You know, there is nothing I enjoy more than holing up in the kitchen, on a cold blustery day, and making a big, pot of soup. I could spend the entire day, just prepping, and fussing, and tasting, til that simmering pot of goodness is perfection. There is something so comforting about this process for me. Perfect example: the Fall of 2001, I found myself making pot, after pot of soups, until there was no more room in the fridge, and the freezers. What up with that? Guess it was my way of dealing with the shock of 9/11. Yep, hiding in the kitchen is my way of coping with stress. Trust me though, I don't need stress to get me to fuss over a pot of soup, just a desire to feed myself, and others.
What, you don't have this same passion for soup making? Hey! I get it (not really, but I will humor you). But you say you do love to eat comforting bowls of homemade soup? Well, before you go and 'give up' soup for lent, why don't you 'give' a bit while indulging in multiple bowls of soup. Take a break from your Winter Olympic Games marathon, get off the couch, and head out to
The Hideout on a wintry Wednesday night for their weekly
'Soup n Bread' night.
To get through the s-l-o-w winter weekday nights, and harder economic times, the folks at
The Hideout launched a brilliant idea last winter: a free weekly soup dinner. Volunteers, made up of Hideout staff members & regulars, local musicians, writers, chefs and bakers, donate pots of homemade soups, breads, rolls, muffins ,and sometimes desserts, then invite one and all to partake. Now, here is where the 'give' comes in. Though the soup dinner is free, a donation bucket is set out. All donations collected are then distributed to a number of local food pantries and soup kitchens. So not only will you fill up on some pretty delicious soups, but you will help others fill their stomachs as well. And if you do like to try your hand at soup making, then get yourself a copy of the
Soup & Bread Cookbook -- filled with recipes of all the soups that were donated last winter, and yet another chance at the 'give' as all proceeds are donated to
The Greater Chicago Food Depository.
Soup & Bread takes place every Wednesday from 5:30 - 8pm (
or til the soup runs out. My advice, get there earlier than later) at
The Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, Chicago, thru March 31st.
P.S. big shout out to Magda (in pic above, in red scarf) and the FAB soup she donated a few weeks back. I bet if you ask nicely, I can get a copy of Magda's soup recipe for you....
Mo
moira@efete.net
Labels: Chicago Farmers Markets, seasonal organic produce, soup n bread, The Hideout, To Market with Moira
It's been said, if you want great Indian food (let me preface, outside of India) then go to London. I have always heard this, and have had the good fortune to experience....well, that is until a certain 'pants bomber' interrupted my last opportunity to savor a fantastic Indian meal in London. Pout, pout.Hold on a minute missy, and put that bottom lip away. Why travel halfway across of the globe for a bit of curry on the tongue, when right here in Chicago we are blessed to have a little bit (okay, a lot a bit) of India concentrated on the northside of the city, on west Devon Avenue. Take a wander west of Western Avenue, down Devon Avenue, and you will feel as if you were transported to a Mumbai shopping district: restaurants representing all regions of India, snack & sweets shops (can you say Annapurna? yum), sari shops, Bollywood rental shops, eyebrow threading shops, but I digress. I am supposed to focus on markets dedicated to food. right? Well, no need to succumb to the big box, spendy supermarket, right in the middle of this strip of Devon Avenue are two of my favorite markets, and only a few doors from each other:
Fresh Farms and
Patel Brothers.
Start at
Patel Brothers and wow, one foot in the door and your nostrils are greeted by the heady scent of spices. Corriander, tumeric, cumin, fennel, cardamom, ginger...I could go on but trust me, everything you will need to create your own masala or curry. And cheap, cheap, cheap. That is the wonderful thing about both
Patel Brothers and
Fresh Farms, your dollar goes oh so much further than it does at Whole Foods, Dominicks, or Jewel.
And since an Indian meal is not complete without rice (in southern India), or breads (in northern regions of India), you will be able to find not only rice, but a huge assortment of lentils (who knew there where so many varieties), grains, and flours to try your hand at homemade naan, puris and chapattis. Not that ambitious? Fresh and frozen breads can be had at Patel Brothers. One could get lost for awhile here, perusing the barrels of snack mixes, the pickle station, the ready-made food stuffs, and I am not even going to mention the rosewater ice cream, h-e-a-v-e-n.
Now, Patel Brothers does have a produce section, but may I suggest, once you are done stocking up on dry goods, and spices for the Indian feast you are going to make (I have inspired you right?), head a few yards west to
Fresh Farms for super fresh and delicious, and super inexpensive produce. Your standard fruits and veg, and then things you are so not going to find at your local chain grocery store, bitter melon for instance.
Fresh Farms definitely caters to the Indian community, but they don't stop there. Food products from South Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East are to be had. Hard to drag myself from the olive and feta bar. Oh, then there is the assortment of Greek sweets...getting even harder to be virtuous, and stick to resolutions here. But wait, just when I am about to cave, right in the front of the store is a fresh juice bar. Phew, just in time to get me back on a healthy track.
The vibe in this neck of the city is energizing, and never more so than on the weekends. Remember, patience is a virtue when looking/waiting for parking. May I suggest, if you have the opportunity to get up to Devon Avenue during the week do so, and you will find the parking situation much less stressful. No matter what, once you get all your goods for Indian cooking home, all the stress of the hunt will waft away in simmering spices.
Labels: Fresh Farms, Patel Brothers, seasonal organic produce, To Market with Moira
...or should I say goddesses? Oh, but back to that in a moment.
