Farmer's Market Potluck

El Guapo and I try to eat as locally as possible.

This can sometimes be difficult, but lately there’s been a horn of plenty at the downtown farmer’s market.

the market

The really neat thing about this particular farmer’s market is that only local growers can be vendors, so you get to meet the people who touched your food.

from cybersalt

I went a little crazy at the market this time and got…a lot of stuff.

But it was so pretty.

However, I ended up in the kitchen staring at a large pile of produce and no plan.

from autismdiva

So I started snapping some photos and let the veggies do the talking.

from skyangel

It ended up being pretty delicious, through no skill of mine.

Here’s the goods.

the goods

And the plan that slowly unfolded.

I got red chard.

red chard

And fuschia chard. (not the scientific name)

fuchsia chard

I also got pea tendrils,

pea tendrils

baby carrots,

baby carrots

green onions,

green onions

mustard greens,

mustard greens

other greens,

other greens

and radishes.

radishes

First thing I did was wash the dirt off everything.

washing

Nothing assures me of freshness like dirt does.

washing some more

Then I chopped.

green onions

And chopped some more.

chopped radishes

I quit taking pictures of the chopped vegetables. There’s only so much you can do to part of a leaf to make it new and interesting.

Once everything was chopped I threw it all (except the pea tendrils) into a deep skillet.

skillet full

You know you want a close up.

here it is

Then I added some vegetable stock, olive oil, salt, and garlic and let it all simmer.

steamy

Radishes are surprisingly good when hot.

Now man (and especially me) cannot live on vegetables alone. I need protein.

Protein, I say! But I’m not so much of a carnivore, so I grabbed some lentils.

lentils

I usually do a 2 to 1 water to lentils ration, so I threw the lentils and 2 glasses of water into a pot.

water

pot

I also added some butter, since adding butter makes anything better.

Once the lentils were done (about 20 minutes), I combined it all in the deep skillet.

lentils added. sorry for the steam.

Then I ladled it all on a plate and topped it with pea tendrils.

plated

Hearty and so, so healthy.

suck it, martha.