BostonZest

Sage Season Primer: Fresh vs Dry and Rubbed Sage vs Ground Sage

When I think of bread stuffing for poultry, I think of sage.

With temperatures dipping this week, I went to the roof and gathered a collection of herbs from our community herb garden. 

Sage is always one of the herbs I pop into a small jar by my sink to use fresh. And, when the end of the garden season arrives, I pick what remains to dry for use over the winter. 

I was reading this post over at Leite's Culinaria on homemade breakfast sausage when I noticed the note in the ingredient list, "7 tablespoons rubbed sage (do not substitute ground sage)." 

Since I seldom use any sage other than that which I have dried and crushed myself, I did some research.

According to Ask Betty Crocker, "Ground sage is made by grinding the entire leaf into a fine powder like any powdered herb. Rubbed sage is made by rubbing dried whole sage leaves to create a light and fluffy mix. Rubbed sage is lighter and less concentrated so a teaspoon of rubbed sage will be less intense than a teaspoon of ground sage."

It's a lesson learned, one I pass along to you. Be careful which form of dried sage you buy for your holiday meal. And, by the way, if you use dried sage, use about half as much as you would use of the fresh herb.

If you have a sage plant, you can try to keep it going inside or you can pluck the leaves, spread them on a tray, and let them dry. I usually have fresh parsley all year round but soon I'll also have a lyrical supply of sage, rosemary, and thyme.

Favorite uses for sage!

That sausage recipe sounds wonderful and I may make a big batch of that next time I have my meat grinder going. Here are a few more recipes using sage from Leite's Culinaria.

I also love brown butter with sage added as a sauce for pasta, especially ravioli.

Here's a great bread stuffing recipe that will make the cut for my holiday table.

How about roasted root vegetable with garlic sage butter?

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny Cherubino 

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Simple Spring Supper: Asparagus & Eggs

Tip on Rotating Your Eggs with Links to our Other Eggy Posts

Boiling a batch of eggs is a regular assignment for my favorite little cooking pot. I use Jacques Pépin's egg boiling method. (You can see it in this video at the 1:30 location.) The pot lets me boil the water and then gently lower the eggs into it in their little basket. 

We do a constant rotation of our egg supply. New eggs come in and the older ones are hard boiled. We find that hard boiled eggs are used up quickly around here. In fact, when we are facing a busy week, we may boil a dozen eggs to be sure we have material for quick meals.

We follow all of Jacque's directions if we are going to use the eggs right way. But, most of the time, we stop the cooking by replacing the boiling water with ice water and putting the whole, unpeeled eggs back into the pot.

Then we put them back into their carton marked as "hard boiled."

Links to our other Eggy Posts:

Click on the caption to go to the post!

Egg & Cauliflower Curry

Simple Spring Supper: Asparagus & Eggs

Eggs Overboard! A Rescue Plan

No Mayo Potato Salads (with eggs)

Breakfast for Supper on a Piece of Toast

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

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2008-2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

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Pick Up Your Fall 2016 Edible Boston and the New To Market Publication

My preview copy of Edible Boston's fall 2016 issue arrived with a copy of the brand new publication from the Edible team, To Market. 

  

I recommend that you pick up both of these great sources of information and intelligent writing on the local food scene. 

Publisher Ilene Bezahler explained the scope of her new venture in a press release. "To Market will take a regional approach to local food but with the added impact of tackling policy issues, exploring trends across state lines and how the New England states interact to form a vibrant regional food economy."

One great example in the current issue is the article, Craft Cider Is the Next Craft Beer. Who knew there were 72 cideries in New England? And, as one who does love craft cider, it was a pleasure to learn more about its history and clip the page to keep the list of a few local ciders that I should try.

Ilene indicated that Edible Boston would continue to focus on seasonal, local food but will be able to shift more towards foods grown, prepared, and preserved in Boston area homes.  

In the fall issue, Andrea Pyenson's article, Soup course with Governor Michael Dukakis, shows us the food and nurturing side of a man we admire for so many non-food reasons. 

Edible Boston is a local business, too.

And they can also use your support. Here's what I always say about that.

How do you support a publisher like Ilene Bezahler and her remarkably talented team?

Here's where you can pick up a copy.

