A craving for farm fresh vegetables sent me on a trip to the
farmer’s market recently. My favorite one is in Norman , overflowing with
local and home grown choices. We were up
and ready to roll at 7am. The market
doesn’t officially open until 8:00, but I know from years of experience that the
selling begins long before opening time. We found a place to park, gathered our
bags and off we went to gather the bounty.
I was hoping for some culinary inspiration. I have been in the mood for the kind of
nurturing that only fresh vegetables can bring.
We made our way through the outside booths before entering
the building. I mostly do a walk through
first and then go back to make my final choices. I did see some marble sized yellow and red
tomatoes that I had to get before they were all gone. The vendor let us try them and they were so
very sweet. She only had three cartons
of them so I bought two of the three.
The first booth we came to inside the building had a young
man so excited about his organic offerings.
He had heirloom okra, tomatoes and cucumbers. What I remember most about him was his
enthusiasm for his product. He was proud
not only of his produce, but of his process as well. He spent quite a bit of time explaining his
use of a portable shop vac to pluck grasshoppers off his plants as he harvested. Then he empties the grasshoppers over his
pond to feed the fish.
This got me thinking. I believe that when I cook with love the food
tastes better. I also believe that my
intent, my love, infuses the food and helps to nurture my family and
friends. What if this begins with the
seeds, or even before? A friend and I
took a road trip to Sulphur
over July 4th. This is one of
my favorite places on Earth. We spent
the morning walking the nature trails and meditating by the springs. On our way
out of town, we stopped by the new Chickasaw
Cultural Center
There, I saw a film about the “Three Sisters” way of
planting crops. After preparing the
soil, a corn stalk is planted on a mound.
In a few weeks, after the corn stalk is a couple of feet tall, beans are
planted then a little later squash seeds are added to the mound. The corn stalk provides a place for the beans
to climb. The transpiration from the
leaves of the stalks helps to cool the beans and gives them shade. The beans help provide much need nitrogen for
the corn and the squash covers the soil acting as a mulch. Talk about planting with intent!
Imagine a seed being planted and nurtured with not only
water and nutrients from the soil, but with loving intentional care. Then imagine that seed growing into a beautiful squash and
being prepared with the same intentional love for the nurturing of your
family. I’m sure that the vegetable
would be more nutritious physically, but what about the spiritual nutrition?
My Dad loved his garden.
He would come home from a long day working construction and spend his
evenings cultivating his plants. I
didn’t understand it at the time, but now I think I do. The hard work in his garden fed his
soul. He in turn fed our souls with the
produce from the garden. He was so very
proud to share this bounty with his friends as well. This makes me think of the vendors at the
Farmer’s Market. Herein lies a
difference.
You can go to the grocery store and buy beautiful produce,
but to see the pride on the faces of the farmer’s market vendors is another
thing entirely. Those fruits and
vegetables must be infused with intent, pride and I believe love. That’s the produce I want to buy and prepare
for my friends and family.
I was conservative in what I chose at the farmer’s market
because I didn't want to waste anything.
I wish I would have bought more.
Along with the marble sized tomatoes, I chose some cucumbers, onions,
brussel sprouts and an abundance of yellow squash. I had in mind to try a squash soup sometime
over the coming weekend. I also got some
peaches, a cantaloupe, watermelon and some of the finest grapes I have ever
tasted. These were homegrown and she had
a purple variety and a golden variety. I
bought the golden ones. They are so very
sweet and full of juice, amber drops of grape flavored honey. She also had some perfect looking heirloom
tomatoes, but I had already bought some from a vendor earlier. I will definitely go back if just for those
two items.
After the farmers market, I met a friend at Whole Foods for
lunch. I finished my shopping there
getting some burrata cheese, polenta, lamb, some maple link sausages and
chorizo cherry sausages along with cherry walnut bread and cream cheese. I was now ready for my weekend of
nourishment.
Saturday evening’s dinner was lambs chops marinated in
yogurt and curry then cooked on the grill, pan roasted brussel sprouts and
creamy polenta. The amber grapes were a
perfect touch of sweetness to compliment the curried lamb chops. Sunday morning found us munching on the
Cherry Walnut Bread slathered with cream cheese, sliced cantaloupe, maple
flavored breakfast sausage and fresh farm eggs cooked over easy.
Sunday evening was perhaps the simplest but to me the best
meal of the weekend. I made a cous cous
pesto salad using some pesto I made from some basil which was a gift from a
friend’s garden. I used Israeli cous cous
because I wanted the larger pearl shaped pasta for this salad. I started by browning the dry cous cous in
some olive oil until it was toasty brown.
I then added organic chicken stock, brought it to a boil then let it
simmer until the cous cous had absorbed all the liquid. In the meantime, I seeded and chopped a
cucumber and washed the cute little tomatoes.
I added these ingredients to the cous cous and dressed it with the
pesto. I remembered some chopped pecans
in the freezer so I added some of those.
This salad is so full of texture, the tomatoes popping in
your mouth releasing their sweet juice.
My original plan was to add some pearl style fresh mozzarella but
decided to serve it with the buratta and heirloom tomatoes instead. Burratta cheese is fresh mozzarella that has
been filled with a combination of mozzarella, cream and sometimes ricotta. I love this cheese. It comes in a ball shape the same as
mozzarella, but when you slice into it, the creamy interior oozes out onto your
plate. I plated with the cous cous in
the center and wedges of the heirloom tomatoes on one side, the buratta on the
other. I drizzled balsamic vinegar over all
of it and sprinkled a little finishing salt along with a few grinds of black
pepper over the top. It was so colorful
and refreshing.
I served this salad plate with a bowl of summer squash
soup. The soup started as many of mine
do with chopped onions caramelized in oil, chopped garlic and red pepper
flakes. In this case, I used the fat
left from rendering several slices of bacon.
Before adding the onions, I crispy fried a few thin slices of the patty
pan squash. I intended to use the bacon
and crispy squash to garnish the top of the soup.
I wanted to intensify the squash flavor in the soup, but
didn’t want to cook the yellow squash too long.
I cubed the patty pans; I had a total of three. I added this to the onion, garlic
mixture. I let it all cook down until
the squash was very soft. I wanted a thick
and creamy soup, so at this point I added some wheat flour creating a thick
rue. I browned the rue for about 10
minutes or so then I added a quart of organic stock. Now I had a gravy that was really tasty. I could taste the squash clearly at this
point so I was happy.
I added another quart of stock a few bay leaves and the
yellow squash sliced into rounds. I
had about 3 pounds of yellow squash. I
let this simmer for about 15 minutes until the squash was tender, but not too
soft. Then I fished out the bay leaves
and added about a cup of cream. This
soup was marvelous! All that I love
about creamy potato soup without all the carbs.
The fresh squash flavor came through mingling with the richness of the
bacon and cream. There was just enough
spice at the end to wake up my taste buds.
I know I will be making this again.
This weekend once again took me back to the summers of my
youth and my Dad’s bountiful garden.
Today, I don’t have my father or his garden, but I do have access to the
farmer’s market. This Saturday, I will
set my alarm and once again make an early trip to Norman .
Once I’ve gathered the vegetables grown by people who love them, I will
come home and with loving intent prepare to nurture my family and friends.
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