Fun, Food and Faces...Another Market Chef Demo

As you regular followers of this blog have certainly already figured out, one of the things I regularly follow (or as regular as my schedule allows) are the Montavilla Farmers Market Chef Demonstrations.  Each week the market has a chef from a local restaurant or other culinary institution give a demonstration of a meal, usually based on produce and food available at the market on that day. 




Today's demo is by Paul Losch, of DOC, an Italian restaurant in SE Portland.  (http://docpdx.com/)  Paul will be making a summer vegetable salad with feta cheese and salsa verde...procured right here at the market, of course.

Paul's "Sous Chef" is Michael, who grates, crushes and cuts while Paul describes how to prepare the ingredients.  (Many of the market demo chefs would love to have a sous chef to help during the demo, so if you are interested in working with a local chef, contact Erin, the Market Volunteer Coordinator at http://www.montavillamarket.org/support/volunteer/)

Chef Paul mixes the ingredients into a visual and aromatic treat (we could smell the basil as he cut it for the verde sauce).  This is called Jardinière with Feta and Salsa Verdé.  (Go to the Market web site for the recipe...believe me, it's delicious!! http://www.montavillamarket.org/chef-demos/market-chef-paul-losch/)

Of course, it isn't always about food.  Our senses also include hearing, and today we were treated with the lovely sounds of Renee Castiglioni's accordian...I hope that's the proper name for her instrument?  Please let me know if there is a better name. 

One of the joys of taking photos of the market is watching little dramas unfold that would otherwise be missed as we pore over produce or other wares.  Renee's music caught the attention of one young listener who seemed especially taken with her.  Renee coaxed him closer as she knelt down (no small feat, apparently, as she still played her medley). 

She finally coaxed the boy over, who even reached out and touched the magical instrument (or it certainly seemed so to him).

One of the market's vendors is Sino Baking, who make a delicious cheesebread called Paobread with a recipe that comes from Brazil (http://www.paobread.com/index.html).  Of course, how could anyone refuse a sample from the delightful and smiling Courtney.