Aw Shucks

The worst time to hit the farmer's market is right around 1- 2 o'clock, early-rising vendors are itching to pack up their holey produce displays and the season's first strawberries are long sold out.  I hate it.   I'm left with tracking down the best of the market dregs.   

Luckily this time 'round the dregs included the Gilson Marine Farms stall who were selling the most beautiful oysters.  Surrounded by an army of blue coolers, a shy quiet fellow sold me two dozen oysters for the incredible price of $7.40/dozen.  With several sizes to choose from, from slurpable to extra-large fryers,  I opted for the large ones which were packed gently in brown paper and bags of ice.

Opening these suckers was a pain, thankfully Eddy helped.  Without a shucker  we raided the tool box and improvised shucking with a screwdriver and hammer and managed to get all of the oysters free of their shells.  Some were eaten raw, others broiled with a bit of garlic, lemon, and butter.  Sweet, briny with a twinge of mineral, these were some of the best oysters I've ever eaten and certainly the ones I worked the hardest for.

Because It's Been So Long Peach Butter

Yesterday I woke-up early with the word peaches on my lips, only to fall back to blissful weekend slumber. An hour later, my hopes dashed of obtaining my 20 pound box of "seconds" (they go quickly) we headed to the farmer's market. As luck would have it I arrived late and got my box. "Seconds" incidentally, are the delicious, albeit less-than-perfect peaches sold in bulk for 25 bucks a box. Last year I came the same Forbidden Fruit stall to purchase their lovely fruit. You should see how these guys handle their peaches, like they're little balls of newborn; so tender and filled with promise. This year I decided I wanted to make fruit butter; the less-sugar cousin to jam that goes well with savory dishes as well as toast. Here's how to do it:

Simple Peach Butter
10 lbs. fresh peaches, approximately 25 medium peaches, or 16 C. crushed
5 C. sugar
1 lemon, juiced

Skin peaches by immersing them whole into boiling water for 1 minute. Remove them into a bowl of cool water. While the peaches are cooling, prepare in a large bowl 2 cups of water and the juice of 1 lemon, this will prevent the peaches from browning. Peel and pit the peaches placing them in the lemon water.

In a large (10 quart) stainless steel pot, crush the pitted peaches 1 cup at a time using a potato masher. Keep track of the number of cups of peaches you crush in the event you need to adjust the proportions of sugar to fruit. I’ve read many recipes that call for a ratio of 1/2 cup sugar to 1 cup of crushed fruit. I’ve reduced the amount here as I prefer a fruitier tasting butter; feel free to make your own adjustments.

On medium heat bring the crushed peaches to a boil being careful not to scorch them. Add the sugar and bring back to a boil. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. When the peach/sugar mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat and transfer 3/4 of the mixture to shallow baking dishes and place in the preheated oven. Stir the butter every 15 minutes. As it cooks down add the reserved peach/sugar mixture. When the butter mounds nicely in a spoon it’s ready. This will take 1-1 1/2 hours depending on the moisture content of your peaches.

When the butter is at the correct consistency, hot-pack as instructed in my Old Fashioned Raspberry Jam recipe or bottle in sterilized glass containers and once cooled store in the refrigerator. Makes 12, 1/2 pint jars

I Heart Market

Call me a shallow foodie, but one of the things I love most about where we live in town, is our proximity to the farmer's market. This past Saturday was our season's first market and we had glorious blue skies to celebrate its return. The growing season is still in its infancy and offerings, in terms of food were limited to spring onions, mustard greens, and rhubarb. To make up for the lack of ready-to-eat homegrown food, there were armies of charming and eager plant starts. Like, arugula:

basil:

and marigolds:

I couldn't resist the allure of burgeoning potential and came home with two tomato plants (an Early Girl and a Sungold) and a dozen eggs.

Happy Spring!