Thursday, July 13th: Chef Dan Osser of Interbay Whole Foods Market Brings His Own Personal Sunshine!

Chef Dan Osser of Interbay Whole Foods Market on June 16, 2011. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Chef Dan Osser of Interbay Whole Foods Market’s Meat Department, returns today for another cooking demonstration at 4 p.m. Dan brings with him all the sunshine you will need today, as well as a lot of great information and ideas. You ever wonder what the science is behind why you need to let meat rest after you remove it from the heat when cooking? Last month, Dan explained it to us in detail. And his long history of working with some of Seattle’s best chefs and farmers makes him an expert on working with what’s local, in season, and at your Interbay Farmers Market today!

Yugoslavian red lettuce from One Leaf Farm. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Meet Yugoslavian red lettuce from One Leaf Farm. Paul asserts, and I find it impossible to argue with him, that this lettuce is the most beautiful lettuce on earth. Just look at it! It is, in a word, spectacular. It is delicious, too. And you won’t find it in any grocery store. Take a break from mundane romaine, green leaf and red leaf lettuce. There are dozens more lettuces to life than these common varieties. Mix it up with some of One Leaf’s 15 heirloom lettuce varieties today!

Ribeye steaks from Olsen Farms. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Cloudy or not, it is still grilling weather. As your physician and your attorney, I advise you to head straight to your Interbay Farmers Market right now, and pick up some of these ribeye steaks, or other local, meaty deliciousness, from Olsen Farms. Cut out the middle man. Get your meat directly from the farm at your Interbay Farmers Market!

Sunburst summer squash from Alvarez Organic Farms. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And toss some summer squash on the grill, while you’re at it. You know, Alvarez Organic Farms is harvesting 10 different kinds of summer squash right now. One of my favorites is this sunburst squash. It is lovely, isn’t it? Easy on the eyes. Pleasure on the palate!

Baguettes from Tall Grass Bakery. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Ballard’s own Tall Grass Bakery has joined the ranks of the many great farmers, ranchers and food artisans at your Interbay Farmers Market. Did you know that they got their start with our original farmers market in Fremont? Yup. Stop by and grab one of their wonderful baguettes this afternoon. Okay, maybe get two, since you’ll be gnawing on the first one before you even leave the Market.

Big Beef Tomatoes from Billy's Gardens. Photo copyright 2011 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Tomatoes are here! Billy’s Gardens has begun to harvest their big beef tomatoes, and many more varieties are soon to follow. These are the ultimate slicer for sandwiches and topping burgers, yet they cook down nicely, too. Woohoo! Local tomatoes!!!

Of course, this is just a highlighting of what you will find today. There is still plenty of other stuff just waiting for you at your Interbay Farmers Market this week. For a full accounting of what you will find, see What’s Fresh Now!

Panzanella (Bread Salad)

Chefs Dana Tough (left) and Brian McCracken of Spür Gastropub. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

As prepared by Chefs Brian McCracken & Dana Tough of Spür Gastropub for their cooking demonstration at the Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market on September 2, 2010.

Veggies prepped and ready to go. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf rustic bread (crust removed)
• 2 ea medium summer squash
• 3 ea medium tomatoes
• 1 ea head of treviso radicchio
• 1 bunch chives
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 ea lemon
• 1.5 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 # hard cheese (Mt. Townsend Trailhead or Parmesan)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Tossing together the ingredients. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Preparation:

• Cut the bread into 1/2″ (crouton-sized) cubes, toss with 1/4 cup olive oil salt and pepper, and bake at 350 degrees until crispy an golden.
• Shave the garlic, and toast in a sauté pan over medium heat with 2 tsp olive oil until golden brown.
• Slice the summer squash thin, sprinkle with salt and reserve in deep dish.
• Dice the tomatoes, reserving all juices in a large mixing bowl.
• Slice the treviso into consistently sized pieces.
• Mince the shallot and chives, and add to the tomato juices. Then squeeze the juice of one lemon in. Add the toasted garlic, whisk in the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the bread, tomatoes, summer squash and picked parsley leaves. Mix together gently with your hands.  Taste the salad to check for seasoning. Add salt, pepper and lemon juice if needed.
• Top the salad with grated cheese and serve.

The finished product! Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Shaved Summer Squash Salad

Chef Ba Culbert explaining different types and sizes of squash at her cooking demonstration on August 19, 2010. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

By Chef Ba Culbert from Tilikum Place Cafe , as prepared for her cooking demonstration at the Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market on August 19, 2010.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 small zucchini, eight ball squash or any other variety
• 2 yellow patty pan squash, medium sized  (not baby)
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 1 tbl chopped dill
• 2 tbls toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• fennel seed, toasted and ground (optional)

Chef Ba Culbert of Tilikum Place Cafe explains her Japanese mandolin. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Preparation:

• It is nice to use a variety of squash (as many as you like but any type like zucchini and/or yellow squash work just as well). I recommend using smaller, more tender squash, as the seeds are not as mature. However, I do not recommend using baby squash as they can sometimes be a bit bitter.
• Wash squash and cut in very thin slices. (A Japanese mandolin works very well, but is not absolutely necessary).
• Lightly salt squash to taste. Add the zest and juice of lemon to squash and let rest 10 minutes or so.
• Toss pumpkin seeds in a little oil, fennel seed, salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes in 350 dgr oven, until toasty.
• Roughly chop pumpkin seeds.
• To the squash, add chopped dill, pumpkin seeds and a light drizzle of olive oil. Toss and check seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve as a light starter salad or as a side dish to grilled fish or  meat.

