Field Notes: Coastside Farmers’ Market

OK Marketeers!

First things first.  The Market in Half Moon Bay is suspended on Pumpkin Festival.  BUT we run through November.  We are only gone that one day.  Really. I mean it.

And, yes, we will be open in Pacifica on Halloween.  What we will be wearing is anybody’s guess, but we will be there, same bat time, same bat place.

So with that in mind, lets make peace with the Cavalcade of Colossal Curcubits.  Take a look around you and tell me it is not astonishingly beautiful with all those hillsides and fields blazing with orange! This is why they call it the Gold Coast , people.  That, and the poppies.

Pumpkins are really versatile.  You can cook, decorate your porch, or live in one, depending on the variety and your state of mind.

When you cut up chunks of pumpkin and toss them  along with some onions, sage and shreds of roasted chicken, you get a completely different and really yummy chicken pot pie. You can make a pumpkin curry bisque soup that is outta this world if you have the right stuff.  How about pumpkin flan?  Muffins? Curry?  Chilean Pumpkin Stew? What about pumpkin & sage stuffing? How about spiced brown sugared baked pumpkin (done like baked apples , or with baked apples for that matter).

I have recipes galore. but you have to come to the Market AFTER the Pumpkin festival to get all but one of them - I’ll have one this week for a really incredible roasted pumpkin waffle batter that will make you reconsider your position on brunch, but you’ll have to come back for the rest.

But, there is life beyond pumpkins, and right now coastal apples and pears are just perfect.  The grapes are just gorgeous right now, and so are the fruits that we use like vegetables.

We are really lucky that so many of our local growers have had great luck this year with their tomatoes. I am telling you, the little gold cherry type from Green Oaks Creek are just beyond good, and you should really try them .  Orlando’s roma type are just amazing.  It’s albacore season, and when you have fresh out of the ocean fish that is baked in parchment with a few of those aforementioned ‘maters halved and placed on the top, sprinkled with a little sea salt and some of Steven’s spices with a pile of Eda’s spinach underneath, well, let me tell you, you have a meal worth remembering.  Try this at home with a steely Chardonnay, a legislative advocate, fisheries expert , an exchange student and an artist for company.  It worked for me!

If you can’t find local line caught albacore here at the Market, remember the harbor.  Go there. It’s fun.  It’s easy to find. You can buy fish right off the boats, and know exactly who you are buying from. It’s pretty and our local fishing families need your support.

Thanks to All of you who have made this season so much fun - really. It has been a tremendous feeling to have so much support, and to see so many new faces at the Markets each week. Speaking of which, Claire Diamant Turner - Chanteuse en Francaise extraordinnaire makes her Half Moon Bay Market debut this week.  Prepare for La Vie En Orange!

See You at The Markets -

Erin

Erin Tormey
Coastside Farmers Markets

In Half Moon Bay
Shoreline Station ( at Kelly and Highway 1)
Saturdays, 9 am to 1pm

In Pacifica
Rockaway Beach
Wednesdays, 2:30 -6:30pm