Playing With Your Food 2014 – Weeks 1 through 3

We started a little tradition with the 2013 Winter Market of posting ideas for recipes and uses for the many products you could find at the market, called “Playing With Your Food”.   Now that the 2014 Salem Farmers’ Market is in full swing, we thought it would be fun to start a similar tradition highlighting a few of the many great options for the range of produce and artisan food at the market each week.  While we can never predict exactly what our farms will be able to bring each week, we will do our best to reflect some of the fun items we’ve found recently and what’s likely to be available for the upcoming week.  Hopefully this will give you all a few new ideas to play with, and inspire you to try some new things at the market.

We’ll start with a round up from the first two weeks and the upcoming third week.

Strawberry and Rhubarb

Nothing says early summer like the combination of strawberry and rhubarb, but the season is always far too short.  Celebrate them now, or find a way to hang on them for winter when you’re desperately missing summer.

• Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble – easy, peasy, delicious
• Rhubarb Buckle with Ginger
• Rhubarb Agrodolce – a surprisingly savory option
• Strawberry and Cream Biscuits – eat them immediately, or freeze them before baking to enjoy all year long
• Rhubarb Cordial – the only downside is that you have to wait a month
• Simple Ways to Freeze Strawberries – trust me, on that day in February when it’s sleeting sideways, you’ll be so glad that you planned ahead.

Asparagus

The season for asparagus is almost already over.  Snatch some up while you still can!

• Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce
• Absurdly Addictive Asparagus

Spring Allium Family

Spring onions, leeks, and scallions are popping up left and right, and they are ridiculously beautiful.  Grill them, fry them, saute them, whatever you please!

• Grilled Spring Onions – the purple and green scallions we found at the Clark Farm stand last week are beautifully suited to this easy side dish
• Leek Fritters – note that leeks this time of year may be a bit smaller than you’re used to seeing, so you’ll need to tweak recipes accordingly

Odds and Ends

• Pea Tendrils – we found these at the Long Hill Orchard stand last week and had no idea what to do with them.  Turns out a simple saute with garlic, lemon, and salt is all you need!