Tag: Silverbrook Farm

Farmers Market Asparagus Ragout à la Jacques Pepin

We have had Asparagus Ragout for supper repeatedly in recent weeks. We visited the Provincetown Farmers Market on a recent trip to our favorite spot on the tip of the Cape and bought a bunch of asparagus from Silverbrook Farm. We didn't want to turn on the oven in our rental apartment to roast it, so Penny remembered a Jacques Pepin cooking technique for cooking fresh vegetables in a little water and a bit of butter. We both loved the result.

After returning home, we located a Jacques Pepin video with instructions for what he calls Asparagus Ragout. (This dish is first up on this the program.)

Via Wikipedia we found this about Ragout, "The term comes from the French ragoûter, meaning: 'to revive the taste." The Italian ragù (the word being borrowed from French) is a sauce such as Ragù Napoletano used typically to dress pasta."

While this farm fresh asparagus did not need reviving, this method of cooking it certainly results in great flavor complete with a light sauce. (Naturally, Ed selected his favorite utensil – a slice of fresh bread – and sopped up every drop of the sauce remaining on his plate.)

When we returned to Boston, we bought more asparagus at the Atlas Farm stand at the Copley Square Farmers Market and had a second supper of lovely, local asparagus.

We do peel the stalks and this time we had watched the video and followed Jacques' method. If you have the time, you can make an asparagus soup from the trimmings.

We highly recommend this quick and easy cooking method for many of the fresh, local vegetable you'll be gathering at local markets this summer.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino

May 30, 2018
Vacation from Cooking (Well Almost) with Tips for Planning Take-Out Meals
In April, we took a two-week vacation to our favorite, little beach house on Provincetown Harbor. The tiny house has a complete kitchen and this particular unit at the Bayshore/Chandler complex is well equipped for a cook with good pans, solid cutting boards, and sharp knives. But this year I decided to take a break from cooking and enjoy the wonderful take-out options that are now available year-round in Ptown.

I did sear off some scallops for Ed on a couple of evenings. Mac's Fish House Provincetown offers pristine seafood in the market adjacent to their restaurant.

They would have been happy to cook a lobster for me, but past experience told me the lobster meat offered by the pound would make an excellent lobster roll without the work of cracking and cleaning the crustacean.

Take-Out options at Far Land Provisions change daily. (Photo courtesy of Far Land Provisions website)

Casual Dining Options

Having a full kitchen and comfortable indoor and outdoor dining areas opens up your food options. You don't have to dine out, but you are also not required to cook. Breakfast is pretty routine for us. We both prefer oatmeal and fruit. Once settled and unpacked, we make a supermarket run and stock up on breakfast food, drinks, salad ingredients, and snacks. After that, we try to add some prepared food each day from local shops like Angel Foods and Far Land Provisions.

Shepherd's pie from Angel Foods with layers of meat, vegetables, and potatoes

Tips For Vacation Take-Out

After years of practice, we've come up with some recommendations for those who may decide to supplement dining out with some take-out food in a vacation rental.
- Early in the vacation, if you have a larger group, a roasted chicken can be a good start on having a protein supply on hand.
- To be sure we would use up our chicken (and because I wasn't planning to cook anything that might use a whole chicken), we opted for grilled chicken breasts. Sliced, they can be used for sandwiches or tossed in salads.
- To ensure we kept up a fairly balanced diet, we tried to have a variety of fruits & vegetables on hand along with dairy, grains, and protein – which in our case meant lots of fresh seafood.
- Prepared meals like the shepherd's pie from Angel Foods (shown in the photo above) offered an easy but healthy, balanced dinner.
- Don't forget the soups. We always pick up a frozen soup from Angel Foods as a part of our first supply run. Then there's something for anyone who wants a lighter meal. And, if you don't use it, it will help keep the cooler chilled on the return trip.
- Grilled salmon from Farland is another wonderful base for a meal. You can warm it, enjoy it cold, add it to salads, or mash it with some sour cream to top toast.
- Farmers markets, when they are open, can be great fun on vacation. In Provincetown, we enjoy seeing old friends like the folks from Silverbrook Farm in a different setting.
- Enjoy favorite foods from favorite places. They were not open for the season during our April trip, but this fall we'll be sure to have the clam chowder (photo below) from The Canteen.
- Remember the full-service restaurants. Some of these will be happy to prepare a take-out meal for your enjoyment.
Clam Chowder from The Canteen in Provincetown.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Related articles

