Fresh Sheet for the July 31 Market

Our website has been redesigned! We are very excited to unveil the new look for our website. It is crisp, clean and contemporary and filled with animated slide shows and photos of all of the gorgeous things that are available at our market for you to purchase, enjoy and experience. Check out this link: SWEFM Website!

Shilo's Glass is an artisan vendor, new to our market this week, who has been around for 14 years. You may have seen Betty's work at the St. Albert market. She makes cheese boards, perfect for entertaining, made out of flattened wine bottles and they come with a good quality cheese knife.

Greenstein Lamb has been one of our regular, biweekly vendors. Greenstein will now becoming EVERY week! Lisa brings top quality lamb to our market. Starting this week, she will be adding something new! She will be selling top quality home made dog food! Check out her booth... the one with the cute lamb on the banner, and see what this is all about.


Peter's Lakeview Farms will be here... finally! A saskatoon berry farm, they will be bringing more than just fruit. Starting this week they will be bringing pies, saskatoon berries and jam.

It's Pickling Season... and this week we'll be adding a dill pickle recipe to our market blog. Knowing that, you can shop for the cukes and dill that you will need to make them at our veggie vendor booths... Riverbend Gardens, Holden Colony, T.R.Greenhouses and Dargatz Family Farm. For the recipe we'll be posting Friday, you'll need about 8 pounds of dill pickle sized cucumbers, and 2 bunches of dill (preferably with the flowers as well).

momstown will be back at the info tent doing a craft with the young children who come to our market. This week, they'll be making paper corn on the cob, gluing on real popped corn. It's sure to be lots of fun!  

Breezesta won't be at the market this week with their colourful chairs (yup, even our kind partners and sponsors need to take a vacation now & then!). The big inflatable slide will also be away this week.

Last week, someone tweeted that they'd missed finding raspberry & cocoa... they had wanted to try the new brioches that they made for last week's market. Remember, if you see something on the lists below that you especially want to seek out, stop by the info tent. There we have a large map of the site that shows where vendors are located and we have volunteers who can direct you to help you find those treasured items.

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The BC fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of gorgeous fruit. This week expect to see:

• Watermelon! Yup! It's finally the season for fresh, local watermelon!
  
• Saskatoons along with saskatoon pies & jams!
• Peaches
• Blueberries
• Apricots
• Blackberries 
• Cherries (dark cherries & yellow Rainers)
• Raspberries
• Apples (think galas & macs & other delicious BC apples)
• Pears (green & red)
• Dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice and a few other goodies
• Strawberries (not a sure thing... the season is winding down for strawberries)

As for veggies... they are now officially pouring in from the fields! Expect to see:

• Summer Squashes! (Zucchini and yellow summer squashes)
• Broccoli (First of the Season!!)
• Butternut squashes
• Cauliflower
• Fresh beans from the field... yellow & green & purple (incredibly, these change colour when you steam them or plop them in boiling water, going from purple to green... the second they're green, they're done!)
• Pickling cucumbers!!! from the field & long stalks & flowers of dill ready for canning
• Peas
• Kohlrabi
• Fennel
• Heirloom tomatoes
• Swiss chard (it comes in three colours: rhubarb red, peppermint stick pink and golden yellow)
• Romaine, Leaf Lettuce, Kale and more greens (Dargatz has enormous heads of romaine!)
• Scapes (garlic tops) & fresh garlic
• Fresh carrots
• Field potatoes (golden, white, purple, red)... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Fresh red, purple and golden beets
• Fresh green/spring onions, large field onions
• Green & purple cabbages
• Eggplants (long purple & yellow and small green oriental)
• Long green hothouse beans
• Hothouse cucumbers (long English and mini varieties that are perfect for packing in lunches)
• Field-grown spinach (not a sure thing)
• Fresh cut basil & chives & dill & other herbs
• Fresh herb plants (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary, dill, sorrel)
• Hothouse & field grown lettuces (green leaf lettuce and butter lettuce),
• Hothouse tomatoes (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras) 
• Hothouse peppers (small & large orange bell, yellow, red, green, & red & green spicy chiles, hot banana peppers)

