Locally Known. Virginia Grown.

I get this rush when I go to farmers markets, especially when it’s a market I’ve never been to before. My heart races as I remove the lens cap from my camera and I ask if I can photograph their beautiful displays, fingers itching to pick up business cards so I remember what I’ve bought and from whom. 

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It’s like a mission. A Meals with Morri mission.

Getting back into the blogging groove has proven itself more difficult than I expected. But going on excursions such as these may help in easing my way back into producing recipes and product reviews. After all, I’d been looking forward to May specifically because it was the start of the farmers market season.

What's in season, you might be wondering? I'm so glad you asked.

The scent of strawberries was heavy and intoxicating at the Wakefield Farmers Market. On Wednesdays from two to six, two rows of vendors lay out their fruits, flowers, vegetables, baked goods, meats, dairy products, and honey in loving fashions. It’s a quieter, smaller farmers market, but the people are happy to strike up a meaningful conversation with you. There’s even a booth run by the Fairfax County Master Gardeners for green thumb enthusiasts.

You can find up to thirteen vendors in the Wakefield Farmers Market:

Produce
Kuhn Orchards*
J & W Family Farm
Level Green Farm
Lois’s Produce & Herbs
F.J. Medina & Son Farm

Meat
Stallard Road Farm – grass finished beef, herbs, and jams
What’s for Dinner Now – corn and grain finished pork, beef, sausages, soups, and entrees*

Baked Goods (alas, not the gluten-free kind)
Cenan’s Bakery – breads, croissants, et al.
Sue’s Pies & More – pies, cookies, and other baked goods

Other Products
Red Fox Creamery – homemade ice cream
Massanutten Mountain Apiaries – honey*
Salsa Las Glorias – salsa
Fields of Grace Farm – all natural farmstead cheese

My first stop was at the What’s for Dinner Now booth run by the Stifler family. Their beef and pork are raised in the Shenandoah Valley, and all cuts are individually vacuum packaged. They were a little confused by my request to take a photo of their meat freezer, but were kind enough to lift open the door for me to do so. Many of their sausages as I could see are gluten free and soy free, but some do contain sugar. 

My next stop was the Massanutten Mountain Apiaries booth. I have a sweet spot for honey, especially since it is used in much of my baking, desserts, fermenting, and brewing. While they didn’t have bee pollen, they did have honey sticks, small jars jam-packed with sliced almonds and other nuts in honey, jars with honeycomb just asking to be chewed on like nature’s chewing gum, and even gallon-sized containers should you want to make five gallons of mead. Most of their honey comes from wildflowers, but they also mentioned to have tulip poplar honey from time to time.

We talked about their bees, and I asked how their hives were doing. They said that Virginia was one of those places where the bees aren’t dying off as they are in some places. A silver lining, that, but we seriously need to do something for nature's pollinators.

I finished my farmers market excursion at the Kuhn Orchards booth. I gravitated towards the absolutely stunning apple display. There was an apple called Gold Rush, and if you could imagine the combining of a Golden Delicious with a Honeycrisp, it was an explosion of sunshine on the tongue. There were greens and rhubarb and other delights, but really, any booth with apples will become my favorite.

With a camera full of pictures and a bag full of goodies, I came home content and excited to write this post. I have a lineup of farmers markets to explore now, and I can’t wait to get to know the people behind the products they sell.

For more information regarding farmers markets or CSAs by region, go to VirginiaGrown.com

A September Monday Brunch

Autumn has begun to show its colors as we firmly settle into September. Certain fruits and vegetables are no longer in season, and more and more vendors at the farmers markets have signs that say, “This is the last week we are selling ___. Buy now for canning and freezing in the winter.”

Never before has my heart clenched over such an announcement. I feel that my first year of blogging was experimenting with how to make food; but as I am a quarter into my second year writing Meals with Morri posts, it has transformed into food activism, health, and gardening. I have more than recipes swirling around my head. I have plans on changing the way we look at food and where it comes from.

