On happy routines and the farmers market

It's nice to step back and appreciate the small things. I did a lot of that this weekend. The weather was beautiful, both days the kind that beg you to begin noticing your surroundings again after months of rushing from point a to point b. Blossoms are everywhere and the air is fragrant with spring's beginnings. I don’t remember DC being so beautiful last year, but then again I’ve warmed to the city considerably in recent months, and I think I’m more willing on the whole to absorb the good things here.  

I went on my first real run through the city in a long time, and had my first trip of the season to the farmers market, though admittedly it was the second attempt of the weekend. I think I was just so happy to be wearing short sleeves outside that I managed to convince myself the market would be open on Saturday. My enthusiasm translated to me mixing the days up, and considering that I made Jake walk the mile plus with me, I think it’ll be a little while before I live that one down. But the morning wasn't wasted, as the walk there was lovely. 

I returned by myself early this morning (after double checking the hours…) and took my time walking through it, savoring all the vendors I hadn’t seen for months. The Dupont market stays open year round, but I tend to tire of apples and cold weather, so I wait until the spring yields a little more bounty and warmth. Sliding back into my beloved routine was so exciting.

That sounds like a contradiction, or like I’m very boring, but the hour I spend at the market with my hands buried in piles of tender greens and my nose overwhelmed by all manor of fresh goodness is one of the best parts of my week. I fall in love with the bright colors, the abundance of babies and dogs, the knowledgable chatty vendors and of course the generous samples. Even though it’s only March, I can almost taste the sweet corn and I pine for sticky hands full of peach juice. But in the mean time, here's what today looked like...

baby lettuce

beautiful rainbow chard

more of the beautiful chard. so colorful!

peach blossoms...who knew?!

more blossoms...

and of course apples

tulips...some of my favorites

And lastly, breakfast was sour dough with strawberry jalapeno jam, maple
cured bacon and runny free range eggs. 

when life gives you green tomatoes, fry them

You always want what you can’t have…an often-used saying that sums up our tendency to long for the unattainable. I know it well. Two things. Naturally straight hair — a stubborn and inconsistent curl pattern is not an easy thing to live with —and lately, ripe tomatoes. But this is a food blog, not a hair blog, so today I’m writing about the lack of good tomatoes in my life at the moment and how I get around that.

During the summer, my neighborhood has an awesome little Saturday farmers market about two blocks from my apartment. My favorite vendor is Chesley Vegetable Farms due in part to their impressive selection and abundance of tomato varieties. Check these babies out.

All summer long I’ve got the goods for salsa, tomato salads, and the occasional batch of red sauce to hoard away in my freezer when I am especially high on both ambition and time. Read: not often. But the tomatoes disappear in late September to make way for apples, and a few months later the market closes up shop until next spring. Inevitably I will add tomatoes to my list for the grocery store — since I can’t be expected to cut them out of my diet all together just because the local growing season is over, now can I — only to be met, year after year, with watery, hard, flavorless disappointment. I continue this dance for a few weeks, until I force myself to rip the band aid off and stop buying them when they’re not in season.

Pause for knowledge. Last fall I read a post on Eatocracy and learned that a good majority of the country’s winter tomatoes are picked when they’re green, reddening (but not ripening) when exposed to ethylene gas. The more you know…

(An old book on produce that I found at Omnivore Books on a trip to San Francisco this summer. If you squint, you’ll see that the author also laments the absence of quality year round tomatoes. I'm not alone.)

This somewhat lessens the urge I feel when passing them in the aisle, since the thought of biting into a raw green tomato is not altogether appetizing. However, the value of the green tomato is not lost on me, as I’ve realized in recent winters that it possesses quite a bit of utility, which is especially valuable when we’re starved for the real deal.

Enter the fried green tomato, currently enjoying a wave of popularity on restaurant menus, and also in my kitchen. They’re great on their own with remoulade or a simple aioli, and a luscious change up for the T in a BLT. Frying them delivers the soft flesh you associate with a ripe tomato, accompanied by a mellow tang and hot crispy exterior. Yum. People use various coatings…some like all flour, some all cornmeal and others use panko/more traditional breadcrumbs. I’m personally a fan of combining the silkiness of flour with cornmeal’s grit. Give this one a try, or play around to find your own method.

(Im)patiently awaiting summer's tomatoes,

Kira

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Recipe:

4 medium green tomatoes

1 cup buttermilk (you can use regular, but I like the tang buttermilk provides)

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon each cayenne pepper, kosher salt

vegetable oil, enough to shallow fry, about ½ inch deep in skillet

Slice tomatoes about 1/3 inch thick, expect 4 or 5 good slices out of each tomato.Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, garlic powder and cayenne in shallow bowl. Pour buttermilk in second shallow bowl. Heat oil on medium in a large skillet or pan. Dip tomato slices in buttermilk, then dredge in the flour/cornmeal mixture and drop into the oil in batches of 4 or so, taking care not to crowd them. Flip when golden brown, after 2-3 minutes, and fry another 2 minutes on the other side.

Remove tomatoes and place on paper towels or a cooling rack. A cooling rack will keep them crisper on the bottom, but paper towels will do in a pinch. Enjoy!

For a BLT, eat on thickly sliced multigrain bread or a baguette, spread with lemon mayo, a few slices of bacon and a fat handful of arugula.

Other toppings to mix and match: thinly sliced granny smith apples, pesto, avocado, cucumbers, watercress