Columbus Foodie

Well, I had a really busy weekend so I am way behind, so I’m getting this in too late to make the roundup but here it is nonetheless. This week was so hectic that I had almost no time to cook at all, and what I made for One Local Summer is about as basic as it gets.

Inspired by the Fried Bologna sandwich at G&R Tavern, here is my almost local verison of it. Only the roll and condiments are non-local. The Leona Bologna and the Smoked Pepper Jack cheese came from Thurn’s, and the pickles and the candy onions both came from 2 Crows (bought at the Worthington Farmers Market). The sweet corn came from Rhoads (North Market), I believe. Super simple to make - just saute the bologna in a frying pan until brown, and throw it on bun with some cheese and the aforementioned condiments.

Not every week is a gourmet fest around here. Keep an eye out for the other stuff I’m late posting about, like Taste and Create, Tastes Like Home, etc. I’m planning on putting a full day in tomorrow catching up, sorry for the inadvertent lack of posting.

This weekend is a little different than most, as we have family visiting from Pennsylvania - nonetheless, I still wanted to keep my Saturday morning farmers market ritual, and Paul’s sister came along with us this morning. We got a fairly early start on this cloudy, cool and humid day, and got to the North Market around 7:30. After getting a full pound of mushrooms (okonomiyaki is on the menu this weekend!) from Toby Run, I wandered around a bit, and picked up some eggplant, poblano peppers, regular and grape tomatoes and cabbage from Wishwell Farms, along with some plums and a couple of other things from some of the other vendors. Kevin from Just This Farm finally has harvested his hard neck garlic, it’s not to be missed.

After some detours (it looks like there was some kind of race going on downtown today), we headed to Worthington, and got there before 8:30 - it was already packed again with everything in full swing. It looks like the harvest season is finally here in most of its glory, with plenty of corn, peaches and other stone fruit, the first of the heirloom tomatoes, and several other things. The spring flowers have crossed over into summer, with all manner of sunflowers, and these unidentified beauties:

I couldn’t resist picking up a bunch of carrots from The Golden Beet Farm - their produce always looks so fresh and lovely, and their setup is so darn appealing - this is one of my favorite vendors at Worthington. I also picked up some baby squash here to grill later this week.

And although I’m not a beet fan, another vendor at Worthington had these beets that almost had me convinced to give them another try.

And also at Worthington (novel idea, but I didn’t pick one up - this week) were these popcorn cobs - not sure how these work, but it looks like a great idea.

Finally it was off to Clintonville, which was a throng of people that was barely passable when I got there at 9:30. I waited in line to pick up my eggs and some donuts (didn’t get these today, but don’t these mini fry pies at the 2Silos stand look divine)?

After I picked up my eggs, I tried to gingerly make my way through the crowd, but I didn’t get very far because I was afraid my eggs were going to break because people were getting totally in my personal space. So we cut Clintonville short, but got what we came for. I was surprised to see Snowville Creamery there (as a reader told me they wouldn’t be there any more this season), and they let me know they’d come when there is space at the market (there’s no way for them to know that in advance). I did find out that they also sell at the Pearl Alley Market and one other (forgot the name - Jefferson? Jeffersonville?) in the area, so I’ll have to check those out.

Well, off to fire up the stove and cook. Sis-in-law is making stuffed cabbage rolls and I’ll be helping her roll. We just got done with a lovely local lunch of fried Leona bologna sandwiches and corn on the cob. I know I still have tons of posts to catch up on (including this month’s Taste & Create), but things have been hectic around here with visitors in town and I promise I’ll catch up soon.

So what markets did you go to today? What did you get, and what are you planning on making with it?

Today was one of those days, if you know what I mean. Not only is it the Ohio Food & Wine Festival at the North Market (thus my normal parking space at the meter was being blocked off), but they were doing construction on the freeway I take to get to the Worthington market. Either way, it meant a detour, and since we had to change up our route, we decided to change up our routine as well.

We got to the North Market a little later than usual because I forgot the memory card in my camera and we had to go back for it. Still, I wasn’t planning on getting that much this week anyway, as I don’t want to cook every night. So, we get there and I got half a pound of shiitakes this time (because I can’t forego them all together), and a few ears of corn from Mrs. Rhoads to try. Not to say that there wasn’t plenty of beautiful produce out there this morning. There definitely was. For example, this variety of plum (”Methley”) that I’m not familiar with. I don’t often see plums at the farmer’s markets.

Or these cute tiny eggplant from Wayward Seed Farm.

We got to Worthington a little later than usual, and it was packed. I only picked up a couple of things here - some blueberries, pie cherries, and Rainier cherries from Gillogly Orchards (pictured below are some pie cherries from Pop and Judy’s), some fry pies and baby squash from 2 Crows, and Lavender Honey from Dawn at Mockingbird Meadows.

