Beautiful Carrots

If you ever wondered why Forrest Gump thought peas and carrots went so well together, it must have been because he loves springtime.

Sugar Snap Peas

The reason we think most foods go together, in fact, is because they tend to be in season around the same time and traditional recipes put them together.

Cute Asparagus

But it turns out lot of things go well with carrots. Their sweetness and crunch is a wonderful contrast to many of my favorite spring treats, like spinach, asparagus and collards.

Collards, Potatoes & Asparagus

As I mentioned last week, chard is fantastic right now as well. These red and white Swiss chard bunches were so bright I actually had to turn down the saturation in Photoshop, which most photogs know is almost never done on food photos. The pink was just blinding.

Beautiful Chard

It’s also a great time to get beets, fennel, lettuces, artichokes, herbs and other vegetables.

Red Beets

Hearts of Romaine

Spring Artichokes

Not always associated with spring, but a seasonal treat nonetheless are fresh walnuts and mushrooms.

Walnuts In Shell

Trumpet Mushrooms

I’m still waiting for the spring fruits to appear. Though a few strawberries have popped up here and there, they haven’t looked good enough to buy yet. So while I’m waiting, we’re still eating up the delicious oranges, mandarins, pomelo and tangelos while we can.

Golden Nuggets

Finally, if you’re into lilacs (the best smelling flowers ever), this is the most lovely season I’ve seen in years.

Lilacs

Today’s purchases:

• Purple carrots (Star Route Farms)
• Artichoke (Iacopi Farm)
• Rapini (Capay Organics)
• Fennel (Chue’s Farm)
• Broccolini (Chue’s Farm)
• Cara cara oranges (Paredez Farms)
• Mandarins (Paredez Farms)
• Tomatoes (Bruins Farm)
• Eggs (Marin Sun Farms)
• Walnuts (Kashiwase Farms)

For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

Just FYI next Tuesday March 8, at 6pm PST, I’ll be participating in a live chat hosted by Monica Reinagel, the Nutrition Diva.

I’ll be joining Monica, Ben Greenfield of BenGreenfieldFitness.com, and Gloria Tsang of Healthcastle.com to discuss the pros and cons of breakfast. I’ll be broadcasting the event here at Summer Tomato. For more info check out Nutrition Over Easy.

This week around the web people are learning to love fat again, disrupted sleep cycles can mess with your metabolism and how your thoughts can influence your habits.

I read many more wonderful articles than I post here each week. If you’d like to see more or just don’t want to wait until Friday, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or the Summer Tomato Facebook fan page. For a complete list of my favorite stories check out my links on Digg. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Once a Villain, Coconut Oil Charms the Health Food World <<I adore coconut oil, and it’s good to see people being nice to fat again. The saturated kind even! (New York Times)
• ‘Round-the-Clock’ Lifestyle Could Disrupt Metabolism, Brain and Behavior <<Circadian rhythms are essential to feeding cycles, and can be disrupted by light exposure. Messing with these systems isn’t a good idea. (ScienceDaily)
• Rich Americans flock to fast food <<BS of the week. This isn’t talking about you guys, right? Seriously someone in this article says she’ll gladly eat poison food if it means she can continue buying $400 shoes. Oy. (CNN)
• Happiness Improves Health and Lengthens Life, Review Finds <<Science says you should chill out. Stop and smell the roses for a better, longer life. (ScienceDaily)
• Better than a BMI? New obesity scale proposed <<Wouldn’t it be nice if we stopped using standards that don’t make sense? (Medline)
• Think Like a Hater to Help Break Bad Habits and Addictions <<Habits are the foundation of your health. Luckily good ones are just as sticky as bad ones. (Lifehacker)
• Higher Vitamin D Intake Could Cut Cancer Risk <<I’m not convinced supplements are the answer, but I can’t see any way around it at this point. (Medline)
• High good cholesterol linked to long life in men <<This article was great until it says at the bottom we need a pill to fix it. Want higher HDL? Eat fat, exercise and drink a little alcohol. (Medline)
• 15 Perfect Recipes for Peas <<Woohoo! Springtime! (Saveur)
• Spicy Smoky Kale Chips <<I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t love kale chips. Easy and delicious. (White On Rice)

What inspired you this week?

