39698 Sun Sep 18 14:30:36 -0700 2005 14 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 189178 This is my favorite time of the year at the farmers market. Finally things are ripening, and the farmers bring in a wide range of items to drool over. The end of the summer is pepper time, and the peppers were out in force on Saturday. For a few years Happy Quail Farms has been selling Pimientos de Padrón, a small pepper from Spain that make a popular tapas when fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt. I love them, but at $6 for a small bag (4 oz.?) they have been expensive. This weekend, Mariquinta Farms was selling 8 oz. baskets of these delicious little peppers for $5. Hooray for competition, I say! Mariquinta was also selling some "Heart Pimento Peppers" which are an interesting heart-shaped pepper quite close to a red bell pepper in taste (perhaps a bit sweeter). Happy Quail Farms remains the Pepper King, though. They had a gorgeous display of colored sweet bell peppers including chocolate and purple, in addition to red, orange and yellow. This is the place to get supplies for a dinner party salad that might end up being too pretty to eat. Another pepper surprise was someone selling baskets of Thai "prik" (birds beak) chilies. These chilies must be the source of the rule of thumb about smaller chilies being hotter. These are REALLY hot. I bought a basket and cut up one-half of a chili to put in scrambled eggs this morning. Sure woke me up! Thai food will be on the menu some time this week. I also always visit the Far West Fungi stand inside the Ferry Building, as they seem to find and offer some really obscure and interesting mushrooms. In the past two weeks I've see Huitlacoche, Chanterelles, Fairy Rings, Lobster mushrooms, Shiatakes, Bluefoot mushrooms, and pink oyster mushrooms. The Fairy Ring mushrooms were miniature, perfectly-formed toadstools. I bought some and sautéed them, which was a mistake. They are too fragile to handle such heat, and ended up shriveled and charred. They need a much more delicate preparation, perhaps steamed. Oh well, if at first you don't succeed, don't fry again. Happy farmers market exploring! Link: http://sweetandsourspectator.org Sun Sep 18 14:30:36 -0700 2005 0 Paul H 1 189180 Do fry again! I took the vendor's advice on a mushroom side for steak, and it turned out wonderfully. The only note was to add the fairy rings at the very last second. My guests loved it. The other mushrooms were brown buttons, shitake, maitake, and king trumpet (in that order, I think). The three things at the market this month that have amazed me are eggs, apples, and early girl tomatoes. I've heard people talking about Marin Sun Farm eggs for the longest time, and I finally shelled out the $6 for a dozen. Wow. Wow wow wow. Now I can't use regular eggs for anything other than baking, and I crave buttery scrambled eggs every morning (I've also recently discovered Plugra). Apples are something I don't eat a lot of because the giant Fujis you see everywhere are way too sugary for my taste. But the Jonagolds, Mutsus, and a few other varieties have been wonderful. I just ask the guy for their crispiest tart apple, and I get a winner every time. Small early girl tomatoes really pack a punch. I know people swear by the Dirty Girl stand, but I think several of the stands are great in different ways. Every Saturday, I just tell myself "Okay, you're going to spend $5 on just a couple of apples and tomatoes, BUT you're not going to have that $3 latte and $3 cookie)." It's a wonderful, healthy weekly treat. Sun Sep 18 14:40:37 -0700 2005 189178 0 nooodles 2 189189 Six dollars a dozen for eggs! Some prices at the Ferry Plaza market seem resonable to me, and some...... I think I'll just continue to put one tsp. of plain yoghurt in for each scrambled egg, as it guarantees a creamy and rich result. That way I can continue to buy eggs for $1.29 per 18 at Costco (about 20% of the cost of the Marin Sun Farm eggs). Sun Sep 18 15:29:23 -0700 2005 189180 0 Paul H 3 189194 If you have ever had an egg in France or Italy, you