Here is the poster I made for TomatoFest. I also took photos of most of the recipes we will be providing at the market. I will try to post the recipe booklet when I get it done.
The press release I am sending out about TomatoFest reads like this:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Leila Wolfrum, Market Manager, lwolfrum@gmail.com
Eno River Farmers Market Will Hold TomatoFest on Saturday, July 25
Hillsborough, NC (July 14, 2009) – The Eno River Farmers Market at the Public Market House in historic downtown Hillsborough will celebrate TomatoFest on Saturday, July 25 from 8 am – Noon.
The festival will feature more than 57 varieties of tomatoes in every size, shape and color imaginable, all harvested fresh by the market’s local farmers. Varieties include heirlooms such as Cherokee Purple, German Johnson, and Hillbilly Flame as well as hybrid favorites like Better Boy and Pink Lady.
An assortment of types will be available that are intended for canning and sauce, as well as both low and high acid tomato varieties.
The market will offer a tomato tasting, where customer can sample and compare many varieties. Each produce vendor will feature a favorite tomato and offer samples, as well as special information about its growing qualities and taste characteristics.
Prepared food vendors will feature tomato-based recipes, including Mary Joe’s Marinara made from San Marzano tomatoes, and the Hillsborough Cheese Company’s Sun-Dried Tomato Goat Cheese.
The market will provide recipes, cooking, canning and storage tips for all kinds of tomatoes.
In addition, the market vendors will have their usual abundance of fresh, local vegetables. There will also be music and fun activities for kids.
The Eno River Farmers Market offers farm-fresh, organic produce, cheese, meat, eggs, baked goods, prepared foods, and crafts from local growers and producers. It is open to vendors who reside and produce the items they sell within a 60-mile radius of Hillsborough, NC. Vendors must be the original producer of their items.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Pico De Gallo
Mom and I made up this recipe while cooking at the Dairy on Tuesday. We served it on top of herb and goat cheese omlettes. It was an elegant and well-received lunch.
Pico De Gallo
A fabulous, fresh salsa for chips, omelettes, or anything that needs some spicing up.
* 4 large or 2 pints small tomatoes, diced
* 1 large or two small onions
* 1 green bell pepper
* 2 jalapenos, finely chopped
* 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
* 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
* 2 tbsp fresh lime juice or cider vinegar
* 2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients and refrigerate at least six hours.
Pico De Gallo
A fabulous, fresh salsa for chips, omelettes, or anything that needs some spicing up.
* 4 large or 2 pints small tomatoes, diced
* 1 large or two small onions
* 1 green bell pepper
* 2 jalapenos, finely chopped
* 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
* 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
* 2 tbsp fresh lime juice or cider vinegar
* 2 tsp salt
Mix all ingredients and refrigerate at least six hours.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Two Bits of Good News
1: We finally set me up with my own name, so now you can tell me apart from Sebastian.
2: I was just hired as the Market Manager for the Eno River Farmer's Market in Downtown Hillsborough. Adventures await. :)
2: I was just hired as the Market Manager for the Eno River Farmer's Market in Downtown Hillsborough. Adventures await. :)
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sunday of Homesteading
The weekend is upon us, and we are taking the opportunity to get cracking on a host of projects. Our neighbors just had a baby (Welcome, Cannon!), so we are making them some spaghetti sauce for those nights when they are too tired to cook. Happily, between the Goat Lady and our own backyard garden, we only had to purchase the garlic and few cans of tomatoes. Most people expect tomatoes to be on my ever-growing list of things I can myself, and it is true that there is no shortage of fresh ones available, but in fact I don't really believe in it. Canning tomatoes takes forever because tomatoes are annoying to peel; it is hot and steamy; and you always end up with less than you expected. On the other hand, store-bought canned tomatoes taste only marginally different, and cost very little (especially when you factor in the energy costs of canning them yourself). Costco sells 8-can boxes of organic diced tomatoes for $8. Anyway...
Ground Beef and Pork Sausage
Originally uploaded by leilanessonBobby gave me a bag full of their fresh packed meats: Hot and mild Italian sausage, ground beef, brats, breakfast sausage. I am using the extra hot sage sausage for the sauce, as well as a pound of his ground beef.
The onions and carrots also came from the Goat Lady. And we picked thyme, oregano, and basil from the garden. I should end up with more than enough sauce to serve for lunch tomorrow, and stock both our freezer and our neighbors'.
I am doing the first round of limed watermelon rind pickles from a huge watermelon we bought last week. I still have half the melon in the fridge, so I will have to start a second round this afternoon. This melon has a perfect rind for pickling, with almost a full inch of white flesh between the red part and the outer skin. I cut the red flesh into cubes and served it fresh, and then trimmed and peeled the white part and cut it into little spears. I soaked the spears in a gallon of water with one cup of pickling lime overnight, and then rinsed them and soaked them in water twice for a few hours each time.
They are pickled just like a sweet cucumber--vinegar, sugar, pickling spices--but I like watermelon rind to be less sweet and more spicy than the cukes. I used 8 cups of cider vinegar, 7 cups of sugar, and about a tablespoon of mixed pickling spice. They cook in the syrup for about 40 mins, until they turn translucent, and then I packed them in pint jars.
