Oktoberfest-Colorado Style
By Carol Ann Kates
Oktoberfest is a sixteen-day celebration that began in Munich, Germany, nearly 200 years ago. With some six million people attending annually, Oktoberfest is the world's largest fair and runs from late September to early October.
Visitors attending this festival enjoy Oktoberfestbiers, beers served in tents holding as many as 94,000 people. These lagers, brewed in March by six German breweries known as the Big Six-Löwenbräu, Hofbräu, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschoor, Spaten, and Augustiner-are allowed to ferment slowly over the summer months, then consumed at this autumn festival. Originally, these Oktoberfestbiers were dark lagers, but Josef Sedlmayr introduced an amber-red Vienna lager in 1872, which has become a favorite of attendees. Visitors also enjoy traditional German fare like Würstel (sausages) and Sauerkraut.
Oktoberfest isn't just for Germans anymore. This festival is enjoyed one way or another in cities and small towns all around the world. We can relish our own Oktoberfest right here in Colorado. Our market has a variety of sausages for sale that are perfect for tailgate parties or simple October suppers. And, of course, you can be sure when you purchase a sausage from our market it contains no artificial ingredients and the animals used to make it are never given antibiotics, steroids or growth hormones. If you want to celebrate Oktoberfest by serving sausages this fall, our vendors have the following available for purchase:
Colorado's Best Beef sells an all-beef brat, both German and Polish sausages, all-beef franks, and an Italian Sausage. Natural Homestead Beef sells an all-beef German as well as a hot link sausage. And, if you want to take a walk on the wild side, Highwire Ranch sells an Italian link and brat made from elk or bison.
To give your sausages a Colorado flavor, be sure to stop by Mountain Valley Canning and pick up a jar of their amazing sauerkraut and their German-style dill pickles. Their dills have an old-fashioned taste-full of flavor, yet not too strong-and make a delicious addition to any sausage sandwich.
Following is the recipe I use to make brats. My sister-in-law, Valerie Kates, shared it with me when I visited her in Wisconsin. Valerie's German neighbor shared it with her. It's super simple, and brats come out juicy and delicious when prepared in this manner.
Brats 'n Beer
Serves 8
4 cans (12-ounces) of your favorite local beer
8 bratwurst (or sausages of your choice)
Pour beer into a heavy kettle and bring to a boil. Add brats and boil over medium heat for 30 minutes. Remove brats from beer and brown on all sides on a grill, barbecue, or under a broiler.
Serve with condiments of your choice:
Hot dog buns
Mountain Valley Canning Sauerkraut
Mountain Valley Canning German-Style Dill Pickles, sliced thin, lengthwise
Corner Market Secret Recipes Honey Truffle or Wasabi-Sake Mustard
Ketchup
Pickle Relish
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Onions
Selecting sausages: Sausage can be fresh or cured with salt or smoke. Curing extends shelf life. Some sausages are dried-drying times can vary from a few days to as long as 6 months. The longer sausages are dried, the firmer they become. Sausages can be uncooked, partially cooked or fully cooked.
Storing sausages: Once I bring fresh sausages home from the market, I don't like to keep them any longer than 1 to 2 days. Unopened beef hot dogs will last 2 weeks. Once opened, beef hot dogs should be used within 7 days. Once opened, smoked sausages should be used within 7 days.
Carol Ann Kates is the author of award-winning cookbook, Secret Recipes from the Corner Market, selected as one of the top ten favorite cookbooks by the Denver Post Food Staff. For more information, visit www.cornermarketsecrets.com.
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Culinary School of the Rockies
Recipe: Brown Sugar Ginger Crisps
Every Saturday morning, CSR is at the Boulder County Farmers' Market. Pick up free recipes, try scrumptious seasonal samples and gather advice for cooking with ingredients fresh from the market. The Saturday market runs through November 1st.
Makes about 50 cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (about 3 ounces)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
Splash of orange juice
½ teaspoon orange zest
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon double-acting baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Method:
1. In bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar and beat in egg yolk, vanilla, splash of orange juice, and crystallized ginger.
2. Into the bowl sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, zest, and salt and combine the batter well.
3. Drop teaspoons of the batter about 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of a preheated 350° F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are just golden.
3. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, transfer them carefully with a metal spatula to racks, and let them cool completely.
For more recipes, visit the CSR website!
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Longmont Farmers' Market
with Dr Audrey
TWO MORE LONGMONT MARKETS!