PLUS…

•  Fruit Wines & Honey Mead (Birds & Bees Winery)
• A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon buns, cinnamon breads, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, bagels, homemade cookies, cakes & other finger-licking good baked treats throughout the market
• Unbelievably authentic & delicious French style croissants (with chocolate inside, or with real raspberries)
• Brioche with orange peel and a hint of anise
• A wide assortment of flavours of banana bread
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, fish & seafood, lamb) 
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey & bee pollen (Want to know more about bee pollen? Click here.)
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!) They're packed on dry ice at the market, so they easily make the trip home without melting.
• Greek dips (humus, tzatziki, spicy feta & red pepper) and specialty Greek food items
• Turkish Foods (from savoury pastries and dinner items to sweet dessert treats)
• Korean Foods (green onion cakes, kimchi, bulgogi as ready to go meals )
• Indian Foods (naan & butter chicken as ready to go meals, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Ready-made meals and spice mixes and other items perfect for the BBQ season
• Packages of spices ready for appetizer dips or wine slushes
• Smoked meats (sausages, pepperonis, sandwich meats, jerkies)
• Perogies
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Sweet treats like fudge, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Gourmet marshmallows in 20 flavours
• Gourmet chocolate bars and truffles in fabulously inventive flavours
• Gourmet Doughnuts
• Kettle Popcorn

What else???

• Jewellery this week (necklaces, earrings, bracelets from Jewels By Amy, Gypsy Bird and Capiluv) 
• Specialty soap (Ada's Soap Shop is back)
• Bath & body items (lip balms, bath bombs, body creams)

• There is NO SLIDE this week (sorry to all the kids who have looked forward to it this week and last)
• The balloon busker will be at the market, creating lively, fun designs out of his rainbow of coloured balloons. 
• momstown will be at the SWEFM Info tent doing crafts with the kids that they're sure to enjoy, free of charge. This week they'll be making paper corn on the cob using real popped corn!
• There are plenty of curbs and rocks to balance on along the avenue of trees that goes down the centre of our market!

Come on out to the market for dinner. The food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun, pierogies & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Recipe: Rhubarb Sorrel Squares

about sorrel 

Sorrel leaves

One of the things that I really love about a farmers' market, whether it be at home here at the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market, or in markets around the world when we travel, is finding a hidden gem. That thing that surprises me. That thing that teaches me something.

I was chatting with Keith Dargatz at his booth just before last week's market. As you may know, Keith and Colin bring all kinds of potted plants with them to our market at their Dargatz Family Farm stall... large tomato plants, huge eggplants dangling with large white or deep purple fruits, pepper plants decorated with mini bell peppers or spicy chilies and all kinds of different herbs. This past week he had a plant that I didn't recognize, and I asked him what it was.

As it turns out it was sorrel.... a food that I haven't tasted in years, but one that I can almost instantly call up the taste of in my memory. Yup, it's one of those ah ha moment foods in my culinary background (if you've had one of those moments... those points in your life when you taste something that is so incredible, so unique and so delicious that it is marked indelibly on your tastebuds for the rest of your life, then you'll know what I mean)! You know how they say a smell can triggor a memory? Well for me, that happens with tastes too.

I have a distinct memory from my childhood about sorrel. We had a friend of the family who would come up and visit us from time to time. A very tall lady with a sharp British accent, she was a liver specialist medical doctor, a woman with a commanding voice and opinions to match, who never sugar coated things and who had an extremely bright, quick witted intelligence... in short, she was very intimidating to me and my sisters when we were young. She was born and raised in England where sorrel was a very popular herb. And one of the many things we came to love about her was that every time she would come to visit us at the farm, she would bring a pot of her sorrel soup... a green coloured, wonderfully creamy, distinctly lemony concoction that we all adored.

Sorrel is technically an herb, and it is high in Vitamin A and contains some calcium, vitamin C, phosphorous, potassium and magnesium. It looks a little like spinach as it grows. It belongs to the buckwheat family. Its leaves have a unique arrowhead shape to them and are often used in salads as a accent, pureed in soups or used in sauces for fish. Depending on when you harvest sorrel, the leaves can be from 2" to 12" in length. The younger the leaf, the less of the oxalic acid it has in it, and the milder the taste. The larger the leaf, the more oxalic acid it has in it and the tarter and tangier the taste. When looking to purchase sorrel, as you would for any leafy green, look for vibrant & bright green leaves, that are not wilted, yellowed or pale in colour. And avoid leaves with woody stems.

