Market Day

I love that Houston has been promoting local farmers more and more these days. I love getting up Saturday morning and driving out to see what goodies are available that week.

The other really neat benefit, is to be able to speak with the farmers themselves and see the pride in their eyes as they offer you their crops and are always happy to answer questions about what to do with the produce and how to do it best.

It also gives me an opportunity to see products I’ve never heard of before and it encourages me to expand my foodie repertoire. For instance, I’ve never seen yellow oyster mushrooms before, have you?

What about black radish?

I’ll share my impressions as I use these finds. I already went through the artichokes, rainbow carrots, yellow oyster mushrooms, dill, lemon balm and fresh flounder. I should’ve documented the flounder & oyster mushroom beauty, but I didn’t. My bad.

My hubby filleted the flounder, I dusted them with a bit of flour (we kept the skin on) before giving them a quick pan-fry. I topped them with the oyster mushrooms, which I sautéed in EVOO, garlic then deglazed with a bit of sherry, added a bit of cream because The Hubbz loves to have a sauce. Just before serving I added a bit of the lemon balm and we proceeded to devour the whole thing. It was very quiet in the room.

We also had some roasted artichokes. After trimming the leaves and cutting them in half, I drizzled a ‘marinade’ of olive oil, balsamic vinegar syrup, garlic, lemon balm, salt & pepper. Popped them in the oven for about 15 minutes before serving.

While the artichokes roasted, I turned my attention to the multicolored baby carrots. I trimmed the stems, then added some butter, chopped garlic and about 1 tsp of habanero hot sauce to a pan and cooked the garlic for about 1 minute.

Then added the trimmed carrots and sautéed them a bit before adding about 1/2 cp of sherry to the pan. Lowered the temperature to medium low and added 1 tbsp of coconut sugar (brown sugar will work just as well), put a lid on and allowed it to steam for about 10-12 minutes.

It was the perfect balance of spicy and sweet. Aaahh, Spring. Even if it really feels like Summer already. Food is good.

For more Farmers’ Market shots, follow this link.

Cookingly yours,
Anamaris

Comments ( 6 )

  1. ReplyPlatanos, Mangoes and Me!

    Everthing looks and sounds delicious. I am going to search for those black radishes. We also have these wonderful markets in New York City. Cuendo me invitas a cenar....

    • Replychefyourself

      Mi casa es tu casa, Norma. Weren't you coming to Houston at some point? I think I remember you saying that. Que paso?!

  2. ReplyBen

    Oh yeah, farmers' markets are the best! Lovely shots :)

    • Replychefyourself

      Thanks so much, Ben. I'm peeking through your blog, loving it already and it has nothing to do with the fact that the first thing I saw was a coctel.

  3. ReplyJoan Nova

    I've never seen yellow oyster mushrooms either. I love that first photo with the light on the mushrooms.

    • Replychefyourself

      It was delicious, I sauteed it with a bit of butter and splash of sherry. Yum!

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