Quite a Year for Poke

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Judy

I can’t decide whether asparagus or pokeweed is my favorite spring vegetable.  Last year poke was surprisingly sparse and late to develop, maybe because it was so rainy.  This year, however, is making up for last.

Poke (aka poke salat or poke salad) is coming up all over my yard, including places it’s never been seen before.  This makes it easy to pick, but we won’t be able to maintain the laissez-faire attitude of the past, when it only occupied our uncultivated back acre.  We’ll have to get after it before it gets established.  You can only eat so much!

When I tell folks who aren’t foragers that I eat poke, they are always quick to point out that it’s poisonous.  Well, yes, but only if you are stupid about it.  The spring shoots are delicious.  Everything else – mature stalks, leaves, roots and berries – are best avoided.  The shoots must be boiled in a generous lot of water until the red color has left the greens and migrated to the cooking water, about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how late in the spring they are picked.

I use a grapefruit knife to cut the stalks near the ground, making sure not to take any of the white root along with the stalks.  The root will keep sending up shoots, so the same site about a week after the first picking will be ripe for another harvest.

Ewell Gibbons, in Stalking the Wild Asparagus, recommends cooking in two waters and boiling poke until it’s reduced to mush, but then he treats all greens like that – the old Southern way.  Boiling only a minimum of time keeps them nice and fresh.  I strain them in a colander and then, just to be safe, run hot water over them to make sure all the cooking water is gone.

I find that sesame oil has a real affinity for poke.  Just a spoonful poured over a dish of poke while it’s hot makes an absolutely delicious vegetable dish.  I also like poke with eggs, in an omelet, frittata or added to scrambled eggs.

Poke will keep in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for a week or two.  I tried freezing it once, but it disintegrated upon defrosting.  So enjoy it in the spring – a truly seasonal vegetable!

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Adventures at the Kensington Farmers Market

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Judy

Just when I was jonesin’ for a farmers market experience,  I got an email from Lynn Voight of All Things Olive, one of our vendors at the Olney Farmers and Artists Market.  She sells at the year-round Kensington Market on Saturdays and wanted her customers to know that one of her suppliers would be visiting her tent that week.  Coincidentally, I am reading Tom Mueller’s  book Extra Virginity, about the “sublime and scandalous world of olive oil,” with intention to review it soon.

I took it as a sign that I should make this one of my first extended forays outside since my heart problems.  I was glad I did.

Jon Fadhl is the owner of Jovia Groves from Dixon, CA.  As one of the 300 or so small, independent growers in California, Georgia, Texas, Oregon, and Arizona, he represents a segment that, taken together, consists of less than 1% of the olive oil market.  Jovia Groves has earned the California Olive Oil Council’s independent certification as a producer of  true extra virgin olive oil.  On his ranch outside Sacramento, he and his wife Sylvia grow and bottle a boutique oil which, like all the oil Lynn and Keith sell, is far superior to any mass-produced oil and guaranteed to be 100% extra virgin.

Jon is a paradigm of the class of artisans who are devoted to making the best product possible from local sources.  He has a full-time job in addition to raising olive trees, and is a competitive water-skier as well (can you say “overachiever?”)  His oil will be available from All Things Olive when OFAM opens May 13th.

Frankly…Pizza!  Both an exclamation and the name of another vendor at Kensington who will be joining us at OFAM this spring.  They have a portable, wood-burning clay oven in which they bake thin-crusted pies of amazing crunch and succulence.  We weren’t clued in that they sell out every market day, so we counted ourselves lucky to snag their very last pie of the day.  They’ll be a fine addition to our market.

One vendor we don’t expect to see in Olney but I couldn’t resist mentioning is Krishon Chocolates, because of their unique display of chocolate dinosaurs hatching from eggs.  A different kind of Easter egg, sure to give the Bunny conniptions!

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What Happens While You’re Making Other Plans

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Judy

In case anyone is wondering why I have not posted lately, I suffered a heart attack and subsequent bypass operation in mid-February.  I hope to resume my life and blog in the near future.

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My Amazing Alice Waters Weekend 4: Sunday Night Supper

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Judy

I had the opportunity to volunteer for one of the Sunday Night Suppers sponsored by the “Sips and Suppers” event to benefit Martha’s Table and DC Central Kitchen.  This series of twenty or so simultaneous suppers took place in the host’s homes, with chefs from some of the finest restaurants in and out of town cooking their best dishes.

I was assigned to the home of Deborah and Michael Saltzberg, in Bethesda.  The chefs were Adam Sobel of Bourbon Steak and Michael Solomonov of Zahav Restaurant in Philadelphia.  I walked in to see a dazzling table set for 26 guests, with many wine glasses.

