What's New

Having a year-round farmers market helps a great deal when you’re trying to eat locally.  We’re fortunate to have two great year-round farmers markets near us- the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market and the Saratoga Farmers’ Market.  Out of pure selfishness, we decided we’d like to have one even closer so I helped organize the Schenectady Greenmarket which opened in November 2008.  So you can see why I’m partial to the Schenectady Greenmarket.

We’ll be doing a weekly report on what’s available at the Schenectady Greenmarket.  It’ll be a little out of date since it will be last week’s report, but it’ll give you an idea of what’s available.

Market Report 6/21/09

The Schenectady Greenmarket has moved outdoors by City Hall at Franklin and Jay Streets. 

Strawberries are in season and they’re scrumptious!  Rhubarb season is winding down. I saw zucchini, summer squash, kale, sugar snap and shelling peas, beets, broccoli, garlic, carrots, spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, arugula, bok choy, swiss chard, broccoli rabe, green beans, turnips and radishes.  And of course, tomatoes, herbs, apples and cider.  There are also lots of bedding plants, both vegetable and flower, along with hanging baskets and fresh flowers.   

There’s a great selection of cheese including cheddar, Italian-style and goat along with milk, cream and eggs.  You’ll find maple syrup, honey, muesli cereal, jams, peanut butter, pesto and mustard to go with the wonderful breads and baked goods.  The meat vendors, selling beef, pork and chicken are still at the market.  There are also ready-to-eat foods, crafts to enjoy and wine and hard cider to sample.

Cheryl Nechamen

Rhubarb Bread
(courtesy of Mary Eberle, by way of Honest Weight Food Co-op)

1 cup soured milk (add 1 tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk, let sit 5 minutes) (Battenkill Creamery)
¾ cup brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg (Cooper's Ark Farm)
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups rhubarb, chopped (Cornell Farm)
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp butter

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease 2 loaf pans.  Mix soured milk, brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla.  In separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to wet, mix.  Add rhubarb and mix.  Pour into pans.  Mix sugar and butter with pastry cutter; sprinkle on top of batter.  Bake 50 minutes.  Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, remove from pans and cool on wire rack.

Makes 2 loaves.

A recipe to enjoy with all that asparagus:

Cheddar Cheese and Asparagus Quiche

1 pie crust for 9 inch pie, unbaked
1 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese (Palatine Valley Cheese)
1 bunch asparagus, cut into small pieces (Buhrmaster Farms)
1 cup chopped scallions (Native Farm)
1 tbsp butter
salt and black pepper to taste
dash of thyme
4 eggs (Cooper’s Ark Farm)
1 ½ cups milk (Battenkill Valley Creamery)
3 tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp dry mustard

Cover bottom of pie crust with grated cheese.  Saute asparagus and scallions in butter with salt, pepper and thyme, until asparagus is tender; add to cheese layer in pie crust. 

Make a custard by beating eggs, milk, flour, ¼ tsp salt and mustard together.  Pour custard over asparagus layer.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Bake at 375 degrees 40-45 minutes until knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wilted Spinach Salad

8 cups fresh spinach, torn (Migliorelli Farm)
¼ cup red onion, sliced
freshly ground black pepper
3 slices bacon (Sweet Tree Farm)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 hard-boiled egg, chopped (Cooper’s Ark Farm)

Place spinach in large bowl, add sliced red onion.  Sprinkle with black pepper.

Cut uncooked bacon into small pieces.  In large skillet, cook bacon until crisp.  Do not pour off drippings.  Stir in wine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and salt.  Remove from heat, add spinach.  Toss until well coated.  Place in serving dish, add chopped egg.  Serve immediately.  Serves 6.

In a nod to my husband’s Jewish heritage, here’s a recipe for potato knishes, basically mashed potato patties, mixed with onions and eggs and baked golden brown.

Potato Knishes

10-12 medium potatoes (about 5 lbs), cubed (Cornell Farm)
3-4 medium onions, chopped
3 eggs (Cooper’s Ark Farm)
½ cup unseasoned bread crumbs or matzah meal
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover the potatoes with water in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, simmer until tender.  Meanwhile, sauté the onions in the olive oil in a small skillet until tender.  Add the sautéed onions to the potatoes, mash with a potato masher.  Add the eggs and whip the potato, onion, egg mixture with a large spoon until creamy.  Mix in the bread crumbs or matzah meal; add salt and pepper.

To form the potato mixture into patties, wet hands with water and pat potato mixture (about 2 tbsp) into a patty.  Place patties on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake until patties are golden brown, 30-45 minutes.

This recipe makes about 40 knishes, which unless you absolutely love knishes, is a lot.  Luckily, knishes freeze well.  After baking until golden brown, let cool and store in the freezer in a sealed container.  Reheat at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Baked Ham with Honey-Mustard Glaze

1 smoked ham (Sweet Tree Farm)
6 cloves, whole
2 tbsp honey (Lloyd Spear Beekeeper)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard (Cascade Mountain Winery)

Mix together the honey and mustard, brush onto the ham.  Insert the cloves into the top of the ham.  Place the ham in a roasting pan, cover and bake in a 325 degree oven until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees, approximately 30 minutes/pound. 

Pastured meats tend to be leaner than what we’re used to in the supermarket.  Brushing the ham with a glaze helps seal in the juices.  Cover the pan and be careful not to overcook the ham so it doesn’t dry out.