When I was young, I wanted to be a farmer. While all the other kindergarteners were drawing pictures of themselves dressed in veterinarian coats and astronaut helmets, I was drawing myself in the middle of a dirt field surrounded by sprouting carrots and wearing overalls (my mom still has the artwork). I am not sure why I have always felt an attraction to the earth-I was raised in San Diego…(hardly farm country) by a non-farming family-but to this day I am fascinated with seasonal produce and can’t wait to have a garden of my own. All week long I look forward to the Saturday morning farmers market, forgoing my chance to sleep in so that I can get the best of the best before it’s gone. Farmers markets to me are jewel boxes; everywhere you look there are flashes of reds, greens, yellows, purples begging to be purchased and presented on your dinner table. I tend to incorporate at least one item from the market in every dinner I make throughout the week, but last weekend I noticed a sign hung high over the market’s entrance: “Everything you need for your Saturday dinner.” I decided to test that out that night and make a meal of market-only ingredients. Everything that is bolded below denotes an item purchased from the farmers market.
I found some beautiful candy-striped beets and roasted them in the oven until they were soft. I then sliced them up and topped them with soft goat cheese, shallots, toasted walnuts, mixed baby greens, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I also roasted sweet corn in the husk in the oven. When it was done, I slathered it in chili-lime butter and salt. On the side, I ate the beet greens from the candy-striped beets. I washed them and sauteed them in some olive oil and garlic scapes. Finally, I warmed up a couple slices of sourdough bread from the best baker in town who sells her goods at the farmers market every weekend.
Overall, I give myself a B+ on this little project; as you can see, not every ingredient was from the market, but it all tasted really good. And what did I drink with this feast? Sauvignon Blanc. At Ponte, this is known as Fume Blanc. What attracted me to this wine was Sauvignon Blanc’s reputation for being herbaceous and “green” tasting. This, I thought, would be great with a vegetable-heavy meal. My assumption was correct and dinner was quickly bumped up from a B+ to an A.
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