When I mentioned to my friend Leah that I got a copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook and I was going to make a recipe from it for a blog post she responded with, “I’ll be right over”. Whether it is because I have little ones at home, the fact that I can’t cook all that well or that she just knows that I don’t know where the produce section is in the market, she’s a good friend to come to my rescue. But to be honest, there are recipes in the cookbook that even I could make, by myself no less! This one for “Decadent Brussels Sprouts” has 5 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to make. Easy right?

So basically Leah came over and cooked and I watched (ok, I did the sausage and peeled the apples too) and ate the final product. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb of Brussels Sprouts

1 lb of sausage

2 large apples

1 small white onion

1 head of garlic

Instructions:

Finely chop Brussels sprouts, onion, apples and garlic. Sauté Brussels sprouts over medium heat in a slightly greased pan. After 2-3 minutes, add onion. After onion appears translucent, add apples garlic and sausage. Remove from heat once sausage is no longer pink.

We modified the recipe slightly. We cooked the sprouts, onions, apple and garlic in one pan and then cooked the sausage up separately – combining them after the sausage was fully cooked. We also added salt and pepper to the mix. The recipe turned out FANTASTIC. We ate it for lunch, two helpings (hey its veggies right?!?). It had all the right things going on: sweet fro the apples, salty from the sausage – I thought that if you wanted to kick it up a notch you could add some red pepper flake, and Leah thought it might be nice to add a little acid to it… next time!

Boston Public Market is a year round farmer’s market in Government Center. The cookbook showcases ingredients that you can find at the market, and is broken down by season, which I think is brilliant. The recipes range from the simple: salads, pestos, grilled cheese sandwiches and Brussels sprouts to things that are a little more complex like: kandy spice pumpkin pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Honey Glazed Hake with Roasted Local Parsnips and mulled darkened turkey. You can purchase a copy of the cookbook at the info desk at the Boston Public Market for $20.

Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of the Boston Public Market Seasonal Cookbook for a review. All opinions are my own.

For more information on the Boston Public Market, check out their website here.

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I was fortunate to be invited to the media preview of Eataly that will be opening tomorrow, November 29th! I wasn’t sure what to expect, I have been to the Eataly in the flatiron district in New York, but there has been a lot of skepticism going around about this location. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in the front door off of Boylston Street. Guests are greeted with a large coffee bar and crepe station before they head upstairs for the full Eataly experience, perfect if you just want to pick up your morning cup of coffee. There’s nothing worse than going to let’s say Ikea, knowing exactly what you want and then having to walk all the way through the store to get it anyway.

We patiently waited until Mario Batali came down the stairs to greet us. He was accompanied by Oscar (top right) and Nicola (top left) Farinetti. Oscar is the Founder and Creator of Eataly and Nicola, his son, is the CEO of Eataly USA. Both father and son are charismatic and you can tell they are passionate about food. Mario explains to us that at Eataly, they don’t just want to sell you food, they want to teach you how to make it – taste some delicious pasta at one of their restaurants but then go and replicate it at home.

There are certainly a lot of products that are imported from Italy, but to them, it didn’t make sense to import seafood when we have some of the best, freshest seafood right here in our backyard. Eataly has partnered with a number of local companies to keep everything local. They are even implementing  a frequent buyer program with their fish department. When you choose eligible fish, lesser known local catch, you get a stamp – collect 9 stamps and you will receive 10% off of your next purchase.

Eataly has partnered with Island Creek Oysters (bottom) and they even buy meat from CJ (second from left), Red’s Best and Wulf’s. The gentleman on the top left is Andrew Morgan of Cape Cod Shellfish, a boutique shellfish company – we tried some fresh (raw!!) scallops with just a drizzle of olive oil and it was so delicious, it melted like butter – and as Mario said, “it’s like candy!”

GIVE.ME.ALL.THE.CHEESE! Eataly will make fresh mozzarella daily and will get their curds from Narragansett Creamery over in RI (bottom right). Lourdes Smith, formerly of Fiore di Nonno, will be joining the mozzarella making staff!!

Eataly will sourse their meat from sustainable farms where the animals graze in open pastures and are humanely handled. They have chosen to work with VT99 Meats and Stillman’s Quality Meats. The lamb on the right was so tender and delicious, it just melted in your mouth (and it wasn’t gamey at all).

