Gigantic Tomato

This is by far my favorite time of year to go to the farmers market, it’s truly amazing. (If you’re interested in joining me next week, there are still a few slots left in my two market tours, 8am and 10am).

More than any other time of year the market is overflowing with life and bounty. The fruits are sweet, juicy and abundant, making it hard to decide which delicate morsels to cradle into my bag and try to get home undamaged.

O'Henry Peaches

Sea of Strawberries

We’re finally entering late summer, which means all the best summer tomatoes are finally here. The dry farmed early girls are my favorite, because they’re easiest to get home and amazingly sweet and rich in flavor.

Early Girl Tomatoes

But today I was also blown away by these giant heirloom tomatoes. They were as big as pumpkins!

Heirloom Tomatoes

While we’ve had sweet peppers for several weeks now, the spicy chilies are just starting to appear. I got some jalepenos, but I’m excited to see Thai chilies are available as well.

Thai Chilies

Eggplants, my gateway vegetable, are also a late summer delicacy. As a former eggplant hater, I find that the long thin plants are easier to work with and often taste better than their rounder cousins. The light purple color of these were particularly striking this week.

Eggplant

Late summer is also the time for corn, which not coincidently pairs exceptionally well with all the above vegetables. I love it raw off the cob or pan cooked quickly with summer squash and peppers. But I’m going to experiment with some new techniques using the ones I bought today.

Corn

Summer Squash

Of course cooking is more fun with the abundance of summer herbs. This time of year I always have cilantro, dill and basil on hand.

Fresh Dill and Cilantro

If you love basil, look around your farmers market for vendors that sell it with the roots attached. You can bring it home and put it into a vase with water. I’m still using one I bought several weeks ago with one of my market classes. Just be sure to change the water 1-2x per week, and that the plant has access to light. I tried keeping some in my kitchen but it always wilted in one day if I didn’t move it near a window.

Rooted Basil

This is also my favorite time of year for salads. I make a big one most days for lunch, and the huge variety of greens like spinach and radicchio help mix it up and allow me to make something that tastes different every day. I love how the bloomsdale spinach is so deeply colored that it almost looks blue.

Radicchio

Bloomsdale Spinach

Fresh legumes including peas, green beans and shelling beans are staples in my kitchen this time of year as well.

Cranberry Shelling Beans

Though I don’t talk about it much, melons (particularly the heirloom varieties I often find at the market) are a completely different experience when I get them directly from farmers. The rich complexity of the smell alone is intoxicating, and the flavor is nothing like the typical honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon I’ve had from the grocery store.

Watermelon

Lastly, the grapes are finally here. They’re particularly sweet and crisp this year, which is how I love them.

Red Flame Grapes

Today’s purchases (~$55):

• Dry farmed early girl tomatoes (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Green cippolini onions (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Tokyo turnips (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Heirloom tomatoes (The Peach Farm)
• Summer squash (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Eggplant (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Corn (Catalan Family Farm)
• Shelling peas (Iacopi Farm)
• Radicchio (Green Gulch Farm)
• Collards (Green Gulch Farm)
• Padron peppers (Happy Quail Farms)
• Sweet peppers (Happy Quail Farms)
• Jalepenos (Happy Quail Farms)
• Goat spare ribs (Marin Sun Farms)
• Ribeye (Marin Sun Farms)
• Eggs (Marin Sun Farms)

What did you find this week at the farmers market?

Photo by aechempati

There was a tremendous response to Monday’s guest post by Cheryl-Ann Roberge about how a fateful afternoon and some grilled veggies changed her life forever. Several of you reached out on Facebook/Twitter and mentioned you had your own gateway veggie stories.

Mine was eggplant. Once I realized eggplant didn’t have to be a slimy pile of mush, I figured there was hope for any vegetable. Since then I’ve learned to love all my childhood nemeses including beets, lima beans and brussels sprouts.

Every story like this is inspirational, and I’d love to hear yours. Please tell the story of your gateway vegetable in the comments below, and throughout the day I’ll update this post with my favorites.

What is your gateway vegetable?

“My gateway veggie was most definitely broccoli. Not because I never liked broccoli before (because I did, sort of), but because the first day I tried roasting it to a slight char with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper my eyes widened and my tastebuds exploded and my life has never been the same. That day, I ate two entire heads of roasted broccoli in one sitting, shoveling it into my mouth like I would french fries. Now I want to grill or roast any and every type of vegetable and they turn out delicious every time.” ~Kaylan

“I grew up with parents who HATE any veggie other than corn and green beans, so I always thought I hated them too. My last year of college I spent Thanksgiving with my favorite professor’s family (it was too expensive to fly home for the weekend) and to be polite, I took some of the asparagus dish he spent all morning making–and it was amazing! I think I ate half of the dish by the time dinner was over, and I’ve never turned down a new vegetable dish since.” ~Keisha

“I am horrified to admit mine involved the salad at Olive Garden. UGH!   Wow that was a long time ago (I think its been over 10 years since I have even BEEN one of those), but prior to that salad dressing my veggies of choice were corn and carrots.

