Pleasantville Indoor Market
Pleasantville Middle School, 40 Romer Ave, Pleasantville
9 am to 1 pm; Saturdays, December 7 to May 10
The local supermarket may be trying to ply you with pesticide-laden fruits from Central America and shrink-wrapped chilly chickens from the Carolinas, but I’m happy to write that your larder can still be stocked with fresh and local fare by shopping for artisan foods at winter farmers’ markets.
There are winter (read: indoor) farmers’ markets in every corner of the County but, alas, they are not created equally. Although produce might be the usual star of the show, the supporting cast of fishmongers, butchers, bakers, and cheese-makers are even more important when the weather cools and produce is limited.
I do have a bias for Pleasantville’s lineup, with its approximately 50 farmers and food purveyors from around the region. The symbiotic relationship between what is on display at the stalls and what ingredients you can combine for your meal is limited only by your culinary imagination. Take Ed Trotta from Trotta’s House of Pasta in Thornwood. He forages his neighbors’ stalls and purchases butternut squash from Newgate Farm out of Connecticut, onions and leeks at Goshen’s J&A Farm, and Brooklyn’s Spice Revolution’s cinnamon to fill his seasonal butternut-squash ravioli. You could serve them tossed with one of the interesting pestos produced by Woodstock’s Buddhapesto, and top with a seared day-boat scallop or two harvested by Hampton Bays Pura Vida Fisheries or a julienne of smoked duck breast from Ferndale’s Hudson Valley Duck Farm. To round out your local menu, add Chatham’s Little Seed Garden braised kale, a log of chèvre churned at East Granby’s Butterfield Farm, a loaf of brick-oven-baked olive bread by Milford’s Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse, and a pie baked at Kinderhook’s Dutch Desserts. Even the most picky dinner guest couldn’t say no to this menu!