One word of caution: some say that because of its high oxalic acid content, it should, like rhubarb, be avoided (or have limited use) by people with kidney or bladder stones.

rhubarb sorrel squares
I was sharing my amazement with Melisa, our market manager, that Keith actually had sorrel at our market, when she said she has had rhubarb crisp with sorrel in it and loved it. I never thought sorrel could be in a dessert... but with its incredibly lemony taste, why not!? This the recipe that she passes on from her mom.
ingredients
4 cups rhubarb finely chopped
2 cups sorrel finely chopped
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 ½ cups flour 
1 ½ cups rolled oats 
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup butter
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup walnuts or other nuts chopped

instructions
1. Combine the rhubarb, sorrel, sugar, orange peel and vanilla in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium and cook 4 minutes stirring frequently.
2. Dissolve cornstarch in water. Add to rhubarb mixture and cook until thickened stirring constantly. Set aside.
3. Mix together until crumbly. 
4. Place about 3 ½ cups of the crumb mixture into a greased 9 x13 baking pas and press to make an even layer. 
5. Pour in rhubarb/sorrel mixture and spread evenly. 
6. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top. 
7. Bake in a pre-heated oven @ 350º for 30-40 minutes. Cut into squares. 

Submitted by Melisa Zapisocky, SWEFM Market Manager
Recipe from Simply In Season
Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Fresh Sheet- July 24 Market

For the past two weeks you have probably noticed all the lively furniture on site. Breezesta has partnered with the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market to act as a living showroom for their high quality & vividly coloured outdoor furniture. They will be back once again! The tables, chairs and rockers that you see all over the market come in a wide colour selection and a terrific array of sizes & styles and are incredibly durable. Grab dinner at a food truck and have a seat... and browse a brochure (if it isn't windy, they will be laid out on their tables if you are interested in them for your own porch, deck or patio). If you want to find out more information, talk to Kayla, the Breezesta representative on site at the west end of the market, between Pink Kernel (the snow cone, mini donut vendor) and T.R. Greenhouses (the hothouse veggie place).

Fresh beans are now in season and there is nothing like the sweetness and the crunch of a bean, freshly picked at the height of its ripeness and delectability. Steam them ever-so-briefly, just until their vivid green colour intensifies, or pop them into a pot of boiling water for no more than 30 seconds and eat them tossed in a smidgeon of butter and an ever-so-slight dash of sea salt. Mmmm....

My personal favourites are the deep purple beans that magically transform before your eyes when briefly dumped in a pot of boiling water, or quickly steamed in a basket. The addition of heat makes the purple disappear... like magic! The second they turn colour, they're done! Pick some up at the market today for the novice cook in your life... There's nothing like Bean Magic to teach an easy & fun life lesson!

Greenstein Farm is back this week with their highly prized lamb. Talk to Lisa about how best to prepare it for the BBQ season.

Moonshine Doughnuts are back with their boxes of assorted gourmet doughnuts.

Morrie's unique Corian designs

Lynn Link, the travelling author, will be here this week, selling her books. She only comes once a month (and missed our market on tornado day... so she hasn't been here for quite some time), so be sure to check her out this week.

Also this week, Morrie will be here making his Southwest Edmonton Farmers Market debut with his turned bowls, his beautiful carved words and his unique wooden coat hanging racks. His stall will be full of wonderful home accents.

Remember, too, that the a.t.m. will be back in the centre of the market beside the Yellow Bird food truck, should you need extra cash. This is a relatively new service that we are providing to our market shoppers. Stop by the SWEFM Info tent and tell us what you think of it!

What else is new? Robert, from Inked Cakes (the banana bread guy) will be trialling something new at his stall: New York styled plain or poppyseed bagels.

And OJ & Kevin at Raspberry & Cocoa will have Brioche with orange peel and a hint of anise along with their ever popular raspberry and chocolate flavours of croissants and arlette cookies. Mmmmm!