Then after making the move to ovo-lacto vegetarian, a number of years later, I love trying new fruits and veggies.  Just this last weekend I had a Lychee for the first time.” ~IPBrian

“Growing up, my only experience with leafy greens was the frozen brick of spinach my mother would defrost in the sink, causing the paper packaging to warp and weaken. Thank goodness for my brother Francis who taught me about fresh spinach. I can recall my first taste of freshly sauteed spinach; the richness of the olive oil, the familiarity of the chopped garlic, the epiphany of shallot, the salt and pepper marrying everything together in a savory balance. This basic preparation has become a staple in my diet while inspiring me to approach any and all vegetables with an open mind. Simplicity and quality can take you far.” ~Maggie via Facebook

“Hibachi onions assembled to be a smoking volcano- as if the grilled butter wasn’t enough, I learned to have fun with my food!” ~@CarlyChamber via Twitter

“I still remember the dish: a roasted asparagus and red pepper salad at a fancy Italian restaurant 11 years ago. I was a poor college student, treated to an incredible meal while on spring break with my aunt and uncle. I never knew veggies could be so delicious. My college roommates teased me about how much I talked about that asparagus.” ~Christina

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Cheryl-Ann Roberge lives in Seattle and enjoys dining with strangers at restaurant bars, yoga and sea salt caramels. Follow her on Twitter @Pigeon_Feather.

Gateway Vegetables: My Story As A Born Again Foodie

by Cheryl-Ann Roberge

If you had told teenage me that she would one day be a vegetable lover, spice fanatic and adventurous eater, she would have sent her canned ravioli flying towards your face.

My name is Cheryl-Ann Roberge, I reside in Seattle and I am a born again foodie. This is my story.

The nineties were an underwhelming time in my food life. Eggs were one of the few things I enjoyed eating that didn’t come from a box or can. Even at a young age I tried to pick all of the oregano out of my spaghetti. I hated fruit and veggies. I tolerated apples and canned vegetables when required.

At age seventeen, I proudly declared that I would never learn how to cook and that I would live solely on canned ravioli.

It was simple: I didn’t like anything that had real flavor.

Epiphany

Two years into my “adult life” I was existing on of a steady diet of Easy Mac and cafeteria food.

Vegetables were the most difficult for me. But ironically, veggies were also the key that would open the doors to foods I would never have been interested in otherwise.

I went on about my business of eating meat with noodles or meat with rice or meat with bread and I was pretty happy with the rotation. I worked in the dorm cafeteria circuit at the university I attended in Milwaukee, WI and I liked telling people I was a lunch lady.

On a hot July day, my world was changed. A special picnic for new student prospects was being served outdoors and I was staffed to work. The picnic served food much different from the typical cafeteria fare. After the new students had been served, the cafeteria workers breaked for a meal together. I loaded my plate with a burger and whichever pasta salad I knew I wouldn’t eat much of.

I made my way to the grill and found it covered with a vegetable medley that I’d never seen served before. I kept walking. Mike the chef called me back and stuck veggie-filled tongs towards me. “I don’t do veggies, Mike.”

“These are different,” he explained. He was excited that he’d been allowed to make food he thought tasted good. Mike had once opened his own restaurant, but failed and ended up as a chef at the cafeteria where creativity was always superseded by budget. This was his banner day.

I declined once more before he gave the overhaul speech that broke me down. He lowered juicy, grill-marked asparagus, onion, zucchini and squash onto my plate as I shot him a look of disinterest. The veggies were cooked very simply: tossed with oil, salt and pepper and flung onto the grill. I’d never had something like this before.

I didn’t come away with a huge affinity for onions that time, but I had my first ever delightful experience with something I’d always found disgusting. I suddenly loved squash and zucchini, and thought asparagus was okay too.

Mike told me that I’d made his day. I raved for a week. My whole idea of food turned upside down, and it was just the beginning of a ten year revolution.

I’ve since learned to like onions, spinach, fish, shellfish, beets and strawberries. After discovering sushi, wasabi became my gateway into loving spicy food, which I’d never been able to tolerate.

My journey hasn’t ended. Last fall I took my first trip to Italy where I discovered cantaloupe served alongside dinner entrees. I had always been lukewarm about the fruit, but something about having light, juicy melon after a slice of delicious lasagna made me appreciate its sweetness in a way I never had. Now my least favorite fruit salad element has become a favorite.

It is difficult to express to you just how surprising and lovely these realizations can be. I live for them, and I try every new food I can. I plea bargain with other picky eaters I meet. I pester them to try new things. I invite them over for dinner and try to introduce them to something they’d never try.

Why should you try and try again?

As children, most of us are naturally adverse to beer, coffee and wine. A sip might be granted by a grandpa wearing a grin, which of course is followed by a grimace from the grandchild.

So how do most of us end up liking all three beverages despite the horrible trials we go through?

Practice, exposure and repetition are the keys to comfort. I expanded my taste in music the same way. I started listening to any music I could get my hands on and, as with food, I started having mini music epiphanies too.

Consider this: Why did most of us enjoy listening to the radio when we were children? We knew the songs and they were comforting, like canned ravioli.

How do country music haters end up enjoying Neko Case or Ryan Adams? It’s fresh and it didn’t come out of a can. You get the point.

A Simple Request

As a born again foodie I sit here in Seattle writing to you, Picky Eater. I’m late to work, because I care that much about your palate. I want you too to discover the pleasure of new foods. It has changed my life and given me unforgettable experiences with old friends and new.

As a bonus, it’s easier to get out and exercise because I’m not so weighed down by the processed junk food that I used to love. And my waistline is trim now.

Change your ways for those last two reasons if you must, but try new foods because they will eventually taste good and the rest will follow. Just don’t expect it all to happen over night.

What’s your gateway veggie?