Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

Pete Fratantuono of Moosup River Farm, a familiar face at so many of our farmers markets, passed away this weekend. He always made it a priority that the fruits and vegetables he grew be within reach for low-income families in Providence, Pawtucket and Woonsocket. Without his commitment, many of our neighborhood markets would simply not have happened. It was just this Saturday that we last saw Pete, full of cheer at the Wintertime Farmers Market and so it’s all so hard to believe. Our hearts are with Ingrid and the Fratantuono family.

It’s the time of year to reflect on all that we are lucky to have in our lives. The speedy pace of the first ten-and-a-half months of the year allows us to perhaps forget many of the simple things that matter most.

At Farm Fresh we try to take a moment this time of year to offer gratitude to the dozens of incredible individuals and families we work with. The people who grow our food, roast our coffee, stretch our mozzarella, can our jams, cook us inspiring meals. We’re so lucky to have such talented, dedicated folks as a part of the Rhode Island community. They nourish us every day of the year.

And we’re so lucky to have so many Rhode Islanders who appreciate and support our local food producers. Together we are all helping to grow a healthy, sustainable and flavorful food system here in Rhode Island, and that’s something to be inspired by.

In that spirit, we want to share two simple soup recipes that Chef Sophie of My Little French Cottage cooked this past week at the Wintertime Farmers Market. They capture this moment in the season and provide calm reflection on the simple, shared pleasures of the year gone by.

Winter Squash Silky Soup (with ginger)

Ingredients

• 1 Wishing Stone Farm butternut squash, peeled
• 2 large Schartner Farms carrots
• Wishing Stone Farm ginger
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• 1 Pezza Farm onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup Christiansen’s Dairy heavy cream
• vegetable stock (or just water)

Directions

1. Cut squash and carrots into 1-inch chunks.
2. In large pot melt butter.
3. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.
4. Add squash and carrots and stock or water to just cover the vegetables.
5. Bring to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.
6. Remove squash chunks with slotted spoon and place in a blender and puree. Return blended squash to pot.
7. Or, use an immersion blender and blend directly in the pot
8. Season with grated ginger, salt, and pepper.
9. Add a quarter cup of heavy cream, stir and serve.

Autumn Gardner’s Soup (Carrot Leek and Potato Soup)

Ingredients

• 2 Schartner Farms carrots
• 2 medium Schartner Farms potatoes
• 2 medium Simmons Farm leeks
• 1 large Pezza Farm onion
• 1 Pezza Farm garlic clove
• salt and pepper to taste
• A little butter to fry off the vegetables
• some fresh Pezza Farm parsley to garnish

Directions

1. Dice all of the vegetables into smallish pieces.
2. Put into a large pot and let sweat gently in a little butter for 3 or 4 minutes.
3. Add 3 pints of water.
4. Bring to the boil and then turn the heat down low and let simmer for 30 - 40 minutes.
5. When the vegetables are a bit mushy add either the veggie stock or the salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve garnished with chopped parsley.
7. For a smoother finish you can give the soup a quick whizz with an immersion blender.

At the market, we served each soup with a dollop of Narragansett Creamery angelito cheese. Enjoy and cheers to the simple things we too often take for granted.

The Wintertime Farmers Market continues on Saturday 11-2. Chef Sophie will be sampling a pork apple stew and a cabbage apple salad.

After a rough start to the season – tomatoes and potatoes got blight, strawberries rotted in the rain – a mild November is producing a bounty of late fall veggies. Slightly frost-kissed, their flavor is rich and crisp and perfect for a celebration of the harvest. It’s a fitting turnaround for the place that Thanksgiving calls home. Ah, autumn in New England.

Make your Thanksgiving dinner a 50-mile meal, focused on seasonal ingredients from our local farmers. They’ve endured a tough 2009 to grow our food and finally have the crops to show for it.

At the Wintertime Farmers Market in Pawtucket every Saturday 11-2, you’ll find a variety of veggies, fruit, eggs, meat, seafood, cider, flowers from 30 different farms and cheese, bread, pastries, coffee, jams from 20 other local producers. Plus, live music and a cooking demo by Chef Sophie of My Little French Cottage with butternut ginger soup and carrot leek potato soup to taste. It’s our state’s largest farmers market, with 50 local producers all under one roof and the widest variety of local foods available for your everyday meals and your holiday dinner. Some highlights at the Wintertime Market:

• Cranberries from Fresh Meadows Farm
• Beef and Pork from Aquidneck Farms, Hill Farm, Stoney Hill Cattle
• Chicken from Pat’s Pastured
• Apples and Cider from Hill Orchards, Barden Orchards
• Jams and Sauces from many farms and producers
• Local Cranberry Ice Cream from Kafe Lila for your hot apple pie
• Broccoli, Sugar Pumpkins, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Onions, Potatoes, Carrots, and so many more veggies from a whole lot of farms!
• If you’re looking for a turkey, they’ll likely sell quickly at the market. You may want to contact a farm directly to inquire.

