Join us for our Grand Opening celebration!

The Grand Opening celebration for the Minnesota Street Market is this Saturday, September 17th. Join us for the ribbon-cutting at 10:00 AM. Music, art demos, and the Food Nirvana cook-off competition will follow. Meet local food producers and artists. We look forward to seeing you. For more information, go to minnesotastreetmarket.com.

In this issue:

• Thank you!
• Minnesota Street Market featured in video by I am MN nice
• Volunteers: Write your own job description
• Volunteer Profile: Anj Allard
• A sampling of Member Specials this week
• Katie’s Recipe for a Member Special item: Oyster Mushrooms
• According to The Sweet Beet: What’s Hot and What’s Not
• Gazpacho: A great late-summer soup

Thank you!

We wish to thank Dr. Curt Cotton and Dr. Joseph Styles of the Styles and Cotton Dental Office, 1514 E Minnesota Street, for their generous donation of $500 to the Market! Thank you! Not only are they keeping dollars within the community; they’re keeping them on Minnesota Street.

Minnesota Street Market featured in video by I am MN nice

Ryan with IamMNnice.com visited the Market recently and made a nice video to showcase our store. This is a great way to spread the word about the Market—forward the video to your friends! Click the image below to watch the video.

Volunteers: Write your own job description

Working as a volunteer at the Market is fun and personally satisfying. Use your skills to help store operations and to promote the establishment and growth of the Minnesota Street Market.

We need volunteers to handle all types of store operations. In addition to staff to help customers check out, Katie Foley, our store manager, is looking for volunteers to manage and to maintain the bulk products or produce areas. We need information technology management-focused staff to maintain the business systems, manage and assign the PLU (Price Look-Up) numbers, and to price new store products on the POS (Point of Sale) system. You don’t necessarily need to do customer service and work the cash register; you can draw up what you would like to do.

• Join in and help out.
• Drop into the Market and talk to Katie to draw up not only what you would like to do, but to also specify your custom schedule.

Are you a marketer, graphic designer, typophile, editor, or a web designer?
The marketing committee is also recruiting members. We are looking for creative people who are passionate about helping the Market grow and have graphic design and/or typography skills and experience. We also welcome those who are skilled at editing and proofreading, and those who know a little about HTML and CSS to help with the newsletter and website. The marketing committee meets on Wednesday afternoons at 4:30 at the Market. Contact Mary Niedenfuer with your interest at mniedenfuer@csbsju.edu.

Volunteer Profile: Anj Allard

This is second in a series of profiles on our participating producers, artists and volunteers.
Anj Allard has been invaluable for doing what is needed when she has volunteered. She has helped customers find what they were looking for, staffed the check-out, stocked and rearranged products, and has been cleaning up the children’s play area. She feels that assisting in implementing the bulk items section has been her biggest contribution.

Anj and her husband moved to St. Joe from the Cities about fifteen years ago. Their son and daughter attend school across the street from the Market. Her family is important to her, as is the St. Joe community.

Anj relates that she was ecstatic when she heard about the Minnesota Street Market being organized. Her volunteering has been based on multiple reasons. The principal motivation and value which she gets from volunteering is supporting the development of a family and community resource which provides healthy food for her family and St. Joe. She feels good, too, about being able to assist the local producers and help their businesses be successful. Of course, Anj says: “Katie is a hoot and wonderful.” Finally, she learns and shares about different products in the store each time that she volunteers.

Thanks, Anj, for your contributions of time, knowledge and energy.

A sampling of Member Specials this week

• Oyster Mushrooms: $6.75 per lb; Members: $5.75 per lb
• Eggplant: $2.69 each; Members: $1.69 each
• Bulk item: Quinoa $4.02 per lb; Members: $3.49 per lb

Katie’s Recipe for a Member Special item: Oyster Mushrooms

Tomato Goat Cheese Pasta

Ingredients

• ¼ lb oyster mushrooms (cut into a bit bigger than bite-sized pieces; use the whole cluster)
• 4 medium tomatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• ¼ cup white wine (optional)
• 5 green onions (sliced into very thin discs)
• ½ cup milk
• 8 oz goat cheese
• Pinch of fresh nutmeg
• 1 lb pasta (fettuccini, linguini, spaghetti, cavatappi)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Start the pasta water
2. Prep the mushrooms, tomato, and green onion, and set aside
3. Sauté mushrooms in 2 Tbsp of olive oil on medium high for three to four minutes
4. Add white wine and let reduce on high for two minutes then remove from heat
5. Put goat cheese and milk in a medium sauce pan and stir on low, medium heat until sauce is the consistency of a thin alfredo sauce. Add a pinch of nutmeg.
6. Boil pasta until it is al dente.
7. Heat the mushrooms again on medium-high heat and tomatoes and cook until just heated.
8. Add mushrooms and tomato to the goat cheese sauce and pour over pasta. Garnish with green onions.
9. Salt and pepper to taste.

• Variations on this recipe can be made by using garlic in the mushroom sauté or baking broccoli and adding that. For a wheat-free and gluten-free experience, use Tinyada pasta for this recipe.
• Pasta tip: Always prep your cooked pasta with a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste to ensure each bite of your dish is flavorful.

According to The Sweet Beet: What’s Hot and What’s Not

For all you St. Joe “foodies,” a great website to follow for interesting discussion and good recipes is The Sweet Beet (http://www.thesweetbeet.com). Michelle Madden, The Sweet Beet curator, lists the following as “Hot” and “Not.” Check out the website for her analysis on these topics, which she says is purely her personal take on how these regimens are trending and not based on any scientific polling.  

Rising:
•    Gluten-free
•    Local
•    Elevation of veggies
•    Honey as the new agave
•    Minimizing grains/starches
•    Juice cleanses
•    Embracing saturated fats

Fading:
•    Bacon in everything
•    Paleo diet (meat/fish, some fruit and veggies, and no grains or dairy)
•    Nose-to-tail
•    Organic
•    Vegan
•    Lactose-free

Gazpacho: A great late-summer soup

Try this classic Andalusian gazpacho which was posted on the Epicurious site. This gazpacho version with its simplicity highlights the tomatoes, sherry vinegar and olive oil flavors.

Ingredients

• 1 baguette piece (2 inches long) without crust
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp ground cumin (optional)
• 2½ pounds ripe tomatoes (cored and quartered)
• ½ cup mild, extra-virgin olive oil
• Garnish: finely chopped red and green bell papers

Preparation

1. Soak bread in ½ cup of water for 1 minute, then squeeze dry. Discard water.
2. Mash garlic to a paste with salt using a mortar and pestle. (Or mince and mash with a large knife.)
3. Blend garlic paste, bread, vinegar, sugar, cumin, and half of the tomatoes in a food processor until tomatoes are finely chopped.  
4. Add remaining tomatoes with the food processor running. When very finely chopped, gradually add olive oil in a fine stream. Blend until as smooth as possible, about one minute.
5. Force soup through a sieve into a bowl. Press firmly on solids and then discard solids.
6. Transfer to a glass container and chill, covered, for about 3 hours.
7. Season with salt and vinegar before serving.