Local radishes, three ways!

Rosemont just scored radishes in bunches fresh off Belanger Farm in Lewiston. Also had some local radish sprouts. I brought both home and made the night’s appetizer, Radish Three Ways, in 5 minutes. Snip the greens off the bunch, chop roughly and sauté 3 minutes in extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt, with freshly ground pepper. Meanwhile, slice a few of the radishes thinly. Stir the greens as they cook, then remove from heat. Add a spritz of lemon or lime juice, adjust salt and pepper, and lay on a plate. Top with the sliced radishes, sprinkle on some Maine sea salt, top with a few of the radish sprouts. Oooooh, good. I coulda gussied it up with some melted anchovies, chopped black olives, and/or toasted baguette. But I didn’t, and they were still so good!

All in it together

The following commentary appeared in a recent Rosemont Market email, which might not have been the best place for it to appear. It is now reprinted here, both because this is a better forum for it and because we hope readers will be encouraged to post their own comments in response.

Making enemies

It’s not usually in a business’s best interests to discuss politics publicly, but here it comes anyway. Paul LePage’s eager announcment shortly after becoming Maine’s governor that he will rescind Gov. Baldacci’s prohibition of state agencies to question the immigration status of…anyone they choose…is not just unkind, not just uncivil (and aren’t we trying to be more civil these days?), not just culturally obsolete, not just un-Republican (aren’t Republicans supposed to be the first to defend the privacy of non-criminal individuals?), it’s fiscally foolish and — here’s where Rosemont comes in — offensive to Maine’s agricultural community. 

Who does LePage think does an ever-increasing amount of the farm work in Maine? How are these people to appreciate the full benefits of a citizenship they aspire to if they’re too scared to show up at public events (everything from town council meetings to farmers’ markets) and participate in Maine’s culture? How is our home-grown, built-for-the-21st-century economy to develop and thrive? How are we going to “buy local” and support the state’s start-up businesses when some of the hardest-working, youngest and most creative members of the local economy start looking for a politically friendlier state?

Ask Arizona, to paraphrase Sarah Palin, how their hopeless-strangey thing (draconian interrogation strategies and all the rest) is “workin’ out for ya” — for their tourism industry, for their economy, for their international image and sense of pride.

Or ask Washington County who’s going to pick wild blueberries. Ask increasing numbers of Maine poultry processors, broccoli pickers and fisherfolk just where they’re going to throw their shoulders to the wheel. Ask other Rosemont shoppers how they plan on keeping it close to home.

If you think new Maine inhabitants of African, Asian and Central American origin going cold, hungry or sick this winter, for fear of asking Health and Human Services for some emergency aid, is a necessary trade-off that enables us to direct our scant public monies to U.S. citizens, that’s at least a legitimate argument and we can have a healthy debate (though just so you know, DHHS is already required to ask applicants’ immigration status).

But Maine’s population is aging fast; we need young people to stay here and work! The last thing we should be doing is to tell people who come here to go away. And for all of us who take rightful pride in a flourishing local food community, don’t we want more people in that community — as producers, distributors and consumers — a year, and three, and ten from now? Even if all we are is selfish, don’t we want to eat wild blueberries?

If this strikes a chord with you, please join the march against LePage’s executive order, planned for next Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, from Portland’s Preble Street Resource Center to City Hall. 1 p.m.

Rosemont gives thanks for Maine-ly Poultry Thanksgiving turkeys

Real nice article in Portland Phoenix on John Barnstein of Maine-ly Poultry in Warren. John has been a close friend of Rosemont’s since before we began, and remains one of our most important long-term partners. His turkeys are terrific — both in “end use” (they taste terrific) and before (John raises them right, lets them roam, feeds them well, slaughters humanely — or is that hu-maine-ly?).

We also sell turkeys from Serendipity Acres Farm in North Yarmouth. These cost 50 cents more per pound, because not only are they free-ranging, all-natural with no additives or antibiotics or other funny stuff (just like Maine-ly Poultry), but they also feed on pasture (rather than grain feed). So, you’ve got two terrific options (if you’re having a very large Thanksgiving party, you could order one of each and have a bird-off…).

Please order your Thanksgiving turkey from Rosemont NOW. Order in stores or by phone, more information available on our website. As John explains in the Phoenix article, he works hard to raise different weights to meet all customer demands. Given the season we had, though, they’re going to be on the big side this year.

MEAT

Apologies to our vegetarian friends, but a lot of the more exciting news in Rosemontland these days comes from our butcher department. If you haven’t seen our full-time butcher at 580 Brighton Avenue, please stop by and introduce yourself to Jared. He’s the guy with classy facial hair and glasses who isn’t Seamus! He knows all about the sources and background on all the meat we offer, and he knows how to use big saws and things to gracefully take apart animals.

