Houston Farmers Markets

I visited the Bayou City Farmer’s Market last Saturday after a brief hiatus. I just haven’t been in much of a home cooking mood lately.

But, with the change in weather, I couldn’t resist going to the market to see what’s season. Fall is my favorite time to cook. Cabbages, greens, root veggies- I love it! The cold weather brings the best produce for some of my favorite comfort food.

I’ve been frequenting the local farmers markets for a while now. A lot has changed. We have some new venues and some old branches have closed locations.

The following is a list of where to find markets providing local produce and prepared foods. If any information is outdated or incomplete, please let me know in the comments!

If you aren’t in the Houston area, check out localharvest.org for farmers markets in your area.

Urban Harvest Farmers Market

Saturday 8 to 12

at Richmond and Eastside

Sundays 12 to 4 pm

at Discovery Green

Wednesday 10 am to 2 pm

at City Hall

Midtown Farmers Market

Saturday 8 to 12

at T'afia

Rice University Farmers Market

Tuesdays 3:30 to 7 pm

at Rice U's South Stadium Lot

Highland Village Farmers Market

Saturday 9 am to 1 pm

in the Highland Village

Urban Pickins Farmers Market

Sunday 11 am to 3 pm

at Wabash Feed on Washington Ave.

Canino’s Produce

Everyday 6am to 8:30

at 2520 Airline Dr.

Canino’s Produce is a mix of produce grow locally and stuff delivered by truck from all over the US and Mexico. Some local growers are set up behind the main building.

Cleaning Copper with Lemon and Salt

Recently at Blue Bird Circle Resale, I found the cutest copper coffee press. I’m guessing it works like an Italian style percolator. Coffee is loaded into the top metal sieve, hot water is poured through, and fresh coffee slowly drips into the cup below.

Of course, I don’t know because I haven’t tried it out yet. Instead, I’ve been enjoying this piece as decoration on a shelf.

When I bought it, the tarnish was a dull brown. Didn’t quite like that, so a quick scouring of the net yielded a cleaning method with ingredients I had on hand.

The method is pretty simple and safe: dip lemon wedges into salt and rub the wedges onto the copper piece. Rinse with water and dry.



Like magic (or some kind of chemistry trick), it took the tarnish right off.
At first, I was disconcerted with the weird pinkish cleaned copper. After giving it half an hour or so, the piece began to oxidize again and developed a warm patina. Much nicer.



A few pointers about this technique:

Keep soft, dry cloths around to wipe away the excess water from rinsing. Otherwise, you’ll be left with dark, streaky drip stains on the copper. Unless that’s the sort of rustic look you’re hoping to achieve.

Since lemons are pricey, it’s best to leave this technique for smaller pieces. The surface area of a lemon isn’t that big. So you have to go through a whole lot of lemons to clean something big, like a copper kettle.
But for the small stuff, this works in a pinch!

Herb Garden Spring Rolls

These spring rolls are the result of a glut of mint and thai basil. I can't seem to consume it fast enough!

I’ve let a few of my thai basil plants bloom. Most gardeners recommend pinching off the flowering heads of a basil plant. If the plant is allowed to flower, and subsequently go to seed, there’s usually a reduction in the quality of flavor from the leaves. I’ve noticed on that on some varieties, that it the overall flavor gets “soapy”. And sometimes, I don’t notice much taste difference at all.

I couldn’t resist the lovely lavender flowers and buds that thai basil produces. So this year, I held back on the pinching... to the delight of neighborhood bees.

These spring rolls are heavily inspired by the Simpler Summer Rolls from The Herbal Kitchen. This has been one of my go-to books for inspiration and recipes using fresh herbs. I've made quite a few changes to the original recipe. For the dipping sauce, I substituted similar ingredients that I keep on hand. Chicken has been added to the rolls to make them more of a main dish, along with reducing the amount of cilantro involved (Nick doesn't care for it.)

