Neither wind nor rain nor sleet nor hail will cancel the Tuesday afternoon Culver City Farmers Market. While there are several days of rain predicted this week, the only thing predictable about the weather is its unpredictability. There was no rain locally on Monday afternoon and evening. With luck, the rain will hold off long enough for market vendors and shoppers to enjoy a dry afternoon on Tuesday.
There’s nothing like a slowly simmering stew to warm the home and the hearth on a cold blustery day. Ever since I bought some to-die-for sauerkraut from the Fermentation Plantation at the Winchester Cheese stand, I’ve been adding some hearty German fare to my menus. If you talk to Hawk at the Winchester Cheese stand, he’ll tell you about the variety of small-batch sauerkraut, kombucta and other items you can purchase at the market stand or by special order. My memories of sauerkraut include Reuben sandwiches and long-simmered pots of sauerkraut and kielbasa. The Fermentation Plantation sauerkraut is a far cry from the limp and sour canned cabbage of my memory. Generously seasoned with caraway seeds, it is fresh, a bit crunchy, and delicious eaten cold straight out of the jar. Hawk says that he even uses it to accompany fish. I was skeptical, since I could not imagine substituting a fillet of delicately flavored seafood for the keilbassa I’d been used to eating with sauerkraut. But after I tasted some of his, I agreed that the fresh and vital taste could easily be enhance a fillet of red snapper or other firm, mild fish.
I recently found a recipe for sauerkraut-stuffed baked onions among some old family recipes. The stuffed onions, along with a hearty stew and potato dumplings, will make a satisfying dinner for this week’s damp and chilly nights.
The Tuesday Culver City Farmers Market is held from 3 to 7 p.m. on Main Street between Venice and Culver Boulevards
Katie Malich is gaining a new appreciation for cabbage (the primary ingredient of sauerkraut).
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