Daytrip to the Lobster Pool in Rockport, MA

Growing Fond of the Boston Public Garden Fence

Champagne Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée, Love at First Sip!
May 25, 2016
Vacation from Cooking (Well Almost) with Tips for Planning Take-Out Meals
In April, we took a two-week vacation to our favorite, little beach house on Provincetown Harbor. The tiny house has a complete kitchen and this particular unit at the Bayshore/Chandler complex is well equipped for a cook with good pans, solid cutting boards, and sharp knives. But this year I decided to take a break from cooking and enjoy the wonderful take-out options that are now available year-round in Ptown.

I did sear off some scallops for Ed on a couple of evenings. Mac's Fish House Provincetown offers pristine seafood in the market adjacent to their restaurant.

They would have been happy to cook a lobster for me, but past experience told me the lobster meat offered by the pound would make an excellent lobster roll without the work of cracking and cleaning the crustacean.

Take-Out options at Far Land Provisions change daily. (Photo courtesy of Far Land Provisions website)

Casual Dining Options

Having a full kitchen and comfortable indoor and outdoor dining areas opens up your food options. You don't have to dine out, but you are also not required to cook. Breakfast is pretty routine for us. We both prefer oatmeal and fruit. Once settled and unpacked, we make a supermarket run and stock up on breakfast food, drinks, salad ingredients, and snacks. After that, we try to add some prepared food each day from local shops like Angel Foods and Far Land Provisions.

Shepherd's pie from Angel Foods with layers of meat, vegetables, and potatoes

Tips For Vacation Take-Out

After years of practice, we've come up with some recommendations for those who may decide to supplement dining out with some take-out food in a vacation rental.
- Early in the vacation, if you have a larger group, a roasted chicken can be a good start on having a protein supply on hand.
- To be sure we would use up our chicken (and because I wasn't planning to cook anything that might use a whole chicken), we opted for grilled chicken breasts. Sliced, they can be used for sandwiches or tossed in salads.
- To ensure we kept up a fairly balanced diet, we tried to have a variety of fruits & vegetables on hand along with dairy, grains, and protein – which in our case meant lots of fresh seafood.
- Prepared meals like the shepherd's pie from Angel Foods (shown in the photo above) offered an easy but healthy, balanced dinner.
- Don't forget the soups. We always pick up a frozen soup from Angel Foods as a part of our first supply run. Then there's something for anyone who wants a lighter meal. And, if you don't use it, it will help keep the cooler chilled on the return trip.
- Grilled salmon from Farland is another wonderful base for a meal. You can warm it, enjoy it cold, add it to salads, or mash it with some sour cream to top toast.
- Farmers markets, when they are open, can be great fun on vacation. In Provincetown, we enjoy seeing old friends like the folks from Silverbrook Farm in a different setting.
- Enjoy favorite foods from favorite places. They were not open for the season during our April trip, but this fall we'll be sure to have the clam chowder (photo below) from The Canteen.
- Remember the full-service restaurants. Some of these will be happy to prepare a take-out meal for your enjoyment.
Clam Chowder from The Canteen in Provincetown.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Related articles

Daytrip to the Lobster Pool in Rockport, MA

Growing Fond of the Boston Public Garden Fence

Champagne Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée, Love at First Sip!
May 25, 2016
At The Market: Old Friends at Copley Square

Our once or twice-a-week visits to the Copley Square Farmers' Market are a combination of shopping and chatting with old friends. Penny has been shopping at this market for more than twenty years and some of the stands we frequent have been there even longer. During the past few years, Ed has joined this wonderful community.

