Food on the Brain » hunting & gathering

Golden Glen

Jessamyn — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:09:07 +0000

Back in October I went out to interview the Jensen family at Golden Glen Creamery for the Nov/Dec issue of Grow Northwest magazine. You can read the original article here, but I thought it would be fun to post some of the other photos I took.

The Jensens don’t actually own the creamery any more, but the family is still very much involved in running the place. All the folks I talked to were exceedingly proud of their milk, the quality of their cheese, and their rather snazzy cheese room. When Vic opened the door and let me peek in, a vast waft of garlic hit me in the face from the fresh wheels of dill-garlic cheese resting on the racks. If you’ve ever had that stuff as fresh cheese curds, you may agree with me that it’s one of the more addictive dairy products out there. I also got a glimpse of the aging room, which happened to be a trailer parked behind the farm store.

I did not get to meet any cows. I was informed that they were off being milked (something they spend quite a bit of their day at). No cheese samples, either. But I got to have a large dog lean against my legs while I took notes, and the view from the farm was nice.

I used my trip out to the dairy as an excuse to drive around on the Skagit flats at dawn and take pictures of the autumn fields in the morning mist.

(There are, by the way, calendars of my photographs for sale over at Qoop. Just thought I’d mention it.)

city ingredients

Jessamyn — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:23:12 +0000

We recently indulged ourselves in a Big City hunting and gathering trip, stocking up on supplies not commonly found in our neck of the woods. Pedro Ximenez and Oloroso sherry from the Spanish Table, Sichuan preserved vegetable from Ping’s (finally identified by learning the Chinese words for it, cha choy), gochujang, curry leaves, Indian bitter melon, sea beans (also called samphire or glasswort) and noodles from Uwajimaya, and Toulouse sausage from the Paris Grocery. The bitter melon molded within a day and had to be composted (darn it), so the night which had been slated for curry suddenly had to be re-planned.

The main dish I came up with was simple – farfalle pasta tossed with garlic, chile, white beans and the sausage, which I seared in a skillet and cut into rounds. For the sea beans I took a flavor concept from the Zuni Cookbook, sauteeing them in butter and finishing them with a splash of sherry vinegar. Sea beans are so salty no other seasoning was needed, and the vinegar was a perfect complement. I think this was my favorite way of eating sea beans so far.

overabundance

Jessamyn — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:03:13 +0000

We went to the farmer’s market last Saturday without much of a shopping list. We started out with a plate of Swedish pancakes and sausage, then began picking up a few vegetables – some leeks here, a bunch of carrots there. Then we were undone by Frog’s Song Farm and their offer of a large box stuffed full for $20. We went a tad overboard. On the plus side, we now have winter squash, potatoes and onions to last us quite some time, assuming we remember to use them.

Whenever this sort of thing happens, I have to make a list of all the perishable items we have on hand so I won’t forget about them. And we put together a meal plan for the week that will use as much as possible. So far we’ve eaten the bok choi, the cauliflower, some of the braising greens, one onion, and part of the cilantro. Tonight I’ll melt the leeks for a quiche, and make a Caesar salad. Tomorrow will be a soup to use up the braising greens and some carrots and celery. The squash and beets will keep, so we’ll get to them later.

There’s only one market weekend left, so hopefully we won’t have this problem again for a while. If you’d like to share our difficulties, Frog’s Song should be doing the box deal again next Saturday. Knock yourself out!

a goat cheese kind of day

Jessamyn — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:14:16 +0000

This week has been crazy busy, but we did make time to get down to opening day of our local farmer’s market. It was a classic Pacific Northwest Memorial Day weekend, which is to say it rained every. single. day.

Fortunately there were plenty of vendors and customers, and the hardy Prozac Mountain Boys managed to keep the music playing without floating away.

We bought leeks, fingerling potatoes, asparagus, hothouse peppers, and butter, which seemed like a pretty good haul for the season (thank goodness for Hedlin Farms’ greenhouses). Then we checked out Gothberg Farms’ stand. A local goat dairy, they’re newcomers to the Mount Vernon market, and we’re really excited to have them here. I expect we’ll be eating a lot of their cheese in the months to come, but for now we limited ourselves to a tub of fresh ricotta and a block of Queso Blanco.

The ricotta blew us away. I mixed it with a little sugar and a drop of vanilla, and we rolled it up in warm eggy crepes with hot blackberry sauce. Incredible stuff, so fresh and milky and with a delightful springy texture. I am so buying this again.

The Queso Blanco was awesome, too. It’s very fresh and milky as well, with a firm texture rather like panir. I hear it’s excellent fried, but we ate it on garlicky chicken tacos with roasted bell peppers and cilantro and it was lovely. I tried marinating a little in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper, rather like mozzarella balls, and that was delicious. We also tucked some into quesadillas the next morning with hot sauce and scrambled eggs. The queso didn’t melt so much as warm and soften, but I thought it was a perfect breakfast cheese.