As usual, lots of pretty flowers everywhere you look. Can I just say how much I love the look of these? Screams summer to me.

So here’s where things get a little different. Paul and I wanted to hit Creole Kitchen for breakfast (they stop serving it at 10am), and we didn’t especially need any dairy or eggs, so we decided to skip out on Clintonville completely. We got our breakfast (more details later, I promise!), got home and ate it, and it was still only 10:45ish. So we decided to shake things up a bit by going to a new to us farmer’s market in Grove City.

I’ve got to say, I’m impressed by the size and selection there. While there are a ton of prepared/preserved foods there, there was also tons of vendors selling produce (although pickin’s were slim at 11am) and a bison farmer as well. It was the only place I saw Ohio peaches at this week - these are from Circle S Farms, I believe.

And from Lund Fruit Farm, interesting take on cider. Didn’t get any today, but plan to in the future.

Definitely shows promise, and since that market starts at 8, I may make a quick stop there next week early before going to the North Market. So where did you all go and what did you get? Any other hidden gem farmer’s markets I should know about?

For this week’s installment of One Local Summer, I decided to go with a nice traditional grilled meal. I made a ribeye steak from OMC Farms, which I sprinkled liberally with salt and pepper and grilled using the searing burner on my grill. I could have used local potatoes, but I had some russets that needed to be used up and it would have been a waste not to. I did, however, top that non-local potato with homemade butter (using Snowville Creamery cream) and Smith Dairy sour cream.

One of my favorite parts of this meal were the baby zucchini from Toad Hill Organics that I brushed with olive oil and put directly onto the grill. After letting them get browned, I took them off and sprinkled them with a little more olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. Delicious.

Next week should be even more tasty, with more and more available at the farmer’s markets each week.

I love it so that Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Adventures has tied in blogging events to her real-life culinary meetups in Chicago. Since I can’t be in Chicago to attend her events in person, this is the next best thing. So here’s my humble offering to the “Fruit Bouquets” event, which asks us to make a sweet or savory recipe recipe featuring fruit.

I made this salad last week when we grilled out, and now I see the novelty of pairing melon with salt and/or pepper. This salad is a nice balance of cool and sweet (melon), creamy (mozzarella), fresh (mint) and salty (prosciutto). In place of the prosciutto, I used some local schinken, but I’m sure it would be delicious either way. Other than that, I left the original recipe intact.

Cantaloupe and Bocconcini Salad with Mint
recipe from Everyday Food magazine

1 cantaloupe, scooped into 1-inch balls (about 3 cups)
8 ounces bocconcini
2 to 3 thin slices ham or prosciutto
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup torn mint leaves

In a large bowl, combine 1 ripe cantaloupe, scooped into 1-inch balls with a melon baller (about 3 cups), 8 ounces bocconcini (small fresh-mozzarella balls) or fresh mozzarella cut into 1-inch cubes (about 2 cups), 2 to 3 thin slices ham or prosciutto, cut into strips, and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Toss with 1/4 cup torn mint leaves, and serve immediately.

The theme for this month’s edition of the Waiter There’s Something in My… blogging event is berries, and I chose to feature the beautiful berries and delicious lemon quark I picked up at last week’s farmer’s market.

The recipe, if there is one, couldn’t be simpler. I tossed a combination of strawberries, blueberries, tayberries, mulberries, black raspberries and raspberries with a touch of sugar, and then layered them in a glass with some lemon quark from Blue Jacket Dairy. So, so simple, but the most delicious thing I ate last week.

I think that each week, our starting time at the farmer’s markets are getting earlier and earlier, because I’ve been wanting to get done with all three markets before 10am so my day isn’t shot. We were dead tired because of a late night of firework and watching Rick Springfield at the Dublin festivities last night, so we weren’t too excited about dragging our rear ends out of bed at the ass crack of dawn this morning.

First stop (as usual) - the North Market. You all know that I’ve been getting a pound of shiitakes every week, and this week was no exception. There’s definitely okonomiyaki in the works this week. We also picked up 40 pickling cucumbers for processing into pickles later tonight. We agreed we weren’t going to do as much preserving this year (since we still have so much left from last year), but pickles are one of the things we’ve been out of for months. Plus, they’re super easy to prep and process, so things should go quickly.

Comb’s Herbs had red currants again today, and I was sorely tempted (I ended up eating the jelly I made from last week’s batch on cream cheese biscuits instead of making a glaze with it), but from a cost to benefit ratio (a pint makes about 4-6 oz. of jelly, and costs $5 not counting sugar), it was just a little too rich for my blood since Paul has me on the budget plan for farmer’s markets now. Still beautiful to look at.

