It’s fall and while apples are everywhere, consider making them into a warm tart.

In autumn, apples are a big deal in New York, especially if you visit any of the food markets around town. Even though I grew up in a very apple-rich area called the Apple Kingdom of Sweden, I’m deeply impressed at the variety that’s on display at the markets. I don’t know all the names and flavors so I’m happy that many vendors have apple tastings. It helps when you need to find the perfect apple for your apple pie, compote, juice or the one you just want to bite into.

For example, the McIntosh apple, with its soft and sweet/sour flavor, is excellent soaked with rum under a sweet butter rich crumble, as it melts when baked in the oven. I also like the McIntosh apple in the morning cooked for five minutes with cardamom and cinnamon, topped with kefir or yogurt. For an apple tart, where the apples lay on top of the crust, I prefer a firmer apple such as Granny Smith (sour) or Gala (sweeter). My new favorite apple to eat is the Honey Crisp which is both crispy and juicy. The apple has just enough sweetness without being sour. As its name spells out, it has an elegant honey flavor.

Ever since I was a teenager I’ve been making apple pies in different ways. My caramelized Apple Tart is my latest creation. Enjoy!

Caramelized Apple Tart
for 4-6 people

1 ¼ cup (about 300 ml) regular flour
3.5 ounces (about 100 grams) butter
3 tablespoons sucanat*
1½ teaspoons finely crushed cardamom
a splash of water

4 apples (preferably apples that are sour + firm inside, ex. Granny Smith)
4-5 tablespoons sucanat* (depending on how sour the apples are)
juice from one lemon
2½ ounces (70 grams) butter
½ cup (100 ml ) almonds, toasted and chopped

heavy cream, whipped with a little sugar

Start by mixing together butter, flour, cardamom and sucanat. When the butter is well divided add a splash of water. Work the dough together and let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour. Line a greased 9 inch (about 23 cm) spring form. Pre-bake at 400°F (200°C) the pie shell for about 10-15 minutes until it has got some color. Let cool.

Wash and peel the apples. Cut in half, take out the seeds and slice the rest of the apple in thin slices. Sprinkle the slices with sucanat and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat in a frying pan until they start to get juicy. Add ½ of the butter. Keep cooking the apples until they starts to caramelize. If you think the apples need more sugar you may add some now and let cook for a little bit more. The color should be golden and have some brown spots. Remove from heat and add the rest of the butter and toasted almonds. Let cool a little before arranging the apples inside the baked pie shell. Bake at 450°F (230C) for about 15 minutes until the apples have gotten some nice color. Serve with whipped cream.

*Sucanat is a brown sugar extracted from sugar cane. It’s perfect to bake with and gives cakes and cookies a richer taste. In the U.S. you can often find Sucanat in organic shops. If you can’t find sucanat you may use muscovado sugar or even regular brown sugar instead. When I’m in Sweden I use Farin sugar which works really well too.

Illustration: Johanna Kindvall

Sometimes, an article needs to be set to song. Go ahead, click, and come back to us in a new window. We trust you. All set? Great. Our February Man We Love had to be introduced against Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For a Hero” because he is all things dreamy and heroic. He is actor Jake Gyllenhaal, and here’s why we adore him.

First, look at him. Dreamy! With an “everyman” look about him, he could be your hunky next-door-neighbor with a penchant for sit ups. He’s the sensitive high school English teacher who first introduces young minds to the idea that Romeo and Juliet wasn’t originally a Leonardo DiCaprio movie. He’s a modern day Clark Gable with a dash of Jimmy Stewart smarts.

Second, Jake can play buff superhero types and iconic sensitive leads. He made creepy Donnie Darko endearing. His Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain was heartbreaking and will be remember for decades. He went blockbuster buff as Dastan in the Prince of Persia and then circled back as sensitive in the barely seen but critically-hailed Brothers. He’s fearless in his portrayals of relatable yet sensitive men and has a range of talent not easily paralleled in his peer group.

And, steady against swoons, Jake lives the conscious life. Recently, he teamed up with Chez Panisse creator and chef Alice Waters to help promote the Edible Schoolyard Program. Via Berkleyside, this is a “Berkeley-based program which teaches students in schools across the country how to grow and cook their own food.” As Gyllenhaal said of the collaboration, “I care deeply about helping children better their health, communities and environment…The Chez Panisse Foundation is not only offering an education that students will benefit from for the rest of their lives, but they’re a leading force in the movement to change the future of this country’s youngest generations.”

