Letter: Coastside Farmer’s Market notes

Well, Marketeers,

I don’t know about you, but I for one am going to forgo any aspirations I may have had for hosting barbeques this summer.  Given the number of fires peppering the state and the amount of smoke in the air, I am thinking that adding to it is just plain a bad Idea. Which is OK, because I have a really good idea for you if summer entertaining is on your horizon.

Last week I found myself in the delightful and frightful position of hosting an intimate summer supper, and the guest list featured a dangerously handsome artist that has had his work installed in the White House.  What does one serve a person with a resume like that, I ask you?  Don’t ask me, go up to the harbor and ask a local fisherman.  If you are lucky, he’ll turn you on to halibut cheeks, and then my friend, you are golden.

Most of the rest of what you’ll need to produce a truly noteworthy supper you can find at the Market.  I discovered to my delight, and that of my guest, that when armed with few of the seasons first truly ripe tomatoes, a handful of spring onions and the tiniest bit of first, cold pressed olive oil, a bundle of rainbow chard that I could produce a glorious summer supper worthy of an engraved invitation, and without the benefit of a Webber.

Here’s what you do.  While fretting over the state of your silverware and what one is supposed to wear on such an occasion, find a sautee pan, put the burner on low, and drizzle just enough oil to cover the bottom ( of the pan, Millicent!) and let it come to a slow warm heat while you slice your onions and cut your tomatoes into nice juicy hunks (of tomato, Mom. Really).  Drop the tomatoes and onions in the pan and cover, letting them wilt, nay swoon, for the time it takes to coarsely chop your chard.  Line a baking dish with a layer of parchment, taking care to leave about 6 inches draping over each side of the pan.  Cover the parchment with chard, then lay the halibut cheeks down - dare I day it? - check to cheek on the blanket of chard.  Collect your wits, and the pan of swooning onions, which should be clear and glossy by now, and spoon them over those lovely chubby cheeks, taking care to drizzle some of the juices over the chard as you go.  Bring the ends of the parchment together and fold them tightly.  It takes about 10 minutes to bake this up into one lovely supper, which, when served over a bed of steamed and riced new potatoes is enough to earn you quite a set of compliments, not the least of which that it was a better meal than the one offered at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  I am not kidding.

My niece Sarah is to blame for the dessert, which is a no-cook summer pudding.  Berries are abundant and beautiful now, and we have the added benefit of being in that sweet spot of the season where valley blueberries are on the wane, mountain blueberries are coming on strong along with strawberries, raspberries and oallieberries too.  If you have a collection of all of the above and a loaf of wooly bread, you can whip out a really great cold bread pudding that is gorgeous to behold, and when served alongside a generous dollop of vanilla bean quark, pretty much guarantees that you’ll be receiving plenty of reciprocal invitations to interesting non-barbeques as summer progresses.

This week the HEAL Project Garden kids will be on hand, Frank Ellis performs Saturday, Katie garibaldi on Wednesday, Big Paw is back in both spots this week ( and by the way, if you have not ever taken a splash of their apricot & lavender vinegar and doused it over some peaches you really should), Rainbow Orchards joins us in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay for the season, and it’s my friend Erik’s birthday. Marketeers are either grateful or horrified by Erik’s contribution to the Market, which is to say that without his help, I’d be having a tougher time that is strictly necessary getting these notes off to all y’all.  Tahnks to Coastsider.com and Pacifica Riptide for sending them on are overdue, I think!

Thanks are also due to Amy at Studio 4 Pilates and the good folk at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company for their support of our Market, and their enduring support of our local farming and fishing community.  And Thanks too to First National Bank, who is not only a Market sponsor, but has made it possible for this little couple o’ markets to have one of the highest rates of return of the WIC and Dept. of Aging Farmer’s Market Nutrition program funds in the State. Kinda cool.  Ask me about it, and I’ll tell you everything I know-

See you at the Market!

Erin

Erin Tormey

Coastside Farmers Markets

In Half Moon Bay @ Shoreline Station
Saturdays, 9 am to 1 pm

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