Marvelous market munchies

Farmers markets make me hungry. Perusing produce, seafood, meat and dairy at farmers markets in Tacoma, Puyallup, Gig Harbor and Olympia is a good way to work up an appetite.

But those bunches of Yakima asparagus and Walla Walla salad onions that brim from vendors’ booths, along with those coolers full of salmon, pork, goat and oysters, all need some kind of preparation before you can eat them.

Here are some tasty prepared foods that vendors are selling at South Sound farmers markets. Many can be eaten while you shop.

JUST DOUGH IT (AND FRY IT)

Hot dogs and sausages abound at all farmers markets. Grilled Famous Dogs (Gig Harbor) dresses up its dogs in fresh-fried dough wraps ($4.50). The wraps are similar to Indian fry bread (without leavening, though) and are made to order. They’re served folded around a grilled Polish sausage, with grilled onions on top. A squirt of mustard completes the pleasure.

At Little Eagle’s stand (Puyallup), Indian fry bread provides a base for the “Tahoma Taho” (translation: Tacoma taco, $5.50). Made-to-order fry bread – tender and puffy inside, crispy and crumbly outside – is topped with beany chili, shredded iceberg lettuce, mild Tillamook cheddar and diced tomatoes. While it’s more tostada than taco (I understand: “Tahoma tohada” just doesn’t ring), it was a fun knife-and-fork affair.

I enjoyed my Elephant Ear (Puyallup) eaten as a burrito. This fantastically floppy Northwest creation of fried whole-wheat honey dough was served virtually greaseless, spread with butter and topped with raspberry jam on one half and cinnamon sugar on the other ($5). Then I rolled it up. Each bite was a pleasurable contrast of tender dough, crunchy cinnamon sugar and oozing jam.

Other interesting fried creations: apple-cider cake doughnuts from Lattin’s Country Cider Mill & Farm (Proctor; plain, glazed, powdered sugar, cinnamon-sugar, 50 cents each), doughnuts and fritters from downtown Puyallup’s venerable Pioneer Bakery (Puyallup, 65 cents to $1 each) and tiny puffs of sweet dough from the My Newt mini doughnut stand (Tacoma and Puyallup, $3 per dozen). Not only are My Newts tasty – they’re like eating sugary air – but they’re fun to watch as they float through the diminutive fryer.

TAMALES GALORE

Taste of Peru has stands at markets in Tacoma, Puyallup and Gig Harbor. Pork tamales ($7) were sold out each of the three times I tried to order one. Chicken tamales ($6), loaded with tender and fatty chunks of bird, were plump and corny. Served steaming hot, they were somewhat mushy. I let mine cool before I enjoyed them.

Maria’s Tamales (Tacoma) sells beef, chicken and chili-cheese tamales ($3.50 each), topped with fresh salsa. Loads of shredded beef filled a beef tamal, whose dough had clean corn flavor and firm texture.

SOUP IS GOOD FOOD

Tacoma soup restaurant Infinite Soups got its start at the Tacoma market, where it continues to serve $2 cups of goodness, from cream soups to meat soups to vegan soups.

Secret of Europe (Tacoma) specializes in pork-and-cabbage rolls, potato pancakes and other Eastern Europe staples. I liked the cabbage soup ($3.50), with a lightly spiced broth and loads of tender cabbage.

While it was pricey for a somewhat small serving of stew, the $6.95 bowl of pozole at Los Tuleños (Olympia) featured sweet pork and tender hominy.

WALKING-AROUND FOOD

Lakewood’s Hess German Bakery and Delicatessen makes the best pretzels in the South Sound. You can find them at markets in Tacoma and Puyallup ($1.50 each).

Three kinds of pork – meatball, sliced sausage and shredded pork – hide inside hot and chewy hum bao dumplings at Soba Oriental Cuisine (Olympia, $2.31). There’s a load of chicken, glass noodles and carrots in Soba’s egg rolls ($1.61 each).

The cream scones from West Bremerton’s Luigi’s Bakery (Gig Harbor, $2) looked burned and dry. Appearance was deceiving. The scones were soft and creamy, inside, crackly and crumbly outside. Luigi’s also bakes attractive artisan breads.

Spiced potatoes, onions and peas filled a triangle of whole-wheat dough in a sturdy samosa pastry at Curry in a Hurry (Olympia, $2.75). Curry’s nondairy mango sorbet ($2.75) was cool and creamy.

For the jerky-inclined Stewart’s Meats and Johnson’s Smokehouse each have stands inside the Olympia market. I recommend Stewart’s lamb jerky and Johnson’s pork jerky.

FARMER-FRIENDLY FOOD CHALLENGE

Last week on my blog, Ed’s Diner (blogs.thenewstribune.com/edsdiner), I issued a challenge to farmers market food vendors: Put at least one item on your menus that includes ingredients purchased from farmers at farmers markets. Dingey’s seafood stand at the Olympia Farmers Market came through with strawberry-rhubarb lemonade, made with rhubarb from Johnson’s Berry Farm of Olympia.

This week, I’m extending The Farmer-Friendly Food Challenge again: If any food vendors purchase any produce, meat, eggs, milk, cheese or bread from any farmers market stands and use them in the food they sell, I want to know. Please send me e-mail at ed.murrieta@thenewstribune.com.

Ed Murrieta: 253-597-8678