Many of you have come to love our 100%-grass-fed beef from Woodbourne Farm in Bath, New Hampshire. We’re now adding a second source of custom-cut beef, from our longtime friend DeeDee Caldwell of Caldwell Family Farm in Turner. Check out Caldwell’s Facebook page and you’ll see a way to receive a special gift when you buy Caldwell beef from Rosemont! Available Friday, October 21.

MORE MEAT NEWS!

We’ll have two new lambs coming in October 26, available Wednesday, October 27. From Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick. Here’s the background info: They are Katahdin Hair Sheep, rotationally pastured on pesticide/herbicide-free soil. The sheep and lambs are raised with the help of Tom Settlemire who has 40 years of experience raising these animals. Their feed is supplemented with 100% Aroostook barley.

Also look for our own products made from a new pig we’re getting in from Cornerstone Farm in Palmyra. Probably available Wednesday, October 27, but check first. Cornerstone’s pigs are pasture-raised and used for vegetable-bed preparation, feeding additionally on forage crops such as field peas, turnips and barley and supplemental feed from Maine-grown corn, barley and soy. Jared will begin preparing traditional prosciutto cotto which will be available in two weeks! Also, more of his indescribably satisfying breakfast sausage.

Winter squash: dessert for dinner

Surely you’ve oohed and aahhed over the winter squashes we have in our stores. All local, of course. After the “don’t-those-look-amazing?” comments, though, have you bought them? More importantly, have you cooked with them?

I just roasted a buttercup the other day (the spherical dark green ones; my kids asked, “What’s up with a green pumpkin?”), and it’s just risen in the standings on my desert-island-veggies list.

The best thing is how little work it takes. I’ve had the oven on a lot lately — cornbread, apple pie, chicken, late-season local San Marzano tomatoes — and it’s just so easy to halve the squash, scoop the seeds, rub with olive oil and salt/pepper, place on a sheet pan and roast for 30-40 minutes depending on what temperature you’re at. It cooks unattended and then you have it for later in the week.

What you end up with is a nutty, mature-sweet, complicated flavor that’s perfect eaten as is (maybe add some melted butter, or more oil), added to caramelized onions with fresh herbs, mashed with blue cheese, side dish with some fatty meat, and/or a dozen other variations.

That nutty density, sweetness and comfort-food factor is perfect with any number of wines. For whites, try something with some heft and richness: an off-dry Riesling, or Rhône (with Marsanne/Rousanne), or Lo Brujo Macabeo. Lighter reds work too: Joven (young, unaged) Toro or Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Gamay (we’re getting in some great Cru Beaujolais soon — Hill’s already got the stunning Diochon — which would be perfect).

Eat clean fish

For the second week in a row, the Portland Press Herald’s Avery Yale Kamila takes on the growing genetically-modified-salmon industry with an-almost-no-holds-barred critical take-down. Read it (and the previous week’s column), do more research if you like, and you’ll come to the conclusion most people have: Eating newfangled genetically modified salmon, and much farmed salmon that escapes conscientious oversight is not worth the risk: to personal and family health, to natural fish stocks, to the well-being and sustainability of the entire more-than-70%-of-Earth’s-surface oceans.

We at Rosemont Market sell fish at our Yarmouth and Brighton Avenue stores. We get it all through Harbor Fish, both wild Pacific and conscientiously farmed Atlantic. We are in favor of full transparency in the distribution chain (from sea to boat to landing to distributor to importer to market), and Harbor does a terrific job of ensuring this. We oppose funny stuff and marketing strategies disguised as foodways, and hope you will too. (This could mean you eat less salmon, by the way. Consider that.)

Twilight, in the rain

Every couple of weeks throughout the summer, Cultivating Community and Turkey Hill Farm team up to put on Twilight Dinners, which could just be the loveliest event going. You pay $25, bring your own wine to the idyllic Cape Elizabeth farm, and dine al fresco with 60 or so other good people. Dinner is made by a local restaurant or other food-savvy group, with close-to-100% ingredients coming from the farm itself. Proceeds help Cultivating Community do all the terrific things they do.

Well, the last one of 2010 went down last week, and your very own Rosemont Market did the cooking. It was just a splendid event, despite the fact that the rain beat the time predictions by about three crucial hours. Dinner was open-air but under a tent.

(L-R) Brandon, Erin and Brad, makin' it happen

Our baker Brandon coaxed fresh wheat sourdough loaves out of the farm’s wood-fired oven (with new, non-collapsing-on-the-bread roof!), while our cooks Brad Messier and Erin Lynch worked rustic magic: an appetizer of roasted beets with pickled onions, sautéed lacinato kale and caramelized onions; and a main dish of the best beef stew ever!

Brad's pouring vinegar made from Allagash, by the way!

Cooking and prep and plating was kind of under a big oak tree.

The rain started sprinkling while we hustled to get 65 plates out...

