Farmer’s Market Scramble + 2 Announcements!!!

A hearty farmer’s market scramble with grilled halloumi and tomatoes, loads of flavorful greens, caramelized turnips, and sliced avocado. Grilled sourdough optional but highly recommended!

#cookingascraft

Thank you to everyone who has participated in the #CookingAsCraft Instagram challenge ! There are still 4 days left of this challenge of using mindfulness to hone your craft to become a better cook. Check out all the submissions here !

Farmer’s Market Scramble

I want to quick touch on this (insanely delicious) farmer’s market scramble before I move on to a couple announcements. Cuz, eat first play later. I stopped by the farmer’s market and snagged all of the ingredients for this scramble straight from local farmers (well, with the exception of avocado). I asked each farmer what products they were really excited about and how they would eat them. Here’s what I got:

• Halloumi: I met a lovely sheep’s milk dairy producer from Secret Land’s Farm . She was quite excited about her halloumi which when grilled is so rich with flavor. She even brought out a burner and frying pan to let everyone have a try.

Halloumi:

I met a lovely sheep’s milk dairy producer from Secret Land’s Farm . She was quite excited about her halloumi which when grilled is so rich with flavor. She even brought out a burner and frying pan to let everyone have a try.

• Baby Turnips + Mustard Kale: I talked to the farmer from Cedar Hedge Farm about all the lovely greens he had. I was specifically looking for mustard greens cuz I love that mustardy bite, but he had something I loved even more. Mustard Kale! It’s a cross between mustard greens and kale. It’s like kale but with a slightly softer leaf and a mustardy bite that is much milder than regular mustard greens. He also had some baby turnips that he recommended tossing into an omelette, which inspired the whole scramble thing.

Baby Turnips + Mustard Kale:

I talked to the farmer from Cedar Hedge Farm about all the lovely greens he had. I was specifically looking for mustard greens cuz I love that mustardy bite, but he had something I loved even more. Mustard Kale! It’s a cross between mustard greens and kale. It’s like kale but with a slightly softer leaf and a mustardy bite that is much milder than regular mustard greens. He also had some baby turnips that he recommended tossing into an omelette, which inspired the whole scramble thing.

• Eggs: I bought some gorgeous hydroponic yellow tomatoes from a farmer who seemed awfully enthusiastic about his free range eggs. He told me all about their feed and the kind of lives their chickens lived. Which then convinced me to hand over an entire $8.50 for a dozen. Because those kinds of things are important to me. In the end he was right, these eggs were damn good!

Eggs:

I bought some gorgeous hydroponic yellow tomatoes from a farmer who seemed awfully enthusiastic about his free range eggs. He told me all about their feed and the kind of lives their chickens lived. Which then convinced me to hand over an entire $8.50 for a dozen. Because those kinds of things are important to me. In the end he was right, these eggs were damn good!

Creamy eggs with salty grilled halloumi, grilled tomatoes, sautéed greens, caramelized turnips, and sliced avocado is my kind of breakfast. Especially with a nice grilled piece of sourdough. Whatever you find in the farmer’s market, this farmer’s market scramble method will work wonders with whatever your local farmers are excited about.

Announcement #1: CSA Recipe Series

Speaking of farms, I am really excited to announce my partnership with a really amazing farm and close friends of mine this summer. POP KITCHEN will be collaborating with Plainsong Farm , a sustainable farm using organic practices to bring you a “What To Do With Your CSA Farm Share” series. Each week throughout the summer I will be creating recipes with the produce that you would be getting from a CSA Farm Share each week. Ok, let me back pedal a little to bring you up to speed about what this all means.

What is Plainsong Farm?

Plainsong Farm are social entrepreneurs who use sustainable farming to care for the earth, encourage the eating of good food, feed the hungry, and give to their community by practicing gratitude, hospitality and education. Motivated by their faith, they really truly believe that the act of farming can change their community for the better.

Meet the farmers! Bethany and Mike Edwardson are two beautiful humans who are not afraid of living a life they believe in and with integrity. Between running a farm full-time, raising two beautiful daughters, and working outside of the home [Bethany] to make ends meet, life is busy, hard, and yet very fulfilling. I wanted to work with Plainsong because they are an amazing example of an alternative food system I want to support. Also, it helps that Bethany is one of my best friends in the whole wide world and their daughter Everest is one of my daughter Willow’s BFFs too. So there’s a little bias here.

What is a CSA Farm Share?

