Spring is near!
I love this time of year: the days feel longer (don’t forget to set those clocks forward before coming to the market!), plants emerge from their deep sleep, and our market moves outside again. March is an unpredictable month, so I like to strike a balance between warm meals on surprisingly cold still-winter nights and fresh dishes to welcome the incoming spring season.
Potatoes are a perfect ingredient to embody both sides of this coin. On the cozier end of the spectrum, you can boil potatoes from Madura Farm or Sun Sprout Farm to form the hearty base of aloo masala, which is one of my personal favorites. I often find that curries are beautifully balanced by yogurt, which you can find at The White Moustache. This deconstructed baked potato soup is also a great dish for a chilly night, and you can’t go wrong if you top it with bacon from Goode & Local. Now, on the springy side, dill pickles from Doc Pickle lend an awesome tang to potato salad.
Greens of all kinds are also a great vehicle for a variety of seasonal meals. They create a fresh foundation for any salad, like this kale salad with apples and cheddar, which would be even better with flavorful sage cider vinaigrette from Jody’s Kitchen. On the other hand, greens cooked alongside mushrooms from Madura Farm quickly become a versatile filling for omelets, an easily spiced side to roast chicken from R&M Farm, or a bed to ground the flavors of seared salmon with cinnamon and chili powder.
Please welcome Gaelle’s French Pastries, specializing in French confections like puff-pastry chouquettes (fill them with ice cream to make profiteroles at home) and sablés, paper-thin cookies. She also makes hard-to-find canelés cakes.
The name canelé comes from the French word for “fluted, ” and it refers to the small fluted copper molds the pastries are made in. According to historic cookbooks, the cannelé Bordelais, as is its formal name, dates back to anywhere between the 15th and 18th centuries. The pastry originated in various convents around the winemaking regions of Bordeaux in Southern France. Winemakers used egg whites to clarify wine and would give the excess yolks to the nuns to make food for the poor children in the surrounding villages. With the addition of a few other ingredients, the canelé was born. Gaelle also makes colorful macarons (if you prefer to skip the coloring, she will also be offering "natural" macarons).
She offers gluten-free options as well. I also recommend picking up a ginger shot from Annie’s Ginger Elixir, since you may want to steel yourself against the fluctuating weather. Pizza Vitale and The Fearless Cook will be selling breakfast and lunch at the market, so come early and stay late!
Lastly, we encourage you to support our community and our environment by participating in the Irvington sports equipment swap! Come find what you need on the grass by the Bethany Arts Community tent, compost stations, and Green Tree clothing recycling bin.
Speaking of green...did you order your corned beef from R&M Farm for St. Patrick's Day? Wave Hill Breads will be bringing their signature Irish soda bread.
We’ll see you at the market!