I had never been a server at a formal dinner before, so I was a little nervous.  I needn’t have worried.  Our event manager, David Andersen from Jaleo, was professional enough to put my fellow amateur servers, Leah Koenig and Aaron Blacksberg, and me at ease, while making sure we were ready to serve our guests with confidence.

And we did!  I learned: how to balance a canapé plate on one arm while offering a napkin with the other hand; how to describe the dishes to the guests; how to pour wine at the table without spilling or dripping; which side to serve from and which side to clear from; and how to tell which glasses were for which wine and which one was the water glass.

In between we got to taste some of the incredible food our chefs were preparing.  Lambs’ tongue, veal cheeks and oysters, sweetbreads and kiwi sorbet – and amazing house-made blu cheese from Bourbon Steak.

 Afterward, everyone agreed that it was one of the smoothest events of this type they had ever worked on.  Not a single disaster!  The team in the kitchen and front-of-house worked so well together, you wouldn’t know most of us had never met each other before.  I give a lot of credit to the hosts, their wonderful kitchen, their evident enjoyment of and tolerance toward the invasion of their home, and their devotion to the institutions the event was in aid of.

 

Those were DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table. Both contribute immensely to the well-being of our community not only through providing meals and other services to the homeless and seniors, but also through providing training in culinary jobs.  How appropriate that the all these amazing chefs and volunteers work together to help their programs go forward!

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My Amazing Alice Waters Weekend – Part 3: Saturday Night Sips

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Judy

As I was walking down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Newseum, I heard rumbling behind me.  I turned to see a large ham mounted on an armature rolling past, flanked by two chefs from Zaytinya.  It was the twin of the one from the night before (see my last post).  At that moment I figured I was in for a good time, and I was right.

The Newseum is a great party venue – you can drink and read the news simultaneously, or just ignore it if you don’t want to get depressed!  Just look up for the helicopter hovering over the homemade marshmallows from 1789 Restaurant.

Can you spot the marshmallows?  Hint – they’re on sticks!

Many of the DC area’s best restaurants were represented by food stations.  Cure, Poste, 42 Degree Catering, Tavola, and Eatonville, among others, offered tastes of their specialties.  The drinks tables featured cocktails and some dynamite hot chocolate made with Oaxacan chocolate and Azul tequila.

 

The Rappahannock oysters from last night were back.  To get there, one navigated an area lined with artisan products from small local producers.  Local bakers, aspiring deli owners (corned beef, mustard, pickles, all house-made), and gelato purveyors showed off their products with justifiable pride.

Maro Nalabandian was making Armenian string cheese.  She’s a chef, caterer and cooking instructor and a prime candidate for an OFAM chef demo!  Check olneyfarmersmarket.org in the next few months to see if I am successful in recruiting her, and some of the restaurant and catering chefs as well.

Joan Nathan, Alice Waters and Jose Andres were present to discuss the causes that benefited from the evening.  DC Central Kitchen and Martha’s Table both contribute immensely to the well-being of our community not only through providing meals to the homeless and seniors, but also through providing training in culinary jobs.  How appropriate that all these terrific restaurants get together to help their programs go forward!

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My Amazing Alice Waters Weekend – Part 2: The Portrait Presentation and Reception

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Judy

After the conversation part of the evening ended (too soon!), the portrait unveiling and reception commenced.  From the auditorium, we processed to the Kogod Courtyard – an awesome venue for a party.  I have been there in the daytime, but I had not realized how dramatic lighting could give a sense of ethereal beauty and mystery to this space, even when filled with people.

The portrait was commissioned by the museum from Dave Woody, winner of the 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.  Mr. Woody and Mary Boochever were present, along with G. Wayne Clough, the Smithsonian Secretary, and Martin Sullivan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery.  There were short speeches, and Ms. Waters unveiled her portrait.

All the chefs of the night came on stage for a group picture with Ms. Waters.

Then we turned our attention to stations serving food by some of the most well-known chefs in Washington: Jose Andres had jambon Iberico on offer, sliced appropriately thin but wonderfully savory. Todd Gray of Equinox offered duck breast and fig chutney.

 

 

 

 

Nora Pouillon brought a cornucopia of vegetable dishes to one of the most popular stations. There were oysters from the Rappahannock River.  Mike Isabella deliciously embellished striped bass crudo.

Adam Bernbach of Proof and Estadio compounded a potent but smooth cocktail of Catoctin Creek gin and tarragon-pear soda (they served food, too, but I was a little tipsy by then and didn’t take a note – and this applies to Susan Gage Caterers and Cathal Armstrong from Restaurant Eve as well – apologies!)

