Have You Visited Your Local Market Lately?

Visiting the Farmer's Market is one of my favorite spring, summer and early activities. Once winter rolls in, my trips to the market usually come to an end. Not this year! Thankfully there are at least two winter markets close to me in Natick and Wayland, MA. For a recap of my inaugural trip to the Natick Winter's Market, check out my write-up at www.localinseason.com. You'll even find some recipes for your winter farmer's market finds!

Farmer's Market Finds: Simple Potato Leek Soup

While my squash pie was baking away in the oven, I took my other farmer's market finds and whipped them up into a simple and delicious soup. The change of the seasons means new veggies to buy at the market. Inspired by Mike I.'s apparent poor cooking of leeks on Top Chef, I decided to pick some up and give them a try. I think I have succeeded in buying a new to me veggie or fruit each week at the market this season!

When I cut them open, I loved the way the layers looked. I also picked up some potatoes and decided to make a potato leek soup. Lately we've been trying to cook dairy-free (well, lactose-free) here at the Good Cook Doris kitchen. This soup was delicious and creamy with only seven ingredients! You won't even miss the cream.

Simple Potato Leek Soup
2 leeks, cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
About 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into half inch pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups of water
1 14-oz. can of low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper
Dash of poultry seasoning (marjoram, sage, thyme)

Melt the butter in a medium soup pot over low heat
Add leeks, cover and cook until soft, about 10 minutes, making sure not to brown the leeks
Add water, broth, and potatoes
Simmer for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender
Puree with an immersion blender (or food processor)
Season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper

Summary:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cutting board, knife, soup pot, immersion blender, serving bowl and ladle

Local Squash - Tasty Pie

It's the season for pie. Every cooking blog I read is either featuring pie, holiday cookies, or cakes, and they all involve pumpkin! Two of my other foodie friends have also posted their attempts at a flaky pie crust. All these delicious posts got me thinking about trying my hand at baking a homemade pie.

I haven't been baking as much as I used to, since I've been busy doing homework after dinner is over. My usual baked goods are quickbreads (banana, zucchini), cookies, and a few tasty apple cakes. I can't remember any time that I made my own pie crust from scratch. So this was an adventure! Next time I'll need to be a little more precise in my measuring techniques - it all worked out fine - but could look prettier. It tasted great!

Back in October, I made a maple kabocha squash puree that I thought would be great as a pie filling. At the farmer's market, I picked up some red kuri squash at the Atlas Farms booth. I don't like overly sweet desserts, so this filling might be a little savory for those of you with a severe sweet tooth. I also didn't make a traditional custard-like squash pie filling (like a pumpkin pie). Next time I'll add in an egg and some liquid so that the filling stays together a little more. I forgot to write down the measurements for the spices - adjust as you see fit! If your local farmers don't have red kuri squash you could also use kabocha, butternut, or the smaller pumpkins.

Maple Red Kuri Squash Filling
2 small red kuri squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tbsp. kosher salt
Water for cooking
1/3 cup (appx.) maple syrup
3-4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (a little less) nutmeg
A dash of ground cloves

Place squash cubes in a medium-large stockpot
Add about two inches of water (the squash won't be covered)
Sprinkle the salt across the top
Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to low
Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, until squash is fork tender
Drain and place squash into a mixing bowl
Puree with an immersion blender until smooth
Mix in butter, maple syrup, and the spices
Chill until ready to bake the pie

Delicious Flaky Pie Crust
I won't re-type this pie crust recipe, I'll point you to the blogs where I read about this great recipe. You can visit Delicious Dishings or Playing House for the link to the recipe. I will say that the secret to this flaky crust is chilled ingredients - especially the ice cold vodka. I used what I had in the freezer - guess I should call this Absolut Squash pie. You can't taste anything but the flaky deliciousness after baking. There is a reason that people go to culinary school to learn how to make pastries! I had a blast making this, but I definitely do not have the pastry patience!

A few notes on my pie crust preparation. First, after all this cooking I still don't have a large food processor. This means that I either process in small batches or I turn to my immersion blender. For this recipe, I'm sure that my immersion blender method affected my dough mixing success. It still came out great, but it was a little unwieldy to work with.

Second, I have a great rolling pin but nowhere to roll out the dough. I improvised and taped down a huge sheet of wax paper to my countertop. Next time - a silicone mat! Thankfully I had two balls of dough to work with (the recipe is for a double crust pie). The first didn't roll out very nicely, so I turned it into lattice strips for the top. The pastry gods were looking out for me - the second ball of dough rolled out much nicer.