Including the Wintertime Market, there are 5 markets open this Saturday. Bring a friend and support local farmers!

• Providence / Pawtucket: 11am-2pm inside Hope Artiste Village
• Pawtuxet Village: 9am-12pm at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet
• Middletown: 9am-2pm at Newport Vineyards
• North Kingstown: 10am-2pm at Lafayette Mills
• South Kingstown: 10am-2pm at Peacedale Mill

There’s such great abundance right now of incredible food grown on farms right here in our own communities. Honest, fresh and bursting with flavor. It’s something to be truly grateful for.

Our 2nd Perfect Pickle Contest drew a enthusiastic audience on the opening day of the Wintertime Farmers Market. On Saturday, November 7 at noon, twenty-four entries were sampled. By 1pm we knew the Perfect Pickles of 2009:

1. Best Traditional Brine: Liz’s Luscious Spicy Garlicky Cukes (Pippin Orchards)
2. Best Alterna-Brine: Angela’s Amazing Pickled Pumpkin (Wishing Stone Farm)
3. Best Ferment: Barbara’s Best Sauerkraut (homegrown)
4. Best in Show: Erika’s Exclamatory Pickled Ramps (foraged)

Angela kindly e-mailed us the recipe for her stunning Pickled Pumpkin:

2.5 pounds of fresh pumpkin, pared and cut into cubes of desired size. I did 1 inch cubes.
1 quart vinegar
2 pounds sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon each whole cloves and whole allspice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 red pepper pod, broken (I used crushed red pepper flakes, I think a teaspoon or two)
rind of one orange (I cut the orange in half, juiced it, and threw the halves in)

Put the pumpkin cubes in a large kettle. In a large saucepan combine vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices. Place over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes (once the sugar was melted I added the orange rind). Pour the hot syrup over the pumpkin and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook slowly until the pumpkin is clear (translucent) and tender. Lift out the pumpkin and pack into hot sterilized jars. Pour over hot syrup to fill the jars. Seal immediately. Process in hot water bath for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let jars sit for 5 minutes before you remove them from the water.

I would let the jars sit for at least a week (two is better) before you open them. It makes a huge difference!

Thanks to our judges: Mayor Doyle, Genie of Edible Rhody, Mikayla of Slow Food RI and Farm Fresh staffer Sarah. Thanks also to all of the local producers at the Wintertime Market who donated prizes, which included Barden Family Orchard apples, Cupcakerie cupcakes, Deluxcious chocolates, Hickory Hill pickles (!), Hill Orchards cider, Moosup River Farm relish and Simmons Farm eggs.

And so many thanks to the stars of day: all of our picklers. See you on Saturdays at the Wintertime Farmers Market and next year at the 2010 Perfect Pickle Contest!

Somehow we fit in 30 farms and almost 20 other Rhode Island artisan food producers! It adds up to a delicious bounty of local food inside where it’s warm, all winter long. See you tomorrow and every Saturday 11-2 for the ever full-of-flavor Wintertime Farmers’ Market:

SATURDAY 11-2.
Wintertime Farmers’ Market. 47 local farmers and producers inside Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket. Incredible flavors await… we’ve been waiting all summer for this. We’ll post a map of the market later today!

Come to opening day of the market to find:

Veggies: beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, fingerlings, garlic, lettuce, onions, pea greens, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, sweet potatoes, winter squash…

Apples, cider, applesauce, apple butter.

Chicken, grass-fed beef, lamb, pork.

Clams, mussels, oysters, scallops.

Eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt.

Breads, cupcakes, pies, baked goods.

Salsas, sauces, jams, jellies, pesto.

Herbal tea, honey, salves, natural bath care.

Chocolates and ice cream and vegan sorbet.

Locally roasted coffee.

Lunch time! Curries, salads, grilled cheese, veggie patties and more.

