Peter's Warehouse Walkthrough
October 21, 2024
For some reason Belgian Endive, the 80’s come to mind. Perhaps it was Martha Stewart’s 1984 cookbook “Hors D ’Oeuvres” that had a recipe for Belgian Endive stuffed with a blue cheese mousse. It became THE THING to do for passed hors d’oeuvres. Astonished, there is a Red Belgian Endive (20900-5 lb) in the warehouse. Belgian endive was discovered in the 1830's by a Belgium chicory farmer, who stored the roots in his cellar for drying to use as a coffee substitute. However, after spending several months away he returned to find the roots had sprouted small white leaves, which had a pleasantly bitter flavor and tender texture. In time this process would come to be called a “forced” second growth or “blanching”. This labor-intensive growing technique involves growing the chicory from seeds, harvesting the roots then taking them indoors to grow again in a completely dark environment. Red Belgian endive specifically was created in 1976 when traditional witloof was crossed with the red Italian cultivator rosso di verona. A new twist for Martha Stewart.
There are two things that proclaim Fall at PCF. The first is when we start seeing apples and pears from Randy at Kiyokawa Orchards in Parkdale Oregon. Here is one Kiyokawa Apple for you to gaze at. It is the Ruby Mac Apple (32708-34 lb) which is a good storage apple. Here is the list of offerings for this week:
Apples:
Cameo, Crimson Crisp, Crimson Gold, Dolgo Crab, Fuji, Gala, Gingergold, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Hammer’s Jumbo, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Mt Rose (Pink Flesh), Newton Pippin, Red Ruben, Sonata
Pears:
Anjou, Bosc, Bartlett, Comice, Red Anjou, Tosca, Warren
Asian Pears:
Shinko, Twentieth Century
If you would like a case, the order is placed at 7 am on Wednesday and available after Friday.
The other item that denotes Fall is Colored Potatoes. Not just any colored potatoes but those Red C Potatoes (22380-50 lb, 25521- 5 lb) and Yellow C Potatoes (22432- 50 lb, 26890- 5 lb) from Norm Nelson out of Mt Vernon. Sandy, one of the warehouse supervisors, got up to watch me push the boxes together as Quentin, the QA supervisor walked up. Meeting her approval, Sandy stated, “They all look great!” What is so nice about the potatoes from Norm Nelson is that they are all clean, consistently sized, well-shaped and brightly colored. It is good rich fine river bottom soil full of nutrients. If you till it well, the potatoes come out perfectly shaped. Quentin looked on and said that he had better pictures than I did.
In all my years of cooking I have never cooked a Turban Squash (22875-35 lb). They look great as an ornamental, but they are also great eating especially baked. I am thinking of cutting the Turban in half and scooping out the seeds and laying them cut side down on a sheet pan. Roast at 350* till the squash is soft. While still hot, scoop out the soft meat of the Turban Squash, seems the skin is not edible- too thick and tough. Mash it up with butter, nutmeg, cinnamon if you prefer, fresh ginger and some salt. Start adding heavy cream to make a nice smooth puree. I suppose we should add an egg or two to bind it up. This goes into a ramekin and gets topped with crushed nuts and brown sugar. Bake till the egg is set.
