Bordeaux red spinach

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Yay! The farmer’s market is back!

Even though my usual market here in Denver doesn’t open until May, I have a wee problem with instant gratification and there was no way I was missing the first opportunity to buy local produce in the area. So I dragged my new friend Leann up the hill to Boulder with me for the opening day of the Boulder Farmer’s Market.

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Spinach – notice how the leaves are bigger than the baby spinach you find at the store

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Seeing as we get snow in Colorado through the end of April, and sometimes even into May, generally the first few weeks of the market is kind of… sparse. But I was pleasantly surprised this week, since there were a few veggies available that I was NOT expecting. There were beets, potatoes, lots of salad greens, onions, mushrooms, and the pièce de résistance (in my mind anyways)… sunchokes!

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Sunchokes

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Sunchokes are the tubers (read: roots) of a species of sunflower. I’ve never had them before, but Leann and I tried a piece of raw sunchoke from a bowl that the vendor had set out. It kind of looks like a piece of raw potato with its white interior, and tastes like a cross between a water chestnut and an almond.  You can eat them raw, but most people choose to cook it similar to a potato.

We also tasted the Bordeaux red spinach at the market; it was super sweet, but it had a great depth of flavor that you don’t find in baby spinach (at least for me, maybe Leann disagrees).

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In the end, I came home with:

3 pounds of yukon gold and purple potatoes ($2 a pound)
1 bag of regular spinach ($3 a large-ish bag)
1 bag of red Bordeaux spinach ($3 a large-ish bag)
1 head red cabbage ($2 a head)
1 pound red beets ($3 per pound)
5.75 pounds of brisket ($5 per pound)
1/2 pound of sunchokes ($3 per half pound)

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I’m making Smitten Kitchen’s recipe for brisket, and probably eating the greens straight, although I’m contemplating making a pesto with the spinach… but I haven’t really decided yet. I was planning on doing a sunchoke and potato gratin, but we ended up just eating the sunchokes plain, sautéed in butter. I wish I had gotten more of them! I’ll probably roast (or maybe even pickle) the beets, and maybe either do roasted potatoes or possibly a gratin.

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Purple potatoes

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To end our day of deliciousness, we hit up Lucile’s for their farmer’s scramble – potatoes, onions, peppers, cheddar cheese, and sausage scrambled with 3 eggs and the eggs come out all custard-y instead of dry and crumbly. omgitsfreakingdelicious. Trust.

Go pester Leann for her pictures from the day. She takes better ones anyways.

Is your local market open yet and did you go this weekend? What’s available in your area?

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Now Playing: AC/DC / If You Want Blood – I feel this appropriate conveys my attitude towards the opening day of the market. Complete with air guitar when necessary.

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