If you missed last weekend because of the weather, be sure to come out this weekend-sounds like it will be a gorgeous day. As I was stocking up on my winter squash (in the rain), I mentioned to Fred at Miller Farms that I was trying to think ahead to my Thanksgiving meal-Fred said he was planning for Easter! Carefully stored, winter squash should keep that long; see Chef Deb's blog for storage tips and a new winter squash recipe every week. I've seen it with my own eyes: her dining room table is completely covered in all kinds of squash.http://www.thetastybits.blogspot.com/
DON'T FORGET TO BRING THOSE MARKET BUCKS YOU HAVE STASHED AROUND THE HOUSE! They should be used by the end of the season.
Since I started working at the market, Sundays have become kitchen days for me. This past Sunday I found myself with a frig full of summer vegetables on a grey, decidedly non-summer day, and looked for a recipe that would incorporate the fresh produce and warm up the kitchen. Reminded by the movie, I thought of ratatouille. This recipe takes some time, as you cook all the vegetables separately and then together, but makes a wonderfully silky, rich stew. Because I was using Asian eggplants (the cute little purple-and-white striped Fairy Tale eggplants that Vickie grows at Plateau Gardens) rather than globes, I didn't need to salt and rinse them. I served this with crusty bread dosed with olive oil and rubbed with garlic, and a Merlot I picked up at Stoney Mesa Winery on my recent trip to the Western Slope-what a great way to warm up a drizzly day! With lots leftover for lunch to carry to work on Monday (sans the Merlot). This recipe comes from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. With the nighttime freezes this week, we may not have access to these veggies from local sources for much longer, so make it while you can-you'll see why this dish transports Monsieur Ego to a sunny childhood day.
Ratatouille
Serves 4 with leftovers
6 T olive oil
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 medium eggplants (about 1-1/2 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
5 tomatoes, peeled and seeded
3-4 red and yellow bell peppers
6 zucchini (about 1-1/2 pounds), quartered lengthwise and cut into 3-inch lengths
2 thyme branches
6 large basil leaves, torn into pieces
3 marjoram or oregano sprigs
Minced parsley for garnish
1. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a Dutch oven. Add the onions and stir. Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the rest of the vegetables. Toward the end, they should be soft, a bit juicy, and not at all browned.
2. While the onions are cooking, toss the eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt and set aside. Cut the tomatoes into 1-inch pieces. Char the peppers all over (under the broiler or in an open flame), then drop them into a plastic bag to steam for 15 minutes Wipe off the burned shin, remove the seeds, and slice into lengths a scant ½ inch wide.
3. When the onions are ready, heat 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil in a wide skillet over high heat and sauté the zucchini until golden in places, about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini to the pot along with the peppers.
4. Give the eggplant a quick rinse, then wrap it in a towel and press to wick up the moisture. Heat the remaining oil in the same skillet. Add the eggplant, stir immediately, and then sauté over medium-high heat until nicely colored, 8 to 10 minutes. Add it to the onions, followed by the tomatoes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and add the herbs. Cover and cook very gently over very low heat.
5. When the vegetables are tender, after 30 minutes or so, remove the lid and raise the heat to reduce the juices to a thick sauce, gently turning the vegetables as the juices bubble. If there is a great deal of juice, pour it into a saucepan and reduce until covered with bubbles and thickened, then pour it back into the pot. Taste for salt and season with pepper.
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Stop by their booth at the Boulder Farmers' Market on Saturday where they will demo:
Dairy free Creamy Butternut Squash Soup - to warm the tummy! |
Dr Audrey Says:
Eat Your Veggies: so that your children will - Moms who have breastfed know that flavors from foods they eat are transferred to their breastmilk, causing their babies to like or dislike their milk. Who knew that flavors are also transmitted into amniotic fluid, so that babies before birth are exposed to different flavors even before birth? This seems to impact their acceptance of those flavors after birth. Dr. Julie Mennell studied pregnant women who were planning to nurse their babies. Some women in the group drank carrot juice during pregnancy but not after delivery, some drank the juice only after birth, and others just drank water. Babies were later fed cereal mixed with water or carrot juice; the babies that had "tasted" carrots before birth or while nursing liked the carrot-flavored cereal more than babies who had not been exposed to water. Cool!
The good news: you can retrain your taste buds as an adult, so if your mother was not a produce-lover, this does not necessarily relegate you to hating spinach for the rest of your life.
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 Our last Fine art and fine craft fair at Boulder Farmers' Market for the season is this Saturday October 18th.
Featured artist is Cyndi Buck Design - one of a kind, hand dyed clothing designed and created in the mountains of Colorado.
Our next art fair is the Winter Farmers' Market and Holiday Gift Show on December 13th at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont.
PEER EDS. ROCK FEST!
