grilled cheese

Get fresh with sprouts from Suzie’s Farm at the North Park Thursday Farmers’ Market. We like to mix onion sprouts with kale from J.R. Organics Farm plus avocado and a squeeze of lemon from Paradise Valley Ranch in this outrageously healthy salad.

Use spicy China rose radish sprouts to add crunch to a sandwich of Colby Jack from Spring Hill Cheese Company and cucumber from Valdivia Farms on sliced French bread from Belen Bakery. Wrap sprouts with smoked fish from Salmon Slinger and whipped garlic spread from Hani's Olives in a fresh tortilla from Don Tommy's, or add pumpkin sprouts to a slaw of cabbage and carrot from Kawano Farms.

There’s no doubt we love sprouts!

Cheese lovers have lots to smile about at the North Park Thursday Farmers’ Market!

Springhill Cheese Company brings estate cheeses and butter from their grass fed herd of Jersey cows in Sonoma County. Slice up their organic cheddar for a fruit and cheese plate with apples and grapes from Smit Orchards and almonds from Hopkins AG, or make a gooey grilled cheese with fresh garlic curds and French country bread from Belen Bakery.

Taste Cheese offers a great selection of hard to find imported and domestic cheeses; try Bucheron, a creamy, tangy goat cheese from France, with wedges of melon from Proios Family Farm or JR Organics. Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano is great for grating over a plate of fresh linguine from Lisko Imports with San Marzano tomatoes from Suzie’s Farm.

Great cheese? Yes, please!

Get ready to go back to school with the first fresh Gala apples from Smit Orchards at the North Park Thursday Farmers’ Market. Enjoy crisp apple wedges dipped in all natural almond butter from Hopkins Ag, or make a sweet treat by dipping them in orange blossom honey from Meljess Bees.

Make a grilled cheese that’s sure to please with French country bread from Belen Bakery, fresh butter and cheddar cheese from Springhill Cheese Company, and thinly sliced apples - we like to add a handful of arugula from Suzie’s Farm just before we put the sandwich together. Make an awesome apple salad with fresh greens from your favorite farmer, apples, strawberries from Rodney Kawano Farm, honey roasted almonds from Smit Orchards and fresh chevre from Taste Cheese, all tossed with white balsamic from California Olive.

You may need more than an apple a day!

KALE STORM PREDICTED!

Feeling frail?   Eat some kale! You’ll find vibrant green, deep red and even bright purple  kale from JR organics and Suzie’s Farm at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers’ Market this week. Red Russian, curly green, black, blue Scotch, Lacinato and Red Monarch are a few of our favorites.

Curly green kale combines beautifully with shaved fennel from Suzie’s, olive oil from The California Olive and balsamic vinegar from Bistro Blends, and spinach fettucine from Lisko Imports in this kale and fennel pasta recipe. Bake these tasty, crispy kale chips  with Red Monarch kale - they’re ideal for dipping in original Bitchin Sauce.  Lacinato kale, also known as dinosaur kale (a much more fun name, we think!) is a traditional crop of Tuscany and an essential ingredient in an authentic minestrone. Red Russian kale seems to have a particular affinity for garlic, so sautee it with some as a side dish, or layer it with garlic jack cheese from Springhill Cheese Company and sourdough bread from Belen bakery for a healthy twist on grilled cheese sandwiches.  

Speaking of health, there’s  growing body of evidence that kale is full of particularly potent source of nutrients that reduce the odds of developing several cancers. (But people taking commonly-prescribed blood thinners Warfarin should talk to their doctor before eating large amounts of kale.) A vegetable that’s tasty, versatile, and super healthy.  That’s something to kalebrate!

SOUTHERN COMFORT

We all have our guilty pleasures and we're here to confess that ours is pimento cheese spread.  Not familiar with the stuff?  It's usually a mix of grated processed cheese (like Velveeta), diced jarred pimento peppers and mayonnaise, and it's a staple in Southern lunchboxes. In the 1900's it was a delicacy at Southern tea parties. Once Kraft began selling the processed cheese and Southern farmers began growing pimento peppers, the spread became more affordable and became popular for sandwiches for the working class.

Despite it's lowbrow image, we're delighted to find that pimento spread is making it's way back into fashion and that the rest of the world has discovered it. In fact,  Bon Appetit declares pimento cheese a hot food trend of 2011. Throughout foodie blogs, we found it paired up with things like aioli, panko and Kobe beef. Being traditionalists, we pay homage to pimento spread with a grilled pimento cheese sandwich;  replacing the processed cheese with Springhill Colby Jack or a good cheddar from Taste Cheese, the jarred pimento peppers with roasted pimiento peppers from Suzie's, and using Belen Challah bread as our base.  You could try using Nicolau farm's chevre for a spicy chevre pimento spread. Try one of those recipes and indulge your guilty pleasure too!