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Farmer’s Market Throwdown yields our best fresh summer meal ever
by Pam Soreide, Betty Sayers and Phil Soreide

As regular readers know, the Rural Foodies usually visit a restaurant – some of them pretty off the wall and out of the way – in search of something to pique our culinary interest. But the essence of our mutual attraction is not restaurants, but food, and for people who like to eat, a farmer’s market in August is practically sensory overload.

Farmer’s markets draw in foodies like rabbits to clover. We like to stroll among the tables and canopies sipping a cool drink, listening to a musician playing familiar country tunes to a small crowd gathered on lawn chairs and perched on picnic tables. We like to admire the tomatoes, leeks, green beans, sweet onions, free range chickens, piles of corn, fresh eggs, cucumbers, breads, cakes, pies, jams, cantaloupe, watermelon, fruits, nuts and honey — and that’s not a fraction of what’s there — all handmade or locally grown and good for the body and soul. In addition to an array of fresh produce that puts even fancy supermarkets in big cities to shame, at our famer’s market in Holdrege, people come specifically for the barbecue and Mexican food on Thursday afternoons, served by entrepreneurs who clearly have the talent, but perhaps not yet the resources for a permanent restaurant.

If you’re into food, a farmer’s market is the place to be in summer.

A Farmer’s Market Throwdown     

On the Food Network, a “throwdown” is a culinary challenge. And although that seems kind of an aggressive term among mild-mannered cooks such as ourselves, this month the Rural Foodies issued a throwdown to a few friends — bring us your best dish that originated at the farmer’s market, and we’ll see who really has the “fresh-and-local” chops.

To make it a bit more of a challenge, the event would be a picnic at Johnson Lake, so that meant nothing cooked onsite. And while that did leave out the possibility of roasted ears of corn on the cob and skewers of fresh grilled vegetables, we were fairly confident our friends would be up to the challenge.

We weren’t disappointed.

Is this great or what?

As we dropped our burdens of coolers and casseroles, the expansive view of the lake and the dappled sunlight under the canopy of trees allowed us to take a deep breath and drop the burdens of the day as well. A light breeze dimpled the calm waters, slowly propelling two sailboats midway across the lake while jet skis and motorboats towing skiers threw up sheets of water to sparkle in the sun.

While we waited for everyone to arrive, Shirley assembled fresh bruschetta on rounds of toasted baguette. This is a nice dish even with store-bought tomatoes, but when made with tomatoes that were probably still on the vine yesterday, it is exquisite. Some of us could have stopped right there and called the adventure a success.

We spread our tablecloths and unpacked our offerings. On the menu: Southwest black bean salad, eggplant Nicoise, kohlrabi slaw, green beans with tarragon, sprouted wheat bread, shredded pork barbecue, and rhubarb pie. Not bad! Off the top of our heads, we couldn’t think of a restaurant anywhere close that we could do better.

Hog heaven

Our famer’s market has a BBQ booth run by a couple of local men that call themselves Que32 BBQ and Catering. As they packaged our order, they joked that the reason they had a booth at the farmer’s market was to find out if anyone besides their families thought their barbeque was OK. It was more than just OK, believe me…tender shredded pork infused with smoke, and a topping of homemade sweet and spicy sauce that came in a small canning jar. Ordinarily, we might have barbecued pork on a bun, but tonight we tried it on a slice of fresh sprouted wheat bread, and wondered why we didn’t eat it that way all the time.

The refreshing Southwest black bean salad included fresh tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and scallion along with black beans and pearl barley in nothing but lime juice and herbs. Simple, light and summery.

The eggplant Nicoise was composed of thinly-sliced eggplant layered with sweet onions and a dusting of parmesan cheese, then topped with a homemade tomato sauce. It was chewy and delicious, with an almost meat-like texture.

The tarragon green beans were a perfect example of simple, fresh farmer’s market fare: fresh green beans, fresh tarragon, a little bacon, and a dressing made from sugar, oil, white wine vinegar and bacon grease. To die for.

Now a kohlrabi (also known as German turnip) is a strange little vegetable, with a squat round form and a taste and texture similar to broccoli stem or cabbage heart. You almost never see one in the store. For this occasion, it was mixed with cabbage, toasted sesame seeds and almonds, a sweetened oil dressing and for a little extra crunch, chicken-flavored ramen noodles. Sounds peculiar? You should have been there.    

All this and rhubarb pie too?

We were lucky there was still someone selling rhubarb this late in the season, because rhubarb pie is one of our very favorites. Made from a treasured family recipe, the baker told us the secret to a fruit pie that holds its shape but doesn’t end up tasting starchy is to use a few tablespoons of quick tapioca mixed with the sugar for the thickening agent. The fresh sweet-tart flavor of the fruit shines right through. Spreading soft butter on the top crust and sprinkling it generously with sugar to create a crunchy top layer doesn’t hurt either.

As we consumed our pie — wishing someone had had the foresight to bring a thermos of coffee — the topic of food flowed naturally into the conversation. We talked about learning to cook and about our favorite summer foods — corn dripping with butter and sweet as candy, sliced tomatoes, strawberries sliced atop hot split biscuits, soaked red with juice and cloaked with whipped cream. Someone mentioned a current experiment in making plum jelly without pectin, receiving advice from around the table, and when someone else said we’d have to start locking our doors because zucchini were in season, we all laughed knowingly, having heard — or lived — stories of finding bags of zucchini on porches or in the back seats of cars left unlocked.