Accordingly, Jake has started showing up in schoolyards to promote healthy eating. In October, he appeared at Brooklyn’s P.S. 216 to look over “an organic garden and landscape that is wholly integrated into the school’s curriculum, culture, and food program.”

But our Jakey takes healthy eating a step further. When not concerned about children’s diets, he admits to whipping up a romantic, farmers’ market fresh meal for a special someone. Jake shares, “If I’m making a romantic dinner, I like to go to a farmers’ market first, buy things fresh and come up with my own dish based on whatever I’ve bought. I grow my own vegetables at home because I love fresh food,” he added. ”I don’t follow a special diet but I try and eat well, so I grow my own vegetables.” That sound you just heard was the swoon heard round the world.

Want more men to love? Check out Ryan Gosling, Mr. December, and Jonathan Franzen, Mr. January.

Images: Wikimedia Commons, ramsey everydaypants

The point of Foodie Underground is to take a look at all things related to the underground food movement, but sometimes all those cool, avant-garde, underground things start to add up and lead to more than just a small movement; they start to become mainstream.

Food carts can be found in smaller cities that don’t start with words like “San” and “New,” a town without a farmers’ market is getting harder to find, and around the country people are starting to think about what the word “organic” really means. They may have started as underground trends, but the fact that more people are paying attention to what they eat and where it comes from is a good thing.

Proof? The National Restaurant Association surveyed almost 2,000 chefs to find out what they think the trends of 2010 will be come year’s end, and the answer wasn’t bacon. At the top of the list was locally grown produce, with 88 percent of the chefs naming it a hot trend. Some of the other trends that ranked highly in various categories were restaurants with on-site gardens, environmentally friendly kitchen equipment, locally produced wine and beer, and organic produce.

Where does that put the underground food movement? In a good spot. It means that all the efforts that go into sourcing food locally, brewing craft beers, supporting community gardens, and all the other things that conscious foodies around the country partake in on a regular basis are having a significant positive impact.

The work comes in turning these trends into culinary norms; until the general population comes to expect locally sourced produce whenever possible, and puts a value on organic, fresh food, then we’ve still got plenty of hours to put in supporting the ongoing underground movement.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: bokchoi-snowpea

You peruse the stands, ogle over fresh berries, contemplate which goat cheese to buy, and smile contentedly as you walk away from the flurry of farmers and produce, full basket in hand. But is that local, organic, shopping induced feeling of happiness all a sham?

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that two large grocery store chains in the Northwest were faking their own farmers’ markets to draw in customers. Back in June, Safeway started posting “Farmers’ Market” signs above produce displays in front of their stores, only to receive a backlash from the local farming community which ultimately resulted in the store changing the signs to say “Outdoor Market.”

Over Labor Day Weekend, Albertsons did a similar thing, featuring their own “Farmers’ Market” signs next to their produce sections at over 200 stores. Has the term “farmers’ market” become the new greenwashing?

Although local farmers groups support chain stores selling local goods, farmers’ market are about more than just regional produce. True farmers’ markets provide the opportunity to buy freshly harvested goods directly from the hands that grew it – a far cry from regional apples that spent days in a truck and are sampled by a grocery store employee who has a hard time telling the difference between a Braeburn and a Fuji.

And it’s not just the Northwest. People are faking their farmers’ markets all over the country. In Los Angeles, NBC did an undercover investigation on local vendors and found that some of them were selling produce that the farmers hadn’t even grown themselves, in one vendor’s case, from Mexico.

It’s all a reminder that we can never take anything in the food industry for granted; talk to your farmer and know exactly where your food comes from.

Image: Natalie Maynor

There’s something simple about Saturday mornings. The weekly formula that includes tea, NPR and a ride downtown to go to farmers’ market. The weekly morning excursion is a shopping experience cut down to the basic essentials: run through the mental list of what I need, track down the stand that sells it, take one walk around the stands just to people watch, and then get back on my bike and ride home. There’s no list required. Just a hassle-free and low stress outing that not only ensures that I eat well for the next few days, but also happens to be one of my favorite parts of the week. Unlike trekking the the grocery store, farmers’ market outings never feel like a chore.