Let me tell you, after a week in Prague, I now know how, and why, Central Europeans embrace winter: hot cocktails. Hot mulled wine, hot glog, hot grog, hot punch, and my personal favorite, hot mead. "Huh what", you say. Mead. Still getting a blank, glazed look from you. Mead. Well, if it weren't for someone, or someones, discovering, and popularizing, the fermentation of grapes and grains, my guess is that mead, being the first known fermented beverage, would still be the world's most popular fermented beverage.
Knowing no borders, mead has been popular not only for thousands of years, but pretty much across all cultures. Ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians, Scandinavians, Aztecs, Incas were all imbibing for celebratory and religious purposes, hey all in the name of God, right? And rumor has it, that this golden nectar is quite the aphrodisiac. Mead played a huge part in what we now know as the 'honeymoon'. It is said that for the post wedding 'month of seclusion (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) the father of the bride would provide his son-in-law, and daughter, with a month's supply of mead. There you go, from honey wine, a honeymoon.
So, now that I have your taste buds peaked, I will not let you down by telling you mead is the stuff of legend past, or only to be had in other parts of the world. No, no, no, gratefully of the 100 or so commercial meaderies in the world, we are fortunate enough to have one right here in Chicago, Beverly to be exact.
The Wild Blossom Meadery & Winery. Who knew right? Chicago's first and only meadery and winery is owned and operated by Greg Fischer, who has been making his award winning meads commercially for ten years now, and from his own honey. Okay, his bee's honey. Now I'll finally get back to the goddess reference. As far as I am concerned, since it is the female honey bees that do all the work, aka, fly around pollinating the flowers, and making the honey, I think that mead should be referred to as 'nectar of the goddesses' not gods, heck all those male bees are doing is sleeping, eating and ahem, making the queen bee happy. And talk about your locavores dream, Greg's bees are making the meadery's honey right here in Chicago, and of the 80 hives, a handful sit right a top a Mag Mile rooftop, sweet.
Once the honey is harvested, a basic mead is begun, ready to take notes? Honey, water and yeast. That's it. And that alone transforms into a beautiful ambrosia, but
Wild Blossom Meadery whets our appetite further by creating, not one, but 13 varieties of mead, infused with fruits like green apples, raspberries, peaches and blueberries, chocolate, hibiscus, cinnamon and other spices.
"Where can I get this delectable liquid gold," you ask. Online, directly from
Wild Blossom Meadery & Winery or at
Binny's Beverage Depot. Not ready to indulge in a whole bottle? There are a number of bars and restaurants, including
Hopleaf and
The Funky Budda Lounge, here in Chicago, that feature Wild Blossom Meads. Still not swayed? It is said that the drinker of mead is imbibed with the following: more life, wisdom, courage, strength, and well, going back to those aphrodisiacal properties....
Cheers,
Mo
moira@efete.net
p.s. a huge thank you to The Local Beet for compiling the most complete list of area winter markets,
Winter Markets Ahead. See you at the markets!
Labels: Binny's, Chicago Farmers Markets, Funky Budda Lounge, Hopleaf, seasonal organic produce, To Market with Moira, Wild Blossom Meadery and Winery
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Spring has sprung and ushered in the official opening of the Farmers Market season in Chicago! And the first thing to catch my eye on my first market visit of the season? One of the oldest cultivated plants in the civilized world: Asparagus.
Long considered a delicacy and one of the first signs of spring, how asparagus fell into obscurity during the Middle Ages is beyond me, but my gratitude to Louis XIV for rediscovering and popularizing in the 18th century.
At Chicago's Green City Market asparagus from Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois are overflowing the farmer's stands. Green and my personal favorite, purple (which has a fruitier flavor) are available at the Farmers Markets now thru the end of June.
Pick out firm asparagus stems that have a uniform diameter, closed tips, and cut ends that are not woody and dried out. Farm fresh pencil thin, medium and larger diameter are all wonderfully tasty but contrary to popular belief the larger diameter are the tenderest (and I find stand up to grilling and roasting much better).
I love asparagus steamed, sauteed, stir-fried, pickled, microwaved, as soup, but most of all, grilled or roasted. Grilling and roasting bring out asparagus' sweetness.
Here is an easy and lite breakfast, lunch or dinner entree that conjures up al fresco dining in Spain. I like to sprinkle a pinch of Black Truffle Salt after plating the dish...in a word: devine.
Buen Provecho!
Roasted Asparagus & Eggs
(serves 4)
1 bunch of medium diameter asparagus
1 Tablespoon & scant drizzle of olive oil
1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)
cracked black pepper (to taste)
4 large fresh eggs (try the duck eggs from Mint Creek Farms - delicious)
2 oz. shaved manchego or parmesan cheese
Balsamic Vinegar (to drizzle)
Black Truffle Salt (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet toss asparagus with 1 T olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Bake until asparagus is lightly browned and tender, about 15 minutes (timing will vary depending on thickness of the asparagus. Closer to 10-12 minutes for pencil thin spears).
Heat a scant amount of olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan and cook until just set sunnyside up.
Divide asparagus among four plates. Top each plate of asparagus with an egg, shaved parmesan, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a small pinch of black truffle salt.
links:
www.chicagogreencitymarket.org
www.mintcreekfarm.com
Labels: asparagus, Chicago Farmers Market, Green City Market, Mint Creek Farms., Moira's Blog, seasonal organic produce, To Market with Moira
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