Open Sundays 10-2p at Moxon car park

My name is Helen Manis, and I’m a lawyer who lives in London. I love to bike around and listen to music at the same time, lethal though it is. I also love yoga, jogging and cooking. I am not particularly good at any of these things.

Farmers Market Update: Marylebone, London

by Helen Manis (photos by Michael Blyth)

Last Sunday I visited one of London’s larger farmers markets in Marylebone. Marylebone is actually called Marylebone village. Non-Londoners: if a place in central London is called a village, this means that it is expensive. The pretty high street is famous for coffee houses, restaurants and high-end interior shops. As well as the boutiques Marylebone also holds its weekly farmers market in a car park on a Sunday. I have always loved the relaxed feel of Marylebone and can happily spend a couple of hours with a coffee wandering around the stalls picking up the weekly groceries.

Marylebone Farmers Market

It’s worth getting to the market early. Unlike the more famous (and more expensive) Borough Market, the locals still outnumber the tourists, but the market can and does get busy and many items sell out by closing time. Its not surprising to see why—Marylebone has a huge range of artisan breads, fresh vegetables, dairy, organic meat and hot food. The stall owners are knowledgeable and friendly and many of the prices are not too bad all things considered. All of the food is sourced locally and the stalls are independently run.

One of the things that I love about Marylebone is the unusual food that you can pick up.  If you go, try and head to the Alham Wood Organics, which sells buffalo milk and cheeses. Almham is a really friendly family run organic farm who sell at a lot of the London farmers markets. The milk is amazingly creamy and tastes really clean. Their buffalo mozzarella is used at one of my favourite London restaurants – Franco Manca pizzeria in Brixton market.

Cheese

Less unusual but equally tasty are tomatoes. Call me unoriginal but tomatoes are my absolute favourite and I eat them pretty much every day in salads, roasted or as a base for sauces. I usually go to the Isle of Wight tomatoes stall. You can buy fresh tomatoes or their additive and preservative free products, which have won awards galore (for good reason).

Tomatoes

My best friend Stuart and I are having a bit of a love affair with fresh beetroot in salads at the moment so I pick up some for dinner together with heaps of fresh salad leaves from Dr Adrian Izzard’s stall.

Beetroot

The breads and home-made cakes are completely out of this world. I try and make my own bread (once it comes out of the oven I usually finish the entire loaf in about 20 mins) but some of the speciality loaves at the old Post Office Bakery are too tempting and I buy a date and walnut loaf. Obviously I pick at it on the way home.

Bread

Spring has truly sprung when the tulips are out. Tulips are one of the best flowers—they are cheap and simple but so pretty. I put them in a little Le Creuset milk jug.

Tulips

As always I could wander around for longer but life gets in the way. If you do find yourself in central London on a Sunday morning you could do worse than spend a couple of hours at Marylebone Farmers market.

What did you find at the market this week?

Tags: London, Marylebone Farmers Market

Rainbow Chard

It is absolutely glorious in San Francisco this weekend, one of those rare 80 degree days that we see maybe 4-5 times a year (and yes, I write about it every single time).

Spring Carrots

I was so happy to be back at the farmers market, having missed the past 3 weekends. As I had hoped all the spring goodies are appearing, like asparagus, peas, green onions and strawberries. Yes, I bought strawberries! And tomatoes!

Heirloom Tomatoes

Around this time of year I start craving daily salads. I think it is because the produce is so sweet and crisp, cooking anything too much almost feels like a crime against nature.

Large Lettuces

All greens are thriving now, including lettuces, spinach, kale, chard and assorted herbs. Top these with carrots, sweet peas, beets, artichokes, fennel, green onion and fresh spring eggs or chicken and you can’t go wrong.

Shelling Peas

It’s also a great time for broccoli and cauliflower, which were beyond gigantic today from Eatwell Farm.

Monster Cauliflower

Seriously we’ll be making a ton of roasted curry cauliflower with this bad boy.

9lbs Cauliflower

Oh, and did I mention I finally got my hands on Mercado?! They just started shipping, so if you pre-ordered one you should get it very soon. Place new orders here.

Mercado Test Drive

I got home all of my food no problem, even the heirloom tomato and delicate strawberries. Successful test!

Tangerine, Tangerine

There are still a few last remnants of winter, like these amazing tangerines we found. They are much sweeter and less sour than they were even just a few weeks ago. Get them while you can, because they’ll be gone before you know it.

Today’s purchases:

• Monster cauliflower (Eatwell Farm)
• Rainbow chard (Eatwell Farm)
• Strawberries (Catalan Family Farms)
• Green shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Parsley (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Beef filet (Marin Sun Farms)

Tags: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, San Francisco

Daikon Radish

Normally in San Francisco we lament our lack of summer. Despite being in California, this city is notorious for being buried under a 300 ft blanket of fog from June til August. But this year, winter is oddly lacking.

We’ve had some rainy days here and there, but they haven’t lasted long and have been interrupted with unapologetic bursts of sunshine. As you can imagine, this is affecting our crops.

Broccoli

Even though we’re only half way through February, winter produce has dwindled dramatically, and we’re already seeing spring vegetables like fava beans and green onions.

