Epicurious Farmers' Market Tour with Chef Ben Knack

On Monday, I logged onto my Twitter account and saw Chef Ben Knack (of Sel de la Terre and Hell's Kitchen fame) tweet about doing a cooking demonstration at the Government Center Farmers' Market.   Since this was going to happen at noon and the farmers' market is right by my work, I figured that I would drop by and check it out during my lunch break.  I asked my friend Alicia if she had any interest in this and luckily she was free to join me.

We walked over and found Chef Ben setting up for his cooking demo a little before noon.  This demonstration was sponsored by the always helpful Epicurious (a great online resource for food lovers) and this was one of their stops in third annual national Farmers' Market Tour.

While Chef Ben set up his station, I snapped a few photos.  I found this stand to be completely adorable with the chalkboard sign and an "I'm Local" sign!

The "I'm Local" sign was just a small indication of Chef Ben's passion for local food.  He started his demonstration by explaining why it is important to get local ingredients because they are just so much better in quality and freshness.  In fact, besides the salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (which are staples in most kitchens), every ingredient was purchased that day from the Stillman's Farm stand just a few tents down!

As he chatted, Chef Ben made a fantastic refreshing salad with watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, cucumber, scallions, green beans and arugula.  I loved that he spoke so sincerely about the importance of why we cook.  We cook for others (whether it is for our friends or family) and we should enjoy that time.  Cooking should be kept simple and with great local ingredients, you don't need to do much to let the flavors shine.  His thoughts on food and cooking are something I completely agree with and it was lovely to hear this from a professional.  Before you knew it, the salad was done and was given a nice toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic before the dish was plated.

This looked like the perfect summer dish, especially on such a hot day like Monday.

Afterwards, Alicia and I got chance to chat with the chef about some of his sources for local food.  He was so down-to-earth and so sincere that it was hard to resist his contagious enthusiasm.  And he graciously posed for a photo with us, despite the sweltering heat!

There was a great crowd at Epicurious Farmers' Market Tour and I believe Chef Ben had another demonstration afterwards.  I think these demonstrations are so important because it makes cooking so much less intimidating for so many people.  For me, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my lunchtime and I'm seriously enthused about checking out more of Chef Ben Knack's cooking at Sel de la Terre soon!

Which farmers' market do you frequent, if any?  Also, don't forget to enter my CSN Stores reader giveaway!

Local Ingredients: Spicy Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When I was growing up, my mom would make the best grilled sausage sandwiches with sauteed peppers and onions.  There was nothing particularly fancy about this sandwich and in fact it was usually fairly messy, but it was full of lots of great flavors and really stands out among my childhood food memories. 

Last night, I decided to recreate this meal and Bret was very excited since he loves sausage and peppers as much as I do!  I was especially excited to make this dish because I had a lot of really great local ingredients to work with and I think that everything tastes better with fresh local ingredients. 

To start, I had some great hot Italian sausages from Stillman's Farm. 

I pierced both sides of each sausage with a fork and put them in a skillet.  I added enough water and a splash of vegetable oil into the skillet so that it covered the bottom half of each sausage.  I put the skillet on medium-high heat, put a cover on the skillet and then got to work on my vegetables. 

First, I washed a small handful of broccoli rabe (from Siena Farms) and put it in the salad spinner to dry.  Once the greens were dry, I gave them a rough chop and put the broccoli rabe aside.

I then got to work on my peppers.  I had a beautiful red pepper along with three Hungarian hot wax peppers that were also from Siena Farms.  I chopped those up, along with half a large white onion. 

I put another skillet on the stove on medium heat with some vegetable oil.  When the pan was warmed up, I added the onions first because they would take the longest to cook down.

I then added the red pepper and also seasoned the vegetables well with salt and crushed black pepper.

The wax peppers were the next vegetables to be thrown in.  I very casually de-seeded them because Bret and I both like a lot of heat in our dishes.

I took a break from my vegetables and quickly checked on my sausages.  The water had cooked down, which meant that the sausages would be cooked through.  I turned the sausages over to make sure that they were nicely crisp and brown on the outside.  I returned back to my sauteed vegetables and added the broccoli rabe, which only needed a quick toss.

I loaded my veggies onto a crusty ciabatta roll and added the sausage. 

Bret chose to top his sandwich with brown deli mustard but I chose a roasted garlic mustard.

I don't want to tell my mom, but I think my sausage and peppers might just be better than hers.  I really liked the contrast of the spicy sausage and wax peppers with the sweetness of the white onions and red peppers.  Plus, the crusty ciabatta bread was the perfect vehicle for the sausage, peppers and onions.

What have you made recently that was inspired from a food memory?

Slow Cooker Braised Short Ribs

On Sunday, B and I decided to make braised short ribs.  We received two pounds (bone-in) of short ribs from Stillman's Farm via our farmers market delivery on Friday and we were excited to put the short ribs to use right away.

B found this simple recipe online to braise the short ribs using a slow cooker and I thought this would be the perfect way to cook our short ribs until they were tender.  Although the recipe used a lot of different ingredients, it was still fairly simple and straightforward.

First, B tossed the short ribs in a bag with flour, salt and pepper.  Don't you love the action shot?

When the short ribs had a nice coating, B gave the short ribs a nice sear in a pan with melted butter.  When the short ribs had browned, B placed them in the slow cooker while we worked on our liquid components.  I put B on stirring duty while I prepared the ingredients.  Reading down the recipe, I first started out by chopping up a cup of white onion.

I added one cup of beef stock to the onions and B got going on heating these two ingredients on the stove.  The recipe called for beef broth but I had a box of beef stock open in the refrigerator and I didn't want it to go to waste.

I then measured out three-quarter cup of red wine vinegar, which was added to the pan.

Next I measured out a three-quarter cup of brown sugar.  I filled the measuring cup but I didn't pack it.

I also measured out a quarter cup of Sriracha chili sauce.  Nothing will wake you up like working with spicy chili sauce first thing on a Sunday morning!

I also measured out two tablespoons of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, along with a generous teaspoon of chili powder.

And finally, we used our garlic press to add four minced cloves of garlic to the pan.  The recipe only calls for two tablespoons but I love garlic and I always add more to any recipe where I can.

When all of the ingredients were in the pan, B kept stirring until the liquid ingredients came to a boil.

B poured the sauce over the short ribs in the slow cooker.  Since the liquid ingredients didn't cover the short ribs, B coated each side of the short ribs in the sauce but ultimately put the short ribs bone-side up to ensure that most of the meat would cook nicely in the juices.

We put the slow cooker on for nine hours but ended up taking the short ribs out in about eight hours when our horseradish cheddar mashed potatoes and fresh corn on the cob were both ready.  The meat was so tender that it fell clean off the bone.  We used the remaining sauce as a gravy for both the short ribs and the mashed potatoes and found it to be intoxicatedly spicy.

I would definitely call our first attempt at slow cooker braised short ribs a huge success and they made excellent leftovers for lunch the next day!

Speaking of horseradish cheddar mashed potatoes, have you entered by Cabot Cheese giveaway?