Thursday, June 12, 2008

Farmers Market Thursday - June 12, 2008



Lettuces
garlic scapes
mizuna
asparagus
lemon sorrel





spring onions
satsoi
strawberries


That's our bounty for this week.

So how'd we do with last week's planning? Well, I came into an unexpected windfall of spinach, and spent much of last Thursday and Saturday blanching and freezing. So we've actually done less cooking with spinach than I'd planned to.

Spinach quiche - this will be tonight, and it will actually be a spinach, green onion, asparagus and zucchini quiche.
Spinach-Brown Rice Casserole - didn't happen. And for those who asked for it, I will be getting this recipe out to you - it's been a crazy week!
Salads of all stripes and forms - absolutely! My salad from yesterday's post, surprise salad, a salad made with spinach, apples, parmigiano reggiano, toasted walnuts and vinaigrette (based on a suggestion by Goofball), spinach and radish salad with vinaigrette and a fried egg on top.
Sweet Potatoes baked with spinach and hardboiled eggs (delicious, even if it sounds weird). - Another entry that didn't make it.

What we did have was cornmeal-crusted whitefish on a bed of asparagus and yellow squash (this will be my What's Cooking Wednesday recipe/Cooking for Bri recipe for next week), burgers and grilled asparagus for an early Father's Day meal, and an evening of asparagus/spinach stir fry and hotdogs (yeah, this last menu was more one of convenience).

We picked up some last rhubarb on Saturday, which I froze for later use.

This week's plans:

Vegetable quiche or souffle (see above)
the salad and "tortilla" combination from yesterday, and I think I'll make it again when D can share it.
strawberry shortcake!
strawberry-cornmeal pancakes
summer vegetable soup
more glorious salads


Two other interesting notes about the Farmers Market this Wednesday - we now have a knife sharpener who will be there each Wednesday. I'm really excited because I have a santoku and a serrated bread knife that are both in desperate need of sharpening and his prices are reasonable. The second is the addition of John Roos and his coffee roasting business. For those locals who don't know Roos Roast, it's worth your time to get acquainted. His beans are also either all fair trade or direct trade (in the case of direct trade, these are small, family farms working towards Fair Trade certification, but they aren't there yet).

To see what some other local folks have come up with shopping at the same market, see:
The Farmers Marketer
Una Buona Forchetta
Teacher In the Hood
Mae's Food Blog
The Hungry Masses
An Organic Summer

19 comments:

Sun Runner said...

My cooking routine has been completely disrupted this week because I've been darting off to opera rehearsal every evening. Fortunately the madness ends on Sunday with our last performance and I can get back into the swing of things. I would hate for the lovely stuff from my share to go to waste. Luckily my parents are coming for a visit this weekend and I plan on using a lot of spinach in yet another brunch fritatta. I'm saving the strawberries for Sunday brunch as well. :)

We love Roos Roast. It's the only coffee we drink at home any more. We have attended the two coffee classes he did at the Chelsea Gallery. He's such a character!

cathouse teri said...

All the yumminess here is making me crazy!

I rarely cook any more. But I tell ya what... a man who cooks is super sexy! Even if he's just making a salad.

You can tell I need sex.

Goofball said...

Wow you sure make inspiring posts. You inspire me to try to be more creative with vegetables.
And yet I feel that I can never make such great meals as I am by myself half of the week. One piece of lettuce seriously lasts a week with me alone. One quiche lasts 2 days....

Salads are fantastic on the condition that you combine a lot of ingredients together to keep it interesting. But then you need to buy all of those vegetables and then I have way too much of everything (seriously you can't buy one tomato, 4 asparagus strings, ... and salads are not something you can freeze). I struggle each week to eat everything before it turns bad. Jan usually cooks one or two big meals in the weekend and I finish the left-overs on weekdays :p. But as a result I don't eat such great varieties of vegetables at all.

Secondly: I love salads (when they carry enough variety)...but each single time I am hungry very quickly afterwards. Last days I ate a lettuce/tomato/grean beens salad with pieces of octupus which I had fried in Indian herbs. Yummy and filling at the moment itself and 90 minutes later I crave for something else. Same thing at work: if I eat a salad at lunch in the cantine I can hardly finish it. But at 4 PM I am looking for instant soup or something as I am starving again. I can only eat a salad if it holds a big portion of potatoes and meat.

Jen said...

