So perhaps you’ll recall that I got a bunch of peaches practically for free.
Some people Know A Guy at club entrances, some people Know A Guy at Southwest Airlines… I Know A Guy at the farmer’s market. Frankly, I think I came out the winner.
It was AWFULLY FUN going through them, making lots and lots of peachilicious items.
Do other people feel almost… cautious with fresh fruit? Like, really perfect and fresh farmer’s market fruit? Like… it’d be doing it a disservice to mess with it too much? (That is still the reason I refuse to bake with farmer’s market eggs. They’re too good to get lost in batter!)
Anyway, having these was great cause I felt free to use as many peaches in as many ways as I want.
I also picked up a new, “special” plant at the farmer’s market.
Anybody ever seen this leaf before?
Why of course it’s SORREL, a perfectly legal weed!
My mom saw it and had some fond flashbacks memories of being a kid when her mom would send her and her siblings out to gather it.
Naturally, as every time my mom spontaneously buys a whacky ingredient at the farmer’s market, I turned to the internet to tell me what to do with it.
And oh did it deliver.
White Peach and Sorrel Salad
inspired by this recipe
1.5 cups fresh sorrel
1 cup baby spinach (just added cause I was a little low on sorrel)
1 large, juicy, beautiful white peach
2 tsp. canola oil
1 1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. honey
a few drops pure vanilla extract
snipped up chives to sprinkle atop (optional)
Combine dressing ingredients. Add greens and peach. Toss!
I’ve also made this with other bitter greens- like arugula- with great success.
And I CANNOT STOP MAKING IT. The tangy, complex dressing (a tiny drop of vanilla adds an unbelievably fascinating dimension); the sweet juicy peach; the bitter greens. It is SO GOOD. It is the Official Salad of Late Summer/ Early Fall 2011.
I in fact ate more of it tonight. And also the night before. And there are just SO MANY PEACHES I just keep finding them in the back of the fridge. They are sort of wrinkley now, so I nuke them with the dressing to pep them back up and they are sort of even better cause they’re sort of mushy and jammy. And in a few weeks I’ll find one last peach and make some nice schnapps.
But wait! There’s more fun produce where that came from!
The orange cat went to investigate the purple pepper!
Have you ever seen a purple pepper? I have only ever found them in farmer’s markets; I first discovered them in college in Boston.
The key is not to cook them; when you cook them, they become green.
(Their interior is green. They just have a cool purple outer layer!)
I knew I wanted to use lots and lots of peaches, and through that wondrous power of the internet I found a recipe that involved peppers; peaches; complete protein, and powerfully good reviews!
(I will, however, just give a powerful wag of the finger for publishing said recipe in February. You know when you shouldn’t eat fresh peaches? February! But this is a great July/August/September recipe :D So… sorry I’m sharing my love for it in October. Anyway, this tangent has gone on long enough. Let’s get to the good stuff)
It made a wonderfully large bowl, and it was one of those recipes that had everything. First, obviously, general physical beauty (I added multicolored peppers to give it even more oomph that way). Nutrition, check, veggies and fruit and a grain (moreover, the only grain that’s a perfect protein).
And the flavors were SO SIMPLE but SO GOOD together.
This would be a perfect lunch:
Home from work, once again a starvin’ Marvin.
Open pup my fridge and beam to discover this wonderful salad already made; as well as some heavenly leftover succotash.
Easy on the eyes, easy on the belly.
1 comment:
I really liked this post because I learned about 2 things I have never heard of or seen before. I wonder where I could find a purple pepper around here. Not sure about the sorrel either. The salad you made looks awesome, which is most likely because I love peaches.
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