But why? Is it just the fact that I’m assured organic, local produce, handed to me by the farmer that grew it? That certainly plays a role. But when I take time to think about it, it’s because I’m not overwhelmed. I know what I want, and I know where to get it. And if I don’t know what I want, I’m subject to an onslaught of flashy, shiny marketing to get me to buy a product. Broccoli is broccoli, apples are apples, and goat cheese is straight up, 100 percent goat cheese. No preservatives, no additives, no fancy packaging, just plain old regular food.

Fortune recently published a story giving an in-depth look at one of the hottest food stores of our time: Trader Joe’s. We all know how popular this California-based grocer has become, in fact its rise to fame is fascinating, but how many of us take time to think about why we like it? One of the reasons is the same reason that I’m personally drawn to farmers’ market: simplicity.

Your average grocery store carries 50,000 items, while Trader Joe’s only has 4,000. To the untrained eye, that looks like limited selection – something that our Western brains have been trained to avoid. In our consumer culture, we’ve long been taught that bigger is better. But our brains know better. “People are worried they’ll regret the choice they made,” Barry Schwartz, a Swarthmore professor and author of The Paradox of Choice, is quoted in the article. “People don’t want to feel they made a mistake.” Turns out that people have actually been proven to enjoy purchases more when there are less options to choose from.

Which brings us back to the foodie movement: size does matter, and in a world of conscious gourmands, less is more. Shopping at big-box stores might sound appealing because no matter what we need, it’s probably there, but ultimately this initial appeal is an illusion. Numerous choices are a byproduct of a system run by cheap fossil fuels. Want 10 kinds of rice noodles imported from Southeast Asia? No problem! In the mood for ice cream? Make sure you’re ready to choose from the multitude of options, many of which have ingredients whose number practically exceeds the number of pints in the store freezer.

Food shopping in the form of farmers’ markets, CSAs and other smaller, localized operations may “limit” what we’re able to put on the dinner table – you won’t be cooking up winter squash in May – but we know what we’re getting is healthy and our brains are happy that we avoid launching into a never-ending path of dinner options, which in turn actually isn’t so limiting after all.

In fact, it’s liberating.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Image: iboy_daniel

Heading to the farmers’ market? Remember last time when your arm went numb, laden with a heavy bag filled with your bountiful purchases? I’ve often pondered the dilemma facing market shoppers – particularly my own frustration regarding “the bag” issue. One way or another, I don’t bring enough bags or the ones I’ve brought are not the right kind, and I end up stumbling around, dropping produce and my wallet or over-using the plastic ones they provide (assuming they’re provided).

It seems I’m not alone. Dubbed the “World’s First Farmer’s Market Backpack,” the Cornucopia Bag by Betabrands in San Francisco has been designed just for this purpose. The backpack includes numerous compartments for separating items, as well as a strap to easily hold it from the top. It has a money pocket as well as a laptop sleeve for multi-functional use. The bag is only available online and sells for $120. Additional information along with videos can be found on the Betabrands website.

By the way, that’s not all. Check out their other products, such as the Karate Casual Pants, Sons of Britches, and Gluttony Pants. I haven’t had the opportunity to try out any of these lovely items yet myself, but you have to hand it to Betabrands – they’re abuzz with creative energies.

I try to get to the farmers’ market every week. Recently, however, I wasn’t able to due to summer travels. I was therefore thankful when I headed to the Alemany Farmers’ Market this past weekend.

I wanted to shop for the coming week and loaded up to the point where I was dropping bags and my wallet every time I went in for something more. (I really need to work out a better technique.) Still, it was well worth it. I’d somehow managed to forget exactly how much more flavorful the freshest-of-the-fresh vegetables taste when they come straight from the farm.

This simple and fast quinoa recipe is a wonderful way to experience such market vegetables. It also happens to be extremely healthy, so you really can’t go wrong. The recipe works well as main dish for lunch or dinner or could work as a side dish too.

Quinoa with Farmers’ Market Vegetables:

Preparation and cooking time: ~30 minutes.

Serves 1-2.