He is, Sarah - he's a great guy! My cooking was disrupted this week, too, between C's finals, and trying to get him ready for camp and the umpteen-thousand end-of-school-year events! I hope the performances go well, and I wish I could see you, but I'm swamped, as you can probably tell!

LOL, Teri. And yes, I'm all for men cooking!

Goofball, I need protein at lunch. I find I'm really grouchy if I don't have it. BUT... I can throw nuts or beans or cheese, etc., into the salads and that works. The single cooking thing is tough. Then I tend to make soups or stir fries/egg scrambles, because I can use lots and lots of veggies in those. I agree about salad issues in terms of salad veggies going bad quickly.

Virtualsprite said...

That sounds absolutely delicious! And yay for you for utilizing the farmers market. I'm really going to have to start checking your site on Wednesdays to see what's cooking!

Where are you that you have so much at your farmers market already? Here in Wisconsin we don't even have asparagus yet. Lucky you!

janey jay said...

Again, green with envy. I'm going to cook this weekend, though. So I might see what the small independent market in town has in the way of produce -- you have inspired me!

Mae Travels said...

It's great that you are linking various people around the Farmers Market theme. The sum total demonstrates how incredible our variety and choices actually are!

Jen said...

Virtual, I wonder if it's that you've had more rain? We're just in southeast/center Michigan, and yet we have all this so far.

Jane, anywhere I can find local produce, I find it to be so much better!

Mae, I thought it would be an easy way for us all to connect and see what others are writing about, too.

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for linking my blog! It's not 100% foodie, but it's getting there :)

anno said...

What great ideas & gorgeous photos! I'm always a little disappointed not to find all this treasure in my refrigerator afterwards. Sometime, I'd be interested in hearing more about your techniques for freezing & storing (and later restoring) produce and prepared foods. My results have always been kind of lackluster on that front...

Thistlemoon said...

Look at all that awesome freshness! Yours is just peaking, while ours has totally peaked :(

I am going to be enjoying your bounty!

Jen said...

Patti, mine totally isn't. I just do the food things on Wed. and Thurs. The rest of the time I get on soapboxes or am just plain silly. ;-) BTW... there's a blogging for education event on June 20th. I'll write you about it.

Anno, just as I'll be disappointed when you all have your garden fully up and running, and I'll be growing deer and nothing else! I found a great book, the 4th edition of PUTTING FOOD BY, by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg and Beatrice Vaughan. Even though the canning section terrified me, they have everything you could possibly want to know about freezing, as well. It's a great book.

Jenn - just as I drooled during your mid-winter times. Aren't other things growing in the summer, though, or is it slim pickings in FL this time of year?

Momisodes said...

Mmmmm, I'm looking forward to Wednesday :) That sounds divine! That produce looks so fresh and beautiful. You're inspiring me to find a farmers market this weekend :)

Jen said...

There's no doubt that fresh and local are best, Sandy!

Amy said...

Your bounty looks wonderful! Our farmer's market turned out to be a dud, again. There were a few more vendors...a bread lady (yum!) but still it was mostly crafters. I'm just going to have to sign up for that CSA this week so I can get veges. We missed planting time because of gymnastics scheudle and all the snow in March and April, so our personal garden is iffy on the veges.

Thanks for sharing your recipes. I'm always inspired!

NĂºria said...

Ah! I love it when I come back home from the Farmer's market and I get that same spread over my kitchen table! Everything is saying bite me!!!
Your veggies and fruits spread looks gourgeous and the menu plan so healthy and delicious :D

Jenn in Holland said...

You make my mouth water! Can you come over and teach me how to really cook?

Sarabeth said...

Jen, I wanted to say thank you for commenting on my blog. I'm so offline lately that I'm not visiting too many blogs and leaving a hello.

You have, though, inspired me to get my tush to the farmers' market here in NOLA. We brought a stash of fabulous looking produce, shrimp, fish, and milk from a local dairy.

Jen said...

Amy, it sounds like your market may be starting to catch on, even if it's slow. Last year we had a new market start on Thursday afternoons in the parking lot of a local restaurant: Zingermans Roadhouse (www.zingermans.com). It was slow going at first, and then more vendors came. It will happen!

Nuria, thanks so much for the warm words - your recipes are a great inspiration to use what's available and be healthy!

Jenn - I'd be absolutely delighted to! ;-)

Sarabeth - I know you're taking a bit of a break - thanks so much for stopping by! I'm DELIGHTED that I inspired you to get out to the market. That's what I'm trying to do here. Go local everything!