May I suggest that you let their sponsors know you saw them in the magazine and grab an extra copy and get it to someone else who cares about supporting the local food movement. Also, if you have a blog, twitter account, or facebook page, write about them, link to them, follow them, retweet their tweets, like them on Facebook, and in general, spread the word about this great asset to our community.

And, to be sure you never miss an issue, you can subscribe over on their website!

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Artwork: Courtesy of Edible Boston Photos by the extremely talented Michael Piazza

 

Farmers Markets Still Going Strong! Some Remain Open Until Thanksgiving

Are you still making weekly or bi-weekly stops at your favorite farmers markets? If not, why not? In addition to more local food options, we now have longer seasons to enjoy the fruits of local farm labor.

While some markets close down earlier, at locations like Copley Square, farmers will be hauling great food onto their market stands and setting up for sales until Thanksgiving.

If you are someone who thinks that seasonal markets end after Labor Day, thankfully they don’t. Many Boston-area outdoor markets remain open into October and a few operate until Thanksgiving. Fall is a season of abundance at your favorite farmers market.

Autumn is also a great time to take a longer walk, a bus or subway ride, or even a drive to visit a different farmers market or a nearby farm stand.

 

Stocking Up

This is the time of year when I stock up on my favorite winter pantry items such as jams, preserves, honey, syrups, and pickles from vendors I may not see over the winter. It’s easier to carry home one or two items a week than to try to do it all in November.

If you miss out on doing this, be sure to check the Boston Public Market. I’ve seen some of my favorite pantry staples available in the area around the Siena Farm Stand. Now I don’t have to worry about running out of Old Friends Farm Ginger Syrup, Kitchen Garden Sriracha Sauce, or Raspberry Infusion Sweet Vinegar from Silferleaf Farm. You’ll also find local honey and other bee-related products at the market’s Boston Honey Company stand. These products make wonderful holiday gifts, hostess gifts, and local surprises when you visit friends in distant places.

Farmers markets that are still open with their closing dates:

East Boston/Central Square: October 19th (Wednesdays)
Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 26th (Wednesdays)
Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle: October 27th (Thursdays)
Charlestown: October 26th (Wednesdays)
South End/SOWA: October 30th (Sundays)
Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): November 5th (Saturdays & Tuesdays)
Brookline/Coolidge Corner: November 17th (Thursdays)
Union Square, Somerville: November 19th (Saturdays)
Roslindale/Adams Park: November 19th (Saturdays)
Central Square, Cambridge: November 21st (Mondays)
Copley Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Fridays)
Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge: November 22nd (Tuesdays)
South Station/Dewey Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Davis Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Wednesdays)
Boston Public Market, North End: Year-Round (7 days a week)

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

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

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'Tis The Season to Make Caponata

Caponata, Capunata, Capunatina, however you spell it, each cook has his or her own version. 

Some refer to it as a sweet & sour version of ratatouille. Most recipes call for the best of this harvest season. After all, this relish was made to preserve the food for the winter months.

Eggplant is the main ingredient. Tomato, onion, vinegar, garlic, raisins, olives, pine nuts, capers, and olive oil seem pretty standard. Then come individual additions that vary by cook, region, or family. These include fennel, peppers, celery, and zucchini to name a few.

The cook’s choice of seasonings might include red pepper flakes, anchovies, sugar, oregano, mint, or basil. In other words, thrifty cooks made this from whatever the garden or market had in abundance on a given day.

History of Caponata

Like many Mediterranean foods, this Sicilian antipasto relish with its sweet and sour base, dried fruit, and pine nuts probably has its origins in the Middle East.

Food historian Clifford Wright traces it back to a food served on sailing vessels. The vinegar was a preservative and he notes that a version of it was served as a mariner’s breakfast.

On his website, Wright cites Sicilian food authority Pino Correnti who, “... believes that the dish is derived from the Catalan word caponata, meaning a similar kind of relish, and says it first appears in a Sicilian etymology of 1709.”

My Caponata

My version is lighter than most. I brush the eggplant with olive oil and roast or grill it, instead of frying, and sauté the other vegetable in a minimum amount of oil. I also use what’s on hand rather than follow a strict recipe.

I cook the ingredients separately (using my favorite pan) and mix them later. This lets me ensure each vegetable is cooked properly and that nothing gets too mushy. I like my caponata a bit al dente.

Recipes

Here are a few recipes for those of you who prefer to follow one.

