You could be a farmer in those clothes
Letter from the editor
Not sure about your local farmers market, but at mine there’s a distinct and disappointing lack of rough denim overalls, straw between teeth, or any of the other classic (er, costume-y) marks of a “farmer.” There are, however, beautiful piles of fresh figs and blackberries. Bright zucchini, gorgeous garlic bulbs (yes garlic is gorgeous, too), all manner of peaches, heirloom tomatoes.
Whatever you wear to hunter/gather (personally, yoga pants), it’s high time to harvest the farm(ers market). At the very least, haul home something colorful for a mid-afternoon sherbet with sparkling wine. Swap the strawberries for peaches, blackberries, nectarines. They’d all be fantastic. Of course you had to know I’d extol the virtues of a galette as the perfect vehicle for nearly anything you find: plums, tomatoes, apricots with blackberries, summer squash.
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Did you grab a few beets? Summer beet salad. Golden beet salad with pomegranate (ooh, add some grilled corn) and feta. Use those beet greens and the rest of the grilled corn to add a summery punch to these nutty borlotti beans. Pick up a couple of bell peppers? Make turkey chili. How about cauliflower? Rather than turning it into something else, celebrate it by making whole roasted cauliflower with green pea chutney.
Don’t forget the zucchini for pancakes, schnitzel, these vegan burgers, or for grating into meatballs (just make sure to wring out the excess water before adding to the meat or burger mixture). Cucumbers are endlessly summery to me: sliced into this panzanella salad, diced up for Japanese-style potato salad, turned into quick dill pickles, swapped for the asparagus on salty, cheesy crostini.
A handful of those multicolored, misshapen tomatoes can become gazpacho with seared scallops, chopped up for farro salad, tossed into this gorgeous breakfast salad with jammy eggs, smushed up for orecchiette with burrata, or turned into fresh pasta sauce for next month when the ones at the store are tough and watery.
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If you’ve turned the oven on, keep it on for bitters-roasted peaches or a bourbon blueberry pie (which is predictably versatile) or a Love, Set, Match cake because the US Open starts on Monday and why not use a sporting event as a reason to bake a cake? Or keep the oven off and make a stunning watermelon salad instead.
Just don’t wear overalls to the farmers market. That’d be awkward.
