Final Farmer's Market Feast

Last night as I was driving home, I stopped by the Durham Farmer's Market. It turns out that last night was the last Wednesday this year they'll be open so I was glad I stopped. I bought some fingerling potatoes, tomatoes, filet beans and a sweet italian pepper.
Once I got home I decided to try to use all of my ingredients, along with some marinating chicken thighs, in one meal as a tribute to the final Wednesday of the season. I started with a tomato salad. Tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh basil from my herb garden. I made green beans with lemon, goat cheese and garlic. I also roasted the fingerlings with fresh rosemary from the garden. I just sauteed the chicken thighs. Recipes below.
Roasted Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes
Makes 4 side servings
Ingredients:
1/2 lb of fingerling potatoes, washed and sliced in half lengthwise
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1 tsp kosher salt
fresh cracked pepper to taste (1/2 tsp or so)
1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Pour oil in a large bag and add potatoes. Secure close and shake to coat evenly. Add salt, pepper and rosemary and shake to coat again. Roast potatoes for 20-25 minutes.

Filet Beans (Haricots Vert) with Chevre and Lemon
Makes 4 side servings
Ingredients:
1/2 lb filet beans, washed with stems removed
1 sweet yellow pepper julienned (optional)
juice of 1/2 lemon (1-2 tsp)
zest of 1 lemon (optional)
2 oz chevre/soft goat cheese, crumbled
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
Heat oil in large saute pan over medium heat. Add beans and saute, stirring occasionally for 4 minutes. Add salt and garlic and saute for 2 minutes more. Add lemon juice, stirring and scraping bottom of pan to deglaze. Remove from heat. Toss beans with lemon zest and crumbled cheese before serving. This would be great with some slivered almonds, but I didn't have any :(
The tangy green beans were well balanced by the sweetness of the tomatoes and the earthy sweetness of the potatoes. I'll enjoy the leftovers for lunch today!

Rotten tomatoes

As if you needed another reason to eat home-grown ones or locally grown this time of year! Careful about those maters...

Lazy dinner in 15 minutes

I went to Trader Joe's after work last night and it put me home later then usual.I dug out my wok and stir-fried some cubed extra-firm tofu, in canola oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, over med-high heat for about 7 or 8 minutes or until the outside was nice and crispy. I removed the tofu and threw in a bag of T Joe's stir-fry veggies (snow peas, carrots, water chestnuts, onions, mushrooms and edamame) and some chopped chinese brocolli (acquired at the Durham Farmer's Market the prior evening).

I seasoned with a little salt, pepper and a few glugs of soy sauce. I cooked with the lid on for about 4 minutes and then stir-fried over high heat for another 2 minutes. Next I mixed in about 1/4 cup of general tso's sauce (also Trader Joe's), a few squirts of Siracha (cause that's what that bottle does, it squirts), a little garlic powder and another glug of soy sauce. I threw the tofu back in and cranked the heat up towards high. Cooked another minute or two and the sauce got really thick. Voila! Super healthy, low cal dinner that allowed me to consume several glasses of wine without a guilty conscience. We were celebrating M's last day at his crap job before he starts his new one on Monday!!!

Wednesday farmer's market

I went after work last night to the Durham Farmer's Market. I have to say it was a much better experience then last Saturday. There are about 1/8 of the vendors from a typical Saturday but there's still a lot of variety and oh there were probably only 20 people there. Really a lot easier to shop quickly and get on home! The only thing I didn't see that I sometimes buy were eggs.

I bought a itty bitty chuck roast (at home marinating in beer, cayenne, garlic, salt, pepper and sage) that we'll be having tonight and a GIGANTIC head of lettuce. Oh did I mention I got a salad spinner this weekend? I figured out how to use it properly on that head of lettuce last night and it's AWESOME!!!!

This weekend

Between the nephew's birthday and mother's day, this weekend felt like we were moving non-stop. It started with an early trip to the Durham Farmer's Market. For 15 bucks I got a bunch of swiss chard, a bag of arugula, a bunch of turnips, and a quart of strawberries.

These turned out to be the most disappointing strawberries I've ever had. I was completely shocked. 3/4 of them were completely mushy and slimy. Pretty much only the ones on top were edible. I don't remember which farm I got them from. It's my own fault for not being more descriminating. It was so busy and crowded there and I felt rushed.
At the nephew's birthday party, we had some wonderful strawberries picked from McAdams farm in Efland though so I know good strawberries can be had! We also went to their tee-ball game which was a blast. We spent most of the day outside on Saturday and I landed myself with a nice pre-honeymoon sunburn (again my own fault).

Sunday I made 2 frittatas to take to my mother's for brunch. My brother made buttermilk pancakes. God they were sooooo good. Real maple syrup to boot!!!

Frittata 1 was a trial of an allrecipes frittata. I followed this recipe close and I would advise not to cover the sliced potatos for 10 minutes and walk away. After about 5 minutes, I checked mine and they had burned on one side so make sure to check and flip if you use this one. I used chopped red onions instead of green and sliced some for the top before broiling. I finished mine under the broiler because I found cooking on low for 7 minutes to not be nearly long enough. This was an extremely dense frittata but very tasty.

Spinach Potato Frittata

The other frittata I made was a variation with white button mushrooms, spinach and sundried tomatoes. I used crumbled goat cheese in the place of cheddar on this one. I didn't care for this one as much. The goat cheese was too strong. I probably used about a half a cup.

Mushroom, Spinach and Sundried Tomato Frittata

Farmer's Market

Saturday morning I went to the Durham Farmer's Market. It was quite crowded so I didn't stay long. I found it a bit difficult trying to weave my way through the masses of dog leashes and strollers. I did finally get to stop by the Durham Craft Market across the street. I purchased a lovely new market bag from Megrnc. This depleted my normal $20 budget, but I still managed to get a few veggies and 2 southwestern corn empanadas from Angel's Nest Bakery. I had to circle around several times because they always had a long line. We ate these for lunch with a side salad and they very very tasty. The ingredients seemed very fresh and were perfectly seasoned. The only negative was that I thought the filling was a bit skimpy for the price. I'd say maybe a half a cup of corn and beans per empanada at a price of $3.25 a piece.

Saturday – Durham craft and farmer's market

Wow was the weather on Saturday fantastic or what? I had a very full day but I felt truly productive and really enjoyed spending the time outside :) I ventured early to the farmer's market because I've read that the selection is best in the morning. I've learned that I do well if I budget myself to about $25 when I go so that is all the cash I ever take. If I take any more, I want to try EVERYTHING. And as the work week goes, with all the best intentions, food will go to waste because there's just not enough time to use it all. This week I got pea shoots (recipe I'm pondering here), swiss chard (making it this way tonight), strawberries, arugula, baby bok choy, shallots, baby turnips, asparagus and tomatoes. Greens are in abundance at the farmer's market.

Swiss chard is also something I've been wanting to try. As I previously mentioned, though being raised most of my life in the south, I wasn't really exposed to southern cooking. Aside from kale and spinach, we really didn't do a lot of cooked greens at my house. But I'm branching out now and experimenting. So far the results have been good. The swiss chard is just too pretty to not try. Going to serve it tonight with a roasted chicken.

On my way back to the car, I stopped by the Durham craft market. There were about 6 booths set up. I think I was there a little too early. Nothing jumped out at me except for these gorgeous wood bowls and platters. Next time I'll try to stop by later.