At the Boulder farmers' markets Arts & Crafts Fair
Oct. 18th 11 to 2
Come see Boulder Valley School District Peer Educators share their knowledge and skills on issues of interpersonal violence, substance abuse, depression, sexual health, and body image.
11:00 to 11:30 African Dance & Drumming
11:30 to 11:45 COLLIE'S CLOSET
Spoken Word Poetry
11:45 to 12:00 SEXUAL HEALTH AIDS AWARENESS (SHAPE)
Spoken Word Poetry
12:00 to 12:15 GATEWAY DRUGS PEER EDS.
Spoken Word Poetry
12:15 to 12:30 BOULDER YOUTH BODY ALLIANCE (BYBA)
Spoken Word Poetry
12:30 to 12:45 PEERS BUILING JUSTICE (PBJ)
12:45 to 2:00 African Dance & Drumming
C.A.P.E: Coalition of Agencies for Peer Education
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Book review:
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved:
Inside America's Underground Food Movements,
by Sandor Ellix Katz (Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont: 2006).
"Eating well has become an act of civil disobedience". Sandor Katz is a super-quirky author and food activist with great passion for good food. This book covers the corporatization of our food supply, and then provides examples of ways in which regular folks are taking control of their food back into their own hands. From now-accepted places like farmers' markets, home gardening, and Slow Food, to more controversial methods like dumpster-diving (people who live on recovered food like this refer to themselves are "freegans"), roadkill harvesters, and eating insects, Sandor dives into all of it. If you're familiar with his first book, Wild Fermentation, you'll know that he's a fearless experimenter; he continues that tradition in this new book, learning to slaughter farm animals (a pig named Cracklin' Rose), hanging out with guerrilla gardeners in New York, and checking in with people following the Primal Diet. Recipes are thrown in too. While I sometimes had the thought "I'm glad he did this so I don't have to", this book is horizon-broadening and totally entertaining.
Dr. Audrey
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| The New York Times Sunday October 12th Mag is
The Food Issue and is online now (click)
Check out:
Michael Pollan's "Farmer in Chief": What the next president can and should do to remake the way we grow and eat our food.
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How did we get here?
A fairly comprehensive history of food. It covers what types of food was introduced when, and how brands became dominant in our recognition of what to eat.
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 Have you tried Spice's - Exotic Roasted Nuts yet? You may have been lucky to taste the original flavors cooked up, in the form of a roasted almond or pecan, By Justin Perkins and his wife, Ayari De la Rosa, at the Longmont Farmers' Market this year. The founders of Spice started this year on a whim after seeing a successful nut-roasting business in Washington, DC, where the couple spent the last five years before moving back to Justin's hometown of Boulder. The concept of Spice is to fuse traditional German roasted nuts (cinnamon, vanilla, sugar) with a variety of more exotic flavors. After lots of late nights in a rented kitchen with a copper kettle, and experimentation on friends and family willing to be guinea pigs, three favorite flavors emerged: Cinnamon Cayenne Almonds, Cardamom Vanilla Almonds, and Maple Orange Pecans. "We tried to pair familiar flavors, such as cinnamon and maple, with more exotic spices that we've come to love through travel and culinary experimentation. Unlike the ultra- sweet cinnamon roasted nuts you might find at a ball game, street festival, or carnival, they use about 1/3 of the sugar called for in traditional roasted nut recipes and instead rely on the natural flavors of the nuts and spices. I think it has worked.
Two more Longmont Farmers' Markets then you will be able to also find Spice's nuts at the Cornucopia of Local at the Outlook Hotel on November 22.
 Think like a squirrel and stock up on nuts for the winter at the last couple of markets. Spice will be running some specials. If you can make it home before eating the whole bag, here are some fantastic pairings for your Spice Exotic Roasted Nuts:
Maple Orange Pecans:
- Add them to a spinach salad with some Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese, red onion, fruit of your choice, and a vinaigrette. - Crumble a handful of nuts and use them as a topping for cheesecake. - Mix the pecans in a fruit salad topped with yogurt.
Cinnamon Cayenne Almonds:
- Grab a cup of coffee to chase these down and enjoy the intensified heat of the cayenne catalyzed by the coffee. - Sprinkle a few on chocolate ice cream for a twist on Mexican-style chocolate. - Enjoy the almonds with a cup of your favorite red wine as a delightful appetizer, or as a sensual dessert
Cardamom Vanilla Almonds:
- If you've ever had a Turkish Coffee with a sprinkle of Cardamom to sweeten it, you'll know what to do, try the Cardamom nuts with coffee! - Serve up the nuts with tea of your choice. - A few Cardamom Vanilla Almonds on vanilla ice cream with a splash of chocolate sauce, and a few raspberries or strawberries.
spiceboulder.com
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