chopped dill*
● 2 tablespoons basil* leaves, torn
● 4 (7-minute) boiled eggs*
● 1 cup toasted walnut halves

Instructions
1. Make the vinaigrette: Put shallots in a small bowl. Add mustard, vinegar, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, and garlic. Stir together, and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk in the walnut oil. Set aside for a few minutes, then taste and adjust lemon juice and salt.
2. Wash and dry the salad greens. Tear large leaves into smaller pieces, if desired. Wrap in a clean towel and refrigerate if not serving immediately.
3. Just before serving salad, put beet wedges in the bottom of a wide salad bowl. Add the radish, turnip, and cucumber. Season with salt and pepper. Add dill, basil, and half of the vinaigrette. Toss gently to coat.
4. Add the salad greens and combine to distribute sliced vegetables evenly. Cut eggs in halves or quarters, and arrange over salad. Scatter walnuts over the top. Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.