To quote Mother Goose:
“To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,
Home again, home again, dancing a jig;
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog;
Home again, home again, jiggety-jog;
To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,
Home again, home again, market is done.”
OK…so we neither bought the pig or the hog but the bags were stuffed to brimming anyway!
Summer Saturday mornings mean one thing and one thing only…Trout Lake Farmer’s Market. The place is crammed with awesome veggies and seasonal fruit and as per usual, we know I’ll buy too much…I mean there is only two of us!
I’m my own worst enemy because once home there’s work to be done! No lying about reading a book for me, except a cookbook!
The only “absolute” item on my list were zucchini blossoms. I bought a large bag of red and yellow bell peppers, a box of blueberries (we’ve already used up the last box!), our favourite Sieglinde potatoes, basil, plum tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, peaches, I think that’s it! Oh…our annual garlic braid!
First order of business, what the heck am I going to make for dinner with zucchini? The zucchini blossoms that I planned on stuffing with ricotta and serving a fresh tomato sauce on the side appeared to be unavailable! Yikes! There goes dinner! “zucchini blossom guy” informs me that one of the most famous chefs in our city placed an order and scored them all! When I asked if they just couldn’t short famous chef six, well here’s the reply, “no, the guy is too good with a knife!”
Plan “B”, the stuffed zucchini blossoms I could hardly wait to have for dinner have now morphed into zucchini fritters with fresh tomato sauce! Excellent…but you know…
Now it’s time to turn those bell peppers into peperonata and this time I am experimenting with Judy Witts Francini’s mother-in-law’s recipe and I must say, it’s very, very good!
Next up the basil, thinking to make some pesto to top the crisp polenta rounds to have as an appy before dinner…yum!
What to do with that last picking off the raspberry bushes in the backyard…well, there’s those blueberries, a bit of rhubarb and a handful of strawberries and that apple in the fridge, so how about dessert and how about a “crisp?” Yup…that works!
Those fabulous green beans are going to be even more fabulous, if you can imagine! Julia della Croce swears by boiling the beans for 5 minutes, then tossing on some excellent EVOO, salt and pepper giving that a toss and served either hot or warm…sounds good to me! A great excuse to use some of the Azienda Agricola Casamonti oil we brought home from Chianti in May with perhaps a squeeze of lemon?
My husband hates peaches so it’s just me and the peaches! These are so good, so drippy and juicy I have to eat them over the sink or standing up outside!
Now I have to work on plans for that cauliflower and the potatoes…not a problem! Isn’t summer simply glorious??
**If you would like to check out the Zucchini Fritters, click here.
**For Judy Witts Francini peperonata, click here. Just scroll down a bit to find it!
