A visit to Dance County Farmers Market DCFM

Wisconsin Whisk – The collective of talented bloggers from our state that Breaking Naan is proud to be part of decided on a very fun outing. To go to the farmers market, come home and cook using the goodies and then share them together. This way we will have a whole bunch of recipes to be inspired by before the next farmers market trip. As well as we hope to bring to Madison community a peek at the wonderful bounty available at this Saturday event so that maybe they are also tempted to go and try it. We made a market vegetable burger to feature for this trip to farmers market.

Our farmers market strategy

• Slow it down and enjoy the weather and the people
• Take a couple of bags to grab the produce and some cash
• Start near where we parked and be conformists and walk the square in the direction the crowd is walking
• Go towards far left of the path every-time you sense a baked goods stall coming – this left side is the fast lane 😉
• Do not buy anything in the first round around the square but start building wishlists and recipe ideas
• Well the exception to above is buying something to snack on from numerous baked goods options or food-carts
• Prioritize what to buy from where and finish the shopping in the second round of the square. When buying ask for cooking tips from the farmers!

Our Dane Count Farmers Market outing

We found some wonderful produce on the weekend. Beets were gorgeous and so were zucchini and tomatoes. We decided to craft a market vegetable burger out of this bounty.  Also check out our recipe for indian street food style grilled corn which always tastes better when the produce is fresh, in season and local like we get at our Dance County Farmers Market (DCFM). Below are some pictures of produces and the farmers who bring us the produce. Some stalls did not have their name clearly outlined but we did our best to try and capture them to credit them for their produce.

 

Our Market Vegetable Burger

As we were shopping at the market we picked up some lovely beets, potatoes, carrots and zucchini. I started toying with the idea of making a market vegetable burger. We thus right away picked up some gorgeous lettuce, cucumber and some heirloom tomatoes. We also found a very interesting mint and jalapeno jelly which we thought would work great as well.

Making a vegetable burger patty can be a very flexible strategy. This can be made from scraps of vegetables that are created from using market vegetables from r other recipes as well. It can change with the season as other than beets, carrots, potatoes, zucchini it can also accommodate squashes, cauliflower, eggplant, sun-chokes, celery root, beans, peas etc.

Our Vegetable Burger History

We grew up in a country that is mostly vegetarian or used to be so when we were growing up. Expensive meats and meat cuts were only available rarely. Neither had the fast food joints reached India. What this meant was we grew up reading novels where the characters (mostly hardy boys at my age!) were eating burgers and drinking shakes all the time! So this created a demand and curiosity for burgers but the population demanded for vegetarian versions. And the chefs did a great job creating patty’s that fulfilled this wish. The patty was curated with beetroot maybe to mimic the juicy red burgers but that’s where comparison to meat ended. I was quite disappointed to try vegetable patty’s in USA which were designed to taste like meat but most certainly end up tasting like card board. Sure the fast food industrialization was also playing a part. What we had in India was legitimately flavorful on its own and mostly tasted like vegetables and this had its own character. We ate it and enjoyed it for what it was and never as a substitute for something else. We enjoyed it much more this way, and to this day will order one back home even when all the different kinds of patty’s are now available.

The patty secrets

The key to getting it together for a market vegetable burger is to

• Pre-cook vegetables when possible (we roasted our potatoes, beets, carrots and that builds flavors too).

• We add chic-peas soaked overnight and ground coarsely to the burger. Much like falalfel they help bind the burger. Much like falafel adding them soaked instead of cooked adds a nice texture and binding to the pan grilled burger.

• Create shreds of a vegetable to create some tangles for binding (we did this with our zucchini)

• Do not move the burger around initially after it hits the grill

• Do not try to form a big thin disk, leave the patty to be a bit more fatter and rounder in the centre, you can always flatten it when its on the bun

Moisture works against you

Vegetables are not as dense as meat. With meat you are working hard to keep the patty juicy and moist. You dont have to work much for that with vegetables. Vegetables have lot of moisture already. Keeping them bound together is a challenge and infact drying out the cooked vegetables is a very important step. If your pattys are not being formed or crumbling when grilling then maybe your mixture is too moist.

We helped this by roasting our beets, carrots and potatoes which also reduces the moisture. We also squeezed the shredded zucchini by wringing it in fists and then cooking the shreds moving them in a pan. We also then did the same to the final mixture.

Since the market vegetable burger will be different seasonally depending on vegetables available here is what you can do to tweak every recipe

• Cook out mixture further in a pan moving it around reducing the moisture
• Microwave for 3 to 6 minutes and that dries out the mixture
• Add helpers like bread crumbs, cooked rice smashed to paste, cheese etc to help the binding as the burger cooks on the grill

The importance of brioche buns

Sometimes people discount how much a good bun contributes to a burger. Whenever you can seek out a good brioche. Its buttery and coarser crumb than the soggy hamburger buns really makes a difference. We many times core the dome to accommodate for a tall layered burger construction. We also toast the buns a bit on the griddle and adorn them with sesame seeds and the nuttiness brings wonderful flavors.

The assembly

• Mint Jalapeno jam from The Land of O’s  – spread on bottom half of toasted brioche
• Lettuce from Black Earth Valley Produce
• Slice of swiss cheese
• Thin slices of heirloom tomatoes from Roots Down Community Farm
• Thin slices of cucumber from Gitto Farm n Kitchen
• Market vegetable burger patty – Beetroots and Carrots from Gitto Farm n Kitchen, Potatoes from Harmony Valley Farm, Zucchini from Steinke Farm (or stall next to Steinke?)
• Onion rings with Onions from  Harmony Valley Farm
• Cored bun with good quality mayonnaise

We enjoy our burgers more with chips than fries. We generally use store bought variety of kettle cooked chips and the crunch works well with the moist vegetable burger. We sometimes adorn the chips with some fresh herbs like cilantro or mint.

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