LONG PROMO:   Hey, we are going to get you ready for St. Patrick’s Day, and we’re going to do it in lepruchon fashion.  Oh, my goodness.  We’ve got everything green here, and some not so green.  Potato leek soup.  You’ve got to have the leeks for that.  Plus, king of it all - cabbage.  I’m going to show you that.  Plus the root veggies.  You’ve got to have root veggie stew.  Plus here it is.  What is this?  I’ll tell you…next week, with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

SHORT PROMO:  Hey, king of St. Patrick’s Day – of course, cabbage…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
ROOT VEGETABLES (Monday, March 10):  Hey, all this week we are getting you ready for St. Patrick’s Day – big meals, going to have corned beef and cabbage, maybe some bubbles and squeak.  Well, may I suggest to you that you also have some root veggies?  That’s right.  You know in England and Ireland, they would generally have roasted root vegetables right along with their beef, their roasted beef or, of course, their corned beef.  Now here are the three main popular root veggies.  You’ve got the rutabaga right here.  You like the rutabaga?  I love rutabagas.  This looks very similar.  It’s called a turnip.  Now a lot of time you’ll find these coated with wax.  When they’re grown in Canada, they literally coat them with wax.  Then I can’t forget…I cannot forget the beautiful parsnip.  You combine all these together.  You’re going to peel these.  You’re going to core them.  You’re going to quarter them.  Then, ah, a little bit of olive oil, a little salt and pepper.  Throw them in the oven.  You can either put them right with your roasted beef or separate and roast them.  Oh, it caramelizes the flavor of these root veggies, and you’ll know why once these were very, very popular.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, getting you ready for St. Patrick’s Day.  Let’s get back to our roots – root veggies.

LEEKS (Tuesday, March 11):  They are the better half of potato leek soup.  Of course, leeks.  Everybody has a better half, and this is the better half of that soup.  Now when you’re buying leeks, especially this time of year, you have to be very careful because what you’re looking for is the white part.  Now if you notice this  very, very little white part.  So why would I spend all my money for just very little usage?  So I’m going to go find…well, this is a little bit better right here, but take a look at this one.  Now, this has a lot of white.  That’s the one I’m going to buy.  Now when preparing this, you have to be very, very careful because this grows in very sandy soil.  So here’s what I want you to do.  I want you to cut it all the way down right in the middle.  And then under water, you’re going to take this and then under water with it tilted down just like this, the water streaming down right here, you’re going to actually break it apart because if there’s any sand in the leeks, it’s going to be right in between all these layers.  Ah, I see some right in there.  So if you tilt it down like this while you’re washing it, all the sand is going to go right out, and then you’re going to have some ungritty potato leek soup.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE: Hey, for St. Patrick’s Day, how about a little bit of leeks for your potato leek soup? 

HORSERADISH (Wednesday, March 12):  We are getting you ready for your St. Patrick’s Day meal, and of course you’re going to have some roasted beef or some corned beef.  And you better have some horseradish cream to go with that.  Here you go.  This is horseradish.  This is fresh, raw horseradish.  No, it’s not green.  That’s wasabe.  You know, that’s the Japanese horseradish that they cream that’s kind of green, you know.  This is real horseradish.  Well, what in the world do you do with this?  Well, a lot of times this is too difficult to peel, so you’re going to break it.  Oh, by the way, you cannot smell horseradish until you cut it, and then “Whoo!”  If you have a cold, you won’t have it much longer.  Basically, you’re going to cut this into inch segments like so, and then it’s a lot easier to take your peeler and peel it.  Now, once you peel it, you’re basically going to grate it.  So you take your grater, and your going to grate it just like so after you peel it.  That’s what you’re going to use for your horsradish cream.  By the way, the horseradish capital of the world - Tulelake, California.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, get out your grater for your horseradish.

RED POTATOES (Thursday, March 13):  All right.  You can’t have your bubbles and squeak without the bubbles.  This is the red potatoes.  That’s right.  This is the “bubbles” in bubbles and squeak because they go “bubble, bubble, bubble”.  Now here’s what I want you to do.  You’re going to have red pototoes for St. Patty’s Day.  What I suggest you do is buy the cheapest, and the cheapest is always the large size or what we call in the produce industry the A size potatoes.  Those will always be the cheapest.  So here’s what I want you to do.  You’re going to get some water just like so.  You’re going to take your potatoes.  Those are way too big to cook, so what you’re going to do, you’re going to take all these – and you can actually do this a day ahead of time if you want – and you’re going to quarter them.  Now as soon as you quarter them, you’re going to dunk them in the water.  Now, I like doing this with my kids, because this is something my kids can actually do.  They can quarter, and little Landon, he takes them and puts them in the water just like so.   Why are we putting them in the water?  We’re putting them in the water, and that water is going to go in the refrigerator, and then tomorrow, they’re not going to be discolored in there.  The water really helps prevent oxidation on these potatoes.  So get out your bubbles – your red potatoes.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.  

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, ah, we’re going to get the red potatoes ready for St. Patrick’s Day.
  
CABBAGE (Friday, March 14):  All right.  St. Patrick’s Day, oh my goodness, king of it all – beautiful cabbage.  And we’ve got good supplies of cabbage actually this year.  I remember last year.  Oh, man!  Supplies were tight.  Prices were high.  Not so this year.  We’ve got great supplies.  Now the best cabbage that you’re going to find, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to take the outer leaves, and they should crackle a little bit.  Hear that squeak and crackle?  If that just rolls up without any crackle, that’s means it’s old cabbage.  You don’t want that.  You want it to be able to crack almost a little bit, just like so.  Now, here’s what we’re going to do.  We’re going to cut this right in half.  Whoo!  Just like so.  And now, see?  Oh oh, we got this core.  You’ve got to cut the core out.  So what we’re going to do, we’re going to take the tip of the blade at a 45 degree angle, and we’re simply going to cut the core right out.  Now once you’ve got the core out, you’ve quartered your cabbage for corned beef and cabbage, of course, king of it all, and we’re going to have great prices this year.  I can’t wait!  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, the walrus was right.  It’s all about cabbages and kings.