This past Saturday, October 8th, I went to the Bloomington farmer’s market for the first time to buy some ingredients to make my first recipe. The farmer’s market is a wonderful environment, and I strongly advise any of you that haven’t been to go! There were rows of booths selling freshly-grown produce, as well as an area selling crafts and other homemade objects. People were very open to discussion, and willing to share information on how their food was grown and produced. Buying from a farmer’s market ensures that your food is fresher and has more taste, is higher in nutritional value, and also gives you a much wider variety and selection than a grocery store. It was a wonderful experience for me, and I will be sharing more of the information I learn as I progress... but for now, here are a few pics:
Now, on to my first dish! I made a recipe that I found in the vegetarian cookbook that Amy loaned to me, entitled “From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce”. This recipe was ‘camp-style sunny-side up eggs with sun gold tomatoes and tarragon’. The ingredients were:
· 1&1/2 tbsp butter
· 8 large brown eggs
· 12-16 sun gold tomatoes, quartered
· 2-3 tsp chopped, fresh tarragon
· 2-3 tbsp finely chopped green onions
· Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
The actual cooking of the recipe was incredibly simple (I figured it might be a good idea to start easy…!). You just melt butter into a large, non-stick cooking pan and crack the eight eggs into it so that the eggs nicely cover the bottom of the pan. Then you cover it and let it cook for about five minutes, until the eggs are mostly set. In the meantime, you chop up your other ingredients, and then add them to the top when the eggs are done. It makes 4-6 servings. I ended up leaving the eggs in the pan a bit too long, so they were more like hard-boiled than sunny-side up… but they were still delicious! And such a pretty dish to make, check it out:
I had a good friend accompany me on the farmer’s market trip, and she was all too happy to help me eat my first creation! This is definitely something I will be making again… perfect for a delicious Sunday brunch (or anytime, really!).
Yummy!
ReplyDeleteIt REALLY was! Maybe the only thing that would've made it better is if the eggs were from your chickens... :)
ReplyDeleteKeelyn I was thinking more about ideas for taking your project to the next level by testing one argument for locally grown food consumption with one recipe. You like one at a time for each recipe. We talked about the comparison between local and nonlocal ingredients in terms of (1) added (or reduced) cost, (2) food miles traveled, (3) nutritional value, but I thought of another aspect to consider being (4) stimulus to the local economy. I read a stat that I would be happy to track down the source for, but it said something along the lines of $10 spent at the local market circulates 2.5 times in the local economy, amounting to $25 within the local area, while speeding $10 at a national chain supermarket only circulates the local economy 1.4 times, amounting to $14 spent in the local area. There are several more comparisons that could add to your personal project. I'd be happy to share them as they come to mind, but I think you have a great opportunity here to present some interesting facts and figures. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteChad, thanks again for sharing your ideas, they are excellent and will serve to take my project to the next level! I will definitely be incorporating some of these into my future blogs!
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