Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Farmers market finds: Life was a bowl of cherries


What did you find to cook with this weekend? At the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market, I scored fresh favas, very fresh sweet peas, mushrooms, multi-hued skinny carrots, and a bag of tart cherries.
Cherries are a rarity around here. I spot them about once a year, so I know to grab them when I see them. These came from a farm near Kannapolis.
At home, I peeled the favas (a two-step process, if you've never done it) and shelled the tiny peas, enjoying that satisfying plunk-plunk-plunk sound as they fell into my bowl. I sauted the mushrooms, then added the favas, peas and a little cream and braised them together.
I roasted the carrots along with small potatoes, baby turnips and radishes. (Yes, you can roast radishes, something I just recently discovered.)
The cherries called for more handling. I pulled out Thomas Keller's "Ad Hoc at Home" and used it as a guide for a little cherry compote to spoon over my breakfast yogurt and a batch of potted cherries with bourbon and vanilla to tuck in the refrigerator.
And you? What fabulous food finds landed in your life this weekend?

4 comments:

  1. Which farm had the cherries? I bought some sweet cherries but didn't see the sour ones.

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  2. I found them in the open-air shed, Don. It was a seller who had gathered things from several local farms. He said he'd found them on a farm near Kannapolis.

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  3. Mary Roberts, Windcrest Farms, had cherries at the Matthews Farmers Market this past weekend...

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  4. I found cherries at the Landis Gourmet Mushroom stand at the Matthews Community Farmers' Market. Made sour cherry custard pie - see my blog for a recipe: charlottefresh.wordpress.com

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