Better late than never!
And Time Flies! All this to say: this is truly last week-end's Picks but a really busy week got in the way of raving about them. And since I had to forego this week-end's Market as it was a special week-end, I have no choice but catching up on last week's...
It had been another great run at the Market. Of course I had promised myself I would not buy tooooo much but these are hard promises to keep. However, I put some of it to good use right away, by making Pasta a la Carbonara for some hungry gremlins. Here I used fresh egg pasta tricolore, duck bacon, fresh eggs and garlic scape from the Market to obtain a rather moreish version of this dish (indeed, I was asked for seconds)...
While the Pasta was being eaten, I also made simple roasted round squashes for quick lunches and snacks...
And while the squashes were roasting, I made the most simple "amuse-bouche": thinly sliced round yellow squash (mild but natural and flavorful sweetness to it), with freshly ground salt and pepper...
Then came an "Asian ratatouille" of sort... The Japanese eggplant and budha squashes combined very nicely...
On another evening, I decided to make the Round summer Squash "Farcie" which I served with savory gluten-free squash and scallion muffins (made nice and moist by some of the pulp of the stuffed squashes)...
I also made another batch of coriander (cilantro) and cashew pesto. I used some of it, along with some other Market produce like Smoked duck breast and the round yellow squashes to create a couple more "amuse-bouches": slow roasted yellow squash with coriander (cilantro) and cashew pesto, forbidden rice-and duck breast bite...
And last but not least, those little flowers from the Basil plant I got 2 weeks ago... :-)
By the way:
- I used freshly ground Himalayan salt for the thinly sliced squash amuse-bouche, which made this little experience pretty, tasty and healthy...
- For the "Asian ratatouille", I simmered the squashes and eggplants in (about 1/4 cup) mirin, (1 good cup) "no-chicken" vegetable stock, a tbsp maple syrup, (a dash of) toasted sesame oil, soy sauce. I sprinkled the cooked and cooled vegetables with toasted sesame seed and finished with sliced scallion greens (optional).
- Am working on a few recipes to share for those gluten-free muffins I keep mentioning...