This is the season when every trip to the farmer’s market is different. It’s so inspiring, exhilarating, exciting!!! The colours, the smells, all the gorgeous textures, flavours… ever changing as we go through the season.
Bright green asparagus, ruby red rhubarb, strawberries still warm to the touch, ( they always smell like sunshine to me when walking by the stand) fresh herbs you can plant at home, lettuce heads so tender they melt in your mouth and eventually heirloom tomatoes…
But then there are meat counters/butchers, bakeries hosting everything from fresh bread to croissants and everything in between (chocolatines, croissants, cannelés, stone baked pizza… to name a few and get your mouth watering even more!)
You can also find fresh pasta and sauces (great for a quick midweek meal!), then there is the cheese counter – – I could spend the afternoon just shopping for cheese! (tell me I’m not alone) Little gems found in specialty corners… crème fraiche, rillettes de canard, smoked duck… jams, jellies, honey comb, a host of maple products made here in Québec. Farmer’s markets are a foodie’s dream as well as many tourists’.
A kid in a candy store (or lego store if we are talking about one of my boys!) is what the farmer’s market is akin to me. Meeting the growers/vendors of all these awesome ingredients inspires me to go home and make something I know will taste amazing because it’s fresh, locally grown and made with care.
When visiting the market in the spring, the beautiful gemlike strawberries call out to me, so irresistible and will result in me making strawberry jam when I get home. Jam always makes for a great gift to share. It’s also delicious on Sunday morning croissants, or on scones with a bit of whipped cream or crème fraîche (also found at the market). I like it on warm waffles with a little maple syrup (I live in the land of fresh maple syrup made in sugar shacks minutes away in any direction you go…) Yummm!
There is also beautiful dark red rhubarb which is perfect for rhubarb lemonade. My family loves this recipe, it’s perfect for warm evenings spent on the patio. We enjoy it topped off with some sparkling water while chatting around the fire on one of the first warm and inviting evenings of the season.
I absolutely love watching the produce vendor carefully pick and chose their produce, making sure to give me the best and the freshest, explaining how to tell when things are perfectly ripe. Or how the butcher takes great care in slicing every piece of bacon making sure I am happy with the thickness. All this attention to detail isn’t something you get when shopping at the grocery store. (I remember once having to explain the difference between a male and female lobster to the teenager working at the grocery store! But that’s a story for another day…)
Shopping at the market is a unique experience that elevates the senses Every. Single. Time.
A food adventure! What will I come home with today? What will it become tonight? Will it result in a new recipe? I think it truly impossible to walk out of a farmer’s market without a huge smile on my face as new ideas and inspiration take root…
What did my trip to the market result in today?
There was asparagus EVERYWHERE!!! It was crisp, bright, fat and beautiful. What will this become? Maybe very lightly cooked with some fresh pasta?Maybe roasted with some good olive oil, salt & pepper topped with some prosciutto and parmesan? Or maybe lightly roasted and then served on some whipped feta? Or with burrata and sprinkled with some toasted pine nuts? Or toasted pistachios? The possibilities are endless!!!
I also picked up some freshly grown herbs, and not anything like I get at the grocery store, these are full and healthy plants: the smell is heady coming from these pots and can transport me back to the kitchen and help me envision all the wonderful things I want to make with them. Bruschetta with fresh basil? Mussels with thyme? Chicken with Rosemary? Pizza in the outdoor oven with oregano? Again the possibilities are endless!!!
So today I came back with some thyme, greek basil, oregano, rosemary, moroccan mint, dill, lavender, a hot pepper plant and a huge (and I mean HUGE) container of the most beautiful ruby and green curly lettuce (which will spend the summer on the patio and produce many salads…stay tuned!) which come with caring instructions from the vendor wanting to make sure their plant babies will be well cared for.
And then of course my weekly stop at the bakery counter “La boîte à pain” for my “boule miche”, a baguette “rustic”, a few croissants and chocolatines for Sunday’s brunch.
I also make a quick stop at the butcher’s for some smoked fennel sausage, red wine and herb sausage and thickly sliced prosciutto (this will pair so nicely with a nice brie and the baguette I picked up ooooh and the side of asparagus!!! Drool…) which he proudly gives me a very generous slice of… and was absolutely delicious and like nothing I have ever tasted before.
I notice they have a new bulk counter/store with amazing organic and all natural products: I find orzo (this just might become a regular stop at the market), cane sugar, sourdough crackers, strawberry and basil kombucha (celebrating the season!).
I decide it’s time to bring all my delicious treasures home and start planning what I will make with all these beautiful gems. I am always open to suggestions… feel free to drop them in the comments below!