Spring Onions

I don’t know if this makes me happy or sad, but it is definitely odd. I mean, isn’t there something wrong with this picture?

February Tomatoes

But the nice part is walking through the market is a pleasure. The sun is out, but I haven’t seen the thick crowds we get in the summertime on those rare nice days.

Romanesco

Today I focused largely on green vegetables, but also brought home some seasonal goodies like mandarins and walnut oil.

Roasted Walnut Oil

I’m not sure what to make of the weather, but at least I’ll be eating well.

Today’s purchases (~$40):

• Assorted carrots (County Line Harvest)
• Baby fennel (County Line Harvest)
• Kabocha squash (County Line Harvest)
• Baby broccoli (Chue’s Farm)
• Lo bok (Chue’s Farm)
• Garlic (Chue’s Farm)
• Spring onions (Star Route Farms)
• Rosemary (Star Route Farms)
• Satsuma mandarins (Paradez Farms)
• Walnut oil (Glashoff Farms)

Tags: broccoli, daikon, romanesco, tomatoes, walnuts

Romanesco

January in San Francisco is apparently a zillion times nicer than summer. Sure we had some rain last week, but it was so warm, clear and beautiful today I actually went to the market in a summer dress. After last year’s summer of fog, this is was glorious.

Bay Bridge

I don’t know if this is global warming or what. It’s certainly strange to see tulips, usually a hallmark of spring that appears in early April or late March, on the last weekend in January. Hard to complain though.

Tulips in January

Despite the sun, most of the produce is still fairly wintery. One of the reasons I love this time of year is that brassica vegetables (the leafy greens) are so delicious now that eating lots of them is an absolute joy.

Cauliflower

I can’t get enough kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. This weekend we got a bunch of cabbage, daikon and carrots to make a big batch of healthy, probiotics-filled sauerkraut.

Leeks, Cabbage and Daikon

And speaking of carrots, they and other root vegetables like turnips and radishes are as sweet as can be. My puppy Toaster has learned to prefer these amazing farmers market carrots (yes my dog loves vegetables, go figure) and will actually turn his nose up at the ones I get at Whole Foods. Such a snob!

Colorful Carrots

It’s also a great time for fennel.

Fennel

For those of you still obsessed with my winter squash recipe, unfortunately they’re getting harder to find. That is, unless you prefer delicata the size of a watermelon.

Organic Winter Squash

All in all it was a lovely day. Happy winter!

Yellow Oyster Mushrooms

Today’s purchases (~$20):

• Purple cabbage (Chue’s Farm)
• Daikon (Chue’s Farm)
• Ginger (Chue’s Farm)
• Romanesco (Capay Organics)
• Cauliflower (Swanton Berry Farm)
• Kale (County Line Harvest)
• Carrots (County Line Harvest)
• Cherry juice (Hidden Star Orchards)

Tags: cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, delicata squash, fennel, mushrooms, romanesco, tulips

Pink Radishes

FINALLY! I’m back at the farmers market. It’s been so long. After going to Maui, New York, Paris, Las Vegas, LA and Disneyland, I couldn’t be happier to be back in SF with my beloved local produce.

I feel like I missed the fall altogether, but the winter seems to be going along splendidly without me.

Asian Pears

This time of year, apples and pears are winding down and citrus fruits will be the center of attention for awhile.

Satsumas

I got myself a stack of blood and navel oranges, and of course some Meyer lemons.

Meyer Lemons

But I’m just as excited about the rest of the winter produce. Something amazing happens to vegetables this time of year. Though I can usually find tasty kale and cabbage year round, in the winter they become sweeter and their flavor becomes irresistible. Same is true for broccoli and cauliflower.

Winter Produce

Romaine Lettuces

Root vegetables also make a turn for the sweeter side. Though you are probably already familiar with carrots and beets, this time of year you should branch out and try turnips, rutabagas, and radishes.

Assorted Turnips

Just like the leafy greens mentioned above, root vegetables that can get very spicy and hard to eat during the warmers month, but become sweet and crisp when the weather cools.

Purple Turnips

I love to slice up a small radish or turnip and add them to my kale to add an extra dimension of flavor and texture. But many of the root vegetables can also be eaten raw. Daikon, a large Japanese radish, is one of my favorites.

Daikon

And though I prefer purple kohlrabi slightly cooked, I had to show off how huge these guys were. They’re normally the size of a baseball or smaller. Not today!

Monstrous Kohlrabi

I picked up a few other odds and ends today as well, including some fresh bay leaves to use in the slow cooker this weekend.

Culinary Bay

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be back at the market and back in the kitchen again.

Today’s purchases:

• Lacinato kale (Capay Organics)
• Carrots (Capay Organics)
• Radishes (Capay Organics)
• Bloomsdale spinach (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
• Brussels sprouts (Iacopi Farm)
• Blood oranges (Hamada Farms)
• Navel oranges (Hamada Farms)
• Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
• Onion (Chue’s Farm)
• Canned early girl tomatoes (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Bay leaves (Thomas Farm)
• Bacon (Fatted Calf)
• Pork rib roast (Fatted Calf)

Want to share your farmers market with Summer Tomato readers? Read this to learn more.