Getting the Most of your Local Produce

There were a couple of great articles on AZ Central this morning. The first was a quick article with Chef Payton Curry of Caffe Boa on how to best navigate a Farmer's Market and shop for fresh produce.

http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/articles/2009/11/02/20091102shopchef.html

The other was a very convenient listing of all our local markets and their hours.

http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/food/articles/2009/11/02/20091102shopcheflist.html

This may bode well for still coming up with a last minute rhubarb pie.

The Brilliance of Dessert on a Stick

If it's on a stick, it's got to be good right? (Deep fried, even better).

The experimental apple pie pops resulted from the great rhubarb crisis of October '09. I've never made an apple pie and experimenting with a lollipop form seemed to be a great way to cover up that deficiency. The end result was proclaimed as brilliant at work (though I felt my filling was a bit too sweet).

The fast and easy version: makes about 20 pops.

1 package pie crust (two sheets)
pie filling of your choice
1 egg white
20 cookie sticks

Preheat oven to 375
Cut out circles in your pie dough (I used a 2 inch glass)
Place circles on parchment papered cookie sheet
Add sticks to each circle (more than 1/2 way up)
Add about a teaspoon of filling to each circle over stick
Press top circle onto each (I used a spare stick to make cool crimpy lines)
Brush all with egg white for shiny texture

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until tops are browned.

Let cool and enjoy.

If I were a more technologically advanced person, I would have had photos for you all.

Happy munchings!

What happened to all the rhubarb?

My little personal monthly challenge is continuing well, though I don't think I've ever spent so much on chicken before. Rosy is certainly a pricey bird. And I'm enjoying my more frequent excursions to Whole Foods and Sprouts where it is much easier to find grass fed, cage free, etc.

To add to my grocery challenges of this month, I have a double birthday to contend with. And one is not so much into the birthday cake thing. In fact, his favorite thing is rhubarb pie. (Really, it might be gooseberry, but there's a snowballs chance in hell of finding one of those in Arizona.).

Have you tried to find fresh rhubarb lately? I remember seeing it everywhere last Fall. This year, produce managers everywhere are whimpering about some California happenstance wiping out the early and mid season rhubarb harvest.

Where does that leave my pie adventures? I can always go with a nice solid apple, for who doesn't like apple? I can go high end with pears and cranberries. Or the iffy cream pie route with a key lime (for some reason, dozens of those suddenly made themselves available).

So, what's the pie equivalent of a straight up rhubarb?