Here's Clifford Wright's Caponata recipe

Sicilian Eggplant Caponata from Eating Well

Epicurious Classic Caponata with comments

Canning Caution

I mentioned preserving this for the winter season. With that, the question of a water bath or pressure canning comes up. Since I’m not an expert on preserving, I would give a nod to the advice of Eugenia Bone, author of the book Well-Preserved. She writes, “If you have ANY doubts about the pH of your recipe, then pressure can.”

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Words: Penny Cherubino (Adapted for BostonZest from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

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Cutting Celery, Chinese Celery, Smallage, Par-Cel, Have You Tried It?

A few weeks ago, after asking Halley Stillman at the Copley Farmers Market Stillman's Farm stand why so few local farms grew celery, she offered to bring in some of the cutting celery they were trying out back on the farm.

The next week, she had it on the stand. I bought it, popped it into a vase of cold water by my kitchen sink to refresh it, and proceeded to add it to a variety of salads, pasta dishes, and other recipes where I might have used celery or parsley. Each morning, I changed the water, washed down the stems, and continued to clip away at my bunch.

A week later, I was pleased to report to Halley that I loved this product and would be a customer for cutting celery – if it became a regular offering.

Reporting back to local vendors is important. While some of these experiments may never make it to the mainstream, others will, if they make good business sense for the farmers.

Here it played a supporting role in a Sicilian Cauliflower Salad. It is much stronger in flavor than celery and I learned that the strength of the flavor can vary from bunch-to-bunch.

In her book, Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes, Jennifer McLagan explained that in 15th Century Italy growers began to reduce the bitterness of wild celery and this has continued until it resulted in the blanched stalks we know today.

Cutting celery, on the other hand, still has that strong flavor. It also has hollow stems and was sometimes use as we use straws.

One of my favorite food writers Deborah Madison in Vegetable Literacy had a great approach for those new to the powerful flavoring agent. 

"When using the stalks or the leaves of cutting celery, such as Chinese celery or Par-Cel, taste them to judge their strength. Start small and add more, as if it were chile."

If you have a home garden, you should think about adding this to your herb patch. It's widely used as an herb by Asian and European cooks. 

 

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2016 Penny Cherubino  

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Do You Have a Great Farmers Market Plan & Kit? Tools We Use & Love!

Today's "Friday Link" post will take you to some of our favorite farmers market toolkit items.

Bring Cash

Ones, fives, tens, and quarters. The farmers will love you, and you'll shop faster! Each year, more stands take credit cards, but they tend to be the ones with higher priced items like meat and specialty foods. And, cash is fast, a bonus for you and your fellow shoppers.

My farmers market cash comes with me in a special accordion credit card wallet. Ones are on one side, fives on the other, with tens and twenties in the card slots. For ease in recognizing denominations, tens are folded in fourths and twenties in thirds. Change is in its separate compartment and my "Market Share" cards are in the outside window. 

Bring Bags and Containers 

Also bring what you'll need to tote your fresh food home. For example, I bring plastic containers for berries and cherry tomatoes. It ensures they arrive home in perfect condition. 

We love the Sterilite Ultra-Seal Food Storage Containers for transporting food home in our backpacks. They are strong, the seal is tight, they don't leak, and they are lightweight. We prefer glass for long term storage or for any hot food, but these plastic ones are perfect for protecting fragile items. 

Remember, a local farmer doesn't grow and pick fruit and vegetables to make them perfect for shipping, they grow and pick them to make them perfectly delicious. You also save the farm the expense of the bags and baskets and help the environment.

 

Keep it Cold 

Bring an ice pack or a small cooler. It can hold all your shopping or just perishables like meat, fish, cheese, and eggs. We have a few favorite items for this task. The Arctic Zone Ultra High-Performance Expandable Double Capacity Lunch Pack is perfect for a fish or meat purchase.

 

We recently discovered and adore these ice sheets. You can wrap this around a product or lay it on top of a bag of items that need refrigeration. 

Carry with Ease

We walk to markets and have always used backpacks to lug things home. This season, we decided we needed lighter versions for visits to farmers markets, since we now buy a wider selection of products there than in years past. 

For marketing, we are using two of these lightweight Outlander backpacks. Penny likes hers so much that you'll often see her wearing it this summer. Many times, she has the second one tucked inside so, if the day brings on serendipitous shopping, Ed can share the load.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013-2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino  

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