Day 58: Food Is Good

Another fine Saturday at the Green City Market and I was relieved to see that Seedlings, an organic apple and pear grower, had once again written their cute tagline on a chalkboard next to their tent. Well said, Seedlings. (Actually, on second thought, maybe it's not their tagline. It should be!)


I dragged the kids over to talk to Paula Haney, the baker-in-chief and owner, with her husband, of Hoosier Mama Pie Company. She made the pie pictured below -- it's so gorgeous; can you stand it? -- and I told her that I wanted to take a photo for reference, because I was going to try to replicate it at home. Ever vigilant, she asked me, "What kind of apples are you using?" "Jonathan," I said. She frowned a little, then said, "Those are too soft." She told me to try a combination of Granny Smith and another kind of tart, crisp apple such as Empire, Mutsu, or one of the "spy" varieties (Northern Spy, Novaspy, Prairie Spy, Red Spy). I still have four huge Jonathan apples in the fridge (bummer!) but I bought a basket of Mutsus to mix in. The full report to follow.

[PIE UPDATE, 10/15/07: I made the pie on Sunday using a recipe from Epicurious for "Rum Raisin Apple Pie"; it can be found here. I used almost all Mutsu apples in the filling and Paula was right; they were not mushy, bright, and crisp even when cooked through. Still, I'm not sure I love the recipe. The flavor was pretty good -- cinnamony, sweet, balanced, and appley -- but the filling was kind of loose and a runny juice poured out when I cut the first slice. I did not soak the raisins in rum, but that couldn't possibly have made that much of a difference, could it? I recommend, sort of.]

[PIE UPDATE, PART DEUX, 10/19/07: I change my mind about the pie filling recipe; it's pretty YUMMY. I may have cut into it too soon after baking in order to give Molly, our regular and bestest babysitter, a slice to take home. A couple days later the filling had set up nicely, not runny at all, and the flavor was great: balanced without a hint of the bitter sourness that I have sometimes tasted in my past apple pie fillings. Next time, I'm soaking the raisins in rum for sure.]


What do people do with concord grapes? I love their dusty skins and how perfectly round they are, but can you eat them? The person here at Mick Klug said that people do eat them, but that fact surprised her because they have seeds. It would be fun to make concord-grape jelly and eat it on some toast. I wonder if it would taste like the jelly you get from the bread basket at the diner in the lobby of the Holiday Inn?


Raise your hand if you love swiss chard! This is the FarmGirl Organics table. I've never seen anyone actually buying anything here but I love the way it's set up -- especially the hand-lettered signs and the pedestal-driven display. There doesn't seem to be much food for sale; maybe that's why no one buys anything -- we don't want them to run out!


We decided to drive to Logan Square for a late breakfast -- at the near-legendary Lula Cafe. I don't know the actual history of the place but I'm pretty sure it's just a neighborhood restaurant run by a couple of people who have some pretty sophisticated notions about how to make food. It's seasonal, local, organic-ish, etcetera, yada yada, but mainly it's butt-kickingly delicious -- or so I've heard. We waited for an hour and a half to get a table! One hour and 30 minutes! Thankfully, The Husband had the foresight to buy a Bloody Mary at minute 45. We came this close (I'm holding my fingers not very far apart) to throwing in the towel. I'm glad we didn't because the minute we sat down they plonked on our table the most delicious, warm cranberry scone with a dollop of creme chantilly on the side (lightly sweetened, softly whipped heavy cream). YUMMY and YUMMY. We had barely put down the menus when they whisked out the food we had ordered for the kids (brilliant customer-service move): brioche french toast with strawberries and bananas, one scrambled egg, Gunthorp Farm bacon, and an order of their house-made pork sausage, photographed right before I threw myself upon it like a starved rat. The sausage is an applause-worthy savory sensation; all YUMMY. Isabella said, "This is good food!"


The Husband got the hominy stew made with chicken and salsa verde. Pickled onions and thin slices of squash on top and scrambled eggs sandwiched in between. YUMMY. The waiter told us that the dish, called pozole (is that right? I am Mexican-food challenged), only comes on the menu once in a while and people rejoice and throw parties when it does.


My dish was "artisan" spaghetti with salsa rosa (a red sauce made with tomatoes and roasted red peppers, I think), farm bacon, onions, a bright-green herb (probably basil or Italian parsley), and flecks of a very white cheese. Oh my god. Have I died and gone to heaven? YUMMY and a little bit spicy. So, yeah, Lula gets a thumbs up.