Saratoga Farmers' Market

The Chocolate Spoon

Traditional Meals for Traditional Holidays

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By Mary Pratt

As we approach our traditional winter holiday season, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market offers delicious selections for traditional preparation. Whether you’re gathering guests or enjoying a quiet celebration, the Market supplies ingredients from appetizers to entrees to desserts. Scotch Ridge Trees and Berries completes your home with holiday decorations.

What better cocktail to serve in New York State than a Manhattan made with Yankee Distillers rye whiskey, made from 100 percent Saratoga grains. You can top it with a fermented black cherry from Pucker’s Pickles.

Battenkill Valley Creamery makes eggnog that’s ready for adding optional liquor. Or prepare homemade with their dairy products, and Market eggs, using SimplyRecipes.com.
For appetizers, check the holiday cheeses from Argyle Cheese and Nettle Meadow. Argyle’s annual gift baskets will work for a cheese platter along with yogurt dips for Market vegetables. Nettle Meadow’s holiday cheeses include pfeffernusse, cranberry, and eggnog fromage frais. Pura Vida expects to have Peconic Bay scallops, and try their blowfish, either sautéed or fried like chicken wings. Add Freddy’s Rockin’ Hummus to your appetizers, and serve with Saratoga Crackers and Mrs. London’s breads.

For entrees, Longlesson Farm and Lewis Waite Farm offer glorious beef rib roasts. You can pre-order three or four rib, or whole roasts. Elihu Farm will have fresh lamb again, including bone-in or boneless legs, whole or half racks, and loin strips. Mariaville Mushroom Men features gift baskets and teas, along with grow kits. Their mushrooms make an excellent side dish with beef or lamb.

Don’t leave the Market until you pick up salad greens, tomatoes and herbs, potatoes and vegetables, and Momma’s Secret Salad Dressings. For an alternate starch, try Mangiamo’s pasta. And add Saratoga Apple’s hard cider to your basket.

Finally, no meal is complete without dessert and coffee. The Chocolate Spoon offers cookies and cakes all year, and for holidays one can order fruit or cream pies and cheesecakes. From Saratoga Apple you can choose varieties to make baked apples and apple pie. Grandmas Apple’s also makes cheesecakes. In addition to serving cup after cup of coffee at the Market, Something’s Brewing now roasts organic coffee beans in several flavors. Add this, and treats from Saratoga Chocolate, to complete your basket of products for holiday celebrations.

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.

Pack a Spring Picnic at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

Spring takes its time coming to the Saratoga area. Still, as we near the end of April, we can feel the change: balmier breezes, spots of sunshine, receding snowlines and daffodils and crocuses starting to bloom.

With the beckoning of better days, we invite you to visit the Saratoga Farmers’ Market for the final two Saturdays of our indoor market with picnicking in mind. Fill your basket with our vendors’ newest items and head into the Saratoga Spa State Park for a feast.

 

Here are a few of our newest treats to consider:

  • Apple Cider Elixir. This beverage prepared by Beth Trattel of Something’s Brewing features all natural ingredients and no added sugar. It blends sweetness with a twist of tart for a thirst-quenching sensation. Try it with a lemon garnish.
  • The Everything Croissant. For a starter snack, try this newest offering from Mrs. Londons. It takes the concept of the “everything bagel” and applies it to the croissant, creating a light yet savory pastry that features a cream cheese swirl and an “everything” topping.
  • Fermented veggies. Puckers Gourmet Pickles’ Kelley Hillis has been delighting market goers with her lacto-fermented pickles, kim chi, and sauerkraut for years. This year, she has unrolled something new: crunchy crisp vegetables preserved the natural way. Stop by the Puckers table for a jar of asparagus, dilly beans, and even beets.
  • Buck Mountain Cheese. Nettle Meadow Farm is introducing this goat cheese with an Adirondack touch for spring. Buck Mountain is fresh and unaged, symbolizing the newness spring, and encrusted with juniper, sumac, rosemary, and thyme. The herbs embody the fresh smell of the thawing ground.
  • Vanilla Ricotta Tea Biscuit. No spring picnic is complete without a sweet touch at the end. For that, try Marcie Place’s latest creation at The Chocolate Spoon. The biscuit is light and fluffy as a biscuit should be but decadently delicious like a dessert should be as well. If you’ve finished your elixir, try pairing it with a cup of Upper Hudson Coffee from Something’s Brewing or a glass of milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market will be 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 21 and 28. at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park. The outdoor season at High Rock Park begins 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, May 5.

Holiday Hot Chocolate

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Recipe courtesy of Marcie Place, owner of The Chocolate Spoon

Makes 2-3 servings

Prep time & cook time: 10 minutes

 

Ingredients

*Ingredients currently available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

  • 3 cups of chocolate milk* (Battenkill Valley Creamery is the best!)
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4-6 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate* pieces coarsely chopped
  • Marshmallows* from The Chocolate Spoon

 

Directions

In a saucepan, mix together the milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk over medium heat until milk steams and sugar dissolves. Whisk in chocolate pieces, stirring until dissolved. Top with a homemade marshmallow by The Chocolate Spoon. Enjoy!

Farmers’ Market Cheese Plate

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Cheese plate by My Saratoga Kitchen Table, photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

A cheese plate is a perfect approach to entertaining and snacking. Simply assemble a variety of textures and flavors to showcase local food available at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • Kunik by Nettle Meadow
  • Fig & Honey Fromage Frais by Nettle Meadow
  • Honeycomb from Ballston Lake Apiaries
  • Pecorina al Tartufo by Dancing Ewe
  • Glory (yogurt cheese) by Argyle Cheese Farmer
  • Wild Frost Grape Jelly by Anna Mae’s Jams & Jellies
  • Baguette from Mrs. London’s
  • Semolina bread from Murray Hollow Bakehouse
  • Rosemary & Olive crackers by Saratoga Cracker Co.
  • Plums from Saratoga Apple
  • Giardiniera by Puckers Pickles
  • Ginger Cayenne Cookies from The Chocolate Spoon.
  • Scarborough Fair Hummus by Freddy’s Rockin’ Hummus

Selecting the cheese and accompaniments

  1. Introduce a combination local cheeses from these basic categories: aged, firm, soft, blue.
  2. Offer a selection of slices of bread, including crusty and soft.
  3. Jarred condiments offer complimentary flavors. Try jams, jellies, fermented vegetables, and hummus.
  4. Seasonal fruits balance the cheeses.
Saratoga Farmers' Market