Weekly farmers markets have been popping up all over the area this summer, not unlike the mushrooms produced by the unusually damp weather we’ve experienced. At each one, we shoppers can find fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers that were picked fresh that morning, are often organically grown and sometimes of unusual or heirloom varieties.
But what I like best about these farmers markets is that we get to chat with the people who grow our food. This often includes getting tips from the experts on how best to select, clean, cook and serve their bounty – not to mention recipes straight from the farmhouse.
The Thursday market in the Princeton North Shopping Center is no exception. Organized by Montgomery Friends of Open Space, it brings together at the crossroads of Routes 206 and 518 four farms and one baker, from 2 to 7 p.m. each week.
Among them is Ed Kesler of Tree-Licious Orchards in Port Murray, who estimates he grows about 30 varieties of peaches, as well as heirloom apples, apricots and plums. The diminutive yellow and red ones which he calls "sugar plums" come with their stems and leaves still attached.
"But everything is two to three weeks late this year," he lamented one recent Thursday, which means he envisions having his white and yellow peaches ($1.50 a pound) well into October. "We have a nice drop of apples," he added, noting that in coming weeks he’ll bring Staymens, Jersey Macs, Lodis and Gala varieties, all of which he says are "a pretty good size this year."
One Princeton resident, Judy Leondar, discovered Tree-Licious sugar plums early on, and was back for more the day we visited. "I think something like this is a great idea," she said. "Other than this, you really have to go a distance (for just-picked produce). It seems to be quite popular; there seem to be more people each time I come."
Breads, pies and other baked goods are sold at the market by Baker’s Bounty of Linden, while the stunning field-grown flowers are proffered by Grossman Farms of Chesterfield.
The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association Farm in Pennington, another participant, is well known for the wide variety of organic produce it sells through shares in its Community Supported Agriculture program, which now services 2,500 families. Jeremiah LaMontagne, who joined the farm straight out of college two years ago, said farmer Jim Kinsel wanted to join the Montgomery market, "for those people who don’t want to buy a share. And this one was close by."
This year’s wet weather delayed everyone’s favorite summer crops, so we are just now seeing them come to market. Sweet corn began appearing at the end of July, and full-sized, vine-ripened tomatoes are just now making it out of the field.
Among the Watershed Farm’s many varieties of heirloom tomatoes are Brandywine, pink-striped German, green-striped zebra and a number of yellow and low-acid types. The farm’s eggplants, now at their peak, come in the familiar fat purple kind we all know, but they also grow the long, thin Japanese variety, as well as white and even pink varieties, such as the Rosita, which Mr. LaMontagne says has a mild, sweet taste.
The rainy, delayed season has kept crops that normally disappear after spring still at the market, including beets and Swiss chard. Mr. LaMontagne takes advantage of the latter to make the following quick and easy pasta dish. He takes a bunch of chard, de-stems it and cuts it into pieces, then places the chard in a colander in the sink. Meantime, he boils a big pot of water, adds salt and pasta, and when the pasta is al dente, he drains it into the colander with the chard. He then tosses the pasta-chard mixture with olive oil, walnut pieces and minced garlic and tops it with Parmesan cheese.
I recently made my own favorite simple pasta dish – spaghetti with oil and garlic – using organic garlic from the Watershed Farm. The difference from supermarket garlic was amazing. Explained Mr. LaMontagne, "The garlic you find in stores comes from California and is at least two weeks past its prime when you buy it."
Another change I made to my standard version was to toss the finished dish with grated caciocavallo cheese instead of Parmesan, an inspired idea I took from Giovanna La Marca’s book "Sicilian Feasts" (Hippocrene Books, 2003). I purchased this pungent, salty cow’s milk cheese that is widely used in Sicilian cooking at Bon Appetit in the Princeton Shopping Center.
Judy Leondar, the Princeton resident we spoke with, said she is particularly fond of the corn, tomatoes and lettuce from SueMac Farm of Belvidere. Sue McEvoy’s eponymous farm participates in markets in Bernardsville and Morristown on weekends, but she told us she had been looking to add a weekday market to her roster.
"The Montgomery area looked like a good, strong market," she says, adding, "I hope it continues to grow." She was happy to contribute her recipe for country peach cobbler, below, which she likes to top it with thick dairy cream.
COUNTRY PEACH
COBBLER
Sue McEvoy, SueMac Farm, Belvidere
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1½ cups whole milk, at room temperature
5 cups peeled, halved, pitted, and thinly sliced peaches (Use a vegetable peeler, or blanch the peaches for 15 seconds and then peel)
Thick cream, if desired
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup sugar
Nutmeg
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a 10-by-14-inch baking dish and melt it in the oven.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add milk and whisk until combined.
3. Pour batter over the melted butter, being careful not to mix it in. Layer peaches on top of batter.
4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and plain sugar. Sprinkle over top of peaches, then sprinkle liberally with nutmeg. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with thick cream, if desired.
Makes approximately 20 servings.
Montgomery Friends Farmers Market runs on Thursdays from 2 to 7 p.m. through October at Princeton North Shopping Center, Routes 206 & 518. www.montgomeryfriends.com
Pat Tanner can be heard each Saturday morning on "Dining Today with Pat Tanner" on MoneyTalk AM 1350 from 9 to 10 a.m.