Ingredients:

1 cup organic quinoa grain

1-2 teaspoons olive or grapeseed oil

1/2 onion, sliced

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 red pepper, sliced

2 baby carrots, sliced

1-2 zucchini’s, halved lengthwise and sliced

3-4 leaves rainbow chard or kale, stems removed and sliced small (or 1 cup baby spinach leaves)

1-2 stalks baby bok choy, leaves separated from the stems, all sliced

1 Tablespoon soy sauce (or tamari) + 1 to 2 Tablespoons water

Juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon

2 fresh onions or scallions, minced (or 2-3 Tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro)

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse quinoa. Bring quinoa and 1 and 3/4 cups water to boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Once cooked, remove from heat, and keep covered.

2. Prepare vegetables. Heat oil in frying pan. Add ginger and cook briefly for 30 seconds. Add onion and saute on medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes, until beginning to soften.

3. Add red pepper, carrots, chard and bok choy stems, cooking for about 5-6 minutes.

4. Add zucchini. Cook  2-3 minutes.

5. Add bok choy leaves, along with the soy sauce and water, and cook 1 more minute, stirring vegetables well, adding a dash of salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

6. Fluff-up the quinoa, stirring in the fresh onions and lemon juice until evenly distributed, adding kosher salt and freshly ground pepper- while mixing- to taste.

7. Serve quinoa with vegetables on top.

I’m guilty as charged when it comes to a standard farmers’ market routine; my Saturday morning market run always includes a visit to my egg guy, then my favorite stand for whatever greens are in season, and then a swing by the Irish man who runs a smoked salmon stand. After that I pick up a container of plain spreadable chevre at Fraga Farm and finally cruise by the New Cascadia booth for some gluten-free seed bread. Every. Single. Weekend. This kind of a routine certainly never feels like a rut, but this week marks National Farmers’ Market Week, and even the most seasoned of farmers’ market visitors sometimes need some new inspiration for enjoying all that markets have to offer.

National Farmers’ Market Week kicked off yesterday and runs through August 7. This bodes well for promoting healthy, local and sustainable food, even in more conventional areas that are new to the farmers market trend, which means if you haven’t made it out to a farmers’ market yet this season, it’s about time! Here are just a few ways you can celebrate.

1. Find a new market

Feel like you need to hit the refresh button and see some new stands and farmers? The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a search engine that lets you track down markets geographically. This is also a great way to track down markets to visit when you’re out of town for the weekend and visiting a new city.

2. Take the kids

Making a trip to the farmers’ market a family event is just another step in creating food savvy, local-loving kids.

3. Get creative

If you’re a frequent market-goer like myself, why not try cooking-up some seasonal dishes that are new and exciting? Check out what’s local and in season and then pick a few items that don’t normally make it into your market basket.

4. Throw a party

Plan a farmers’ market themed potluck and require your guests to bring dishes made solely from market produce. Encourage them to bring recipes and you might just end up with a few new seasonal recipes favorites.

5. Take pictures

The only thing better than shopping at farmers’ markets is taking pictures at farmers’ market; take your camera with you on your next visit and try to capture just what makes your local farmers market special. To celebrate National Farmers Market Week, I’m bringing you a selection of my favorite Portland farmers’ market photos from this season. Enjoy!

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground. Each week, Anna will be taking a look at something new and different that’s taking place in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones

Okay, so you know how to shop the farmers’ market and you know that when you shop the farmers’ market, it’s easy to buy what’s local and in season because that’s what the farmers are selling.

But most people still do the majority of their shopping in grocery stores. When faced with six kinds of apples from New Zealand displayed right next to tomatoes from Mexico, pineapples from Costa Rica, and lettuce from California, what’s a local, organic eater to do?

Make Seasonal, Local, and Organic Your Mantra:

Seasonal: If you know what’s in season when in your area, it makes it easier to buy seasonally, even in the grocery store. See below for a handy seasonal produce guide.

Local: Take a look at the grocery store signage to find out where the produce was grown. It’s one thing to buy bananas from Costa Rica, if you must have your bananas, but it makes no sense to buy September’s apples from New Zealand when they are harvested in almost every region in the U.S during the fall.

Organic: Look for the USDA Certified Organic label. Buying organic minimizes your exposure to toxic chemicals and supporting organic growers is better for the planet. If you’re worried about the extra expense, remember that if you buy locally grown organic produce at peak production, prices will be lower.