In all, we deemed our Farmer’s Market Throwdown a big success and concluded that fresh, locally-grown foods, prepared simply but with care and enjoyed outdoors and in good company taste best.

The recipes

Bruschetta
1 loaf of baguette bread, sliced in 1/2" pieces diagonally.
2 to 3 ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced.
10 fresh basil leaves, shredded
1 or 2 large garlic cloves, cut in half
1 to 2 T. olive oil
½ t. salt

Combine the tomatoes, basil, salt and 1 or 2 tsp of olive oil in small bowl. If there is a lot of juice, pat with paper towel to absorb some of the liquid. Prepare the bread by toasting or grilling on each side. While hot, rub with the garlic clove, brush lightly with olive oil and set under broiler for 1 or 2 minutes to get it crispy. Spoon some of the tomato mixture onto each slice and enjoy.

Southwestern Black Bean Salad
1 ¼ cups water
1/3 cup pearl barley
Salt, to taste
1 can (15 0z. black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 cup diced jicama (optional)
3 oz. pepper or plain Monterrey Jack cheese, cut in 3/8 –inch cubes
1 medium scallion (green and white part), chopped
½ tsp. oregano, mixed herbs as available from your garden
Juice of ½ large lime
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In medium saucepan, bring water boil. Add barley and ½ tsp. salt, if desired. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until barley is tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well. In large, bowl, combine barley, beans, bell pepper, tomato zucchini, jicama, cheese, scallion, herbs and lime juice. Stir with fork. Season with salt and pepper.

Tarragon Green Beans
2 lbs. green beans left whole and cooked until just done.
4 slices of bacon
2 or 3 T. of good vegetable oil
¼ cup of white wine vinegar
1 to 2 T. sugar to taste
1 T. chopped fresh tarragon

Cut bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp in a small pan. Take out the bacon and to the drippings add the oil and vinegar, and sugar or sugar substitute to taste. Add the tarragon and bacon, and salt if needed. Pour over the hot beans. This is a nice dish hot, at room temperature, or chilled..

Kohlrabi slaw
1 kohlrabi
½ medium cabbage
2 T sesame seeds
½ C slivered almonds
1 T butter
4 green onions
1 pkg of chicken flavored ramen noodles

Dressing
2 T sugar
1 pkg. chicken flavoring from noodles
½ C salad oil
¼ tsp. pepper
2 T white vinegar

Peel and shred kohlrabi, shred cabbage and combine. Add sliced onions and crush the ramen noodles into the mixture with your hands. Brown the sesame and almonds in butter and add to mixture. Mix together the dressing ingredients, pour over the mixture, toss and serve.

Eggplant Nicoise
3 eggplants
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ cups grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

With a vegetable peeler, peel the eggplants lengthwise in a stripe pattern by leaving a ½ inch gap of skin between each peeling. Slice the eggplants lengthwise from stem end to bottom. These slices should be as thin as possible (use a mandolin if you have one). Dip both hands into the olive oil and hand-rub each slice of eggplant with a very light coating of oil. Redip your hands into the oil only after they become dry (approximately every 5 to 6 slices).

Cover the bottom of a well-oiled 9x11 inch baking dish with the oiled eggplant slices, making sure the slices are touching but not overlapping. Sprinkle a thin layer of cheese over the top. Repeat with another layer of oiled eggplant followed by another layer of cheese, alternating the direction of the eggplant slices with each layer. Fill in any gaps between the slices with smaller pieces of eggplant so the previous layer is completely covered. Continue layering until you reach a depth of 2 inches, finishing with a thick layer of the remaining cheese.

Cover and place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. It is done when a fork slides easily into the eggplant. Cut into slices and sprinkle with fresh basil. Serve hot or room temperature with Green Olive and Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce.

Green Olive and Roasted Roma Tomato Sauce
3 pounds Roma tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, cut into ½ inch dice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups tomato sauce
½ teaspoon fennel seed
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
4 dried apricots, minced
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups pitted green olives, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the stem end of tomatoes. Arrange them on a lightly oiled baking sheet (not aluminum) and bake for about 30 minutes, or until their skins start to crack and the tomatoes appear slightly wilted and dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cool, cut in half, scoop out and discard the seeds.

In a 4-quart saucepan (not aluminum) over high heat, sauté the onions in a small amount of olive oil until they become translucent. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add the tomato sauce, dried herbs, apricots and salt. Bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the roasted tomatoes and puree the sauce with an immersion blender, food processor, or, in a pinch, a potato masher will work.

Add the olives. If the olives came in a salty brine, rinse them in hot tap water and drain well before adding them to the sauce. Continue to simmer and reduce the sauce until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but still thin enough to pour. Remove from heat and add the fresh basil. Taste to see if there is an acidic taste. If so, add the maple syrup.

Rhubarb Pie
Filling
4 C rhubarb
¼ C quick tapioca
1 ¼ C sugar
Crust
2 C flour
2/3 C vegetable oil
1/3 C water

Slice rhubarb into pieces in a mixing bowl and cover with boiling water for a few minutes to soften. Mix together tapioca and sugar, then mix into the rhubarb. For the crust, mix flour, oil and water into a ball. Divide in half and roll out each half between sheets of waxed paper. Drape the bottom crust into a 9” pie pan and add filling. Dot generously with butter. Drape on top crust, trim excess and pinch edges. Cut the crust to allow steam to escape, then spread with soft butter and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake in a 400-degree oven for about an hour. Done when golden brown and bubbling.

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