BostonZest

How About a Different Apple-a-Day While Local Apples Are In Season?

As you may have noticed, we've been enjoying an apple-a-day as part of our afternoon pick-me-up snack.

(For more on this, see our post, Fruit Plates Are Our Favorite Afternoon Snacks.)

With the first of the season local apples appearing at farmers markets and farm stands, we are trying to add apple varieties to our daily fare.

The Zestar Is New to Us

Meet the Zestar, a relatively new early variety we picked up from Foppema's Farm at the Copley Square farmers market. The farm describes it as, "crisp, sweet, & tangy." It was a hit with Penny because she likes tart apples. Ed loves sweet, but while it was not as honeyed as he likes, he did admit it was, "... not tart enough to make you pucker."  

Here it is sliced and ready to eat. This variety seems to brown rather quickly so cutting it in this manner, keeping the pieces together with the cut side down on the plate, will protect the cut surfaces of the largest segments.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Julia Child Said You Should Make “... Good Food From Fresh Ingredients.”

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.” Julia Child

This plate of fresh goodness only required a little scrubbing, slicing, and seasoning to become a supper for two on Sunday evening. With a plate of good bread off to the side, we were both happy.

That meal began with a basket full of fresh organic produce from the Copley Farmers Market. For information on area farmers markets, we have a post we're keeping updated. 

Boston Area Spring-to-Fall Farmers Market Opening Dates

On Monday we added some of those goodies to a beautiful gazpacho. We try to shop with care – buy what we can use up while it's at its best, reduce the amount of food we waste, and get the best value out of our food dollars.

We think Julia would approve of our food philosophy. 

Related Post:

Garnish Gazpacho with Avocado Like Panificio Does!

About Photo Tales & Quotes: We keep hearing that people miss our cover photos that ran for years in the Back Bay Sun. That assignment was to provide a photo that showed what the week was like in the neighborhood. Often the photos illustrated favorite quotations. Photo Tales & Quotes is an occasional offering to our BostonZest readers featuring photos along the same theme but taken wherever we happen to be.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Penny Cherubino  

Related articles

Where to Recycle Eyeglasses in Boston - Updating a Reader Favorite

Pecorino Caggiano From Formaggio Kitchen South End - BostonZest

Boston Area Spring-to-Fall Farmers Market Opening Dates

Pull out your calendars and mark the dates when you can go and see our Boston area farmers market friends at their outdoor spots. These dates are for the 2017 spring-to-fall season. This will now be a permanent resource page on this topic so bookmark it and come back when you need the information and we'll update it as we have new information.

First, The News!

With the Boston Public Market (100 Hanover Street) established as a permanent, indoor, year-round stop for shoppers to support local food growers and producers, the Boston Public Market Association will not be running a seasonal farmers market along the Greenway adjacent to their indoor location this year. They will focus on supporting the vendors at the BPM and their Dewey Square farmers market location.

Again this year there will be a second day for the South End/SoWa Farmers Market on Harrison Avenue. You can shop for local food at this popular venue on both Saturdays and Sundays. Neighbors have expressed concerns about the popularity of this market and the second day of the market was in question for a short time.

As shoppers we can help with this situation by being considerate of the market neighbors. If you can walk to the market, please do so. The Silver Line runs nearby Harrison Avenue so the MBTA should be your second choice. If you do come by car, be aware that traffic and parking are difficult not only for you, but also for the folks who live there. This same is true of any farmers market you visit.

May Markets

Boston Public Market: Open daily, year-round 

South End/SoWa Open Market: April 29th (Saturdays & Sundays)

Egleston Jamaica Plain: May 6th (Saturdays)

Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): May 7th (Saturdays) 

Copley Square: May 12th (Tuesdays & Fridays)

Union Square, Somerville: May 13th (Saturdays)

Central Square, Cambridge: May 15th (Mondays)

South Station/Dewey Square: May 16th (Tuesdays & Thursdays)

Davis Square, Somerville: May 17th (Wednesdays)

Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): May 17th (Wednesdays)

June Markets

Brookline/Coolidge Corner: June 1st (Thursdays)

Roslindale: June 3rd (Saturdays) 

Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge: June 6th (Tuesdays) (no market 7/4, 8/22 & 29, 10/24)

Oak Square, Brighton: June 7th (Wednesdays) 

Dorchester/Ashmont/Peabody Square: June 23rd (Fridays)

Allston/Harvard Farmers Market: June (Fridays) (Not confirmed)

Allston Village, 500 Cambridge St: June (Saturdays) (Not confirmed)

Cambridgeport: June (Saturdays) (Not confirmed)

Boston Medical Center Shapiro Lobby, 840 Harrison Avenue: June (Thursdays)

Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle: Mid-June (Thursdays) 

July Markets

 Charlestown: Thompson Square at Main & Austin Street: July (Wednesdays)

 East Boston/Central Square 209 Summer Street: July (Wednesdays)

If you have confirmed dates for your favorite farmers market, please tell us in a comment or send us an email and we'll add it as an update to this post.