Once you start eating seasonally, you’ll discover a new joy in food. When you’ve waited all year for that first juicy, local, ripe tomato, instead of eating cardboard flavored ones year round, you’ll enjoy it so much more.

Seasonal Produce Guide:

Many items overlap into two seasons and items grown underground, like fennel, carrots, radishes, and beets can be grown year-round in some parts of the country. Temperate climates also support nearly year-round availability of some greens and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and mustard greens. This list will be helpful for most parts of the country.

Spring – Asparagus, snap peas, English peas, snow peas, green garlic, artichokes, greens, lettuces, fava beans, radishes, potatoes, carrots, leeks, spring onions, kiwis, citrus, strawberries, rhubarb

Summer – Corn, green beans, summer squash, tomatillos, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, peppers, basil, berries (all types) Stonefruit: peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, figs, grapes

Fall – Greens, beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, winter squash, fresh shelling beans, sweet potatoes, root vegetables, tomatoes, tomatillos, pears, apples, Asian pears, figs, grapes, melons, persimmons, pomegranates,

Winter – leafy greens, winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, root vegetables including beets, turnips, rutabega, fennel, carrots, potatoes, celery, citrus, dried fruit, pears and apples (stored from fall)

Enjoy these links to seasonal recipes for some of each season’s most characteristic produce items.

Spring:

10 Recipes for Artichokes from Cooking Light

Pea Recipes from Eating Well

Summer:

Corn Recipes and Tips from Epicurious

Stonefruit Recipes from Saveur

Fall:

Tomato Recipes and Tips from Epicurious

Apple Recipes from Smitten Kitchen

Winter:

Broccoli Recipes from Mariquita Farm

Winter Squash Recipes from 101 Cookbooks

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more eager and enthusiastic sous chef than your young child. Kids are fascinated by what goes on in the kitchen: the stirring, the blending, the flipping, the sauteing. Cooking is a delightful bombardment of the senses, and children want to soak it all up. There are many fun, safe ways to involve kids in meal prep, which will educate and inspire, and enhance their appreciation for food. Here are five ways you can turn your little dumpling into a foodie!

1. Take Your Child To The Farmer’s Market

Frequent your local farmer’s market with your kids in tow, so they can learn where fresh, healthy food comes from (not the supermarket shelf), and so they may put a face on the farmers who grow the fruits and vegetables that comprise their meals. Giving kids the gift of this ‘farm to table’ awareness will make them more mindful and appreciative of their meals.

2. Grow a Garden

Re-visit our post on how very green your child’s thumb is when it comes to gardening. Plant a garden together, even if it means just one pot growing one vegetable, or a windowsill herb garden. When a child sees that her handiwork and tending can produce something that may proudly go into a home cooked meal, she will beam with pride.

3. Enlist Your Child’s Help in the Kitchen

Obviously, this tip requires common sense. You don’t want your toddler, or even an older child wielding knives on the cutting board, but there are countless, safe kitchen tasks you may assign to your pint-sized sous chef. Make sure to present the task with a lot of enthusiasm (especially for older kids, who may not be keen on helping out). Young children can tear lettuce for the salad, help rinse berries, stir batter, and older kids can crack eggs, read recipe instructions aloud, and grate cheese. Even just inviting your children to watch meal prep will be beneficial to their overall understanding.

4. Consider Building or Buying Your Child a Miniature Play Kitchen

If child demonstrates a keen interest in cooking, outfit her with a play kitchen so she can pretend to bake and cook til her heart’s content. My three year-old daughter is obsessed with play food and baking, and we must stir, bake and eat at least a hundred play cookies, cakes and cupcakes a day in our household. It’s also fun to reuse empty cake mix boxes, etc., by giving them to your child for use in her own kitchen. We also spend time learning all of the different types of kitchen tools and utensils: wisks, measuring cups and spoons, etc.

5. Do Meal Planning Together

Give older children a sense of responsibility and independence by asking their opinion on what would make good, healthy meals for the week. Write the grocery list together and shop for all of the required ingredients as a family if possible. Family meal time is a sacred time to connect and regroup, and doing so over an agreed upon meal everyone will like will equate to mutual enjoyment, camaraderie and teamwork.

Images: Beth Shea