will understand why people are willing to spend $0.50 an egg at Marin Sun farms. The yolks are dark orange and have a wonderful taste that your costco egg will never achieve, yogurt added or not. When you think about it fifty cents is actually relatively inexpensive for a complete source of protein that is raised sustainably...unlike your costco eggs. Sun Sep 18 16:08:18 -0700 2005 189189 0 Anton 4 189254 I personally don't into the organic/sustainable thing, but these eggs are one of the few things I'm willing to pay extra for. There is a noticeable difference in taste and texture, with a deep, nutty flavor to the yolk that shines through the most when the egg is eaten sunny side up or over easy -- scrambled is still good, but the difference with regular eggs is less pronounced. Mon Sep 19 00:35:54 -0700 2005 189194 0 JS 2 189441 you might want to try 'honey crisp' apples too, if not at the market, at whole foods. Tue Sep 20 13:29:39 -0700 2005 189180 0 ed 1 189260 Thanks for your report and blog photos. Just a minor correction: it's Mariquita (Spanish for "ladybug"), not Mariquinta. I bought a variety of peppers from their farm when I did tomato u-pick, and they were really good. The pimientos de padrones are pictured below. I just "poached" them in olive oil as part of a tapas-style meal. They were pretty small and none were that spicy. I also recommend the chocolate peppers if you see them. I love their rich brown hue, and the flavor had sort of a spicy coffee finish to me. I was jealous that you saw fresh huitlacoche at Far West Fungi. I've only eaten canned (and loved it!), and would kill to taste and experiment w/ fresh. They weren't that expensive at $5/basket either. When I visited the Ferry Bldg. last winter, I bought some chantarelles from FWF which were quite delicious. Thought it was also interesting how they were selling mycelium blocks that sprout shiitakes. Image: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/btdoan/IMG_2781.jpg Mon Sep 19 00:57:10 -0700 2005 189178 0 Carb Lover 2 189393 None of my pimientos de padrones purchased last week were spicy either, what's the deal with that? Mon Sep 19 22:36:14 -0700 2005 189260 0 J Dizzle 3 189396 Happy Quail Farms says that generally, they aren't spicy. (see link) Link: http://www.happyquailfarms.com/Padron.htm Image: http://www.happyquailfarms.com/images/Finger13.jpg Mon Sep 19 23:08:58 -0700 2005 189393 0 Paul H 3 189399 This was my first taste of them, so I don't have any basis for comparison; however, I've heard that they're not supposed to be really spicy. Mine were actually pretty mild, sweet, a little smokey. I enjoyed them enough but don't feel the need to rush out for them again. Mon Sep 19 23:50:33 -0700 2005 189393 0 Carb Lover 3 189444 California growers are always finding ways to breed the spice out of chiles. Tue Sep 20 13:36:20 -0700 2005 189393 0 Robert Lauriston 3 189488 I just got back from spain where we ate this dish just about every night. The peppers there were not spicy at all, so I don't think this is some american, less spicy version. They had a slightly smoky and very rich pepper flavor. I think the idea is that every once and a while, one of the peppers is spicy, so your dining experience is slightly russian roulette like. However, I believe that even in spain, only about 1 in 30 peppers is spicy, so you have pretty good odds. Tue Sep 20 18:30:59 -0700 2005 189393 0 piegirl 4 189504 Right, one in X many padrones is spicy. Most are mild. That's they way they've been here every time I've had them. Tue Sep 20 20:42:30 -0700 2005 189488 0 Robert Lauriston 3 189517 My experience is that the larger they are, the more likely they are to be spicy. I seem to recall the guy from Happy Quail telling me that as well. He has definitely said that they are less spicy early in the season than later. In any case, I usually try to find a bag with mostly small ones. Tue Sep 20 21:07:22 -0700 2005 189393 0 Joan Kureczka 1 189456 If you're looking for endorphin-rush spicy, get some Red Savinas from Happy Quail. Tue Sep 20 15:18:10 -0700 2005 189178 0 nja