...of this: crostini with smoked eggplant purée; roasted beets, pickled onions, and lacinato kale with caramelized onions

Brandon, fresh off a class at King Arthur, mastered the peculiarities of Turkey Hill’s oven, resorting to a quick fire rebuild when the heat got too low!

Brandon, loading the loaves (yes, he's holding a razor blade in his mouth)

But just look at how they turned out!

As befits a bakery, we had bread at every course: The appetizer was accompanied by a crostini topped with a purée of smoked eggplant, roasted garlic, and Sunset Acres goat cheese. The beef stew was accompanied by both Brandon’s sourdough and our chief baker Scott Anderson’s exquisite pains d’epis. Dessert was…bread pudding! Yeah, Erin made it out of our homemade brioche (for y’all, that’s the challah dough, more or less), baked with Overland honey and apples.

(Sorry there aren’t so many pictures of the latter parts of the meal: the rain just got too intense!)

We’re not yet able to do all the catering and special events we want to — just due to limitations of person-power, time and space. But with our new store opening, we’re hiring more kitchen help and we’re looking to the future. Meanwhile, start dreaming of next season at Turkey Hill Farm.

Brad isn't the boastful type, but after this taste of the stew he had that look, like: We nailed it!

Local food will pop and grow Friday

Hey, just got back from day-long social media conference yesterday and mind’s a-buzzing with plans for dramatically ramping up online-community activity for Rosemont — in non-annoying, genuine, cool ways.

But man, so much is going on in the actual stores that I haven’t found time to get digital. So here’s the quickies: New Rosemont opening Friday, September 24. I’m writing this Thursday and we’re still in the midst of the move, so we’re CLOSED. But see you tomorrow, yes? 580 BRIGHTON AVENUE.

Don’t forget: Free wine tasting Friday 9/24, 4-7 p.m., with superstar Michael Burke of Vias Wines. Another free wine tasting — as part of other GRAND OPENING festivities — Saturday afternoon. Just pitch a tent on Brighton for the weekend; it’s going to be wall-to-wall good times.

Also, my weekly Press Herald wine column is out. This week, I turn toward honoring that little-known and little-understood link in the wine distribution chain, the IMPORTER. Good importers do so much of the hard work: finding small, unknown winemakers and allowing us to get to know them through their wines. If you ever find yourself stymied by the myriad wine choices available, find an importer you like and follow him/her. Trust. It’s like finding an author or band or director, and you want to know everything about how this person thinks. It’s that important.

This week, I focus on Chris Campbell, of C & P Wines. Chris imports only Spanish wines, and only good, balanced, interesting ones at that. Not undrinkable-until-2025 ones, not Argentina-chasing unbalanced ones. Just great, fresh, exciting wines from all over that fascinating country.

Out of water? Make soup.

Yes, the following is a recipe for waterless soup. You don’t add any water, instead allowing the vegetables themselves to provide all the hydration you want. Moreover, beyond some slicing there’s almost no work involved: You just layer veggies in a pot, put the heat on low and walk away.

If you want to eat local, you can really only do this in the summer or fall, when moisture-laden veggies are so plentiful. And right about now it’s summer-or-fall (which? doesn’t matter), and the worst thing about being at Rosemont is the Farmers’-Market-Phenomenon, where it’s nigh impossible to choose which locally, lovingly raised vegetables to bring home. The following recipe almost solves that lucky problem, because it uses just about everything good right now.

WATERLESS VEGETABLE SOUP

Quantity note: Unless otherwise specified, for each ingredient put enough in to provide a dense layer in your pot.

Medium-thick sliced tomatoes to densely cover the bottom of your pot. Then a mix of sliced onions and leeks over that. Then a mix of sliced fennel and celery. Then sliced zucchini. Then chopped green beans. Then a whole head of lettuce, roughly chopped. Then a bunch each of parsley and basil, roughly chopped. Then chopped garlic, 2-5 cloves according to preference. Salt and pepper. One-quarter cup extra-virgin olive oil dribbled over everything.

Bring pot up to heat on medium flame for 7 minutes, then reduce flame to very low and cook 15 minutes. Stir gently, cook another 15 minutes or until everything is cooked through. Adjust salt and pepper, serve in wide bowls. Look at all that flavor/nutrient-rich liquid!

Pass a cheese grater and hunk of parmigiano at the table, which should have a loaf of Rosemont sourdough bread on it. You could also poach some eggs and lay them gently in the bowls of soup.

2-5 cloves

We’re maybe not doomed

Nice Press Herald article on localizing of school lunch. Of course it costs so much more: 1 penny increase per serving! There is a lot of energy out there for doing more of this, coming from everyone — ordinary teachers, ordinary parents, ordinary kids, politicians big and small, engineers, even grocers. All of us get impatient for change now, and it’s always slower than we want, but man-o-man this is the kind of thing to fill you with optimism for the future — especially when you see this mention of the (possible?) coming food crisis.