Grapevine June 25 2006 Market

in this issue
--What's coming to the Market this week?
--Cool Summer Salad for a Hot Summer Day

This Sunday's market will be a hot one and not just because of the temperature. Ayers Creek Farm is back
in Hillsdale this week with raspberries, frikeh and other good things. Marvin "SpeedLimit" Gershowitz will be playing an acoustic set at the market this weekend too. Tastebud is back at the market this week as is Little Pots and Pans.

The Hillsdale Alliance will be conducting a book sale on July 30th in concert with the 30th Annual Hillsdale Business and Professional Association Pancake Breakfast. Alliance Volunteers will be at the market collecting books at the SW Capitol Hwy entrance starting this weekend until July 23rd. Stop by the donation table with your books and to learn more about the Alliance. See you on Sunday!

What's coming to the Market this week?

Raspberry season has definitely begun. At least six farms will be bringing raspberries this weekend.
There will be plenty of strawberries and some blueberries too. Cherries are in good supply with several varieties available.

As for vegetables, English peas, snap peas and snow peas will be readily available. We'll see what this
weekend's hot weather does to the crop in the coming week. New potatoes are coming in as are many
varieties of lettuce and other greens. This is probably the last week for asparagus but green beans, salad onions, sweet onions, fresh shallots and garlic are plentiful.

Availability list

Cool Summer Salad for a Hot Summer Day

You know it's early summer when peas start showing up at the market. Snow peas, snap peas and English
peas are all readily available. The season for peas is fairly short although the edible pod peas can withstand heat better than the others. English peas need to be shucked but edible pod peas can be eaten in the pod. Just snap off each end and remove the strings.

Peas are pretty easy to prepare and there are a lot of great recipes using fresh peas. But fresh peas are so sweet that they can be eaten raw . Given the hot weather expected for this week here's a salad recipe using fresh peas and other vegetables you can find at the market this week.

Early Summer Salad

for the salad:
1/2 pound English peas, unshelled
1 sweet onion or salad onion
2 small heads of lettuce (butter is best but redleaf, greenleaf, french crisp or romaine are fine)
3 small carrots
2 small tomatoes

for the dressing:
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Tear the lettuce into bite size pieces. Cut the onion in half and thinly slice. Shell peas. Peel the carrots and cut into thin matchsticks. Cut the tomatoes into 1 inch chunks.

Stir together the garlic, mustard and lemon juice in the salad bowl. While stirring, add olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Add the prepared vegetables to the salad bowl, toss and serve.