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Visiting the Farmers Market
I love the simplicity of summer meals. The answer to that age-old question of “What’s for Dinner?” just presents itself.
Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day. I had been called for jury duty in a distant suburb I’d never been to before. I claimed the convertible for the day. With a juror number of 7, it was inevitable that I was empanelled. Fortunately, the case was short, and we were released while the sun was still shining. It was the perfect afternoon for a ride with the top down.
I arrived home early enough to be able to visit the Lexington Farmers Market while the offerings were still plentiful. A farmers market is one of my favorite places to shop for food. I love the freshness of the fruits, vegetables, breads, and meat. I especially like meeting and chatting with the farmers that produce the food I will eat.
I’m not hung up on organic or not. From talking with farmers at this and other markets, I know that while their farms may not be strictly organic, they still are stewards of the earth and consider the health of their land, themselves, and any employees when choosing how to farm it. I trust the food I buy at a farmers market to be sustainable, and, of course, you can’t get more local.
We had a warmer spring than usual for New England, but this is only the third week of the market season. The range of choices was limited to spring vegetables: lots of greens and spring root vegetables. Strawberry season started, too.
I bought a quart of strawberries, a bunch of radishes, a bunch of beets, red dandelion greens, mustard greens, and arugula. I also saved the beet greens for sautéing.
So how did I answer the dinner question? Well, in our own garden, the lettuce continues to thrive, and the peas (planted in early March) are ready. I had thawed a T-bone steak from Chestnut Farms. Howard grilled the steak, and I made a salad from our own lettuce and peas and sliced radishes from Stillman Farms. To round it out, we had leftover rice salad and chickpea salad that I had made over the weekend. That’s my kind of eating!!!
Pasta e Fagioli
Last weekend, Howard read about winter farmers’ markets in the area. For six weeks, from January 17 through February 27, on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Russell’s Garden Center in Wayland is hosting a Winter Farmers’ Market. Yesterday, we went to check it out. It was fabulous. There were several vendors offering fresh vegetables. Given that it is January, that means salad greens, bitter greens, and stored root vegetables. There were other vendors selling cheese, meat, eggs, honey, bread and other local products like root beer, granola, and preserves. There were at least 15 different vendors. They were scattered throughout the greenhouses, so it was hard to count. The place was crowded with enthusiastic customers. It was exciting to discover this winter shopping option. We’ll be back!
With the refrigerator was empty of leftovers, so I decided to make a hearty soup for lunches during the upcoming week. I still had some not-so-good ribs from earlier in the week, so, initially, I planned to make a soup that would invite the addition of the leftover rib meat. I settled on a pasta e fagioli, where the meat would stand in for the chicken and ham. In the end, we finished the ribs for lunch yesterday, so I ended up with a vegetarian soup instead.
Pasta e Fagioli (Bean and Pasta Soup)
Serves 8 – 10
(Adapted from Italian Classics in One Pot by Anna Teresa Callen)
1 lb dried beans (an assortment of red and white beans)
3 qts. water
¾ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp dried sage
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp black pepper
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped, juice reserved
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
¾ cup pastina (small soup pasta)
Generous handful of Italian parsley, chopped
The beans need to be soaked before starting the soup. You have two choices:
- Soak the beans overnight (at least 8 hours). I prefer to use boiling, rather than room temperature, water for soaking.
- Place the beans in a large pot. Cover with water by a few inches. Bring the water to a boil. Turn the heat down, and simmer for 1 hour. The beans will not be cooked, they will be “quick-soaked”.
Drain and rinse the soaked beans.
Place the soaked beans in a large soup pot. Add 3 quarts of water, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the beans are softened, but not completely tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Add the tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Simmer until the beans are tender, another 30 to 45 minutes.
Turn up the heat to medium, add the pasta, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
Discard the bay leaves, and stir in the parsley.
A Plateful of Happiness 