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Dragon Tongue Beans

Parker’s Take on Dragon Tongue Beans

Consider using Dragon Tongue Beans as shelling beans. Recently when I was doing a cooking demonstration at the Downtown Farmers Market I spoke with a couple of people from Peru. They were very interested in the Dragon Tongue beans, surprised that I was blanching the beans and using the pods as well as the beans.…

Curly Green Kale

Parker welcomes you to Week 1

In the first few weeks of the Fresh Fork Market Summer season we can be pleasantly overwhelmed by the contents of the weekly bag.  After a very challenging winter in Northeast Ohio and a three week pause between the end of the winter season and the debut of summer we are ready to embrace the…

What is a Mortar and Pestle and how is it used?

What is a Mortar and Pestle and how is it used? This handy kitchen utensil is the predecessor of the food processor.  It’s a must have for Italian and Mediterranean influenced food.  Place garlic, herbs, pepper flakes in the bowl—the mortar—and mash and mash and mash these ingredients together with the Pestle. Purest insist that…

Bunching Onions

What can I do with small spring onions?

Trim the base or root of the onion very carefully maintaining enough of the root to hold the layers together.  Remove the stem or top.  Peel the very thin outer layer.  It is important the onion does not “deconstruct” from this trimming and peeling. Place the onions in a heavy bottom pan and cover with…

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Fava Beans

Fava beans will not win the beauty pageant with their appearance.  Their large, soft and often spotted pods make them appear as though they were picked last week and have been left to wither in the basket.  Not true. Fava beans require some busy work to prepare them for cooking.  Have faith.  The resulting product…

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How to Properly Cook a Sausage

I cringe and clinch my teeth when I go home and see my dad grill a sausage.  He takes it from fresh meat in the refrigerator to a hot grill and cooks it all the way through.  The final product – usually a dry sausage. There are generally two types of sausages – fresh and…

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Making Pickles

So, you want to make a batch of pickles?  How much do you need to buy?  Where do you start?  For your first attempt at pickles here is about what you will need: 1 peck of pickling cucumbers 12 quart jars with lids 12 heads of dill 1-2 heads of garlic (optional) 6 cups white…

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Things to Not Throw Out

I hate to throw anything away.  Over the summer, my crock pot is on nearly every day, turning split tomatoes into pasta sauce, tomato paste, or simmering sauces.  I pickled anything I could, some with better results than others (pickled snow peas showed up in my Bloody Mary cocktails last week-yum).  Here are some things to use up rather…

Brussels Sprouts

How Parker prepares Brussels sprouts

I’m sure we will have Brussels sprouts from time to time in the next couple of months although they are a little early this year due to the intense heat of this summer. The sprouts can be prepared in a great variety of ways from simple to complex. Always begin by trimming the bottoms and…

Spaghetti Squash

What the heck is a spaghetti squash, anyway?  A spaghetti squash is a winter squash.  It becomes available in the fall and is hardy enough to store all winter.  At regular room temperature, spaghetti squash will last for a couple of weeks.  If stored at 50-60 degrees, it will last as long as 6 months.…