Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market

I was invited to present a cooking demo at the Rhinebeck Outdoor Farmers’ Market on Sunday, June 10, 2012 using locally available products. Not sure what is/will be available, decided I should pay a visit to the market the Sunday before. Was pleasantly surprised at the variety of produce available so early in the season.

There were a variety of summer squashes and they all looked really good. Which ones to use? Then I thought why not use all and make a quick stir-fry with chicken. Everyone loves chicken, that’s safe and would go over well. But then I was asked if I could do something with duck, without thinking, I said: “sure”. Now that I have committed, I needed to come up with a duck dish that is doable under the market conditions.

After giving this some thoughts, decided to adapt one of my chicken stir-fry recipe and came up with Hoisin Duck with Seasonal Local Veggies. It was well received and I was pleased.

There were also radishes in all shapes and sizes. With the approaching of the warm weather, radishes pretty soon will develop a “bite” making them not quite suitable for salad. However, by braising the radish, the flavor is mellowed and the taste is very pleasant. Braised Radish was the other dish I made. The comments were: “I didn’t know you could cook radish.”, “This is delicious.”, “I definitely am going to make this.” …..

Stir-fry Duck with Seasonal Local Veggies

Adapted from “My Students’ Favorite Chinese Recipes updated edition” by Norma Chang

Ingredients
1 pound boneless and skinless duck breast, cut across the grain into thin slices (chicken, pork or beef will work too)
1 teaspoon sugar, optional
1 tablespoon ginger wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce regular or gluten free
2 – 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 – 3 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
In a bowl, combine all the above. Marinate ½ hour or overnight in the refrigerator.

1 – 1½ pounds seasonal veggies (I chose summer squash, sugar snap, shelling peas) cut into desired size and shape
6 – 8 garlic scape, cut into about ½ inch length
1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
½ cup chicken broth or as needed
4 – 6 slices fresh ginger or from ginger wine
1 – 2 scallions, smash white part, cut green and white part into about 4 inches length
1 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
additional hoisin sauce, if needed
¼ – 1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce, optional
1 tablespoon cornstarch combined with 2 tablespoon water, stir well before adding to wok

Preparations
1. In a wok or large frying pan, add 1 tablespoon oil, salt and veggies. Stir-fry untill veggies are slightly under desired doneness, adding broth 1 tablespoon at a time if wok is dry. Remove veggies and any liquid to a clean platter.
2. Add remaining oil to wok. Add ginger, scallion and garlic. Stir-fry until garlic is lightly colored, remove and discard all the aromatics. Add chili sauce, if using, add duck. Stir-fry until duck is cooked, adding broth 1 tablespoon at a time if wok is dry.
3. Add veggies and additional broth as needed for gravy. Thicken with cornstarch mixture, if desired. Stir in additional hoisin sauce and salt to taste. Serve hot.

Braised Radish

Ingredients
1 pound radish, peeled (optional), leave whole or cut into desired sizes (I peeled some and left some unpeeled)
2 – 4 slices ginger
2 – 3 scallions, thinly sliced, keep green and white separate
1 tablespoon oil
½ cup chicken/vegetarian broth or as needed
1 teaspoon soy sauce, regular or gluten free
1 – 2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch combined with 2 teaspoons water
toasted black and/or white sesame seeds, optional
cilantro for garnish, optional

Preparations
Add oil to preheated wok or frying pan. Add ginger and white part of scallion, stir-fry until fragrant. Add radish, broth and soy sauce, cover, bring to a boil, simmer until radishes are soft. Stir in sesame oil, thicken with cornstarch mixture, if needed. Garnish with sesame seeds an cilantro.

The duck came from Quattros Farm of Pleasant Valley, NY

The veggies came from Migliorelli Farm, Tivoli, NY
The garlic scapes came from my garden so this qualifies me, I hope, to post on Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard.

It was a delightfully suny and fun day at the Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market. On one side of my tent were beautiful flowers, on the other side was classical guitarist David Temple. Music, food and flowers, all in a row, what more could one ask for?

The Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market is open year round. I wrote about the indoor market on 2/6/2012.

Copyright © by Norma Chang

Robin, The Gardener of Eden, is the host for Thursdays Kitchen Cupboard. Head on over to Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard to see what others are cooking.