As it happens, Gothberg Farms is having an awesome-sounding farm day and BBQ this Sunday. We can’t be there (I have a pie class to attend), but I strongly urge everyone to go out there and support this place. They do amazing work!

Bellingham farmer’s market, and two pasta lunches

Jessamyn — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:03:45 +0000

Since our local farmer’s market doesn’t start for another month, we drove up to Bellingham last week to see how their market was doing. Man! I have serious market envy. Not that I don’t love ours, of course, but wow.

Covering a large parking lot as well as filling the big permanent covered area the city built, the market is thriving, not just with local fresh vegetables and crafts, but food carts, plants, bread, meat, clothing and henna tattoo artists. Instead of a main stage, they have the old-fashioned approach of letting acoustic musicians set up in the intersections. A hula-hoop area is set up on one side for the amusement of limber youth, and the goat-with-a-cart sculpture on the corner is constantly beset by children. People are everywhere, shopping and visiting and hula-hooping and eating.

The market booth had some really excellent ballcaps. Jon bought himself one, while I ogled the croissants and rhubarb tarts in the neighboring stall.

We wandered the circuit, picking up our favorite semolina crackers and a couple of macaroons from the Breadfarm booth, plus a magnificent head of napa cabbage and some spinach and asparagus. As we headed back through the center aisle we saw this amazing display of pastas, right next to a booth of exquisite cupcakes (salted caramel, oh my) and a blend-your-own-smoothie station with built-in bicycles.

The pasta, made by the Bellingham Pasta Company, looked gorgeous and didn’t seem exorbitantly expensive. We picked up a pound of lemon-black pepper linguine, then tore ourselves away to go make lunch at home.

That pasta? It was fantastic. When I opened the packet a cloud of lemon scent wafted out, and the pepper came through in every bite. It cooked perfectly in 3-4 minutes and did not stick to itself. We had it for lunch two days running, both times using leftovers from a Gretchen’s class.

The first day I chopped up these incredible pink oyster mushrooms and sauteed them with roasted garlic, then mixed in smoked salmon and some goat cheese. That was pretty good.

The second day I used chopped crimini mushrooms and leeks, mixed in sliced serrano ham, then tossed the pasta with it and added some of its cooking water along with finely chopped parsley and grated parmesan. That was really, really good. Really.

We still have a few weeks until our own market starts up, so I suspect we’ll be heading up to Bellingham again soon. What pasta lunches might we end up with next time?

market day in the city

Jessamyn — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:37:28 +0000

One day is hardly enough time to spend in San Francisco, but it’s better than nothing.

I particularly wanted to visit the famed Ferry Plaza farmer’s market on this trip, after reading other people’s accounts. My main destination was Rancho Gordo, Steve Sando’s heirloom bean company I’ve heard so much about. I have eaten their beans once, actually – Steve donated beans to Duckfest for our cassoulet, and they were, indeed, wonderful. I’ve been considering ordering some, but I hate paying for shipping, so this was a golden opportunity.

The range of beans was fantastic. We loaded up with yellow eye, vaquero, vallarta and Christmas limas, as well as a copy of Steve’s cookbook. Can’t wait to try them at home!

After wandering the market a bit, breathing in the scent of fresh citrus, and stopping to buy some lovely soap, we decided to get some lunch at MarketBar. It was just sunny enough to sit outside, as long as we ignored the chilly breeze, and felt rather springy.

I wasn’t expecting much, as this place looks rather like a tourist trap. But the service was excellent, there were locals all around us having brunch, and the food was really nicely done, with care and attention.

Paul got poached eggs with asparagus, new potatoes and fava beans. Springtime in a bowl.

Jon got a hamburger. It was cooked just the way he asked for it, had good flavor, and came with a fine pile of crisp, flaming-hot fries.

I was especially happy with my seafood chowder. The soup was well flavored and not gummy, and the seafood was obviously added in at the very last moment, because the scallops were perfectly done, the fish and prawns were tender, and the oysters were almost raw, just barely heated through. Delightful.

After lunch we wandered through the Ferry Building, admired all the cheese and mushrooms and olive oils and salted pig parts, got some gelato, and walked out to the ferry dock and felt the wind blow across the water. It was a good day.

sheep farm

Jessamyn — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:21:22 +0000

Last weekend we were delighted to have the chance to visit Martiny Suffolks, the farm from whence comes the lamb we’ve been eating all summer. As part of the Skagit Festival of Family Farms, many small farms up and down the valley opened to the public for the day, including great places like Taylor Shellfish, Golden Glen Creamery, and Gordon Skagit Farm (to see the festivities at Gordon’s, check out this post at Willow Basketmaker). There were all sorts of activities, but we were there for the free samples and to give a few sheep noses some scritches.

