Farmer's Market Saturday

Since my Saturday mornings have been pleasurably taken up with discovering the local Inwood Farmer's Market, I've decided to make it my regular Saturday entry for the remainder of the summer!

You may remember that last week I missed out on the fabulous two-toned squash. Well, today, I made it to the market early enough to get my hands on some! Lori and the other ladies at the Hawthorne Valley Farm booth saved some for me, along with my weekly slice of Banana Nut Bread.

I plan on writing a full entry about Hawthorne Farms, their work with the Inwood CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), and their "Demeter-Certified Biodynamic Farm". I'll be interviewing Lori as well, so look for it soon.

I also managed to get some lovely basil, which wil go into a special pesto for an upcoming party I'm doing. Here's a tip for you basil lovers out there: When basil is plentiful, as it is now, buy it up (or pick it if you're blessed with a garden of your own) and puree it with olive oil, then freeze it. This will preserve it so that you have plenty for the winter. Now a classic pesto has garlic, pine nuts and parmesan, but if you plan on freezing it, leave out these other ingredients and add them later.

And as I mentioned last week, tomatoes are starting to come into their peak. Soon we will be buried in them (remember a certain cult film of yesteryear?). Today I picked up some large yellow tomatoes and some more red cherry tomatoes. The yellow ones will lend themselves to a passata for a unique yellow marinara.

And of course, some more of that lovely sweet summer corn! The Black Bean, Corn and Mango Salad with Honey Dijon Salad was such a hit at last night's barbecue, that I plan on making it again for myself tomorrow!