Last week, Ann Starbard of Crystal Brook Farm and Penny chatted between customers and caught up on what's been happening in their city and farm lives. Over the years, Ann has added a great selection of flavors to her goat cheese selections.

Rather than constantly adding more varieties, she tries to suggest matches with current seasonal products from other farms at the market. Last week, she was suggesting her chive cheese with the strawberries that were adding a deep, red pop to the market tables.

We love to offer guests her ginger goat cheese with a fruit platter for snacking or dessert. Last weekend, we enjoyed it spread on an Iggy's baguette with a glass of rosé wine from the South of France.

Ed and Poppy (our Westie puppy) often sit on a bench next to the Cook's Farm and Bakery stand while Penny backtracks through the market to purchase what we spotted on our initial walk around. Simeon Cook welcomes us and supplies Ed with the oatmeal raisin cookies that keep his sweet tooth under control.

This was a much better maple syrup season than last and Cook's has jugs of Grade B syrup on the stand. Penny loves the deep, rich flavor of Grade B syrup and it's one of the secrets of her meltingly delicious lamb shanks in chipotle sauce recipe.

The Word from the Farms

Lily Carone from Atlas Farm said, "Cukes are not far off – cabbage, carrots, peppers, and eggplant too…" "What few plant starts are still making appearances at market will soon be put to rest – so take this opportunity to plant some basil in a window box – or slip some tomatoes in the ground for a late season treat!"

Marshall's Farm tweeted, "Sweet Peas started last week and hopefully Green Beans are right behind them."

In Season, Right Now!

Foppema's Farm/Keown Orchards had the first cabbage we've seen this season. Time to make some cole slaw! They also have some of the best tasting honey we've had from any farm. It's our choice for our daily dose of local honey for allergy relief.

Micro-Greens were at both the Atlas stand from Old Friends Farm and at Silverbook Farm.

Eggs, meat, and fish are always in-season and available at more markets.

We also saw: strawberries, tatsoi, cut herbs (cilantro, parsley, basil, and dill), hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Strawberries! Enjoy them now. Some farms lost a portion of their crops due to the rain in June.

Coming Soon!

Blueberries and early raspberries – Barbara Hamilton from Hamilton Orchards hopes to have ripe berries around the Fourth of July.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your Kitchen & Dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 27, 2013
At The Market: Old Friends at Copley Square

Our once or twice-a-week visits to the Copley Square Farmers' Market are a combination of shopping and chatting with old friends. Penny has been shopping at this market for more than twenty years and some of the stands we frequent have been there even longer. During the past few years, Ed has joined this wonderful community.

Last week, Ann Starbard of Crystal Brook Farm and Penny chatted between customers and caught up on what's been happening in their city and farm lives. Over the years, Ann has added a great selection of flavors to her goat cheese selections.

Rather than constantly adding more varieties, she tries to suggest matches with current seasonal products from other farms at the market. Last week, she was suggesting her chive cheese with the strawberries that were adding a deep, red pop to the market tables.

We love to offer guests her ginger goat cheese with a fruit platter for snacking or dessert. Last weekend, we enjoyed it spread on an Iggy's baguette with a glass of rosé wine from the South of France.

Ed and Poppy (our Westie puppy) often sit on a bench next to the Cook's Farm and Bakery stand while Penny backtracks through the market to purchase what we spotted on our initial walk around. Simeon Cook welcomes us and supplies Ed with the oatmeal raisin cookies that keep his sweet tooth under control.

This was a much better maple syrup season than last and Cook's has jugs of Grade B syrup on the stand. Penny loves the deep, rich flavor of Grade B syrup and it's one of the secrets of her meltingly delicious lamb shanks in chipotle sauce recipe.