SUNDAY.
Apple picking. We just found out from always-wonderful Heather at URI Cooperative Extension that there are many RI orchards still brimming with apples in the trees. It seems that the rainy October kept Pick Your Own crowds away. But since we’re in for a nice dose of sun this weekend — Sunday will be in the 60s! — sounds like a fun last chance for Pick Your Own apples (and the pies and crisps that are sure to follow). Here are the orchards that will be open:

• Barden Family Orchard - North Scituate
• Dame Farm - Johnston
• Harley Farm - Glocester
• Harmony Farm - North Scituate
• Hazard Bros. - Hope
• Hill Orchard - Johnston
• Jaswell Farm (but not too many apples left - be sure to call ahead) - Smithfield
• Narrow Lane Orchard - North Kingstown
• Pippin Orchard - Cranston
• Old Stone Orchard - Little Compton
• Rocky Brook Farm - Middletown
• Steere Orchard - Greenville
• Sunset Orchard - North Scituate
• Sweet Berry Farm - Middletown
• White Oak Farm - Scituate
• Young Family Farm - Little Compton

IN THE EVENINGS.
It’s Restaurant Week in Newport (see who’s putting local food on the menu) and we’re also celebrating two re-openings of local-loving Providence restaurants:

• Congrats to Chefs Bruce and Beau and the New Rivers crew on their newly renovated venue. Slightly bigger but still intimate and with the same incredible ingredients straight from the farm.
• Kudos to Chef Guy and the folks at AS220. We’re excited to taste what you cooked up with all the fresh stuff in your Market Mobile order. The menu looks great!

Leaf peeping along the Blackstone River Bikeway this past Friday evening, the twists and turns up to Woonsocket were enveloped with stunning reds, golden yellows, regal oranges and stubborn greens. It’s a palette of colors that can only be fall in New England and always provides a new, exciting view of landscapes we thought we already knew too well.

That’s kind of like the weekly indoor Wintertime Farmers Market:

• Opening day: THIS Saturday, November 7
• Every Saturday 11 to 2pm inside Hope Artiste Village
• 1005 Main St. in Pawtucket, just 5 blocks north of Providence line (directions)
• 2009 Perfect Pickle Contest judging this Saturday at the market

Just as the season has supposedly run its course, there is a burst of new flavors and possibilities. Rhode Island farms are now producing more than ever for the winter months, offering up a tasty cornucopia of stunning reds, golden yellows, regal oranges. We’ve even got stubborn greens that just keep growing, from spicy arugula, juicy broccoli, tender pea tendrils, fragrant rosemary, crisp cabbage and zesty leeks.

With 47 farmers and producers under one roof (up from 38 last year!), there are actually a wider variety of local foods available at the Wintertime Farmers Market than at any single market during the summer. What a change from when we began the Wintertime Market two years ago with 10 vendors inside AS220! Before the Wintertime, few farms produced for the winter months, because there were so few places to sell. But we all still need to eat. And the opportunity of the Wintertime Market has propelled more and more farmers to grow year-round. Happily, we found more space to include 8 farmers who are joining us for the first time this winter. Welcome:

• Absalona Greenhouse lettuce varieties from Chepachet
• Cook’s Valley Farm cauliflower, fingerlings, endive, chestnuts, pears from Wrentham
• Fresh Meadows fresh and dried cranberries from Plymouth
• Hill Farm forest-raised pork from Foster
• NorthStar Farm mixed greens, beets, carrots from Westport
• Pezza Farm eggs, herbs, brussel sprouts, poinsettia, wreaths from Johnston
• Roots Farm salad mix and braising greens, radishes, spinach from Bristol starting in December
• Schartner Farms chard, potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, jams, from Exeter
• Plus 38 familiar faces from last year (see 2008 photos), and we’ve added a side room for snacks and lunch, made with ingredients fresh from the market: Farmstead grilled cheese, Cupcakerie, Mazie’s salads and dips; New Dawn curries; plus Chez Pascal’s Hewtin Dogs Mobile will be cooking up an all-local menu outside the Main St. entrance; yum!

Even as the colorful New England fall gives way to the quieter palette of New England winter, the Wintertime Farmers Market remains lively and bright. As the mild weather of this Halloween gives way to chilly, windy, even icy days, we’re dazzled each week by how the market transforms a long hallway inside an old mill building into a cozy, cheery and flavorful space.

See you Saturday 11-2 for the start of a new, delicious Wintertime landscape. Just 5 days to go!