Mario told us a story that when he first opened Eataly in New York, his kids thought that the pizza ovens were made of real gold…and they still do! Pizzas here are made in 90 seconds using the finest ingredients and the fresh mozzarella that they make in house. You can buy dry pasta but you can also watch fresh pasta being made daily (and buy it!). Top right is a photo of the cooking school at Eataly, La Scuola di Eataly. There will be free live demos and ticketed hands on classes. They partnered with Valcucine kitchens to design the “classroom” and let me tell you the space is beautiful! I wish my kitchen at home could look like this!

Here is a little sneak peek at the retail areas.

Let me hit you with some quick numbers:

3 floors

45,000 square feet

4 restaurants

10 eateries

2 cafes and 3 bars

10,000 products

5 fresh production counters

7 retail departments

500+ employees

Check out the videos below for an inside look at the cheese and fish counters!

Give me all the cheese!!!

The seafood selection is amazing!

I highly recommend you stopping in to check out Eataly tomorrow (or whenever) when it opens – it is amazing and just something you need to experience!

Disclaimer: I was invited for a media preview of Eataly. I was provided with complimentary samples of food while in attendance. All opinions are my own.

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Ahold, Stop and Shop’s parent company, recently opened up a market, bfresh, in Allston. The space, that was formerly Staples, has been completely transformed. The smaller market is definitely city oriented – they have a lot of great take out options that frame the perimeter of the store. Tons of fresh produce greet you as you walk in the door (along with a selection of freshly made juices). The market is open 7am -9pm Sunday – Thursday and 7am -10pm Friday and Saturday. They have free parking in the back (total score!!). The prices are fair and they have these cool digital “labels” on the shelves instead of the traditional paper ones.

We were pleasantly surprised to see our friends OMG! Bagels sold here. Check out my previous post about OMG Bagels.

bfresh

214 Harvard Ave., Allston, MA

http://bfresh.com

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The Kitchen is a great space (3,200 sq. ft) located next to the market. They will offer things like lectures and films, cooking demos, hands on learning, health and wellness classes, excursions and group events. The Kitchen will open on August 19th with some great programs, here are a few examples:

Wednesdays 6pm- 8pm America’s Test Kitchen: New Boston Cooking School’s You Can Cook – classes that teach beginner students how to think and act like a home cook.

Wednesdays 12pm-2pm Boston Pubic Market Vendor Highlight – A Q&A with one of the vendors with sampling and demos.

Thursdays 7am-8am REI Hosts Morning Yoga

Thursdays 8am REI Hosts Thursday Morning Run Club – start your morning with a 3 mile run – club is open to all participants and will maintain a 10-11 minute per mile pace.

For more information go to: thetrustees.org/kitchen

Wolf Meadow Farm is located in Amesbury, MA. We were able to try the fresh ricotta with the pepper jelly – it was out of this world! Wolf Meadow Farm sells traditional southern Italian cheeses made by hand daily.

Corner Stalk Farm, located in East Boston, sells standard and specialty leafy greens and herbs grown in recycled shipping containers.

Stillman’s, located in Braintree, sells fresh produce.

The most interesting to me was the Boston Honey Company located in Holliston. They have a live hive that is home to about 12,000 bees. They fly in and out of the hive and find their way back by the colored discs on the glass roof of the building. The bees return to the hive and do a dance – that looks like rapid shaking – that lets the other bees know where the “good stuff” is. You can see the bees depositing the pollen into the cells and you can see where the drones will hatch. Pretty cool stuff! They have 4 types of honey on tap every day for you to sample.

Hopsters Alley has a huge selection of craft beers and locally produced spirits. They are located in Newton where you can go and brew your own beer. They have 4 beers on tap for sampling.

Red Apple Farm is located right by the front door and you are lured in by the smell of warm donuts, cinnamon and sugar. Who doesn’t love cider donuts? And you can watch them being made (see top right photo). They sell cider (and hot cider will be available in the colder months) along with fresh produce (you can visit their farm in Phllipston to pick your own raspberries), fudge and apple crisp (the owner’s grandmother’s recipe).

How delicious does that crisp look?

I love Crescent Ridge. They are located in Sharon and they sell award winning ice cream and fresh glass bottled milk. The scoops are enormous and the ice cream is so creamy!

