Saratoga Farmers' Market

Squash

Garden Picnic Pasta Salad

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Recipe courtesy of Barb Biagioli, board-certified holistic health coach and nutrition consultant

Ingredients
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

For the pasta salad:
● 1 box green lentil pasta, cooked
● 1 cup cherry tomatoes*, halved
● 1 zucchini*, cubed
● 1 yellow squash*, cubed
● 1 cup spinach*, chopped
● ½ cup basil*, chopped
● ½ cup walnuts, chopped

For the dressing:
● ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
● ¼ cup olive oil*
● ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
● 2 garlic cloves*
● 1 tsp sea salt

Instructions

  1. Cook the pasta according to the directions and allow to cool.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, place the cooled pasta, chopped vegetables, herbs, and nuts. Stir to combine and set aside.
  3. Combine the sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and sea salt in a blender or food processor. Pulse or blend until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings as necessary.
  4. Add the dressing to the large mixing bowl of pasta and vegetables. Toss well to combine.
  5. Serve immediately or chill for an hour and enjoy!
Photo by Pattie Garrett

The usual – and the unusual – at Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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Many regulars treat their trips to the twice-weekly Saratoga Farmers’ Market as opportunities to stock up on provisions for the week.

But going to the market also can be an opportunity to discover something new – an unusual fruit, an heirloom vegetable, a different kind of homemade sauce. To bring out that adventurous spirit, we asked our summer interns, Laura Kenny and Elizabeth Horgan, to explore the market and share their favorite finds. Here’s a short list of what they came up with:

1/ Lovage. Its flavor and smell can be described as a mix of celery and parsley, but with a higher intensity of both of those flavors. This herb is delicious in salads and soups. Find it at Otrembiak Farm.

2/ Lions Mane. This poofy mushroom sold by Mariaville Mushroom Men and Ramble Creek Farm is often equated to a steak or a lobster. Slice it thinly, cook it in a hot, unoiled saucepan for 3-4 minutes. Then add oil and seasonings of your choice. Turn off the heat and let it rest. It will taste a little like steak or lobster.

Celtuce, photo courtesy of Squashville Farm

3/ Garlic Scapes. These green curlicues are the flower of the garlic. Farmers cut them off to help their garlic grow and invite you to enjoy them as a vegetable or meat seasoning, atop pizzas, in pasta sauces, pickled, or stir-fried.

4/ Celtuce. This Asian green is harvested usually in late summer for its stem. Its young leaves, however, also are delicious in a quick stir fry with oil, red pepper, and peanuts. Find the leaves at Squashville Farm.

5/ Salsa Gardens. If all the fresh food makes you want to grow your own, check out the salsa and pizza “gardens” that Balet and Burger nurseries offer. All you need in a single pot.

Vital Eats, photo by Laura Kenny

6/ Kettle Corn. The Proper Popper turns this fair-like treat into a weekly market affair. Find them Saturdays with the other prepared food vendors.

7/ Chickpea cheese dip. Vital Eats offers its So-Cheezy and Zesty-Cheezy vegan condiments on Saturdays. These flavorful sauces are nut, soy, and dairy free. Chickpeas and vegetables pack creamy, tangy flavor that’s full of antioxidants, and protein.

Otrembiak Farm, photo by Laura Kenny

8/ Scallop squash. We often think of patty pan squash as small and yellow. But it can be big and multi-colored, as many vendor stalls attest. Small to medium scallop squash can be treated like zucchini. The skin is thin and the seeds are small enough you can slice and cook however you would like. You can pickle, saute, grill, or even bake this squash. Larger pattypan squash needs a little extra TLC, but they are the ultimate vessel for stuffing and baking.

9/ Spatzle. The Vermont Spatzle Co. offers a gluten-free version of this German specialty on Saturdays. Ask them for their list of recipes.

Photo courtesy of Feathered Antler

10/ And for that newborn, check out the hand-painted onesies at the Feathered Antler.

Of course, the interns made many more discoveries. We invite you to join them and explore.

