A Great Week of Local Cooking (and Eating)

I had a blast cooking at the Marin County Fair. The Marin Farmers Market “paired” me with a different farmer or rancher each day for five days straight, and my job was to make an innovative dish out of whatever product of theirs they wanted to highlight. We packed the crowds in, learned a ton from the farmers, and ate some great food.  The photo above shows me and Kevin Lunny, the mastermind behind Drakes Bay Family Farms, who surely farm the tastiest and healthiest oysters and clams on earth (they’re truly amazing).

The dish was sauteed onion, which got blended with

• freshly squeezed carrot juice (thanks to Cafe Gratitude)
• sake (daiginjo from Iwate Prefecture, Japan)
• vegetable stock
• about 10 umeboshi (pitted, of course)

That beautiful orange liquid then got poured back into the claypot and brought to a simmer, at which point Kevin’s clams went in to steam. It was especially tasty!

With Albert Strauss’s yogurt, I made a lovely stonefruit salad. Sauted onion and plenty of fresh ginger, tossed with raw, peaking yellow and white peaches and pluots, and worked in plenty of yogurt and freshly chopped mint. Strauss makes beautiful products; Albert also mentioned that they give tours (they’re up in Marshall, north of Pt. Reyes), which would be a fun day mixed with hiking in the national seashore.

Also featured was Doug Stonebreaker of Prather Ranch, and his amazing pork, which got a spice treatment of coriander, fennel seed, and star anise, and pan fried in the trusty cast iron pan, and topped with stonefruit chutney. Artie from Kashiwase Farms gave us boatloads of peaches of pluots to work with, so they figured prominently in everything. They redefine the peach! Really beautiful fruit. David Retsky of County Line Harvest provided gorgeous ribbed squash, herbs of all kinds, gigantic red onions, and much else.

The experience really hammered home how much better this food tastes than store-bought food. The quality is like comparing Wonderbread to Tartine’s country loaf, or to Della Fattoria (who also generously provided bread for us — it’s the best). There are a million reasons to support these guys, and all the other local farmers who sell at the markets, but even if you’re not politically inclined or interested in issues of sustainability: this food really doesn’t get any better.

I’d love to hear which local stands/farmers you especially like, so please chime in! And it’s not limited to the Bay Area — I’m interested in great food, no matter where it’s grown!