It was my first time wrapping spring rolls. I'd say I had about a 75% success rate. Some broke. Some were too floppy. But I managed a few good looking ones out of the batch. I consulted this great video for a wrapping demo. It wasn't too hard to wrap, so definitely give it a try!

Herb Garden Spring Rolls

Inspired by Simpler Summer Rolls from The Herbal Kitchen

Filling:
1 cup cooked chicken, sliced into thin strips
1/4 c. cilantro, coarsely chopped
1/2 c. spearmint, coarsely chopped
1/2 c. thai basil, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 c. iceberg lettuce, shredded
1/2 c. roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Twelve 9 inch rice paper rounds

Dipping sauce:
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. Thai fish sauce (it's milder than most Vietnamese ones)
2 tbsp agave nectar
1 thinly sliced green onion, white and green parts
Few drops of Sriracha sauce (to taste)
2 tbsp. or more of water (to taste)

Combine all ingredients for dipping sauce together in a small bowl. If the sauce is too strong, add water to taste.

Toss herbs and lettuce to combine.

Fill a shallow pan with warm tap water. Put four spring roll wrappers into the water, one at a time. Let soak for a couple of minutes. They should be soft and pliable when ready.

Lay one wrapper down on a clean, flat surface. Divide the herb mixture, chicken, and peanuts into thirds. Place a little chicken, greens and a sprinkling of peanuts in a long pile near the bottom on the wrapper (see video). Fold the right and left sides of the wrapper inward to and roll the ingredients up like a burrito. Do the same with the next three wrappers. Then repeat the whole soaking, filling, and rolling routine with the next two batches.
Serve with dipping sauce.

Makes 12 rolls.

Tips: Finding spring roll wrappers is pretty easy these days. I've seen them in most large grocery stores in the Asian / International aisle. They're usually stocked somewhere near the bottom of the shelf beside bags of rice. Your best bet for finding unusual types or sizes is a large Asian Supermarket.

Of Air conditioners and Field Peas

It’s been swelteringly hot in Houston. Temperatures in the 90’s with humidity that makes it feel like the 100’s. Most of us are avoiding any outside chores during the hottest parts of the day. That means you’ll see a lot of folk up at 6 am to mow the lawn. No socializing outdoors until way late in the evening.

Most of the time, we’re all hiding where ever we can find air conditioning.

I can’t imagine living here without A/C. And apparently, back in the day (circa 1830’s), citizens of the Republic of Texas had a difficult time dealing with the lack of it too. Houston was once the capital of Texas. But Sam Houston, the first governor, and the other officials didn’t care for the hot, swampy climate. The uncontrolled malarious mosquitoes and floods didn’t help much either. The capital was relocated to the drier, slightly milder climate of Austin.

Electric air conditioning didn’t show up in public buildings and businesses until the early 1900’s. Only in the 1950’s and on, did Houston and much of the South get affordable access to air conditioning in private homes. The result? It spurred huge economic and population growth. And it is a heck of a lot more livable in the summer.

So what does this have to do with field peas? Not much, really. Except to say, that when the season is this hot, it’s around time for these beans to be harvested. Nice trade off. “Field pea” refers to many varieties of beans that grow in the South (black beans, cowpeas, and more.) Their history is a whole discussion in itself (maybe for another post?).

If you see these at the farmer’s market, grab a bag. They’re easy to cook and, since they’re fresh, they require no overnight soaking. I used purple hulls in this recipe, but any variety works well.

Field Peas with Bacon and Onions

2 1/2 c. of fresh field peas, shelled and washed

1/3 c. chopped yellow onion

1 to 2 slices of thick bacon

Slice bacon into bite sized or 1/2" long pieces. In a large pan, lightly cook bacon under medium to low heat until it releases some fat and juices. Remove the bacon from the pot and keep the liquid.

Add the onions to the pot and saute for a few minutes until softened (I like to lightly caramelize them too).