Stuffed Cousa or “Syrian Squash”

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Recipe courtesy of Marcie Place, owner of The Chocolate Spoon

INGREDIENTS                                          

*Ingredients available at the farmers’ market

●      4 small cousa or “Syrian Squash”*

●      1⁄4 cup olive oil*

●      1 teaspoon ground allspice

●      1 tablespoon salt

●      2 tablespoons tomato paste

●      1 lb diced tomatoes*

●      1 garlic clove*, crushed

●      2 cups vegetable stock

FOR THE STUFFING

●      1 small onion*, finely chopped

●      1-2  tomatoes*, finely chopped

●      1 bunch fresh parsley*, finely chopped

●      2⁄3 cup uncooked basmati rice washed and drained

●      salt and pepper

●      Optional: 1 lb ground lamb or beef

DIRECTIONS

  1. Hollow from one end of the cousa with an apple corer or a small spoon leaving about 1/4-inch-thick shell all around.
  2. Wash them thoroughly and dry.
  3. To make the stuffing, mix the ingredients for the stuffing in a bowl, add a little oil, 1/2 tsp allspice and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Stuff the cousa up to three-quarters full (do not fill to the brim as the mixture will expand when cooking and leak out).
  5. In a large casserole or saucepan, first oil the base, then place the diced tomatoes at the bottom of the pot.
  6. Sprinkle crushed garlic on top and then layer the stuffed cousa.
  7. Season with remaining half of the spices and oil.
  8. Mix the tomato paste with the vegetable stock and pour into the pot to cover the stuffed cousa.
  9. Cover the cousa with a plate or something to hold them down lightly to keep them in place while cooking so the stuffing doesn’t run out.
  10. Put the pot to cook on high heat and bring it to a boil.
  11. When it comes to boil, lower the heat and simmer gently for 1 hour.
  12. Uncover and simmer to thicken the sauce, if needed.
  13. Serve hot.

For a Light and Lovely Supper, Try Cousa

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson, photos courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Marcie Place’s grandfather emigrated from Syria in the 1940s. Her father spent his weekends with his Syrian aunts learning to cook the dishes of his home country. In the decades that followed, he passed his passion for that food to his children.

Today, Place, owner of The Chocolate Spoon, pours her love for Syrian food into many of her baked goods at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. And even when she isn’t baking, she makes many of the dishes that her father mastered through his aunts.

“I will never try to be as good at cooking Syrian food as my father is, but honoring his heritage is a great privilege to me,” says Place. “After all, food is love.”

She especially looks forward to mid-summer when cousa comes into season. This lime-green squash is like zucchini, only lighter and a bit rounder. It is the base for one of her father’s favorite dishes – Stuffed Cousa, which is made by hollowing out the squash, filling it with a rice mixture, and then simmering it in a tomato broth.

Place shared her father’s recipe with me, and a few weeks ago, Debbie Stevens of Butternut Ridge Farm told me cousa was in season. Since then, I have been buying it at the Wednesday market from her. Kokinda Farm also carries cousa on Saturdays.

Cousa often is mixed into bins of zucchini and summer squash, which can make it hard to find. But the hunt is worth the effort.

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garret

Stuffing cousa takes a little work, but it also takes advantage of some of the best of the market’s current bounty. Imagine heirloom tomatoes, basil, newly harvested garlic, sweet pepper, and the satisfying crunch of summer squash.

That’s cousa with its added touches. It emerges from its cooking broth looking a little like a sausage and tasting sweet and spicy. Use whatever broth is left as a simmer sauce for meatballs or, as I did, for fish.

Stevens said cousa is a favorite among eastern European customers who like it stuffed. Stevens enjoys the squash sautéed, as a side.

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.

Summer Squash Pizza

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Adapted from recipe by Smitten Kitchen, shared by My Saratoga Kitchen Table

Serves: 4 to 8

INGREDIENTS

*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

Pizza dough:

  • 1 packet active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 Tablespoon olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups flour plus more for work surface

Pizza topping:

  • 2½ pounds (about 5 small-medium) zucchini or other summer squash, trimmed*
  • 1½ teaspoons sea salt
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) grated Gruyere cheese*
  • 2 to 3 Tablespoons plain breadcrumbs*

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Pour ¾ cup warm water into a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast with sugar and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
  2. Whisk oil and salt into yeast mixture. Add flour and stir until sticky dough forms. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and brush top with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft free place until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead 1 or 2 times before using.
  3. Heat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Brush a 13 X 18-inch rimmed sheet pan with olive oil. Use oiled fingertips to pull, stretch and press the dough across the pan.
  4. Pizza topping: Use a food processor with a grater attachment or large holes of a grater to grate the squash. In a large bowl, toss together the zucchini and salt. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes until the zucchini has wilted and released its’ water. Drain the squash in a colander and then use hands to squeeze out as much water as possible, a fistful at a time. Toss with Gruyere shreds.
  5. Spread the squash mixture over the dough. Sprinkle with bread crumbs.
  6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the topping is golden. Remove from oven, cut into squares.

NOTES: pizza dough recipe from Martha Stewart

Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett