Since it is my usual schedule to go to Snohomish County on Saturdays, I decided to visit their local fresh produce stand that I had seen many times before, but always thought would be out of my price range. Since most of the produce comes straight from Sunnyside farms, I decided this would suffice for my Farmer's Market assignment and while there, I realized buying fresh was not as bank breaking as I thought it would be.
While researching for a recipe to make, my father sent me out to buy food for ratatouille. I would need to buy: eggplant, tomatoes, bell peppers (epicurious recipe), onions, parsley and various other things for the dish. And I threw in some fresh tortillas that just looked appetizing. The whole grocery list came to only about thirteen dollars, which although felt like a lot, still was not incredibly terrible for what I got. The vegetables were crisp and sweet, and vibrantly colored, and while there, Stephanie (the manager) came around to each customer with a bag of grapes and let us try the varying fruits.
Stephanie let us in on a little secret, she said that local farmers love when Yakima asparagus starts to come in because this means it is the beginning of fresh vegetables for the region. And the ratatouille my family made certainly tasted fresher than it had in the past, although the vegetables are cooked down, they retained a sweet taste that I had not tasted before.
Eller, Daryn. "Farmer's Markets: A Trip to Bountiful." Vegetarian Times. May 2002. pg 34
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Ratatouille is basically a vegetable dish right? This was a great receipt to explore several different vegetables at the Farmers Market. With the never ending variety of vegetables, I bet the sky was the limit when picking the perfect ingredients for your dish. After doing a little research on this dish I learned that it was a French recipe and there was also a Disney movie named after it. Good recipe!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that you (and others) were able to find affordable produce. Maybe it's because I went to a Seattle farmer's market and they have to raise the price to make up for travel expenses? I did notice that many vendors were from the whatcom area. I had thought that the organic sections in grocery stores were expensive compared to "regular" produce, but the farmer's market was even more expensive. I saw asparagus for about $4/lb when I could get it for half the price at a grocery store.
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