I bought beets, radishes, and strawberries...
Oh, the strawberries. They are absolutely gorgeous...small and bright red. So fragrant and sweet. I'll probably just eat them all as they are.
...pencil-thin asparagus and basil...
The weather around here has just sucked for basil, too much rain. It's all turned yellow. This is hydroponic grown in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, at ShowMe Fresh Farm.
...lamb patties and garlic scapes...
Not quite sure what I'm going to do with the scapes, but they look very similar to the wild onions I picked in my front yard a few weeks ago. Are these the same things?
...goat's milk feta cheese and salsicca fiama.
Ok, this spicy Italian sausage is the whole reason I got up at 6:30 this morning to make it to the market when they opened. I was hoping that Mark Sanfilippo would have some salami at his new stand called Salume Beddu. However, he only had Italian sausage. That's okay; I'm sure these handmade sausages are fabulous. Plus, I got on his mailing list, and I'll be sure to head over there when the coppas and other cured meats are ready.
I'm not sure about wild garlic -- but garlic scapes are the "flower" stalks of cultivated garlic. (Cultivated garlic doesn't actually produce flowers most of the time, it sends up a flower-stalk and develops tiny little garlic bulblets where the flower would be.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, most folks who grow garlic (including me), pinch off the scapes before they're fully developed. It encourages the garlic plant to put all its energy into making bulbs underground.
I find garlic scapes too strong to eat raw -- they're much stronger than chives or scallions, but not as strong as raw garlic bulbs. I usually chop them up and saute them very briefly in oil. This year we used up some of the garlic scapes from our garden in a pasta sauce, and the rest in a stir-fry. Very tasty!
I have been to the market at Tower Grove Park. I really enjoyed it. I plan on going back soon - I love using local produce.
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