Market Watch: Eastbank Farmers' Market

What better moment to visit a farmers' market than when it's having its Strawberry Shortcake Festival? This week's Market Watch column goes to the tiny but thriving Eastbank market in Southeast Portland and gets the goods.

Details: Eastbank Farmers' Market. Thursdays, 3:30-7:30 p.m. at SE 20th Ave. and Salmon St.

Your Official Correspondent

Sometimes you take a class or start a project and you never know where it's going to lead. Like this blog, for instance. Who knew that it would be as much fun to write as it is more than 200 posts and a year and a half later? That its readership would be doubling every few months, or that such great people would take valuable time out of their day to read it?

The same thing happened when I opened the Oregonian's FoodDay section a couple of months ago and read that they were looking for people to report occasionally about the great products they were finding at the local farmers' markets. I wrote immediately and volunteered, and for the last few weeks have been doing a column called Market Watch that talks about the various markets in the metro area and the people and products that make them unique. Again, a fun reason to explore markets I'd never have bothered to check out before, and an opportunity to share these discoveries with people. (Hmmm...am I sensing a trend here?)

Then last week I got an e-mail from the editor, Martha Holmberg, saying, "I'm realizing now that you're our regular 'correspondent' for this! I thought at first that I'd have several volunteers, but you're the one who consistently delivers good stuff, along with our staffers, of course." So now it's official, and you can look for my column to appear on a fairly regular basis in FoodDay between now and Christmas. Who'd have thought?

Photos, from top: Micro Mercantes at the Hollywood Farmers' Market; Blooming Gardens at Lents International Farmers' Market; Woodfire Baked Brick Oven Bagels at Hillsdale Farmers' Market.

More Market Watch

I don't know what it is about getting published in the newspaper that I find so darn much fun. Is it memories of my parents cutting out the articles and taping them up on the refrigerator whenever one of their kids appeared in the local paper? Whatever the deep psychological significance, I got my second Market Watch column in the FoodDay section of the Oregonian this morning.

It featured the season opening of the Eastbank Farmers Market and went something like this:

"The market: Eastbank Farmers Market.

"What caught her eye:

"Fava beans from Denison Farms of Corvallis. These beauties are the very first of the spring favas. Perfect all by themselves with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of mint, they also make a great puree to serve with chicken or Simon's salmon (see below). Combined with garlic, olive oil and mint and mashed, they make a terrific topping for bruschetta. (Note that fava beans need to have both their outer pods and the translucent but tough skin removed before eating. Blanch the shucked beans in boiling water for about a minute, rinse with cool water, and then slit the skin and pinch out the bright green beans.) Available through July; $1.89 per pound, at the moment. [see my Seasonal Greens article that includes the spread recipe]

"Columbia River salmon from Simon Sampson the Salmon Man [photo]. (Whole salmon $6 per pound; fillet $10 per pound.) Simon pulls up to the market with his truck full of some of the freshest salmon I've ever seen; huge wild salmon that still smell of the river and large roast-size fillets that would feed a dinner party. Several area restaurants come to the market to buy their salmon directly from him because they know the quality and freshness can't be beat. No need to marinate these in teriyaki . . they're so fresh all you want is a little olive oil, a little salt and pepper, maybe some spring onions and slices of lemon inside. Fabulous! Available most of the season."

Special to the Oregonian

This morning I opened up the FoodDay section of the Oregonian and found that they featured my write-up of the Hollywood Farmers' Market in their Market Watch column. Not only that, but they also included two photos that I'd taken and a link to GoodStuffNW!

For the record, the report said:

"The market: Hollywood Farmers Market, Northeast Hancock Street between 44th and 45th avenues; 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays.

"What caught her eye: Baby romaine lettuce. Think of tender baby butter lettuce, but with more structure. The tiny heads (3 to 4 inches long) would be perfect for a dinner party, served one per person and drizzled with a tarragon vinaigrette. Wintergreen Farms sells them for $1 each, or six for $5. Sweet Leaf Farm has them for $1 each. Both farms say they should have these for at least the next couple of weeks.

"Also look for Village Creperie, which, in addition to sweet or savory crepes, each week offers a seasonal crepe. The day I visited it was a Fiesta Crepe in honor of Cinco de Mayo, made with cheese, roasted red peppers, black beans, pepper jelly, cilantro, jalapeños, avocado and creme fraiche ($5).

"Captions: Baby romaine is not only adorable, it's more tender that the adult form, yet has more structure than baby butter lettuce.
"If the gorgeous produce at the Hollywood Farmers Market inspires your appetite, pick up a sweet or savory crepe freshly made at Village Creperie."