Cooking at the Market May – September 2018

Cooking at the Market inspires shoppers to try new ways of preparing and enjoying seasonal local foods, with an emphasis on eating more vegetables 🙂 Come learn new cooking techniques and try new foods, thanks to support from the Town of Portola Valley, and our illustrious, local business sponsors. Stop by on Thursday for a shop and a taste, and ask how your business can partner with Portola Valley’s edible education effort. See the posts for November 2017 – April 2018 here.

 

September 2018

EZ Seasoning

Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market

Our last Cooking at the Market of the season brought a return to our roots –  EZ seasoning with seasonal produce. Think salt and pepper with a college education. EZ Seasoning teaches a fast technique to bring out the secrets of vegetables (shhhh – vegetables are sweet) with Seasoning Lesson #1 Caramelize your Vegetables and #2 Deglaze the Pan. Then choose one of 25+ flavor profiles to add directly to your pan for tasty, fast vegetables.

We did 4 EZ Seasonings at the market: brussels sprouts with maple syrup and dijon, carrots with cumin seed mustard seed lime, asparagus with Calabrian peppers, green olive and garlic, and broccoli with kimchi and avocado.

Thanks to Bianchini’s Market of Portola Valley for sponsoring this month, and many of the past Cooking at the Markets.

Here’s the EZ Seasoning handout.

 

August 2018

Fish Tacos with Nutmeg Kitchens

Sponsor: Pacific TherX

Hometown business Nutmeg Kitchens shared some of their delicious spice mixes at this months cooking fest!

We made the best fish tacos I have ever eaten with their spice Ian’s Fire, and market vendor Cepatli’s blue corn tortillas.

The tacos were topped with a fresh Market de Gallo, raw veggies mixed with Magic Mediterranean spice blend

A perfect combination of crunch and rich flavors. Please, have a taste!

Thanks to this month’s sponsor Pacific TherX, and our featured local food business, Nutmeg Kitchens.

 

July 2018

Farmers Flatbreads

Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market

In honor of all the colors exploding at a summer farmers market, we did Farmers Flatbreads today.

My Farmers Flatbread has a market bread, a market or homemade spread, veggies or fruits on top of that, and a “flavor booster.” They are creative and fun tastes to make with kids, and perfect for an easy but impressive summer lunch or appy hour with friends. Read more about Farmers Flatbreads at The Food Party! – Shop Like an Artist at the Farmers Market.

For Cooking at the Market we used the naturally fermented bread made by Yums by Claudia, which uses no yeast, resulting in denser, sweeter and moister bread.

Our very easy, first flat bread had a homemade herb goat cheese as the spread, topped with bright red watermelon radish and Gallardo Farms cucumber. The veggies are sliced thin on a mandolin.

The flavor boost came from fresh dill and pickled Gallardo Farms carrots (apple cider vinegar, salt and coconut sugar)

Second bread used a market bought Roti Garlic Artichoke Dip as the spread, topped with sauted broccolini and a fine shred of Gallardo Farms raw beet and carrot.

Last was a fruit flatbread.

We combined a homemade cashew cream with Nut n’ Bean Cardamom Cashew Butter and Portola Valley’s Webb Ranch Olallieberries

Into a beautiful homemade spread

Then macerated Gallardo Farms strawberries in Skyline honey for the topper. The flavor boost came from date crystals. Thanks Bianchini’s Market for all your support over the years!

June 2018

Crazy Smoothies

Sponsor: Laura Stec – Innovative Cuisine

This class explored what odd ingredients might do to improve smoothies.

Started with a selection of possible bases…

Smoothie #1 was the following ingredients plus white beans to add a creamy texture.

Ketogenic was the theme for smoothie #2 with low carbohydrate pea milk, kale, blueberry, stevia and almond butter. We calculated the only about 3 added grams carbo’s, and the taste was delicious!

Smoothie #3 with sweet potato made another lovely creamy addition. Chai tea as base worked great, and we added date crystals, black pepper and turmeric. It was my favorite of the day.

Last smoothie experimented with cooked grains for texture. Here we used millet and quinoa, + turnip and plum, whirled into almond milk. Of all 3 added smoothie body-builders, the grain addition was the least favorite.

 

May 2018

Pizza & Burgers

Sponsor: Bianchini’s Market

A popular Cooking at the Market – no surprise.  We started taste-testing California-based Beyond Burgers, a no soy, gluten or GMO patty with 20g of protein, mostly from pea protein. It does a good job impersonating a burger; people liked the taste and texture.

 

Top with a little Sun Dried Tomato Garlic Spread from Greek Table and call it dinner. Burger from Bianchini’s, Garlic Spread from the market.

 

Next we used Yums by Cloudia  homemade pizza dough for My Big Fat Greek Wedding Pizza. Spread on a “sauce” of Black Olive Hummus from Greek Table,

 

melted feta cheese, sauted spring red onion, spring garlic, and kale from Salinas-based Gallardo Farms.  Such a hit!

 

Last we used a gluten-free pizza crust made from cauliflower and brown rice flour to make a Thai Peanut Pizza.

 

Start with a quick Thai Peanut sauce of Nut ‘n Bean Honey Pumpkin Seed Butter, fish sauce, lime juice, coconut milk, Sriracha & garlic powder to taste.  Saute up Gallardo Farms spring red onion and red cabbage, add corn, brown, and remove from heat. Spread the peanut sauce on the crust, squirt on some Sriracha, top with local cheesemaker Morsey’s Mozzarella di Bufala (from Wilton, SE of Sacramento) sprinkle on the sauted veggies, and bake 12 min at 375F. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. YUM!  Both the cauliflower crust and fresh Morsey cheese are available at Bianchini’s. 

Thai Peanut Pizza recipe.

Thanks to Bianchini’s, and all our product sponsors / market vendors.