This is our third season of farmers market cook classes designed to teach people fun, easy ways to use foods bought at the Portola Valley market, and from our local sponsors.
DECEMBER
Home for the Holidays
Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market
Class today combined many products found at the farmers market and today’s sponsor, Bianchini’s market,
into two dishes, Grilled Persimmon Salad with Maple Nuts and Dry Jack (using local honey from @SkylineRoad and @BigPaw CA Gold olive oil for the dressing)
And Holiday Pasta (a combination of Bianchini’s Calabrian peppers, goat cheese and other goodies with a lime chipotle cumin soy sauce).
Get the recipes here:
Grilled Persimmon Salad with Maple Nuts and Dry Jack
NOVEMBER
Game Changers – Vegan Food for Athletes
Sponsor: Pacific TherX
This month combined Game Changers, the new movie about plant-based diets and athletic performance, with a cooking class about how to make that happen in the kitchen.
We taste-tested plant-based proteins in class, such as tempeh marinated in Portola Valley Thomas Fogarty Skyline white wine and worcestershire sauce.
And used @UptonNaturals seitan (wheat meat)
in a Buckwheat (also high protein) Noodle Stir fry with Roasted Chili Paste.
OCTOBER
Power to the People
Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market
No power today at the market due to the PG & E shut offs, so we brought power in another form – sugar!
We learned about 4 alternative sugars and other sweets. Brown Rice sugar was used in Orange Ginger Crunch Cookies, a traditional macrobiotic cookie made with whole grains.
Peanut Butter Date Balls are gluten free and only sweetened with dates
Keto Chocolate Chip were sweetened with Monkfruit, a gourd 250 times sweeter than sugar, that comes in brown and white styles. The chocolate chips are sweetened by the no carb-leaf stevia.
Cream Cheese Cookies were made with almond flour and sweetened with Swerve, a sugar alcohol with no carbs
Get the recipes here:
Maple Sweetened Orange Ginger Crunch Cookies
SEPTEMBER
The Tomatoes of Summer
Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market
Tomatoes were slow to arrive this year but the market was overflowing today. We started with Vodka-spiked Cherry Tomatoes, best marinated overnight, but if you are in a rush, cut them in half.
Use the tomatoes for your Sunday Bloody Mary or scrambled eggs, or as a garnish for Market Gazpacho, a perfect recipe to shop for at the market this time of year.
Pickled Tomatoes were also featured, a combination of market olive oil, garlic and spices
Finally, take out the old spiralizer and use plentiful zucchini
as the base for our vegan Pesto alla Trapanese, a Sicilian dish made with sauted tomato and no cheese.
Thanks Bianchini’s! Get the recipes here: Market Gazpacho
Zoodles with Pesto alla Trapanese
JULY
Farmers Flatbreads
Sponsor: Pacific TherX
In the summer the market is packed with vibrant colors that make for a perfect palette of imagination. Design your own edible masterpiece with Farmers Flatbreads. Today we made Herb Cheese Watermelon Radish Dill Pickled Carrot Flatbread on Little Sky Bakery bread, using thinly sliced watermelon radish and cucumber, topped with pickled carrots and dill
Then we did Carrot Avocado Nasturtium Beet Gomasio Flatbreads, pressure cooking Gallardo Farms carrots into a creamy spread, topped with fresh flowers and homemade gomasio (toasted sesame seeds and sea salt).
JUNE
Grill Party!
Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market
Time to celebrate Father’s Day with market foods to grill. We start by blending Gallardo’s Organic Farms strawberries with market strawberry jam, ketchup and herbs for a fresh strawberry BBQ sauce, served alongside market Garlic Spread and Black and White Sesame bread from Little Sky Bakery of Menlo Park.
Gather up produce you may never have thought to grill such as kohlrabi, long beans, Jimmie Nardello peppers, and daikon radish, marinate in the Best Marinade, and grill.
Serve alongside Blended Burger, a 60% 40% mix of mushrooms and beef. Use any kind of mushroom, but for fantastic flavor and texture look for these at the market….
Pioppino adds a secret beefy flavor
and use Lion’s Mane for a texture that tricks any meat eater.
Grind the mushrooms in a food processor till minced, combine with Bianchini’s grassfed beef, minced onion, and spices,
and ask if people can detect the secret ingredient (most often they can’t).
Finish your party with grilled stone fruit and brush on butter, instead of oil for the best results.
APRIL
Easter Brunch
Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market
Darn, you still need a recipe for Sunday brunch. Something different, but homey too. Oh gosh, and the new friend is a vegetarian.
Tasting Menu
Fresh Fruit and Cheese Blintzes
with farms Gallardo, Esquivel, Victorian Farmstead & Hidden Star
Potato and Tempeh Sausage
with farms Gallardo & Thomas Fogarty
We ground up tempeh (plant-based soy protein) in a food processor and marinated it in vegetable stock, soy sauce, and our local market wine, Thomas Fogarty Chardonnay. This mixed with Gallardo blanched potatoes and Whiskey Oak Steak seasoning, turned into our vegan Potato Tempeh Sausages.
Then an easy mix of cottage and ricotta cheese (the best you can find) made up the filling for our Cheese Blintzes (here made with gluten free flour and almond milk.
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