Veggie Patch Broccoli

Saturday morning my friends and I had a blast at the All-local Farmers Market. The market is something I do pretty regularly but usually I will meet up with a friend there or just go by myself before the crowds hit. This weekend, though, we all slept and/or met up at my friend Amanda's house (within good walking distance) to walk down together. Well, it was raining - so we walked to our married friends' house and they drove us all. It was a fun morning of the 7 of us spending good time together, eating quiche (I had Asparagus & White Truffle Oil Quiche. sooooo good), doing some grocery shopping and hanging out and laughing. I realized that "farmers markets" symbolize to me responsibility, sustainability, intentionality, and most importantly, community. I see all of them happening at the market but I am so removed from it, like an outsider looking in, coming to partake and get my feet wet but not give much or commit too much. Well this weekend was a good step from one side to the other in bringing my friends. I love the idea that food is meant to be a community effort - none to go hungry and none to grow obese, everything shared or at least done together.
One of my last purchases of the morning was from a fairly new vendor, Veggie Patch Farms. I bought a huge head of broccoli for $3 and I am planning on eating it everyday this week. Yesterday I blanched the majority of it (I recently learned that "blanching" is not well known. See tutorial at end of blog) for quick and tasty sauteeing, or adding to pasta, etc.

Yesterday I blanched the broccoli to cook it and then lightly sauteed it in minced garlic and butter - SO good, so fresh, so fiber-y. I like to keep the stems on, a practice also done by Villa Tronco, because I love the crunch and it is full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Just trim the end of the stalk and then cut the head of broccoli into halves, thirds or fourths, depending on your preference.

How & Why to Blanch:
"Blanching" involves boiling for a short amount of time to cook a product and then shocking it in an ice bath to immediately keep it from cooking. It is used a lot in restaurants because you need to prepare food ahead of time and not overcook it. For instance, broccoli would be blanched to have it cooked and then shocked, and kept until time to send it out. At the time of order, you could take the lightly cooked broccoli out of the fridge, saute it to give it the flavors and a quick heating, but you won't have to sit there and try to make your saute cook your broccoli for you (and then it gets limp, and loses nutrients, and is overcooked, and takes FOREVER).

Bring a pot of water to boil (season it accordingly), boil your vegetable of choice for a short time (times vary on vegetable - carrots and broccoli, ~2 to 3 minutes depending on how you like it. Peas or something small? probably 1-2 minutes). With a slotted spoon, transfer your veg to a bowl of ice water. Make sure you are stirring the ice water with the veggies in it to prevent any hot spots from forming or the vegetable will keep cooking.

a little bit about me & Turtle Creek Coffee

There was a 3 1/2 year period in my life when I worked for a small, local, non-profit coffee shop called The Wired Bean. We saw so many changes and developments - in just 3 years I worked for 3 different managers. It had a great location and a horrible location; it was in the bottom of an old cotton mill and set on the mill pond, yet it was in Lexington, SC which is the hardest place on earth for a cafe to thrive. I have learned literally SO MUCH about small business from the Wired Bean. I began that job bitterly refusing to be like everyone else and open a cafe (I just needed a job and knew a girl who worked there), but at some point in that 3 1/2 years the struggle of a small business, the hardship, the community that develops around places like that, and the potential for it to blossom (given the right location, or timing) converted me. So now I am an HRTM major hoping to one day own a small bakery or pastry shop (with an espresso machine, traditional drinks only. And brewed coffee comes free with your purchase when you sit down to eat in the shop).

The last year we had an incredible manager who moved from St. Louis, where consumers' taste for coffee abounds. He switched our coffee and found a local roaster in Columbia, untrained us on bad techniques we had developed and trained us to make consistently high quality drinks - I loved being a barista that year, and now, almost a year later, I am craving to get behind an espresso machine again. For that, I am considering going up to Charlotte for one of Counter Culture's workshops.

But for you, I would like to pass along the best coffee from Columbia (sorry, Immac). It takes some effort to get your paws on Mick's beans because he generally just sells to restaurants in South Carolina. However, he has recently started selling his whole beans at the All-Local Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at 711 Whaley Street, donating part of his profit to the farmers market. Get past the hokey website. Turtle Creek Coffee is some of the best coffee to brew (and beans to smell in the bag) I have ever had. His espresso was wonderful, though I can't enjoy that anymore, but my favorite of his coffees is the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, next in line, Kenya Tembo. Mick visits the farmers that supply his beans in order to make sure they are continuing to operate and employ ethically and wholesomely; he has such a taste for coffee and will talk to you for hours about coffee, beans, origins, roasting, conferences, competitions, cuppings, etc. if you dare ask.

Raw Cream

All I have to say is YUM! I bought a little container about the size of a cup at the weekly all-local Farmers' Market on Saturday from Butter Patch Jerseys, as well as some fresh eggs. The little container has served me well this week in my coffee- I think I am going to use the rest today for baking so it does not go bad. I have not done too much research on the benefits but enough to know that I am safe when it comes from a reputable source. But a few reasons I think raw cream is the best:

• it is the best tasting
• cows raised for milk production are generally fed organic feed and free of hormones and antibiotics (check with your producer)
  
• because the cows are not meant for pasteurization, they are raised with care and caution, yielding a healthy cow and healthy milk!
• supports your local farmers
  
• sticks it to the man

On my reading list for during Christmas is a book based on the research done by dentist Weston A. Price, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon which I am expecting to address certain topics such as these. I will keep posting my findings!