Market Report: June 10th

I had a guest with me on my trip to the market this week, my beautiful niece Maiah. I love spending time with her and she is wonderfully encouraging and adoring, assuring me that I am so beautiful and fashionable that I should be a designer and other such vast, but delightful overstatements. We stopped first at the Little Prague pastry stall, where she stood for awhile, daunted and overwhelmed. The variety of fruit danish, poppyseed rolls and nut confections were just TOO much! She simply could not decide. After awhile, she decided we must move on; everything looked so good that she could not decide, so she would pass. This logic is mind-boggling to me, as I would have opted for the I can't decide I'll take 4 option, but move on we did.

I was a bit stumped this week. The challenge and knowing I must write about it has definitely added pressure. I really wanted to make salad, but I couldn't do that two weeks in a row! Oh no, they are watching! Maiah suggested spaghetti and meatballs, which inspired me to make a fresh pasta with a sauce of market ingredients. Pasta Primavera, just the thing! My inevitable visit to the bacon counter that is Seabreeze Farms inspired the addition of bacon to the dish. I would saute the bacon until crisp (cut into lardon), remove it, and then cook the vegetables in its unctious juices. Yes, I thought, I am on the right track. English peas were available this week, and I hadn't seen them the week before, so that was a must. Maiah could shell them while I made pasta. I picked up some lovely looking spring onions, and a striped variety of zuchini that the stand owner called Mexican. I had fresh basil and parsley at home, so I'd toss those in at the end. I also bought some parmesan cheese from Golden Glen Creamery out of Bow, Washington. They're having a Dairy Month Open House on June 27th - don't miss the hay rides and petting zoo! This parmesan was certainly not like a classic reggiano, but did have lovely nutty flavor and added some complexity to the pasta. Our market basket full and Maiah munching on a loaf of La Panzanella focaccia to tide her over, we left the market. It's worth mentioning that it was the first week that cherries were at the market, so I plan to utilize those somehow next time.



At home, we went to work. I made a simple pasta dough of 1.5 cups flour and 2 eggs, mixed in my food processor, squeezed together, wrapped in plastic wrap and allowed to rest 20 minutes or so. While the pasta rested, I sauteed the bacon lardon, removed them and added onions, zucchini and peas in that order, giving them each about 3-4 minutes before adding the next item. I wanted the onions to carmelize a bit and zucchini take longer than peas. I added dashes of chicken stock whenever things got dry and started to stick to the skillet to much and that deglazed things nicely and created a sauce. The zest of half a lemon and juice of the whole thing were an important edition and really brightened up the flavor. I added a touch of cream to the sauce and 1/4 cup of finely grated parmesan. I rolled out the pasta with my Kitchenaid pasta attachment (what a wonderful investment THAT has been) and then again into fettucine, dropping it almost immediately into boiling salted water for just 2 minutes and then into the sauce. I tossed it all together with 1/4 cup each flat-leaf parsley, fresh basil and the parmesan, added a touch of cream and plated. I have to say, I really really enjoyed the flavor and the pasta was perfect. Not overcooked like my pasta from the other night (that was so sad - still recovering)! Maiah also really enjoyed the dish, although Zack was not overly impressed. I dished him up first and I think his pasta had less of the sauce coating it and so was not as flavorful as the servings deeper in the skillet. That said, I feel decent about dinner. It was better than a finger in your eye.

Hope to see some of you tonight at Luscious Vino Values!