Weekly Produce Report

This past week was another great one at the markets. I so love summer in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, this past weekend marked the likely end of the strawberry and raspberry season. The hot temperatures we've been having made for a short but extremely flavorful season. It is possible that some of the smaller farms will have some stragglers this week, but I wouldn't count on it.

And now... the Report!

Fruits

• Blueberries: The first blueberries of the season showed up last weekend and they are amazing. Pick up a pint for eating as well as an extra pint for some sake and blueberry marinated salmon.
  • Blueberry pie
  • Sake and Blueberry Marinated Salmon (look for the recipe here next week)
    
• Apricots: I am consistenly amazed at the quality of the apricots this year. I like my apricots rather firm, but still sweet, and Pipitone Farms has amazing fruit. As the season progresses, the apricots will last slightly less time in the refrigerator or on your counter, but if you can make it to a weekend market and a weekday market, you can easily have amazing apricots all week long.
  
  • Apricot Tart with Cornmeal Crust
  • Almond Torte with Sugared Apricots
• Cherries: My favorite cherries (the Sonatas) are gone, but there are still plenty of Bings and Rainiers left to be had. I've found the quality of the cherry crop this year to be amazing.
  
  • Corn Shortcakes with Cherry Compote
    
  • Pork Chops with Cherry Mustard Sauce

 Vegetables

• Wax Beans: When I was a child, wax beans were one of the four vegetables I actually liked (the others were carrots, artichokes, and corn on the cob). My dad cooked them up in boiling water with just a pat of butter and a sprinkling of salt. Ever since then I can't get enough of these tender beauties cooked exactly the same way. Both yellow and green beans were at the markets last weekend and I'll get a bag of purple beans in my box this week.
• Carrots: Finally the super sweet summer carrots are ready! I ordered two bunches in my CSA box this week. I'm not a big fan of cooking carrots in the summer. I'd rather just pick one out of the fridge and munch on it.
  
  • Shaved Carrot Salad with Horseradish Dill Dressing
• Lettuce: The red butter lettuce I picked up this past week was the best lettuce I think I've ever had. I highly recommend trying more than one type of lettuce in your salad for some variety.
  
  • Crispy Goat Cheese Salad
  • Summer Salad with Fresh Goat Cheese
• Sugar Snap Peas and Snow Peas: The sugar snaps are getting a bit big to simply eat without shelling them. However their flavor still can't be beaten. I've been shelling them lately and throwing them in salads and even risotto. I've taken to eating the snow peas whole and raw in my salads as they haven't started to get tough yet.
  
  • Snap Peas with Radishes
    
  • Sugar Snaps, Pea Shoots and Baby Onions
• Tomatoes: Next week I'm finally going to whip up some sauce. This week though, I'll grab a few tomatoes for salads and maybe a few to experiment with. I'm feeling creative and think I should come up with my own brand new recipe again. 

Stay tuned next week for an update and more recipes.

 

 

Topics: General