We also saw the first of the apples for the year, some sweet corn (2 ears for $1, way more than I’m willing to spend), lots of other veggies that I haven’t seen regularly yet, including these adorable baby zucchini (that would cost about $6 at Whole Foods) from Toad Hill Organics.

We were done at the North Market just as it was officially opening (at 8am), and headed off to Worthington, which when we got there at 8:15, was already in full swing. I picked up a couple of cucumbers at Wish Well Farms (I’ve been making a lot of things with cucumber lately for some reason), but other than getting fresh fruit, I’ve been controlling myself as far as regular produce goes as I still have some left to use up from last week. Although I didn’t pick them up today, there were tons of sour cherries available for pie/jam making at Pop and Judy’s. I opted instead for the dark sweet cherries at Gillogly Orchard

I was mostly berried out after last week’s berry bonanza, but I could resist these beautiful apricots. Yay to the beginning of stone fruit season!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention (although I hate to do it, because it means less for me) all the tasty new cheese additions from Blue Jacket Creamery. I already told you guys about last week’s lemon quark - this week they had garlic as well (it’s awesome!), plus excellent chevre and a tropical chevre whose flavor rocks my world. I think I blew the bulk of my budget here.

It was off to Clintonville before 9am. What we saw here was pretty much the same things we found elsewhere, but I did see some really nice looking rainbow chard at Just This Farm. I’ve never cooked with chard before, can anyone clue me in on what it tastes like/what you use it for? I love the color.

After picking up my eggs at 2Silos, we headed over to the snowville Creamery stand to get some whole milk and heavy cream. How cool is it that we can get local milk and cream right at the farmer’s market, and can talk production methods directly with the producer? The reason I love their milk so much is that because it is non-homogenized (which my lactose intolerant self can process without any issues), at a fraction of the cost of Hartzler’s milk.

So, that was my morning at the markets. Where did YOU go and what did you get?

Knowing that this weekend is ComFest, and the Pride parade, and that there’s a gaming convention going on as well, our goal this morning was to get to the North Market as early as possible, and get done as quickly as possible so we could avoid the crowds - our main priorities were to get our weekly dose of shiitakes from Toby Run, plus some more of that wonderful 13-lettuce mix from Bridgman Farms. That, and it looked like it was going to rain (they’re calling for a 30% chance of storms today, raising up to 40% after noon) However, while there, I got distracted by these lovely red currants, which I picked up from Comb’s Herbs to make into a small batch of jelly which I’ll use in a couple of days to make a red currant-mustard glaze for a lamb shoulder…

As we pulled up to park, though, we noted that it’s getting to that time of year where there’s much more variety - I spied lots of broccoli today, and also the first pickling cucumbers of the year at Wish Well Farms.

We also got the lettuce mix we were looking for, along with some Napa cabbage from Just This Farm, and some cheese and baked goods inside. Still, we managed to get out of the North Market well before 8:30.

Worthington got an early start this morning - everyone was already up and running when I got there around 8:40ish, and it was aleady crowded, with especially long lines at Wegman’s and Wish Well.

At Worthington, there were cherries as far as the eye could see, most of them at Gillogly Orchard (any guesses to where my first stop was?) In addition to some sweet cherries (I got sours and Raniers at Pop and Judy’s), I also stocked up on tayberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and blueberries, all of which will taste absolutely wonderful on the lemon quark I got at Blue Jacket Cheese (if you haven’t picked any of this up yet, you have no idea what you’re missing out on!)

Wegman’s had the last of the good looking strawberries of the season (this is the last week, folks - the ones at Wish Well were looking *rough*), so I picked up a quart to mix with my other berries.

I got a bunch of other stuff here and there - ribeyes and ground beef (for grilling) at OMC Farms, some kohlrabi from Pop and Judy’s, fry pies at Two Crows, so much more stuff that has absolutely slipped my mind - but I was just floored at how much difference just a week makes in variety and availability of fresh Ohio produce.

We made it to Clintonville around 9:15, and after picking up my eggs from 2Silos, I snapped a pic of a sunflower (at least I think it’s a sunflower - or is it a Black Eyed Susan? Beats me, botany’s not my area of expertise) along the way, and was so surpised at how well the pic came out. Funny how you can take dozens of pictures, and every once in a while you get a good one.

I was so happy to see that Arbor Hill Organics was back for the year, because I absolutely love these Red Thumb Potatoes which are pink inside.

This display of veggies that I saw over at Flying J is represtative of what else was available at the market today. Who knew there was such a thing as purple kohlrabi? I ended up getting some yellow squash and beets across the way, and cauliflower from Flying J.

