fresh from the market
Sunday marked the return of the full farmers' market. Between January and March, many farmers opt to take time off to rejuvenate and plan and sleep in on Sundays, leaving us with a third of the normal sellers. But come the first Sunday in April, they're back with fresh foods from their greenhouses and storerooms to tempt us.
This week we celebrated their return by buying:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Golden beets
- Watercress
- Grape tomatoes
- Spring lettuce
- A cucumber
- Pink lady apples
- A variety of cooking apples
- An onion
- Hon tsai tai (an Asian green particularly good in the spring)
- Red spring onions
- A baguette
- Croissants
- Apple tartes (these were especially tasty!)
- Cheddar
- Strawberry yogurt
- Orange poppies
- Daffodils
- A purple hyacinth
Next week, we're looking forward to blueberry scones and microgreens and some other spring Asian greens. And as the weather gets a bit warmer, we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for rhubarb, wild mushrooms, and ramps.
recipe: carrot, leek and apple soup
A perfect recipe for the autumn months, when all three main ingredients are readily available at the farm markets.
Carrot, Leek and Apple Soup
(from The New American Plate Cookbook)
1 lb carrots, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces (peeling is optional)
1 leek, white part only, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 apple, chopped (preferable a tart variety - the more tart, the better)
1 tbs. olive oil
3 cups chicken or clear vegetable stock
salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
dried ginger (to taste)
fresh mint (garnish - optional)
our market basket runneth over
We haven't been home a whole lot in the last few weeks so our cupboard was reminiscent of Mother Hubbard's.
We trekked out into the perfect Indian summer late-Sunday-morning sun to find something to fill our tummies and our souls.
We came home an hour later with:
- A new kind of soap the scent of which Ruth Ann's daughter Rachel described as lying down on a forest carpet of pine needles and fall leaves
- A half-gallon of whole milk (Rudi has promised me tapioca this week)
- A half-gallon of apple cider (because the house smells so nice when it's cooking on the stove)
- Jicama (a South American root vegetable that I'm eager to try)
- Turkish eggplant
- Peppers in fall colors
- Tomatoes from a greenhouse
- Broccoli for soup
- Leeks for soup
- Gigantic red beets (almost as big as your head!)
- Suncrisp apples
- A yellow onion
- Young, fresh garlic
- Brussels sprouts
- Mascarpone
- Blueberry scones
Next week I'm going to pick up nuts (if they still have some) and winter squash. I just wasn't ready to switch seasons quite yet!