Thursday, July 7, 2011

Thursday Farmer's Market and Roasted Beet Pasta

Welcome to the Thursday Farmer's Market in Manassas!
 I got up today and headed straight for the Manassas Farmer's Market (and remembered to bring my camera this time).  I got a little distracted by my shopping, so here's a couple of photos to tide you over until next week.

Cherokee Purples, Brandywine Pinks, and Stripeys, oh my!

It's a pepper explosion! 




I love the market because it's a great way to fill out what we get from the CSA -- aromatics like onions and general purpose veggies like bell peppers are currently in season but we didn't get any in our share, so this tides us over until we start getting them.  And, it's the place where we get our meat and dairy, so it's doubly important.  We will be making a pilgrimage to some of the other markets in the DC area, including the Arlington market (which is year-round, those lucky bastards!) but it's nice to have such a good, producer-focused market close to home.

So what did I buy today?  Almost two pounds of red bell peppers for $4.00, a big bag of 'second' peaches for $4.50, a pound of pork chorizo sausage for $5.70, and two gorgeous beef shanks for $7.00.  On Saturday we bought a half-gallon of whole milk for $4.25 (and a $1.75 bottle deposit), some red onions for $3.00, 4 ounces of fresh goat cheese for $4.00, a pint of Rainier cherries for $3.50, and 11 pounds of bones for making stock for $14.  We also picked up some Parmesan Reggiano and  Cabot sharp cheddar from a 'real' store for $28.  That brings our total for the week to $79.70, plus the $30 for the CSA.  So we're four bucks over for the week (Curses!), but the stock that is currently simmering on the stove will last us for the next few months.  All in all, I feel like we're not doing too badly at all.


  And here's your food porn for the day, since I've been a little spotty on posts and I'm trying to catch up. ]


Last week Joe and I were trying to decide what to do with our beets, and Joe found this gorgeous recipe for a roasted beet pasta.  The blog he found it on is called Food And Style, and it's the sort of beautiful, high-production-value blog that I aspire to some day become.  You can find the recipe and Viviane's incredible beauty shot here.  The recipe itself is vegan, but Joe and I can't see a dish of pasta without wanting to grate some Parmesan onto it, and we liked the additional depth of flavor that the cheese added.

[defensive]  I like that my homemade pasta ended up that pretty variegated red to pink to white instead of Viviane's even and lovely ruby colour.  [/defensive]




2 comments:

  1. Nicole, Thank you so much for your wonderful comment on my blog. I am delighted you enjoyed the pasta with roasted beets and although yours turned out pink, it is gorgeous too! If you try it again, make it with more beets and you'll see that you'll get the color to deepen.

    Good luck with your blog. You set yourself a wonderful goal of eating fresh, local foods. May others be inspired it.

    Happy cooking and happy eating!

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  2. Thanks so much for the good wishes and suggestion! We'll definitely have to try again with more beets.

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