A Recipe to Celebrate a Piece of the Pi…. Caramelized Onion & Apple Feta Pie

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the annual Portland Farmer Chef Connection Conference (try saying that 5 times fast!). It’s a yearly gathering of farmers, producers, restaurateurs and students discussing timely topics and networking. One of the big draws of the event is the community lunch. All attendees are encouraged to bring something to share for the table, and figured this was an opportunity to make something different.

I’m generally a big planner (as many of you know), but it took me until about Saturday eve to figure out what to bring (and you know what I was doing Sunday as the conference was Monday). Clearly my inspiration paid off, since it seemed to be a well received and I’ve gotten a few requests for the recipe.

As I had made/brought 5 pies, I scaled the recipe back to make one pie or a flat 17 x 9 tart (which can be sliced up into bite size appetizers).

One 9” pie crust or piece of puff pastry 17" x 9"

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup best quality feta, small diced or crumbled

1 –2  apples, peeled and cut into 1/2” chunks (if small, use two, you want about a cup)

1 onion, sliced

1 Tbl olive oil (for sautéing, substitute what works for you)

pinch of thyme, rosemary, black pepper

salt to taste

Oven at 375

In a small pan over med high heat sauté onions until brown, reduce heat to med-low and add apples, allowing to cook until softened. Add seasoning (taste and adjust to suit if needed), allow to heat and incorporate. (Note – if using tart apples, you may need to add in a pinch of sugar. Allow to melt through the mixture over the heat)

Take off heat, set aside.

If using puff pastry, prick sheet with a fork at intervals, to reduce the crust fluffing up too much during baking. Use a coated cookie sheet or a silipat on a baking sheet for best results.

Spread the 1/2 cup of sour cream on the base of the pie crust or puff pastry. Sprinkle about half the feta on top. Gently layer the apple & onion mixture over the sour cream and feta. Sprinkle the remaining feta over the top. Bake at 375 for about 30 mins until brown and bubbly. Allow to cool slightly and set. Serve warm & enjoy.

Am (Not) Public Speaking Goddess… New Seasons Market Hawthorne Store Opening

A few weeks ago I received a call from one of New Season’s marketing staff asking if I’d be willing to say a few words at their new Hawthorne store grand opening. New Seasons is a very supportive (and large) client of ours, so of course I would want to participate in their grand opening in some fashion. In my mind I assumed there would be a few of local companies invited to speak…no, I was the only one (the other speaker outside of Lisa Sedlar the CEO was from FISH a local food bank partner).

While you might be thinking “eh, what’s the big deal, it’s just a grocery store”, the fact that I/LPPCo. (one of many possible local vendors) was asked to be part of the event, speaks volumes about the importance of building great relationships with your clients. And really, I was excited and thrilled to be able to support such a great client back.

Many of you following along outside Portland (and some that weren’t able to attend), ask for some pictures and wanted to know what I said. Below is the excerpt, in which I tried not to bumble and stumble through - along with a few pic’s.

Photo by Jill Oppenheim

When Lisa was introducing Little Pots & Pans Co. & myself, she touched upon why I don't call our tarts pasties (pah-sties). Perhaps she read our blog post. Below she's standing on a step-stool to project over the crowd (and is not actually 7ft tall!).

Photo by Jill Oppenheim

Here's the text of what I said:

Good Morning, What an exciting day to be part of the New Season’s community!

The Daily Grind, who was formerly here, holds a special place in our company history as they were one of LPPCo.’s first clients. When New Season’s announced they were taking over this area for their next store, I knew it would be an opportunity to come full circle in offering the community a local grocery store filled with unmatchable local products.

It’s only been a couple of years that we’ve had the opportunity to work along side the talented team at New Seasons Markets who are consistently remarkable in their support of locally produced sustainable products and are truly interested in building relationships with their vendors.

My own relationship created the opportunity for Little Pots & Pans Co. to produce custom holiday themed fruit tarts and pies, adding to New Season’s already enticing offerings.

Today is an exciting day for us at LPPCo., not only am I thrilled to be here as part of the New Season’s Markets Hawthorne small vendor family, we are also celebrating our own 5^th year anniversary this week as a company.

I look forward to growing my relationship with the New Seasons Hawthorne team members and wish them all the success they deserve in this fantastic new location!

Let it grow, Let it grow, Let it grow (Part 1)

Here in the Portland area we received 4.5 inches of rain in the past month (since I’m writing this closer to the end of the month, chances are the amount will be higher).

Rain, while great for our water tables and washing all of last year’s dead leaves down my driveway, is not conducive to planting and harvesting (or highly lucrative farmer’s markets).

Friends, neighbors, people I’ve never met before in the grocery store, are all complaining that their got washed out in the past week and they’re waiting to replant.

While, as much as someone like me who barely gets around to mowing their lawn can empathize, regardless of the rain, this is going to be an even more interesting locally agricultural tied year for Little Pots & Pans Co.

Somewhere 50-70 miles south of us rows and rows (and fields and fields) of tomatoes have/are being planted, and some of those rows (and potentially a field or two) of crop yield will come to us, as I’ve been working with local farmers to contract grow vegetables for our tart fillings.

In past years, I’ve spent much time and energy running around sourcing (what I think will be enough) vegetables to make our tart fillings for the winter. At it’s best, the time spent was a great way to get to know regional farmers and what their ability to grow is. At it’s most frustrating last season became an organizational nightmare of trying to purchase produce, following up with farmers as to where it would be, and settle on a wholesale price (many farmers would rather sell direct to customers at farmer’s markets and take the sales risk over a guaranteed wholesale sale). Much running around for very little yield indeed.

This year, I decided it was time to take a more proactive approach. Using farm contacts from my customers (e.g. local grocery stores and food service providers) who purchase produce directly from regional farms, and a newly founded farmer-producer connection website underwritten by the Ecotrust, FoodHub, I put out requests for the amount of produce (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant) we think we would need for the coming year.

The one thing that dawned on me (being consumed by the processing side of the food business) was whether or not I had missed planting season. Luckily, it was February when I was considering this and hit upon most farmers in planning season for their planting season.

In Part 2, I’ll talk more about the responses I received from the agricultural community and how far we’ve gotten in getting closer to crops, and how I have my fingers crossed for a blight-free robust growing season.