The finished product! Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Enjoy!

Summer Squash Gratin

Chef Jeff Maxfield of SkyCity at the Needle explaining his dish. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

As prepared by Chef Jeff Maxfield of SkyCity at the Needle, as an accompaniment to his Grill Roasted Loki Salmon, at his cooking demonstration at Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market on July 22, 2010.

Ingredients:

• ½ lb bacon, sliced
• 2 ea medium zucchini, julienne
• 2 ea yellow squash, julienne
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• ¼ cup shucked fresh peas
• ½  cup flour
• 4 ea eggs, beaten

Preparation:

Cook bacon until golden brown and crisp, discard ¾ of the grease and combine with zucchini, squash, basil and peas, fold in flour and egg.  Season with salt and pepper, transfer to a lightly greased sheet pan or casserole dish, bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown, let cool and cut into desired shape and serve at room temperature.

Gratin mixture before the oven. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

Thursday, July 15th: Grand Opening Day!

Adam from Oxbow Farm smiling over his beautiful chard. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

We’ve all been talking about this for months, wondering if the day would ever arrive: opening day of your new Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market. Well, that day is today! And we are excited. We have a whole lot in store for everyone, from great farmers, food artisans and artists to live music and dancing to TASTE’s Liquid Lounge and wine tastings to an incredible lineup of chefs doing cooking demonstrations every week. But first and foremost, what we have lined up for you is a grocery store, once a week for four hours, featuring the finest local food Washington has to offer. Yes, Belltown, one very densely populated grocery store desert, finally has a grocery store, and Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market is its name.

Anthony Estrella of Estrella Family Creamery. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

By the way, this new, weekly grocery store of yours takes food stamps, just like any other grocery store. You just have to check in at the black tent that says “information” on it and ask to get Market tokens with your Quest card, and you are good to go. Of course, the difference here is that you can get high-quality food with your food stamps instead of the cheap, unhealthy, processed foods you are stuck with at Big Box grocers and corner convenience stores. Most of our farmers also accept WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program checks (a.k.a., FMNP or “farmers market checks”).

Carrie from Alm Hill Gardens. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

The Market debuts today at 3:30 p.m., with the first cooking demonstration of the season at 5:30 p.m. But I suppose you wanna know what vendors we are going to have today, don’t you? Okay, here is just a sampling:

• Alm Hill Gardens (a.k.a., Growing Washington), from Everson, will bring an incredible variety of vegetables, berries, flowers, shelling beans, and all manner of goodness over the coming weeks.
• Colinwood Farms, out of Port Townsend, has amazing greens, new potatoes, sweet peppers, summer squash, lettuce as big as your head, and so much more. Their soil is the blackest, richest earth I have ever seen.
• Skagit River Ranch, based in Sedro-Woolley produces some of the best, healthiest beef, pork, chicken and eggs from happy animals raised on the kind of farm those folks from California want you to think their dairy cows are raised on. I’ve been to Skagit River Ranch and seen how they care for their animals right to the end. A USDA inspector told me there is no more humane operation that he has ever seen.
• Estrella Family Creamery, in Montesano, is at the forefront of an artisan cheese revolution in Washington. In its short history, it has won multiple awards for its cheeses at national and international competitions.

Saffron from Phocas Farms. Photo copyright 2009 by Zachary D. Lyons.

You will be amazed at the locally produced food products you will find at your Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market — products you may not have known were being produced around here, and products that might have been difficult for you to find elsewhere. These product include:

• Saffron, grown and cured with care by Phocas Farms in Port Angeles. This saffron is being used in the kitchens of many of the finest restaurants in Seattle, as it is of a quality and freshness hard to find in imported saffron. And given that over 70% of the world’s saffron is produced in Iran, think of the reduction in your carbon footprint you will achieve just by using this local saffron.
• Gluten-free bread from Ballard’s Platypus Breads. Gluten-free bread is hard enough to find locally, but really good gluten-free bread is almost impossible to find, until now.
• Local milk, bottled in returnable glass bottles, direct from Golden Glen Creamery in Bow. This may be the best milk I’ve ever tasted, and once you’ve had milk bottled in glass, you will never go back to plastic bottles again. Plus, Golden Glen bottles incredible heavy cream and half-n-half, and they make the only farmstead butter in Washington you can buy.

The Dante behind Dante's Inferno Dogs. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

You will be able to pick up a snack while you shop at your Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market, from such local originals as:

• Dante’s Inferno Dogs from Ballard, slinging great dogs and sausages that happily fill any stomach’s void.
• Patty Pan Grill makes delicious vegetarian quesadillas and tamales from local ingredients, many of which are sourced from our Market farmers.
• Whidbey Island Ice Cream offers up a tremendous selection of ice cream flavors by the bar and the pint.
• And TASTE Restaurant & Events, one of the Market’s partners, which has set the standard in Seattle for using local ingredients to make world-class cuisine. TASTE will be creating delectable concoctions using ingredients from Market farmers.

Keith from Finnriver Farm in Chimacum, which produces hard ciders and fine grain products. Photo copyright 2010 by Zachary D. Lyons.

And remember, this blog is your source for all things Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market. You will learn about what’s in season; the people and businesses that produce it; what chefs will be performing cooking demonstrations from week-to-week; recipes from those demos and our vendors; and so much more. Each week during the Market season, one or more articles will be posted here, and each week the What’s Fresh Now! pages in the upper right-hand margin will be updated to let you know what all you can expect to find that week at the Market. So check back often, subscribe to the RSS feed, and then come visit us at your new Olympic Sculpture Park Farmers Market!