Farmer’s Market Summer Bounty

What a haul!  Look at all these beautiful colors!

Have you ever seen purple cauliflower?   I had not before my day at the Leesburg Farmer’s  Market

I bought 1 very vibrant cauliflower.

2 Deep bluish-purple eggplants I could not resist.

3 Beautifully ripened peaches.

I am beginning to sound like the Count from Sesame Street so I’ll stop there.

But what beautiful rainbow swiss chard !

I love to wander around the market and look at the vegetables and fruit in all their glory.  The deep red of vine ripened tomatoes,.  You simply cannot find tomatoes like these in chain grocery stores.   I love to see radish with their lovely greens still attached and think about what I  can do with those greens so they aren’t wasted.  Mounds of berries blue and red.  Baskets of leafy greens.  Everything looks and smells so good I want it all, but I have to hold back.    I have to be selective or I end up with bins full of  beautiful vegetables and not enough time to eat them all.

I could not wait to try that purple cauliflower  that night for dinner. Cut the entire head into small florets. Put the cauliflower pieces into a bowl and drizzle  olive oil and salt and pepper then spread them onto a pan for roasting  and viola!  We discovered that  the purple  variety is softer and sweeter than the white cauliflower.  We all loved it!  And it looks sensational on your plate.

I have found that roasting vegetables of all kinds brings out the best of them.  The process brings out the natural sweetness and combined with the slight charring that results from the intense heat the flavors are a party for your mouth.  Next on my list is roasting the radishes.  I’ll let you know how they turn out so come back again!