The Word from the Farms

Lily Carone from Atlas Farm said, "Cukes are not far off – cabbage, carrots, peppers, and eggplant too…" "What few plant starts are still making appearances at market will soon be put to rest – so take this opportunity to plant some basil in a window box – or slip some tomatoes in the ground for a late season treat!"

Marshall's Farm tweeted, "Sweet Peas started last week and hopefully Green Beans are right behind them."

In Season, Right Now!

Foppema's Farm/Keown Orchards had the first cabbage we've seen this season. Time to make some cole slaw! They also have some of the best tasting honey we've had from any farm. It's our choice for our daily dose of local honey for allergy relief.

Micro-Greens were at both the Atlas stand from Old Friends Farm and at Silverbook Farm.

Eggs, meat, and fish are always in-season and available at more markets.

We also saw: strawberries, tatsoi, cut herbs (cilantro, parsley, basil, and dill), hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Strawberries! Enjoy them now. Some farms lost a portion of their crops due to the rain in June.

Coming Soon!

Blueberries and early raspberries – Barbara Hamilton from Hamilton Orchards hopes to have ripe berries around the Fourth of July.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your Kitchen & Dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 27, 2013
At The Market: Old Friends at Copley Square

Our once or twice-a-week visits to the Copley Square Farmers' Market are a combination of shopping and chatting with old friends. Penny has been shopping at this market for more than twenty years and some of the stands we frequent have been there even longer. During the past few years, Ed has joined this wonderful community.

Last week, Ann Starbard of Crystal Brook Farm and Penny chatted between customers and caught up on what's been happening in their city and farm lives. Over the years, Ann has added a great selection of flavors to her goat cheese selections.

Rather than constantly adding more varieties, she tries to suggest matches with current seasonal products from other farms at the market. Last week, she was suggesting her chive cheese with the strawberries that were adding a deep, red pop to the market tables.

We love to offer guests her ginger goat cheese with a fruit platter for snacking or dessert. Last weekend, we enjoyed it spread on an Iggy's baguette with a glass of rosé wine from the South of France.

Ed and Poppy (our Westie puppy) often sit on a bench next to the Cook's Farm and Bakery stand while Penny backtracks through the market to purchase what we spotted on our initial walk around. Simeon Cook welcomes us and supplies Ed with the oatmeal raisin cookies that keep his sweet tooth under control.

This was a much better maple syrup season than last and Cook's has jugs of Grade B syrup on the stand. Penny loves the deep, rich flavor of Grade B syrup and it's one of the secrets of her meltingly delicious lamb shanks in chipotle sauce recipe.

The Word from the Farms

Lily Carone from Atlas Farm said, "Cukes are not far off – cabbage, carrots, peppers, and eggplant too…" "What few plant starts are still making appearances at market will soon be put to rest – so take this opportunity to plant some basil in a window box – or slip some tomatoes in the ground for a late season treat!"

Marshall's Farm tweeted, "Sweet Peas started last week and hopefully Green Beans are right behind them."

In Season, Right Now!

Foppema's Farm/Keown Orchards had the first cabbage we've seen this season. Time to make some cole slaw! They also have some of the best tasting honey we've had from any farm. It's our choice for our daily dose of local honey for allergy relief.

Micro-Greens were at both the Atlas stand from Old Friends Farm and at Silverbook Farm.

Eggs, meat, and fish are always in-season and available at more markets.

We also saw: strawberries, tatsoi, cut herbs (cilantro, parsley, basil, and dill), hakurei turnips, fennel, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic scrapes, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, scallions, kolrabi, rhubarb, bok choi, chard, small onions with green tops, snap peas, sweet peas, herbs, hot house tomatoes, and honey.

Get Some Before It's Gone!

Strawberries! Enjoy them now. Some farms lost a portion of their crops due to the rain in June.

Coming Soon!

Blueberries and early raspberries – Barbara Hamilton from Hamilton Orchards hopes to have ripe berries around the Fourth of July.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Markets and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your Kitchen & Dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

June 27, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

May 29, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

May 29, 2013
At the Market: a Visit to the Prudential Center Farmers’ Market

One of our walks this week took us to the Prudential Center where we picked up a few items for our supper from the specialty food vendors. The Prudential Center Farmers' Market is open on the Bolyston Street side of the complex from 11 am to 6 pm each Thursday.

