My perfect Saturday morning starts with a trip to my town’s farmers’ market.  I head out bright and early to be first in line for the best of the season’s bounty.  With my market basket in tow, I make my way downtown for my weekly foodie pilgrimage.

The fishmonger is usually the first stop I make.  Good planning would normally dictate that this be the last stop since the fish needs to stay cold.  However, after seeing the last of the wild caught shrimp get snapped up by the patron in front of me one too many times, I get in line early and ask for extra ice.  I usually buy enough seafood fixin’s for two meals, maybe three, if I’m going to be sticking around the house for the weekend.

Next, it’s time to meander through the rest of the stalls to see what’s been harvested from the local farms.  Asparagus and spring greens have come and gone this year.  Summer sweet corn hit the market in July, and I’ve spent the last couple months perfecting my grilled sweet corn skills.  Heirloom tomatoes have been all but missing from the stalls until several weeks ago due to the unseasonably cool summer we’ve been having in Northern California, but, ooh la la, the beauties have finally arrived.  I fill up my basket and head back home.  With a little help carrying the bounty up the stairs, I can hardly wait to break out my cutting board and start chopping!

Let the cooking begin!

Since I want to make the most of the freshest of the fresh fish, Saturday lunchtime usually starts with seafood.  Like a jazz musician, I take a foodie riff on my favorite Lobster Roll recipe substituting crab for the lobster.  If I grabbed cucumbers, cilantro, and bay shrimp, I might swap in those little shrimpies for the medium shrimp in my favorite ceviche recipe.  Yumm!  When heirloom tomatoes first hit the stand, though, I had to pack the seafood away in the fridge for one meal to try out a recipe for Pasta all Formiana where the pasta bakes in tomato sauce encased in an heirloom tomato ‘package’ (Foodie note:  Cut the oregano in half for this recipe).

Next, it’s on to dinner.  I might take inspiration from a Roasted Shellfish Platter recipe and roast scallops in a little olive oil, shallots, parsley, and lemon zest.  For a companion dish worthy of the summer season, summer produce is in full effect in a gratinee of sliced zuchinni, tomato, and onions baked off with a lil’ olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.

When Sunday rolls around, I leverage some of the ‘work’ that was done with Saturday’s meals to get a jump start on the cooking.  The zuchinni and tomato gratinee might get chopped up and pump up the food volume on baked Jilted Eggs.  Pasta alla Formiana can stand in for the potatoes or cooked pasta in a frittata recipe where it’s reinvented into something even more delicious.  Otherwise, it can grace Sunday’s dinner as a side dish or maybe find it’s way into my lunch box on Monday 😉

With so many dishes to be inspired or invented from my visit to the farmers’ market,  a week without the infusion of these fresh, local ingredients just isn’t quite the same.