Summer's Bounty

Yesterday we took another trip into the Newport Farmer’s Market and if we thought last week was great, this week was the ultimate. Gorgeous sweet carrots, both red and the usual orange, along with zucchini blossoms, fabulous little new potatoes and lovely white turnips.

Big Guy made the main event while I watched and tried desperately to keep my opinions to myself. He sliced up last week’s lovely green tomatoes, coated them in flour and egg wash then covered them in crumbs and fried them in vegetable oil. Dusted with salt and dribbled with hot sauce, they were unbelievable – crisp, crunchy and just a little tart too.

The real hit of the evening though were the stuffed zucchini blossoms he concocted, adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe and loaded with ricotta cheese, chopped mint and lemon zest,  then treated to the same coating as the green tomatoes and fried to a perfect finish. They were mildly minty, totally creamy and crunchy too. I mean who’da thunk that zucchini blossoms would be the perfect vehicle for the ultimate taste sensation, never mind you don’t have to deal with 2 foot long 5 pound zucchini’s to get ‘em. I’d call that a huge bonus right there.

We mustn’t forget all the beautiful berries we picked up that went into the largest berry crisp I’ve ever made. Plump and juicy Boysenberries, tart Marion berries and oh so sweet Raspberries combined with a small amount of sugar, way too little flour considering the juice that formed in the pan and all topped with a buttery vanilla flavored, brown sugar, flour and oatmeal crumble baked up in less than an hour to put the so called frosting on the cake to our perfectly wonderful light (uh huh, right) dinner.

Comments

[pam]

It all sounds amazing! Especially those blossoms!

[Lea]

When my sister lived in Portland for her residency in Family Practice - she used to revel in the abundance of fresh produce! I see you are, also! What do Zucchini blossoms taste like? I have never had the pleasure - and I know so many people who grow them I could - shame on me!
Quick question - WHAT? NO MEAT???????

[June]

Lea - zucchini blossoms have a really mild flavor and honestly the lemon and mint in the ricotta kind of took over so I'm not sure what they'd be like on their own but we're planning on giving them a try in another preparation so we'll let you know. They sure are pretty little things!

Pam - Big Guy maintains you'd have to be an idiot to starve at the coast because there's so much of everything including blackberry and salmonberry lined roads. Incredible!

[Lorraine]

The blossoms do have a mild flavor, but you can taste a bit of the zucchini plus a slightly grassy flavor. I am in love with them. Be careful picking berries on the side of the road though, they do spray in some areas because some people consider them a weed...really! Everything looks great.

[June]

Too true Lorraine. I should have mentioned that about the berries. I got plenty sick just after I moved here because I wasn't careful enough.