Farmers markets have really shifted my priorities on the food budget. Buying local, sustainable, and organic food, both from the weekend markets and stores like Trader Joe’s, are really not that much different in price when I bought solely from international markets and other stores (cheaper, even). Even more disturbing is how the quality differs, how the farmers market’s garlic is crisp and strong while the ones we used to by at the international market trekked from far lands and severely lacked in texture and flavor. You can say the same thing for just about any fruit, vegetable, dairy/meat product: the celery is greener, the mozzarella is soft and stretchy, the apples are beautifully imperfect and significantly more filling, the tomatoes are sweet and wonderfully varied in color and texture, and the herbs taste like they came from the garden that morning (which, coincidentally, they probably had).

I have my compost pile underway, and I have plans for gardening for the following year. I have graduate school to officially apply for, and I have much to study. So what better way to start a Monday morning with all of these plans and adventures in the making than a brunch to celebrate a new month and season?

When my good friend CB and I went to Toledo for the weekend, the drive was starting to get to us. By hour eight, we were tired, hungry, and the highway started to look like it would never end. Then he mentioned having a friend living a Cleveland and asked if we could make a stop to visit. I was determined to get to Toledo, but I did need to get out of the car and nap, so I agreed.

Whatever misconceptions I had about Cleveland were completely turned upside down when we entered the city. Our friend took us on tour to visit the nooks and crannies that left me in awe. Truthfully, had I eaten and slept throughout the trip, I would have been more excited to walk around and take photos. But the fact that I could walk on hour ten of our journey was a miracle in itself. Ah, well. I guess that means another trip to Ohio is in order…

He took us to this plot of land by the projects, where acres of beautiful fruits and vegetables grew in rows of outstanding abundance. I saw hops, hanging high overhead, and Brussels sprout stems bare from harvest. Carrot greens shyly rose above the soil, and kale in its confidence was lush and green.

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And then there was The West Side Market and his own little garden (with chickens!), two places I really wished I had been well rested and with a camera to share their marvels with you. He took us back to his cozy apartment where I napped in the guest bedroom while the two men made breakfast for lunch. When I awoke, I came out to see them sitting on the porch with a buffet of delightful foods: fruits and cheeses, banana nut pancakes (alas, the gluteny kind), and omelets.

Now, I must mention that my appetite is wonky on long travels. I prefer to not eat, at least not too much, because I figure my lack of motion would balance it out. We had been on the road since two-thirty that morning, and having eaten at odd times, I wasn’t sure how hungry I was. And though I kept saying I wasn’t hungry, I grabbed cubes of succulent mango he purchased from the West Side Market, as well as various slices of cheese and berries. My new friend wouldn’t take no for an answer: I was eating.

He made me this amazing omelet (did I mention he was a professionally trained cook?): eggs with half and half, rainbow chard, fennel sprigs, and Havarti with dill (my absolute favorite cheese). It tasted amazing, warmed my empty stomach and tired body, and I was a brand new Morri for the remainder of our drive.

When we came back to Virginia, I was determined to recreate that delectable omelet and share it with you. Today was the perfect day to make it for the household. Where it was made for us to ease our travels, I made it for the same reasons: warmth, love, and intentions of well-being wherever my family was going.

Thank you, dear David from Ohio. I dedicate this recipe to people such as yourself and the food movement Cleveland has embraced.  

The Baked Cleveland Omelet

8 Large eggs
340 ml Whole milk*
100 g Rainbow chard, stems removed and sliced into long strips
1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
120 g Havarti with dill, divided in half and thinly sliced or grated
1 – 2 tbsp. Fennel sprigs, finely chopped
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a medium-sized bowl, thoroughly blend the eggs and milk and set aside.
Grease a deep dish 8 x 8” pan with coconut oil and layer the ingredients in the following order: chard, garlic, 60 g of the Havarti, the egg mixture, the fennel sprigs, and the remaining 60 g of Havarti (or more if you want a cheesier top).
Bake for thirty minutes, until bubbling and firm when pierced in the center with a knife.
Turn off the oven and let it sit there for an additional five minutes.
Slice to the serving sizes of your preference and serve warm over rice.