I went overboard this week at the markets, but I have a lot of cooking planned for this week, including an all local cooking day. Stay tuned. So what did *you* get at your local farmer’s market this week?

Homegrown Gourmet is a food blogging event that highlights local products and cuisine - the point is to interpret the theme in the most local way possible.

This month’s theme is pasta, and I took it to a whole other level by combining the best parts of a pasta salad and a chef’s salad by making a chef’s pasta salad using mostly local ingredients.

Unfortunately, it’s one of those things that I tossed together and adjusted by taste, so there’s no real recipe, so to speak. I will, however, give you the general gist of what I did, so you can try to replicate it yourself if so inclined.

But first, let me just highlight the local ingredients that went into this dish - grape tomatoes from Wish Well Farms, fresh mozzarella from Blue Jacket Cheese, pasta from Mrs. Miller’s, eggs from 2Silos, buttermilk from Smith Dairy, and lettuce mix from Bridgman Farms.

Most of it is prep work - before you start, quarter some grape tomatoes, dice up some fresh mozzarella and aged gouda, slice up some deli turkey, hard boil and quarter a few eggs, cook pasta to al dente, and prep up some Penzey’s Buttermilk Dressing according to directions on the jar. To assemble, toss all of the ingredients together with lettuce mix except dressing, and then add enough dressing to dress lightly but not drown the salad. Add Mild & Creamy Grey Poupon to taste and serve immediately (it doesn’t store well once it is dressed).

So refreshing on a hot summer night!

Happy solstice, everyone! For better or worse, summer is finally here. Up at the crack of dawn again, and we made our way out to the North Market before 8am. It looks like strawberries are winding down (last week they’ll be available until fall from what I understand), and today I found these lovely raspberries at Rhoads - I got a couple of pints for salad and also to go into the lovely mixed berry cobbler I’ll be working on later today for Tuesdays with Dorie.

Since I didn’t go to the farmers markets last weekend, I was pretty much cleaned out of everything, so after getting raspberries, my first stop was at Toby Run to get my requisite pound of shiitakes. I’ve become quite the shiitake piggy lately, wanting that earthy flavor in nearly every meal. It was pure torture this past week trying to live shiitake-free (supermarket shiitakes just don’t cut it, they’re anything but fresh). And something else interesting I saw today but didn’t get were these garlic scapes from Toad Hill. Interesting in concept, but found that the last time I got them, I couldn’t find much to do with them other than making some really strong pesto.

I’ll be making a salad later with some lettuce mix I picked up at Bridgman Farms - no pic of the lettuce quite yet, but look at the varieties of lettuce in this mix! Wow, I haven’t even heard of some of these. Should be extremely tasty.

In addition to the above mentioned stuff, I picked up some red leaf lettuce (to use later on burgers) from Toad Hill, some grape tomatoes from Wish Well Farms, and some pea shoots from Elizabeth Telling Farms.

We had a bit of a delay in leaving the North Market (Paul needed to pick a few things up), so by the time we finally made it to Worthington at 8:50ish, the parking situation was already impossible. Paul dropped me off and circled around for nearly a half an hour before finding a space (and by that time I was already done). I think (I hope!) it’s because of the Art Sale they had going on this weekend, I’d hate to think that this will be a weekly issue. Especially since some of my favorite farmers are at the Worthington Market.

The first thing I did was pick up a couple of quarts of the last strawberries from Crum’s. They looked good for the last of the harvest, and unlike most people, I’m not quite strawberried out yet. And root veggies are starting to make an appearance - like kohlrabi (which I didn’t get because I just harvested some from my garden) and these beets:

I can always measure the appearance of summer by the sighting of the first green onions at Two Crows. Today was no exception.

Next week there will be sour cherries. I’m so looking forward to it, I’ve got quite a few plans for preserving cherries this year. I picked up some more cheese curds from Blue Jacket Cheese, and then I had to hunt down Paul so we could make our way to the Clintonville market.

Clintonville was hoppin’ today, with some pretty long lines for I’m not sure what (never did make it down that far). Lots of strawberries to be had at Clintonville, and the first appearance of my beloved Snowville Creamery, where I bought some cream for processing later on (let’s just say that I’ve been inspired by Lisa to try my hand at making my own butter from cream. Some of those delicious fry pies from 2Silos, and then some baby turnips and English peas from Wayward Seed Farms.

Why is it that something as simple as my weekend trips to the farmers markets bring me such great joy? I think Saturday mornings are the happiest I am all week, even more so than when I actually cook with what I got. Go figure.

After all that shopping, we got our okonomyaki fix on at ZenCha, and now we’re contemplating whether or not we’re going to grill tonight.

So what did you get at the farmers markets today?