The Westside Community Market – a vendor-run farmers’ market in Madison, Wis. featuring fresh, locally grown, raised or produced: vegetables, fruits, berries, meats, cheeses, baked goods, bedding and blooming locally acclimatized plants, cut flowers, native perennials, dairy, eggs, mushrooms, pickles, preserves, honey, and more . . .
Sweet corn by Linda E. Nelson
Dear WCM Shopper,
Besides sweet corn last week, several vendors were selling sweet onions called “candy onions.” They included Kevin and Kate Lucey’s Happy Valley Farm of Black Earth, Dan Deneen’s Black Earth Valley Produce of Mazomanie, Natalie and Jamie Ortega’s Natalie’s Garden of Oregon. Shoppers will find more candy onions this week, as well as more heirloom onions from Kristen Kordet’s Blue Moon Community Farm of Stoughton.
The vendors – or their workers – have lots of suggestions about how to use the onions: raw on a burger or in a sandwich, in fajitas, for onion rings, caramelized, sautéed, or roasted with summer squash, eggplant, peppers and fennel. Caramelizing is done by cooking sliced onions in enough olive oil (or a mixture of oil and butter) to cover the bottom of a heavy pan, cooking until the onions are caramel-colored, which can take 30 to 60 minutes. (Note: If you stir too much early on, they won’t brown; if you stir too little as the caramelizing continues, they may burn.) The caramelized onions can be used on steaks, brie or goat cheese, pizza and tarts, or in soup, sandwiches, omelets, fried potatoes, fajitas and much more.
Because of their high water content, onions also are perfect for grilling since they don’t dry out in the high heat. Quarter onions to alternate with chunks of meat on metal skewers, halve onions and grill them cut-side down, or skewer a mixture of quartered onions and grill them for a side dish (recipe below).
Besides the sweet corn and onions, fun finds last week include okra from the Lor Farm owned by Kelly Lor of Madison, field grown tomatoes from Bill and Cathy Mayr’s Countyline Plants and Produce of DeForest and from Happy Valley Farm, lima beans and (really) long beans from the Yang Family Farm of Oregon, organic Japanese eggplant from Mike and Cathy Noltnerwyss’ Primrose Community Farm of Cross Plains, and absolutely addictive Sungold tomatoes from Chris Covelli and Sarah Costa’s Tomato Mountain of Brooklyn. The taste of that very sweet cherry tomato made me want to try Mary White of Madison’s Honey Bee Bakery Sungold Tomato and Parmesan Quiche. Tip for those who like eating well seasonally but aren’t bakers: White bakes with mostly local products, many of which are from Market vendors such as Flyte Family Farm blueberries in the Lemon Curd Tart last week.
Shoppers this week also likely will find apples, beans, beets, blueberries, bread and other bakery, broccoli, butter, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cauliflower, cheese, cherries, chicken, crackers, cucumbers, dry beans, eggplant, eggs, fish, flowers, fresh-cut herbs, garlic, green onions, greens, honey, ice cream, kohlrabi, meats, milk, muskmelons, okra, onions of all sorts, pasta, pattypan squash, peas, plants, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, summer squash, sweet peppers, tomatoes (field grown and hoop house), turnips, watermelons, yogurt, zucchini and specialty products. Ka Vang of Madison still had strawberries last week but was unsure whether there will be any more for this week.
Thanks to shopper Cheryl Busuttil for the Cucumber & Tomato Salad recipe below. She will have a $5 Market gift certificate waiting for her at the Information Tent as a thank-you. Anyone else who has a recipe using Market vendor’s products is invited to send it to kalliosandra@yahoo.com or drop it off at the Information Tent with your contact info. Anyone have an eggplant recipe to share?
Freshest harvest: All the food at the Market is fresh, but Blue Moon Community Farm was actually harvesting on the spot last week, cutting tendrils from a flat of pea shoots as shoppers requested some.
Honored vendor: Bruce Workman of Monticello has another first place, this time from the Green County Fair for his Edelweiss Creamery Havarti. Congratulations!
Recipe corner
Grilled Market Mix
This recipe is adapted from Steven Raichlen’s “How To Grill” (Workman, 2001).
Soak slender bamboo skewers in water for 15-30 minutes before preparing kebabs.
To prepare the glaze, combine glaze ingredients in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, simmering until the glaze reduces to ½ cup, which will take about 6 to 8 minutes.
To prepare the onions, peel and quarter onions (when using shallots, halve). Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Thread on prepared skewers. Cook on direct heat on a grill that has been brushed with oil. Grill each side about 5 minutes or until browned or a bit charred, moving to indirect heat if they start to burn. When done as desired, remove skewers and place onions on a platter. Drizzle with glaze.
Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Shopper Cheryl Busuttil says this simple salad recipe is one of her summer favorites.
Combine dressing ingredients. Add dressing as desired to salad ingredients, toss gently and let chill for at least one hour.
Invite your friends and neighbors to the Market: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at Hill Farms State Department of Transportation parking lot at the corner of Segoe Road and Sheboygan Avenue, one block south of University Avenue and one block west of Hilldale Shopping Center.
Tell them to bring the kids to play along with Moldy Jam, the Market house band that plays in fair weather at reasonable times (not before 9:30 a.m.).
WCM offers free coffee for shoppers and invites all to stop in at the WCM Information Tent to fill out a chance to win the raffle for a $5 WCM gift certificate.
Until next week,
Sandy Kallio
for the Westside Community Market
Send recipes to: kalliosandra@yahoo.com
We can't sell all this great Westside Community Market stuff on-site, but you can buy it all online: shirts, caps, bags, mugs and more.
