This Week at the Smart Markets Oakton Farmers' Market

This Week at our Oakton Market
Saturday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Hosted by Unity Church of Fairfax
2854 Hunter Mill Rd.
Oakton, VA 22124
Map

Dear Shopper,

We are looking at still another great day for a winter market this Saturday, and we are doing everything we can to live up to your expectations.

Heritage Farm and Kitchen will host James Byers, a new cheesemonger who will be sampling and selling his own organic cheeses for the first time at our market. And Nevin will join us to cook some of all of his pork sausages, from the breakfast varieties to the spicy ones. He will also offer a 25 percent discount on all of his pork sausages and on the unseasoned ground pork. I promised him that I would print some good recipes that incorporate the sausages and some of their other products, too. Look for them at the sampling tent.

Kylie’s Pop Shop will also introduce new items, including homemade marshmallows and more. There is nothing better than hot chocolate made with Heritage Farm milk with homemade marshmallows slowly melting into it as you sip. She will also have her bark made with white and dark chocolate, and a new Nutella buckeye truffle made with dark chocolate.

Nyall always has samples of his pasties. This week he will have Beef & Guinness, Cottage Pie Style, Mango Chicken, Late Thanksgiving, Breakfast, Spinach & Feta, and Cheese & Onion.

Valley View will surely have some samples of their great breads and pastries, too.

Uncle Fred will be with us with a full complement of smoked meats, and he is still running his Playoff Special. Contact him to preorder if you are still tailgating in front of the TV set or just partying for an excuse to eat Uncle Fred’s great ribs and brisket.

We will see if we can get Max Sr. of Tyson Farms to sample some applesauce, and maybe even Doug of Angelic Beef will cook up something for us.

See you at the market!

From the Market Master

I know, I know! One more word about dieting for the new year and we’ll all scream for ice cream! But I am not going to talk about dieting, which means removing something from your diet -- or lots of somethings as the case may be. You can add to your diet in a healthful way with more vegetables all the time and maybe in the process realize that you can eat less meat and still be satisfied. Then you will be dieting without even trying.

René Redzepi is the latest chef of the moment, the intense and creative owner of Noma, the latest star in the restaurant firmament located in the relative obscurity of Copenhagen. I probably will never eat there, and I am not sure I would swoon over some of his rather strange concoctions, but I do agree with just about everything he says about vegetables. Beginning with: “The dimension of flavors you find in [vegetables is] so much more diverse and exciting than the three or four animals we eat all the time.”

That’s a quote from an article by Adam Sachs in the January issue of Bon Appetit magazine. But after being inspired by the words, ideas, and “rules” of Chef Redzepi, I was even more pleased to see some great winter veggie recipes farther along in the magazine and also in several other books and articles I have looked at this month.

Check out the Bon Appetit Cooking School tutorial on salads in the same issue and try the recipe with carrots from your winter farmers’ market. Or this one with butternut squash and carrots from the February issue of Living magazine. Or for a great introduction to easy home cooking that is full of great salad and vegetable-based soup recipes, check out Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home, a seasonal romp through his own vegetable garden. Or check out Jamie’s Food Revolution, which reintroduces the home cook to “simple, delicious and affordable meals,” many of which focus on vegetables as the main course.

Once a week, and not on the same day of each week, just decide to cook and serve nothing but veggies for dinner. Ignore your meat and potatoes–loving husband and your hamburger-addicted kids and try some new recipes that I promise will offer the same satisfaction as a meal with meat. There are enough bean and egg recipes out there to keep you cooking all year, but you don’t always have to include those either. Remember what Redzepi said and take heed.

Saveur magazine’s annual 100 Best issue (Jan/Feb 2013) lists as No. 10 Skin-on Roasted Beets. “Is there anything quite as gorgeous as an unpeeled roasted red beet? Glistening in olive oil and dusted with salt and pepper, beets cook to a moist softness. Their hue deepens to a tantalizing garnet. The sugars concentrate and, in places, caramelize as the juices seep out of the roots’ paper-thin skins, which crisp delectably as they cook. The roasting tames the beets’ natural earthiness, and a mouthwatering sweetness takes hold.”

If you are ready to attack a beet or a winter squash in your kitchen right now, you can also try this Carrot Salad with Yogurt and Coriander or Jamie Oliver’s Sweet Potato and Chorizo Soup. And feel free to share your own favorites by posting a comment.