Marché Photo of the Week

It’s finally fully taken hold and Fall in the marchés. The stalls are filling up with squash and apples and the last tomatoes. I was excited to find one of my farmers with a whole pile of butternut squash (a rarity, still haven’t found acorn squash that wasn’t being sold as decoration from a florist shop.) and spotted a few green tomatoes which I had a hard time getting them to put in my bag. I love green tomatoes, especially for this, but I don’t think the French have figured out what to do with green tomatoes yet because they can’t seem to believe I’d want them! In the end, I could only get some that were partially green. Maybe next week! So here’s what we picked up and which is adding some Autumn to our menu this week:

-land cress

– basil

-red onions

– sweet red peppers

– butternut squash!

– bleu d’Auvergne (a mild bleu recommended for those, like me, who didn’t like blue cheese)

– cucumber

– green-ish heirloom tomatoes

– Reinette apples

– sage

– campari tomatoes

– eggplants

– sorrel

-purslane

– ‘master’ bread

And here are a few meals those goodies will go into:

Cress salad with Turkey Breast, Roasted plums, and Bleu – Macaroni & Cheese with Butternut Squash and Sage – Lemon  Eggplant Soup

I’ll also be using some things to stock up on summer flavor for the winter, like the basil to make pesto to freeze.

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Last weekend was very busy and included a wonderful visit with a high school friend of mine and one of the famous boat rides up the Seine to see Paris by night. I may not be in love with Paris, but seeing it from this unusual perspective, I can see how I could love it. Time will tell!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new favorite recipe for cooler weekend mornings!

xo,

A.

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Marché Photo of the Week

Summer’s marchés are hard to resist. Of course, fall and winter, and even spring offer favorite fruits, vegetables, and even cheese that we covet when they arrive, but summer is seductive for it’s sheer variety of goodies. And that’s why I tend to get ahead of myself. I routinely buy more than we need and often more than I can use in the week. The possibilities and low prices are hard to resist. So it happens that some weekends I haven’t really bought much of anything at the marché because I’m trying to catch up with the goodness still in my fridge. It’s happened one or two times that we arrive at the marché Sunday morning and I realize my list may have been a bit to small to warrant the trip but it’ s a weekend ritual we must carry out none the less.

This week I am back to a sort of equilibrium. The fridge is looking emptier and the freezer too since I’m pushing to make space there that I just want to fill again with summer produce preserved for winter. So, what I’m trying to say, is that I finally have a marché picture to share after several weeks without one. Here’s what we came home with for the week:

– radishes

– 2 pounds of tomatoes to eat every time we walk past the bowl on the counter (addictive) and 4.5 lbs (not pictured) to roast and freeze because they were being sold for 50 cents a pound and how can I walk away from that?

– yellow and purple carrots

– demi polka loaf

– green kohlrabi

– eggplant

– cucumber

– red sweet peppers

– potatoes

– “fontaine” onion

– zucchini

– dill

– parsley

And here are some dishes they will go into:

Stir fried Vegetables with Mediterranean Flavors and Sesame Quinoa Pilaf (from) – Summer Quesadillas – Insalata de Pomodori, Finocchi, e Seppie – Pizza – Roasted Vegetable Tart with Chevre and Herb Salad (coming soon)

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Also this past weekend, we had an adventure picking up two klismos chairs from a lady selling them on the other side of Paris (one hour away on public transport, 10 minutes if we had a car. ugh.).

Here is the picture I posted on instagram while we were waiting for the tram. I can’t wait to strip the chairs and redo them completely! I’ll share when they are done. They came as a pair for a great price but for the moment I only need one at my desk and I love it already. If you want to see other little bits like this, find me over on twitter or on instagram (abigaillabranche).

One other quick note: I had a request on the Facebook page for a little tomato roasting guidance so I’ve edited last Friday’s post with some tips for roasting and freezing them. Check it out.

So, how was your weekend? Any great finds?

xo,

A.