Don't miss the Chile Festival this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Local chile grower, Jane Wyatt, from the San Simon Chile Company, will bring a trailer-load of green chile and two big roasters. She will sell 40-pound sacks of chile both roasted and unroasted as well as half sacks and 2- and 4-pound bags of roasted chile. Eliva Villa and her family will return for one day only with their tasty Mexican food which we have all missed. The menu includes shredded beef green chile, steak and cheese, chorizo and egg and bean burritos, tacos, carmelos, quesadillas and tamales.
 Each week at the Bisbee Farmers Market, in addition to her Desert Blossom dried floral creations, Marlene Radcliff of Tombstone sells flats of gourmet baby lettuce that you can take home and harvest periodically for salads as well as vegetable plant starts for winter gardening including a Siberian tomato that sets fruit to the mid 30's, broccoli, chard, red and green cabbage. She also has herbs such as chives, oregano, catnip, mint and chicory (which you can eat like lettuce), as well as autumn sunflowers and pomegranate trees. |
What's fresh: Melons, peaches, plums, apples, pears, hot and bell peppers, summer and winter squash, tomatoes, sweet and spring onions, okra, garlic, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, pumpkins, fresh herbs, sweet corn and flower bouquets.
For your sweet tooth or someone else's pick up Bonnie de Blas' signature Rocky Road Fudge which comes gift wrapped in a solid chunk or in a cone of pieces if you are willing to share some. Alli Bodkin has fresh fruit popsicles and freshly squeezed fruit juice that are very thirst quenching.
Stop by Michael McConnell's High Grade Rubs for seasoning to bring out the best in beef, pork, chicken and fish (and vegetarian) dishes. Ask for a brochure with recipes. (Also sold by Alice Coleman's desert foods at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market.)
Marlene Radcliff of Desert Blossom of Tombstone has flats of gourmet baby lettuce that you can take home and harvest periodically for salads as well as vegetable plant starts for the winter garden including a Siberian tomato that sets fruit to the mid '30s, broccoli, chard, red and green cabbage. She also has herbs such as chives, oregano, catnip, mint and chicory (which you can eat like lettuce), as well as autumn sunflowers and pomegranate trees.
It is still a good time to plant and the market offers three growers. Gary Foss with Arizona Ash, Aligator Juniper, Mexican Blue Oak, Silverleaf Oak, Big Tooth Maple, Desert Willow, Arizona Cypress, Arizona Black Walnut as well as Desert 4'o'clocks, passion fruit vine and lantana. The Brandts with chile plants (poblano, Serrano and jalapeno), mint, seven kinds of basil, oregano, parsley, as well as clematis wine, summer color (zinnias, daisies, aster, cosmos), morning glory vine, sages, ornamental grasses, silver poplar trees and ornamental cactus. Yvonne Jingle will bring succulents, native plants, houseplants and herbs (catnip, feverfew, red yarrow, rosemary, sage, parsley, several varieties of agaves and teasle with its unusual seed pod used to comb wool.
The market also includes lots of handmade craft vendors including a genuine Navajo silversmith, Arnold Begay.
A couple of new craft vendors include Nancy Hays of Accipiter Nature and Crafts from Portal who makes decorated gourds, weaves pine needle baskets makes soy soap and candles made from the wax by-product of soy bean oil that is non carcinogenic, burns at a cooler temperature so it has no soot and lasts 50 percent longer.
Stop by Frances' needlework booth for embroidered aprons and runners just like your grandmother used to make and in fact are made by a 93-year-old grandmother still at it. This week her grandchildren will be selling her blankets, quilts and hand embroidered pillow cases to clear out her sewing trunks.
Sierra Vista Farmers Market
More than 30 vendors will bring lots of just picked fresh produce, tamales and tortillas, breads, jams and jellies, syrups, pickles, condiments, desert foods, hand made soaps and balms, plants, healthy meats and eggs.
Organically grown apples from the Beatty's Miller Canyon orchard are a bargain and include new varieties every week.
Stout's Cider Mill will return to the market with their giant apple pies, pecan pies, apple cake, apple butter, jams and cider.
Get just roasted fair-trade, organic Just Coffee from Katherine Zellerbach as well as low glycemic sweetener, agave nectar to sweeten your tea or coffee or make cookies a la Martha Stewart recently.
