Thursday, May 30

 
Cooking with the Farmers Market

We're on the cusp of summer; so, it must be time to head out to the Farmers Market. You who live in warmer climates can eat fresh all year long; we in the northern climes live for the day when a radish - usually the first veggie of spring - comes out of the ground instead of from the produce aisle. If we still lived in Madison, Wisconsin, we could even now head down to the Dane County Farmers Market, which brings a dizzying array of fresh foods to the Capitol Square every Saturday from thaw to frost, to see what's fresh out of the hothouses and coldframes. Up in Green Bay, though - 130 miles and three cultural lightyears away - the market won't begin for at least another month. Till then, I'll have to content myself with what's at the store and save the recipes in this excellent Baltimore Sun story about chefs cooking with whatever's available at the market. That to me is the sign of a good cook - anybody can produce something memorable with a truckload of imported goods, but making a fabulous dish with whatever's on hand is true culinary genius.
posted by Unknown 2:44 PM