Grapevine May 28 2006 Market

in this issue
--What's Coming to the Market this week?
--Recipe - Carrot Salad

It's been a rainy week but with a little luck we should have a fair day weather-wise on Sunday. If you are planning a Memorial Day outing, you'll have a good selection of fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, and other good things to choose from.

Sundance Lavender Farm and Salubrious won't be at the market this week. Both will be back next week. Unger Farm and Liepold Farm should be making their first appearances at the market next week if the weather cooperates and the berries ripen. Fraga Farm will be back at the market this week. See you on Sunday!

What's Coming to the Market this week?

So close and yet so far away. Acres of orange-colored Hood strawberries are sitting in fields, waiting for a string of warm sunny days to ripen them. Fortunately the early strawberries coming to the market have been great and will hold me over for now.

On the other hand, the rain and cool weather works well for greens so we can't complain too much. Lettuces (leaf, romaine, butter), spinach, kale, arugula and mustard greens should be in good supply. Broccoli, broccoli raab, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, carrots, snow peas, radishes, green garlic, spinach, shallots, onions, wild (morel) and cultivated (maitake and shitake) mushrooms and hydroponic tomatoes should be in good supply too. There should also be some zucchini and summer squash too.

Recipe - Carrot Salad

Carrots are one of those vegetables that you can find almost any time of the year. But there is always a small period of time where the locally grown carrots are hard to come by. From mid-April to mid-May, local carrots were hard to find. But they are back now and their flavor is so much better than the other carrots available.

Carrots, raw or cooked, are used in every course of a meal, from appetizer to dessert. Carrot salad is an easy dish to throw together quickly. There are many variations but all start with shredded carrots, usually about a pound and some kind of vinaigrette. Some salad recipes might add other root vegetables like beets or turnips. The recipe below, with ginger and rice vinegar, takes on an Asian flavor.

Carrot Salad

1 minced shallot
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound coarsely shredded carrots (about 4 cups)

Puree the shallots, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil in a blender or food processor. Add the olive oil in a slow stream while machine is running and blend until smooth. Toss carrots and dressing together in a bowl and serve.