Sally’s Kitchen & Stuff

Ripe, juicy beefsteak tomatoes. Portabellas meaty enough to be a burger. Dark cherries glistening in the sun. Natural smoked meats in one stall, while a butcher serve up grilled meats in another. Unpasteurised fresh honey comb goes for $3, maple syrup goes for $10 for the bottle. Fresh ears of corn, $5 a dozen. So fresh you could just eat it after pulling off the husk. Last month, strawberries were in prime season. This month, the rasberries and cherries. Next month it’d be the reign of the blueberries.

I just live for the farmer’s market. In Toronto, we run farmer’s markets from the end of June until October, going from oranges to pumpkins. Even at the heart of town you can take the subway out to one. Makes you wonder why people even bother visiting the supermarket during the market season - prices are better, the produce is fresher, and you’re supporting local farmers.

I bought a couple of portabellos that smelled like grilled steak, a basket of cherry tomatoes that are bursting with flavour, corn, bell peppers ($2 for 4, orange sweet peppers) and ran out of time at the smoked meat stall. Tonight I’ll whip up a portobello recipe, but right now, I’m enjoying a great fresh tomato salad. When cherry tomatoes are this good, you won’t need much more than salt and pepper.

Carve up a handful of cherry tomatoes into halves, toss with a pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper, and a touch of olive oil. If you have some feta cheese handy, toss it in. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes. Tomatoes are at their best normally when bought green and left to ripen on the windowsill in the sun, but farm fresh ones picked ripe are the best.

So what are you waiting for? Google one of your local farmer’s markets and go shopping!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 15th, 2006 at 12:41 pm and is filed under Sally's Kitchen Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.