Roasted green chile will be available only from small grower Frank Vega this week.
Grower Jane Wyatt will return for the last time this season on Aug. 30.
New Vendor: Jim Koweek of Arizona Revegetation & Monitoring Company will sell bulk packs of native grass and wildflower seed. He specializes in reseeding lawns or acreage with native grasses or wildflower seed and in erosion control.
Put together a great summer grill party with the plentiful zucchini, eggplant and peppers for roasting on the barbecue along with grass-fed beef hamburgers, lamb chops, pork chops or Polish sausage from San Ysidro Farm's Meat Market. (At both farmers markets.)
New Vendor: Rick Weisburg of Oasis Water Harvesting will bring a variety of sizes and colors of his rain barrels to match your house and collect some of the precious thousands of gallons of water coming off the roof.
Michael Swift of Fiore di Capra, Grade A Dairy and Creamery, located in Pomerene, says they will do their best to be at both markets this week with their gourmet goat cheeses and raw goat's milk.
Unusual produce: Red okra will be available from Cochise grower, Leo Dunaetz along with Ambrosia cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes, lemon, slicing and pickling cucumbers. Concord grapes will be brought small Elfrida grower Bob Berry who also brings colorful flower bouquets. Check the market's Back Yard Growers Table at the information booth for Japanese cucumbers and eggplant, Thai hot chiles, grapes and an ever changing assortment of extra produce consigned by local backyard growers.
Take home a meat or vegetarian main dish from Sue Thatcher's Next Door Kitchen to compliment fresh produce from the market for a quick and easy dinner or stop by for a goodie or drink.
Help fund the market's site improvement fund by buying a recycled fabric reusable shopping bag or two at the information booth.
Recipes
(Adapted from Rebecca Wells' Vegetable Harvest)
Green Beans with Summer Savory
1 pound fresh green beans
1 tblsp finely chopped fresh summer savory leaves
2 tblsp unsalted butter
Note: Summer savory is a perennial herb that is intensely aromatic and reminiscent of both thyme and mint.
It is used often and sparingly in salads, cheese dishes and herb blends. In Provence, it is also called the bean herb for it is often paired with green beans.
Rinse beans and trim end. Steam until crisp tender about 5 minutes.
Add summer savory and butter and toss to coat beans.
Zucchini Spaghetti with Creamy Lemon-Chive dressing
1 pound small fresh zucchini
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 cup Creamy Lemon-Chive Dressing
Rinse, dry and trim zucchini. Using the julienne blade of a grater or food processor, slice zucchini into long julienne strips.
Transfer to a colander set over a mixing bowl. Toss zucchini with salt. Set aside for 15 minutes. Gently squeeze zucchini to extract excess water.
Transfer to a bowl and toss with just enough dressing to evenly coat zucchini.
Creamy Lemon Chive Dressing
2 tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup light cream (half and half)
1/3 cup finely minced fresh chives
In a small jar, combine lemon juice and salt. Cover and shake to dissolve salt. Add cream and chives and shake to blend. Shake to blend before using.
Zucchini Coins in Tomato Sauce
2 cups Chunky Fresh Tomato Sauce
1 pound small zucchini
Sea salt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Rinse, trim and cut zucchini into thin rounds. In small sauce pan heat tomato sauce over moderate heat. Add zucchini and cook for just a few minutes. It should remain crisp and tender.
Chunky Fresh
Tomato sauce
(This quick, rustic tomato sauce that can be put together in minutes tastes as though you labored for hours. Just use the ripest, most flavorful tomatoes you can find. 5 cups.)
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
3 pounds garden-fresh tomatoes
1 tsp sea salt or more to taste
Several celery leaves
Several fresh or dried bay leaves
1 head of garlic
Hot red pepper flakes or chopped fresh jalapeno or Serrano pepper to taste
Rinse, core and quarter (do not peel) tomatoes. In a large heavy-duty sauce pan, combine all ingredients.
Cook, uncovered, over moderate heat, stirring regularly, until tomatoes have collapsed and are cooking in their own juices, about 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Remove and discard celery and bay leaves. Using a large ladle, transfer sauce to food processor or blender and puree most or all sauce.
Store in refrigerator for one week or in freezer for six months.
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