We use and highly recommend a Rolser Shopping Trolley for your farmers market visits. It stands on its own and can haul your purchases over city sidewalks without a problem.

See our review of The Boston Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes. It's full of chefs, farmers, and food producers you know, and we highly recommend it. Remember, always click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

    

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Penny Cherubino  

Bountiful Selection at Early Season Farmers Markets

These days you'll find much more than seedlings and a few greens at the first farmers markets of the season.

Just look at what we bought on opening day of the Copley Square Farmers Market!

Clockwise we have scallops and shrimp from Red's Best; white rye bread from Iggy's; almond butter from Fastachi; apples from Stillman's Farm; radishes and asparagus from The Kitchen Garden Farm; plus carrots, cucumbers, and greens purchased with our Atlas Farm market share.

We could have bought a lot more but our backpacks were full and we'll be visiting the market again on Friday. 

Stillman's Farm stand at the Boston Public Market supplied shoppers with fruit and vegetables over the winter months.

Thanks to Year-Round Markets

Part of the reason we have more early season offerings is the support that shoppers have given to year-round farmers markets and the Boston Public Market. 

Having someplace to sell crops has encouraged investments in cold weather farming infrastructures such as hoop houses and greenhouses.

Photo © 2016 by Halley Terry Stillman, used with permission.

Farmers can also store produce under ideal conditions resulting in crisp, crunchy apples like the Honeycrisps we bought from Stillman's Farm or the sweet spring parsnips that inspired Gordon Hamersley's parsnip soup recipe in the Boston Globe this week.

New Additions to the Market

Early season markets are also good places to get to know new vendors like Caroline from Kitchen Garden Farms who will be at Copley on Tuesdays. We not only added their radishes and asparagus to our shopping bags, we also sampled the Sriracha sauces (regular and habanero) they make with their own peppers. We'll put those on a future shopping list. 

Take advantage of these May market days and visit Copley today or Friday. If not Copley, stop by another local market. Here's our List of the Opening Days of Boston area Farmers Markets.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

 

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino except as noted the one of the Copley Square Stillman's stand is by Halley Terry Stillman.

Market Report: Boston Area Spring to Fall Farmers Market Opening Dates 2016

Pull out your calendars and mark the dates when you can go and see our Boston area farmers market friends at their outdoor spots. Our Friday Links today will take you to your favorite markets for the 2016 spring to fall season.

On the day I took this photo, I learned that the Stillman stand at the Boston Public Market would be expanding around the corner!

First, The News!

This year there will be a second day for the South End/SoWa Farmers Market on Harrison Avenue. You can shop for local food at this popular venue on both Saturdays and Sundays this season.

The Boston Public Market now serves Bostonians as their primary year-round farmers market. Beginning on July 18th, this local food marketplace will be open 7 days a week – an increase from the current 5 days.

Here are the opening dates for some of our favorite markets. The links are to maps of the locations:

May Markets

• Boston Public Market: Wednesdays through Sundays year-round increasing to daily beginning July 18th

• South End/SoWa Open Market: May 1st (Saturdays & Sundays)

• Egleston Jamaica Plain: May 7th (Saturdays)

• Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): May 7th (Saturdays) (June 14th Tuesdays)

• Copley Square: May 10th (Tuesdays and Fridays)

• Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): May 11th (Wednesdays)

• Union Square, Somerville: May 14th (Saturdays)

• Boston Public Market on the Greenway: May 18th (Wednesdays)

• Central Square, Cambridge: May 16th (Mondays)

• South Station/Dewey Square: May 17th (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

• Davis Square, Somerville: May 18th (Wednesdays)

• Cambridge/Charles Square: May (Sundays), June (Fridays) (Unconfirmed)

June Markets

• Oak Square, Brighton: June 1st (Wednesdays) New Market updated 05.19.16

• Roslindale: June 4th (Saturdays) 

• Harvard University Farmers Market: Cambridge: June 7th (Tuesdays)

• Brookline/Coolidge Corner: June 18th (Thursdays)

• Dorchester/Ashmont/Peabody Square: June 24th (Fridays)

• Allston/Harvard Farmers Market: June (Fridays) (Not confirmed)

• Allston Village, 500 Cambridge St: June (Saturdays) (Not confirmed)

• Cambridgeport: June (Saturdays) (Not confirmed)

• Boston Medical Center Shapiro Lobby, 840 Harrison Avenue (Thursdays) June

• Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle: Mid-June (Thursdays) (Not confirmed)

July Markets

• Charlestown: Thompson Square at Main & Austin Street, July (Wednesdays)

• East Boston/Central Square 209 Summer Street: July 6th (Wednesdays)

September Market

• Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Avenue, (Thursdays) September. 

If you have confirmed dates for your favorite farmers market, please tell us in a comment or send us an email and we'll add it as an update to this post.

We use and highly recommend a Rolser Shopping Trolley for your farmers market visits. It stands on its own and can haul your purchases over city sidewalks without a problem.