Makes 4 – 8 servings, depending on meal.

* As I said, you can also use half and half or whatever "milk" you happen to have on hand. The raw milk we purchased from the Amish was starting to sour, so I used it for this recipe. 

Farmers Market Hopping

Going to farmers markets has become quite the weekend pastime for me. So when my friend CB invited me to go to Hamilton, Virginia and visit various markets he liked, how could I say no?

The ride there was filled with farms and wineries, winding roads and rolling hills, and I couldn’t wait to see how these markets differed from the ones in northern Virginia.

Want the recipe? Go here!

Before I left for such an excursion, I had an amazing breakfast: oatmeal with beets and steel cut oats, an apple with peanut butter, and coffee. If you are going to spend the day farmers market hopping, a hearty breakfast is essential to your success.

Oh, and naturally taking lots of pictures when you get there.

I love the variety of the vendors at both the Purcellville Community Market and the Leesburg Market. There were wine vendors, Shitake mushroom growers, meat and dairy folk, flowers, baked goods, pickles, salsa, fruits and vegetables, herbs and fruiting plants… 

There is even an organic nursery nearby that I am definitely going back to next spring.

I always come home so inspired by the market: inspired to create foods I never had before, and inspired by the people I met. He and I had wonderful conversations about food, our trip to Toledo, OH next weekend, and what great changes this world is coming to.

I can’t think of a better Saturday, and a meal to end it with. I had been experimenting with soaking beans this week, and I can definitely tell the difference with soaking dried beans for a few days versus buying them canned. 

Sweet Potato, Black Bean, and Quinoa Hash

106 g Dried black beans, soaked for a few days*
84 g Quinoa, soaked for twenty-four hours**
2 Small sweet potatoes, diced into small pieces
15 ml Olive oil
1 Red onion, finely diced
1 Bell pepper, finely diced
3 Garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Chili powder

* & ** If you have leftover beans and quinoa already prepared, simply use those up instead, about 260 g black beans and 230 g quinoa. Both were soaked in filtered water with about one teaspoon of unrefined apple cider vinegar, though the beans were drained at least once a day. Prepare the beans and quinoa like you usually would, go here and here.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Lightly toss the sweet potato pieces in the olive oil and place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper (make sure there is plenty of room).
Bake for thirty minutes or until soft.
In a cast iron pan, heat additional oil on medium heat and cook the onion, cloves, and pepper at its smoking point.
Once softened, add the cooked beans (without the liquid), quinoa, sweet potato, and spices, and stir until slightly caramelized in some places.
Top the hash with a pan-fried egg (or whatever protein you like) and serve hot.

Makes two servings.

Chasing Away the Blues at the Farmers' Market

There are a number of things that can brighten anyone’s weekend, especially in the summertime. That’s where Grill Day, wild fish, and the local farmers’ market come in. 

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Mama Dazz and I drove to Ben Brenman Park in Alexandria, just a few miles from SportRock. The West End Farmers Market has two rows of white tents, filled with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumber, eggplants, crafts, baked goods, flowers, and more. A nice gentleman, either picking up my need to smile or hearing my comment on the beautiful sunflowers, gave me a pink carnation to enjoy.  

It was a nice excursion, and we walked to the car with Cherokee Purple tomatoes, basil, collard greens, yellow zucchini, purple okra, and eggplant in hand.

We cooked the tomato, zucchini, and eggplant on the grill with the (wild) corvina fillets, and pan-fried the okra lightly dusted with Maseca® corn flour in our cast iron pan. (Let it be known to cyberspace that this was the first time I ever enjoyed okra.) The basil made a wonderful salad with sweet onion and cucumber, and harmonized well with the other components of the dish.

Whenever we have these sort of meals, I wonder why we don’t go to the farmers’ market more often. It is certainly worth it.