We probably would never have ended up as customers if Linda Martiny (who owns the farm along with Mike Donnelly) hadn’t decided to try running a booth at the Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market this year. We saw the sign for local lamb on the first day and made a beeline, immediately buying a selection of chops and ground meat. We ended up buying half a lamb, and I suspect it will only be the first of many.

Martiny Suffolks is in Birdsview, a lovely area tucked into the valley bottom along the Skagit River. There are small farms all around, surrounded by the sudden foothills of the North Cascades. Just down the road is an Angus Cattle farm, and up the other way is the Ovenell’s ranch. There are plenty of trees and lush green grass, paradise for a herd of sheep.

Linda and Mike raise Suffolks, as you might guess from the name, and sell them for both meat and breeding stock. They’re a very common meat breed, and very tall and handsome, with narrow, pitch-black faces and legs. Back in the day when I raised 4-H lambs, most of my classmates raised purebred Suffolks, but I usually had some sort of Suffolk-Hampshire cross-breed (I should find the picture of myself with Smiley, one of the oddest-looking sheep ever).

In the barn there were some two-week-old lambs, who would have been irresistible if their mother hadn’t been standing firm guard against anyone even looking that direction. She really gave me the hairy eyeball.

For the purposes of the open house, some sheep-raising colleagues brought along a few other breeds to show off. I was smitten by the Scottish Blackface sheep. Compact, with adorably freckled legs, they also have cute curly horns and are very sturdy.

And there was food! Someone had put together tiny triangles of pita filled with a single bite of lamb and a bite of cheese, with a bowl of tzatziki sauce on the side. Linda was hard at work (as long as we didn’t keep distracting her) skewering marinated chunks of lamb and grilling them. And there were bits of lamb bratwurst and breakfast sausage as well.

Even though an open house like this isn’t quite like visiting the farm on a regular working day, I really think it’s worthwhile to give the customer a glimpse of their meat as a well-cared-for living animal. Not only does it help dissolve the disconnect many Americans have between their food and where it actually comes from, but it’s very reassuring to those of us trying to eat ethically, to see a clean, well-run business whose owners take their responsibility seriously to produce quality meat.

Plus, sheep are just plain cute.

Festival of Family Farms

Jessamyn — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:54:35 +0000

Just a reminder to anyone in the general neighborhood: this weekend is the Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms, when many of the local small farms open their gates to visitors and feature tours, activities and goodies for the general public. If you want to visit a working farm or see where your food is coming from, now’s your chance. There will be hayrides and corn mazes and all kinds of fun stuff. Make a day of it!

The list of participating farms can be found here.

knowing where your pizza comes from

Jessamyn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:59:02 +0000

This was a good pizza.

It evolved naturally, inspired more or less equally by our usual Middle Eastern Lamb Pizza, the cover of the latest Food & Wine, and a recipe in Tessa Kiros’ book Falling Cloudberries. I knew I wanted to try a pizza with a leek-based sauce (I’m on a leek kick right now), but I wanted spiced lamb on it as well. In the end, it wasn’t quite like any of the source recipes, becoming something quite perfect all on its own: a melange of braised leeks tossed with hot pepper and tamarind-spiced lamb, layered with mozzarella and adorned with small ripe tomatoes, all resting on a chewy part-whole-wheat crust.

Savory and wonderful as the pizza was, there was something that made me stop mid-chew and stare at my plate for a minute. I realized that I knew where everything on that pizza had come from! Leeks and gorgeous fiery red peppers from Hedlin Farms in La Conner, lamb from Linda Martiny, local mozzarella, Shepherd’s Grain Stone-Buhr flour, salad (with flowers sprinkled in it) from Frog’s Song, and tiny tomatoes from our deck.

The only products I couldn’t put a face to were the salt, yeast and olive oil (well, okay, and the tamarind and cinnamon). I think that’s pretty cool.

Plus it was an incredible pizza.

Skagit Eat Local Week

Jessamyn — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:49:01 +0000

Today is the kickoff of Skagit Eat Local Week, sponsored by the local Slow Food chapter and the Skagit Valley Co-op. If you’re in Skagit County, now’s your chance to take advantage of all this amazing area offers. Participating restaurants will be featuring local food specials, and residents are encouraged to shop at farmer’s markets, farmstands and shops selling local products. Are you cooking at home? See how much you can do with Skagit Valley-produced ingredients. Remember, Eat Local Week happens mostly at the end of your fork.

PARTICIPANTS

Anacortes

Restaurants

Adrift

Anderson’s General Store

Bellissima Trattoria

Bob’s Chowder Bar

Brown Lantern Ale House

Calico Cupboard Cafe & Bakery

Cameron’s Living Room Dining

Deception Café & Grill

Gere-A-Deli