Add the fresh peas and bacon to the pot. Add enough water to cover the peas. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for around 35 to 45 minutes, checking the peas near the end for doneness (should be tender and mash easily). For the last 10 minutes or so of cooking you can remove the cover and let the liquid reduce a little. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with cornbread.

Serves about 2 or 3.

Tri-color Potato Salad

Potato salad: whether it's made with vinegar or mayo, I have a hard time not consuming at least a pound of it at a time. I'll shamelessly go back for seconds (maybe sneak some thirds too) whenever I can find it homemade. Truth be told, I sometimes grab a tub of the ready made stuff found in grocery delis. Yeah, it's usually too tangy and has a weird aftertaste (mmm, preservatives?). But, hey, it's potato salad and I love it.




Fresh new potatoes are one of my favorite multi-season crops in the area. For this old fashioned potato salad, I used a mix of red, yellow and purple potatoes found at the Farmer's Market. Since they all varied in size, I pre-cut them into bite sized portions before boiling. I usually like to boil the potatoes whole. But, since the size difference was so dramatic, I figured it was better to have them cut to the same size. To keep them from disintegrating too while cooking, I stole a boil and steam technique from Ina Garten. Worked like a charm and produced a less mushy potato chunk.

Don't forget to taste as you go and adjust seasonings as necessary. A good way to play with any potato salad recipe would be to change the type of mayo (like garlic flavored, olive oil based, etc), mustard, or switch out the onions with chives. Go crazy with it.

Tri Color Potato Salad

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. mix of small red, yellow, and purple potatoes
1/2 c. Mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. minced onions
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tsp yellow mustard (for a little color)
Salt and people to taste

Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces. In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. GENTLY with a slotted spoon, add potatoes to pot, being careful not to splash boiling water on yourself.

After the pot returns to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle bubbling so the potatoes don't bang up against each other. This is to prevent the pre-cut pieces from disintegrating too much in the pot.

Gently boil for 6 to 10 minutes or until not-quite done. Transfer potatoes to a steamer with a lid. Sprinkle the potatoes with vinegar and steam for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

In a large mixing bowl, add onions, mustard, and mayo. Add the cooked potatoes to the mixture. Gently fold everything together. Adjust mustard and mayonnaise to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 4 as a big heaping side dish.

In Season: Fresh Figs

The fig tree beside my garage apartment... it teases me. Everyday I walk by it's lush green foliage. In the summer, the tree produces a plethora of tiny green fruits. Tiny, green, perpetually unripe fruit. I wait for their skin to darken. But, at some point, the birds will descend. They'll be hardly any trace of them left, save for one or two strays under a leaf. I'm left with the nagging feeling that if I could protect them, I would eventually have delicious plump figs.

I've since discovered that some varieties of our localized figs never ripen. Also, neglecting to fertilize and water the trees on a regular basis can contribute to immature fruit.

So to stay at my current, comfortable level of plant neglect, I'm going to go with the theory that the garage apartment's fig tree just isn't able to bare ripened fruit. Because otherwise it's gorgeous and appears to be healthy. You know, too pretty and healthy to need anymore attention from me! Luckily, it's July and I can get fresh purple figs from the farmers market. I usually buy them from Gunderman Farms since they tend to have the biggest and plumpest. This year I've seen smaller LSU purple figs from other vendors. I bet they're tasty too.

The following is a classic way to serve figs as an appetizer or dessert. It's so easy I'm sort of embarrassed to present it as a recipe. Since it's so fast and non-fussy it's a great, elegant extra for any night of the week.

I think the savoriness of blue cheese would make this a great appetizer . Otherwise, I serve it as a dessert using plain goat cheese. My tip for for Houstonians: use Blue Heron Farm's Perfectly Plain Chevre with local honey drizzled on top. Beautiful.


Fresh Figs with Soft Cheese

4-6 large fresh figs cut in half long ways
Small log of goat cheese or a small wedge of blue cheese
Honey to drizzle

Prepare figs on a plate with cut side facing up. On each fig, add a dollop of cheese. Drizzle with honey. Serves 4 as a light dessert / appetizer