Mamdou’s Artisan Bakery is located in Winchester and they offer French style breads and pastries.

Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth has a wide range of farm fresh products including vegetables, fruit, honey, herbs and flowers.

Mange is located in Somerville and they make exotic and aromatic fresh fruit vinegars. I have the green apple vinegar at home and can’t wait to try it out.

Jasper Hill Farm, located in Vermont, has a lovely selection of cheeses and jams.

American Stonecraft is located in Lowell. Every year farms till the soil and come up with large stones (why do you think there are so many stone walls in Massachusetts?), American Stonecraft takes these stones and polishes them into these beautiful serving trays and trivets.

Q’s Nuts, based in Somerville, offers  sweet, savory and spicy roasts in over 6 varieties of nuts. They are vegan, gluten, soy and dairy free.

Stow Greenhouses offers over 50 varieties of flowers – they are just beautiful. Check out their mason jar bouquets and their potted succulents.

Peterman’s Boards and Bowls, based out of Gill, MA makes bowls, serving trays and more from fallen trees from New England towns.

(Top left) Silverbrook Farm based in Dartmouth sells a wide range of farm fresh products including fruits, vegetables, eggs, jams and mustards. (Top right) Union Square Donuts, based in Somerville, sells gourmet, made from scratch donuts. (Bottom) Mother Juice started as a food truck and then opened their first storefront in Cambridge. They offer cold press juices, smoothies and plant based foods.

Some non food highlights are the toddler nook (top left) where you can bring your child on a trip to the market. The area is filled with agriculture themed toys and books. The Lobstah Rockah has cool rocking chairs located around the market for you to test out! Every piece is custom made. The cookbook exchange (bottom) is a place to share your favorite cookbooks and recipes with the community. Take a bookplate and write your favorite recipe from the book, leave the book for someone to enjoy and pick up a new book to take home and test out new recipes!

Appleton Farms (top left and right), based in Ipswich, sells delicious cheese; Nella Pasta (middle left and right), based in Quincy, sells fresh pasta and take and go lunch and dinner options; and Lilac Hedge Farm (bottom left and right), located in Berlin, sells fresh and frozen cuts of beef, pork, lamb and poultry as well as cured meats, prepared meals and rotisserie chicken.

Taza Chocolate, based in Somerville, sells stone ground organic chocolate. They have tons of samples and have motions demonstrations. Motions are stone mills used in the third stage of chocolate making, where the cacao nibs are ground into liquor. People can watch the cacao being ground in the hand carved granite millstones that were chiseled by Taza’s co-founder.

There are these great vendors and many more. Too many to mention. Check out the website for a full list of vendors.

What is your favorite vendor in the Boston Public Market?

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For those of you from Boston, it’s like Fanueil Hall, but bigger, and better.

You can have a sit down meal at a restaurant, grab some fresh seafood, and do your grocery shopping all in one place.

There’s definitely a hustle and bustle here at the market – a mix of those people trying to do their daily errands fighting to get upstream through the tourists who are ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything.

Today, Reading Terminal Market is one of the most successful public markets. It supports over 75 small and local businesses.

They offer tours of the market through Taste of Philadelphia Market Tours. Tours are led by a food writer and are scheduled on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10am.

I was a little surprised that the market is not open later in the evenings – their hours of operation are Monday – Saturday 8-6 and Sunday 9-5.

Some of the restaurants offer counters for diners, there is a large communal dining space located in the center of the market for those places that do not offer seating.

Bassetts ice cream is a piece of Philadelphia history, a fifth-generation family business and a Philadelphia tradition since 1861. We didn’t get to stop this trip, but it gives us something to look forward to next time.

Beiler’s Donuts were wildly popular, while you’re waiting in a  line that wraps around the corner, you can watch them make and fill the donuts!

Pickles!

Market Blooms offers fresh flowers as well as plants and seeds.

Herbiary offers aromatherapy products along with other organic and natural home remedies.

Salmueria offers a nice selection of cheese and charcuterie.

The Tubby Olive is a great little shop where you can go to taste a variety of olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

Been to Reading Terminal Market? What’s your favorite spot?

Reading Terminal Market

12th and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, PA

http://www.readingterminalmarket.org

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