The day arrived and, shopping the market for ingredients beforehand, I did what I always do at the farmers market – bought way too much stuff. I had lofty ambitions for what I could cook in an hour’s time.
Lucky for me, I had my loyal cooking sidekick along, my husband, who helped me prep ingredients before the demo started.
He’s no slouch in the photography department either, and took photos throughout the event.
***
What did the cooking demo look like, from my perspective? Like this.
Meanwhile, the audience saw this.
It was a little strange wearing the microphone headset – I felt like I was Britney Spears and should start belting out a song and dance.
Amidst the chaos of the market, the unpredictability of the equipment and running into situations on the fly, like where IS that measuring cup? I need it NOW,
…it was like cooking at home under dinner deadline.
In the end, I knocked out one side dish and two main dishes for weeknights, all based on greens available at the market now:
Sauteed spinach with mushrooms, garlic and lemon
Braised greens tacos with chicken, caramelized onions and queso fresco
Stir-fried bok choy and tofu
Love it! I wish I'd been there. You look beautiful and so does the food. Love the cook's perspective, your husband took cool pics. Congratulations!
How cool that you got to do this & you look like you are doing it so calmly & beautifully!
Wonderful!! Looks great. So happy for you to get this opportunity.
Very impressive! I think I need to pick up some greens soon and try some of these recipes out. I've been making various rhubarb recipes. Yesterday's included rhubarb mojitos! Amy (down the block
You did an AMAZING job! You totally should have gone for the Brittney Spears moves hahaha;-)
Thanks everyone!
Amy, I'm going to have to mosey on down to your house for a mojito one of these days (plus I'm going to have to start calling you Amy from the Block, a la J. Lo. But then I guess we're both Amy from the Block).
Emily, I had to watch myself with that microphone… Oops, I did it again (didn't put enough greens in the pan);)
BTW, if any of you make that bok choy tofu recipe, don't use a whisk in the pan like pictured above. The tofu will get stuck on the prongs or break up. (I just did it because I was in a hurry and it was the closest utensil at hand.)
It's best to remove the tofu and greens, then add cornstarch mix, crank up the heat and whisk the sauce separately. Unless you're in a hurry too, then, do whatever works.
I was at the market on Saturday morning and kind of saw you . . . you were prepping (it was, like, 10:25 AM,) and looked SO busy, I didn't want to interrupt to introduce myself! Glad you had a good time!
Sorry I missed you at the market Catherine, it was a race to prep and I had my head down trying to get through the greens before the demo started. Maybe we'll run into each other at the market another time?
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