Broadway Farmer's Market, also known as mecca. My trip and the resulting week's menu

For many people going to the local Farmer's Market is a pretty common occurrance, maybe even passe' for some.  But for me I always seem to have a work schedule that is exactly opposite any of my local market's schedules.  It is very rare that I find one that I can attend.  But I took today, Sunday, off work and was smart enough to remember that I had not been to one in ages and I should definately find one to go to today.  And go I did!  With chico bags and a backpack I decided to hit the Broadway Market on Capitol Hill.  Let me just say that it has been a very long time since I have enjoyed a day as much as I have enjoyed today. I found so many great things and talked to some wonderful vendors and have designed a menu for the week inspired entirely from my purchases today.

Here is my haul from the day...

Purslane-a succulent, small-leaf plant with a citrus flavor. Often found in gardens and considered a weed.
Zucchini- you know what these are. I got green ones.
Princess eggplant-miniature versions of regular eggplants, about 2-3" long
Thai eggplant-squat, round and small variety of eggplant.
White eggplant- a medium size, beige colored eggplant. Looks like the teenage version of the baby eggplant but white.

Cranberry beans-a shelling bean that has a white and deep pink-spotted shell. The beans inside are white with pale pink specs. A local chef I met says the pink does not stay through cooking. Bummer.
Fortex green beans-very long and thin and extremely tender.


I was immediately inspired by the demo by Chef Olaiya Land of Loaiya Land Catering. She created a simple but flavorful tomato and green been salad with homemade pesto.  Blanched fortex green beans, fresh pesto made on the spot, tossed together with cherry tomatoes, cut in half.  I knew I was going to make this so I ran to get my fortex beans.

But as I continued to cruise the market, on my 6th lap around I believe, I noticed I kept seeing something called purslane. I asked about it, tasted the citrus leaves and immediately thought this would be an excellent alternative for the basil in the pesto and the extra citrus flavor would probably enhance the green beans even more.  I was going to do a 50/50 mix of basil and purslane but after finding a Greek purslane pesto recipe online, I decided to go all the way with it. Afterall, I had a big bunch to work with and if it's good, I will freeze the rest like you would do with pesto.  I will serve the pesto two ways: once with the green beans as described and once on linguini. It will also be used as a finishing garnish instead of parsley.

The zucchini will be used in some zucchini fritters, inspiration compliments of a client I was talking to on the phone at work. She said she was cooking so I had to ask, "Whatcha makin?"  She gave me her recipe for the zucchini fritters, a family recipe.  How generous of her to share that with a total stranger like me!!

The cranberry beans will become part hummus experiment and part side dish.  After I've sheledl the beans and boiled them until tender in salted water  I will saute them in olive oil, butter and maybe some shallots. Perhaps the purslane will add a nice final touch, minced and sprinked on top.  For the hummus, I will blend them with some tahini, lemon, parsley, etc and see how that goes. To bad the color fades with cooking, pink hummus would have competely rocked!

The eggplants will just be cut and sauteed in olive oil because I want to taste the 3 varieties and see what the differences are.  I think they will all look pretty in one dish.

So here is the final menu for the week, not necessarily in this order:

Grilled Chicken Sausage with purslane pesto linguini

Grilled tri-tip with the purslane pesto green bean/tomato salad dish from the demo

Pork chops marinated in my classmate's own BBQ sauce served with zucchini fritters. Thanks Lamonte' for the sauce

Roasted chicken with mushroom ragu and sauteed cranberry beans

Lamb chop with baby eggplant medley and cranberry bean hummus.

I have got A LOT of cooking to do this week. On top of  a 40 hours work week and 17 hours of school.  But this is what its all about for me. For some people this sounds like a nightmare but for me, it's totally heaven on earth. All this cooking is my form of relaxation and entertainment. It feeds me in so many more ways that just the one.  Thanks for reading and if you have any interesting uses or ideas for any of these ingredients, please let me know!