Caroline's Kitchen Table

Wednesday morning I visited Chicago’s Green City Market. I decided that there is really no other way I would rather spend my mid-week morning. The visit made me realize that I pose as a “wanna-be-farmer.”

The summer after I graduated from high school I called my soon-to-be roommate, Monica, from central Illinois. We chatted, and went through the routine conversation of who would bring the refrigerator, the carpet, and the TV. Before the conversation was complete, I also learned that Monica owned a pig that won first prize at the state fair. She had pigs to care for; I had brothers. I imagined going to college and living with my opposite, but the more I thought about it, we were not as different as it might seem.

I went to farm camp when I was nine. It was not simply a farm camp; it was a nineteenth century farm camp. The counselors wore period clothing, we churned butter, and called lunch “dinner” and dinner “supper.” Dinner and supper were always fresh thanks to the farm’s “kitchen garden.”

I remember there was a big red barn that was the hot spot for the campers to congregate. The barn housed loads of haystacks that were piled three times our size. Each of us would climb the ladder to the barn’s loft and leap into the cows’ feed. We later came to find out that there were pitchforks hidden in the hay. Luckily no parents received a call that their child was speared in the spirit of the 1800’s. My only story of commotion was getting an undeserved lick from Betsy the cow.  While most of my friends were at Girl Scout camp; I was stuck in the past century and all smiles.

The farm attachment was strengthened when I saw “Field of Dreams” for the first time. I saw the movie for the second time as a 20-something and felt like I should leave the city, grow corn, and maybe build a baseball field.

For now, urban living has a strong hold on me, but maybe someday I will listen to the voices inside my head. The closest I am going to get to farm fresh produce this summer are my mornings trips to the market.

Rules of the market:

Go with no expectations

Talk to the farmers

Bring cash and big bags

Plan your meals each week around the key produce purchased at the market. Simplify your cooking this summer and let the fresh food do the work for you. Try this dish.
ps- I am on a pasta/pine nut kick and I cannot guarantee that it will end here.

Asparagus Pasta
Adapted from Bon Appetit

¾ pound pasta (cavatappi)
1 bundle of farmer’s market asparagus (I used purple asparagus) – trimmed and chopped
1 shallot – chopped
2 cloves of garlic – minced
1 handful of flat leaf parsley – chopped
½ lemon – juiced
½ cup toasted pine nuts
1 log goat cheese crumbled
s and p
parmesan

Prepare the pasta. In a large pan, sauté the shallot for 4 minutes, add the garlic and cook for another minute. Drop the asparagus into the boiling water with the pasta. Cook 2-3 minutes. Remove the asparagus with a slotted spoon and add to the shallot mixture. Toss the pasta and ¼ cup reserved pasta water into the sauté pan. Add the chopped parsley, pine nuts, lemon juice and crumbled goat cheese. Season with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.