Cowgirl Creamery provided a selection of cheeses.  How lucky are we in DC to have the only Cowgirl store outside of California?  Whole Foods, Barboursville Vineyards, Fermin, and ECOPIA Farms also generously provided food and wine.

To get a really good look at the portrait, go to the NPG website: http://newsdesk.si.edu/photos/alice-waters-portrait

Next: Part 3: The Saturday Night Sips at the Newseum.

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My Amazing Alice Waters Weekend – Part 1: The Conversation

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Judy

It started on Friday evening, January 20, at the National Portrait Gallery.

Alice Waters is one of the seminal influences on food in this country.  She sparked a food revolution with her Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley – it was the first to source ingredients locally and seasonally.  Her influence continues with the Slow Food movement and the Edible Schoolyard Project.

The National Portrait Gallery honored her with a two-part event: a conversation with José Andrés, a local pioneering chef of our own, and a formal presentation of her photographic portrait and reception.

Ms. Waters sat down and talked in the McEvoy Auditorium with Chef Andres.  They first met on the National Mall during the food-themed Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2005. (I was a volunteer there – it was the first time I met Joan Nathan.)

Ms. Waters saw the Mall as an extension of the Edible Schoolyard: “They gave me a ramada for the children, but I wanted the whole Mall as a garden!”  She introduced politicians to her ideas: Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Tom Harkin.

During her childhood in New Jersey, her parents had a victory garden.  “I remember the strawberries, and the rhubarb.”  She went to France and Turkey, where there was wonderful food and farmers markets were everywhere.

The first school she convinced to start a garden was built on 17 acres of land.  She thought some of those acres might be used to grow food. “I seem unusual – to want children to sit down and eat real food. To tie food into the curriculum; to feed children for free.”  In aid of which, Ms. Waters and Chef Andres displayed a poster for “EATING, READING, WRITING, ARITHMETIC.”

She had brought some tiny, sweet clementines from California as examples of food perfect for children’s lunches.  Easy to peel and seedless, I can’t imagine any child disliking them.

Next: Part 2: The Portrait Presentation and Reception

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Olney Farmers Market Community Meeting

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Judy 
The Olney Farmers and Artists Market will have an
organizational meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 1st at 7pm.
It'll be held in the Montgomery General Hospital's
Community Learning Center on the 2nd floor. 

We'll be discussing plans for the new season and
also looking for volunteers.
For more information, call Janet Terry at 202 257 5326.
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H-Mart – Adventure in Eating

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Judy

I’ve been shopping at H Mart ever since they opened the first one around here in Aspen Hill.  It’s the best source of fresh vegetables during the winter, and for fish, exotic fruit, and Asian ingredients all year.

By happy chance, I stopped into the H Mart in Gaithersburg during a special event last month.  I was sorry I had already eaten lunch, because there were tasting stations set up all over the store.

Now, the H Mart stores often have four or five different samples being cooked in the store, but for this occasion they went all-out.  There was an alcove lined with stations just inside the entrance; an expanded fruit table (about 10 different kinds vice the half-dozen usual ones); and cooking stations at the end of almost every aisle in the frozen food section, each with a different product to try.  Many had helpful little pamphlets full of recipes for the products to give away.

“Yaki-soba try!”  A cheery voice called out.  Of course!

“Noodles, shallot sauce?” You bet!  Seasoned seaweed?  Pollack roe?  Grilled marinated meat?  Breadfruit?  Bring it on.  And, just as we said “Uncle!” and were on our way out, Sashimi!!

Ms. Su Young Gueon, the food sampling manager, kindly explained that it was the 3-Year Anniversary Celebration for this H Mart.  She had done a splendid job making it a special occasion.  I look forward to many more!

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Alice Waters to be Honored at the National Portrait Gallery

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Judy

Alice Waters sparked a food revolution in this country.  Her Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley was the first to source ingredients locally and seasonally.  Her influence continues with the Slow Food movement and the Edible Schoolyard Project.

Now, the National Portrait Gallery is unveiling her photographic portrait with two events: a conversation with José Andrés, a local pioneering chef of our own, and a formal Presentation and Reception to follow.

The portrait was commissioned by the museum from Dave Woody, winner of the 2009 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.  All proceeds from these events benefit future Outwin Boochever Portrait Competitions.

Ticket prices start at $100 for the Reception and $200 for the Reception and Conversation. For more information and to purchase tickets go to: npg.si.edu.

Here is my souvenir of one memorable meal at Chez Panisse.

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