FOOD: Reflecting on the 2009 Farmers Market Chef Series

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Special to the Falls Church Times

January 22, 2010

The Falls Church Farmers Market has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade, adding more diverse vendors and products each year.  In 2009 the market added a new dimension with the debut of the Farmers Market Chef Series, a program that brought local chefs to the City hall parking lot to cook seasonally-inspired dishes.

The addition proved to be a success on many levels.  Not only did it introduce chefs to the Farmers Market and its vendors, but it also gave market-goers inventive ideas for what to do with all the goodies in their tote bags.

Here’s a recap of all the deliciousness that transpired over the late summer and fall…

August 29^th- Argia’s

Aimee Suyehiro of Argia’s kicked off the season. It was only fitting to have one of the City of Falls Church’s own restaurants start the new program.  It was also Suyehiro’s initial enthusiasm about the series that helped get the program off the ground, as I was not sure how the chefs would embrace the idea. It is not easy being the first, and we did not know what to expect.

Every event has to have a few things go wrong in the first few moments, and this event was no exception, but everyone had a great attitude and with Argia’s close by, the whole morning went off beautifully. Suyehiro and I toured the Farmers Market the week before her demonstration to discuss what ingredients she would use and she fell in love with the Green Zebra tomatoes from Potomac Vegetable Farms. She loved them so much that she bought a bunch for her specials menu that night at Argia’s. For her demonstration, Suyehiro used local arugula and those prized Green Zebra’s in a salad and Blue Ridge Dairy ricotta on Atwater’s bread for a bruschetta.

September 19- Sinplicity Catering

Leland Atkinson of Sinplicity Catering blew everyone away with his amazing ice creams and desserts, which incorporated many of the fruits from Toigo.  A critical component of the chef demonstrations is to show how you can be creative with the many different ingredients from the Farmers Market.  Atkinson used lemon poppy seed bread from Atwater’s as a base for ice cream and a fruit compote to make a show-stopping dessert.   He also drizzled some Raspberry Cabernet dessert wine from Fabbioli Cellars over his own lemon ginger sorbet—an unexpected but delicious combination.

Atkinson should be commended for developing seven demonstrations for the morning as well as bringing almost his entire kitchen and staff (his lovely wife and two daughters) to assist.  I don’t know who had more fun; the onlookers, Atkinson or his daughters.

October 3rd- Willow Restaurant

I saw Debra Rubin and Tracey O’Grady of Willow at the Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood event last winter. While quickly assembling seafood tastes for eagerly waiting patrons, I asked them if they would be interested in participating in the series. Both enthusiastically said yes, then went right back to work! The duo had already committed to doing tastings at the Arlington Farmers Market throughout the summer and fall featuring local vendors, so they were very comfortable heading into their demonstration.

Even with this knowledge, I don’t think anyone could have anticipated the overwhelmingly positive response to their dish, which was a knock-out wheatberry risotto with butternut squash. The wheatberries were from a new Farmer’s Market vendor, Moutoux Orchards, which sells locally grown and milled grains.  We had asked Moutoux Orchards to bring extra wheatberries the day of the demonstration and they brought 60 pounds, which they promptly sold out of thanks to the demo.

October 31^st- Liberty Tavern

In late October Liam LaCivita, head chef at Arlington’s Liberty Tavern, brought a Big John grill with him, so we had to find a meat, or in chef speak “a protein”, to be the feature as part of the series. LaCivita settled on buffalo brisket from Cibola Farms, which he paired with a colorful apple and radish slaw. There were many inquiries about the aroma that was wafting through the market as well as the many colors of the different radishes.

A critical aspect of the series is to introduce seasonal vegetables to customers that they may not have known about or known how to prepare. Washington Business Journal writer Missy Frederick, who stopped by the demonstration, commented in her blog that she bought radishes just to prepare the slaw dished out by LaCivita.

Looking Ahead

One great benefit of the 2009 Farmers Market Chef Series was the opportunity to show off the Falls Church Farmers Market to local chefs. It was an honor to guide the chefs around the market and to introduce them to the many great vendors. All the chefs said that the Falls Church Farmers Market was their favorite event and really looked forward to coming back again in 2010.

The 2010 Farmers Market Chef Series will resume on Saturday, April 24^th.  The series will consist of nine demonstrations from local chefs, including repeats from last year and a few new chefs. The series will also be launching a new Web site and blog in early 2010 which will include interviews with local chefs, seasonal recipes, and recipes and videos from last year’s demonstrations.

Thank you to all who made 2009 such a great inaugural year for the Falls Church Farmer’s Market Chef Series!