Our picnic fare for this week’s Deer Valley Free Concert [1] featured fresh foods from the Farmers Market. We had fresh broccolini, fresh zucchini, fresh radishes, Lemon Pepper Chevre and Garlic Chevre from Drake Family Farms, and fresh Asiago Cheese Bread from Volker’s Bakery. After a super hike up Holly’s trail leading to mid-mountain of The Canyons Resort, and lunch with friends at the Red Pine Restaurant, I trekked down to the Farmers Market, no plan in mind, except to buy fresh foods to feed us in our evening’s al fresco dining.
Letting me loose in a Farmer’s Market is a little like letting loose a kid in a candy store. Or maybe an 8 year old in a waterpark. Or maybe a college student in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. You get the point. Fresh food picked as little as 6 hours prior, gets my heart pumping and my head spinning. I actually have to ration myself on how much cash I bring or I get totally impulsive and start buying all sorts of stuff in way to large of quantities, like the 6 pints of raspberries and 2 lbs of cherries I bought one week.
We’re dippers in this family so we dipped the radishes in the chevre and the veggies in my dipping sauces. I also brought some crackers and parmesan crisps for the chevre. And while we were at it, we wound up dipping the bread in the sauces as well. I try not to eat too much bread any more, just as a general habit, cause it’s rough on the blood sugar and there are so many other foods I enjoy, I just usually cut out the bread and don’t notice. If you dip your bread in olive oil, Italian style, it’s much easier on the blood sugar and it tastes good, so why not give it a shot?
On another note, when cooking at my sister-in-law’s house this week, someone asked me if you can roast zucchini in vegetable oil instead of in olive oil. Since I’d never tried it and we couldn’t find any olive oil, we gave it a go. Don’t. It was totally flavorless. The key to good roasted vegetables is a flavorful olive oil. I’ve mentioned it before, but the best one I’ve found was from my Nudo [2] olive tree adoption my sister, Amelia, gave me for Christmas.
Mint Citrus Dipping Sauce
Juice of 1 medium naval orange (approx 1/4 c.)
Juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons (approx 1/3 c. )
1/2 c. grapeseed oil
2 tbsps minced shallots
2 tbsps fresh mint, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Maldon [3] sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
Combine juices and grapeseed oil. Add shallots, mint, sea salt, and pepper. Whisk to combine. Chill 1 hour before serving, then whisk again.
Garlic Balsamic Dipping Sauce
4 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps balsamic vinager
2 tbsps water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Maldon [3] sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
Combine balsamic, olive oil, and water. Add garlic, salt, pepper, fresh ground pepper, and mustard. Whisk to combine. Chill 1 hour, then whisk again before serving.