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Market Fresh: Lots of newcomers this year

The market season is off to a great start. All the lovely sun has given the farmers a boost and every week brings a greater selection of fresh, locally grown food — even cauliflower.
galette

The market season is off to a great start. All the lovely sun has given the farmers a boost and every week brings a greater selection of fresh, locally grown food — even cauliflower.

Let’s have a look at what is available already.

One of our newest summer vendors, Crisp Organics has a great stall full of lovely spring things. Rhubarb, green onions, lovage, kales, spinach are available, as well as parsnips and burdock root.

Burdock root is interesting; a tea can made from it that is said to help with digestive issues. Lovage is another cool plant; also known as sea parsley, the leaves and stem of the lovage plant add an intense, celery-like flavour to soups, stews and stocks or pork and poultry dishes. It can also be used to enhance the flavour of potato dishes.

How about a new potato salad seasoned with lovage?

Another relative newcomer, Aslan Organics, has a great selection of salad greens already bagged and ready to go. Have you ever had tatsoi? It’s is a versatile green and may be used similarly to spinach, served raw, steamed, sautéed, braised or stir-fried. It makes an excellent accompaniment to other salad greens such as spinach, arugula, watercress, pea tendrils and mizuna. Its tangy and peppery notes pair well with citrus, crisp cool ingredients such as apple, fennel and mint, warm flavours that are abundantly found in chiles, garlic and allspice. Pair tatsoi with ingredients rich in umami such as scallops, mushrooms, seaweed, sesame and braised meats.

Fermented ingredients such as fish sauce, soy sauce and vinegars are also complimentary matches (specialtyproduce.com). Try sautéeing it in a bit of Aji and Koji salt to bring out its flavour. Both Aji Gourmet Products and Koji Fine Foods will be at market this summer, too.

Market favourite Forstbauer Farms are straddling the seasons, bringing with it winter beets as well as zucchini, rhubarb, spinach and arugula, One of my favourite ways to eat zucchini these days is to spiralize it; you quickly sautéed in olive oil and served with a generous topping of bolognese sauce and you have delicious, carb-free meal.

Try serving it with Sweet Thea’s new peasant bread if you have to have the carbs.

Lastly, Never Say Die has an abundance of peppers. Bright red and orange peppers bring such flavour and colour to your plate. A super fast meal is as easy as stir-frying peppers and onion in a garlicky oil-based dressing ( a KICS dressing perhaps?), tossing in some spot prawns and finishing it off with a bit of Golden Ears Cheesecrafters butter to add a bit of richness. Serve over rice with a spring salad on the side. Super easy.

Something to look forward to are strawberries. They will be ready soon. Mandair Farms says the countdown is on and they could be at market this weekend. That is when you know summer is truly on its way.

Karen Curtis is the Lemonade Lady (www.kicslemonade.ca and kicslemonade.blogspot.ca) at the Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam farmers markets. Her column runs monthly. 

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SAVOURY GALETTE AND GREEN SALAD

Try this delicious savoury galette with a spring green salad. It’s a great way to combine many market ingredients into a lovely lunch or light dinner. I have made it before and adapted the recipe from eatyourselfskinny.com

ZUCCHINI, SQUASH & RICOTTA GALETTE
Serves 12

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

1½ cups whole wheat flour

¼ tsp salt

8 tbsp butter, cold

2 oz. Neufchatel Cheese from Golden Ears (try the herbed one to make it even more interesting)

¼ cup of ice water, adding an additional tablespoon if necessary

Filling:

2 medium zucchini

1 clove garlic

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 tbsp honey

1 egg white

1 tbsp fresh thyme

¾ c shredded cheese of your choice, also from Golden Ears

Egg wash:

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. water

Topping:

1 tbsp olive oil

Fresh basil

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture looks like course chunks and then cut in cream cheese. Butter and cream cheese will resemble pea-like chunks in the flour; then mix in ¼ cup of ice water. Feel free to add an additional tablespoon of water, if needed. Shape dough into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
While dough is sitting in the fridge, make your filling. Slice zucchini , laying out your slices on sheets of paper towels. Sprinkle a little salt on each piece and let sit for 30 minutes, allowing paper towels to soak up the water. Blot dry after the allotted time has passed and set aside.
For the filling, whisk together ricotta cheese, egg white, garlic, honey, thyme and cheese. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly flour your surface and roll out your dough until it is a 12- to 14-inch circle. Place rolled dough on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and spread ricotta mixture over dough, leaving about 2 inches from the edge. Arrange zucchini over top of the mixture, overlapping as needed and fold over the edges of the pie crust. You want your pie to look like an even circle.
Whisk together egg yolk and a teaspoon of water and brush mixture over top of the crust. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and place pie in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle fresh basil, if desired. Enjoy.