after some iffy weather lately for the first time all year it felt as if spring was upon me. on a quick trip to the local megamart this morning i was inspired. it was as if mother nature said "Josh- look what i have for you" there was local rhubarb, local asparagus, corn, strawberries, and more. i couldn't help it. i eagerly await only a few pieces of produce. corn, peaches, huckleberries, and real tomatoes will really get me. i never eat them out of season as i figure that there is some great discipline in waiting for them. even though the corn was from California i bought it for the first time since late last summer. locally we have a great corn product but we wont see it for another few months. i made a strawberry rhubarb compote to go with the pound cake, grilled corn and made a chipotle aioli to rub all over it, grilled t-bone steaks, baked onion bread, and roasted potatoes, and strawberry lemonade soda. i just couldn't help myself in that everything looked so good. the weather was great and i wanted to grill. i topped the t-bone with an Amish bleu cheese, and then the demi glace mounted with a tad of butter and some salt. everything turned out fabulous. there is something to be said of cooking like this. it wasn't planned, it didn't take me all day, and i took inspiration from what was in season, what was local and what was on sale (t-bone- a cut i would rarely ever buy). hopefully you will take a bit of inspiration from this and head to your market and ask the produce guys where things came from, and get outside and enjoy everything that spring has to offer us.
Has the market opened in Cannon Beach yet? The one in Astoria started on Mother's Day and I can't wait to check out what they have.
ReplyDeleteI was shopping at the local grocery store last weekend looking for some fresh produce for a salad. I decided to check labels instead of prices this time. I was suprised to see that produce I would normally buy because of it's lower price was not from the USA. Ewwww. So, I made a point to only buy the produce marked, "from USA". Shopping at the farmer's market will be so much better though. I really don't like buying super market produce. You will have to keep us updated on what is seasonal because I would prefer to buy what's fresh and grown locally.
the cannon beach farmers market starts on the 15th of june (i think) we will be there as we are the restaurant of the week for that week. i would love to keep you posted on what is coming and going out of season. thanks for all your feedback Andrea.
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