We went to Walmart this morning to buy some baby stuff, and realized that all the melons were on super sale because yesterday was July 4. We never buy produce from Walmart, but it seemed like a good time to make and exception. We bought four cantaloupes, a seedless watermelon, and seven mangoes. I cut the cantaloupes into strips and stuck them in our food dehydrator. Commercial dried cantaloupe is always candied, which makes it delicious in very small quantities, and no good for kids. Home dried cantaloupe comes out leathery and perfumey. It is sweet, but not overpowering, and it is really good. I think the kids will love it, when their teeth are up to it. And I think it is great to serve to guests, because it is unexpected and reasonably healthy.
It will take a day or two to dry it out all the way, but once the melon is cut and the dryer is loaded, you only have to check on it once every few hours.
I may try to blend up some of it, maybe with some applesauce, and make it into a fruit leather. That way the kids would be able to eat it right away.
I finally have some good news about brined pickles. All of the cucumbers that I started two weeks ago were ready this weekend, and half of them came out very well. The Kick-Ass Barrel Cukes are the best, intense, spicy, and oniony. For me, they are too dilly, but many people seem to like them that way. I like the horseradish and hot pepper taste, and I think I may make a batch with no dill, just to see how they turn out.
The ones I made with just a few hot peppers and some mixed pickling spice are also very nice. I think I may spice up the brine even further to add to the effect, but they have a great texture, and a nice, clean taste.
The ones Hollie and I made from a recipe out of the Joy of Pickling are genuinely terrible. Nothing went wrong in the pickling process, they are totally edible, but they taste like Lemon Pledge. The combination of fennel and lemon with the sourness of the fermentation combines for a distinctively janitorial impression.
Finally, on Friday I put up this season's first batch of pickled green beans. The Goat Lady's bushes are producing like crazy, and we are having trouble keeping up with the harvesting. But these beans are great because they are raw packed. You only have to clean the beans and pack them into the jars with some garlic, red pepper, and mustard seed and then cover them with hot vinegar, water and salt. I didn't have any red pepper flakes available, so I used Texas Pete. I think that will work fine, because Texas Pete is pretty much just red pepper and vinegar.
Originally uploaded by leilanesson
The onions and carrots also came from the Goat Lady. And we picked thyme, oregano, and basil from the garden. I should end up with more than enough sauce to serve for lunch tomorrow, and stock both our freezer and our neighbors'.
I am doing the first round of limed watermelon rind pickles from a huge watermelon we bought last week. I still have half the melon in the fridge, so I will have to start a second round this afternoon. This melon has a perfect rind for pickling, with almost a full inch of white flesh between the red part and the outer skin. I cut the red flesh into cubes and served it fresh, and then trimmed and peeled the white part and cut it into little spears. I soaked the spears in a gallon of water with one cup of pickling lime overnight, and then rinsed them and soaked them in water twice for a few hours each time.
They are pickled just like a sweet cucumber--vinegar, sugar, pickling spices--but I like watermelon rind to be less sweet and more spicy than the cukes. I used 8 cups of cider vinegar, 7 cups of sugar, and about a tablespoon of mixed pickling spice. They cook in the syrup for about 40 mins, until they turn translucent, and then I packed them in pint jars.
We went to Walmart this morning to buy some baby stuff, and realized that all the melons were on super sale because yesterday was July 4. We never buy produce from Walmart, but it seemed like a good time to make and exception. We bought four cantaloupes, a seedless watermelon, and seven mangoes. I cut the cantaloupes into strips and stuck them in our food dehydrator. Commercial dried cantaloupe is always candied, which makes it delicious in very small quantities, and no good for kids. Home dried cantaloupe comes out leathery and perfumey. It is sweet, but not overpowering, and it is really good. I think the kids will love it, when their teeth are up to it. And I think it is great to serve to guests, because it is unexpected and reasonably healthy.
It will take a day or two to dry it out all the way, but once the melon is cut and the dryer is loaded, you only have to check on it once every few hours.
I may try to blend up some of it, maybe with some applesauce, and make it into a fruit leather. That way the kids would be able to eat it right away.
I finally have some good news about brined pickles. All of the cucumbers that I started two weeks ago were ready this weekend, and half of them came out very well. The Kick-Ass Barrel Cukes are the best, intense, spicy, and oniony. For me, they are too dilly, but many people seem to like them that way. I like the horseradish and hot pepper taste, and I think I may make a batch with no dill, just to see how they turn out.
The ones I made with just a few hot peppers and some mixed pickling spice are also very nice. I think I may spice up the brine even further to add to the effect, but they have a great texture, and a nice, clean taste.
The ones Hollie and I made from a recipe out of the Joy of Pickling are genuinely terrible. Nothing went wrong in the pickling process, they are totally edible, but they taste like Lemon Pledge. The combination of fennel and lemon with the sourness of the fermentation combines for a distinctively janitorial impression.
Finally, on Friday I put up this season's first batch of pickled green beans. The Goat Lady's bushes are producing like crazy, and we are having trouble keeping up with the harvesting. But these beans are great because they are raw packed. You only have to clean the beans and pack them into the jars with some garlic, red pepper, and mustard seed and then cover them with hot vinegar, water and salt. I didn't have any red pepper flakes available, so I used Texas Pete. I think that will work fine, because Texas Pete is pretty much just red pepper and vinegar.
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