WhirlwinDISH 13

Fresh from the farmers’ market inspired meals. You never know what treats await you when you hit the market!

This salad was fairly simple using rainbow chard, romaine, purslane, and pea shoots for its base. I grilled the beautiful squash and eggplant, and plated the heirloom tomatoes and carrots raw. For some crunch and spice: mung bean and radish sprouts. I dressed it with a shantung garlic, lime juice, mint, olive oil, and agave vin. So fresh and flavorful! I stuffed the bell pepper and zucchini blossom with my leftover shiitake and assam rice eggplant, striata squash, carrots, a little fresh tomato sauce, and criminis, then roasted them in the oven. These, along with the salad, made a very satisfying light meal.

The pea shoots and sprouts cried out to be sandwich fixins. I made a quick flatbread from some home milled flours (whole wheat, brown rice, quinoa, teff, and oat), oil, buttermilk (I always make my own), salt, baking powder, raw sugar, and a few sesame seeds on top. I had red lentils already prepared, so I subbed those for chickpeas in a chunky hummus with the shantung garlic, lemon, and tahini. I slathered that onto the bread, then layered in the shoots and radish sprouts, 5-grain tempeh (more on that below), tomatoes, cukes, red onion, and the kicker: pickled garlic and mango. I did end up pickling some mango after seeing it at Jasmine Market and it make the sandwich sing with life. I want to pickle everything I can find now!

The tempeh: I had it in the freezer, so I thawed it just a bit, then sliced. I gave it a light dusting of cornstarch and garlic powder, sprayed it with oil, then seared it on the stove. I decided a glaze might be nice, so I used a balsamic, soy, oyster sauce, agave, and siracha reduction. (I have a boatload of agave syrup, so it will probably go into a lot of my future dishes.) It was delish, so I ate what didn’t go into the sandwich by itself.

Farmer’s markets are such a wonderful things, and I am always blessed when I can take advantage of what they have to offer.