We'd been missing the pretzels, and pretzel rolls from swissbäkers. We know they have a new shop on Western Avenue in Allston, but we haven't made it there yet! We'll add it to one of our Watertown runs. For now, it's great to have them back in the city at the Prudential and Dewey Square markets.

We enjoyed our pretzels with cheese and zingy pepper jelly from Stir It Up. We took our cue from the sample they were offering and their famous savory cheesecake torte baked with a glaze of their pepper jelly (below). Think about picking up one of these the next time you need party food.

In addition to chilled goat cheese with a dollop of "sweet heat" (as they call it), we also warmed some brie and spread the lime pepper jelly on that. It was a big hit!

This market will be another source for fresh-from-the-boat fish this summer with Cape Cod Fish Share on hand.

While we do occasionally visit the Coolidge Corner shop for a When Pigs Fly bread fix, it's good to have them back in the neighborhood on Thursdays!

We also stopped by the Copley Square Farmers' Market on Friday and picked a great dinner from the vendors there including a fine fillet from Red's Best seafood. Looks like it will be a summer of healthy eating!

A special thank you to Dave Gilson from The Herb Lyceum for bringing some chervil clippings to town to share with cooks like Penny. She sprinked rouchly chopped chervil leaves on that moist flakey fish before serving it. Perfect!

In Season Right Now!

We also saw: mushrooms, swiss chard, spinach, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants, hot house tomatoes, scallions, and cucumbers.

Enjoy now before it's gone!

Asparagus and early hoop house strawberries.

Follow all our Local Food/Farmers' Market and At The Market reports:

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

May 29, 2013
At the Market: New Location for City Hall Market

The big news this week is the relocation of the City Hall Farmers' Market to the Congress Street side of City Hall Plaza. This move is due to the MBTA's renovation of the Government Center Station over the next three years.

It's also close to the site of the planned permanent public market. Both the City Hall and the Dewey Square farmers' markets are operated by the Boston Public Market Association. While this market may be closer to the Haymarket MBTA station, the vendors here sell local, farm fresh, high quality products and are not associated with that other market known for clearance goods that shows up on weekends.

One new addition to both the Monday and Wednesday roster at City Hall is Red's Best seafood. Penny had already purchased asparagus from Silverbrook Farm and asked what would be a good match. Not only did she get a recommendation of scallops, but the chef at their stand even gave her a tip for cooking them.

Penny prepped the aspargus for oven roasting with a sprinkle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and a chopped shallot, and popped them into a hot oven. While they cooked, she seared the scallops in a very hot pan with just a coating of grapeseed oil. Just before these beauties were done, she added a piece of butter and squeeze of lemon.

With some good bread and dessert from Pain D'Avignon, we had the perfect farmers' market supper.

Monday's stop at City Hall was followed by a Tuesday visit to the market at Copley Square. Penny was on the hunt for strawberries from Atlas Farm and didn't want to find them sold out so we arrived just before opening and camped out on a bench near their stand.

We weren't the only ones impatient for the 11 a.m. opening call.

It's interesting to watch the vendors set up their stands. Ann from Crystal Brook Farm wheeled her sign and supplies to her spot where she would soon be selling her amazing goat cheese and clever brown bag lunches.

In Season Right Now!

All the items we mentioned above plus:

Radishes from Atlas Farms

Cucumbers from Foppema's Farm / Keown Orchards – they also had herb plants, rhubarb, greens, and popcorn on the cob.

We also saw mushrooms, green garlic, salad mix, lettuce, arugula, lots of annuals, herbs, and vegetable plants.

Coming Soon!

We heard talk about some early hothouse tomatoes. Curtis Stillman said Stillman's Farm would soon have kale and their first peas.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

May 23, 2013