Saturday, April 21, 2012

Spring is back, and so am I!


 It's easy to love the farmer's market in the spring time. The weather is warm enough that you don't mind the walk, the vendors are plentiful, the sunshine makes everyone happy and sociable, and the first few tender green vegetables are just so tempting.  I can't help picking up one of almost everything - from ramps to spinach to bok choy, if it was green, it was in my basket!

I used a lot of today's bounty in dinner tonight: garlic and ginger flounder with sauteed baby bok choy. It was delicious, light and easy and flavorful. I think we'll be making this one again!



It's so easy to make - you make a foil packet and fill it with chunks of scallion, garlic, ginger and ramps, if you've got 'em. Then make your sauce - I combined roughly equal amounts of soy sauce, honey and rice wine vinegar - and preheat your oven to 375 degrees.


Then place your fish filets on top of the veggies and spoon a little bit of your sauce on top. We used flounder filet from Blue Moon Fish for this dinner - about a quarter pound for each of us.


Fifteen minutes later, you've got a gorgeous piece of tender fish, perfectly cooked and aromatic. I cooked up some baby bok choy for the side - a quick saute with garlic, ginger and olive oil then a brief simmer with a few tablespoons of chicken broth until tender. We didn't eat any starches with dinner tonight, as we'd both had a few treats during our afternoon walkabout and were not super hungry when suppertime rolled around, but in the future I'd serve this with some rice or quinoa. Delish!

I also want to share with you guys the amazing strawberry rhubarb marshmallows that I made this week! Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of them... so just picture a marshmallow.

(Pretend this is a marshmallow picture!)
Nice and square,
just barely pink,
soft and fluffy
and covered in powdered sugar.

 I used this recipe from Food 52, which was posted by my amazing supper club partner in crime, Emily. (Side note: if you want awesome marshmallows but don't feel like getting yourself - and your kitchen - all sticky, Emily sells her very creative 'mallows at http://sweet-tooth-labs.goodsie.com.) Emily's recipe starts with six ounces of Meyer lemon marmalade, but I substituted a jar of runny strawberry rhubarb jam from last summer. The resulting 'mallows were SO good that I'm considering making a huge batch next June to give out as wedding favors. (Oh yes! In case you haven't heard, Mr. Cooking Inside the Box has decided that he liked it, and subsequently put a ring on it. Guess he likes the cooking!)