I spent about ten minutes looking at the rolled-out dough and trying to figure out how to get it into my pie plate. I know that a lot of cookbooks advise folding the dough into quarters and then unfolding into the pie plate. My dough was a little wet so that was not an option. I ended up untaping the wax paper and flipping the dough into the pie plate. Did the trick!

Third, a rustic looking pie tastes just as delicious as a perfectly precise presentation. I probably should have prebaked my crust for extra flakiness, but my pastry patience was running thin. I scooped in my chilled squash filling and laid my free form lattice strips on the top. I brushed the top with some egg white wash and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top.

Then, into the oven to cook. After about 30-35 minutes the outside was starting to get a little dark, but the bottom wasn't quite done. I made some aluminum foil 'crust protectors' so it wouldn't burn and continued to cook until I thought the bottom was done (another 15-20 minutes).

This pie was the perfect level of sweetness for me. Delicious, flaky crust. Smooth, maple squash goodness. I had a hard time not eating the whole pie by myself, especially since I was home alone. I'm sure my co-workers are glad I controlled myself! This pie crust will be making another appearance for holiday baking. I'm calling my grandma to get the recipe for her pecan pie filling to add to this crust.

Burgers, Corn, Radishes and a nice Rose

I'm a little behind on my blog posts - this one goes back to last Tuesday night. With adjusting to evening classes and homework, it's been hard to keep up! Sorry for the delay, I hope that you enjoy reading the next few posts from the past two weeks.

I had been to the Tuesday farmers market and continuing the theme of buying something new to me each time, I picked up some watermelon radishes from Siena Farm. On the train ride home, I noticed that someone had left a bag on the baggage rack. I could read the name Kimball Farm on the bag and figured that someone forgot to take it home (I get off at the last stop). I picked up the bag and inside were 4 fresh ears of corn! I'm sorry to the commuter who had no side dish for dinner, but thank you for adding to ours!

I decided on making a burgers for a late summer (well, early fall) dinner and grilled the corn along with them. I had recently read about a radish salad at one of my new favorite websites, http://www.localinseason.com/ and followed their recipe for the dressing.

I paired it with some wine I picked up at one of my other favorite new places, http://www.binendswine.com/. It's a great rose from Oregon - A-Z wines. Perfect for pre-, during, and post-meal sipping!

Every time we have burgers I like to add a little twist. The hubby had gone to the store this week and bought whatever veggies looked good. We had red peppers and onions on hand. I mixed up a variation of my meatloaf mixture for the burgers and tossed in a little hoisin sauce for a little Asian flavor. I grilled extra red peppers for a topping and made sure to toast the whole wheat buns on the grill too. This was delicious! Enjoy!

Asian Flavored Meatloaf Burgers (that's quite a mouthful!)
1 lb. ground sirloin
1/4 red pepper, diced very small
A few slices of onion, diced very small
About 1 tablespoon (2-3 dashes) Worcestershire sauce
About 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
Breadcrumbs, just enough to hold the burgers together

Preheat the grill before you make the burgers
Score the meat into four equal portions
Form patties, but don't over work
Set aside until ready to grill
Grill until desired doneness
Top with lettuce, grilled red peppers, and a little extra hoisin sauce

Simple and Delicious Radish Salad
Check out the recipe and nice presentation at http://www.localinseason.com/early-fall/37-radish-and-cucumber-salad.html. I didn't have any cucumbers on hands, so I stuck to just radishes.

Farmer's Market Finds

I've been on vacation for a few of the past Fridays and have missed my weekly trip to the Copley Farmer's Market. Here's a recap of some of the recent finds that I did have (and didn't have time to post).

First up, smoked bluefish spread from the guys at Nantucket Wild Gourmet & Smokehouse. This was delicious - better than those cream cheese-y spreads out there. It was great served on a warm toasted bagel.

Next up, my regular lunch the Goat Cheese picnic. Sometimes I feel like a little something extra to go with the tasty cheese and fresh bread. It was raining at the market this day, so my favorite vendor for dessert wasn't there (they pack up at the first drop of rain). So I opted for a healthier addition. I picked up a green heirloom tomato and fresh cucumber to make little sandwiches. For dessert I got a cranberry orange roll from Iggy's. This is a very wallet friendly lunch:

$5 (with $1 off coupon) - Goat Cheese Picnic
$.50 - Fresh cucumber
$.50 - Heirloom tomato
$.90 - One of the first apples of the season
$.75 - cranberry pecan roll
Total for Farmer's Market Lunch: $7.65

A great way to support local farmers and get a delicious deal.

Here's a look at the inside of the tomato.