Today marks the return of our This Week’s Harvest feature, giving you new recipes to try with the summer fruits and vegetables you will find at farmers markets and farm stands all across the region.
Each week, farmers in our area offer a wide variety of produce for sale, and we want to showcase new ways you can prepare and enjoy it, to help you eat fresh and healthfully.
This is the seventh year we have run our This Week’s Harvest feature. For the first four years, we relied on what produce we could find at local farmers markets each week for inspiration. The past two years, we purchased a farm share from a community supported agriculture program or CSA, to illustrate another way to obtain fresh produce during the summer.
This year we’re heading back out to farmers markets, looking for the best produce to spark some creativity in the kitchen.
For those of you who may be interested in purchasing a CSA share, a new one just opened up at the Interval Brotherhood Home, 3445 S. Main St., Coventry Township. The IBH Garden was started on one acre at the campus in 2012 and expanded to three acres this year.
The program offers 20 weeks of produce for $200. IBH also sells its produce at a roadside stand for those who don’t want the commitment of a CSA. To purchase a share, visit www.ibh.org/IBH_Garden and download and application.
We ran our annual listing of farmers markets in last week’s food section. If you missed it, find it online at www.ohio.com/lifestyle/food/2013-farmers-markets-1.399637.
Since the list ran, we also got word that a new market will be taking place in Sharon Center Township, beginning Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Community Park soccer fields, just south of the circle on Route 94 (Ridge Road), and continuing every Sunday through midfall. (An official end date hasn’t been set yet.)
In addition to combing the produce tables at local markets this year, I will be at four markets throughout the season offering cooking demonstrations to show you how to use what you are purchasing that week.
Here’s my market schedule:
• Thursday, July 18, 3 to 6 p.m. Copley Creekside Farmers Market, 1245 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road.
• Wednesday, July 31, 2 to 6 p.m., Barberton Farmers Market, Third Street Northwest, between West Park Avenue and West Tuscarawas Avenue.
• Saturday, Aug. 17, 9 a.m. to noon, Countryside Farmers Market at Howe Meadow, 4040 Riverview Road, Cuyahoga Falls (four miles south of state Route 303 and Riverview intersection).
• Tuesday, Sept. 3, 3 to 6 p.m., Akron General Health & Wellness Center-West, 4125 Medina Road, Bath Township.
Please stop by to say hello and have a sample of what I am cooking up.
Until then, give these recipes a try to make use of the late spring produce that is available now.
OMELET WITH ASPARAGUS, GREENS AND PECORINO
½ bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
8 large eggs
2 tbsp. grated Pecorino Romano
¾ cup baby arugula
Prepare an ice-water bath. Blanch asparagus in a pot of boiling, salted water until bright green and just tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to the ice bath to cool, then drain.
Heat a large skillet over medium-low. Add olive oil and swirl to coat. Whisk eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Pour into pan and cook until omelet is just set, tilting pan and lifting up sides of set egg with a spatula to allow uncooked egg to run underneath, 7 to 8 minutes.
Top half of the omelet with Pecorino Romano, asparagus and arugula. Flip other half over top and cook until cheese melts, about 30 seconds more. Cut into wedges to serve.
Makes four servings.
— Meatless, from the Kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
SALAD WITH NEW POTATOES, SMOKED SALMON AND PEAS
1½ lbs. small new potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into ½-inch thick slices
1 cup shelled garden peas (from about 12 oz. pods)
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
Pinch of dry mustard
Coarse sea salt, to taste
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon or dill leaves, or 1 tsp. dried
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 oz. smoked salmon, cut into small pieces (optional)
Bring water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook until they are soft when pricked with a knife, about 15 minutes. (Be careful not to overcook them or they will become mashed potatoes when stirred.)
While the potatoes are cooking, bring water to a simmer in the bottom of a vegetable steamer. Add the peas to the steamer basket, cover and steam until they are just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain.
Prepare the dressing. Combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and the dried tarragon, if using, in a small glass or jar. Set aside.
Drain the potatoes and combine them with the peas in a large bowl. Toss, and then stir in the onion, the salmon, if using, and the fresh tarragon or dill if using. Serve at room temperature.
Serves four to six as a side dish.
— The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook, Barbara Damrosch & Eliot Coleman
Lisa Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or at labraham@thebeaconjournal.com. Find me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @akronfoodie or visit my blog at www.ohio.com/blogs/lisa.