by Jack Moffitt

Greetings locavores!

How about some cauliflower! Last weekend we had the pleasure of setting up shop next to Dave and Nancy of DNR Maters and More, after they harvested a big trailerload of cauliflower. Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of seeing some beautiful cauliflower under production at Acacia Farms (Bud and Suzanne). That’s a sign, right there, my friend – this week we talk cauliflower!

It is a pretty good theory that we are eating cauliflower today, because the Europeans ate it and grew it. The English were reported to have been importing seed from Cyprus by 1600. Caul is latin for cabbage, and a flower makes it literally a cabbage flower. Other than the mechanics that make it white, cauliflower is almost the same as broccoli.

I probably ate 90% of the cauliflower I have consumed in my life, either raw or steamed. It makes a really good raw veggie dipper, as the small floret buds hold a lot of stuff! I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll bet it holds a really nice load of guacamole – and I have found guacamole smeared on anything is fine eating. The Chili’s restaurant chain serves a really nice simple steamed cauliflower, sprinkled with some parmesean cheese. I’d definitely recommend it.

The other 10% of the cauliflower I’ve consumed has probably been in a creamy style casserole, probably a bit of a high calorie way to enjoy it, but a nice touch now and then.

This evening’s soup was delicious and the recipe is guaranteed to be a regular around here each winter. Lot’s of cauliflower, a creamy white potato soup or chowder appearance, and a good sprinkle of black pepper on top, make this soup rock. I was skeptical about the flourish of the sour cream in the bowl, before the soup, but it was just the right flavor/texture to disappear, yet add to the soup. I give this recipe all stars!

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Cauliflower Soup

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter
• ½ whole Onion, Finely Diced
• 1 whole Carrot Finely Diced
• 1 stalk Celery, Finely Diced
• 1 whole (to 2 Whole) Cauliflower Heads (roughly Chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Or Dried Parsley (chopped)
• 2 quarts Low-sodium Chicken Broth Or Stock
• 6 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1 cup Half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons To 4 Teaspoons Salt, To Taste
• 1 cup (heaping) Sour Cream, Room Temperature

Preparation Instructions

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until the onion starts to turn brown. Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine. Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

In a seperate  medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the melted butter in the saucepan, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup half-and-half. Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.

Serve immediately.

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The Graybill Report

Hello Mr. Jack,

It’s me, Max.  Well, the chickens are laying like crazy.  They are singing their bok-bok song pretty much all day.  They are out of their molt now.  Our youngest chicken, Cookie, layed her first pullet egg on Monday.  If anyone buys eggs from us and gets one small egg that is a third smaller than a regular size egg, it’s from my favoritest chicken, Cookie.

Cookie is quite rude..  She waits for me in the garage and I have to carry her to the coop every night.  One night I told her to get some better manners, and she squawked at me, jumped off my arm, and went to the coop by herself.  What a diva.

We picked the last of the grapefruit for this year.  The freeze seemed to make it sweeter than normal.  My little brother, Judah, was hanging out with me that day.  Since he is a light little person, I put him on my shoulders to get the fruit that was high up.  We will be selling grapefruit this week.  Judah was going around rubbing his hands together saying, “We’re gonna be rich, Rich, RICH!”  I told him at least $12 richer, or $6 split equally.

He was happy as ever and will blow it all on an action figure.

Last week at the farmer’s market, Molly and I and our friend Miss Bette went to the art museum, where there is a new exhibit.  There was a painting of shrimp boats that I especially liked, and one of the boats was under construction.  (Mom’s note:  The museum offers free admission on Saturday mornings).

Now here is Mom’s veggie report:

Seen at the market last week:

OK, I have to be honest.  I did not get away from my booth to do a recon on what everyone had until almost closing time - at which time some vendors had sold out and gone home.

So if I missed you, I am reprinting last week’s list and hoping it hadn’t changed much, and I will do my best to get to you earlier this week.  My apologies to the growers and readers!

Do you remember the $1 Bunch Carrot girls from last year?  They’re back, with their big ‘ol carrots.

Jason was there, popping his Kettle Corn, and of course Letty and her family are always there with their delicious, outrageously-piled up high- Fruit Cups.

River’s End had tangelos, blood oranges, kumquats, starfruit, calamondins, avacados, chicos, black sapotes, honeybells, guavas, West Kena oranges, mineolas, pon can, Rhode Red Valencias, and Marrs oranges.   They also had mango bread and fruit juellies..

Bayview Veggies had their special salad mixes, mustard greens, sprouts (broccoli, mung bean, alfalfa, french garden, daikon), turnip greens, Swiss chard,arugula (small and large), carrots, and onions.  Rhonda says they will have the return of the delicious oak leaf lettuce (we await that day, as the chachalas have enjoyed all the oak leaf we planted and re-planted), as well as two other lettuce varieties – Red Sails and Anuenue.

They had samples of their newest sprouts:    Kamut, and a variety called Amber Waves of Grain, the latter of which is a mix of different grains. They were both sweet-ish and crisp in flavor.

Yahweh Farms had spinach, kohlrabi, radishes, cilantro, mustard greens, grapefruit, eggs, and romaine lettuce.

Two Pines had radishes, young mixed lettuces,  Rainbow Swiss chard – a colorful mix of different varieties, mustard greens,  assorted lettuces (including Romaine, bib, and beautiful curly leaf), cilantro, dill,   New Zealand spinach, and leeks.

Resaca Grove had grapefruit and pecans.

Dickerson’s Backyard will be back to the market soon with new produce.

Gracia Farm had eggs, red and white radishes,  leaf lettuce, icicle radishes, turnips, beets, cilantro, Swiss chard, carrots, and daikon.  (Customers were asking each other, “Did you catch the article about the Gracias in the newspaper ?”    A great story!  It was in last Saturday’s paper.)

By Ruth had fresh mint, lemongrass, collards, turnip greens, calamondins, and cilantro as well as her  handmade aprons and table linens, and handcrafted jewelry.

Acacia Farms had broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, bok choy, cilantro, carrots,  turnips, grapefruit, chinese cabbage, and rutabaga.  They report that they have new lettuces coming in this week.

Nam Nguyen had his winter melons in three varieties and daikon. He was offering samples!

Bella Vista had oranges, grapefruit, passionfruit, limes, bananas, and lemons.

The Alaniz family had cabbage, green tomatos, and dates.

Alice, of Alice’s Kountry Kitchen, had her nutritious baked goods made with organic flour and local honey.

Texas Gold Shrimp were back with their wild caught gulf shrimp.

Perrenial Favorites had their vegetable, herb, and ornamental transplants available.

We bought a couple of Better Bush varieties of tomatos from them,  and Debbie says they do not need to be caged.  That’s nice, since usually our modus operandi is to think about caging once the tomato plants have exploded in growth at which time it is akin to caging an octopus.

We (the Graybills) of course had our valley honey, and we brought our 100% beeswax candles.

We’ll see ya at the market!

Your humble correspondents
Jack Moffitt , Max, and his mom Erin
The Brownsville Farmers’ Market