Thursday, June 4, 2009

Market to Table - June 4, 2009

With local food, it's hard NOT to have a dynamic week in culinary adventures. With new foods coming in season and my veggie garden in almost full harvest, there's just so much to choose from. Here's a few of the things I enjoyed this week...

Spaghetti Squash Primavera - I have a hard time deciding which I like best: the spaghetti squash seeds toasted with a little olive oil and salt or the spaghetti squash strands. Either way, I can't get over my love for this simple veggie (so much that I planted one in the backyard this spring). Unfortunately, my plant isn't producing yet, so this squash came from our farmers' market, but as usual, the spaghetti squash hit the spot. The squash "noodles" make a gorgeous and functional base for a primavera sauce and with an abundance of greens ready for harvest in the backyard, the sauce leaned in that direction. Topping those squash "noodles" is sauteed green onion, collards, lambs-quarter, basil, white eggplant, and tomatoes. All these primavera goodies came from my backyard except the eggplant and it came from the farmers' market. It just doesn't get any more local than that!

Salad - With so many of those wonderful veggies in the backyard, salads are a must! This is a favorite combination - kale, lettuce, onion, lambs-quarter, and tomato (all from my backyard garden), topped with some Texas pecans, dried cranberries (farmers' market), and some of my oil and vinegar dressing (equal parts olive oil and apple cider vinegar, then salt and pepper to taste). It's wonderfully filling, super tasty, and a nice cool meal for these hot summer days. Mmm, mmm!

Stir fry - Even more of those backyard veggies have made an appearance in my stir fries this week. Pictured here is onion, chard, collards, lambs-quarter, and lettuce (all from the backyard); stir fried in olive oil (farmers' market). Once all the veggies are soft, I added in some black beans (not local) and brown rice (local - bought in bulk from Houston area). Somehow these stir-fries always turn out delicious... I think it's the super fresh veggies!

So what local foods are you enjoying this week?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have two spaghetti squash ripening. It seemed like forever for them to finally pollinate. Hopefully, they'll be about ready when I get back in a week from Canada -- I've already made arrangements for someone else to water the garden once in a while since I don't trust it to rain enough over the next week to sustain it while I'm gone.

I don't remember doing anything with the seeds when I was a kid, but I'll have to keep toasting them in mind. I wouldn't mind a nice treat like that at work occasionally.

Sam said...

I haven't seen spaghetti squash here yet...

We have brussel sprouts and cabbage and beets and turnips. The cabbage and beet coleslaw I made is excellent.

hmd said...

jgsmith - Ooh! I'm jealous. I"m still waiting for my first squash to start forming. I'm watching it every day but it would help to know what I"m looking for :) I think something may be finally happening on the cucumber plants. I have my fingers crossed.

Toasting the seeds is super easy and is a GREAT snack. Give it a try!

Beany - It looked good too! I miss brussels sprouts... (eat some for me?)

Sam said...

Is it hard to get brussel sprouts or you just can't eat them because of your illness? Whatever the reason, I will eat them mindfully :)

hmd said...

Beany - Oh no. We had them at the market. It's just been 3-4 months ago :) We're way past brussels sprout season. We're eating tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers now. It's summer time :) (for us anyway)

Sam said...

O god...I wish tomatoes would get here already. I calculated our consumption rate and plan on canning about 60 cans of tomato sauce, and another 60 cans of salsa. Tomatoes...dear tomatoes please come home to me.

Today's CSA delivery was: Avocado, peaches, Braeburn apples, D'Anjou pears, carrots, scallions, arugula, mixed sprouts, beets, fingerling potatoes and lavender.

I'm going to try to make lavender tea with the lavender.

hmd said...

I've been picking one just about every day now. I wish my cucumbers were hurry up though. I'd like to have cucumber and tomato salad. I'm hoping that between the 13 plants, I'll have enough to can. We'll see...

You're CSA share sounds great! All those yummy fruits and avocado. I'm a little jealous of your stuff too. Too bad we can't swap a little :)

Sam said...

Heather,
When I grew cucumbers last year...once it started fruiting it wouldn't stop. It was hard to keep up. And mind you, I was growing cucumbers out of a pot.

An aside:

I picked up the cookbook Simply Heavenly by Abbott Burke after reading an old post by Chile raving about it. The book has several vegan potato salad recipes. I thought you may be interested given you recent cravings. You should check out the book. Every recipe sounds super yummy!

hmd said...

Beany - I sure hope to have cucumbers out the wazoo. I love them and am trying to wait patiently...

Thanks for the cookbook recommendation. I'll see if our library has a copy!