Farmer's Market July 24
Highlights: Summer Tian
Saturday morning we were up early and decided to make a mad dash to the Bernal Heights Farmer's Market at Alemany. We were in a bit of rush because we had to be at Tonia's to carpool down to Filoli Gardens.
The market is an amazing find - I can't believe it took us a year to check it out. There was one long row of stands on either side, with heaps of fresh, cheap produce. There seemed to be less organic produce than at the Ferry Building but tons of variety, with more asian and ethnic vegetables available. Also, prices were much less than the Ferry Building. We bought Early Girl Tomatoes (75 cents/lb), okra (1.50/lb), red/green peppers (5 for $1), thai eggplant, thai chilis, japanese eggplant (5 for $1), nectarines, basil, melon ($1) and white diamond strawberries. We didn't have time to buy more but everything looked incredible - heirloom tomatoes, so many varieties of chilis and eggplants, peaches and nectarines, eggs and fish! The fish stand sells whole fish, live crab ($4/crab!!), scallops, shrimp and more. There was seabass, snapper, pompano, and fish I have never heard of and totally cheap!
We also had breakfast at the market. We grabbed hot vegetable pies from this really nice vendor who also sold us rosemary bread and cinnamon sticks. His other pastries looked good too and included sweet potato tarts. My vegetable pie was delicious - stuffed with rice, onions, mushroom and spinach. Nino's was not as good - stuffed with potatoes and carrots. We also passed some other bakery vendors, tamale cart, indian bakery items - many choices for our next visit.
The market is open on Saturday 6am-6pm!
I had offered to make dinner and bring it over to Matt and Ruth Ann's new house. With all the fresh vegetables, I found a recipe for a "Summer Tian" by Deborah Madison. The tian which is a french casserole, was layered tomatoes, zucchini (from Steve Ross' garden) and tomatoes with thin slices of garlic and lemon wedges hidden in the layers and sprinked with basil (dried and fresh), tarragon, salt, pepper and olive oil. The original recipe called for thyme and marjoram which I didn't have. The tian was cooked for about 45 minutes on 400 covered, and then 10 minutes uncovered. I basted the vegetables with their own juice a couple of times in between. When the vegetables were soft I pulled it out, poured the juice into a saucepan, boiled it down to a much thicker sauce and then poured it back over the vegetables. We ate atop the toasted rosemary bread and it was a big hit!
Saturday morning we were up early and decided to make a mad dash to the Bernal Heights Farmer's Market at Alemany. We were in a bit of rush because we had to be at Tonia's to carpool down to Filoli Gardens.
The market is an amazing find - I can't believe it took us a year to check it out. There was one long row of stands on either side, with heaps of fresh, cheap produce. There seemed to be less organic produce than at the Ferry Building but tons of variety, with more asian and ethnic vegetables available. Also, prices were much less than the Ferry Building. We bought Early Girl Tomatoes (75 cents/lb), okra (1.50/lb), red/green peppers (5 for $1), thai eggplant, thai chilis, japanese eggplant (5 for $1), nectarines, basil, melon ($1) and white diamond strawberries. We didn't have time to buy more but everything looked incredible - heirloom tomatoes, so many varieties of chilis and eggplants, peaches and nectarines, eggs and fish! The fish stand sells whole fish, live crab ($4/crab!!), scallops, shrimp and more. There was seabass, snapper, pompano, and fish I have never heard of and totally cheap!
We also had breakfast at the market. We grabbed hot vegetable pies from this really nice vendor who also sold us rosemary bread and cinnamon sticks. His other pastries looked good too and included sweet potato tarts. My vegetable pie was delicious - stuffed with rice, onions, mushroom and spinach. Nino's was not as good - stuffed with potatoes and carrots. We also passed some other bakery vendors, tamale cart, indian bakery items - many choices for our next visit.
The market is open on Saturday 6am-6pm!
I had offered to make dinner and bring it over to Matt and Ruth Ann's new house. With all the fresh vegetables, I found a recipe for a "Summer Tian" by Deborah Madison. The tian which is a french casserole, was layered tomatoes, zucchini (from Steve Ross' garden) and tomatoes with thin slices of garlic and lemon wedges hidden in the layers and sprinked with basil (dried and fresh), tarragon, salt, pepper and olive oil. The original recipe called for thyme and marjoram which I didn't have. The tian was cooked for about 45 minutes on 400 covered, and then 10 minutes uncovered. I basted the vegetables with their own juice a couple of times in between. When the vegetables were soft I pulled it out, poured the juice into a saucepan, boiled it down to a much thicker sauce and then poured it back over the vegetables. We ate atop the toasted rosemary bread and it was a big hit!
posted by Karen at 9:54 AM
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