Mia Cucina Su Cucina

I love the farmers market! I can go to market and spend an hour wandering, tasting, inquiring and absorbing the flavors swirling around me. It is one time a week that I cherish.

I always go to the same farmers and make an effort to develop a rapport. (Mind you, most of the “farmers” are the actual people that grow the produce.) Doing this helps in many ways; they save you the best fruit, they always greet you, they have you taste at least half of what is on their tables and share cooking tips or recipes, save you special fruit that is not plentiful, which means you get things that the general customer never sees and you are buying direct; no in between man.

Let me share with you my typical trip:

I always start with the bread lady. She has French styled breads and croissants of every flavor. Her bread is light, airy and just the perfect crunch. The croissants are layers and layers of butter and sheer bliss. Each item was baked fresh that morning.

Then I head for Gene’s stone fruits. I am greeted with a warm hug and a fruit that he thinks I just have to try. He then starts pulling little stashes of odds and end from the back of his truck. He packs me a bit of “juice running down your chin and trying to admire the color of the sun kissed fruit.” It is peaches that are red, orange, yellow and smell like a ray of sunshine. There will be an array of plums ranging from yellow, red, purple, green and a mixture of all the colors. They are sun dappled and each a master piece. There may be also some French prunes and apples in my bag that he so lovingly packs. When I walk away, there is always juice running down my chin and a big smile on my face.

My next stop is for heirloom tomatoes. Tomatoes of every color and shape and rarely a round red one in sight. Brandywine is a large fruit and typically different shades of red. Cherokee Purple is a large fruit and is purple on the top and different shades of green on the bottom. Green Zebra is a small tomato with a light green skin and has dark green stripes that run vertically down the sides. Jubilee is yellow, but not just one shade; again it has many different hues. This is just a few of my favorites, there are 100’s of different types. They are juicy, and the flavor has so much depth and character depending on which one you pick.

Then I check out all the organic stands and look for inspiration for dinners. This might be corn, leeks, broccoli, green onions, lemons and limes, peppers, lettuces and the list goes on depending on what is in season.

My final stop is the herb man. I wander in to his little area and inhale many exotic flavors. My senses go wild and I start imagining the different herb I want to go with my basket of treasures. Is it basil, thyme, dill, sage or lemongrass, lemon verbena, mint of many flavors, tarragon, spicy arugula, cilantro… It is so difficult to pick just a few, I just want to buy one of everything. Last week the basil was calling my name and so I purchased a huge bunch to make pesto.

The farmer very gently wrapped it up like an arrangement of flowers and handed to me. He said” Go ahead and smell and give me one word to describe it.”

The word that came to mind not only described the basil but my whole experience, “Heaven”.

My little corner of Heaven!