After a several month long absence, the Capitol Hill Farmer's market finally opened in early May. And the people of Cap Hill were happy, because not only were our favorite and beloved vendors back, but the market was even bigger and better with new vendors. And, it would last longer, through December 20, meaning that Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners could be composed from market ingredients.
My favorite returnees: the farm with the amazing selection of peppers (no peppers yet, but asparagus for the first month, amazing spring onions and now, fava beans and squash blossoms, among all of their bounty); the pretzel guy; the salmon guys; the honey guy; the chicken egg lady; the beef guys; Tiny's Organic product; Half Pint, delicious ice cream; and the little farm with the great vegetables that I'm not always sure what to do with, but they sample everything and always have a preparation idea. Among my favorite additions: another cheese stand (that now makes two, sometimes three!); the Green grilling guys, who grill burgers, which look delicious, but I've been all about the fried egg and bacon sandwiches; more prepared foods; the crepe stand; and the fresh from the sea couple with fresh oysters and clams. Uh-huh. Yes. Deliciousness to be had just a few blocks from my house, every Sunday from 11-3.
Probably not to your surprise, I've been buying and cooking from the market. My obsessions this year: pea vine greens, fava beans and now, squash blossoms.
Luckily for you, I've been taking pictures along the way!
First up, clam linguine with fresh herbs, a recipe courtesy of the Herb Farm cookbook, and clams, linguine and some of the herbs from the market. I think it had a bit too much parsley, but I also added a liberal amount of tarragon, chervil and basil, which was a good addition.
Next, one of a series involving pea vine leaves. I can't describe just how delicious these are, a simple green that is lighter than spinach, a bit less harsh than lamb's quarter, and despite a by-product of the pea, not tasting like peas. I found that simply sauteeing with some olive oil, perhaps some salt and pepper, or truffle salt, the pea vines were delicious. As an aside,
Joe Bar, my go to coffee shop and crepery, featured a crepe with pea vines and chevre. I could not resist, twice, and after commenting about the delicious pea vine crepe on Facebook, discovered through a few friends that pea vines are actually a traditional Chinese food. That lead to one of my favorite dim sum experiences ever at
Jade Garden in the International District, with not only all of my dim sum favorites, but a heaping big plate of pea vine leaves. Yes.
Picture #1: pea vines sauteed with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and dressed with seared scallops and a tarragon buerre blanc sauce. I drank a very tasty Domaine Pellehaut Chardonnay Gascogne from France along with. This was one of about four different treatments involving scallops, because I really love scallops.
Picture #2: pea vines, sauteed with olive oil, truffle salt and spring onions, and with glazed, grilled salmon.
Picture #3: pea vines, sauteed with olive oil, truffle salt and with grilled salmon.
I was eating other things besides pea vines and [insert name of fish/shellfish]. Fava beans! Here they are, in a
spring vegetable ragout. Which, by the way, was insanely delicious. Spring peas, fava beans, artichokes (the fresh were too big, so I substituted canned), spring onions and pancetta, with mint and garlic tops for additional flavor, as if the other ingredients weren't enough. A very bright and tasty rose, Charles and Charles, from Washington's Columbia Valley went extremely well with this dish. The rose, a varietal that is all about spring, with bright, fresh notes that taste like sun, was well, more than perfect with the ragout.
More fava beans, this time with pancetta, garlic tops and mint, and seared shrimp. I would have grilled the shrimp, but I had run out of gas for the grill. Sacrifices, I tell you. And, a bottle of Gavi, Picollo Ernesto from Piedmont was just perfect with this dish.
There market also hosts a few vendors that sell beef, lamb and goat. It's not cheap, but good stuff, a la, the kind of meat that I probably ate when my parents would buy a side of beef when I was a kid, before agribusiness really started their evil practices. Ahem. "Dirty" skirt steak and bok choy. Funny story about the marinade: the night before, my upstairs neighbor and I joked about borrowing random stuff, such as a a cup of rum. The next day, I actually needed a tablespoon of rum to finish the marinade. Good timing!
The steak was delicious - the marinade added a nice salty goodness that was balanced by the warm flavor of the rum.
I won't even mention the delicious cherry varietals that are hitting the market, because I would not want to make you jealous. But I will leave you with one final picture: strawberries. These were the first of the season. They looked small, the baskets weren't completely filled and I wondered if they were worth the price.
One of Tiny's guys looked at me, and said, "yeah, they don't look like much, but trust me, they are amazing. I can guarantee you, they are delicious and you'll come back and want to buy a flat. We don't have a lot, we aren't even sampling." I pondered this, especially the lack of samples, because Tiny's thrives on samples. They never sell anything they won't sample...unless there's a reason. It turned out that there was a reason. I bought, promising to be back if they weren't worth the price. "Oh don't worry," he said, "you'll be back for more".
The strawberries were amazing. While they may have looked tiny and anemic, and been priced more than what I could have bought at QFC across the street, they packed a punch that I just wasn't expecting. Deep red flesh, full of juice, bursting with strawberry sweetness.
