Monday, April 21, 2008

Week of April 20

What a lovely weekend! The sun was shining and it was warm. I spent most of Saturday digging holes in the backyard for all the shrubs and (small) trees I am going to buy. Then I went to two nurseries and their paltry inventories showed that they weren't ready for me yet. (Well, at least the holes are ready ...)

On Sunday we went to Buff's Pub in Newton on a chicken wing pilgrimage. Buff's is about a hour from our house, but, it's about five minutes from Russo's. Russo's is amazing produce market in Watertown, MA. I went for the first time a few weeks ago and will now use any excuse to go back.

Russo's has everything. Three kinds of artichokes, nine (nine!) types of eggplant, fava beans, Kentucky wonder beans, long beans, four types of melon, plus meat, cheese, deli and bakery counters. And reasonably priced. Woo hoo.

So, instead of meal-planning my week, I decided to buy what looked good and then pull meals together based on that. I'll post as I go this week, so you can see what I come up with.

Here's what we bought (we bought a lot!):

Vegetables:
  • Artichokes (went into a risotto)
  • Broccoli rabe
  • Brussels sprouts
  • Eggplant (fat Italian ones)
  • Fava beans (also into the risotto)
  • Fennel
  • Mushrooms: Morels and hedgehog
  • Radishes
  • Yu toy (A kind of Chinese broccoli)
Root vegetables:
  • "Creamer" potatoes
  • Baby red potatoes
  • Horseradish root
  • Parsnips
  • Salsify
Herbs:
  • Cilantro
  • Parsley
  • Thai Basil
Fruit:
  • Asian pears
  • Charentais melon
  • Kumquats
  • Pineapple quince (gonna make caramels with these!)
  • Rhubarb
Deli:
  • Bresaola (Italian dried beef)
  • Mortadella
  • Speck (Italian/German ham - like prosciutto, but not quite)
  • Cheeses: Mimolette, Softocenere (truffled cheese), Taleggio

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