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of beautiful fruit in from BC. This week expect to see:

• 'Peaches
• Blueberries
• Apricots
• Blackberries 
• Cherries (dark cherries & yellow Rainers)
• Raspberries
• Apples (think galas & macs & other delicious BC apples)
• Pears (green & red)
• Dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice and a few other goodies
• Strawberries (not a sure thing... the season is winding down for strawberries)

As for veggies... they are now officially pouring in from the fields! Expect to see:

• Cauliflower... NEW THIS WEEK!
• Fresh beans from the field... yellow & green
• Pickling cucumbers!!! from the field & long stalks & flowers of dill ready for canning
• Peas
• Kohlrabi
• Fennel
• Heirloom tomatoes... they're starting to come in from the field!
• Swiss chard (it comes in three colours: rhubarb red, peppermint stick pink and golden yellow)
• Spinach (it is winding down for the season, so not a sure thing)
• Romaine, Leaf Lettuce, Kale and more greens
• Scapes (garlic tops) & fresh garlic
• Fresh baby carrots
• Field potatoes (golden, white, purple, red)... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Fresh red, purple and golden beets
• Fresh green/spring onions, large field onions
• Green & purple cabbages
• Over-wintered potatoes (purple, pink, & white fleshed varieties)
• Squashes
• Eggplants (long purple & yellow and small green oriental)
• Long green hothouse beans
• Hothouse cucumbers (long English and mini varieties that are perfect for packing in lunches)
• Field-grown rhubarb (not a sure thing)
• Field-grown spinach (not a sure thing)
• Fresh cut basil & chives & dill & other herbs
• Fresh herb plants (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary, dill, sorrel)
• Hothouse & field grown lettuces (green leaf lettuce and butter lettuce),
• Hothouse tomatoes (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras) 
• Hothouse peppers (small & large orange bell, yellow, red, green, & red & green spicy chiles)

PLUS…

•  A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon buns, cinnamon breads, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, bagels, homemade cookies, other finger-licking good baked treats
• Brioche with orange peel and a hint of anise
• A wide assortment of flavours of banana bread
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, fish, lamb) 
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey & bee pollen (Want to know more about bee pollen? Click here.)
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!)
• Greek dips (humus, tzatziki, spicy feta & red pepper) and specialty Greek food items
• Turkish Foods (from savoury pastries and dinner items to sweet dessert treats)
• Korean Foods (green onion cakes, kimchi, bulgogi as ready to go meals )
• Indian Foods (naan & butter chicken as ready to go meals, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Ready-made meals and spice mixes and other items perfect for the BBQ season
• Smoked meats (sausages, pepperonis, sandwich meats, jerkies)
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Sweet treats like fudge, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Gourmet marshmallows in 20 flavours
• Gourmet Doughnuts
• Kettle Popcorn

What else???

• Jewellery this week (necklaces, earrings, bracelets) 
• Specialty soap (Ada's Soap is back)
• Great seating, picnic tables, patio & deck furniture from BREEZESTA Patio Chairs

• Barring high winds and wild weather, the inflatable slide will be on site 
• The balloon busker will be at the market, creating lively, fun designs out of his rainbow of coloured balloons. 
• momstown will be at the SWEFM Info tent doing crafts with the kids that they're sure to enjoy, free of charge. This week they'll be making cow paper plates!
• Austin the guitar player will also be back. 
• And failing that, there are plenty of curbs and rocks to balance on along the avenue of trees that goes down the centre of our market!

Come on up to the market for dinner. The food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, or Breezesta chairs if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun, pierogies & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Recipe: Fennel and Pork Hock Risotto

Carley-Jane stands in front of fennel
(the veggie that looks like celery behind the peas)

Carley-Jane serves a customer

Riverbend Gardens began bringing fennel to our market two weeks ago. Fennel is a vegetable with a mild black licorice flavour to it that, according to Jonny Bowden's The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, comes from a health-promoting compound in it called anethole. It also has quercetin, an anti-inflammatory flavonoid in it that counteracts spasms of the smooth muscle in the gut, which, in turn, helps to relieve gas and help with cramps.

