Saturday Morning Market

Now that my local (St. Pete, FL) Saturday Morning Market is open, after another long, hot summer, all is right with the world once again. There's a certain lightness of being I experience knowing that from October-May, I can count on this constant in my life.

This past weekend, I was thrilled to see it bigger and more buzzworthy than ever...

There are a couple of booths we always hit up: the kids especially love Sweet Caroline's, for their ginormous chocolate chip cookies. I personally favor their Glorious Morning muffins, which is a hodge podge of hearty, healthy ingredients, like carrot cake, raisins, nuts, and the like.

My wife and I always enjoy the breakfasts served up courtesy of Uhuru Breakfast Cafe (sans political innuendo, thank you) -- huge tortillas folded around generous amounts of eggs, cheese, potatoes, peppers and onions.

Always a fun indulgence is Mot-sa-pie: Hot and cheesy, warm and chewy, Hispanic in origin, it's a yummy, grilled cornmeal pancake with melty mozzarella cheese inside. Add a slice of ham for our "deluxe Mot-sa-pie." Traditionally served with powdered sugar on top.

But, at the risk of burying the lead here, I sampled two of the newer vendors at the Market this time around: couldn't pass up the booth for Brooklyn Knish. I was really impressed with their wide selection of knishes: no fewer than 17 on the menu! As I approached, I'd prepped my taste buds for an original potato variety, but was swayed when I spotted the Sweet Potato Pumpkin Spice version beckoning me.

Bonnie Wachtler and her hubby run the joint, and had mini-steamers on hand to make the knishes nice and warm and moist. I enjoyed my rather eccentric order, but can't wait to get back there for an "original" ... or maybe and original with bacon... or I could go for the one with corned beef... either way, any way, mission accomplished in the way of "taking me back home to New York"...

Next up, we happened upon an unassuming, classic-looking Popsicle cart. What I came to quickly discover, though, was Pop Craft is anything but.

I've experienced authentic paletas before (in Nashville, at an award-winning outpost, aptly called Las Paletas), so I was psyched to see these Mexican treats served up locally. Paletas, for the uninitiated, are frozen bars, chock-full of chunks of fresh fruit and available in a hypnotizing array of colors and clear, not-too-sweet flavors. This Sarasota-based company boasts "all natural artisan Popsicles," and their flavors on-hand made our tongues wag just reading the chalk-drawn menu. The kiddies ordered the Strawberry-Lemon. I couldn't resist the Coconut Cream. Both were dynamite! Incredible texture; so refreshing. And an extra benefit of these au natural creations: they don't melt as messy as store-bought kinds!

All in all, a great morning spent with the family in a fun environment, and a fantastic way to support local growers and businesses, too.

Can't wait 'til next Saturday...

Healthy Tailgating

Just shot a cooking demo for the syndicated TV show, "Daytime." I brought them this recipe for Stuffed Turkey Burgers, which I've used for a while now, and really enjoy. I especially like it for tailgating, because

a) no untensils required,

b) the toppings are inside the burger...less mess!, and

c) it fills your belly and your tank!

I like to tweak this one by preparing the turkey as if it's meatloaf: add bread crumbs and garlic to the burgers to get some extra flavor inside, along with the peppers and cheese...

The Sophisticated Scallop

I had the pleasure of befriending a very talented chef/baker/caterer extraordinaire, Scott Bishop, while working at a Food & Wine Festival in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Scott was, during that weekend, putting out seriously copious amounts of food to satisfy the masses, on hand to see cooking demos from the likes of Guy Fieri, Aaron McCargo, Jr, and Fabio Viviani. If you're ever in Hilton Head, you gotta look him up!

Here, Chef Scott is kind enough to regale us with a simple and savory dish, that pays tribute to a South Carolinian staple, the Scallop.

SCALLOPS AND THYME RAVIOLI w/ Buerre Blanc

• Cut appx 2 doz dry pack Sea Scallops into small dice; season with salt and pepper



• Add 2 tbsp. olive oil and 4 thyme sprigs



• Stir and let sit appx 10-15 mins.



• Fill 60 wonton wrappers with 3/4 tsp. of Scallop filling, seal with egg wash, trim excess wrapper to make raviolis



• Poach Ravioli in approx. 1 qt. fish stock (or clam juice) appx 1 min (or until they float)



• Drain and drizzle buerre blanc sauce (see below) over and serve immediately

Beurre blanc, or white butter, is a classic and delicious French wine and butter sauce. Versatile and simple to make, beurre blanc has a light texture and rich flavor that goes great with different types of seafood.

• Mince one shallot and place in a medium saucepan with 1/4c white wine and 1/4c white wine vinegar.



• While gently stirring, cook over medium heat until the mixture has been reduced to the equivalent of two tablespoons. This should take about six minutes. Turn down the heat and allow the mixture to cool a little bit before adding the next ingredient.
  



• Slice a stick of butter into 1/2 inch cubes. With the burner now on low heat, add a few of these butter cubes at a time and whisk them into the shallot/wine/vinegar reduction you have made. Each batch of butter cubes should be pretty much emulsified before adding the next batch.
  



• Chop 1 tbsp. Italian parsley.
  



• Add the chopped parsley, as well as a dash of salt and white pepper and stir until well blended. This will yield approximately 1/2 cup of Beurre Blanc sauce.