Moving Beyond Cancer in NOLA: CCFM Market Morsels

Rivertown Farmers Market joins the CCFM family! |
April 30, 2018

Fresh & Local:

Rivertown Farmers Market joins the CCFM family!

We are excited to announce the Rivertown Farmers Market in Kenner is joining the Market Umbrella family! This weekend, the City of Kenner will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for a grand re-opening of the Rivertown Market located at LaSalle’s Landing (at the intersection of Williams Blvd. and Reverend Wilson Drive, right at the river). The Rivertown Farmers Market, newly under CCFM management, will be host to several vendors you may know from our other markets including Mayhew Made, Our Family Farm, Baking 504, A&K Produce, Cherry Creek Orchards, Southbound Gardens and Tomott’s Cajun Farm as well as some new to our network but not to the Rivertown Farmers Market like Things ‘n Stuff (jams, jellies and pickles) and Varino’s Italian Sausage. And we are excited to continue to grow the local food system, adding vendors new to both markets like the Louisiana Growers Co-Op and St. Bernard Parish shrimper, Charlie Robin. Needless to say, it will be jam packed with produce, in a quaint location in historic Rivertown amongst the planetarium and Heritage Park. If you’re a later riser, bring the kids out and join us from 9-1. We’ll have live music, and family friendly activities. This market runs weekly on Saturdays with a summer break for the months of August and September.

Picks of the Week:

GiveNOLA!

GiveNOLA day is tomorrow, May 1st - the perfect day for a farmers market! Join us at the Uptown market for live music and all of your favorite CCFM vendors. Your donation will support dozens of farmers and food producers through support of our market and give future eaters and program participants access to fresh, healthy food! Learn more about Market Umbrella's work and get ready to GiveNOLA!

Beans, beans. The magical fruit, or vegetable, or legume?

Spring is green bean time, but why do they have so many different names? Green beans are also sometimes called bush or pole beans. This is a reference to the way the plant grows. Look in a seed catalog for any familiar produce item and unlike in the grocery store where you see one kind, there are dozens of varieties, each with their unique attributes and differences, sometimes subtle but sometimes significant. Some green beans grow on a little shrub, short and self supporting - that’s a bush bean. And some grow on long vines that need poles or a trellis to support them - that’s a pole bean. Both yield a green bean, or a yellow bean which is often called a wax bean, or even a purple bean. And of course, the farmers market is a great place to look for less common heirlooms, like the dragon’s tongue bean, available at the Veggi Co-Op tent.

When we’re eating them like this, we’re eating the tender, immature pods as a vegetable. If we were to leave those same pods on the plant, the tiny little beans inside would continue to grow, and the edible outer shell would turn thin and fibrous. If we picked and shelled them then, we’d have the creamy, incredible fresh beans of early summer. And if we left them on the plant even longer, both the pod and the bean would totally dry out. You can harvest those and shell them and then you’d have a supply of dried beans, legumes for sure. Kind of the bean equivalent of sweet corn as a vegetable, but dried corn as a grain used for grits or popcorn.

Vendor of the Week:

Baking 504

We were excited to bring her on almost two years ago and that feeling hasn’t faded. Jessica Ragan-Williams of Baking 504 brings her premium selection of full-sized and miniature pies, cakes, cupcakes, hand pies, king cakes, cobblers and upside down cakes and other sweet and savory treats to CCFM. Originally from the north shore, she attended the Cambridge School of Culinary Art in Massachusetts, and returned to New Orleans and positions as pastry chef at both Breads on Oak and Susan Spicer’s Bayona. She left the establishments of others to focus on her own unique recipes featuring high quality ingredients, locally sourced when possible. Try her favorite, the strawberry banana pie using Johndale Farms strawberries at the Tuesday market or find a new fave from her ever changing and always inspired offerings.

Tuesday’s Green Plate Special:

La Monita

Simple, delicious Colombian-inspired food made from locally sourced ingredients, La Monita (Colombian slang for blond girl) returns to the market for another stint as the Green Plate Special on Tuesdays. Incredible arepas, tropical salads, a Colombian goodness bowl and plantains are on the menu amongst a weekly changing cast of other dishes for the month of May and we can’t wait!

Recipe of the Week:

Peas and Green beans
with arugula mint pesto

This recipe makes the most of what here in climate zone 9 is classic springtime selection. All of the main ingredients are available now, and if you wanted to keep it totally local (think of it as Eat Local Challenge prep for June), you could swap in pecans for the almonds in the pesto. Double the pesto recipe and have some on hand for pasta, eggs or soup topping -it freezes for months. Or, simplify the whole thing by picking up some ready made pesto from Paul’s Palate or Our Family Farm. This recipe invites endless riffing by using different varieties or colors of beans or peas, or different pestos. Think purple and wax beans, snap peas, and a vibrant parsley pesto for a classic New Orleans purple, green and gold. Or dragon’s tongue, snow peas and a cilantro pesto for a more asian spin. We’d love to see what you come up with -share your pics to our Instagram.

What’s your favorite dish to make after visiting the Crescent City Farmers Market? Share your recipes with us on Instagram or Facebook or even Twitter and it might be featured in our weekly newsletter!