- From the Kitchen Stool of the Market Master
This week and next I will introduce our two newest vendors and will spotlight returning vendors and their specialties. Today I am profiling a value-added vendor, so named because they take ingredients that are essentially inedible in their raw state and create or produce an edible product by adding time, talent and expertise. Cavanna Pasta comes from Richmond via Rapalla, Italy. Gianni Cavanna has been creating homemade pasta for seventeen years and has recently opened a unique pasta shop in Richmond, featuring a wide variety of fresh pastas and sauces based on authentic Italian recipes. He made the pastas by hand for many years. Now he has invested in commercial pasta machines to handle the increased demand for his Richmond-renown products.
I sampled the sausage tortellini last week and, when I bought it, told Gianni about my homemade tomato sauce recipe. He suggested cutting the sharpness and acidity of the sauce with some cream. I did just that with sumptuous results. You may purchase both the pasta and his tomato sauce at the market. Add great salad greens from a produce vendor, bread from the baker and you can have dinner on the table in fifteen minutes. I did it!
<ro>Quick and Easy Homemade Tomato Sauce (Makes about 1and ½ quarts)
<lst>This sauce is made with a few ingredients—all you need for great flavor and consistency. Note on the jars of store-bought sauces those ingredients that are not necessary.
* 1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, chopped
* 1 bulb fennel, chopped
* 1 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
<bt>Sauté the first two ingredients in your favorite olive oil for three to five minutes till soft. Add minced garlic to taste and sauté one minute. Add 1 35-ounce can of Cento Italian (not Italian-style) tomatoes, squished, and 1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes, both with their juices. Bring to a slow boil, turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season the sauce with one teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste and your favorite herbs. Oregano, basil and bay leaf will produce an Italian-flavored sauce. Add dried herbs as you bringthe sauce to a boil; add fresh herbs at the end of cooking. For pizza sauce thicken it with 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I make large batches and freeze meal-size portions.
<bt>Looking for a good workout in a stunning forest setting? Want to help save trees and wildlife habitat and see short-term results of your efforts? Check out the Invasive Plant Removal site at Nottoway. Stroll through the woods and look for dying vines on trees where dedicated volunteers began manually removing winter creeper just a few weeks ago.
Winter creeper, Amur bush honeysuckle and multi-flora rose—our site has all three in such abundance that free workouts will be available from now through the fall. This Saturday come join the volunteer group that has Invader Plants on the move!
Next Workdays: Saturdays, 9 am-Noon, May 19, June 2 and June 23
Dress: long pants and sleeves, gloves, hiking boots or sturdy shoes
Gear: water, hat and, if you have them, loppers, pruners and flat-headed screwdriver
Directions: If driving to 9601 Courthouse Rd, Vienna, take main entrance and enter first parking lot on your right. Enter Fitness Trail behind Field 4 (rectangular field next to lot), and walk past picnic tables/Fitness Station 2 on left. Continue past Fitness Stations 3 & 13 and look for bright orange ribbons on trees to the right; meet at first tree.
RSVP: call 703-324-8681 or email friendsofnottoway@gmail.com
Weather Cancellation: in the event of lightning, thunder and/or heavy rain but will work in light rain
More Information: http://fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/resources/ima