CSA & Market Report for June 23
What a lovely day! I woke up at 6:30 - I always have a hard time sleeping around the summer solstice, for whatever reason, and I was out the door. I thought I might have a nice latte and sit in the sun at the North Market for awhile and get some vitamin D. There's a lot going on in the Short North/Arena District area today, and traffic has been a beast. But, like the super stealthy urbanite that I am, I made it in and out of the market and the parking lot was still half empty when I left, with 48 minutes to spare on the meter. In retrospect, I was probably out so early that I missed my mushrooms...
An interesting week at the market this week. First of all, it was the return of Wayward Seed farm, and they always have something new and interesting to investigate. They had squash blossoms for 50 cents each, and a nice salad blend, and something very fun: kohlrabi microgreens! For the uninitiated, microgreens are the first growth of a plant - they typically have an intense flavor profile and make a great garnish; you've probably scooted them off to the side of your plate when presented with them in a restaurant. You should start eating them! They are great on salads, of course, and sandwiches. These taste exactly like kohlrabi, one of my favorite veggies:
This week's CSA box was filled to the brim with turnip greens (with tiny turnip bits still attached!), salad greens, fresh peas, mint, 1/2 dozen eggs, and a bouquet of daisies! I supplemented this with a few additional things while shopping at Elizabeth Telling - a pint of red raspberries (pictured below), which came with free worm (pictured below below), some lovely broccoli and a nice box full of stinging nettles. I'm going to take the suggestion of a reader and put Husband to work turning them into a fritatta tomorrow. 
Other market buys included a nice bag of squash blossoms from Comb's Herbs (I promise a recipe with those later in the week) and some frisée. Frisée is a lovely bitter green which is very underappreciated in this country. The French have a traditional salad using it, Frisée aux Lardons (Frisee with bacon lardons and poached egg) and it's a fantastic foil for rich foods. It's well served when dressed very simply with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with a good bit of crunchy sea salt. All of that to say, it's delicious and you should go buy some.
From Toad Hill Organics, some of these lovely onions. I love it when I can get local onions:
From the Worthington Farm Market, I stopped by Gillogly to pick up some blueberries:
I also bought lots of cherries - which came early this year and are very scarce, thanks to our early spring followed by second winter. Bings for Husband to turn into a cherry digestif, and sours for me to turn into some sour cherry jelly, my absolute favorite. Insert cliché:
Would you believe I also bought what had to be the last bunch of asparagus for the year at Cottage Gardens? I was pretty excited to see it.
What did you get?