See our review of The Boston Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes. It's full of chefs, farmers, and food producers you know, and we highly recommend it. Remember, always click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

    

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny Cherubino  

Sausages for Sunday Gravy from DePasquale's Sausage Company in Newton

It's been awhile since I made a big pot of Sunday gravy. So when a friend gifted me with a package of sausages from DePasquale's Sausage Company in Newton, I knew exactly what to do with them.

This was a simplified version of the Sunday specialty enjoyed in Italian American homes throughout the years. I added a bit of beef to the pot but did not take the time to make my special meatballs. (My favorite recipe for meatballs is from the 1975 edition of the The All New All Purpose: Joy of Cooking.)

 

I couldn't wait to taste the sausage. As soon as it was cooked through, I sliced into one and found it had the texture and flavor of a great handmade, old-style, traditional sweet sausage. I had finally found a replacement for the sausages I've missed since DiPaolo & Rossi Meat Market on Salem Street in the North End closed last year. 

Both Ed and I sampled and dipped bread into the sauce as it simmered away all afternoon. Eventually, we served it with penne pasta. A great sauce needs a great, flavorful pasta. We chose the Bionaturae organic 100% durum semolina organic penne rigate.

DePasquale Tip: 

They are closed on Sunday and Monday. On a recent visit early on a Tuesday morning, they didn't have sausages ready yet. In fact, their meat order had not even arrived. When they say fresh, they mean fresh! My advice is to call ahead early in the week or later on Saturday to be sure they have what you want in the quantity you need. 

Sunday Gravy Recipes

I've been making this for so long that I don't follow a recipe. I just ad lib with what I have on hand. While there are as many recipes for "Sunday Gravy" as there are families who make it, here are a couple if you would rather follow a recipe than play it by ear.

From one of my most trusted recipe developers, Kenji Lopez-Alt (Author of The Food Lab): Meet Ragù Napoletano, Neapolitan-Style Italian Meat Sauce With Pork, Beef, and Sausage.

Here's one titled Sunday Sauce with step-by-step photos and the feeling of a family member teaching you how to make it.

Finally, here's a great piece from Bon Appetit that tells you how to avoid the most common Sunday Gravy mistakes.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny Cherubino and a screen shot from DePasquale's website to show the sausage in all their whole glory.

Related articles

Mussels Are Sustainable, Easy to Cook, and Fun to Flavor

Trader Joe's Pane Guttiau (Sardinian Parchment Crackers) Are a Hit!

Thanks to Friends Who Make Marmalade and Share!

2015-2016 Winter Farmers Market Schedule Around Boston

The open air farmers market season is over and it's time for us to start our list of the 2015-2016 Winter Farmers Markets in the Boston area. We'll add to this list as we discover more markets opening.

Stillman's Farm and  Stillman Quality Meats will both be at the Boston Public Market.

Boston Public Market

This will be the first year-round season for the new Boston Public Market. Here, you’ll find farmers, craft brewers, cheesemakers, local meat and seafood vendors, bakeries and artisan food producers.

Brookline Winter Farmers' Market 

Winter Indoor Farmers Markets Around Boston 

Updated 01/08/15

Check the links to confirm details on these markets before you set out on your shopping trip.

Boston Public Market , 100 Hanover Street at Haymarket Station, Wednesday–Sunday 8:00am–8:00pm (year round)

Boston/Egleston Winter Farmers Market, Urbano Project, 29 Germania St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (map) Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, (Mid-November thru February)

Brookline Winter Farmers Market at The Arcade Building, 318 Harvard Street, (map) Sundays
11:00 am to 3:00 pm (November thru April)

Newton Winter Farmers Market, 250 Albemarle Rd, Newton, MA 02461(map) Saturdays, 10:00 am - Noon (November and December) 

Somerville Winter Farmers Market, 191 Highland Avenue, (map) Saturdays, 9:30 am to 2:00 pm (December thru March)

Cambridge Winter Farmers Market, 5 Callender Street, (map) Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (January 9th - April 30th)

Dorchester/Carney Hospital Year Round and Winter Farmers Market, 2100 Dorchester Ave. Seton Building Entrance (map) Wednesdays  8:00am - 12:00pm (year-round)

Dorchester/Codman Square Winter Farmers Market, 6 Norfolk Street, Dorchester, in the Great Hall (map) Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm (January 9th to March 19th)

Chelmsford Agway Winter Farmers Market, 24 Maple Road, Chelmsford, MA (map) Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (November 7th - February 27th) Thanks to the reader who sent this one our way. 

Roslindale Winter Farmers Market, 30 Birch Street, Roslindale, MA (map) Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (January thru March). 

 

Destination Markets Worth the Trip

Wayland/Russell's Garden Center Winter Farmers Market - 2016, 397 Boston Post Road, Rte 20 (map) Saturdays, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm (January 9th – March 12th)

Newburyport Winter Farmers Market, Tannery Marketplace, 50 Water Street (map)
Sundays 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, Dec. 6 & 13 - 2015, Jan. 17 & 31, Feb. 7 & 21, March 6 & 20, April 3 & 17, 2016

Do you have a favorite place to shop for local foods in winter? Let us know!

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a Holiday Gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

 Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny & Ed Cherubino