It was a good morning at Noe Valley Farmers' Market today. Here's what I brought home:
1) Red grapes - these are so sweet and refreshing that they often make my sweet tooth happy (other times it demands
chocolate!)
2) Mixed greens - for quick salads, to liven up a sandwich, nothing beats the ease of these mixed greens. I dry them in
our salad
spinner and then just leave the whole spinner in the fridge. It acts as a crisper and gives me easy access to the
greens
3) Pattypan and yellow summer squash - they cook so quickly you can use them in all sorts of dishes. I like it chopped
and sauted and added to an omelette. Or, slice thickly, toss with some olive oil, salt, and pepper
and grill on a grill pan.
Last night we had chopped squash in our Thai stir-fry. I fried some tofu, and then stir-fried some squash and sliced onion.
I then mixed in a mixture of a little corn starch, brown sugar, veggie broth, and fish sauce and let it simmer for a couple
minutes. Finally, I added a couple handfuls of shredded basil and a small handful of cashews. Yum!
4) Dry farmed tomatoes - dry farmed tomatoes are farmed with no (or little) irrigation. The lack of irrigation gives
them a concentrated flavor that's unmatched by other tomatoes. I had my first dry farmed tomatoes last year (from Dirty Girl Produce I think -- I got them at Buffalo Whole Foods in the Castro.) They were amazing, and I'm hoping these live
up to last year's!
5) Gala apples - I've been eagerly awaiting the return of apples (I know, I should have been happy feasting on peaches,
but still, I missed apples). They're the original 'to-go' food -- easy to carry, easy to eat, and tasty. These are not too
huge -- the perfect size for an afternoon snack.
6) Figs - I was reading the most recent issue of Martha Stewart Living over breakfast and came across a delicious looking spread of fig sandwiches with arugula and parmesan. When I spied figs at the Capay booth I knew I had to get a basket. They had baskets of Mission figs to
choose from. Next to the Mission figs were some yellow figs, neatly nestled into little cups in an egg crate. They were
pricey so I passed them up in favor of a basket of Mission figs. As I was leaving the booth, I heard the woman from Capay
raving about these yellow 'candy-stripe' figs and how they'd been in the New York
Times recently, so then of course I had to get back in line and get a few (only a few -- they were 50 cents
apiece). I'll let you know whether they live up to their hype.
7) Red bell peppers - owing to their sweet crunch and bright color, red bell peppers used to be an everyday addition to
our salads. Then, I started trying to buy almost exclusively local, in-season produce. Suddenly, for much of the year, we
had to do without red bell peppers. So it was with much excitement that I spotted them at the market last week. I bought a
bunch for salads, stir-frys, and dipping in hummus.
8) White peaches - I've become rather fond of white peaches this summer. They seem more reliably sweet to my taste, but
perhaps I've just had better luck with them. In any case, I'm going to enjoy them while they're around. (My go-to tool for
slicing peaches these days is my Shun Angled Vegetable Knife. I
originally didn't expect to like the knife, but it's grown on me, and the angle does keep my knuckles safely above the
cutting board).
I hope you made it to a market this week -- there's just so much good stuff this time of year. Enjoy it!
