Said to derive from the Indian, succotash is a widely known corn and beans mixture by no means unique to Maine. The important thing here is that true Maine succotash always uses what Mainers call shell beans, and not the limas liked
elsewhere. Limas are slimas. In addition, Mainers prefer the cream style corn.
Sometimes you just NEED some comfort food. What do you crave when the topic comes up? Mac and cheese, stew, or maybe ice cream? Around here the answer is lasagna. It doesn't get much better than something bubbly out of the oven, and when a casserole is the mission, Missus Gray takes the call.Top with sauce and sprinkle with vegan grated "cheese" if you've got it. We used this one. Drizzle olive oil. Loosely cover pan with foil. Cook for 35 minutes then remove foil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until top is golden and bubbling.
We've bought from Alewive's Brook Farm before in Saco, and knew that we would also find them when we visited the market in Scarborough, but we weren't at all prepared for the massive abundance of great stuff they would have. Their booth here is about triple in size to their display in Saco. This could probably be explained by their much closer proximity, being that their home base is in Cape Elizabeth. We were really jazzed to find some rutabaga and kale there, which we're planning on serving up tonight over grilled polenta cakes. Needless to say we'll keep supporting them in both locations, but finding their larger display in Scarborough was a revelation.
New to us was Root One. Very little info can be found about them online, but we know for sure they had some of the finest looking root vegetables available there today. We've kinda been beeten into submission lately so we opted to just pick up some cilantro. We are planning on hitting them up again though in the next couple of weeks. Especially since on our visit we noticed scrawled on the sign board that they will soon be selling edamame. Look forward to more on that.Single Somali-Bantu Mothers Farm in Maine (Extended Version) from Amy Brown on Vimeo.
There are tons of specialty foods producers in Maine offering vegan products. When we started So.ME.Vegans we decided one of our primary areas of focus would be to find unique products made in Maine and expose them to the larger vegan community. This is to be the first in a series of posts focusing on such products. We stopped by Lois' Natural Marketplace in Scarborough and picked out three items we thought we'd share with you. Of course, you should be supporting your local vegan food producers wherever you are.
The vibe is getting electric at the Saturday Saco Farmers' Market. More people are showing up every week. There's also a marked diversity in types of produce being offered. Is seems something new to play with is presenting itself on every visit. This week's offerings included new potatoes, zucchini, basil, garlic scapes, kale, carrots, leeks, Swiss chard, and peas. It was a little daunting trying to figure out what to select from the multitude of choices, but we managed. Now we finally get to try those kale chips.