Ever wonder what the difference is between those long skinny artichokes and the shorter, broader ones? Bill Fujumoto cuts a few open and shows us how the differences translate on the plate. The trick to determining the size of the heart is squeezing the backside. While that may sound like a perverted proverb, when selecting artichokes these are wise words to shop by.
Then we jump-cut to the kitchen and get a quick run-down from Chef Paul Canales of what he’ll be doing with these “real spring artichokes”: first a Roman-style salad, then braised whole, and from the trimmed leaves, a soup.
Tim Mueller took some time to talk to us on Saturday at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market about what is going on & what is going IN to the ground at Riverdog Farm. The first plantings of summer’s big ticket items including tomatoes, sweet corn, and beans will happen over the next few weeks. While crops planted last fall begin to go to seed, the end of March/beginning of April is the last slow time before the busyness of late April begins picking up speed through May, until we reach the full-blown madness of summer in June. In the meantime, Tim and Trini still have their hands full with loads of favas, asparagus, beets, and carrots, not to mention chickens and hogs.
Tim also gives us a briefing on some of the fall-out from last December’s cold snap, and explains how the effects of those frigid temperatures are still being felt.
Anyone who ever rooted around in the back storage coolers of Monterey Market under the stewardship of Bill Fujimoto knows what a truly magical place it was. The relationships Bill fostered made going to Monterey Market quite like a treasure hunt, because he often only bought a small amount of cases of produce from some specialty farmers, and if you didn’t know they were there, you’d miss them. To catch Bill himself in the back room always led to a wonderful conversation, and invariably led to leaving with some amazing box of fruit or vegetables. So when he left Monterey Market, one of my first thoughts was (selfishly), now where am I going to get those awesome cherimoyas? Continue reading ‘Pasty Chef Jenny Raven found…’
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