Some things don't need recipes

Last night, Phil came home with two punnets of the most amazing jewels from the farmer's market.

They glowed in the early evening light.

Black and golden raspberries, warmed by the afternoon haze.

I was entranced by the way the yellows and apricots of the golden raspberries seemed to capture and hold the sunlight. 

And the way the black raspberries' deep purple melted into shades of eggplant, mulberry and burgundy.

We could have eaten them  with softly whipped cream as part of a fool or tossed them with sugar.

Instead, we devoured each berry naked, savouring each explosive burst of sweet flavour, until there was nothing left of them but their memory on our stained fingers and lips.

Perfection.

Farmer's Market Bounty: A Pea Convert

I've always hated peas. As a child, I loathed their mealy boiled texture. Peas were a straight-from-the-freezer abomination that my brother loved - I tried to slip him mine whenever I could. While I no longer try to pawn the little green nuggets off on anyone, they're certainly weren't my favourite vegetable.

Fresh Ontario Field Peas

 This summer, though, has really caused me to rethink peas. Early in July, my Mum and I picked some up from Ottawa's Parkdale market. I wasn't expecting much after spending a goof half hour shelling them, so I ate a raw one reluctantly. They were like nothing I'd ever had before. Tender, sweet without even a whiff of mealiness. My eyes were opened to new possibility. That night, after plunging them in boiling water for 20 seconds, we tossed them with butter and mint.

Sweet, sweet green gold.

 I won't like to you, I ate every last remaining pea in the serving dish once everyone had had their first helping.

Shelling the peas.

Tender I

This time, I didn't have mint in the house, but I did have Nigel Slater's Tender to guide me. (If you haven't picked it up, Tender I is his guide to growing and eating vegetables. It's phenomenal.) The man said lemon and olive, and that's exactly what I did.

Okay, I substituted butter for the olive oil. Everything is better with butter.

How to:
Throw some butter in a pan, let it melt. Throw in your peas, and squeeze half a lemon over top. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Eat immediately and wonder why you didn't purchase more. Then remember how long you spent shelling those peas. Reminisce over the good old days when you were actually eating the peas.

Okay, it didn't look pretty, but let's not just rely on looks!

I served this with his potato cake, and apologize for the vague directions after the jump.

Summer Markets

Wednesday is the day for my local farmer's market, and to tell the truth, today was the first time I've gone all year. My husband and I mozied about last year once, but I just thought it was too expensive at the time. Given the threat of the termination of my employment, it probably was.

I had 15$ in my pocket today, so I decided to flee the air conditioned glory of the front room of my house and brave into the 40 degree heat outside to see what was available.

I spent the 15$.

Purchases:

1 mixed basket of peaches, plums, pears and apricots - 6$
1 pint of heirloom grape and cherry tomatoes - 5$
1 pint of fresh field peas - 4$

Mixed Fruits (crisp pears, peaches, apricots and yellow plums)

Huh. That 15$ went very quickly. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with it.