First Cherries

There were cherries today! The first stone fruit of the season finally arrived, and they were surprisingly delicious. I had trouble focusing on much else.

Luckily despite my excitement I still had enough wits about me to grab some heirloom tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella. The mission: caprese salad. The verdict: awesome. Yep, the heirloom tomatoes are finally tasty.

Sugar Snap Peas

Basil

Peas and fava beans are huge at the farmers market right now: sugar snap peas as well as snow peas and English shelling peas.

The asparagus season is peaking right now, so be sure you get your fill in the coming weeks.

Asparagus

I also found a rare delicacy today, green almonds. Though they were more developed and less sweet than I remember them from last year, it was still exciting to see them and I’ll definitely be trying them again this season.

Kumquats

Green Almonds

And aren’t kumquats pretty?

Do you have cherries yet at your farmers market?

Today’s purchases:

• Cherries (Twin Girls Farm)
• Heirloom tomatoes (Bruins Farm)
• Cauliflower (Catalán Family Farm)
• Baby broccoli (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Green almonds (Knoll Farms)
• Basil (Chue’s Farm)
• Parsley (Chue’s Farm)
• Fresh mozzarella (Cow Girl Creamery)

One of my favorite things about buying and cooking vegetables is that sometimes even old staples can surprise you.

I don’t know how long I’ve been cooking with leeks, but it has definitely been awhile. Last week though I had a leek epiphany: they are amazing!

Usually I use leeks at the start of a vegetable sauté. Nothing was especially different on the day of my epiphany, except I decided to cut the leek slices a little thicker than usual and let them brown a bit more before tossing in the other vegetables.

Spring Asparagus

Organic Purple Kale

I doubt the way I cut the leeks changed the flavor in any measurable way, but what it did was make them stick to the inside of the tongs I was using in chunks that were big enough for me to grab off and eat. Wow was I blown away.

So this week I was determined to stock up on leeks and experiment more with them. I was happy to see Dirty Girl Produce was selling leeks already cleaned, which I’m hoping will make storing and using them even easier.

Other than leeks, peas seem to be the star of the market right now. Sugar snap peas, English shelling peas and pea tendrils are everywhere and add a particular spring feeling to the market. I had a different agenda this week, but peas will soon be in my future.

Early Fava Beans

Snap Peas

Fava beans are also upon us and looking particularly beautiful. These are a labor-intensive vegetable, but well worth the effort as they are such a seasonal treat. I’m also loving artichokes these days, and will be sharing my favorite recipe later this week.

Spring salads should start making their way onto your menus soon. Seasonal lettuces like Miner’s lettuce, spinach and arugula are available, as are carrots, radishes and cucumbers.

Carrots and Radishes

Miner's Lettuce Bucket

Tomatoes are around too, though they still look much prettier than they taste. But I’m hopeful that they will be tasty soon, since I spotted my first basil this week.

First Basil

Tomatoes

Tiny broccolini are a vegetable I have been really enjoying the past few weeks, but it has been difficult to get a good picture of them until today. I like these because they are easier to work with than large broccoli crowns (just rinse and cook, no cutting) and are sweeter and more delicate. Definitely pick some up if you see them.

Strawberries

Broccolini

In fruit, strawberries are still the most exciting, though there is still a lot of delicious citrus available. But I’m really excited for the cherries and apricots I expect in the next few weeks.

And if you’re into flowers, you can’t go wrong this time of year at the farmers market.

Lupin Flowers

Today’s purchases:

• Fennel (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
• Carrots (Star Route Farms)
• Thyme (Star Route Farms)
• Watercress (Four Sisters Farm)
• Leeks (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Ruby chard (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (Happy Quail Farms)
• Three Africans coffee (Blue Bottle Coffee)