“CSA” stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It is an alternative food system where people interact directly with a small farm, and support them financially for the year. So you buy a share upfront at the beginning of the summer, just like you might invest in say a share of stock in a company. So what do you get back? You get a portion of the food that farm yields each week. But just like buying stock in a company, you assume risks of loss on the farm such as weather, disease or furry little rodents that may impact the success of a crop. It’s a way to support small farms and eat the best, freshest food ever for reasonable prices.

Small Sustainable Farms are important

There are 3 reasons you should consider supporting a small CSA farm (well, there are lots but I’m trying to keep it short here): they are more sustainable and efficient, they practice the humane treatment of animals, and they uphold biodiversity by maintaining heirloom varieties of plants that have all of but been extinct from the agrifood business. Want to know more? Do some research! I’m not your mom, bruh!

POP KITCHENxPlainsong Farm

Here’s how this partnership will work. Plainsong farm is going to be providing me with resources and information about what’s in season while also promoting POP KITCHEN to their members. I am going to be creating recipes all summer and into the fall each week that will help give you ideas of what to do with your produce if you receive a farm share, shop frequently at farmer’s markets, want to focus on eating seasonally, or just like to eat good food. So basically everybody should follow along.

The “What To Do With Your CSA Farm Share” series starts next week! So keep them eyes peeled or sign up for email notifications to be on the up and up.

No, not moving down the street or to a different neighborhood. We are leaving Toronto (many disgusting, cry-face emojis) and moving to my hometown, Grand Rapids, Michigan. This decision came with many mixed emotions. Believe me. We love our life here in Toronto. But my partner Jazz was offered at job at Madcap Coffee , a coffee roaster which I think is safe to say is kind of a big deal. Jazz has been toying with the idea of a career in the coffee industry for some time now and so we take the plunge.

Don’t worry! POP KITCHEN ain’t going no where. But you can expect my Instagram stories to change slightly from one urban metropolis to another, smaller and yet also food-centered one. We are not thrilled with the state of politics in the States, to put it politely and be completely honest. But we also feel a sense of belonging there and a desire to join our community in this weird time.

We are going to deeply miss all of the friendships and connections we have made in Toronto. There are all the feels for this city including gratitude for what the city has given us and how it has shaped us. It is a place we hope to frequent regularly in the future. It will always feel a little like home.

Back to Food!

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I am going to recenter on this farmer’s market scramble. Can I maybe suggest, just maybe, you try whipping it up for dad this weekend? Because there’s really nothing more “Father’s Day-ish” than firing up the grill first thing in the morning on Father’s Day!

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When you try this farmer’s market scramble, let me know! I absolutely love seeing your photos of POP KITCHEN recipes up on Instagram. Use the hashtag #popkitchen when you post photos of recipes you’ve made to your Instagram and tag @pop_kitch. I’ll share my favorite photos on POP KITCHEN’s account.

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Recipe

Farmer’s Market Scramble + 2 Announcements!!!

Ingredients

• 5-7 oz/150-200g halloumi, sliced medium thin
• pure olive oil for marinating cheese and tomatoes
• Sea salt and pepper
• 3 Roma or 6 large cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 2 tsp olive oil or butter
• ½ cup turnips, thinly sliced
• 2 cups turnip greens or spinach
• 2 cups mustard kale (you can use either mustard greens or kale as a substitution here)
• 8 eggs, whisked until super well combined
• 1 avocado

Instructions

1. Fire up your grill while you prep your veggies. If you have a gas grill you want it to be medium or about 300 F/150 C. You can also use a pan on the stove to sear the cheese and tomatoes. Once the grill is hot, toss the halloumi and tomatoes with a good drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Sear each side of the cheese and tomatoes. Watch the cheese carefully, it goes fast. While the tomatoes take a little longer to get that nice, golden char. (You can also grill up some toast here by lightly brushing olive oil and salt and pepper on each side of your toast. Watch carefully!)
2. In a large sauté pan or cast iron skillet, over medium heat, add 1 tsp of butter and sear your turnips until lightly golden on each side. Remove from the pan and add the greens, seasoning them with salt and just barely wilting them. Remove from the pan.
3. Add another tsp of butter to the pan. Make sure your eggs are really whipped well. This will yield a fluffier egg. Make sure the pan is not smoking hot. You want it to be medium to medium low. Add the egg mixture to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Using a rubber spatula scrape the cooked egg off the bottom and edges of the pan every 1-2 minutes until the eggs are no longer liquid but still a bit runny. Turn off the heat and continue to cook the eggs until they are just barely cooked. You don’t want to cook the devil out of scrambled eggs or they get really tough. Reach for somewhere between slimey and dry.
4. Fold in the grilled halloumi, tomatoes, greens and turnips (all this stuff gets gross if you toss it when the eggs are still runny). Serve with sliced avocado.