One other interesting thing that he points out about fennel in this summer season of marathon race running: Fennel is the Greek name for marathon. In 490 B.C.E., the Greeks defeated the Persians in a fennel field that was exactly 26 miles and 385 yards from Athens. They sent a runner bearing the good news back home, and ever since then the length of a marathon race has remained the same distance from the fennel field into the town: 26 miles, 385 yards.

Fennel is something that I have never cooked with, so I was curious about it. When I asked Janelle about it (and clearly pressed her with too many questions!), she introduced me to Carley, a wonderful girl who works at her booth.

Carley-Jane loves to cook and has an excellent blog called Northern Urbanites. And she is very knowledgeable about the food that she brings to market. She assured me that quite often, people use fennel the way they use onions in a dish and that most often the white base is the part that is used the most. It's an easy substitution to make. And she has generously shared a wonderful recipe, developed especially with her questioning customers in mind! Thanks, Carley-Jane!

Fennel can be found at Riverbend Gardens. Both Riverbend Gardens and The Holden Colony carry carrots and onions and celery at our market. Holden Colony has wonderful fresh garlic bulbs at their booth, as of this week. Dargatz Family Farm has beautiful fresh thyme plants. And you can contact Joan at Sunworks Family Farm to order a pork hock ahead of time to be brought to market for you: info@sunworksfarm.com or 1-877-393-3133.

fennel and pork hock risotto

Ben & Carley-Jane write... The farm where Carley-Jane works is growing fennel this year, so after many questions at the farmers’ markets (especially at the Southwest Farmers’ Market) as to how to cook this vegetable and herb, we decided to do a recipe (one of many, perhaps!). 

The fennel from Riverbend Gardens definitely adds some acidity to the risotto, which is we think creates a nice, light, summery taste to a dish that is traditionally rather heavy. It’s a great dish for those just beginning to fall in love with the taste of fennel, and is awesome to save for tomorrow’s lunch, too!

pork hock ingredients
2 Pork hocks

2 tbsp Canola oil

1 Yellow onion, roughly chopped

3 Stalks celery, roughly chopped

2 Medium carrots, peeled & roughly chopped 

1 L Pork or chicken stock

1 Bay leaf

2 Sprigs thyme

4 Peppercorns
pork hock instructions

1. Heat up oil in a pressure cooker over medium-high heat.

2. Once hot, add the onions, carrot and celery. Lightly sauté until softened.

3. Add the remaining ingredients and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook at 15psi/1 bar for 1.5 hours.

4. Once cooked, let the pressure naturally dissipate; do not depressurize.

5. Once cooled, open the pressure cooker, remove the hocks and all of the meat and reserve. Discard the remaining fat and skin.

6. Strain the stock and reserve in a pot over medium heat.

risotto ingredients
3 tbsp. Canola oil

½ c. Yellow onion, finely diced

1 c. Fennel bulb, finely diced

3 Cloves garlic, minced

1 c. Carnaroli rice

¾ c. White wine (we used Sandhill Pinot Gris)

1 L Reserved stock from hocks

2 Sprigs thyme, finely chopped

3 tbsp. Butter

½ c. Pecorino cheese 

Reserved pork hock

Salt & pepper

risotto instructions
1. In a pot over medium heat, add oil. Once hot, add onion and fennel.

2. Saute until softened.

3. Add garlic and rice. Stir to combine.

4. Lightly toast the rice and add white wine, continuously stirring the rice until all wine is absorbed.

5. Add 200ml of the warm stock. Stir to combine.

6. Stir the rice often until liquid is absorbed, once absorbed, add another 200ml. Repeat 3 more times.

7. After the last addition of stock, add the butter, cheese and desired amount of pork.

8. Cover with lid and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

to finish

1 Bulb fennel

½ tbsp Apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

Fennel fronds

Reserved risotto

1. Slice fennel extremely thin (using a mandolin if you have one on hand); toss with the apple vinegar and season.
2. Stir the risotto to incorporate the butter, cheese, and pork, seasoning to taste.
3. Divide the risotto between plates and top with sliced fennel and fronds.
4. Eat immediately.

Recipe from Northern Urbanites Blog at http://northernurbanites.tumblr.com
Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee