Its the first farmers market of the summer! It feels like a somewhat artificial distinction between spring and summer given the week of 90+ temperatures a few weeks ago but the summer solstice has come and gone and its officially summer. And it showed at the farmers market at Grand Army Plaza. There was still rhubarb, strawberries, sugar snap peas, and lettuces but they were being crowded out by the first blush of summer: green beans, peppers, tomatoes, blue berries, squash, and more hearty greens like collard greens and swiss chard.
I usually just wander around and buy what looks good but I decided, about half way through my visit, to try a system. I would look at everything that they had and then put together a meal in my head before buying anything. As I wandered, I was inspired by the squash. I know, how could squash, the most pedestrian and downright overabundant summer veggie inspire me to do anything other than drop a bag of them on my enemies door step? Well, I use squash in my lasagna so I decided to try and find the rest of the ingredients. Garlic, ground turkey, tomatoes in abundance, and fresh lasagna noodles from Russo's across the street were all available. All of the herbs that I would need were also available but I have more parsley, basil, rosemary, and chives in my garden so I didn't need to buy those.
I also wanted to make dessert and heard that there were some first of the season peaches. So grilled peaches with a lemon verbena (in garden)and honey goat cheese custard it is! I was able to find goat cheese, yogurt, and milk as well.
Not bad for an early after noon dash to the market and a fire escape for a garden. Oh, did I mention that I implemented my system half way through my shopping? I also came home with some cukes and bok choi which will hopefully be used at a later date.
No comments:
Post a Comment