Summer Harvest Issue 2018

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces—just good food from fresh ingredients.” -- Julia Child

We are at the start of the summer harvest, which has a long list of so much delicious produce that it is easy to create a simple meal based on everything local. It’s also a great opportunity to get to know your local farmer. The farmers’ markets are full this time of year and it’s the perfect time to try to eat seasonally. This doesn’t have to be a grand leap where you immediately begin growing all your own food—it can be as simple as buying one piece of produce from the farmers’ market every week, or even strolling through one just to take it all in. 

I like to wander around and look for something that catches my eye. I’ll walk over to that stand and ask about this or that beautiful vegetable or piece of fruit, the best way to store it, cook it and eat it. Usually when I get home and take a bite, I am rewarded with the best flavor because it is something at the peak of its season. 

It’s also a great opportunity to challenge yourself to make something to enjoy later. Fool Proof Living blogger and photographer Aysegul Sanford shares with us her recipe for quick and easy homemade tomato basil sauce. Take your pasta to a whole new level. 

Pickled nasturtium seeds? Writer Becca Miller of the Unexpected Harvest educates us on the uses of this showy garden plant. 

Leah Penniman is known for her work at Soul Fire Farm, which she and husband Jonah Vitale-Wolff started as an organic family farm committed to “the dismantling of oppressive structures that misguide our food system.” Soul Fire Farm is in its ninth year of growing healthy food for the couple’s former urban neighbors in Albany and Troy, New York. Since coming to the land over a decade ago, they have transformed a patch of marginal mountain ground into rich topsoil and faithfully provisioned a sliding-scale CSA whose members often lack access to fresh produce. Read about this vibrant, welcoming community of learning and admirable influence.

Regular contributor Kathleen Willcox catches up with local culinary hero Chef Josh Coletto and also gets a hold of a lip-smacking recipe for chicken-fried chicken livers with sauce gribiche along with getting the scoop on Josh’s next culinary adventure.

Our Edible Voices summer issue guest is alternative rock station WEQX’s morning DJ, Jeff Morad. Maria Buteux Reade talks community, food and his thoughts on the local music scene in the Capital District.

We hope you enjoy all the pieces of this issue that we feel celebrates summer. Our love of food. Of sharing food, of good food, and most of all of eating food. The best food comes from the best people. People who love to eat.

Cheers!

Mary Blair, Editor